Healthcare Debate Heats Up
Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines looks at the US health care system, expose its cracks, and uncover the forces that are spending millions of dollars every day to influence the debate over the US health care reform.
Part One
Part Two
I have written letters, and metwith my Congressional representative, Nita Lowey. Letters to my Senators, Chuck Schumer, and Kristen Gillibrand asking that they support the single-payer health program as per HR676, or S.703. They all support health care reform, but at most want a “public option” that leaves the profit maling insurance companies in the driver’s seat. I am an activist for a real universal, comprehensive, and affordable national insurance program, and strongly believe single-payer to be the right program, as Canada, France, and other developed countries have experienced. However there is so much misinformation and lies spread in our media that influences much of the public against the single-payer program.
I called the “blue dogs” to support the Weiner amendment in committee (to substitute HR 676 for the terrible HR 3200 bill. (Now Weiner’s amendment will be debated on the house floor and voted on. I didn’t mention single payer at all, or even universal care. I said I was concerned about the cost of healthcare and the cost of the healthcare reform legislation. I then asked if they stood for fiscal responsibility which of course they (and other congress people) will say yes to. I tell them I heard there was an amendment being proposed that would SAVE $400 billion a year instead of costing trillions and provide better coverage. I told them I assumed that OF COURSE they would vote for it based on the cost savings. In addition one could use the argument found in CNA’s research that “a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy.” (http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/january/first-of-its-kind-study-medicare-for-all-single-payer-reform-would-be-major-stimulus-for-economy-with-2-6-million-new-jobs-317-billion-in-business-revenue-100-billion-in-wages.html)
First of all, I am an ardent supporter of HR676. Because I want to see HR676 become the law of the land it makes me shudder a bit when I read well meaning commentaries that say essentially HR676 will create 2.6 million new jobs. The 400 billion dollars in savings is supposed to come from savings in adminstrative costs. Let’s not defeat our purpose here. We don’t want to say that we will create a huge new bureaucracy, but instead we will retrain employees in the current insurance company bureaucracy to efficiently administrate HR676 and thereby serve the public good at lower cost and in better healthcare results.
Has even one liberal member of Congress had the guts to say that he/she will only vote for single-payer not the public option fraud? If the Blue Dogs can play this game why not liberals?
I have written letters to Obama Sen. Feinstein Sen. Boxer & Rep. George Miller and all the Blue Dogs Dems that I support HR676 to be included in the final health care reform bill. My Dream is that 200,000,000 people flood congress with letters in support of HR676 to be included in the health care reform bill.
Well, if HR676 doesn’t get voted in by the House, we have to hope for two things to happen.
Provision for Single Payer at the State level and all the things it would need to make it happen, like taking State control over Federally ran systems. California would show you progressives how its done, we already passed Single Payer, the Governator vetoed it.
The second is for a call to simplify the push back and the easiest is to say HD676 would cover everybody, only have high cost to start and cost less overall than any other plan that protects the employer based plans and insurance companies.
Even with a strong public option, companies like Pep Boys would drop there employer based health care and encourage its employees to join the Federal Option. It would happen en-mass actually and we would pretty much have a de-facto Single Payer system, Obama doesn’t have to say that, he knows that.
Just don’t let this turn into Insurance Reform…
you should update the video links–they no longer work
Fixed it. Thanks!