The terrible news?
The terrible news? “In the Long Drive to Cure Cancer, Advances Have Been Elusive” This is a front page story on Friday, April 24th from a New York Times front page last week. The article went on to outline the discouraging research: “As other death rates fall, cancer’s scarcely moves.”
Unfortunately for me, it was also the same day I received news from my cancer doctor that I was being removed from Revlimid, one of the cancer drugs considered by many to be most effective against my type of cancer, “multiple myeloma.”
I’ve not yet received an explanation about why I am being removed or what will be recommended to take its place, but, as one can imagine, seeing such an article pointing out that, in the search for cancer treatment, virtually nothing is working, put me in a bed of discouragement more painful than my usual period of several days
Healthcare-NOW continues to push forward for national healthcare – for healthcare that will provide healthcare for every single resident of the United States, and yes, – a goal that is well within our reach now.
Thankfully, President Obama has continued to pronounce his support for this goal without barriers to anybody as he makes his daily priority listings for the goals of his administration. He knows that this goal is well within our financial reach, and that achieving this goal would cut hundreds of billions of unnecessary expenditures (now going into the profits of commercial interests) from our costs as a nation – as he mentions often – the only way to get our economy in check. It is the perfect way to save the U.S. economy while providing healthcare for all of our people.
Unfortunately, from Congress, we only hear continued and increased support for the commercial interests – both insurance and drug industries — leading the pack with their plans for getting the U.S. government to provide more money for their profits. I wish it were true that the Republican opposition to national healthcare was really a support for a less costly, more effective, healthcare system. But, unfortunately, the Democrats and the Republicans are both supporting the plans that are most profitable to the commercial healthcare industry.
We have poured, and continue to pour, hundreds of billions of dollars into research and trials, new drugs and old, creative new ideas, and other ideas that have, as their only real purpose, the delivery of more dollars to creative private entrepreneurs.
In my view, there is only one conclusion: our efforts must continue to be, overwhelmingly, in support of all healthcare for everybody – not just an outpouring of billions to new research and ever- more- pervasive “disease-cure” trials for one or another major or exotic illness.
We must also be very careful not to pour more billions into the pockets of health maintenance organizations, AARP, and other money-making enterprises that have found ways to get Medicare dollars. Our vision needs to continue to be one that provides Medicare dollars for everyone for the illnesses that they are currently suffering and for preventive care, public health, and other real healthcare needs.
And today, as I sit in front of the computer and every other national media outlet, overcome by overriding fears of swine flu, it is quite evident that we must have healthcare that serves everyone, with no exceptions – single payer with no monetary bypasses to the profit-makers.
In this country, very few ill people, if any, go without the world’s best health care. Somehow, somewhere they find a charity or a hospital that will donate the needed care.
85% of Americans love the health insurance they now have. Why would we destroy the care of 85% of Americans to make 15% feel better about themselves.
National healthcare is a joke and the first step to the ruination of the world’s best health care system.
Really? Not sure what country you’re talking about. Because 2,200 people have already died since Obama took office because they didn’t have access to insurance.
That certainly isn’t true in my part of the world. In New Mexico, hardly anyone I know has health insurance or can afford it. While we pay taxes and watch our kids shipped off to fight wars based on lies, and billions of dollars are spent lining the pockets of war profiteers, we can’t take care of even basic health needs and our emergency medical bills are insane.
The truth is that 75% of teh American public wants a public option, and single payer is far-and-away the preferred public option. Friends of mine in Canada, and friends of mine in Great Britain, and friends of mine in Australia and friends of mine in Germany are all very happy with the way their public health care system works. None of them are rich, but all of them can see a doctor when they need to, and get the care they need as soon as they need it. I have to wait months to get in to see my doctor. The statistics show that people in all four of these “foreign” countries can expect to live longer and healthier lives than people in the USA. At this point, we do not have the “best health care system” in the world. The World Health Organization has studied the lives and health of people in all developed countries, and the USA comes out somewhere around #14. Andorra is #1 and France is #2.
Don’t forget, Germany does not have single payer, nor does Japan. Both have a national health care plan based on insurance companies. However, those companies are strictly regulated, and are non-profits by law.
Either way works. The key is national health care for all, and close regulation. That and a determination that health care is a right, because we say it’s a right.
America has the best health care technology, and the worst health care system in the industrial world.
Our health care system sucked up about 7.4% of our GDP in 1970. By 1990 they were 13%. Now health care takes 16% of GDP. By 2017 that’s projected to hit 20%. Twenty cents of every dollar in our economy will be in health care. In Japan the figure now is less than 9%.
Can we afford that price? You afraid of rationing? You will see rationing. Either our health care system will collapse, or our economy will collapse. And when the economy collapses our health care system goes with it.
Death panels won’t be necessary, there won’t be any care for ordinary people beyond the basics.
2,200 people have died because they lacked insurance, Really? Not sure what country you’re talking about or when your proctologist removed that statistic. Go to our neighbors to the North or across the pond and ask how many die because everyone has access to insurance.
So you’ll just deny that there’s a problem?
Go here.
Or here.
Or here.
Proof enough for you?
Mike Barrett’s comment is spot on. Medicare is a disaster, as is any goverment run program. Sure, the people who don’t deliver my mail, and have squandered my retirement in the world’s largest Ponzi scheme are going to take care of my medical care? Don’t count on it.
How, exactly, does one differentiate between the government, the corporations, and the private health insurance lobby? It all seems to be one giant corrupt for-profit ponzi scheme from this end of the pond.
Medicare is a superb success. You may be too young to remember what it was like before medicare. Social security is also a superb success. Before social security the elderly were the poorest people in this country, and retirement was only for the wealthy.
Our problem is not the programs, it’s putting those programs under the control of those who want to destroy them.
The problems some countries have with national health care are due to those who oppose NHC being in charge long enough to damage it. At that every industrialized country in the world has NHC, and spends less of their GDP to provide health care equal to ours to their entire population.
A sane reaction to waste by the Pentagon is to either call for cuts by the Pentagon or at least to demand better tighter oversight. Instead, people say “oh the military had $500 toilet seats, so I don’t trust government to help with healthcare” talk about the wrong conclusion. The fact that corporate and military interests denied the people’s interest in one case (military waste and overspending) should convince us to not let the people come before profits in *another* case (health care) so we deliberately let profits over people there too, as if the military and Wall Street examples aren’t bad enough?
Same thing with with Wall Street: the fact that corporate interests won in the banking case should convince us to let corporations continue to run healthcare?? Talk about backwards conclusions.
The fact the Banks and financial corporations corrupted government or sweet talked it with promises (in reality a bit of both) led to the financial melt down…thanks to: “let the wild west of no-regulation ‘capitalism’ and ‘free markets’ (reall: corporate giants and oligopolies) run the show! it will turn out ok!”
The real lesson from that is to *not* let the “let’s have the wild west unregulated ‘free’ and ‘market’ regime run everything!” fool us ever, ever again..and to insist on oversight, prudent consumer-protecting and citizen-protecting regulation, and a role for government (our elected representatives) to counter-balance the money and corporate interests….that’s the real lesson, so obvious it stares you in the face!
People are trying to convince us that the “lesson” is “don’t let government help the people with healthcare” all because corporations almost entirely cut-out government oversight-regulation, and we have the Wall Street mess….bass-ackwards logic! Time for us to keep talking to neighbors about (above) the Real Lesson from the wall street meltdown etc…
The military actually does deliver what they are paid to deliver. And they are very good at delivering it. They deliver death and destruction on command.
Now, let’s have a system that delivers medical care, health and life.
See, the government can do it.
I say to you Mike Barrett & John you must be working for insurance companies and assisting the big money making CEO’s or if not you are stupid in your thoughts. Down with all the corrupt Insurance Co.’s
The movement is on per Health Mobilization by the people…check it on on the sit-ins going on at the big Insurance Co’s. Watch out politicians you people could get fired, Americans are sick and tired of way things are being bought and paid for by lobbist per insurance companies.