Donna is eminently right. And her correct single-payer solution is only even possible with Democrats dominating Congress and The White House, even then knowing it's an uphill battle against corporations.

But you CANNOT do it with a veto-guy (McCain) or a Supreme Court wishing to declare it unconstitutional after the fact (the even bigger danger of McCain appointees).

The first battle is to stop cold the "incremental reform" that is already underway (more than you think) GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION (away from any group plans). The first step to that is silencing McCain's talk (by electoral defeat) about giving everybody tax credits to buy their own in an unregulated market.

Medicare D and Medicare Advantage were steps down the wrong path. Ditto Health Savings Accounts. Ditto Florida government favoring mini-med private plans. Ditto Georgia government favoring private high-deductible plans.

Billy Mays, the TV salesman for OxiClean and the Hercules (picture-hanger) hook is already on TV hawking health insurance (with fine-print disclaimers you cannot read.)

Reform (AGAINST YOU) is already here. Billy is the poster child. Elect your Democrats or plan to eat this bitter free-market stew (for lack of anything else) for the rest of you lives. Wake up, you're late already. You are already losing the marketing-over-substance debate, and DEMS as far as the eye can see are your ONLY chance to turn it around.

Elect first. Then demand.

here's one modest incremental proposal that would eliminate untold paper-shuffling overhead expenses, yet would cost not a penny of the public's money: pass legislation requiring all insurance companies to use a single standardized claim form.

If Democrats are our only hope for a decent medical system in this country for the future, then we are absolutely without hope,Daniel.

Unfortunately, except for a few marginalized members, our parasitic bipartisan political elite has decided that single-payer health care isn't "doable". It's a self-confirming assertion that is taken up by the commentariat, including the likes of Paul Krugman.

One of the characteristics of the Hollow State's approach to social services is to create minimally-functional Rube Goldberg service delivery systems that pretend to solve problems by ginning up complex, convoluted, and incomprehensible approaches involving gimmicks like tax rebates/incentive, cards, vouchers, etc. The Medicare D fiasco is a good example, as was the Clintons' aborted healthcare plan.

The political elite are much more interested in servicing bloated corporate interests like insurance companies and preserving the status quo than in working to implement single-payer. It's no wonder that they are addicted to contriving complicated pseudo-solutions that fool some of the people into thinking that it's real progress, and which can only be understood and interpreted by insiders and experts.

After all, our elected non-representatives have excellent health care benefits; why should they worry about the Little People?

I enjoy reading people's responses as much as the articles here on common dreams. I know a single payer system can work and will work under the right conditions.
The only problem I have with reader's responses are the total negativity and sarcasm and overcriticalness of some of these posts. I don't know if they are planted by individuals that have nothing to gain by what these articles say or are trying say but sometimes a negative response gets too much feedback.
Positive begets more positive and negative does the contrary.

I believe we will have success if we keep campaigning for a single-payer healthcare system.

Much as I like bashing Democrats, I have to give them credit for one thing. Here in California, led by an excellent state senator, Sheila Kuehl, Democrats have passed single payer legislation...only to have it vetoed by der Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Canada, single payer began in a single province, Saskatchewan. Perhaps that can happen here in the US too.

There is so much hope in the Democrats doing something about every problem we as a country have, but it is unfounded hope I am afraid. We didn't get to where we are today because of just one political party. And I think it senseless to believe that The People are going to grab power away from the corporations inside the Democratic Party. They are just not.

People simply just have to get a lot madder at both political parties than they currently are. As an RN for 25 years, I have yet to see any health care protests ever against all the corporate run 'temples of doom' out there. Some of them are truly horrendous, too.

People think that they can end the war, get universal medical coverage, and democratize this country by doing nothing other than going out to the ballot box, which is rigged, rigged, rigged. It is not that easy, and we have to get a lot angrier to get it done than we currently are.

This medical mishap system kills hundreds of thousands of us each year, yet nobody seems to want to go outside the hospitals and openly tell people that. Nobody wants to be outside the nursing homes to tell people that they are atrocities! They want simple solutions and want to hope that the corporate Democrats somehow are going to be their friends and change things for them. It will take much more than that.

safiyyah writes,

"...we have to get a lot angrier to get it done..." from a similar point of view to my own. I've been employed in the lower levels of the "health-care" industry, from ER to OR to ICU, and I hear her cry of the heart.

Don't fret, child. The anger is rising.

Daniel David July 17th, 2008 2:39 pm

"Reform (AGAINST YOU) is already here. Billy is the poster child. Elect your Democrats or plan to eat this bitter free-market stew (for lack of anything else) for the rest of you lives. Wake up, you're late already. You are already losing the marketing-over-substance debate, and DEMS as far as the eye can see are your ONLY chance to turn it around.

Elect first. Then demand."

"Now" is always the time for the Democrats to move to the right so they can win. "Now" is always for progressives to meekly submit to the Democrats, letting them hold the "EEEVILL REPUBLICANS!" gun to our head so they can drag us along for the ride. "Later" is always the time to hold the Democrats accountable. How can you make demands of the Democrats when they know that they absolutely, positively own your vote no matter what?

The US stands alone with its imperial measurements instead of decimal, playing sports nobody else plays and ignoring those everybody plays, and without universal health care unlike all countries with money and many without. Why is this? What is this peculiar inability to relate to others due to?

A single payer system is the only reasonable solution. We've known that for years.

This time business may just join up to push it through. Check out what just happened to a bunch of GM retiree's. Then consider where the real voting power in our country resides.

Donna,
Thank you so much!!

You are so right! We need to stand up and demand Guaranteed Single Payer Health Care H.R. 676. We need to say NO to insurance! We We need to do it by any means necessary! In the street, in the voter booth, and yes, knocking on doors asking our neighbors to vote for our HealthCare Not Warfare candidates. We need to support every Single-Payer candidate whether they are running for the Senate (e.g. Ed O'Reilly in MA), U.S House of Reprerentatives, or local goverment.

From Thomas Geoghegan October 26, 2007 When We Get Behind the Wheel - Published on The American Prospect

"Keep it simple, stupid. If we win a 1960s-type majority, let's simply re-enact the two great laws of the 1960s. First, we should "re-enact" Medicare -- for everyone. We should take our single-payer health-care system and just make it wall to wall. Aside from its merits, people also understand it, while they don't really understand any of the health-care plans. One thing that Ronald Reagan proved is that people like big, simple ideas: In his era, the big simple idea was tax cuts, and in ours, the big simple idea should be "Medicare for all adults," and "national coverage of children, too." (I know it comes out to the same thing, but since single-payer is a big pill to swallow, it's nice to cut it in two.) Above all, keep it simple. The Democrats seem to specialize in coming up with health-care plans that only Paul Krugman can understand. And so far as I can tell, even Paul Krugman wants to keep it simple.

Every increment of complexity, every compromise in the Medicare principle, will make a bill harder to pass. Reagan kept things simple; why can't we? "

You are all idiots. I am 67 years old and on Medicare. It is horrible. I have been misdiagnosed by bad doctors; I have been denied orthopedic surgery; I can hardly walk without pain. The waiting list is at least 6 months long, if you can get in at all. If you think Medicare or other socialized medicine will be "free", you are nuts. Rich people will get private care (even if in other countries) and the rest of us will have bad care and long waits (like in England and Canada). How can you dare suggest "Medicare for all adults" would fix anything.

Just one more area that the govt. should not be involved in. Like S.S., medicare and the rest of the programs, it will just be another pathetic failure. Healthcare is not a right. I want people to be healthy but using the govt. to rob your neighbor because you're either too stupid or too lazy to take care of your own healthcare plans is one way to reach that early grave. There is nothing "free" in life but who cares when it comes to socialists spending other peoples money. Time to grow up, move out of mommy and daddys basement and start learning to be self sufficient. The rest of us are not here to take care of you from cradle to grave. Start acting like an adult.

How wonderful if we could all be, "self-sufficient" and be determiners of our own destinies! That's almost like saying, "Why can't other countries grow their own food; be self-sustaining; be "democracies" etc.
Ever hear of the, "power of place?" Or are you all not aware of those who are born with disabilities and some that cannot be overcome especially within a society the pledges, "politics of scarcity and debt" over, "politics of morality and generosity?"
How far do you think we will go if we continue to pursue narcissistic life styles and plunder of all others' natural resources? How far?
Single payer health care has been portrayed in so many evil ways including, "....not feasible within our "democracy"? What????
We need to break the total stranglehold of the insurance/bank/pharma/military industrial complex before we will achieve any kind of "progressive" society.
What is the point of research, medical in this case, or progressive political change if we relegate those more unfortunate (do not read, those who "don't want to conform to our way of life) than we who have two arms, two legs, our whole bodies, are fortunate to come with decent genes....Why not just kill off all those who are born with "defects?" Isn't that what the Nazi doctors proposed????
Get real. We can achieve single payer, and good single payer health insurance if we have THE POLITICAL WILL to do so.
So far we don't have that will.
As far as problems with medicare, its unfortunate but that is also the result of LACK OF POLITICAL WILL to solve our problems a society.

How wonderful if we could all be, "self-sufficient" and be determiners of our own destinies! That's almost like saying, "Why can't other countries grow their own food; be self-sustaining; be "democracies" etc.
Ever hear of the, "power of place?" Or are you all not aware of those who are born with disabilities and some that cannot be overcome especially within a society the pledges, "politics of scarcity and debt" over, "politics of morality and generosity?"
How far do you think we will go if we continue to pursue narcissistic life styles and plunder of all others' natural resources? How far?
Single payer health care has been portrayed in so many evil ways including, "....not feasible within our "democracy"? What????
We need to break the total stranglehold of the insurance/bank/pharma/military industrial complex before we will achieve any kind of "progressive" society.
What is the point of research, medical in this case, or progressive political change if we relegate those more unfortunate (do not read, those who "don't want to conform to our way of life) than we who have two arms, two legs, our whole bodies, are fortunate to come with decent genes....Why not just kill off all those who are born with "defects?" Isn't that what the Nazi doctors proposed????
Get real. We can achieve single payer, and good single payer health insurance if we have THE POLITICAL WILL to do so.
So far we don't have that will.
As far as problems with medicare, its unfortunate but that is also the result of LACK OF POLITICAL WILL to solve our problems as a society.

yes, I agree whole-heartedly with Donna! Why are we throwing our money away at insurance companies to receive less than adequate health care? So they can profit off of the sick? Health care should be a human right. To deny someone who needs health care is inhumane and cruel. Joining the nursing force soon, I can only imagine how terribly cruel it would be to have to turn away basic care to people who are sick because they aren't able to afford insurance. Plus already Americans pay the most for health care and the quality of health care we receive is ranked 37th in the world! Covering medical bills is the number one reason for bankruptcy in this country. Even those with health care still have the burden of massive medical costs. Single payer will allow all Americans to receive full health care with minimal increase in taxes. All that extra money we're paying to profit the insurance companies will actually go towards our health. If canada can do it, why can't we?!

To jmj and thx:
Medicare doesn't work in some cases not because it's a flawed system but because the government has been slowly starving it. For example, just in the last 2 weeks Bush VETOED a bill designed to STOP a 10% reduction in payout to doctors through Medicare. This is insanity. (Note: congress finally had the gumption to override the veto so there will be no reduction.)
To quote another blogger who said it succinctly: "Perhaps one of the reasons Republicans make the government run like shit, is so they can turn around and say the government runs like shit so we should privatize everything. I mean hell, if I have a car and I want to prove it is a piece of crap even though it is running fine, give me an hour alone with it with a hammer, a screw driver and a bunch of rice and I'll make sure the thing is a piece of shit."
To jmj in particular, the thing about waiting lists in canada and britain is a canard perpetuated by free-market fundamentalists. There is plenty of information to refute that. Start with pnhp.org. Or if you like, see the pbs tv documentary that came out a few months ago where an unbiased host traveled to Taiwan, Britain, Japan, Germany, and a couple other countries and checked out their health care systems. Single payer works if everyone is in the pool. Don't take my word for it, check out the other countries. It WORKS. None of them pay more than half of what we do for health care, and everyone is covered.
To thx in particular, someday you will have health problems, no matter how well you take care of yourself. Maybe you will even have an accident- ever heard of those? Maybe it will all be very expensive. You will change your ridiculous rant when that happens. See where your "self sufficiency" gets you.

Incrementalism is offered as an alternative to single-payer, even by those who favor single payer, because it represents no challenge to corporate power. Most Americans have so internalized the requirements of corporate control that they fear even thinking about an alternative.

The Single-Payer solution, though successfully implemented in nearly every other industrialized country of the world, is shunned here --and particularly by the media-- because it directly challenges corporate power.

The incremental changes offer the possibility of improvement without change or at least without challenge to the corporate structure that holds so many minds in this country in its grip.