Why are Clinton, Obama and Edwards Backing Nixon's Health Plan?

[BurtWorm]

Received via e-mail from the Institute for Public Accuracy:



DAVID HIMMELSTEIN, STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER, [email protected], http://pnhp.org


Himmelstein and Woolhandler are professors of medicine at Harvard
University and the co-founders of Physicians for a National Health
Program. They just had an oped in the New York Times in which they
write: "In 1971, President Nixon sought to forestall single-payer
national health insurance by proposing an alternative. He wanted to
combine a mandate, which would require that employers cover their
workers, with a Medicaid-like program for poor families, which all
Americans would be able to join by paying sliding-scale premiums based
on their income.

"Nixon's plan, though never passed, refuses to stay dead. Now
Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all propose Nixon-like
reforms. Their plans resemble measures that were passed and then failed
in several states over the past two decades."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/opinion/15woolhandler.html?ref=opinion
The piece examines the promises and disappointments of the "mandate
model" as versions of it have been instituted in Massachusetts, Oregon,
Minnesota, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington State.

The piece concludes: "The 'mandate model' for reform rests on
impeccable political logic: avoid challenging insurance firms'
stranglehold on health care. But it is economic nonsense. The reliance
on private insurers makes universal coverage unaffordable.

"With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic presidential
hopefuls sidestep an inconvenient truth: only a single-payer system of
national health care can save what we estimate is the $350 billion
wasted annually on medical bureaucracy and redirect those funds to
expanded coverage. Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Edwards and Mr. Obama tout cost
savings through computerization and improved care management, but
Congressional Budget Office studies have found no evidence for these claims.

"In 1971, New Brunswick became the last Canadian province to
institute that nation's single-payer plan. Back then, the relative
merits of single-payer versus Nixon's mandate were debatable. Almost
four decades later, the debate should be over. How sad that the leading
Democrats are still kicking around Nixon’s discredited ideas for health
reform."

[sandnsea]

1. Buying into medicaid is a good fucking plan

and I am goddamn pissed that Democrats didn't get this done. My family could have had health care all these years, and Medicaid used to cover dental and optical too. Nixon signed good legislation, and this would have been good legislation too. It would be good legislation today.

[mdmc]

2. This is what America deserves

:kick:

[supernova]

3. Because it's the one that won't anger the insurance companies

I want someone to pick up kucinich's plan.

[Benhurst]

4. Anything less than universal single-payer health care is nothing but

smoke and mirrors, protecting the very insurance companies who are robbing us blind.

[LittleClarkie]

5. Because in some ways Nixon was a liberal

and way too liberal for the current crop of Republicans.