The single-payer alternative

[IndianaGreen]

The single-payer alternative

September 28, 2009

The politicians declared one plan for health care reform “off the table” from the beginning: a single-payer system that would cover all Americans and cut out private insurance. But as Dr. Andy Coates explains, it remains the only alternative that can solve the crisis of the health care non-system.

Coates is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), co-chair of Single Payer New York and a steward in the Public Employees Federation in New York. He talked to Ashley Smith about what’s been missing from the health care debate in Washington.


WHAT IS the nature of the reform that the Democrats are proposing?

THE HEART of the reform is a mandate that individuals purchase health insurance--to criminalize the uninsured.

In exchange for accepting some new regulation, the insurance industry will get the government to coerce people into buying their product. Because working people don't make enough money to buy the product, tax money will be used to subsidize the private insurance premiums. The Los Angeles Times called this "a bonanza" for the health insurance industry.

THIS IS exactly what Massachusetts did. What has been the impact there?

YES, MASSACHUSETTS mandated that everyone buy health insurance. And this hasn't made premiums affordable. To reduce premiums, policies have things like very high deductibles and large co-pays. In the case of a single person making just over $30,000 a year, if you add up the premiums and deductible, she or he will have to shell out over $5,000 before any insurance kicks in. This simply isn't affordable.

Massachusetts subsidizes insurance premiums for everyone who makes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty line. This guarantees a constant flow of money into private health insurance companies, while it exacerbates the state's budget deficit.

And to address the deficit, Massachusetts has cut safety net health care! They have taken hundreds of millions of dollars out of programs that would have helped poor and low-income patients--the very people most need the care and whom the reform should have most helped.

In addition, Massachusetts has a feature like what's in the proposed federal reform--a brokerage house called the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector. It's supposed to help people get private health insurance. But it's yet another layer of bureaucracy!

The Insurance Connector alone employs more people than the province of Ontario has working for its Medicare program. Medicare in Canada costs 1.3 percent of health spending. The Insurance Connector adds 4.5 percent in administrative cost to each policy it brokers. And the province of Ontario has twice as many people as the state of Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts model doesn't work. It doesn't lower costs, and it doesn't cover everyone. It forces people to buy defective, unaffordable insurance. And when you lose your job in Massachusetts, you still lose your health insurance.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/09/28/single-payer-alternative

[bbinacan]

1. You posted twice. n/t

[glowing]

2. Honestly, many of the people who don't pay as much attention to news or politics think that

all the hooplah about the h.c. Public Option is about getting medicare for all. My boss, who owns her own business thought that the big debate was about getting all of us a medicare for all plan. "Isn't that what the Public Option is about?" Honestly, people are just really not informed.. and with the Baucus crap, they don't even want a Public Option. These idiots in DC are just not working for the good of the people. They are corrupt and they need to go.

[KoKo]

3. The whole thing has been confusing to Democrats...so no wonder

the door was cracked for crack-pot Repugs to run and trash any health care bill.

I've wondered if Dems were ever serious about any of it the way they botched the message. :shrug:

There are many here on DU who say that's the way it was meant to be. I'm not so sure about that if it left most Americans not understanding what was at stake in plane and simple "marketing terms" that weren't pressed by Democratic leaders.

Just that term: "Public Option" is a snoozer at worst and an open door for Repug Flamebait at their best.

This Group: "Health Care for America Now" is running fantastic ads on CNBC/CNN/MSNBC that does a better job that what's coming out of Obama Admin or Congress as to what's at stake. Check them out.

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/