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Stop the Single Payer Shut-out!
Among the giant taboos afflicting Congress these days is the proposal to create a single payer health insurance system (often called full Medicare for everyone).
How can this be? Don't the elected politicians represent the people? Don't they always have their finger to the wind?
Well, single payer is only supported by a majority of the American people, physicians and nurses. They like the idea of public funding and private delivery. They like the free choice of doctors and hospitals that many are now denied by the HMOs.
There are also great administrative efficiencies when single player displaces the health insurance industry with its claims-denying, benefit-restricting, bureaucratically-heavy profiteering. According to leading researchers in this area, Dr. David Himmelstein and Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler, single payer will save $350 billion annually.
Yet, on Capitol Hill and at the White House there are no meetings, briefings, hearings, and consultations about kinds of health care reforms that reform the basic price inflation, indifference to prevention, and discrimination of health insurers.
There is no place at the table for single payer advocates in the view of the Congressional leaders who set the agenda and muzzle dissenters.
Last month at a breakfast meeting with reporters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded to a question about health care with these revealing and exasperating words: "Over and over again, we hear single payer, single payer, single payer. Well, it's not going to be a single payer."
Thus spake Speaker Pelosi, the Representative from Aetna? Never mind that 75 members of her party have signed onto H.R. 676-the Conyers single payer legislation. Never mind that in her San Francisco district, probably three out of four people want single payer. And never mind that over 20,000 people die every year, according to the Institute of Medicine, because they cannot afford health insurance.
What is more remarkable is that many more than the 75 members of the House privately believe single payer is the best option. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy, and Nancy Pelosi are among them. But they all say, single payer "is not practical" so it's off the table.
What gives here? The Democrats have the procedures to pass any kind of health reform this year, including single payer. President Obama could sign it into law.
But "it's not practical" because these politicians fear the insurance and pharmaceutical industries-and seek their campaign contributions-more than they fear the American people. It comes down to the corporations, who have no votes, are organized to the teeth and the people are not.
So, when Senator Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a large recipient of health insurance and drug company donations, held a public roundtable discussion on May 5, fifteen witnesses were preparing to deliver their statements. Not one of them was championing single payer.
As Senator Baucus started his introductory remarks, something happened. One by one, eight people in the audience, most of them physicians and lawyers, stood up to politely but insistently protest the absence of a single payer presentation.
One by one, the police came, took them out of the hearing room, arrested and handcuffed them. The charge was "disruption of Congress"-a misdemeanor.
They call themselves the "Baucus Eight". Immediately, over the internet and on C-Span, public radio, and the Associated Press, the news spread around the country. You can see the video on singlepayeraction.org.
To the many groups and individuals who have labored for single payer for decades, the Baucus Eight's protest seemed like an epiphany.
Dr. Quentin Young, a veteran leader for single payer and a founder of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) e-mailed his reaction: "For our part, when the history of this period is written, we believe your action may well be noted as the turning point from a painful, defensive position to a more appropriate offensive position vis-à-vis Senator Baucus and his health industry co-conspirators."
Webster's dictionary defines "taboo" as "a prohibition against touching, saying, or doing something for fear of a mysterious superhuman force." For both Democrats and Republicans in Congress it is a fear of a very omnipresent supercorporate force.
However, moral and evidential courage is coming. On May 12, 2009, Senator Baucus is having another roundtable discussion with thirteen more witnesses, including those from the business lobbies and their consultants. Word has it that the Senator is about to invite a leading single payer advocate to sit at the table.
Here come the people! Join this historic drive to have our country join the community of western, and some third-world, nations by adopting a state of the art single payer system.
Visit singlepayeraction.org and break the taboo in your region.
43 Comments so far
Show AllThe Baucus 8! The shot heard around the world! How thrilling! Last night I was feeling down and out, so discouraged. It felt like I was just hitting my head against a wall, getting nowhere. I hadn't met anyone who knew anything about Single Payer or EFCA, and it seemed not even many even cared.
"Word has it that the Senator is about to invite a leading single payer advocate to sit at the table." Hard to believe Senator Baucus can be pushed into this. He doesn't even have to worry about reelection until 2014, and we all know how short public memory is.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
A call to action.
If you don't like a particular TV program, you call their sponsors and tell them you will boycott them until the program either goes off the air or changes to your liking. This works similar with
political parties, politicians and their sponsors (campaign contributors).
If you have a blog please post this on your blog. I want to get at least 100,000 people to sign these petitions, the first one which you can demand single payer health care and a fix to the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Read and sign these legislative petitions please and get hundreds of people to sign them and they will automatically go to Republican minority leaders Sen. McConnell and Rep. Boehner right away once you sign the petition.
http://tinyurl.change.org/EzKoE
http://tinyurl.change.org/upFFg
http://tinyurl.change.org/SmldU
http://tinyurl.change.org/zcCYl
http://tinyurl.change.org/DppEP
Oh and I created this parody t shirt about medicare part D that uses a familiar symbol.
See it here.
http://bit.ly/1CMnA
Thank you -- I checked all the sites -- signed the petitions --
and will circulate the info where I can.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Well said, Ralph! Now what's this, asserted on the comments on today's piece by Hightower, that CD "comments" thread is closed on the Nader article. Is this true, or is it just that nobody has yet commented? We'll see in a moment.
Ralph, set up two political funds for the defeat of Pelosi and Baucus. Let the people vote with their dollars to get rid of these two. You are the person who can do it. Set up the funds and we will come.
I second the motion. And third, fourth, etc.:)
A fund to defeat Pelosi and Baucus? Wow! That could raise millions of $ and it would be a good place to turn to something positive instead of well meaning rants. Ralph,set up the funds now!
Call 800-578-4171 and press 0 to leave a message for the White House or 1 to leave a message for Sen. Baucus.
Thanks for that! I saw your post on the Dr. Flowers article.
Thanks! This was easy and fast. I got to hit a lot of good causes in a couple of minutes, and I only filled out information once.
Either we, the citizenry, impose our will on the regime, or we roll over and let them tell us how things are going to be. They have all the money and resources, but they don't have our numbers. They cannot overcome the power of our numbers if we'll just organize and be unrelenting -- like Ralph.
Single Payer doesn't have a chance. We will see just how outraged the American public will be, and just how effective that will be. This is the most important thing going on right now. It effects all of us, from the millions who aren't getting adequate care and are having to bankrupt themselves, to the thousands who benefit from the present system. It will probably spell the end of Obama as a popular president. It's beginning to look like the Clinton administration, when it sold out Gays with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Except this sell out is much broader, and much worse.
It is not surprising that Senator Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, cares nothing about a national health insurance program that is supported by the majority of the public, doctors and nurses; cares nothing about the thousands of people who die every year because they can't get health care; cares nothing about the more than one million citizens who go into bankruptcy every year due to medical debt - even though most of them had insurance when they got sick.
This is the same Senator Baccus who voted to defeat Illinois Senator Durban’s legislation that would have given judges the ability to adjust distressed homeowners’ mortgage terms in bankruptcy proceedings and avoid foreclosure. Senator Durban asked, “Why is it in this country, in America, that we can find hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars from hard-working people all over the United States to come to the rescue of bad banking decisions, rotten investments, mortgages that were fraudulent on their face, but can't summon the political will to do something about 8 million families in America who are going to face foreclosure?” He answered his own question, "Frankly, this place is owned by the banks."
A similar question, why is it in this country, in America, that we can find hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars to come to the rescue of bad banking decisions, rotten investments, mortgages that were fraudulent on their face, but can't summon the political will to do something about the millions of our fellow citizens who can’t get the health care they need or go bankrupt due to their medical debts? The answer is the same old story. Senator Baccus is a large recipient of health insurance and drug company donations. Facts mean nothing to most Senators because they respond to only one standard tool of advocacy: money, and lots of it. The Senate is not only owned by the banks, it is also owned by the current wealthy health care corporate interests.
The non-partisan Center for Public Integrity, "Who's Behind the Financial Meltdown?" reports that mega-banks unbridled political contributions and massive lobbying created the lack of regulation and oversight that led to this financial crisis. It asks where is the accountability…for what has happened? The same might be asked about health care reform. Where is the accountability for our current dismal health situation?
Thank you to the Baccus Eight for their courage and selflessness in speaking truth to power.
So we voted for Obama over Nader for what? Oh. Right. Change we can count on. We got what we wanted. Good for us.
Our enemy is the Fortune 500. They have hijacked our government. We must break them up into the Misfortune-Five-Million.
Ralph understands this. Ignoring the demand for Single-payer health care is a deal-breaker. If they don't respond to the will of the people, then:
NATIONAL BOYCOTT
NATIONAL STRIKE
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
"Never mind that in her San Francisco district, probably three out of four people want single payer."
I'm skeptical about Pelosi's constituents wanting single payer, end to war, or anything more than the status quo. They know Pelosi's politics are right wing extremist. And yet they voted Pelosi for another term, when they could have built synergy with Cindy Sheehan.
If we are still having trouble moving to Single Payer healthcare, a stepping stone to grass-roots demand-driven markets and policies, it's a great opportunity to re-evaluate our individual politics, and make the change for the better.
rtdrury:
Yes and no on your SF comments. Since the election of last year, unemployment has risen, home foreclosures are increasing, and the shylocks on Wall Street, sanctioned by their brethren in Congress, have smoothly emptied the US Treasury, and God only knows where they are stashing our money. Torture is now acceptable in America, spying, mercenaries, the whole nine yards, because, Pelosi protected Bush and Cheney and all the rest of that gang. Not all of the people in Pelosi's District are analytical thinkers, or are they elsewhere, but with a good campaign, money to support it, and, most importantly, an honest election, Cindy Sheehan can beat Pelosi next year.
Ms Sheehan represents real hope for positive change, not only in her San Francisco district, but as a Congresswoman as well.
I know Cindy, she will fight for Single Payer, not walk around with a smirk on her face like W.
And Ralph, you've been one of my heroes since the 60's, and I, and many other Common Dreamer's, would love to see you work with Cindy if she runs against the Republican Party's sweetheart, the Bush enabler, Nancy Pelosi.
Same here.
I am a retiree and get medicare and I had insurance before medicare.
From my experience more than 50% of the costs are overkill or masked fraud by the medical profession. Many very expensive tests and procedures are not really needed or should be tried as a second or third step.
Many new very expensive drugs are prescribed where the old drugs are much
cheaper, more effective and with lesser side-effects.
The first step is to stop the spiraling up of the costs, otherwise the healthcare system, whether it is single payer or multi-payer or what have you, will bankrupt the American people or will be only for the wealthy.
The Dems are so stupid - they're playing this all wrong.
They should be all promising to do whatever they can to get single-payer passed - they should be meeting with the SP experts and advocates, gathering lots of paper, etc - all the while totally screwing us behind our backs, and then they could all claim they fought the good fight but were no match for the opposition.
All bullshit, natch - but the majority would suck it up with a bar-straw and prepare to wage battle again because they were soooo close this time.
Instead, they just come right out and tell us, repeatedly and in more ways than one, to go f#@k ourselves with our single-payer.
Come on, Dems - at least a little grease before the poking, eh?
Excellent observation, beautifully expressed!
For months, I've been blathering on here and Greenwald's Unclaimed Territory about our federal political institutions transforming into para-corporate service delivery systems.
It remains my conviction that Amerika has spawned an elite class of professional amoral technocrats that openly and profoundly integrates capitalism, or capitalistic principles, into their methods and values to the exclusion of "legacy" principles.
Without putting too fine a point on it, I believe that this warped and politically toxic transformation has occurred gradually, but in plain sight, since the Nixon years.
In retrospect, the Watergate hearings are like the Last Hurrah of Congress taking itself seriously as officers of a constitutional republican democracy, and sedulously and solemnly exercising their constitutional duties despite the political consequences.
We've devolved to the Received Wisdom that such politically risky and potentially nationally traumatizing quests for truth, accountability, and justice are unhealthy and in any case unnecessary. Bad for Business!
I think it's fair and accurate to assert that every Senator and Congressperson functions as Senator, Inc. and Congressperson LLC. Almost without exception, our incumbents are personally wealthy or at least affluent. That is, they are "moneyed" people in the first place.
And once they've broken in to the majors and have become a "going concern", they are confronted with the perpetual task of acquiring funds for re-election. So-- again, naturally-- they're driven to seek out and partner with those rich and prosperous enough to financially sponsor them.
The political and financial classes have become so closely aligned that our government can fairly be considered to be a crime syndicate or cartel, with We the People relegated to be the marks and Innocent Bystanders.
So, instead of the approach you describe, we wind up with the spectacle of a Made Man like Baucus siccing the goons on citizens daring to speak unwelcome truth to power.
· Yr Obd't Servant
They're playing it 'wrong' on purpose.
Ralph, as a strong admirer of your lifetime courage even when the odds were against you, I once again felt heartbroken and mourning when I read your article as it reminds me of last year's tragic election. As some of us who warned others about picking between D and R knew, had you been given the chance to run the White House, you would not have allowed the pols in Congress to shut out the idea of single payer healthcare. I may have been in full grief after helplessly watching our electorate once again choosing status quo, Mccain or Obama, but I will continue to fight for better pols who share your excellent vision and plans to rescue this country from its self-defeating dysfunctionality. Whether you run in 2012 or another progressive independent runs in your place, I shall strongly continue to support such independent candidacies because when I vote on the issues and not on the party, I almost always end up voting Independent. I have taken your ideas and what you have said and written to pols in my local and state elections, regardless of party, who really want to care for who they represent asking them to take your ideas seriously. Some have refused, usually D or R putting party over principle, but countless others who usually run Independent have gained at least some relevance in local and state elections even if they have a long ways to go before they can be relevant let alone dominant. Win or lose, your courage and ideas have inspired countless others out there and your spirit shall live. That makes you a winner in my book. God bless you, Ralph Nader.
Amen.
The reason corporate America is so adamantly opposed to a single payer health care system is because they know that capitalism itself and not just health care is on the line, Why? Because one good example is all it'll take. And once the public realizes that socially paid for but privately delivered health care is not only cheaper, it's better than the corporate variety, poof, TINA*, who's going to believe that?
*There Is No Alternative
If a person held you at gunpoint and demanded 'your money or your life.' You'd either shoot him, or call the cops if he just took your money. So, why do doctors and the health insurance companies get away with doing the exact same thing?
Thanks Ralph.
Please keep up the pressure.
Americans are needlessly dying so that insurance company executives can buy a third yacht. It's immoral and a national disgrace.
Selective boycotts like the ones I posted above will work. If companies have taken over the legislative process then we should tell the politicians we will boycott selected companies that gave them money UNTIL the politicians give us what we want. The more people who sign my petitions the more likely we can apply enough financial pressure to get single payer and more.
http://tinyurl.change.org/EzKoE
http://tinyurl.change.org/upFFg
http://tinyurl.change.org/SmldU
http://tinyurl.change.org/zcCYl
http://tinyurl.change.org/DppEP
It's my understanding that Senator Baucus is having the last of his five meetings this coming Tuesday - May 12. That leaves only one open day, tomorrow, to contact your Senators or commit to acts of disobedience for the purposes of publicity. (Thank you Dr. Margaret Flowers).
According to Dr. Flowers, Congress is on a tight deadline. They are supposed to have legislation by August and voted on in November. She believes that President Obama prefers single payer but can't really act on it politically unless there is sizeable public demand. The ideological Republicans would love to use this to their advantage and the health insurance & pharmaceutical companies are richer than God.
I've collected some toll-free numbers to reach the Congress. I have not tried all of them.
1-800-828-0498
1-800-459-1887
1-800-614-2803
1-866-340-2981
1-866-338-1015
I hope some of you will call tomorrow. We're running out of time.
i'm going to be a contrarian on this issue, and see who can answer my criticism w/o insulting me.
why is health care more important than food, shelter, education, and employment?
i don't really think people at CD have given this a lot of thought. all they know is they themselves & many people they know are "health care insecure" (even if they have insurance, private or public). and the homeless are not generally reading/posting at CD.
but just as many are food & housing insecure, and we are all job insecure at this point.
why is health care more important?
and why do we think that the most important "health" issue is "access to health care"? cuz it ain't, not by a long ways. i don't have any free time cuz i'm overworked & underpaid, the food offered me is total crap, my job, housing, credit is constantly threatened (when available), education is unaffordable, etc., etc., but i need access to health care? (and health care workers are the biggest killers in the US, thru accidents, negligence, malpractice, etc. but yeah, let's see them more often.)
this mindset comes from a dwindling, insecure middle class.
but look around. look at the millions in the lower class.
we live in a society that refuses to provide FOOD for people. and every day everybody at CD gets worked up about health care.
i think this focus on health care is misguided. there's a big difference b/n saying
i don't have food.
and
i don't have health care.
if you can't see that, something's wrong. (and yes these are related issues. but what's the relation? somebody else already pointed it out here on this page. and it wasn't ralph nader.)
rush limbaughs taint, there are so many things wrong with our society one hardly knows where to start. True, food is even more critical for survival than health care on the most basic level.
But our health care system is bankrupting our society on every level. Our businesses can't compete with countries that provide subsidized health care, so jobs are severely affected. Until we turn this around, there is so much else we cannot turn around. Just feeding the hungry doesn't solve a problem, it's a bandaid. We need a solution. For better or worse, this is a capitalist country. I'm not getting into that except to say that it's pretty obvious to almost everyone that unregulated capitalism is a disaster. Why people had to learn this lesson again is beyond me but that is where we are now.
What I find obscene is that those with subsidized health care are sitting on committees denying it to the rest of us. How dare they! We are paying for their Cadillac health care with our tax dollars while they leave the rest of us in the cold. That is, left to the tender mercies of the insurance maggots pouring money extorted from us into the campaign war chests of those we vote for.
"we live in a society that refuses to provide FOOD for people. and every day everybody at CD gets worked up about health care." We live in a society that refuses to provide just about anything for people. It wasn't always that way, but it is now. We are in the new era of the Robber Barons, and they are just as arrogant now as they were then.
There are many fights to be fought, and we will have to take our country back one brick at a time. Have you signed up with the National Initiative? At this point, it our best chance for doing an end run around the lobbyists running the country. Instead of them writing laws, we can write laws.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Because friggin people are dying daily without health care. And many having to choose between food and medical attention. Because the US worker is at a distinct disadvantage with his off shore counterpart in that health care is provided nationally by political systems that see health care as a right, not a privilege that only the well to do can afford.
Health care is not more important than food, shelter, clothing --
but is equally important. The UN Human Rights Manifesto makes that clear.
Single Payer would also create 2.3 million new jobs --
And, I agree with you on our "slash and burn" health care --
Single Payer however would be a new chance to create preventive health care,
based on a wellness concept. Many have been harmed and will be harmed by our
medical system and a larger part of that is the influence/control over it by
corporations - insurance companies/medical health care groups.
It would greatly benefit the health of all Americans to department from our
"for-profit" system of health care -- and to leave behind insurance companies
and health care corporations.
Yes -- HOMELESSNESS is more important -- and rare it is to hear our politicians
talking about homelessness and poverty!
Costs of hundreds of dollars every month -- people deprived of health care even when paying for health care insurance -- the unnecessarily steep costs of drugs
are all destablizing American families.
Again, health care is not "more important" --- but it is equally important to
food, shelter, clothing.
Additionally, I can speak for myself in that each time I contact my representatives
or the White House, I speak for the homeless and the impoverished.
I trust many here also do that --
MIC and these wars must also be ended. But most of all the American public needs
to find LEVERAGE over Congress -- and we are competing with corporations which have
already long ago bought government and our elected officials.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Congress and, I believe, all federal government employees have the best health care money can buy, thanks to the generosity of the taxpayers.
What if they all had to start paying for their own health care and we put the money we save toward public funding (Fair Elections Now Act)?
Public servants in both Maine and Arizona have said that once public funding was enacted in their states, health care reform was among the first issues they were able to tackle.
How quickly Obama has forgotten his promise to ensure that all Americans have the same kind of healthcare that Congress has!!!
There is no further proof necessary that the President and Congress are completely in the pockets the medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical lobbyists.
WE NO LONGER LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY which presumes that the leader of a democracy's mandate is to promote and implement the WILL OF THE PEOPLE!!!
Only a civil rights struggle that fills up the D C jails and Congressional Offices as well as lobbyist territory with angry people, many of them ill demanding a fair health care system and a shot at an expanded and not insurance designed medicare or vets systems.
Only bodies in the thousands and tens of thousands can counter the living dead of various capitalist entities that pull Congressional and Executive strings, the lobbyist army of 30,000 with billions in their pockets, some of it your money and your grand children's money too!
FILL UP THE D.C. JAILS UNTIL SINGLE PAYER IS AVAILABLE FOR ALL IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
EXPROPRIATE THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY!
They won't mind filling the jails; the privatized prisons will love the added bodies and just lobby to build more.
I am soooo glad that I voted for Nader... I could say, "I told you so", but I won't.
Let's not forget the role that 97% of the voters played in this disaster. We could have had Single Payer years ago if the voters had only voted for Nader - I have been voting for him for more than 20 years. Casting a 'write-in' ballot is not really very hard.
Hi Rosemarie,
It's ok to say "I told you so" even if we get flamed for it. By the way, you said you voted for him for 20 years. I thought that he didn't run for president until 1992 and he wasn't on the general election ballots until 1996. I studied his courageous moves in life so maybe I could see what interested you in writing him in for president starting in 1988. Nader and Mckinney would never tolerate Congress for arresting single payer advocate bravehearts. There was so much enough to mourn about the night of last year's election and I'm afraid it's going to get worse than we expected. I too am glad that I voted for Nader. I don't know if Nader will run in 2012 but if he doesn't, I hope we can get a progressive independent like him to continue his fight for the people. Cynthia Mckinney and Matt Gonzolas come to mind.
P.S.: www.nader.org contains all of Nader's articles from 1970 to today.
I also used to vote for Ralph Nader many times by "write in" ballot -- !!!
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
You only need one number for the Capitol Switchboard . . .
then ask for any Senator or Representative you want to speak with ---
TOLL FREE
1-202-224-3121
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
TO REACH PRESIDENT OBAMA
WHITE HOUSE
TOLL FREE
1-202-456-1111
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Thank you, Ralph Nader --
And, why isn't the public united --
AARP would have seemed the obvious avenue, but don't see that happening.
LABOR/UNIONS have done some on this -- and Howard Dean -- but not sufficient.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"