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Obama will talk all day long about how he doesn’t want the government to run health care. He just wants more choice in the marketplace, or something similarly incoherent. Yet watching this video, it’s clear that Obama’s government run health care plan is nothing more than his road to a single payer system. It’s what he and the Democrats have been planning for years now, and a gradual takeover is the surest way to accomplish their health care goals. This “public option” is nothing more than a Trojan Horse, a way for Democrats to achieve a universal health care system that Americans simply do not want. After all, 48% of Americans are rating their health care as “good” or “excellent”. Support for the current health care system has improved over the past three months with all of this talk about government run health care, just another sign that people do not want the government to take over.
But watch this video, and you’ll see that Obamacare is just part of the plan.
The key is the cost of healtcare. If there is a way to keep good quality healthcare and make it affordable to everyone and to make insurance companies cover everyone – even with pre-existing conditions – then we will be better off.
So it is not about the quality of the care. For the most part Americans do get good care [although not great] – and no doctor will turn away a patient. The key is cost as well as those with insurance unable to get covered. This has to change. And there is no reason it cannot change.
Also don’t be afraid of a Single Payer system. The Veteran’s Administration and Medicare are Single Payer and they provide excellent care. So Single Payer is not an evil thing.
And in fact most businesses and many individuals will not get rid of their insurance. A Single Payer system is only for those who do not have insurance. If in time Single Payer is better then fine. But doctors are not going anywhere. You can still see your same doctor.
Note that in a 2007 health care comparison – by the Commonwealth Fund – the U.S. ranked last on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and compared to Germany, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
The U.S. also ranks 42nd in the world for low infant mortality, 46th in life expectancy, between Cyprus and Denmark, and 37th in health system performance, between Costa Rica and Slovenia.
We can do better. Almost everyone agrees. But how do we do it? I say Single Payer is a good start.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
I R A Darth Aggie says: Hey, ModDem, if this “single payer” plan of Obama is so good, why is Congress exempting themselves from it?
ModDem says: Cassy
Why did you add this last line to my comment?
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
Seriously, that is incredibly uncool and unprofessional on your part. I may not always agree with your analysis but I never disrespect you. By altering what I have written you are showing a profound disrespect for me and ultimately for your readers. If you don’t want comments that disagree with your point of view then turn your comments off. Otherwise accept the fact that political debate is part of what makes blogs so interesting.
***ModDem: I didn’t alter it. I had two copies of your comment; one in my regular comments and one in spam. The spam comment included that last line and was posted at a later date. I assumed you added it and so I deleted what I thought was the old comment and approved what I thought was your new comment. I don’t modify reader’s comments.***
ModDem says: I R A Darth Aggie
I haven’t investigated this part of it. I mean, Congress has a terrific plan so why would they change? In fact, many employees at some corporations have great health plans [including many of my friends] that they would never leave for the new proposed one. But that is not because the new plan is bad it is because they already have a good plan. The proposed plan is for those who cannot get insurance or for those who are on COBRA and very expensive plans. The new plan does not replace the old plans. It might some day. But is that bad for anyone? No. It is only bad for the insurance business.
And in fact most businesses and many individuals will not get rid of their insurance. A Single Payer system is only for those who do not have insurance.
I see parallels here. The rules on executive compensation are only for those financial institutions receiving bailout funds…for the time being. Tax increases are only on those households that make more than $250k…for the time being. Resources are to be rationed away only from those really old sick people who are gonna be dead in six months anyway…for the time being.
ModDem says: Cassy
Thanks for answering. That is indeed odd. Maybe spam just adds lines like that? Odd. I’m sorry for accusing you. I’ve just never seen that happen.
Morgan K Freeberg
You are actually partly correct. But such changes are not for the worse nor are they capricious. Things change. There may come a time when a Single Payer plan is more favorable to individuals and to small businesses. And so things would change. But it is not part of the plan right now. And, again, the only groups truly affected by this are the insurance companies [which scam us every day and have a large amount of bureaucratic hoops] and the pharmaceutical companies who keep America drugged to the tune of millions of dollars a year.
We can do better.
Then I await your exhaustive listing of medicinal innovations that originated in countries with a single-payer health care system.
Make it mind-boggling.
ModDem says: Morgan K Freeberg
You are taking one issue [innovations] to make an argument against another issue [affordable healthcare].
This is about getting healthcare to the millions of people who cannot afford it. No one [not me, anyway] is saying we don’t have great doctors or great services or great hospitals. What we are saying is the cost of healthcare in this country is crazy. Millions of Americans go bankrupt every year due to health care costs.
The AMA and many other doctors actually support Universal Healthcare. Here is a really good article in favor or Single Payer written by a Tennessee doctor:
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9015187
This is about getting healthcare to the millions of people who cannot afford it.
If it’s about getting healthcare to those people, as opposed to healthcare coverage, then — mission accomplished. The law forbids hospitals from turning away people who need medical services for reasons having to do with coverage. So they have their access already, they just aren’t actually insured.
Now, you don’t want to respond to my challenge, so answer me this: Why should we abandon a system that has put the United States in a position to springboard the lion’s share of the new medical innovations to the world medical community — just so access to health care can be provided to those who enjoy access to health care already?
If you’re concerned about providing premium services to those who are indigent, and doing away with the exorbitant health care expenses that make that impractical, then how about some tort reform? Wouldn’t that do a far better job of getting to the source of what’s causing health care costs to spiral out of control?
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