DU'ers: Do you WANT single payer (gov't run) health insurance? (a'la Sicko)

[FormerDittoHead]

OK, let's make ONE BIG FAT assumption: IT CAN BE DONE, politically, that is.

There is no point discussing IF single payer CAN be done if we don't really want it...

What's the breakdown? How many DUer's really want single payer?

[jtrockville]

1. I want to ELIMINATE health INSURANCE in favor of CARE

[sutz12]

13. Give that man...er, person....a ceegar!

Single payer is the only way to really get care to everybody.

[redqueen]

2. Are you asking if I'm sane? Why yes, I am.

Keeping profit in universal healthcare coverage = EFFIN INSANE! (And very very stupid!)

[whistle]

3. If the U.S. is spending $3.0 trillion a year for its health care and the

...present system is wasting 30% in bureaucratic red tape and another 20% is taken off the top to feed the greedy coffers of the health insurance executive bonus plans and profit dividends that going to a single payer nationalized system ought to net $1.5 trillion which can more then cover the needs of our 45 million uninsured Americans.

[Yael]

4. Eliminate the insurance barons

[HonorTheConstitution]

5. the results of this poll should be sent to Michael Moore and the our Democratic representatives

[endarkenment]

6. Would the person who voted for

"I think the present system works as can be expected, certainly better than any gov't run system..."

Please stand up and identify yourself?

[Radio_Lady]

7. Possibly an error? Or a contrarian? Or a troll???

Not me...

[L0oniX]

8. I think he may be rich enough to pay his own way unlike most of us.

Just because we'd have national health care doesn't mean there would be no "pay for" medical health services. The rich f*ckers can afford to fly anywhere to get treatment too.

[sallyseven]

9. Medicare is very well run and provides very good coverage

Insurance companies are for profit so they have to cut services somewhere. Too bad if you need the services.

[Sapere aude]

12. Medicare pays about 80% of the cost of services. People with private health insurance make up the

difference.

[FormerDittoHead]

32. Hospitals should be made non-profit again, as before Reagan let them become "for"profit...

I'm thinking that would make up the difference...?

[rog]

10. Single Payer does NOT equal "Government Run"!!!!!!!!

But yes ... I do want a true Single Payer system. Universal Care, NOT Universal Insurance.

Note: Under a single payer plan, the doctors and hospitals RUN the system, while the government allocates funds.

.rog.

[supernova]

11. I want universal gov't run and paid for heath care.

Not health insurance. "Private heath insurance" is an immoral and downright evil concept that does only one thing: create shareholder value at the expense of the lives and health of human beings. It creates Hobbs ian choices like which finger to reattach after an accident, whether or not to have a much needed MRI, running out of diabetic testing supplies, and on and on. Oh and my personal favorite, dumping patients who are deemed too old and too sick to notice they'd been kicked out on the street because they couldn't pay the hospital bill.

I can see no scenario that I would support in the future that would include the medical insurance industry as it currently operates.

I have a right to see the doc when I want, for my own reasons as to whether or not I am in need of physician. I don't need some two-bit bean-counter's approval to see the doctor or have a procedure. I am fully capable and rational. What a concept!

I want to show an ID card (perhaps some modified version of the SS card?) to sign in at the Dr's office. I want a regular GP and a in my case a regular cardiologist who specializes in cardiac birth defects, and a regular GYN. One of the biggest problems is with a very mobile workforce, you change jobs frequently. It can be profitable for your bank account, but it does disrupt health care relationships. One doc I went to because of the health care plan on one job, is not a PP on the plan at the new job. And it's been like that for most of my working life. For continuity of care standards, this situation is very, very wrong.

I have a right to stable, on-going relationships with my providers. I want to get to know them as people and healers, over successive visits. I want them to get to know me, my personality and my body. I have a right to have all tests and procedures that s/he and I deem necessary. If s/he recommends that I see a colleague about a situation that s/he doesn't know much about, or to get a second opinion, I have the right to be able to see that colleague without a second thought about approval and other such nonsense.

edit: I want to be able to afford all medications that my doctor proscribes. I want scripts for the elderly and the disadvantaged to be free. Period. I'm a working adult, I would pay a nominal fee.

And I want the go'vt and the individual practice, hospital, lab, to work out remuneration between them and leave me the heck out of it. Now, on a yearly basis, it might be useful to get some sort of statement about what all I did and how much it cost. And how much the budget overall is. I think that would be useful information so that everyone knows how much the system, in general costs. So that we can have oversight of the program, sure.

In short, I want something similar to the UK NHS. I might even say the French system too, but I don't know enough about it.

[CTyankee]

18. Good. I don't want "government doctors" tho. I want is Medicare

for everyone. It will just be more palatable to the American voter, who loves Medicare. And I think this has been polled and is getting support from the public.

Back in the 2000 campaign, I remember Bush giving speeches where he said "You don't want a big government program to run your Medicare." The sheer brass of such a stupid statement! In response, Gore said, with a little laugh, "Well, Medicare IS a big government program."

I truly believe that one of the objectives of the RW in the whole Social Security privatization campaign was to test how the American people would feel about a shift of a program as popular and venerable over the years as SSI to private funding. They must have been sorely disappointed when Americans said a resounding "NO!" These neocons have to be hit over the head to get it!

[Dr_Funkenstein]

14. The Doctors...

One glaring problem with the current government run system, is that doctors get kick-backs for putting patients on disability. I have a few close friends that are doctors, and they say it happens quite a bit. I dunno if it's Medicare, or Medicaid...but as usual, those the need can't get, and those that want, do get.

[sutz12]

16. Yes, but where are the kickbacks coming from...?

I would imagine they are from the insurance/pharmaceuticals. AFter all, getting someone labeled as a lifetime drug user/invalid would reap some bucks for one of them.

I'm not sure how the gov't does much more in these cases besides shovel out the cash to the perps.

[Hippo_Tron]

15. We need some sort of law that prevents government from raiding the health care budget as well

Single Payer is great, so long as the government goes to the Pentagon instead of the health care system when they want to cut the deficit.

[CTyankee]

19. It worries me, too. They could underfund the program and then say

"See, that proves that a single payer system doesn't work." I think this happened under Thatcher's administration in Great Britain. People complained and the Labor Party pointed out what had happened.

If we want to insure that the single payer health care system is preserved, we have to have an electorate that would be as pissed off at an underfunded health care system as they were when Bush tried to sell his snake oil on Social Security privatization. The public said "Forget it!"

This will be our task as liberals and progressives. Under a Dem administration we can hopefully get the news coverage we deserve and need to serve the public. There's got to be a hundred "Sicko" type exposes for everyone to see and understand. As long as Michael Moore's films can be effectively shielded from public views across the country, we won't have our voice. We MUST defeat the neocons on this turf!

[supernova]

20. That's the favorite trick of Repubs

" underfund the program and then say 'See, that proves that a single payer system doesn't work.' "

I think you have to make it part of the law creating the health service that henceforward, no money for this program can be used for another purpose.

[CTyankee]

35. Can that be done? I'll bet the repubs would try the "constitutionality"

of such a written law and take it all the way up to the Supremes and havethem declare it unconstitutional.

Underfunding for poor people under Medicaid didn't concern enough voters to make an outcry. When it hurt their programs, be it SSI or Medicare, they screamed. And we saw what happened with SSI privatization -- slow death.

[ProudDad]

23. I'm not really worried about this

Once it kicks in and folks get used to being free of the health insurance mafia and their fellow travelers in Big Pharma, anyone who tried to fuck with it would get the same treatment that bush got when he tried to privatize Social Security.

Anyone fucks with Social Security and there are a few million of us seniors who'd kick their asses back to their little podunk burgs...

Same would happen with universal, single-payer health CARE...

HR 676 -- Call your congresscritters

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm

[CTyankee]

36. I hope you are right. But we need to be vigilant as you know

they will try to slip something through in the dead of night some legislative session.

[FormerDittoHead]

39. It's called being a citizen... Something which we (as a country) have to get better at, IMO. n/t

[WonderGrunion]

17. Basic Coverage

There should be a basic minimum coverage provided for all Americans through a tax funded program. People could then pay for private insurance for those things not covered by the basic government package.

Of course if you believe the "camel's nose" argument. Just providing this basic entry level program will lead to total health coverage in a single payer system. But it would be easier to sell initially due to lower costs. You could call it a Health Care Bill of Rights or some such nonsense. It would eliminate a lot of costs by companies providing insurance to their employees, that would get big business on board.

[FormerDittoHead]

21. "basic minimum" is probably what most people get already...

What wouldn't be covered by "basic minimum"? Beep, beep, beep - Beeeeeep - wait! The "basic minimum" only covers FOUR shocks from the defibrillator... Let him die!

The most expensive things are probably the most immediately life threatening, and things like doctors visits pay for themselves through preventative care.

The point is that there seems to be INSANE notion that people are going to see doctors, having procedures and operations when they don't have to, like it's some kind of LUXURY...

The only thing that's standing in the way is the FASCIST notion that there are people who don't DESERVE healthcare for whatever reason...

But if you saw Sicko, do you remember the scene where the clinic called the cops because they suspected the woman of not being a legal citizen? (those racist Canadians!) I'd support the same deal here. That done, we're all Americans...

By 'basic minimum', I'm thinking what you're talking about is people should pay extra for elective surgery (cosmetic, liposuction etc) and elective procedures (like expensive tests that doctors don't really see as necessary)

I know of no insurance policy which covers cosmetic surgery or non-prescribed tests.

What I DON'T want is some "co-pay" system which assumes that such a payment will encourage you to shop for the cheapest emergency room when you have a heart attack... People are going bankrupt paying "co-pays" because every little thing requires it.

Per capita, we pay MUCH more than any other country for our healthcare. That should tell you that we're paying enough already...

[Solon]

31. What the hell is "basic coverage"?

Is it when someone has a heart attack, they can stabilize them but not give them bypass surgery? Or is it something that pays for normal doctor visits, but go to the hospital and you have to pay out of pocket? Please, define this "basic care" for us.

[tsuki]

22. Single payer. I am tired of the William W. McGuires of this country. nt

[ProudDad]

24. For our brothers and sisters still on the fence

If you haven't seen SiCKO, see it.

If you still aren't convinced, read "SICK" by Jonathan Cohn...

http://www.sickthebook.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Sick-Untold-Americas-Health-Crisis/dp/0060580453

If you're a capitalist, this is an economic security issue and a competitiveness...

If you're religious, this is a moral/spiritual issue...

If you're a humanitarian, this is a human rights issue...


The GOD DAMN for-profit health insurance companies and big pharma MUST BE REMOVED from the Health Care equation...for all of our sakes.

[penguin7]

25. There is only one candidate advocating single payer

I don't understand this idea of believing in one thing and voting for something else. We are never going to have single payer, if those that believe in it don't vote for it.

[Bread and Circus]

26. I voted aye!

:)

[democrat2thecore]

27. Single-Payer basically equals Medicare For All

Single-Payer = Socialized medical insurance ala Medicare. Basically, the Canadian system. We need it desperately.

[dugggy]

28. I am on medicare and there are few doctors accepting medicare patients

and I know why. Medicare pays a lot less than what the doctors charge other non-medicare patients. I have to drive several miles out to find a doctor who will take new patients.

[democrat2thecore]

29. A DISGRACE

I am so sorry to see you having to deal with all the problems of our health care system. Under a single-payer plan, the doctors would HAVE to accept the insurance, because that would be ALL THERE IS! Hang in there, my friend....

[AZBlue]

30. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

Have you ever tried getting a list of doctors in your area? My dad did that and was able to find a couple that weren't too far from him.

[endarkenment]

34. I've got some news for you.

I'm on a private plan and there are few doctors accepting new patients for these plans either. Many primary care practices are not encouraging new patients at all.

[CTyankee]

37. Mine is so good thru a private plan my husband has at work

that I told Medicare I wouldn't sign up for Part B until my husband retires and we won't have his plan any more. You CAN do that and pick up your Medicare B later, as long as you have other coverage. My coverage now is much better than Part B; I get dental and some prescription coverage. And every doc in town takes it. It costs me $74 a month...

[endarkenment]

38. yes plan B is a deliberate Republican disaster

I was referring to the specific complaint that the person on medicare couldn't find a doctor. Many practices are closed to new patients and not just to medicare patients.

[CTyankee]

40. Tell me about what the Republicans did to Part B, cuz I have

a Republican brother in law I am seeing next month and he'll prolly start in on how awful his experience with Part B is. I'd really like to know so I can let him have it!

[endarkenment]

41. It was their bill. Written by the pharmaceutical lobby.

Part D for Disaster.

In a Nutshell:
1. Unlike Medicare, Part D does not let me use my Medicare card forcing me to sign
up with a private insurer.
2. Unlike Medicare, Part D does not allow government to negotiate drug prices
leaving me with high drug costs.
3. Unlike Medicare, Part D does not guarantee I can get the drugs I need.


Talking Points: The Part D Program is Not a Medicare Benefit

1. Unlike traditional Medicare, the Part D Program is available only through
private plans wasting billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars in handouts to
the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. While traditional Medicare
negotiates doctor and hospital rates and pays them directly, the Part D Program
uses private drug insurers as middlemen and forbids the government from
negotiating drug prices, wasting billions.

2. Unlike traditional Medicare, the Part D Program fails to guarantee us
financial security if we need costly medications and forces us to pay more
than is reasonable or affordable for medicine. The Part D Program leaves us
unable to budget for our health care needs and punishes those of us needing the
most costly medications financially.

3. Unlike traditional Medicare, the Part D Program cannot guarantee that all of
the medicines I need today and in the future will be covered. The private drug
plans come without guarantees, providing inadequate coverage that can change at
any time. Private drug plans impose obstacles to coverage and do not cover some
critical medications at all.

Solution: A Medicare Drug Benefit

Americans need affordable prescription drug coverage that meets our changing
health care needs, that covers the drugs we need today and tomorrow. For 43 million
Americans, Medicare provides an excellent, cost-effective and affordable safety net,
guaranteeing health care coverage of virtually all medically reasonable and necessary
health care services.
• A drug benefit administered directly by Medicare, without the waste and
restrictions that come with private health insurers as middlemen;
• Negotiated drug prices, so costs are reasonable and affordable;
• One decent drug benefit that adapts to our needs now and in the future, not
multiple plans that force us to gamble that our medicines will be covered.
Cosponsor the Medicare Prescription Drug and Savings Choice Act (H.R. 752 in the
House and S. 345 in the Senate) and Medicare-Guaranteed Prescription Drug Act
(S. 2342 in the Senate) which supports these principles.

http://www.medicarerights.org/talkingpoints0310.pdf

here's more:
Other congressman addressed different aspects of Part D. Representative Waxman (D-CA) has been concentrating on the restrictions in the differing policies. Waxman has also stated, in a recent radio address,

The program was turned over to hundreds of private insurers who can charge what they want, cover what drugs they want, and change what they cover at will. Instead of the certainty of Medicare coverage, seniors are now faced with a confusing array of choices, inaccurate information, and sometimes even higher costs.

Henry Waxman initiated an investigation of Part D only to discover that the pharmaceutical companies were expecting “windfall profits” as a result of Part D.
In the letter to the GAO (Government Accountability Office), he wrote,

The end result is that the new Medicare benefit will cause a massive transfer of revenues from the taxpayer to the drug industry for no discernable benefit to anyone but the drug companies.

Waxman initiated another report which detailed the existence of hidden restrictions, such as the Part D plan’s insistence on the use of generic drugs, as opposed to prescriptions written DAW (Dispense As Written) and “step therapies.” The latter require that, in many instances, a patient try a potentially less effective medication, before an insurance carrier "authorizes” payment for the drug a doctor originally determined to be the best solution to the patient’s problem.

http://www.epluribusmedia.org/features/2006/0511part_d.html

[CTyankee]

42. Sorry, I thought you were talking about Plan B, not D

I know what you are saying about Part D, but my immediate concern was Part B, which is medical services like doctor visits.

I think, but I am not sure, that Medicare Part B was in the original package of Part A (hospital only) and Part B (physicians services). That was way back in the 60s but of course it could have seen defunding in subsequent years, making it unprofitable for doctors to provide a service to Part B services.

Part B is one of our stickiest problems in getting to Universal Health Care. Getting enough doctor coverage everywhere and making it financially feasible for doctors to give this service is an indispensable part of this program.

The Republicans know that they can only get rid of these popular programs by calling them "big government programs" which GW Bush tried to do in 2000. Gore responded, with a little laugh, "Well, Medicare IS a big government program." What a telling moment!

[dugggy]

43. I was on a PPO plan before medicare, and every doctor wanted me

as a patient. Now that I am on medicare, NONE of doctors
within 10 miles are taking new medicare patients. I
guess they are not required to by law. My wife is still
on the PPO plan thru me since she has not reached medicare
eligibility and she has no problem finding a doctor
whatsoever. But I have heard that people on HMO's have a
hard time finding doctors outside of the HMO's doctor
group. PPO (preferred provider option) is accepted by
every doctor, and with glee because they pay full amount
of customary charges.

Fortunately, I don't require any serious medical help,
so it is not a huge problem for me to drive 20 miles onec
or twice a year. But I feel for those who need medical
help often.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. We want it we need it