LAST EDITED ON Mar-01-09 AT 05:29PM (MST)[p]Piper,
Tell me which system all Americans can live with? Do you think they would like the Japanese system where if your doctor determines you are overweight you get put on a diet and penalized if you remain overweight?
Or what about the English system where if you are over 65 and smoked you cannot recieve coronary bypass surgery? Imagine telling your kids that grandpa just has to die because society has decided he isn't worth the cost of saving him.
My point is that everyone with two firing brain cells knows that we cannot sustain the current rate of spending. I think we can agree that is a fact. The rubber meets the road though in what path we take to ensure that everyone can at the minimum see the doctor, get the meds and hospital services they require without going bankrupt, either through increased premiums or inability to pay the bills. '
I think that your belief that only democrats care about America and the working man, as well as the only people in this country who can save us from the those unAmerican Republicans who hate this country and only care about profits shows why more has not been done.
I have got news for you, your democratic party is as beholdened to the health care industry as the Republicans are. Don't believe? Go look at which candidate for president recieved not only the endorsement of but also huge sums of money from the Health Care industry. Not only presidential candidates but go look at Senate and House democratic candidates who won.
The industry has a funny way of funneling money to where ever it can gets its best bang for the buck. Would you agree that the New England Jouranal of Medicine is a pretty good source of info?
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/13/1313
Your party is not going to upset the industry that represents nearly 20% of all economic activity and is willing to give massive amounts of money to the party. So is going to happen is this: There will be a huge reform bill with the "aim" of getting to universal coverage for all, it will keep in place the current employer based system ( again because unionized workers will not want to give up their rich benefits), it will mandate that there are some sort of pooling at the individual level and it will make some money available through either direct subsidies and/or tax breaks. Now which industries will benefit the most out of that type of reform?
Better question would be who would lose in that type of reform? Doctors? Nope, Hospitals? Nope, Insurance companies? Nope, heck they could have a potential for 40 million new members, Big Pharma? Nope hmmmm....who could possible get the short straw?
How about the taxpayers? There is nothing in the proposed Baucus bill that contains a single word about attempting any kind of cost containment. I wonder why that is? Perhaps you should follow the money and see what your beloved party is up to in regards to accepting funds from them and what impacts that is having on the debate.
The Republicans sucked at health care reform as well however at this critical juncture in our countries history they are not in power, it your lily white never do anything wrong democratic party and they are about the give even more public money to big corporations.
Please read below and figure out why with a Democrat in the White House and solid Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate that universal health care wouldn't get to "first base".
Brand me a jerk, UnAmerican, Greedy, Nazi what ever you want but I am here to tell you what he is saying by his actions and words is this, "Obama and the Congress are terrified of losing the money that they are going to get from the Health care lobby". So instead of a single payer system we are going to get the current system with just more taxpayer money pumped in and not attempts at reforms that would hurt the revenue streams of the big players.
This is the problem I have with Democrats and health care reform, They currently hold all the power but govern as if they need permission to use. In the end there is not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties, just more change I cannot believe in.
Nemont
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MAX BAUCUS ON SINGLE PAYER.
Baucus's first questioner asked why he had begun his health reform process by removing single payer from consideration. Why, he asked, was Baucus protecting private insurers? Why was he advocating an individual mandate that would force Americans to purchase their services, and endure their inefficiencies (to be fair, Baucus's plan has a public insurer that people can choose)? Baucus's answer was surprisingly straightforward.
"I just have to make a judgment," he said. "And I think at this time, in this country, single payer is not going to get to first base in the Congress."
"I do believe we need universal coverage and I think the inefficiencies you allude to can be addressed. Delivery system reform would cut costs and improve quality. We need health insurer reform to get rid of preexisting conditions and other ways insurers discriminate. That's part of our plan here, and the CEOs of many larger insurance companies are on board. They know this change is coming. They may lose the current model but they pick up on volume with 46 million people coming into the system."
"And we're a big country. We're an ocean liner, not a speedboat. It takes time to turn big ships. We're constituted differently than European countries and Canada. We're younger than other countries. We need a uniquely American result. And that will be a public/private hybrid. There may come a time when we can push for single payer. But that time is not yet, and so I'm not going to waste my time."
The questioner looked surprised. "Thank you for your candor," he said.
