Voters To Congress: What's Wrong With Single-Payer Health Care? »
Posted By bluetexasvalley 8 months, 1 week ago in Political NewsGive voters a voice in the debate over health care reform and they ask about the one thing most lawmakers decided from the start would not be considered: "Why not a single-payer program?"
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bluetexasvalley
I am a 60-plus widow, retired after almost 40 years in the newspaper business. My love of politics was learned, first, from my father, a ...
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bluetexasvalley8 months, 1 week ago
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FTA:
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The question-and-answer hour was expected to focus on public health care options as part of a health care landscape that would still be dominated by private insurance companies. But online voters, who cast almost 30,000 votes at progressivecaucus.org between Tuesday night and Thursday, hijacked the session, demanding to know why a single-payer program is not being considered.
Though only five of more than 750 questions were chosen to be asked at the event, some proved far more popular than others. The top questions included how much influence the insurance companies have had on the reform debate and why the public can't have a level of health care comparable to that of the assembled congressmen.
"What is it going to take for you to WAKE UP and smell the catastrophe that for-profit healthcare is?" read the fifth most popular question, the last on the list asked of the caucus members.
The novelty of the forum created a sense of actual dialogue between the legislators and their constituents, said Darcy Burner, the executive director of the nonprofit Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation, which advises the caucus and organized the discussion.
"Part of what we're trying to do is help build relationships between members of Congress and the grassroots such that there is more mutual trust than exists right now, so it didn't surprise me at all that the questions were somewhat adversarial," she said.
The legislators overwhelmingly support a single-payer program, Burner said, but don't consider it feasible. At this point, they're pulling for "a robust public plan that will provide real competition," she said.-
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scott42618 months, 1 week ago
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Wouldn't it be interesting if the vast majority chose the public plan (should one become available) - over the private plans we all know will exist? If that were to happen, that would move the debate from how efficient a single-payer plan would work incomparison to the bloated waste the insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry will have to cut in order to compete.... and those poor, poor CEOs will be forced to get a pay cut from their lofty 7-, 8-, 9-figure salaries ....and what a shame THAT would be! LOL!
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Spadecaller8 months, 1 week ago
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"...Why the public can't have a level of health care comparable to that of the assembled congressmen?"
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Because "our" so-called representatives do not represent us; they represent the insurance companies and big pharma.
If we are going to finally rebel against a government that fails to provide adequate representation, it is not tea that we need to throw into the harbor; this time we need to throw the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies followed by their representation - Congress. -
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jaern8 months, 1 week ago
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If I had been give $700,000 or more by private insurance, I'd have a hard time voting against them as well. Perhaps the first thing we should do is outlaw these lobbyist practices and then see if the peoples voices are really heard.
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Justice4All8 months, 1 week ago
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Better health care for more people at a lower cost means someone has to lose out. the losers would be insurance companies with their multi-millionare execuitives and the lawyers that get rich by sucking money out of the system.
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It's easy to see why so many are against this. -
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canadianrancher578 months, 1 week ago
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While ih high school I was forced to read the novel Animal Farm and the whole idea behind it was to see how bad an idea communism was. My idea of the novel earned me a failing grade since I argued that the idea presented in the novel could be applied to any government system. The reason I brought this up has to do with one of the lines in the novel how some animaals are more equal than others, which is what I see when one compares the medical coverage that politicians get as compared to the ordinary person.
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No person knows what the future holds for them in regards to health issues and to believe that one can plan to be able to finmacially handle this is something that few can do by themselves, so along came medical insurance to provide the solution but there was a cost, the cost that is expected to be paid for by all of those using it is the idea of profit. Now some of you will say here goes that socialist Canadian on one of his rants but when it comes to medical issues there are only so many things one can do to affect what will happen to them. It's not like being unemployed where one can change location or retrain what it is is the unforeseen happening, I would not be against private insurance is it was an unconditional contract but it is not, it is a contract that is written by lawyers to protect the profits of a company or an industry and that allows them many legal loopholes.
My solution to this problem is simple but it will likely will never happen because of the lobby of insurance companies. My solution is to put it on a ballot and let the people decide, elected representatives be damned.-
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Natureboy8 months, 1 week ago
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"My idea of the novel earned me a failing grade since I argued that the idea presented in the novel could be applied to any government system."
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You nailed it.
Any heirarchy tends to serve those at the top of the heirarchic pyramid. The more heirarchic the government, the worse the problem will be, regardless of the economic system.
Only grassroots local autonomy will cut us loose of that.
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bigdavsam18 months, 1 week ago
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it shows you that if you want health care find a job that has one instead of the relying on the gov't because they might rationalize health care and put themselves and those they like as the first priority and others last. that is why we don't need the gov't in charge.
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Goppy8 months, 1 week ago
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There's bigdavsam1 ... slamming our small business operators ... as is the Modern Republican Way.
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Modern Republicans ONLY support Big Corporations.
To Small Companies ... they say ... too bad ... you shoulda gotten bigger ... maybe if you had sent us more money ... like the large corporations ... we would have worked for you.
And is there any bigger companies than Insurance Companies .. ? .. Not so much.
The Modern Republican will grip that Ideology of Corporate Fascism until our entire nation is strangled.
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cowboygrandpa8 months, 1 week ago
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FTA:
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"Though only five of more than 750 questions were chosen to be asked at the event, some proved far more popular than others. The top questions included how much influence the insurance companies have had on the reform debate and why the public can't have a level of health care comparable to that of the assembled congressmen.
"What is it going to take for you to WAKE UP and smell the catastrophe that for-profit healthcare is?" read the fifth most popular question, the last on the list asked of the caucus members."
What I find interesting is that, even with Americas health care system failing, our "bought and paid for" representatives still believe in the insurance companies bull crap !!!!
Take away their medical coverage, pay them the average income of Americans and make them live on it !!!
If convicted of accepting bribery place them in prison, and allow the tax payers to support them in their new found profession, being somebodies bitc*.
Health care for profit is just like saying that unless you are wealthy you don't deserve to live. If you can't afford it, to bad, just die, so the wealthy will have all their luxuries and not have to share the dwindling resources of the world.
But oh they want us to pay for the Research and Development of their products, throught the tax breaks they receive.
People have forgotten that we were a capitalist nation, when doctors would treat patients and receive not much payment.
Because the doctors were doctors, not greedy specialists who were in it for the money, like the insurance companies. Who have always been in it for the money.
We've just lost sight of what is really important. It is not money and it is not luxuries. It is people. -
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cowboygrandpa8 months, 1 week ago
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automan:
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The reason the government can't run anything properly right now is because we have so much stinkin' corruption in everythhing.
True government efficiency is possible. Take away all the damn special interest bribe masters. Put government officials who accept bribes and those who offer the bribes in a real prison where they have to work their as*es off just to live, (like we do), with no consideration as to why they accepted the bribe or why it was offered.
Stop allowing politicians special priveleges we don't receive, make them live like the rest of the populace. They get their heads filled with sh*t in the political arena right now. And that is both parties.
Health care reform would happen real soon if it was the "blood suckers" in office who didn't have any or couldn't afford it. -
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Goppy8 months, 1 week ago
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Why do you want to p-iss on our Military like that automan909?
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Do you HATE our men and women in uniform that much?
What did our soldiers ever do to you?
Did you have a bad experience in Vietnam ... and now ... you want to hit back at our young men and women in uniform?
Now ... granted ... this is the way of the Modern Republican Party ... kickin sand in the face of our soldiers ... cutting the GI Bill, Incompetent War Management, letting Walter Reed Hospital collapse about our vets.
So you think the government's LARGEST SOCIALISTIC PROGRAM ... our MILITARY ... the program that our nation spends BY FAR the largest amount on ...
... is CRAP?
Well ... no wonder GW Bush disrespected our soldiers.
But YOU TOO automan909?
I mean ... I knew you were a cynic, a misanthrope, and a nihilist ... but I never imaged you hated our soldiers.
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chevydog8 months, 1 week ago
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automan -- One hears this very often. I don't put much stock in it. The mangers and people that run govt organizations are trained at the same schools, using the same books, and by the same teachers as those in private industry. Sometimes they are even the same people. They don't lose their intelligence, I can assure you, when they cross the private/public boundary.
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Some thoughts:
* Don't think that doing something for profit inherently makes anyone any better.
* The whole idea may be a myth. I've never seen any study of public/private organizations doing equivalent work--period. Let alone one showing one better than the other.
* Private concerns are free to "cherry pick" --choose only the most profitable business. Government organizations are usually required to take all comers. This could make them look less efficient when in fact there is not an equivalent comparison.
* Govt organizations may be less efficient because of their size. This is a normal thing; you also see it in private companies. IMHO it used to be more true than it is now. Design of business procedures to work with electronic processing has leveled out the playing field alot between small and big companies.
You mentioned Medicare and Social Security. I've recently hit the stage of life where now I utilize both of these. Personally, I don't see any difference between those and the private insurance that my employers provided.
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moonstream1Comment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned5 Replies
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moonstream1Comment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned7 Replies
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kade08688 months, 1 week ago
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This is the total ******** here is that it will raise my taxes to pay for some jerk that doesn't want to work or pay their bills of course people on the Gov dole want this **** they aren't paying for anything anyway why not ask for more and more. They say the government can pay for it while f you too. The government doesn't have any money it doesn't produce anything you freaking idiots - they get it buy stealing your money to pay for freakin' deadbeats. This is why they should have never created income tax - that was a big mistake. We didn't pay Federal income taxes until 1860. This progressive Socialism has to stop - you want to live like Europe go move to Europe stop f up America. You want to succeed in America get off of your ass and get to work. You want this kind of **** system then you can pay for it for the people that don't want it they shouldn't have to put one freakin' dime into it to pay for it for others.
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Goppy8 months, 1 week ago
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Well ... that simply won't work.
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The United States spends TRILLIONS on the Military ... TRILLIONS ...
In fact, since the end of WW2 ... The United States has spent over $40 TRILLION on Military Expenses.
That's FORTY TRILLION ...
Does anyone step back and think ... maybe we shouldn't be spending this much money?
Does anyone step back and say ... we cannot afford this..
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cheif8 months, 1 week ago
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Single payer has got to fly - the present system is broken down and can't be fixed.
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Why do we even pay insurance companies these very high premiums to be turned down if their 'bottom line' is adversely effected by your problem.
As was noted, you can get the same turn down in various countries, but you aren't expected to pay very high insurance premiums or pay 50 times what the drugs or
operations is really worth. Isn't it depressing that our elderly take 'drug buses' to Canada and Mexico to buy drugs they can't afford here?
The drug companies have a couple explanations - because we can afford it (insurance), the extensive cost to develop a drug (paid for by government grants - taken from taxpayers), so they
say they have to recoup their development costs. So if it costs so much to develop, why is it expensive in America and at
the most, 25% of the cost in foreign countries? They take taxpayer money to develop the drugs and ensure taxpayer money
is confiscated to pay them back for spending our money?????
God...we are stupid...how do we let them get away with all this?-
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Gransater8 months, 1 week ago
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God.... we are ............................... Too many of us believe the propaganda put out by drug companies/conservatives, while letting the sun blind them from the realities of the current system we have. They also fail to comprehend the hidden costs our system contains, both from a personal and a corporate point of view.
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