George McGovern: "It's Simple: Medicare for All."

[Karmadillo]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091102406.html

It's Simple: Medicare for All

By George S. McGovern
Sunday, September 13, 2009

For many years, a handful of American political leaders -- including the late senator Ted Kennedy and now President Obama -- have been trying to gain passage of comprehensive health care for all Americans. As far back as President Harry S. Truman, they have urged Congress to act on this national need. In a presentation before a joint session of Congress last week, Obama offered his view of the best way forward.

But what seems missing in the current battle is a single proposal that everyone can understand and that does not lend itself to demagoguery. If we want comprehensive health care for all our citizens, we can achieve it with a single sentence: Congress hereby extends Medicare to all Americans.

Those of us over 65 have been enjoying this program for years. I go to the doctor or hospital of my choice, and my taxes pay all the bills. It's wonderful. But I would have appreciated it even more if my wife and children and I had had such health-care coverage when we were younger. I want every American, from birth to death, to get the kind of health care I now receive. Removing the payments now going to the insurance corporations would considerably offset the tax increase necessary to cover all Americans.

I don't feel as though the government is meddling in my life when it pays my doctor and hospital fees. There are some things the government does that I don't like -- most notably getting us into needless wars that cost many times what health care for all Americans would cost. Investing in the health of our citizens will enhance the well-being and security of the nation.

We know that Medicare has worked well for half a century for those of us over 65. Why does it become "socialized medicine" when we extend it to younger Americans?

Taking such a shortsighted view would leave nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance and without the means to buy it. It would leave other Americans struggling to pay the rising cost of insurance premiums. These private insurance plans are frequently terminated if the holder contracts a serious long-term ailment. And some people lose their insurance if they lose their jobs or if the plant where they work moves to another location -- perhaps overseas.

more...

[jwirr]

1. Thank you George.

[Occulus]

2. It's amazing how few people are advocating this.

Medicare IS single-payer as most of us who advocate for such want to see it done here in the US.

Expand Medicare. It really is a simple solution.

[joeycola]

3. growing a spine is hard work. It is easier to take $$.

[Deja Q]

15. Simple, not convoluted, and companies would love it (they wouldn't have to pay insurance!!)

it's win-win-win... what the frig is the naysayer's problem? Maybe they can explain it, with eloquence, why it's so bad.

[Occulus]

30. ZERO naysayers on this thread so far

Maybe it's because this is the one solution nobody can complain about.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Exactly -

the GOPigs fought it when LBJ proposed it, and they'll fight it now.

But it is the only answer.

Ask any medical office manager, and s/he will tell you that single payer is the only solution.

Ask any senior citizen what s/he thinks of Medicare and they'll tell you the love it.

If it's working, why can't everyone have it?

It's so simple.

And it'll never happen.

Fucking lobbyists. Fucking legislators........................

[dflprincess]

19. The GOP isn't helping but they're not problem this time

The Democrats have majorities in both the House and Senate and they control the White House.

Very few members of Congress or Obama have seriously considered single payer (at least, not since he was a state senator when he supported it). He claims he would if we were "starting from scratch" because it makes so much more sense to create a whole new concept of an "insurance exchange" that will take several years to get up and running rather than build on a single payer (Medicare) system that we know works.

They're all willing to sell us out for their campaign "donations" and for the high paying lobbying jobs they can get when they leave Congress. That's why we're looking at being forced to buy "coverage" from the for profits (an idea candidate Obama opposed) that may still not give us access to care.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

24. Did you read my post?

Did you see the last line?

[dflprincess]

25. I did

but I felt the need to call out the Democrats who were not specifically mentioned in your post. The Blue Cross Dogs are really a bigger problem than the GOP.

Probably, I just really felt the need for yet another rant. I don't recall any issue (except maybe Viet Nam) that has had me frothing at the mouth like this one.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. No one was specifically mentioned -

that's the problem. It's not the Democrats, it's not the Republicans.

It's all of them.

There's no difference between the parties, nor is there any difference within their subsets.

They are owned. Cleanly and simply and legally, they are owned by the lobbyists.

Perhaps the Blue Dogs feel like a betrayal because you might have had expectations of them, unlike the Republicans, of whom you have absolutely no expectations, because you know what they'll do.

But, if that's the case, you just had your last virginity stolen away from you. The lobbyists own them all, D and R, and that's how it's been for a long time. That's how it's going to stay, and that's why we're not going to get anything in the way of health care reform.

It's ugly, and I share your disgust. I don't know that this compares to Vietnam, except that more will die because of this crap, far more than died in Vietnam.

And none of them care. Not one cares, not while he's getting his coffers filled by the corporate interests he then pledges to protect.

They do a great job for their corporate sponsors, but we the people are only the ones who vote for them - we're not the ones who matter.

That's an ugly, sad truth, and I think frothing at the mouth is a very appropriate response......................

[Justitia]

5. yeah, well...sigh....Medicare doesn't make campaign contributions

and this whole battle seems to come down to that.

[The Magistrate]

6. He Is Absolutely Right, My Friend!

There is no real excuse for a bill which reads anything but:

All citizens are eligible from birth for Medicare.

Accepting Medicare patients is a condition of holding a license to practice medicine in the United States.

No patient can be charged any sum above the payment made by the Treasury through Medicare.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. Thom Hartmann came up with this - called it Medicare E - E for Everyone.

He's been talking about it for weeks. Sounds good to me.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

8. Yep

k+r

[msongs]

9. not a sell out plan that generates $billions in welfare profits for corporations? yay George nt

[Laelth]

10. Hear, hear! k&r n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[elocs]

11. I heard that recommended weeks ago on Bill Moyers Journal.

That it could even be done incrementally, in stages, until everyone was covered. The idea is far too simple though.

[Laelth]

12. Kennedy's 2007 "Medicare for All" bill phases in people incrementally.

Over three years, iirc, and then everyone who wants to can enroll. It's an excellent idea.

But, as our President told us, that would be "too disruptive." After all, insurance companies "provide a legitimate service and employ many of our neighbors."

:eyes:

:dem:

-Laelth

[dflprincess]

22. If anyone was going to yell "liar" during that speech it should have been

when he made that stupid remark about insurance companies "providing a legitimate service".

Doesn't HR676 have clauses that provide help for any insurance company employees displaced by single payer? Besides, like Thom Hartmann says, the for profits would survive by offering supplemental policies to cover things like private rooms or vision & dental - (which are not currently covered for adults in HR3200's plan.)

[csziggy]

27. Insurance companies make plenty of profit selling supplemental plans for Medicare

To seniors. They could make profits selling supplemental plans to every one who does not think Medicare covers enough.

[bobbolink]

13. There's no profit in it.

Doesn't have to do with simplicity.

It's $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Oregone]

14. Its not simple

American politics are a slimy cesspool of corruption, devoid of any altruism.

[dgauss]

16. Achieving it is not simple but the solution itself is.

[slipslidingaway]

17. Big K&R n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. kick and recommend - some common sense from this Great, great man

Another reason why my first vote remains my proudest vote.

DON'T BLAME ME!! I VOTED FOR MCGOVERN!!

[dflprincess]

23. Me too!

And it was also my first vote!

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. I voted for him on my eighteenth birthday, the first election day that 18-year-olds could vote,

I was so proud of that then and now.



http://www.amazon.com/One-Bright-Shining-Moment-Forgotten/dp/B000E6ESSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1252760015&sr=1-1

.

[immoderate]

20. George McGovern is the smartest man to ever run for president.

Unless your guy is smarter. :)

--imm

[justinaforjustice]

21. Medicare For All Is The Most Effective Solution to Health Care Crisis.

Medicare for All would be widely accepted by the American population. The vast majority of those with Medicare are very satisfied with it.

Medicare is a known quantity, unlike the vague and convoluted "public option". It would mean billions of dollars in savings for the medical providers who now have to hire employees to do nothing but file and chase down the many different private insurer claim forms, with a myriad of different codes and different coverages. There is one claim form for Medicare. It already had a system in place to pay those claims, and it does so efficiently and at a much lower overhead cost than private insurers (Medicare's overhead is around 3%, while private insurers' overhead is 30% and more.)

Medicare for All is the most cost effective and quality effective solution for all Americans. We need to keep fighting to get it extended to everyone. Health care should not be a profit-making commodity, it should be a human right. Ditch private insurance profit gauging. Bring on Medicare for All.

[gratuitous]

26. Gee Mr. McGovern, are you back to being a liberal? That's nice

I still remember your commercials for the corporatists who want to keep their workers from bargaining collectively. It wasn't that long ago; just last year, wasn't it? You were telling us how horrible it would be for workers to lose their sacred, secret ballot. It was a lie, but you pocketed some money for telling it, didn't you?

But now you're back. I hope it's to stay, but some of us remember, and we're keeping an eye on you.

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. that is not fair at all!! Sen. McGovern has NEVER - EVER wavered in his support for single-payer

government sponsored, universal healtcare for all. Just as he has never wavered in his position of ending military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and making major reductions in military spending. Nor has he ever wavered one single iota in his position that there must be government involvement to insure that all Americans are assured a living above the line of object poverty and that all children in the world benefit from a free school lunch.

I did not agree with Sen. McGovern on his recent well publicized position in favor of keeping the secret ballot as a mandatory requirement for unionizing workers - but knowing George McGovern, with him it was a matter of principal.

I didn't agree with him on that specific case or in his support for tort reform. He has never even pretended to be the kind of leftie that many of his opponents and supporters imagined him to be. He has always been someone who takes independent positions and speaks them them openly when he considers them matters of principle even when I at times disagreed.

[gratuitous]

36. Of course it's fair

Last year, George McGovern made commercials opposing the rights of workers to bargain collectively. That's indisputable. I'm glad his principles, whatever they might be this week, have him on the correct side when it comes to health care reform. But I haven't forgotten the odious endorsements he taped, nor the op-eds he either wrote or allowed his name to top in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, opposing the rights of working people. I'm sure Wal-Mart thanked him handsomely. And it's not like this is ancient history, since it happened just last year.

Just providing a little balance.

[Douglas Carpenter]

37. he made commercials supporting keeping the secret ballot as a requirement for union representations.

No he did not make commercials opposing the right of workers to bargain collectively. That is a bald face lie and I am certain that you know that.

He opposed changing the law so that a secret ballot is no longer a requirement for establishing union representation. I don't agree with Sen. McGovern on this particular issue. But this has already been his position for decades and has been the position of many others as well. Not even LBJ at the height of the Great Society with massive majorities in both houses of Congress attempted to change the law and take away the secret ballot. Not even FDR or Truman under the New Deal and the Fair Deal attempted to remove the secret ballot. Sen McGovern believed like every Democratic Administration since the New Deal that the secret ballot was a right of workers that should be protected. I didn't see it that way. But I can understand how someone else might see it differently than me.

Sen. McGovern is far from perfect. He is simply by far the most progressive candidate to ever achieve the nomination of any major party in American history.

[flyarm]

39. I sure saw it his way about the secret ballot..but of course i was in the airline business through

the Reagan years..and you damn well had better had secret ballots..or you would find yourself getting harrassed and fired for any damn reason the bosses could come up with if it was known who was really supporting the unions!

The companies were trying to replace us with non union people through collective bargaining, and trying to force us into striking...so the corps could follow the Reagan Model of replacing PATCO.

McGovern was right then, as he is right now!

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. well yes, removing the secret ballot would not have been a panacea

I understand the arguments on the other side and tend to sympathize. It is a area where progressives have different opinions to a large extent based on their own experiences.

Either way, Sen McGovern is now 87-years-old and has spent his whole life working for peace and justice. Few people in the history of the world have worked more tirelessly than Sen. McGovern. Even fewer have achieved more results in feeding the hungry, standing up for farmers and working people and striving for peace. He is close to a progressive saint as they come.

[flyarm]

41. There are alot of us on the other side..have you ever faced being fired because

you were organizing in the labor force..and try being mostly a woman based labor force!! The early 70's and then again through the Reagan years were damn tough..and would have been a damn well tougher if it hadn't been for secret ballots!

[Douglas Carpenter]

31. one kick

[timtom]

32. Unbelievable!

I just posted the same solution on another thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6516153&mesg_id=6529679

(See?)

[DailyGrind51]

33. George McGovern, the torch-bearer for the fallen RFK in 1968!

How history would have changed with President McGovern over Richard Nixon!

[TicketyBoo]

34. My recent letter

to Senator Ben Nelson:

Dear Sir,

I have just come from your town meeting here, and I wanted to let you know that not everyone out here in this part of the state “just wants to be left alone,” as one woman put it. That’s all very well and good until you need government services.

Many individuals in this part of Nebraska are not accepting of our President. I am stunned to hear the things I hear on the street here. It’s actually scary. The fellow at your town meeting today threatening his “own nuclear option” is an example. I wonder what he meant by that, but I would be almost afraid to ask. My husband heard the following sentiment expressed at Walmart today, “It will be a great day the day Obama is assassinated.” I’m sure the Secret Service has its hands full these days. I’m fairly certain that this person is not old enough to have experienced the assassi-nation of President Kennedy or he would never have said such an awful thing. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in the wrong state when such things are heard here.

People saying that there is no constitutional authority to provide health care are just crazy. If you follow their logic, there was no constitutional authority to build federal highways, create the F.B.I. and other federal law enforcement agencies, mandate public education, and on and on. “General welfare” covers a wealth of provisions, thank goodness!

There are some things government needs to do, and at this point in time, public health care is one of those things. Private insurers have made a mess of our health care system. I have no doubt that they are shaking in their boots over the prospect of a public option, but they have no one but themselves to blame. If there isn’t a public option, I can see no way to rein in costs. With your background in insurance, I can understand your bias toward insurance companies, but please get past that and realize that for the good of us all, we need a public option for health insurance. There needs to be
an option where the profit motive is removed in order to minimize costs.

Thanks for your attention and your service to this country. All Senators and Representatives are feeling the heat right now, and I do want you to know that you are appreciated.



Sincerely,


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Now, the attitude in our small city is precisely the reason I've come to DU. As Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie says, "Sad to be all alone in the world."

[flyarm]

38. A voice for all the people!! Thank you George..but first we need to get the money boys out of the

pockets of our presidential races and our congress and senate people's pockets!

We will get nothing so smart until we wipe the scourge of the corporate money and bundlers from our polititicans pockets!

we are already sold out.......by Rahm and his blood thirsty Chicago ways.

b]Joe Wilson and AHIP Team Up to Write Max Baucus’s Health Care Bill
By: Jane Hamsher

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/11/joe-wilson-and-ahip-team-up-to-write-max-baucuss-health-care-bill/

Friday September 11, 2009 7:06 am


There really doesn't seem to be any limit to what the administration will do to pass Rahm Emanuel's neoliberal giveaway to the insurance industry. The "author" of the plan released by Baucus (and apparently by Mike Ross) is a former VP of Wellpoint. Now AHIP is boasting about their role in crafting it:

Many of the changes to the insurance system now under discussion are the ones that have been advocated this year by the insurance companies themselves, said Karen M. Ignagni, the chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group. "The industry has been the leader in creating the proposals everyone is about to endorse," she said.

No wonder insurance company stocks shot up after the President's speech.

But now we find, per John Aravosis, that Kent Conrad and Max Baucus are changing their bill to appease Joe Wilson:

"We really thought we'd resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President's speech last night we wanted to go back and drill down again," said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Baucus later that afternoon said the group would put in a proof of citizenship requirement to participate in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left.

As John says, if Wilson's outburst turns out to be successful, it'll keep happening over and over again. And it will work every time.

If you want to stop this travesty from going forward -- and it's turning into a complete travesty -- ask these members of Congress from strong Democratic districts, all of whom have cosponsored Single Payer in the past and know better, why they aren't pledging to vote against any bill if it turns out to be nothing more than an insurance industry bailout:

read the rest at the link..........

.....................................................................

Reid Endorses Wellpoint’s Co-op Plan
By: Jane Hamsher Friday September 11, 2009 9:46 am

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/11/reid-end...

The Senate Majority Leader endorses the Mike Ross/Kent Conrad/Wellpoint authored co-op plan:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) endorsed the concept of health insurance cooperatives Thursday, siding with centrists in the House and Senate who want healthcare reform but oppose a public option.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also hinted she could accept that approach a day after President Barack Obama delivered an address to a joint session of Congress that offered encouraging words for both centrists and liberal Democrats who have demanded a public insurance option.

I think I may have to adjust my prediction for the co-op "squeeze play" on July 20:

The easiest political path to passing health care is still running the "co-op" crunch. Regardless of what the House does, the Senate can pass Conrad's shitty fake co-op. The Blue Dogs band together and refuse to vote for anything else, and that's what comes out of conference. There's a PR blitz to sell it as a "public plan" (which is why we've worked so assiduously to define it as NOT a public plan), and in a rush to get something passed, Rahm starts twisting progressive arms -- which have been historically very easily twisted.

Blue Dog Mike Ross presciently submitted virtually the same co-op plan in a July 31 amendment that finally emerged this week in Max Baucus's Senate plan. But since it now looks like Pelosi is on board with co-ops, that means the Blue Dogs aren't going to have to take the hit.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/11/maxtax-is-a-plan-to-use-our-taxes-to-reward-wal-mart-for-keeping-its-workers-in-poverty/

MaxTax Is a Plan to Use Our Taxes to Reward Wal-Mart for Keeping Its Workers in Poverty
By: emptywheel Friday September 11, 2009 3:41 pm

I made this point in this post, but I'm going to repeat it over and over and over until it sinks MaxTax, the Baucus health care plan.

MaxTax is a plan that will use your and my tax dollars to reward companies like Wal-Mart for keeping its workers in poverty. Here's why.

In most cases, the MaxTax fines employers up to $400 per employee if it doesn't provide its employees with health care. The fine is absurdly small (less than half of what individuals, themselves, would be fined if they didn't get insurance), but it could mean a company like Wal-Mart would have to pay up to $560 million if it refused to provide insurance to any of its employees.

The other option is to provide crap insurance for your employees. MaxTax gives very few requirements for this insurance (and it allows you to charge employees up to 13% of their income in premiums). But assume Wal-Mart decided to provide incredibly crappy insurance at a cost of $2,500 an employee. It would then pay $3.5 billion a year to meet its obligations under MaxTax.

So Wal-Mart chooses between paying $560 million or $3.5 billion right?

There is another option.

The MaxTax offers this one, giant, out for corporations.

snip: and do read the rest at the linkkkkkkkkkkk!



A $1.25 billion reward to Wal-Mart--a competitive advantage it would have--for paying shit wages.And who will be paying that reward to encourage Wal-Mart to continue to pay shit wages? Why, that'd be our taxes, yours and mine.

[Edweird]

42. Yup. K&R