Dr. Dean: Single-Payer Is Not Off The Table
Well, sort of. Howard Dean referred to the public option as a single-payer system on yesterday’s ED Show.
To be clear, a mixed, public/private health system that Howard Dean is promoting is NOT single-payer. Only a system where private insurance is completely removed from the market is replaced by a government funded insurance program, with privately delivered care, can be considered single-payer.
You can read more about the public option con on PNHP’s website.
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I am a middle class professional. I work in Alaska where the native population enjoys billless visits to the hospital. They have good quality care. also, I like the idea of calling the police or the fire department and not geting a bill as a result. All government run Why cant health care be the same for all?
It can’t be that way because you, and all your friends and all of your patients, keep electing or re-electing the same people to Congress, either Democrats or Republicans! That’s why! It’s all about money, Corporation, especially so-called Healthcare Insurance Corporations, and Lobbyists! Corporations own the world, all the rest of us pay for it!
Until you get the corporate insurance companies out of the picture you won’t get maximum savings and cost may unfortunately come up as an issue. No one says police, fire department, education or the Pentagon have to be “budget neutral”, but looks as if it will be an issue with health care.
Another problem with keeping a public-private hybrid is that the corporate insurers are clearly determined not to let the public option be a good one if they can help it. It looks as if they want to restrict it to being no better than what they offer. If they get their way, it will be a lose-lose.
They are fighting to make it not like Medicare and more like their limited and bureaucratic plans while still fighting to get government subsidies for themselves. This would be bad for consumers and involve a big taxpayer handout to corporate insurers.
All of us on our San Mateo County DFA task force support true national single payer with full access to private providers. However, we also support Howard Dean’s position that if there is to be both private(corporate)insurance and a public plan, the public plan has to be like Medicare, not like some depressing HMO.
What Table Is Single-Payer On?
Doesn’t appear to be on any of the tables at The White House … it adorns no tables in Congressional Hearing Rooms.
The Public Insurance Option is a time-buyer for the insurance industry and a political dodge for those who hope to morph it into single-payer ‘down the road’.
Kicking the can down the road is an American tradition. Winston Churchill captured the culture of America perfectly: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
Progressives are relentless in their efforts to produce Chicken Salad out of Chicken Sh__! It is obviously not going all that well.
Pride of ownership is the most reliable pathway to failure. It shows no signs of yielding to reality.
How can we encourage Senator Baucus to allow single payer advocates to have a seat at the table? He talks about considering all options, but single payer had no representation. Actions speak louder than words. Americans are paying close attention to healthcare reform, and single payer is what a large percentage of the people want. Seems to me that insurance companies still have a stranglehold on the American healthcare system.
SP is the ONLY way to keep the private sector honest. Adequate health care is every citizen’s right and should be written into the Constitution. It is cheaper and more efficient to do it via single payer. Until the profit motive is taken out of health care we won’t see any reform, it’s all window dressing, musical chairs, smoke and mirrors, an exercise in futility. The worse problem is, any type of reform now without SP will delay the inevitable introduction of SP.
If the fed gov’t won’t listen, we need to force the states to take back their power and eschew the Fed gov’t. Put pressure on your State reps to enact single payer plans.