This is how you get a national health care system

[bluestateguy]

1. Elect a liberal Democratic president.

2. Then, the new president incessantly, every day, attacks the HMO's and insurance companies over and over again in speeches all over the country. The president bashes them, BY NAME, attacking their policies, their top executives, and peppering the airwaves with anecdotes and horror stories from individual citizens.

3. Then the Justice Department launches multiple investigations of HMO's and insurance companies for a wide variety of charges, allegations, and even some made up shit. State attorney generals could help out too.

4. Watch their comapny stock values go right down the shitter.

5. Then, have George Soros or some other like minded wealthy liberals (Hollywood?) buy the companies shares up, until they have a majority of shares.

6. Then the government gradually buys off all the health insurance companies and HMO's, and we transition into single payer health care, as private insurance is phased out.

[Warpy]

1. Or do it on a state by state basis

as insurance companies merge and merge again (already happening) and start to pull out of unprofitable markets (like rural areas, already happening) leaving a majority of the state's citizens high and dry and without options. That's when the state lege will step in because a majority with no access to insurance and facing economic disaster from healthcare expenses will vote the bastards out if they don't.

[mitchtv]

2. the problem with state programs is

Say state A(CA) gets a good plan, State B (FL) put indigents on planes/busses to SF and LA. I used real states because this was done in the early AIDS years.

[brook]

9. This scenario

came up at a meeting I attended yesterday about a proposed single payer health plan (SB840)
for Californians. They are suggesting some sort of residency requirement prior to enrollment.

Wonder if Maine experienced an influx when they went single payer. Anyone know?

[justabob]

3. Any leaders, preferrably more than just one or two,

pounding on this issue would have the same effect. It is not dependent on the president or even the democratic party. Something like 77% of people want national healthcare... this shouldn't be so hard. Now that companies like GM and Ford are howling about the cost of health insurance it should be even easier. CItizens demanding it instead of wishing it would be helpful too.

[msongs]

4. don't you wish the US had a REAL opposition party? nt

[justabob]

6. Yes I do

This paragraph from the Molly Ivins article (posted here yesterday) keeps playing in my mind:


What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

[sandyd921]

7. May be

But as long as the big insurance companies keep greasing the palms of politicos, it won't matter if GM and Ford are howling. Plus it's starting to appear that the strategy of some of these multinational automakers and probably soon other corps will be to simply pull up stakes in the US and open plants in countries that have national health care like Canada and others.

[salin]

5. or the bush model

tell folks the biggest push is going to be on "making healthcare more affordable" at the SOTU.

Use rhetoric like:

There are inefficiencies in the system because of "middlemen" (aka employers)
People don't use healthcare wisely (aka - copays are too cheap so folks go to the dr before they are really, really sick)

Push a new public policy to "address the problem":

Let people put more money into "health savings accounts" and pay less on insurance (aka - people should use catastrophic insurance with lower monthly bills - but require high outlay from consumer before the insurance kicks in)

Then ... while no one is looking... slip the following tax "reform" item into legislation :

End tax incentives to employers who provide health insurance to employees (this is a major proposal/compenent of bush's tax "simplification" policies he is pushing to pass next year.)

Voila... in the name of doing something about "the number of uninsured Americans" - quickly swell the rank of the uninsured to include all but the upper middle class and the upper class.

[savemefromdumbya]

8. Does the government have any money left for healthcare

I think the HMOs and insurancies companies would not no longer operate as they have been and would have to operate within 'healthtrusts' A 'healthtrust' would consist of primary care centers, clinics, hospitals, docs, nurses, labs and techs etc. A group of hospitals, clinics and a group of health insurance companies could join the healthtrust (or one large hospital system like Johns Hopkins could operate as a single healthtrust).

Each health worker (docs, nurses etc.) would be paid by the healthtrust.

Every one would have healthcare free at the point of use. Everyone in the higher salary tiers would pay a health due. Low paid and unemployed, would have free healthcare with free prescriptions and wouldn't have to pay the due. Seniors would have a reduced due but this would be calculated according to assets and work retirement pensions.

The profits and overall management of the trusts would be controlled by a health department in each state government. The overall performance would be monitored by a federal department.

I just made this up while I was drinking a cup of tea!