These are indeed interesting times! When I came to Mathews County Virginia in 1998 I could not find a democrat. On August 1, 2009 they passed one of the strongest resolutions I have seen in support of single payer health care. There is no better demonstration of the power of grass roots organizing than the transformation here. Last night they held an annual Crab Steam attended by over a hundred people. Speakers at the event included the local State Senator that unseated a republican last go around, Ralph Northam, who also happens to be the only medical doctor in the Virginia Senate. Also, a candidate that will unseat the republican incumbent in the 1st CD. It is worth noting that this time the democrats are getting their act together early. There seems to have been a revival in the 1st CD. Read on below the break and I'll tell you more about this resolution. This is history making stuff here in Virginia!
They sent their Single-Payer Health Care Option resolution to the following officials of the Democratic Party of VA: C. Richard Cranwell, Chairman; Leigh Anne Collier, Executive Director, and Don Mark, Political Director. Don Mark responded to say that he would include this resolution in the resolutions packet for the Central Committee to consider when it meet on September 12. So Mathews County is now demonstrating leadership in Virginia politics. That's some progress since 1998. Let me share some of the things they say in their resolution:
The United States stands alone among all modern, industrialized nations in not having a system for ensuring high-quality, basic health care for all of its citizens.
The United States lags behind every other industrialized country in many health care outcomes including infant mortality, overall life expectancy and immunization rates.
Approximately 1/3 of Americans are currently either uninsured or under-insured.
A recent study by Harvard University researchers noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.
Care that is provided to the uninsured who overcrowd emergency rooms through using them as their primary care doctors; or by hospitalizations for the uninsured that could have been avoided by earlier preventative diagnosis and care, are costs of our current system that all of us pay through increased taxes and through increased insurance premiums.
The United States now devotes approximately one-sixth of its economy to medicine which is almost twice as much as two decades ago (adjusting for inflation). This is about $6,500 more than in other rich countries, on average, at a cost of approximately $7,129 per person per year.
While it is true that the United States has excellent doctors, hospitals and technology that fact doesn't help those who do not have access to this care or those who lose access to this care through insurance company recision* of benefits actions upon the insured developing a major illness.
Approximately 1/3 of the money paid into our current uncoordinated, piecemeal, for-profit health insurance system goes to paperwork and administrative costs while only 70 cents of every dollar spent for health insurance is available for actual health care.
Approximately 30 cents on every dollar is used by the insurance companies as non-care "overhead" for large executive salaries, lavish headquarters buildings, advertising, accountants, denial of care experts, payments to lobbyists, and for campaign contributions to protect their vested interests.
With a single-payer system, these costs could actually be used for health care. The savings amount to about $630 billion per year, which is way more than enough to provide comprehensive health care for the 54 million uninsured and under-insured.
That is about a third of the manifesto. I'll share a bit more after some comments. Why a resolution on single payer now? Because they know, as every thinking person should know, that this is the only way to afford needed care for everyone. The subsidy to the insurance and drug companies is just too expensive. Unfortunately, the bill before congress now will not solve the problem and we will be in this fight for a long time it seems. Now is indeed the time to teach our people what is needed and why it is the solution.
I have lived and worked for at least a year and in some cases much longer in countries like Israel, France, and Germany. In each case, as a foreigner, I was taken into their system and found myself the recipient of superior health care at lower cost. Americans who live abroad outside the military cocoon all seem to say this.
The word "freedom" is being used by opponents to the bill now being considered in congress. The word discussed by George Lakoff in his excellent book Whose Freedom: The Battle over America's Most Important Idea. He says this:
The traditional idea of freedom is progressive. One can see traditional values most clearly in the direction of change that has been demanded and applauded over two centuries. America has been a nation of activists, consistently expanding its most treasured freedoms:
and he goes on to list some of them. His book is a good primer for the way the word is being used in the health care debate. Here is an an article that is a good example of the right's use (From CNN's FORTUNE).5 freedoms you'd lose in health care reform
- Freedom to choose what's in your plan
- Freedom to be rewarded for healthy living, or pay your real costs
- Freedom to choose high-deductible coverage
- Freedom to keep your existing plan
- Freedom to choose your doctors
Out side of the fact that these are either out and out lies or at least misleading distortions, what do they tell you about the notion of freedom they are into? Compare these "freedoms" with the freedom to have health care at all and the freedom you are deprived by the present system so aptly defined by the Mathews Democrat's manifesto:
Under the current system, large corporations not only pay part of the bill for their employees coverage, they also have to maintain staff members specifically to deal with the immense bureaucracy that's been constructed by the insurance industry to make getting a straight answer very difficult.
Under the current system, small businesses cannot either afford to offer any insurance to their employees or are forced to offer the barest minimum because of what the premiums do to their ability to compete in the marketplace with larger companies offering the same product or service.
This drains the resources of both large and small business which instead of being invested in improving or expanding their products or services is used to pay insurance companies or staff dedicated to dealing with insurance companies.
The current system puts a roadblock in the path of people with entrepreneurial ideas. For instead of starting their own businesses to add to a vibrant free marketplace they remain in their present jobs for fear of losing medical coverage for themselves and their families.
The loss of a job or the decision to become a consultant or entrepreneur not only means loss of straight income but often of health insurance as well due to the inadequacy of the individual health insurance market. When an individual can find insurance – which is often impossible should he/she have any preexisting condition - the cost is prohibitive and the benefits only kick in only after a very large out-of-pocket deductible is met (usually in the thousands of dollars).
Any proposed plan that would require all Americans to purchase insurance to attain universal coverage only increases the profits of insurance companies while doing nothing to address the previously stated issues.
To put it a bit more bluntly, the present system relegates significant numbers of the population to a new form of Indentured Servitude by requiring them to work in a situation that may be unsuitable or even intolerable for them in order to have health care. Now there's a loss of freedom if I ever saw one!
Finally they say this:
The only real cure for what ails the U.S. health care system is a universal public plan that provides health care for all Americans while controlling costs . Everyone in, no one out regardless of previous health status; regardless of employment status or income or age. Health care costs would be controlled by a process of negotiation using the largest patient pool available – the entire population of the country or of a particular state - with drug companies, hospitals, doctors and other providers creating a system that would be reasonable and fair to all.
Such universal care would include many items that are, again, addressed piecemeal by the current for-profit system including preventative care, drugs, dental, mental health, individual doctors' services, hospitalizations, surgery, vision care, and necessary medical equipment and medical devices.
Under such a single-payer system, a patient would be free to choose not between different insurance plans but between any doctor or hospital or other service that might be needed. Out-of-network issues would disappear immediately.
Under the single-payer scenario, the government would not own the health care system just like the government does not own the health care system under Medicare. Doctors, hospitals, drug companies, etc. would all remain private and be owned as they are now. However, they would need to negotiate with the public agency for what they could charge for their products and services and if they choose to remain outside of such a single-payer system they would be free to do so.
Insurance companies would still have a role, albeit greatly reduced, as an opt-in choice for people who wanted to and could afford medical treatment and priority higher than provided by the universal care system. Metaphorically, everyone would have access to a road-worthy Civic but those who could afford a Lexus would not be prevented from purchasing one.
The Obama campaign is working again. I was just contacted and asked to visit my congressman as a health care professional. I am happy to do that. I want to ask him face to face why he is against freedom. It should be fun