An article from the American College of Emergency Physicians ...
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2012/august/its-time-for-single-payerStill relevant IMHO ...
"Regardless of whether you are elated or disappointed with June’s historic Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, it is certainly no panacea for the problems facing U.S. health care.
So it’s clear we need to do the right thing: the creation of a national, universal, publicly funded health care system, free of the corrupting power of profit-oriented health insurance, and at the same time capable of passing constitutional muster. In short, the right thing is an expanded and improved Medicare-for-All program, otherwise known as single-payer."
Don’t be so shocked. For the last 30 years, we have tried all the alternatives, and none of them have worked. We have experimented with HMOs, PPOs, high-deductible health plans, health savings accounts, pay-for-performance, capitation, and disease management. These ideas have been promoted in various iterations, often with great fanfare, by public and private payers alike, yet none of them have shown long-term success at bending the cost curve. And the promise of the latest reforms du jour, such as Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes, is speculative at best.
American health care is unique among the world’s democracies in that it was never planned in terms of enabling legislation or explicit constitutional authority. As others have stated, our employer-based insurance system, which now covers about 160 million Americans, was an accident of history. Its lineage can be traced to FDR’s wage and price control policies during World War II, where employers were permitted to offer workers health insurance in lieu of higher wages as a job inducement..."
= new reply since forum marked as read
What a roller coast ride this has been ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1146240
even before this happened I've been passionate that the idea of a national HC system at least be advanced by the Dems, even though not fully endorsed, during the HC debate.
disappointed that so many people feel that having insurance is the end of the quest ... all the while blocking any discussion of a not for profit HC system.
unfortunately when the nation was overwhelmingly focused on the issue of HC, and two-thirds polled in favor of a national HC system financed by tax revenue, their attention was diverted to the idea of a "public option" promoted by the three top Dem candidates.
None of the Dem candidates came up with this idea on their own of course, they all had their variation of the Jacob Hacker idea. But the result was the same, to silence the idea of a not for profit HC system.
Uniquely American ... or so we heard.
you used to post the cspan book reviews and always appreciated them, a belated thank you.
I wish I still had the time to do those again, it was fun.
of the latest HC scheme, it not working.
Yes, it is way past time to have a full discussion.
Sorry to say we got a deal with Billy Tauzin instead.
Once again the Dems blocked discussion of a national HC system
http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6289091http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6289091
Is the goal of the "uniquely American solution" to keep the private health care companies in business and protect their profits? It is not just the Democrats that are using the phrase, Karen Ignagni of AHIP wrote an article in April.
Some talking points from the Herndon Alliance and published on the Third Way site..
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were for a universal HC system, but they were swayed into supporting something less.
