Bloomberg News Svc: No Reason to Demonize U.S. Single-Payer Health

[marmar]

No Reason to Demonize U.S. Single-Payer Health: John F. Wasik
Commentary by John F. Wasik


March 11 (Bloomberg) -- It’s time to stop kicking sand in the face of single-payer health care. It may be the strongest solution around to insure every American at a lower cost.

After decades of industry campaigns against this model -- dubbed by its critics as “socialized” medicine -- it’s important to stop whining and evaluate the many economic benefits. Health care is a fundamental human right.

If President Barack Obama wants real change in American health care, he will have to get over the fear of even mentioning single-payer concepts. At his health-care summit last week, only the threat of a demonstration garnered late invitations for Oliver Fein and Congressman John Conyers, two leading proponents of the single-payer plan.

Health-care costs have become a crippling personal-finance burden for 45 million uninsured and 25 million underinsured Americans. Those outside of the fractured employer-based system are only one illness away from financial ruin.

Lose your job and most likely your health coverage will disappear unless you want to pay exorbitant rates. And it’s getting worse. Because of the growing jobless rate, some 14,000 Americans are losing their coverage daily, according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

A single-payer plan would cover everybody regardless of employment situation and save money by cutting out middlemen. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_wasik&sid=ao58otXrmrPM

[Wapsie B]

1. I cannot believe it's not in Corporate America's best interests

to get healthcare costs off their back. There's got to be a way to find common ground here.

[Mudoria]

6. Most of corporate America knows it's in it's best interest

to have single-payer health, the big problem is it then runs head first into the other part of corporate America, the insurance industry, HMO's and the drug companies. Till that roadblock is cleared it's going to be difficult to implement it. I hope the day comes soon though..

[antigop]

2. Everyone who views this thread-- PLEASE!-- take one minute and write to the author

His e-mail is [e-mail]

Thank him for writing about single-payer and mention how little this topic is being covered in the press.

PLEASE!

[marmar]

3. Agreed......The more we can get the meme into the MSM, the better.....

n/t

[antigop]

4. Exactly. THANK BLOOMBERG for the coverage. Let them know we want to hear more about it. n/t

[redqueen]

5. K&R

[Faryn Balyncd]

7. K&R

[lib_wit_it]

8. An (apparently mistaken) notion that he would fight for single payer universal health care was one

of the most most hopeful reasons I supported and voted for Obama. I'm so surprised and disappointed to learn that he's not even looking at it as a possibility. My family is in dire need of major health care reform, and anything short of single payer threatens to be too little too late.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. No one who advocated single payer would get nominated or elected

The big money boys see to that. The big money boys will not support ANYONE who is outside a fairly narrow range of "business-friendly" advocates for "a strong defense." Those are the two absolute requirements for nomination in either party.

I knew the fix was in in 2008, when the final two came down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, between whom there is not a dime's worth of difference. The press (and much of DU) went into "So, are you racist or sexist?" mode, and few people said, "Hey, wait a minute, this is six of one and half a dozen of the other."

[lib_wit_it]

12. Well, I do prefer seeing and hearing Barack and family. But I was disappointed that he failed to

campaign on single payer, but was holding out hope congress would go for it and he'd support it.

[ebay_bizzare]

10. Hard times eh ?

Hard times eh ?

[seafan]

11. Kick. n/t