Universal health care - a paradigm shift

[DemGa]

Universal health care will cause a fundamental shift to the left in this country - because once the people get it, they won't give it back. That also means the center is shifted politically - the Repugs are scared to death of it.

The USA could undergo a long-term shift to the left of center with universal coverage. Good times could very well be ahead.

Fingers crossed.

[BenDavid]

1. and we thank you HRC for having the courage in 93-94 in

trying to work and pass legislation, but you had the right against you and the damn pink tutu wearing democrats in the house and senate did not help you, but maybe this time once you are elected and you will have a mandate to provide health insurance to all and maybe the democrats will be in full support.
Thank you Hillary Rodham Clinton

[DesertFlower]

3. hillary said the other night

that we can't immediately go into a single payer universal health care system. it would be to much of a shock for the people. i think i read that HR675 would take about 10 years to implement.


i'm ready for it.

[alarimer]

16. Sh'e right about that I think.

What we ought to do first is expand Medicare to all the uninsured. ALL of them, not just kids. And then slowly implement it to everyone else.

[libbygurl]

4. Exactly. No one seems to give HRC credit for being way ahead of everyone else on this...

...issue. She's learned from that earlier attempt how to introduce the changes in a more realistic manner, methinks.

Thank you, Sen. Clinton!

[UALRBSofL]

7. The Clinton's were ahead of there time

Agreed that healthcare was a major issue under the Clinton's and had no support with the republicans. However, it looks like she will be able to implement her plans once the BUSH dictatorship is gone and we have control of congress. It's time every american had healthcare coverage. We don't need unwarranted deaths just because people don't have the money to pay for healthcare treatment.

[TransitJohn]

11. I think most of us here on the DU

don't want health insurance for all. I am sick to fucking death of paying $500/month for the right to once I need medical attention having to pay 20% of the grossly inflated charges. Health insurance for all is a fucking scam....insurance is extortion and racketeering. It's all about corporate profits. What I think we want, and I know what I want, is health care for all. Kucinich's plan is where it's at.....Medicare For All. Single payer all the way.

[sendero]

12. Puhlease..

.. HRC feasts at the table of big pharma. She's not going to do JACK SHIT about single payer.

The rube level around here is astounding.

[AX10]

19. The only reason we have talk of Universal Healthcare is...

because of HRC. She got the ball rolling when it was not fashionable. For all those around here who bad mouth her, should remember that she took a rightious stand even though it was not the popular stand to take.

:toast:

[eridani]

22. She cooked up a plan with no public input in secret with big insurers

The smaller insurers didn't like it and did the Harry and Louise thing. Did the biggies then come out for Clinton and back their very own plan? We all know how that one turned out.

Clinton is Charlie Brown, the insurance companies are Lucy, and our health care is the football. She may be falling for it again, but we don't have to.

[AgadorSparticus]

2. I can't imagine that the repugs would be scared of it. It seems to me that

as stupid as they are, even they know that change is on the horizon. I mean even they know how long they've had to wait in the ER before being seen.

[rockymountaindem]

5. I think the shift will, and must, come before we get universal coverage, not afterwards

The idea that everyone as an individual has the right to health care regardless of their ability to pay has to take hold first. The idea that universal care is a better vehicle for ensuring the overall health of the nation must occur first, not afterwards, if the idea of universal care is to become reality. *That* is the paradigm shift we should be looking for. Once that happens, then we'll be on the road to cleaning up our health care system.

Also, I doubt that universal care will ever come to this country in the form of a single law or program. If it is ever implemented, I think it will be the result of the expansion of existing programs along with the creation of multiple new ones to cover different segments of society. That way, I think, it will come into being without a grand proclamation, but one day we'll all look around and realize everybody is covered one way or the other.

[Mnemosyne]

6. KnR for optimism! n/t

[Vinca]

8. It's a terrible shame that at this point in history, our politicians do not

have the courage to stand up to big insurance and big pharma and do what is right. Dennis Kucinich was the only candidate with the plan most people want. For all his anger, even John Edwards included the insurance companies. Americans should receive a health access card at their birth and be able to present it throughout their lives and get quality care without the risk of bankruptcy or denial of care. As long as big insurance is involved, those risks will not go away. In Massachusetts, even before their "universal health care" program began, the premiums doubled. Southern New Hampshire experienced an influx of refugees who couldn't afford it. The only way to guarantee universal care is single payer with everyone issued an access card and the tab paid by an increase in taxes. I laugh at Republicans who are horrified at the thought of more taxes. They would rather pay $12,000 a year to a private insurance company in premiums rather than $3,000 more in taxes to the government, in the end keeping $9,000 in their greedy hands. I'm happy our candidates are talking about health care, but I'm not patting either of them on the back because both of them are serving us up to the insurance companies.

[bluestdogest]

9. Well, all I can say is if the manner in which the fedgov administers Medicare and Medicaid

is any indication of how they will administer universal health care, the American people will be more than happy to give it back.

[UALRBSofL]

10. From your lips to God's ears

You make a concrete argument.

[bluestdogest]

13. Indeed, it is a very sound argument.

Because past performance is usually a pretty good indicator of how someone or something will perform in the future.

[many a good man]

15. Federal govt does not administer Medicaid

Medicare is an extremely well-run federal program, with very tiny overhead compared to for-profit insurers.

Medicaid is a different beast entirely. Run by states its performance varies by state. For the most part is atrocious and doctors and dentists do all they can to avoid it. Medicare is totally different.

[bluestdogest]

17. Medicare faces tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities;

IMO, that is not the measure of a well run program. We cannot and will not solve health care by changing how health care is financed.

The biggest problem facing health care is the extravagant use of procedures that have high costs and low benefits. As far as that goes, Medicare is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[Lars39]

21. Caps put on the costs of these high-cost procedures would be a start.

There's no reason whatsoever, except greed, that an MRI should cost what it does in this country.

[Thothmes]

14. Finger crossed

from what I have heard from the remaining Democratic Presidential candidates "health care" plans, the only good time ahead may be for the health insurance companies.

[LWolf]

18. It could. Someday it will.

I don't see it happening under either of the two contestants left on the stage.

Unless, of course, either of them has the courage and integrity to endorse HR 676.

I won't hold my breath.

[leftofthedial]

20. mandating that we purchase coverage from for-profit

corporations with a vested interest in denying coverage, raising premiums and maximizing their profits at our expense and at the expense of our health only moves the political spectrum farther into the realm of corporate control.