|
Home |
|
We
Democrats |
Universal Health Single Payer Insuranceby Ron McBride The state of health care in the United States is a disgrace. For millions of Americans it is a struggle between food and medical. While I am a supporter of John Edwards, I must disagree on his approach to Universal Health Care. As a former executive with a major health and life insurance company, I know that keeping insurance companies in the middle allows them to suck up huge amounts of insurance premium dollars to pay for their built-in unbelievable overhead and executive salaries, and for shareholder profits, none of which is available to you when you get sick. In 2005 some 41% of moderate and middle income Americans went without health care for part of the year. Even more shocking is that 53% of those earning less than $20,000 went without insurance for all of 2005. In fact, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die each year because they have no health insurance. Insurance companies like to use words like pre-qualifying of insurance applicants. All this means is they are picking and choosing who will get insurance and who won't. Many flat out deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. We must cut out ridiculous overhead. I mean think about it for a moment. Have you ever seen an insurance company headquarters that wasn't a big fancy hi-rise, or an insurance office that wasn't decorated with premium dollars? Let us cut out this unnecessary overhead, and do what nearly all the other industrialized countries do, and that is have single payer universal health care. The U.S. is the only industrialized country that does not provide universal health care. More than 44.3 million Americans have no health insurance, and tens of millions more are underinsured. Private corporations pay less than 20% of health costs. Thus, even if you have insurance, you may not be able to afford the care you need, and some treatments may not be covered at all. These millions are living on the edge financially and facing the onset of a serious illness or disabling injury, a lack of health insurance can trigger bankruptcy or even homelessness. I know. My wife and I are both disabled and have already gone through this tightrope walk along the edge. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, of the Chicago Archdiocese said,
In his letter, Edwards said:
This campaign is about transformational change, the kind you can only achieve working together with millions of committed citizens who share a vision for a better life - and that's exactly what we've got. What we need is Medicare for all, everyone should be covered, publicly funded but privately delivered -- you pick your doctor and other providers but eliminate most of the processing paperwork at both your doctor's office and at the insurance companies. Without a comprehensive Medicare for all, we will continue to lose jobs to other nations. Those other nations don't force employers to pay ridiculous premiums (average in the USA for an employer based family plan was $9,979 in 2005). I honestly can't blame an employer for going where he can save $5,000 per employee a year in insurance costs alone. Don't get me wrong. Edwards has a lot more understanding and sympathy for working class Americans than most of the other candidates. However, he seems to be afraid of bucking the big insurance companies and their lobbyists and millions of campaign funds they can give or withhold from candidates. The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. 37th in the world for health system performance. And we in the U.S.A. are paying twice as much for health care than are the other developed countries. But to add insult to injury, we get less coverage for double the cost. Edwards is a great speaker, and can articulate our values better than any other candidate, but he has to stop being afraid to alienate the Big Insurance companies, and tell it like it is, express the solutions to the problem, don't beat around the bush. Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care has a MYTH buster site here. Check them out it dispels a lot of the Right Wing propaganda.
Providing universal health care can only be accomplished through a single-payer system: no country ever achieved universal coverage with private health insurance. President Harry Truman proposed universal health care in 1948 but was rebuffed by Congress. The time to act is now. Single Payer Universal Health Insurance - the time has come to Stand Up for America and support this initiative, in your state and at the national level. ~~~~~~~~ Ron McBride ~~~~~~~~ Ron McBride is the author of numerous articles on Democracy. He is founder and Chair of WeDemocrats.org. His writings may be found at We! The People http://wedemocrats.org/wtp/wtp.htm, www.WeDemocrats.org and www.MyTown.ca/mcbride/ plus blogs such as http://www.dailykos.com:80/user/WeDemocrats and http://www.mydd.com:80/user/WeDemocrats |
|
Copyright
©2007 WeDemocrats.org |
|
Writers
Wanted
Communication
among its members is one of the keys to a vibrant effective organization.
That's where you come in. Write for us.Send commentary, letters, and articles to the Editor, Norla Antinoro, at wtpeditor@wedemocrats.org |
 |
| If
you would like to help support our site please Contact the Publisher,
Ron McBride ron@wedemocrats.org |
 |
|
Links
|