Reply #3: Paul Craig Roberts advocates single payer system, not mandates to buy corporate insurance

[SandWalker1984]

I came across this great article by Paul Craig Roberts that said it better than I could as to why we should be discussing SINGLE PAYER not mandates to buy private, corporate insurance:

It is the War in Afghanistan Obama Declared a "Necessity," Not Health Care
The Health Care Deceit
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"The current health care “debate” shows how far gone representative government is in the United States. Members of Congress represent the powerful interest groups that fill their campaign coffers, not the people who vote for them.

The health care bill is not about health care. It is about protecting and increasing the profits of the insurance companies. The main feature of the health care bill is the “individual mandate,” which requires everyone in America to buy health insurance. Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont), a recipient of millions in contributions over his career from the insurance industry, proposes to impose up to a $3,800 fine on Americans who fail to purchase health insurance.

The determination of “our” elected representatives to serve the insurance industry is so compelling that Congress is incapable of recognizing the absurdity of these proposals.

The reason there is a health care crisis in the US is that the cumulative loss of jobs and benefits has swollen the uninsured to approximately 50 million Americans. They cannot afford health insurance any more than employers can afford to provide it.

It is absurd to mandate that people purchase what they cannot afford and to fine them for failing to do so. A person who cannot pay a health insurance premium cannot pay the fine.

These proposals are like solving the homeless problem by requiring the homeless to purchase a house."

snip...

Roberts goes on to explain why the Baucus bill and "credits" to help purchase private insurance won't work.

Roberts states: "The private sector is no longer the answer, because the income levels of the vast majority of Americans are insufficient to bear the cost of health insurance today."

Roberts concludes: "The system is no longer functional and no longer makes sense. Health care has become an incidental rather than primary purpose of the health care system. Health care plays second fiddle to insurance company profits and salaries to bureaucrats engaged in fraud prevention and discovery. There is no point in denying coverage to one-sixth of the population in the name of saving a nonexistent private free market health care system."

WHY ISN'T CONGRESS DISCUSSING HOW TO ACTUALLY FIX THE SYSTEM VIA SINGLE PAYER?

WHY DO ALL OF THE BILLS CONTAIN MANDATES TO BUY PRIVATE INSURANCE FROM THE VERY CORPORATIONS WHO CREATED THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN THE NAME OF GREED?


To read the rest of the excellent article, go to
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09142009.html