If you don't have insurance and show up at emergency and can't pay you still get treated. Only the rest of us pay for it with higher rates! So I don't understand you guys against a national health plan. Also, the doctors are just out and out crooks. I called them terrorists awhile back and I still agree. I had to take my wife into Emergency for chest pains. Luckily, it was just a pulled muscle, but while in the Emergency her her doctor comes in. She reads the notes, she says "Lynne, what happened?" My wife said she had chest pains. The doctor said everything looked good but they were going to keep her over night. We all ready knew that, The bill for the doctor for that her visit? $485.00 my insurance paid. No one even called the doctor She was all ready in the hospital!
Answer this Question...
- Thread starter justin22g
- Start date
Stevie, i just saw a show with this couple who were pretty finacially secure (they thought). They had twins and health care. Well the one child needed all kinds of help. These people have now lost everything they owned.(a couple of houses and all of their money they saved throughout their lifetime) They are now in tremendous debt because the health care they had ran out at a certain point. These guys that don't want to have universal health care i wonder how they would feel if they were put into this situation? Its simple human decency that is controlled by greed like every other shady thing in this country. To me it looks like Barack plan covers everyone who wants to be insured and if you like what you have already then you keep what you have. I just wish that he would put a stipulation in it and say if you like what you have then keep it and keep your big fat mouth shut with it. These same couple of people who are totally against universal healthcare are the same people here on the site, who not once said anything about the billions and billions of dollars missing in Iraq or the billions pissed away from war profiteering. Maybe someday their families can be put in the same situation the family with the twins were unfortunately put in. Karma is a bitch sometimes.
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Why do I have to pay for an excessive military establishment? Why do I have to pay for private contractors to carry out roles the previously paid for military are supposed to be doing and in charge of?
Why do I have to pay for tax incentives and breaks to oil companies to conduct business activities they should already be doing, and then watch them not do those things? That then turn around and get paid more of my money as incentives to buy up manufacturers of other forms of energy sources and solutions to help maintain/raise the cost of their original product? Who also buy up the products of those new companies and then receive more money as incentives to do just that?
Why do I have to pay for health care costs for illegal aliens that are in this country breaking the law - many of which that could have been stopped from entering this country if our national guard was being used here to prevent it - instead of fighting elective wars in faraway countries? Why do I have to pay for a suddenly activated International Guard - that is supposed to be working at home?
Why do I have to pay for bailout costs of big private financial institutions that knowingly conduct bad business practices that prey on anyone they can get their hands on to increase their own profits? At the same time the people in charge of that process take out millions in bonuses before the bailouts?
And, the biggest one for me - why do I have to watch 1/3 of my tax money going to pay for the interest payments on the national debt - much of which is going directly into the coiffures of our most worrisome present and future adversarial superpowers - which will always take measure to make us weaker, when they can? In large part because of the elective war we currently have been fighting for years and as some would prefer we continue to fight indefinitely?
Seems to me the health and well being of our own countrymen have as much value and importance as most of the above. But to each their own, I suppose...
Why do I have to pay for tax incentives and breaks to oil companies to conduct business activities they should already be doing, and then watch them not do those things? That then turn around and get paid more of my money as incentives to buy up manufacturers of other forms of energy sources and solutions to help maintain/raise the cost of their original product? Who also buy up the products of those new companies and then receive more money as incentives to do just that?
Why do I have to pay for health care costs for illegal aliens that are in this country breaking the law - many of which that could have been stopped from entering this country if our national guard was being used here to prevent it - instead of fighting elective wars in faraway countries? Why do I have to pay for a suddenly activated International Guard - that is supposed to be working at home?
Why do I have to pay for bailout costs of big private financial institutions that knowingly conduct bad business practices that prey on anyone they can get their hands on to increase their own profits? At the same time the people in charge of that process take out millions in bonuses before the bailouts?
And, the biggest one for me - why do I have to watch 1/3 of my tax money going to pay for the interest payments on the national debt - much of which is going directly into the coiffures of our most worrisome present and future adversarial superpowers - which will always take measure to make us weaker, when they can? In large part because of the elective war we currently have been fighting for years and as some would prefer we continue to fight indefinitely?
Seems to me the health and well being of our own countrymen have as much value and importance as most of the above. But to each their own, I suppose...
Love the "practicing" doctors in (I'll say well over half) Chicago.
Any holiday, all the beds must be empty. Nobody is sick for the next several days.
No holiday, test the hell out of EVERY swinging dick in the building. Then test them again. Then cut them open. Then test them again. Sure they aren't very sick. Test them again. Make sure you charge them for that aspirin and that toilet paper. Test them again. Send them to your best bud, a lung doctor, even though they came in with a broken leg. See if they have good insurance, test them again. Give them the number of your private practice. Remind them they ain't sick during December.
Any holiday, all the beds must be empty. Nobody is sick for the next several days.
No holiday, test the hell out of EVERY swinging dick in the building. Then test them again. Then cut them open. Then test them again. Sure they aren't very sick. Test them again. Make sure you charge them for that aspirin and that toilet paper. Test them again. Send them to your best bud, a lung doctor, even though they came in with a broken leg. See if they have good insurance, test them again. Give them the number of your private practice. Remind them they ain't sick during December.
Nah, that's just garbage socialist cant. Your simple human decency translates into imposing a responsibility on someone else - not you, of course. You're so decent you're going to FORCE JOE AT GUNPOINT to do what you, master Sponge, claim to know is HIS duty as simple human decency. How noble.
I'm against both. Our government has no business in health care or Iraq.
why not a delorean dmc 12?.......why not a million dollar home?....
cause it`s expensive...and dumbs down the care of those that actually contribute something to this country....
far as i know,nobody gets turned down for health care in this country...not even those that are breaking the law by being here...
if you can`t afford that lawyer,you think you`re getting an "f lee bailey" or an "eddie haskell"
SIB) ?....i don`t think so....you`ll get represented,but you`ll get what you "didn`t" pay for...and that`s as it should be..
you`ll get a rudimentary public education...but,if you`re stupid,or you`re not willing to work to put yourself through college,that`s basically as far as you`re going.....
life`s not easy....it`s not supposed to be...when everybody sits back on their keester and gets everything in life for nothing,that`s when this country will sink like a rock...
that`s just my opinion on the matter..:shrug:
then lets get rid of cops and fireman and the rest of the things we chisel off of. Every western industrailized nation has healthcare for there people and i don't see one of them complaining. Ill take the gov't plan over my plan any day of the week because i haven't saw one of them complaining either. All those countries got it wrong and we somehow have it right. Priceless.
Government involvement is what's wrong with our health care system. But stick to your simplistic little socialist moralizing. It's easier than learning the facts.
The biggest problem I see with the current system is that it is not a real market, and that is being exploited by the health care companies. When I sign up for my healthcare plan, I have to use the one my company has chosen for me, or I have to pay for it myself (not a realistic option). Since employers have gone from paying a 100% to much, much less, the burden continues to increase for the end user....who is at the mercy of the company to choose a plan for them. If healthcare providers are trying to get business, they are going to tailor plans that make sense for the company, shifting further burden to the end user.
I can't understand why people worry about this making us a socialistic country, but are more than happy with a system that is anything but capitalistic. Maybe I need to spend some time up Rush Limbaughs ass to see the light.
I can't understand why people worry about this making us a socialistic country, but are more than happy with a system that is anything but capitalistic. Maybe I need to spend some time up Rush Limbaughs ass to see the light.
Actually that point has been made. Stay out of Limbaugh's ass and work on your reading comprehension. If health care is a problem, and if govt regulates who becomes a doctor, what becomes a drug, what rules the insurance companies have to follow, then government is the source of the problem.
Why is your employer involved with your health care at all? It doesn't make any sense. The reason is that the government imposed wage controls in world war two, pushing companies to offer benefits as a way to attract workers. So yet again, the government presented by the socialists as a solution is the entity that caused the problem in the first place. The government should get out of health care entirely and the let the market do what it does best: offer a range of options at a range of prices.
tapri
you really hate the goverment
Geez Louise
If you spent as much time on something constructive as you do with the poison that is in your soul, you could change the world.
Its sad really
aint that a peach
you really hate the goverment
Geez Louise
If you spent as much time on something constructive as you do with the poison that is in your soul, you could change the world.
Its sad really
aint that a peach
Scott,he dont hate the government.He just looks at all the negatives,and swallows it up whole.
A very negative person IMO.
The Case for Universal Health Care in the United States
The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States
By John R. Battista, M.D. and Justine McCabe, Ph.D.
1. Why doesn?t the United States have universal health care as a right of citizenship? The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while 1 (Germany) has a multipayer universal health care system like President Clinton proposed for the United States.
2. Myth One: The United States has the best health care system in the world.
* Fact One: The United States ranks 23rd in infant mortality, down from 12th in 1960 and 21st in 1990
* Fact Two: The United States ranks 20th in life expectancy for women down from 1st in 1945 and 13th in 1960
* Fact Three: The United States ranks 21st in life expectancy for men down from 1st in 1945 and 17th in 1960.
* Fact Four: The United States ranks between 50th and 100th in immunizations depending on the immunization. Overall US is 67th, right behind Botswana
* Fact Five: Outcome studies on a variety of diseases, such as coronary artery disease, and renal failure show the United States to rank below Canada and a wide variety of industrialized nations.
* Conclusion: The United States ranks poorly relative to other industrialized nations in health care despite having the best trained health care providers and the best medical infrastructure of any industrialized nation
3. Myth Two: Universal Health Care Would Be Too Expensive
* Fact One: The United States spends at least 40% more per capita on health care than any other industrialized country with universal health care
* Fact Two: Federal studies by the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting office show that single payer universal health care would save 100 to 200 Billion dollars per year despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits.
* Fact Three: State studies by Massachusetts and Connecticut have shown that single payer universal health care would save 1 to 2 Billion dollars per year from the total medical expenses in those states despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits
* Fact Four: The costs of health care in Canada as a % of GNP, which were identical to the United States when Canada changed to a single payer, universal health care system in 1971, have increased at a rate much lower than the United States, despite the US economy being much stronger than Canada?s.
* Conclusion: Single payer universal health care costs would be lower than the current US system due to lower administrative costs. The United States spends 50 to 100% more on administration than single payer systems. By lowering these administrative costs the United States would have the ability to provide universal health care, without managed care, increase benefits and still save money
4. Myth Three: Universal Health Care Would Deprive Citizens of Needed Services
* Fact One: Studies reveal that citizens in universal health care systems have more doctor visits and more hospital days than in the US
* Fact Two: Around 30% of Americans have problem accessing health care due to payment problems or access to care, far more than any other industrialized country. About 17% of our population is without health insurance. About 75% of ill uninsured people have trouble accessing/paying for health care.
* Fact Three: Comparisons of Difficulties Accessing Care Are Shown To Be Greater In The US Than Canada (see graph)
* Fact Four: Access to health care is directly related to income and race in the United States. As a result the poor and minorities have poorer health than the wealthy and the whites.
* Fact Five: There would be no lines under a universal health care system in the United States because we have about a 30% oversupply of medical equipment and surgeons, whereas demand would increase about 15%
* Conclusion: The US denies access to health care based on the ability to pay. Under a universal health care system all would access care. There would be no lines as in other industrialized countries due to the oversupply in our providers and infrastructure, and the willingness/ability of the United States to spend more on health care than other industrialized nations.
5. Myth Four: Universal Health Care Would Result In Government Control And Intrusion Into Health Care Resulting In Loss Of Freedom Of Choice
* Fact One: There would be free choice of health care providers under a single payer universal health care system, unlike our current managed care system in which people are forced to see providers on the insurer?s panel to obtain medical benefits
* Fact Two: There would be no management of care under a single payer, universal health care system unlike the current managed care system which mandates insurer preapproval for services thus undercutting patient confidentiality and taking health care decisions away from the health care provider and consumer
* Fact Three: Although health care providers fees would be set as they are currently in 90% of cases, providers would have a means of negotiating fees unlike the current managed care system in which they are set in corporate board rooms with profits, not patient care, in mind
* Fact Four: Taxes, fees and benefits would be decided by the insurer which would be under the control of a diverse board representing consumers, providers, business and government. It would not be a government controlled system, although the government would have to approve the taxes. The system would be run by a public trust, not the government.
* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care administered by a state public health system would be much more democratic and much less intrusive than our current system. Consumers and providers would have a voice in determining benefits, rates and taxes. Problems with free choice, confidentiality and medical decision making would be resolved
6. Myth Five: Universal Health Care Is Socialized Medicine And Would Be Unacceptable To The Public
* Fact One: Single payer universal health care is not socialized medicine. It is health care payment system, not a health care delivery system. Health care providers would be in fee for service practice, and would not be employees of the government, which would be socialized medicine. Single payer health care is not socialized medicine, any more than the public funding of education is socialized education, or the public funding of the defense industry is socialized defense.
* Fact Two: Repeated national and state polls have shown that between 60 and 75% of Americans would like a universal health care system (see The Harris Poll #78, October 20, 2005)
* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care is not socialized medicine and would be preferred by the majority of the citizens of this country
7. Myth Six: The Problems With The US Health Care System Are Being Solved and Are Best Solved By Private Corporate Managed Care Medicine because they are the most efficient
* Fact One: Private for profit corporation are the lease efficient deliverer of health care. They spend between 20 and 30% of premiums on administration and profits. The public sector is the most efficient. Medicare spends 3% on administration.
* Fact Two: The same procedure in the same hospital the year after conversion from not-for profit to for-profit costs in between 20 to 35% more
* Fact Three: Health care costs in the United States grew more in the United States under managed care in 1990 to 1996 than any other industrialized nation with single payer universal health care
* Fact Four: The quality of health care in the US has deteriorated under managed care. Access problems have increased. The number of uninsured has dramatically increased (increase of 10 million to 43.4 million from 1989 to 1996, increase of 2.4% from 1989 to 1996- 16% in 1996 and increasing each year).
* Fact Five: The level of satisfaction with the US health care system is the lowest of any industrialized nation.
* Fact Six: 80% of citizens and 71% of doctors believe that managed care has caused quality of care to be compromised
* Conclusion: For profit, managed care can not solve the US health care problems because health care is not a commodity that people shop for, and quality of care must always be compromised when the motivating factor for corporations is to save money through denial of care and decreasing provider costs. In addition managed care has introduced problems of patient confidentiality and disrupted the continuity of care through having limited provider networks.
8. Overall Answer to the questions Why doesn?t the US have single payer universal health care when single payer universal health care is the most efficient, most democratic and most equitable means to deliver health care? Why does the United States remain wedded to an inefficient, autocratic and immoral system that makes health care accessible to the wealthy and not the poor when a vast majority of citizens want it to be a right of citizenship?
Conclusion: Corporations are able to buy politicians through our campaign finance system and control the media to convince people that corporate health care is democratic, represents freedom, and is the most efficient system for delivering health care
9. What you can do about this through your state Green Party
* Work to pass a single payer, universal health care bill or referendum in your state. State level bills and referenda will be most effective because a federal health care system might in fact be too bureaucratic, and because it is not politically realistic at this time.
* Bills or referendum must be written by and supported by health care providers for the legislature to take them seriously. It is thus imperative to form an alliance with provider groups. The most effective provider group to go through is Physicians For A National Health Program which has chapters in every state (see hand out for partial listing of contact people). A number of states already have organized single payer efforts: Massachusetts, California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Maryland. Join with them.
* A first step is to contact state representatives from PNHP and offer to join with them to write and support a bill bringing single payer, universal health care to your state if this has not already been done. The Connecticut and Massachusetts Bills can be used as models to make this task easier (email us at riverbnd@javanet.com and we will send you copies of the bills). A referendum is another way to go, in which case the California referendum can be used as a model.
* A second step is to contact state legislators and find a group who are willing to sponsor such a bill.
* A third step is to create a coalition of groups to work together to support and publicize this work, or to try to bring together existing groups to work together on this project. Labor unions, progressive democratic groups, Medicare/Senior Advocacy groups, the Labor Party, the Reform Party, UHCAN, existing health care advocacy groups, and state health care provider groups are all imporatnt to work with and get to join such a coalition. The state medical society and state hospital association are critical to work with in order to get any legislation passed. Try to get them to work with you to design a new model for health care delivery. They will be particularly concerned about who will control the system, and be very mistrustful of government. A public trust model with participation by providers, hospitals, business, the public and government is like to be much more acceptable to them than a pure government system. Emphasize doing away with managed care, and get them to try and work with you to find other ways to control costs (necessary to convince politicians) such as quality assurance standards, which will also protect them from malpractice
* A fourth step is to give talks in support of your bill or referendum where ever possible. Senior groups, medical staffs, church groups, high school assemblies, and labor unions are particularly good sources. Excellent materials including slides, a chart book and videos are available through PNHP.
* A fifth step is to raise money through fund raisers, contributions and benefits held by entertainers. Benefits are particularly useful in bringing out people who you can inform about single payer, universal health care and your efforts.
* A sixth step is to develop media access. The creation of videos that can be shown on local cable access TV stations is very effective. Newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and articles by the press are critical. Radio interviews and radio talk shows are important.
* Getting the public to write and call their state representatives in support of a proposed bill is critical, as is coordinating testimony at a public hearing.
* Because the data about single payer universal health care are so revealing of the problems with corporate America, and because the US citizenry is so concerned and dissatisfied with our health care system these efforts may yield surprisingly positive results and be helpful in establishing the Green Party in the US as a party of the people, by the people and for the people.
______________
The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States
By John R. Battista, M.D. and Justine McCabe, Ph.D.
1. Why doesn?t the United States have universal health care as a right of citizenship? The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while 1 (Germany) has a multipayer universal health care system like President Clinton proposed for the United States.
2. Myth One: The United States has the best health care system in the world.
* Fact One: The United States ranks 23rd in infant mortality, down from 12th in 1960 and 21st in 1990
* Fact Two: The United States ranks 20th in life expectancy for women down from 1st in 1945 and 13th in 1960
* Fact Three: The United States ranks 21st in life expectancy for men down from 1st in 1945 and 17th in 1960.
* Fact Four: The United States ranks between 50th and 100th in immunizations depending on the immunization. Overall US is 67th, right behind Botswana
* Fact Five: Outcome studies on a variety of diseases, such as coronary artery disease, and renal failure show the United States to rank below Canada and a wide variety of industrialized nations.
* Conclusion: The United States ranks poorly relative to other industrialized nations in health care despite having the best trained health care providers and the best medical infrastructure of any industrialized nation
3. Myth Two: Universal Health Care Would Be Too Expensive
* Fact One: The United States spends at least 40% more per capita on health care than any other industrialized country with universal health care
* Fact Two: Federal studies by the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting office show that single payer universal health care would save 100 to 200 Billion dollars per year despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits.
* Fact Three: State studies by Massachusetts and Connecticut have shown that single payer universal health care would save 1 to 2 Billion dollars per year from the total medical expenses in those states despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits
* Fact Four: The costs of health care in Canada as a % of GNP, which were identical to the United States when Canada changed to a single payer, universal health care system in 1971, have increased at a rate much lower than the United States, despite the US economy being much stronger than Canada?s.
* Conclusion: Single payer universal health care costs would be lower than the current US system due to lower administrative costs. The United States spends 50 to 100% more on administration than single payer systems. By lowering these administrative costs the United States would have the ability to provide universal health care, without managed care, increase benefits and still save money
4. Myth Three: Universal Health Care Would Deprive Citizens of Needed Services
* Fact One: Studies reveal that citizens in universal health care systems have more doctor visits and more hospital days than in the US
* Fact Two: Around 30% of Americans have problem accessing health care due to payment problems or access to care, far more than any other industrialized country. About 17% of our population is without health insurance. About 75% of ill uninsured people have trouble accessing/paying for health care.
* Fact Three: Comparisons of Difficulties Accessing Care Are Shown To Be Greater In The US Than Canada (see graph)
* Fact Four: Access to health care is directly related to income and race in the United States. As a result the poor and minorities have poorer health than the wealthy and the whites.
* Fact Five: There would be no lines under a universal health care system in the United States because we have about a 30% oversupply of medical equipment and surgeons, whereas demand would increase about 15%
* Conclusion: The US denies access to health care based on the ability to pay. Under a universal health care system all would access care. There would be no lines as in other industrialized countries due to the oversupply in our providers and infrastructure, and the willingness/ability of the United States to spend more on health care than other industrialized nations.
5. Myth Four: Universal Health Care Would Result In Government Control And Intrusion Into Health Care Resulting In Loss Of Freedom Of Choice
* Fact One: There would be free choice of health care providers under a single payer universal health care system, unlike our current managed care system in which people are forced to see providers on the insurer?s panel to obtain medical benefits
* Fact Two: There would be no management of care under a single payer, universal health care system unlike the current managed care system which mandates insurer preapproval for services thus undercutting patient confidentiality and taking health care decisions away from the health care provider and consumer
* Fact Three: Although health care providers fees would be set as they are currently in 90% of cases, providers would have a means of negotiating fees unlike the current managed care system in which they are set in corporate board rooms with profits, not patient care, in mind
* Fact Four: Taxes, fees and benefits would be decided by the insurer which would be under the control of a diverse board representing consumers, providers, business and government. It would not be a government controlled system, although the government would have to approve the taxes. The system would be run by a public trust, not the government.
* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care administered by a state public health system would be much more democratic and much less intrusive than our current system. Consumers and providers would have a voice in determining benefits, rates and taxes. Problems with free choice, confidentiality and medical decision making would be resolved
6. Myth Five: Universal Health Care Is Socialized Medicine And Would Be Unacceptable To The Public
* Fact One: Single payer universal health care is not socialized medicine. It is health care payment system, not a health care delivery system. Health care providers would be in fee for service practice, and would not be employees of the government, which would be socialized medicine. Single payer health care is not socialized medicine, any more than the public funding of education is socialized education, or the public funding of the defense industry is socialized defense.
* Fact Two: Repeated national and state polls have shown that between 60 and 75% of Americans would like a universal health care system (see The Harris Poll #78, October 20, 2005)
* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care is not socialized medicine and would be preferred by the majority of the citizens of this country
7. Myth Six: The Problems With The US Health Care System Are Being Solved and Are Best Solved By Private Corporate Managed Care Medicine because they are the most efficient
* Fact One: Private for profit corporation are the lease efficient deliverer of health care. They spend between 20 and 30% of premiums on administration and profits. The public sector is the most efficient. Medicare spends 3% on administration.
* Fact Two: The same procedure in the same hospital the year after conversion from not-for profit to for-profit costs in between 20 to 35% more
* Fact Three: Health care costs in the United States grew more in the United States under managed care in 1990 to 1996 than any other industrialized nation with single payer universal health care
* Fact Four: The quality of health care in the US has deteriorated under managed care. Access problems have increased. The number of uninsured has dramatically increased (increase of 10 million to 43.4 million from 1989 to 1996, increase of 2.4% from 1989 to 1996- 16% in 1996 and increasing each year).
* Fact Five: The level of satisfaction with the US health care system is the lowest of any industrialized nation.
* Fact Six: 80% of citizens and 71% of doctors believe that managed care has caused quality of care to be compromised
* Conclusion: For profit, managed care can not solve the US health care problems because health care is not a commodity that people shop for, and quality of care must always be compromised when the motivating factor for corporations is to save money through denial of care and decreasing provider costs. In addition managed care has introduced problems of patient confidentiality and disrupted the continuity of care through having limited provider networks.
8. Overall Answer to the questions Why doesn?t the US have single payer universal health care when single payer universal health care is the most efficient, most democratic and most equitable means to deliver health care? Why does the United States remain wedded to an inefficient, autocratic and immoral system that makes health care accessible to the wealthy and not the poor when a vast majority of citizens want it to be a right of citizenship?
Conclusion: Corporations are able to buy politicians through our campaign finance system and control the media to convince people that corporate health care is democratic, represents freedom, and is the most efficient system for delivering health care
9. What you can do about this through your state Green Party
* Work to pass a single payer, universal health care bill or referendum in your state. State level bills and referenda will be most effective because a federal health care system might in fact be too bureaucratic, and because it is not politically realistic at this time.
* Bills or referendum must be written by and supported by health care providers for the legislature to take them seriously. It is thus imperative to form an alliance with provider groups. The most effective provider group to go through is Physicians For A National Health Program which has chapters in every state (see hand out for partial listing of contact people). A number of states already have organized single payer efforts: Massachusetts, California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Maryland. Join with them.
* A first step is to contact state representatives from PNHP and offer to join with them to write and support a bill bringing single payer, universal health care to your state if this has not already been done. The Connecticut and Massachusetts Bills can be used as models to make this task easier (email us at riverbnd@javanet.com and we will send you copies of the bills). A referendum is another way to go, in which case the California referendum can be used as a model.
* A second step is to contact state legislators and find a group who are willing to sponsor such a bill.
* A third step is to create a coalition of groups to work together to support and publicize this work, or to try to bring together existing groups to work together on this project. Labor unions, progressive democratic groups, Medicare/Senior Advocacy groups, the Labor Party, the Reform Party, UHCAN, existing health care advocacy groups, and state health care provider groups are all imporatnt to work with and get to join such a coalition. The state medical society and state hospital association are critical to work with in order to get any legislation passed. Try to get them to work with you to design a new model for health care delivery. They will be particularly concerned about who will control the system, and be very mistrustful of government. A public trust model with participation by providers, hospitals, business, the public and government is like to be much more acceptable to them than a pure government system. Emphasize doing away with managed care, and get them to try and work with you to find other ways to control costs (necessary to convince politicians) such as quality assurance standards, which will also protect them from malpractice
* A fourth step is to give talks in support of your bill or referendum where ever possible. Senior groups, medical staffs, church groups, high school assemblies, and labor unions are particularly good sources. Excellent materials including slides, a chart book and videos are available through PNHP.
* A fifth step is to raise money through fund raisers, contributions and benefits held by entertainers. Benefits are particularly useful in bringing out people who you can inform about single payer, universal health care and your efforts.
* A sixth step is to develop media access. The creation of videos that can be shown on local cable access TV stations is very effective. Newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and articles by the press are critical. Radio interviews and radio talk shows are important.
* Getting the public to write and call their state representatives in support of a proposed bill is critical, as is coordinating testimony at a public hearing.
* Because the data about single payer universal health care are so revealing of the problems with corporate America, and because the US citizenry is so concerned and dissatisfied with our health care system these efforts may yield surprisingly positive results and be helpful in establishing the Green Party in the US as a party of the people, by the people and for the people.
______________
The worst health care in the nation is already run by the government along precisely the lines Sponge advocates. These systems would be:
1) Indian Health Services
2) Veteran's Administration
Both are notoriously awful; both are run entirely by the government.
You'd have to be a fool or a rube to believe the people running a government 9 trillion dollars in debt (if you don't accept the $50+ trillion number) are capable of providing free, universal, first-class health care -- or anything else -- to anybody. Instead what they'll do is use the extra money and decision-making power that now belong to you to benefit themselves and their cronies. You'll get whatever is left over, and that won't be much.
The way out of the health-care mess created by goverment is precisely that - to get rid of the government. Get it out of the business of making everybody less free and more poor in the name "safety" and other empty promises. Let the genius of individual doctors, hospitals and providers flower by loosening restrictions, not tightening them. That alone is where innovation and lower prices come from. Not from bureaucrats.
It would be a great mistake to let the leftists use the problems their distortions have created in some of the market as a pretext to take over the entire system. Leftists don't care about your health. If they did, they'd be in medicine. What they are in is politics. They are expert in LYING. Selling the undersophisticated like Sponge the lie that they can have something for nothing is how they make their way in the world. It doesn't work that way, it just makes things worse for everybody.
What the universalists are after is your money and your power. They want them in their hands. If you're dumb enough, or childishly trusting enough, they'll steal them from you in a second. Don't be fooled.
1) Indian Health Services
2) Veteran's Administration
Both are notoriously awful; both are run entirely by the government.
You'd have to be a fool or a rube to believe the people running a government 9 trillion dollars in debt (if you don't accept the $50+ trillion number) are capable of providing free, universal, first-class health care -- or anything else -- to anybody. Instead what they'll do is use the extra money and decision-making power that now belong to you to benefit themselves and their cronies. You'll get whatever is left over, and that won't be much.
The way out of the health-care mess created by goverment is precisely that - to get rid of the government. Get it out of the business of making everybody less free and more poor in the name "safety" and other empty promises. Let the genius of individual doctors, hospitals and providers flower by loosening restrictions, not tightening them. That alone is where innovation and lower prices come from. Not from bureaucrats.
It would be a great mistake to let the leftists use the problems their distortions have created in some of the market as a pretext to take over the entire system. Leftists don't care about your health. If they did, they'd be in medicine. What they are in is politics. They are expert in LYING. Selling the undersophisticated like Sponge the lie that they can have something for nothing is how they make their way in the world. It doesn't work that way, it just makes things worse for everybody.
What the universalists are after is your money and your power. They want them in their hands. If you're dumb enough, or childishly trusting enough, they'll steal them from you in a second. Don't be fooled.
Nobody has said anything like this genius. Who you work for anyway Blue Cross? Im basically talking about people who have health care but when something traumatic happens that their health care doesn't run out on them and then they lose everything they saved their whole life making. I guess in your world you think this would just be tough luck when someone or some kid gets one of these illnesses that just ruins a family financially. I happen to have a little compassion for others you are a stone cold self centered dick.
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Stealing is not compassion. You don't even care enough to learn the basic facts about the medical industry, so quiit patting yourself on the back. You're also guilty of precisely the same childish moralizing you denounce when Rove serves it to his dupes. Health care services doesn't break into caring nurturers vs greedheads anymore than defense breaks into loyal Americans vs terrorist supporters.
