My View on Healthcare

To have the confidence that your family can see the doctor without the fear that it will result in years at a credit counselling service is priceless. I am surprised at those who defend degradation. I am calling my representatives and asking them to support Conyers/Kucinich Bill HR676. During his July 22, 2009 news conference, in responding to a question from MSNBC's Chuck Todd, President Obama conceded that the only way we can insure that every American has health care coverage is through a single-payer system.
At the fourth prime time health care news conference, President Obama said "I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that unless you have a -- what's called a single-payer system, in which everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual."

As an American voter I was lured repeated by the rainbow on the horizon. No more. There is absolutely no transparency in these private alternatives, unless I am a share holder, I have no idea what ABB pays for a transformer for example. The problems we see are due to lack of Democracy, not because of Democracy. Citizens who are held under threat of loss of their families’ healthcare by their employers have not experienced democracy. Private, non-democratic entities already expanded our money supply and destroyed our savings and investments in the US, if my retirement fund is any example. HR676 does keep healthcare delivery privately owned. We must eliminate extraneous for profit health insurance. Avoiding competition, maintenance, and services is exactly how private for profit companies increase profits. Moral hazard can be reduced when we give the powerful market forces just enough regulation to keep them from hurting each other by eliminating all competition, or hurting us as the case with denying healthcare. Nobody wants to nationalize the pharmaceutical companies either, they will have to compete, and working for us is what we pay the government to do. If a company is not profitable to its investors it is destroyed, profit can be made from the falling price of stocks. Planning on the corporate level is done for three months ahead. Healthcare, preventative care we do today will pay off in 30-50 years or more, governing is a job to execute political will of the constituents. It is true that a reform in the US political system is needed and the healthcare issue is like a litmus test, we can now see who is working for us or not. Healthcare funded by private insurance which receives government subsidy removes competition and collective bargaining which are both tools of a healthy market. I insist that healthcare for profit is fraught with great moral hazard. I support HR 676, not healthcare vouchers. Vouchers for private insurance will never keep citizens free from medical bankruptcy, or give them the choice to see any doctor they want. They will constantly fear that a treatment goes outside the boundaries of their approved plan. That is not liberty.
Having a large population is an advantage for saving money in a single payer system. More people can benefit from expensive medical equipment, for example. If little Sweden can do it, it should only inspire you in the US. (Those higher taxes in Sweden also give access to higher education and vocational training, btw.) In the case of an example of expensive kidney dialysis, it is not the same as a purchase of a BMW! But when government is paying they do research ways to lower the cost and spend more money on research. Sweden currently spends 4% of gdp on R&D according to Scientific American Magazine. (Not all the money is spent on medical research. The dialysis machine, for an example, is an investment and can used by many people. Dialysis machines are not built to wear out soon after purchase, like a cd player. As Americans we all have a similar goal. A government is meant to serve you, remember, you are the government. Sure we should not disregard the emotive element in a discussion of a budget! Doesn't our fear and paranoia justify the over bloated defence budget? Paying a deductable or surcharge is standard practice in a single payer system. Citizens are protected from too high costs, which relieves stress and this is essential to the health of your nation, your overall lifespan and the health of mothers with small children particularly. Then perhaps removing the burden of healthcare from industry is a way to facilitate innovative new business. Learn how these same problems were solved by different countries around the world, I am an American who has moved to a country with a single payer system so Iwill tout the virtues of that because of my experiences with it. I commend effort to craft a uniquely American solution and Medicare is a single payer idea of the same line as HR676, which I support.
According to the OECD, health expenditures per US citizen 5,711, rated 37th in the world for quality and coverage. France NO1, 3,048 per citizen, Sweden 23rd with 2,745, the UK is 18th 2,317 per citizen, Cuba at number 38th around 40$ per citizen, Cuba with the same lifespan as Americans and have a lower infant mortality rate.(CIA fact book updated since this post, this month). There is competition in a single payer system. Companies compete for the government contracts. Collective bargaining and direct competition between companies for the government contracts will lower the costs in a single payer system. If my insurance allows an ointment purchase at 30$, by eliminating the insurance company and my state or national healthcare plan negotiates the price of said ointment at its public facilities, the same or competing brand will cost a fraction of that. It is childlike to believe that an individual can navigate such things alone, and a delicious source of corruption for any despot. If you believe this, then you attract corruption with your gullibility. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the Healthcare industry in the US spent more than $134 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2009 alone. Administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans’ health dollars. With a single payer financed system we could recover more than $350 billion per year. (Source PNHP)
To dispel the myth of death panels I must say this. The same end of life legislation is debated in the US and EU. Currently in VA you can watch Senator Warner questioning Director of the finance committee for his input on YouTube. EU legislation discussing assisted suicide is demanded by the people for conditions where nothing more can be done for  the patient when medical solutions are exhausted and the patient themselves has demanded it, to secure the dignity and liberty of that individual, to honour their wishes and is unique the EU country in which the law is crafted, as it will be in Virginia.