Standing up to the Corporatists Part 2: Health Care Reform
Thu May 10, 2007 at 12:10:47 PM PDT
Last week, I announced my Declaration of Rights Which have Been Denied. This Declaration is my way of expanding upon the Rights listed in FDR’s 1944 State of the Union message to Congress, which I have mentioned before here and here. I believe, and polls support this belief, that the way forward for the Democratic Party is to confront President Bush and the Rubber Stamp Republicans for selling out to Corporate Interests and denying the People these important Rights. There are many power brokers in Washington who dislike me for my stances, but I’m not running to work for Beltway Insiders. I’m running to work for you, the People of this Great Nation.
This is the Second in a 10 part series where we will discuss some of the most important issues facing the American Family today. Today, I regrettably will not be available to live blog, but I hope you’ll subscribe to my Daily Kos Diaries, and join me in discussion on Sundays from 3-6pm Eastern. If you missed our discussion on Iraq last Sunday, you can read all of it right here. So, without further ado...
#2 The People have the Right to Quality, Affordable Health Care...
A lot of my supporters already know that I am a 24 year Naval Veteran, however may of them do not know that I am also a cancer survivor. In 1997, after running in a half marathon, I had what I believed to be a mild bout with the flu. At that point, my wife Beverly told me to go visit the doctor for a checkup. After missing, the appointment, Beverly called my boss, General Wesley Clark to voice her concern with my well being. General Clark came into my office and explained that I must go. After explaining to him that I was fine, General Clark looked right at me and said, "I think we've lost the fundamental relationship here between a Navy commander and the general in charge of NATO. You will go to the doctor."
General Clark’s order saved my life.
After a number of tests, and one misdiagnosis, I was finally told that I had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and the Doctor’s arrived at the conclusion that I had only four months to live. My family and I went through a living hell as I endured round after debilitating round of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Despite such a grim prognosis, I beat the odds through the power of family, love, prayer, and quality healthcare, today, I am cancer free.
Unlike many Americans, I had excellent, professional US Military Health Insurance which paid for all of my expenses. After being cured, I served in the Navy as a cancer outreach specialist for both military and civilian families. Serving in this capacity taught me the harsh realities of the American HMO system. I saw families forced to choose between college for their kids or medication for their mother, dinner on the table or dialysis, debt or death. We live in the greatest country in the world, so why don’t we have the greatest healthcare system in the world?
The answer? The HMO’s and the Pharmaceutical Industry are quite simply, more concerned with making money for their shareholders, than saving the lives of patients. We live in a system where the very people to whom we look to protect us from dangerous medications, move back and forth through revolving door between Government and Lobbying jobs. For the HMO’s profit is their bottom line, not to saving families. In 2004, there were 1,274 pharmaceutical lobbyists in Washington DC... Why do you suppose the pharmaceutical industry spent $158 million lobbying our government in 2004? Was it out of sheer compassion for you and your family?
That very same year, we found out exactly how much they cared. In perhaps one of the worst cases of government failure and industry corruption we’ve ever seen, Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Merck intentionally covered up the deadly effects of Vioxx. Merck made roughly 1.4 Billion Dollars per year by deceiving families, and buying Congressmen, all the while keeping its deadly side effects secret for four years. As of late 2004, it was estimated that 27,785 people died as a result of Merck’s greed and Washington’s indifference. We owe it to our families to reform this nation’s broken healthcare system.
Solution:
I join the tens of thousands of Americans who are already working toward a Single Payer Healthcare System for all Americas. This includes thousands of Medical professionals from the operating room to the front office. With a united voice, we can push the Washington fat cats and beltway insiders out of our hospitals, out of our wallets, out of our Congress and most certainly out of our operating rooms.
Between 2004 and 2005, it was estimated that there were between 45.3 million and 46.6 million uninsured Americans costing the all of us an estimated $35 Billion in 2001. Today, 1 in 4 American Children go without healthcare. In 2002, approximately 18,000 families lost loved ones, simply due to lack of healthcare. I cannot be complacent in the face of such an out of control, corrupt system while our children suffer the consequences of government waste.
We owe it to ourselves and our children to save more money and more lives.
A Single Payer Healthcare System will save us billions of dollars and thousands of lives every year, and not cost the American family a single dime more than they’re already paying. Essentially we would set up system where Families would pay on a sliding scale and fund their own healthcare without the overhead of insurance company waste, or pharmaceutical price fixing. We could eliminate all out of pocket expenses such as premiums, co-pays, deductibles and no-pays all in one clean swipe, by using healthcare dollars on healthcare rather than lobbyists. Healthcare money spent on healthcare... now there’s an idea you don’t hear being tossed around K Street too often.
Why shouldn’t all of us receive the same quality healthcare that members of Congress already enjoy?
To make this a possibility, we need to establish some agreement with Republicans over the seriousness of the problem, specifically the affects on employers who are providing health care. This piece in the Washington Times shows that there is much agreement that we can build on. I do not agree that market forces alone can correct the problem but we at least need to agree on the severity of the problems at hand. Recently the Center for American Progress issued a health care plan that is a good starting place for discussion. In addition the Website healthcare-now.org has a number of specific details on the Universal Single Payer plan.
I believe that a Single Payer Plan based on the plan available to members of Congress is the best option economically and morally. Together we can work out the necessary details of how to implement it.
We can change the world together!
Today, I’m reaching out to you, the Netroots Community, to help me reach Congress so we can end this crime against our families. With your help, we can defeat Congressman Randy Kuhl, and replace one more Rubberstamp Republican with a Progressive, Democratic voice. I am counting on you, because I have never, nor will I ever accept a single dime of Corporate PAC money.
I thank you for supporting our cause, and know that together, we can build a better, healthier nation.
Thank you and God Bless,
-Eric Massa
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