Bill Moyers interviewed Dr. M. Flowers re Single-Payer approach to HCR. She said SP did not even

[JohnWxy]

get a hearing from the White House last year. Why not let everybody give their input. Should the Corporate Lobbyist party be allowed a veto on who gets to speak?


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02052010/profile3.html

While many in Congress, the press and the public have given up on the idea of even a limited public option in health care reform, Flowers and her group, Physicians for a National Health Program, are standing firm for a single-payer plan. Specifically, they want to extend the Medicare program, which they see as a functioning single-player plan, to the nation as a whole. Flowers has testified before Congress and penned Op-Eds and she has been arrested three times in her attempts to get Congress and the White House to pay attention to single-payer.

>Read Dr. Flowers' open letter to President Obama


Single-Payer

The term "single-payer" generally means a system in which rather than having private, for-profit insurance companies, the government runs one large non-profit insurance organization. That organization pays all the doctor, drug and hospital bills — it is the "single-payer" of all medical bills. In most single-payer plans, every American would be enrolled and would pay into the fund through taxes.

Advocates argue that a single-payer system would pay for itself, saving huge amounts of money in administrative costs. The U.S. currently pays a higher percentage of health dollars for administration than any other nation.

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The U.S. also ranks highest in total cost of care, but according to a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund, ranks last among industrialized countries "in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care." In a recent FRONTLINE report comparing the health care systems of five other capitalist democracies, "Sick Around the World," WASHINGTON POST reporter T.R. Reid notes that, "The World Health Organization says the U.S. health care system rates 37th in the world in terms of quality and fairness. All the other rich countries do better than we do, and yet they spend a heck of a lot less."

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Terrible situation...anyone who cannot see that isbeing intentionally obtuse.

[JohnWxy]

3. I figure since the Repubs killed a compromixe approach let's go back to square one, look at SP too!

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Absolutely!!!!! The repukes tried to give us lemons!! We MUST make lemonade..just to spite them.

[truedelphi]

9. But "obtusity" is so American!

"Obtusity" allowed Republicans to go along with Bush when he declared Iraq a "Mission Accomplished."

"Obtusity" allows most Americans to feel that having only two parties, neither of which represent anything but Big Money, for the most part, anyway, is a situation set in concrete. That since we have always had only two parties, that is how it must remain.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[endless october]

5. reports are more than $630 million was spent in the last couple years to keep it off the table.

the health insurance lobby wasn't fucking around. they spent a lot.

maybe if we can raise some green, we can bribe them like the lobbyists do. if every man, woman, and child donates two bucks, maybe we can bribe the Democratic congress to act like a Democratic congress.

[Faryn Balyncd]

6. "change"

(K&R)




:hi:



:kick:

[vegiegals]

7. yes, I have kept on this issue. It was literally kicked under the table by the WH.

[JohnWxy]

8. Republicans keep pushing the lie that their views aren't being considered. They said "single payer

.. is off the table!" from the very beginning and Obama conceded that point to them without making sure they got "credit" for it.

[vegiegals]

10. In this case, I am not sure at all it was the Repubs to blame. Recall Tom

Daschle? He had published a book on health care reform. The WH adopted his plan---initially, line and sinker. This was around the time of Obama's election and right after. Daschle to be his Sec of Health it blew up because of his back taxes and other things. Dashel works with lobibiests in SD--as does his wife --with insurance and big pharm. Daschle still is an adviser to the WH. Daschle did advocate for an exchange--a pool --but we know what happened to that (public option). The WH started from a weak bargaining position and it has been downhill since.

Also recall that almost a year ago, when Obama called the first WH summit on health care--it was not health care per say, but insurance reform as he said we will start with a uniquely American system--that being private insurance based--FROM THE BEGINING.