"Many advocate going all the way to single-payer health insurance. Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee argues in the Progressive that Obama and Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for health and human services secretary, should opt for single-payer health insurance.

Now is no time for piecemeal solutions:

Such a path would perpetuate the crisis and deal a cruel blow to the hopes of Americans for real reform. Those in Congress and liberal policy organizations who are embracing caution or promoting more insurance, not more care, are playing a risky game. It could jeopardize the health security of tens of millions of Americans and, in the process, fatally erode public support for the Obama administration."

By Lindsay Beyerstein ...

Thank You Linda for a great Article ...

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Moral Terrorism!!!

At any particular time and place and for varying durations, there is always a sector of our populations, local, state and national, consisting of men, women and children, who are in need of medical care. The numbers are NOT insignificant. At every second and in every place. Faces may change; compositions and combinations of men, women or children may change. But there are ALWAYS a great number of those who cannot afford or obtain access to basic care.

Now, the "Right Wing" -- There are Aristocracies and Elites -- Of Capital and of Labor! And make no mistake, here in the USA, the sad, very sad fact is that most of those who oppose such advances for the actually working and producing classes, belong to this very CLASS themselves!!!! Time to take some stock here, men!!

Doctors -- we don't envy you you're lavish homes and life-styles and all that you have accumulated for yourselves. Envy is the stuff of morals. Do not think we hunger to live as you yourself do. But doctors: YOU ARE WORKERS!!!! Which side are you on????

Lawyers -- ditto as above. But, lawyers, you are WORKERS!!!!!! Which side are you on??

Insurance Agents -- ditto as above. But you are WORKERS!!!! Which side are you on????

Who, then, is it that 'envies' (hates)?? Why do WORKERS, in intellectual matters, HATE workers in physical matters??

We know about why a CAPITALIST would not want us to have things -- it squeezes more labor from us and casts aside the useless to the gutters and the morgue. It keeps us "hungry" for work, and for work at the lowest wages. It is the Carrot and the Stick for us Worker-Beasts.

But why do some WORKERS, hate us OTHER WORKERS?? That, is the USA.

Choose your Side, Doctor, Lawyer, Architect, Technician, Analyst, Teacher, Administrator, Professor, Nurse, Actor, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Dentist ..... CHOOSE your Side!!

You are also WORKERS, just like us!

Which side are you on?????

If you are with Capital -- declare it yourself loud and clear: traitor, betrayer and whore.

The fact that you make millions in wages sometimes cannot mask, can no longer mask, the fact that, you, like us, are still and all a WORKER.

Which side are you on?

If on the Right, which Right?

If on the Left, which Left?

And if you do not work so much, and let your "dollars do the work", whose back and shoulders are you standing on?? And why do you preach to us about "liking" what we need so much??

What side are you on?

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Paying 45% of my income in taxes so the worthless among society have access to health care does not seem like a good idea to me. Why did Fidel leave Cuba for his health care? Why do Canadians with money come to get cared in the US?

Since we all live for the common good in this utopian wet dream, how do we assess penalties to people that are unhealthy do to their poor life choices. Someone is going to respond: “when you are part of a society, you’re actions are supposed to benefit everyone”. If that is true, than fat people with heart problems, smokers with cancer, and people that have contracted HIV/Aids through anal sex or drug use are detriments to us all. How do we punish them?

…President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which funds AIDS prevention and treatment in 15 poor countries.

As it has been said on this site many times before, America needs to butt out. We are not the world’s police, we are not mommy we are not big brother.

Let’s put it to referendum. Tell the people exactly what they will get and how much it will cost and let America decide. If we are lied to and the price is more then we agreed it becomes void. Of course this will never happen because “progressives” are just as authoritarian as neocons.

Protect us from ourselves B-HO.

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The economic sustainablity of our US Health care system (and most other developed nations with an aging demographic) will require nothing short of the boldness and creativity that we are applying to the global environmental crisis

In this nation the uninsured have been immorally denied basic services- sacrificed at the alter of the free market-while the insured (most of us)have been both duped and swindled into purchasing medicines and medical services that we do not need at best and harm us at worst.

We need a sustainable prevention based health care system-both individual(health behaviors)and more importantly institutional(public health) to replace our bloated and corrupt "disease care" system

We need to begin to dismantle a $2.2 trillion dollar,and growing, disease care industry that, if not checked very soon could be the financial ruin of this nation.

It will be painful but it must be done

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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READ IT AND WEEP! ITS FAR WORSE THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED
http://www.whale.to/a/medical_mafia.html

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The Republicans are afraid that public health care would be cheaper and possibly better than the current system, so they are opposing it? So much for protecting the people that voted them into office.

Well, I think we can conclude from the statements in the article above that the Republican Party is controlled by the big health insurers, since they are the ones that benefit the most from the current system.

We have to change the health care system before it bankrupts the country. We have little choice or time left. If the rich want to opt for private insurance, let them. That doesn't have to mean that the rest of us must follow them.

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While there is seemingly no public acknowledgement of the any connection between Obama's selection of Rick Warren as the official representative of U.S. religion and the president-elect’s views on health care reform, the Warren appointment in combination with Obama's apparent intent to retain Bush-appointee Mark Dybul as Global AIDS Coordinator increasingly reveals a deep fundamentalist sympathy Obama hitherto kept carefully hidden.

Which, due to the legal principles involved, in turn suggests Obama may harbor a profound aversion -- also thus far a carefully kept secret -- to any significant expansion of governmental presence in the national health care system.

To explain:

Dybul would not have been appointed by the Bush Administration if he did not share its position on AIDS: essentially that AIDS is divine punishment for homosexuality, heterosexual promiscuity and drug abuse. Thus Dybul predictably insists on the same principles of sexual abstinence -- including what amounts to an absolute prohibition of condom use -- that are at the core of the definitively fundamentalist anti-sex campaign Bush is waging through the nation’s public schools and in other domestic venues.

Warren of course shares these dogmas. Based on the fact Warren is also an avowed misogynist who opposes not only abortion but birth control and on the overwhelming probability Dybul’s views are identical, Obama’s choices therefore bode very ill indeed for women’s reproductive rights and reproductive health in general.

These choices also profoundly diminish any likelihood Obama will rescind the recent Bush executive order that, in effect, grants Christian fundamentalists total control over the nation’s medical procedures and thereby turns the United States into a genuine theocracy -- a realm where, by executive order, the Bible now supersedes the Constitution.

As demonstrated by the 1954 defeat of racial segregation, the only (relatively) certain method for overturning such institutionalized government bigotry is appeal to the Supreme Court.

However the court itself has repeatedly ruled that -- save in limited circumstances -- the Constitution does not apply to private industry. Due to the resultant nullification of Constitutional protection, the health-insurance plutocracy can thus be as bigoted as it wants -- or bigoted as it might be asked to be by the government. The same principle allows private armies like (fundamentalist-owned) Blackwater to routinely violate our individual rights without any fear of legal consequences.

Consequently Obama and his newly revealed legions of fundamentalist crusaders have a huge incentive to oppose ANY government single-payer health insurance program -- to insist that any “reform” be limited to the private sector.

As to single-payer care itself, the non-profit, member-governed Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (which I joined in 1972), was during the previous reform effort reportedly considered the best possible U.S. model for such a system, and it presumably remains so today. Though Group Health representatives were key participants in that earlier (c. 1992-94) effort even before the Clinton Administration took office, there is no indication GH has been given any comparable invitation by the Obama Administration: yet another piece of evidence that suggests we should begin preparing ourselves to add health care reform to our rapidly growing list of betrayed hopes.

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I'm not sure it's coming. Relax people. The cons are "happy". The "progressives" and "liberals" will need to get out big boxes of kleenex tissues and sniffle for a looooooooong time.

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The Government that gives you everything can take it all away!

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is pretty much the same program that all federal employees already have. Senators, Representatives, and the President have it. You don't hear them complaining about that's it not good enough and they could certainly afford to go out and purchase private insurance. You'll never hear that it's "socialist" from any of the people on it. It's been very effective for Dick Cheney and his heart procedures!!!
It's shameful that there are people in the world who would rather see somebody die than be able to go to the doctor without being bankrupted or turned away because of no money. You're already paying for those who can't afford to pay because the costs are adjusted to charge you for unpaid bills. Didn't you ever wonder why an aspirin costs $10 at the hospital? It's to cover the cost of those who can't pay!
Also, if you don't have insurance you pay about three times what the insured (insurance co) pays. Example, I had to have an outpatient procedure done. I was at the hospital for about three hours, which included sitting and waiting for about an hour, and in recovery for another hour. The rest of the time was spent prepping with about 30 minutes actual time for the procedure. The cost was over $11,500.00!! but the hospital and doctor were only allowed to charge the insurance company the contracted (allowable) rate and they ended up paying only about $2,0000.00 after I paid my $1,000.00 deductible. It's a total financial nightmare for the uninsured, and my procedure was very minor!! I can't imagine what the bill would have been if it was major like a heart attack or cancer!
It's time to get real and get single-payer insurance for every American!!

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Large corporations commonly diversify when one sector of their concern becomes less profitable. Witness Phillip Morris, which branched away from cigarettes. Our wealthy corporate health care deniers will find plenty of outlets for their capital once we price them out of their racket.
The health insurance racket is predicated on the idea of making a profit off of those increasingly few who can afford health care insurance, and the corporations that dominate spend their fortunes on cleverly denying claims, rejecting the pre-existing conditioned, and generally working hard to make sure only the most worthy can afford it.
The worthless? They decide. To increase profits each year, they deny more and more people, or cut back until their premiums pay for virtually no health care. No wonder 50 million people are so worthless that they can't afford to pay for worthless insurance.
A government play would eliminate the corporate socialism we've been told is so efficient because government health care doesn't have to compensate rich CEO's and the rest of the administrative costs that are 30 percent higher than government run health care programs.
Our society is sick in it's allegiance to corporate thinking in finance, energy, manufacturing, and health care. We need to take the wheel from these power drunk administrators and reestablish accountability and affordability.

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It's good to keep in mind that the Repubs. have been in charge for a long time. They are unaccustomed to being questioned about anything. Everything put to them will meet with disapproval. They are used to winning every round. They don't like the CHANGE. I think every good idea will be met with some resistance because it's been that way for too long. Old habits die hard. They need some time. ANNA

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Somebody's saying we might just like single-payer universal health care, and they're rethugs, no less. For once, I'll have to agree with them. If we do it right, as we're capable of (when our heads aren't up our asses),we'll have a health care systen so damn good, people from around the world will come here to get sick or hurt. Maybe I exaggerated a bit on the last part, but it's well known that we've invented most of what's made life better for humankind right here in the good ol' U S of A, and we can damn well do it again.

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If you want to fix our economic mess once and for all- fix what is killing all American Industry- our private healthcare mess. The US simply cannot keep paying 16+% of our GDP for healthcare versus the rest of the industrialized worlds' 10-12%. Oh yes and the longevity stats are worse for America too.
The Better solution for America is to adopt HR 676 Conyers healthcare bill- this will immediately cut employment costs and get management's focus back to business and not picking the least onerous health insurance plans.
Detroit is just the 'canary in the coal mine' hitting the economic crash barrier first due to legacy costs- all our other industrial jobs are right behind.

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We've already got some National Government Run Health Care in the United States. It's called MEDICARE. We've also got a GREAT State Health Care system in Massachusetts. It's called Commonwealth Care and it's amazing. In Massachusetts, we've hooked up ALL our uninsured with State Health Care. It saves us money in the long run because uninsured people will go to the Emergency Room when things get too bad to ignore. And That's REALLY expensive. Better to take care of your people before it gets to that point.

When will we learn? Health Insurance is the biggest ripoff in United States today and I feel sorry for people that have to buy into it. Canada, France and England all have great National Health Systems. I've seen them. I've been in the hospitals. The care is incredible.

Who are these Americans who run down other countries for taking care of their citizens? Why do they do this? I think they work for Health Insurance Companies. Why else would they say these things?

And another thing. Is the United States so completely incompetent that we can't run a National Health System for our own people? Are we just hopelessly more incompetent than say, The French, The British.. The Canadians? We, who sent men to the moon and saved the world from Fascism? Hopeless when it comes to health care? I just don't buy it.

I would be HAPPY to pay MORE taxes for a National Health System to take care of every one of my fellow Americans but I will never pay one red cent to a Health Insurance Company.

It is the right thing to do and we have put it off for far too long.

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I disaagree with the implications of the appointment.

It does semm the prez elect is thinking about term II. I would rather that be based on his popularity rather than on not rocking the boat in a time of war.

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