Would Edwards' health insurance plan eventually lead to a single payer system?

[draft_mario_cuomo]

First, I would like to thank Stop Cornyn for posting this article yesterday. :toast:

The reality is single payer cannot get through Congress. Edwards plan--which provides truly universal coverage--is the most realistic option to help achieve single payer. As far as I know, he is the only major candidate with a "backdoor" single payer provision in his plan, his Medicare-plus proposal.

==Health markets would offer traditional plans from private companies such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Aetna and Cigna, as well as a government-run plan similar to Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for the elderly. The public-sector plan would resemble Canada’s single-payer system, in which insurance is publicly funded to control costs but doctors and hospitals remain private.

“The idea is to determine whether Americans actually want a private insurer or whether they would rather have a government-run ... single-payer plan,” Edwards said. “We’ll find out over time where people go.”==

==“It sets up a slippery slope to move toward a single-payer, government-run health care system,” said Mike Tanner of the Cato Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank. “He realizes that Americans are not going to take that in one bite.”

Tanner contends that under Edwards’ parallel system, private insurance would be unable to compete with a taxpayer-funded system.==

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/38815/in-a-crowded-field-edwards-health-plan-sets-him-apart

[sui generis]

1. well as long as private insurers

can manage risk pool composition to guarantee a profit they are not providing equal health coverage to everyone, and regardless of what they convince joe blow on the street they're doing, they are only out for their own self interest (and the interests of their investors).

Working backwards from there, what has to work best for **people** (as opposed to the insurers) is that everyone gets equal basic health and treatment coverage regardless of their age, past or present health, or employment status.

The next thing I would add is that basic health care, including preventative care and active treatment of serious health conditions should rightly be a taxpayer funded system.

Things like ceramic crowns, scar removal, cosmetic surgery, and other non-essential elective treatment should be covered by SUPPLEMENTAL private insurance.

I wouldn't mind carrying an additional rider to make sure my nose could be reattached and de-scarred after a car accident, but the first thing I want after an accident is to be sure my bones and organs are tended to immediately. Likewise if I come down with skin cancer and need to have my left ass cheek removed, that has to happen, and I'm willing to pay a little extra to have a prosthetic buttcheek installed so they can't say they did a half-assed job.

Core medicine - if someone needs blood pressure or diabetes or some other lifetime treatment, even AIDS, those should all be guaranteed and part and parcel of the public health care system, and not subject to the greed and stupidity of private insurers who exist for profit ONLY.