My prediction: A variation of Single Payer by 2016 in the US

[zulchzulu]

I am firmly for a Single Payer solution that is a hybrid of Japanese style (a fixed ceiling on costs and an open market with those constraints), a Canadian style (cost-controlled with efficient, pre-emptive health care support without a lot of fancy perks) and perhaps a British style (combined Canadian with the complete government disbursal of pharmaceuticals where it's like buying alcohol at a state store). Granted, I'm boiling down the complicated solutions these countries have to a paraphrase.

But because we live in this completely lobbyist-fueled, corporate sellout, infotainmentized plutocracy hellbent on satisfying the Oligarchic decendents of the Robber Barons of the 19th Century, we have to make legislation like robotized droids stirring nuclear waste into palatable, Soylent Sausage for the Masses.

So we have recent health care legislation from the above "solution". That said, there is a way to fool the System by way of incrementalism and horse-trading to those we can eventually conclude will self-destruct politically.

So let's pass the Bill.

Chisel away at it like a sculptor given a chance at banging out a masterpiece. Over time, of course. And over many interruptions and clusterfucks that eventually get tossed out with much drama.

OK. My OP title... that...

Here's how we do it.

Pass the legislation and get it signed and made into law. We have ways of amending the legislation (refer to Civics For Dummies in your local library) and we can eventually get Medicare for 55 years, then 40 years, then for All.

Like making good laws, a good sculptor knows where to chisel and where to leave alone for a good (albeit not perfect) work. We'll need to polish a lot, but that's what we've been doing for centuries.

[pocoloco]

1. Got to keep our powder dry!!!

[drm604]

7. You're totally misunderstanding the OP.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with him. He may be right but I'm not convinced. That said, what he's describing isn't about keeping our powder dry.

Keeping our powder dry would mean not fighting at all, and holding our resources for some future opportunity. That's not what he's talking about.

He's talking about fighting small winnable battles and slowly moving towards our goal. In the military analogy, you can't do that by not using powder.

[silverweb]

2. Amen.

[lordcommander]

3. K&R n/t

[Laelth]

4. Passing the bill will prevent the states from enacting single-payer systems on their own.

If the bill doesn't pass, the states will get the chance to fix the problem. California will probably pass single payer on its own in 2011. All they need is a Democratic Governor. The legislature has already passed the bill. Schwarzenegger vetoed it. Once California has single-payer, most (if not all) states will follow suit.

It's likely that if we pass a new law now, the new law will preempt single-payer, i.e. the Federal law will preempt state law and prevent states from enacting a single-payer system.

THIS is what the health insurance companies fear. THIS is what brought them to the bargaining table. THIS is why they are not fighting Obama's tepid reforms, and THIS is why it is extremely important that we do not pass any health insurance reform bill this year.

Let's not settle for a bail-out of the health insurance industry. Let's insist on the eradication of it. In all likelihood, California will lead the way in 2011 ... if we can just give them time.

Canada got its single-payer system one province at a time, and it looks like that's the only way it can happen in the United States.

I don't think the Federal Government is capable of reforming the system right now. If this bill is the best the Federal Government can do, then the Federal Government should do nothing. It's time to let the states try.

Kill the bill.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failed health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Zulch, I know your heart's in the right place

but I think Laelth is proposing the better choice. The Senate bil prevents states from putting through better plans that could serve as models. Remember, Wisconsin is one of those states most likely to put through progressive stuff.

[Username 12]

5. Single-payer is the best way to go

But we're never gonna see it in these Corporate States of America!

[bigwillq]

8. Hello.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[kenny blankenship]

9. Public Health is being DEEDED OVER right now to private interests

You'll get it back from them only when it crashes and burns. If they can do this - pervert a nation's moment of healthcare reform through buying off its legislators and president so that healthcare reform becomes an industry giveaway - they can certainly prevent it from being undone. The first task, capturing the reform effort, is an Apollo Program wrapped in a Manhattan Project -it's hugely difficult and risky. The second task, of keeping what you've captured caught, is child's play.

They have a pipeline to the fucking Treasury now and they'll only become only more entwined with the government, and more in control over it. Get this: from now on the Govt. will speak of protecting the healthiness (profitability) of insurance companies synonymously with protecting the health of the citizenry.

[Speck Tater]

10. By 2016 the former USA will have broken up into 6 or 8 third-world nation-states.

None of which will be able to afford health care for any but the feudal barons and war lords.

[jwirr]

11. My sister and I were discussing the fact that there is not provision to

keep insurers from raising premiums. She said maybe that is what we need. When it starts going up we can say - see we told you so and start to demand some changes. But to do that we need to keep most of our dems in their seats and get rid of the likes of leiberman. The repugs will not do it for us but if the costs start rising they may join us in desperation.

[kestrel91316]

12. Health Care For All is a work in progress. This is just the first step on

a journey of many years, I suspect. I will be on Medicare before we see Single Payer in the US. But I will work to help achieve it for my niece and nephew and their children to come.

[kenny blankenship]

13. That's right. They're not done fucking us over by a long shot.

It will get worse incrementally, like the current installment has gone from bad to worse to appalling, before it's wiped away for good.

[rockymountaindem]

14. I don't know... those insurance companies will be able to hire even more lobbyists with the subsidy

money they're going to be getting. We can pay them to bribe our government with our own money!

I would agree with you that the unsustainability of this plan will force us to do something else eventually. But now that the insurance cos. are going to be even more engorged, who knows?

[Better Believe It]

15. That can only happen if the Health Insurance Industry/Big Pharma Protection Act fails to pass.

[davidpdx]

16. Korea has a system modeled after the Japanese system

I don't know what exactly you would call it, but everyone has health insurance coverage and it is split 50/50 by the employer/employee and managed by a quasi-government agency. The fees are regulated by the government. I can go to any hospital or clinic I want without approval and get seen whenever I need to. Never had a problem with this. They've never scrimped on testing me for something when then needed to. Only once can I remember not having a prescription covered (and it was dietary). After being on this plan for six years, I can call myself spoiled.