And I hope in the coming days, weeks and months, he will push even harder.
Once the signficant and sustained organized attacks against John Edwards begin in earnest, we'll regognize that his healthcare proposal is a bit more radical than anything we've yet seen. It's still preserves private insurers and the huge waste they generate, but it opens the door to single-payer, or so I believe.
The attacks we'll see, are not the pitiful haircut jokes--I'm talking healthcare swiftboating--real bad stuff. This is America after all, fear and lies trump the truth. Every healthcare reform will be labeled socialized medicine. This is a lie, just like Saddam was involved in 9/11 was a lie.
You can take it to the bank that he will be smeared and villified. Though we might want him to go even further, make no mistake he has moved deep into enemy territory. And he has positioned himself--over time, and if this is what the American people demand--to deliver to the for-profit insurance industry a lethal blow.
That said, there are a couple of facts you should know about John Edwards and his health plan.
- His health plan is not perfect. It's not a pure single-payer system.
- The Edwards Plan is an honorable and noble effort. We owe it to him--even more important it is in our own best interest to understand the overhaul that he is proposing.
Edwards proposes doing something I think we all believe in, allowing individuals to choose between private insurers and a public Medicare/Medicaid program.
In theory, this would force the for-profit private insurance industry to become much more efficient than they are today. Efficient is a polite word for less $$$$ for them. They will fight this. This will also insure (no pun intended), that our friends at AHIP will rip John a new ahole. This means they will attempt to destroy him.
Anything that challenges the status quo of the for-profit thugs and their K Street benefactors, will guarantee a barrage of deceit and fear mongering--this is all they know how to do. Coming any day to a television screen in your living room, a repeat of the Harry and Louise type campaign of lies and deceit.
So, for this alone, Edwards deserves our thanks. Unlike his rivals, he seems prepared to take on powerful healthcare special intersts.
I hope this quote is the operative reality from John Edwards. I hope if he becomes the nominee, then President, he will keep his word.
As the Edwards plan puts it, "This American solution will reward the sector that offers the best care at the best price. Over time, the system may evolve toward a single-payer approach if individuals and businesses prefer the public plan."
Keeping his word would be the best medicine for our collapsed healthcare system and I'm certain John Edwards knows it. He also knows the demoralizing truth.
Americans pay the highest health care taxes in the world. Health spending int he U.S. is around $7,500 per capita. Canadians spend about $3,850 per person for their entire health system, which covers every Canadian with no co-payments or deductibles.
You should go to John Edwards web site and read the entire plan. http://johnedwards.com/...
Then visit the web sites of other candidates, Democratic and Republican and see what health plans they are offering. Please report back to us, if you can locate any detail.
Here's a summary of the Edwards plan. (Pulled from a variety of sources, so if I'm off on anything, please don't shoot me.)
- It would require every American to have health insurance by 2012, the last year of Edwards' first term. If I'm not mistaken other candidates are talking about 2016. The plan would first make health care available to everyone and then require people to carry health insurance, just as motorists cannot drive without automobile insurance.
- The plan is a private/public mix. Employers would be required to either provide insurance to their employees through a company policy, or to help fund coverage for their workers by contributing to regional nonprofit government entities that Edwards calls health markets.
- The health markets would use large scale purchasing power to negotiate affordable policies through insurers. Uninsured individuals could obtain coverage through a health market. So could employers seeking to provide group policies for their employees.
- Insurance companies would be required to sell coverage at a fair price regardless of a person's medical history or pre-existing condition; what constitutes a fair price has yet to be determined. Insurers would also be required to offer mental health benefits.
- Health markets would offer traditional plans from private companies such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Aetna and Cigna, as well as a government-run plan similar to Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for the elderly. The public-sector plan would resemble Canada's single-payer system, in which insurance is publicly funded to control costs but doctors and hospitals remain private.
Issues that need answers:
- How does President Edwards intend to regulate and police the for-profit insurance industry?
- How does he intend to compel them to perform for the American people not their Wall Street masters?
- How exactly do the health markets get funded? Who insures that the for-profits don't cherry pick the healthiest? Will the for-profits be required to to maintain a medical loss ratio of at least say 85%?
- How would a President Edwards address the cruel nightmare of medical bankruptcy? Already, more than a quarter of insured Americans go without needed care because of cost, and three-quarters of those bankrupted by medical bills had coverage when they got sick.
- Will decent coverage in reality remain unaffordable for most Americans, with costs continuing to rise? Despite his promise of affordable insurance, will many still be forced (mandated) to buy cheap policies, stripped down with huge co-payments and deductibles? This is known as junk insurance, and it is insurance in name only.
- Under the Edwards plan, will doctors once again be in charge of healthcare decision making? Or will it be business as usual with insurance company bean counters allowed to make life and death decisions?
- Would the health market plan be available to every American citizen?
- Will the health markets be administered by the 50 states, but required to provide everyone with identical coverage?
- How much will all this cost?
- If the for-profit insurance industry was fully sidelined, if we went right to single-payer, wouldn't the costs of insuring all Americans drop dramatically-- PHNP estimates by as much as 30%?
So many questions. This is but a beginning. We need lots of answers. The American people deserve specific answers, not vague promises. Those days are over.
We must require all the Democratic candidates to give us specifics.