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Big Breakthroughs for Single-Payer Health Care

Wednesday 10 June 2009

by: Kevin Zeese, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

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Single-payer health care. (Artwork: Public Citizen)

    Editor's Note: Kevin Zeese is a former Independent candidate for US Senate in Maryland. He was one of 13 single-payer health care advocates who stood before a Senate panel chaired by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and demanded that a voice for single-payer health care be allowed to participate in the hearing. Baucus refused, and all 13 who stood demanding to be heard were arrested and removed from the hearing room by Capitol police. - ma/TO

    Less than a month after 13 single-payer advocates were arrested protesting the exclusion of single payer, it is at the table in both Houses, making progress while the multi-payer pro-insurance reform is faltering.

    When we started our campaign one month ago to put single-payer national health insurance on the table, we were ignored.

    When we stood up and demanded that single payer be part of the debate, we were arrested.

    Today, single payer is breaking through, while the multi-payer pro-health insurance reform is faltering.

    Here's the news, single-payer national health insurance will be at the table in the Senate with a witness participating in a hearing this Thursday. And on Wednesday, a hearing is being held on single payer in the House of Representatives.

    The Senate Committee on Health, Education and Pensions has invited Margaret Flowers, M.D., of Physicians for National Health Policy. to testify this Thursday at 3:00 PM in a hearing on health care reform. Flowers was one of the Baucus 13 I was arrested with three weeks ago protesting the exclusion of single payer from Senate Finance Committee hearings.

    And on Wednesday, the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing titled "Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option" on June 10 at 10:30 AM in 2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.

    Single payer is making advances while the multi-payer pro-insurance industry reform bill is faltering.

  • There are deep divisions over how to pay for the reform with the very unpopular taxing of health benefits now being considered. This was something President Obama opposed during the 2008 campaign. Paying for single payer is much easier as the waste, fraud, abuse and bureaucracy of the health insurance industry - totaling $400 billion annually - would be applied to providing health care. Single payer pays for itself while multi-payer will add to the deficit.

  • Mandating that people buy insurance or face fines, another provision President Obama opposed during the campaign, is gaining popularity among pro-insurance company legislators. And, the mandates would provide subsidies to the poor so they can purchase insurance - of course, this is also a subsidy to the health insurance industry. The working class which cannot afford to purchase insurance will feel the burden of this requirement. Under single payer, people are provided health care without these costs, which is one reason it is the most popular reform among voters.

  • The Public Insurance Option is opposed by Republicans and the insurance industry. While several schemes have been reported to make the public choice option ineffective, it is causing deep divisions. Single payer is the most popular health care reform among voters, doctors, nurses and economists because it provides all Americans with a choice of doctors and providers.

  • The business community is questioning the pro-insurance reforms because they will include mandates on business requiring them to pay for health insurance. At this critical time, business needs relief not burdens. Single payer will provide businesses with economic relief by reducing the costs of health care and leveling the playing field among all businesses and allowing them to compete internationally with other countries with single-payer systems.

    •     In an effort to save the faltering pro-insurance reforms, President Obama announced his administration would be getting directly involved in health care negotiations with Congress. And, he announced town hall meetings throughout the US.

        President Obama will find that at all of these town hall meetings, single payer will be the most popular reform among Americans. He needs to listen to voters. When Obama was in the Illinois Senate he said he supported single payer, but that before Americans got it, they needed to win back the House, Senate and presidency. Well, a?l three are now in Democratic Party control. It is time for President Obama to advocate for the people and push for single payer and the multi-payer system as the insurance industry is the root cause of the problems in health care.

        More information:

        Health care reform falling apart as details become known:
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/362
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/318
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/286

        Congress considering taxing health benefits:
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/352
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/287

        Robert Reich on how health care profiteers plan to kill public option:
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/346

        Insurance companies push to force people to buy insurance:
        http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/338
        http://www.prosperityagenda.

      

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    Comments

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    Yes, well good news is good

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 17:53 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    Yes, well good news is good news, apparently good news might be good news. Aside from the news, we know that for the last 60 years the criminal insurance cartel has run the show utterly and completely. Why not approach this thing from a different angle, lodge multiple criminal complaints against the insurance industry for racketeering.

    When does government care

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 18:58 β€” Tom Martin (not verified)
    When does government care admit failure? How bad must it get? Can we have written into the legislation that when the average wait for operations x,y and z are 5 times longer then the current simi-private system we will abandon government care? Or is this a religion of state where no reality is required for the faithful and it can expand infinitely in cost and degrade equally pitifully in actual care given?

    It will surprise me if

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 19:15 β€” Eric Rogers (not verified)
    It will surprise me if democracy will win out over bribery. Unlimited contributions to the politicians IS bribery! And the health care insurance industry contributes an awful lot of money to the politicians. So expect them to ignore us and protect the contributors. No single payer health care for America, no matter what the people want.

    This is wonderful progress.

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 19:40 β€” John Escher (not verified)
    This is wonderful progress. Why don't President Obama and everybody simply do the right thing, which is single payer in this case.

    In the unlikely event we

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 19:56 β€” Chris Herz (not verified)
    In the unlikely event we win some acceptable form of single payer, the next battle is to keep it adequately funded so the first comment above remains the irrelevancy it should be. After that we must discuss expropriation of the insurance companies and the taking over of their premium payments. Otherwise massive increases in the FICA tax become necessary. Of course FICA should be levied as an equal percentage on all incomes, not cut off for the millionaires. But anyway, the insurance companies never would have acquired the power they have without the corrupt deal they arranged with President Nixon. They owe the Republic more than they can ever pay.

    Dear Tom: We have already

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 19:57 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    Dear Tom: We have already had a "religion of state" since Ronald Reagan. It is of the proverbial "pie in the sky when you die" variety. And die we will from a heart attack brought on by anxiety as we struggle in our last hours of cancer trying to figure out how not to bankrupt our families while private health insurance companies consider it a loss whenever they pay out a nickel of the thousands we pay in every year. The current system stinks; it is a machine without a heart. It's brain says only one thing: "How do we maximize profit for our investors?" The economic system which corporations spend so much time and effort convincing the American public that it IS America stinks. The whole thing stinks. And the sad thing is that corporations like Haliburton assure Muslim nations that even though they are going to get screwed they are doing it to the American people FIRST.

    To Tom Martin: feel free to

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 20:12 β€” Herbert Browne (not verified)
    To Tom Martin: feel free to purchase all the health insurance you feel necessary; and let the rest of us buy into a NON-PROFIT, NO-FAULT system that won't hold our prior health situation, our age, our sex, our genes, and our history against us when we Need Healthcare! ^..^

    I wonder if there is a

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 20:24 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    I wonder if there is a backdoor to establishing a defacto single payer. If I were as rich as Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, I would take a couple billion dollars and set up a non-profit health care company. Set it up with no restrictions on pre-existing conditions, reasonable copays, reasonable annual out-of-pocket limits, etc. Also, pay the hospitals and doctors 10-20% more than current insurance reimbursements. Since it is non-profit, lower the price per policy by 20% or so. Sign up a large pool of subscribers by covering all government employees and a few large employers (e.g. IBM, WalMart, etc.). If prudently managed, more employers would want to sign up with the plan, thus increasing the subscriber base. This would introduce real competition with the current for-profit health insurance giants. The non-profit would immediately computerize medical records of all subscribers. As the non-profit grows, it could work in concert with Medicare so medical records would be standardized, allowing outcome-based research into most effective and cheapest treatments. Perhaps the for-profit health insurance companies would decide to leave the market, and the non-profit could pick up the newly uninsured subscribers. Eventually there could be only one defacto health insurance company. I wonder how much money would be required to get this off the ground, starting in one region and gradually spreading across the nation...

    Thanks for hanging in there,

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 20:38 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    Thanks for hanging in there, Kevin, and all your hard work.

    I am paying for my own

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 20:47 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    I am paying for my own health insurance, you want me to pay, say 2/3 of what I'm paying for health insurance that actually covers preventative care like a colonoscopy and stop smoking aids? That doesn't have a $2500 deductible and that I don't have to worry about losing (despite the few claims I've filed for the last 15 years) every year? No problem, I'll pay it in tax--as long as every single penny of it goes to single payer health care--not a penny to the Iraq/Afghanistan invasions & occupations. And I want to see every member of the US gov't in the same single payer program. If the wealthy among them want to pay for ADDITIONAL private insurance, as people do in the UK, fine, let them, but otherwise, they get what those having the lowest income among us get. Corporations can shed the burden of providing health insurance and pay that sum as additional corporate tax. If they want to offer coverage beyond the basic single payer coverage, again, they're free to do so. But they still have to pay into a fund that's JUST for providing single payer national health care. That's how you pay for it. Works for me.

    my experience, as a medical

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 21:05 β€” adelina ortiz de hill (not verified)
    my experience, as a medical social worker, gerontologist and social policy professor,(focus health policy and 80 years old). is that the health care has been manipulated by the fear of creating a socialistic welfare state, the reasoning used during the cold war that so effectively shut down debate and buried any discussion of the issues. this was reinforced with misleading and spurious advertising. title 18 (medicare) and title 19 (medicaid) presently assist with some not all of the highest at risk populations the elderly, disabled and children.public health has underwritten preventive measures to assure better health. but corporate welfare is to insurance companies they are the beneficiaries getting guaranteed profits and advantages for insuring the least at risk it is amoral they have no shame. single payer is where you start the debate and given honest exposure it should prevail. it will be cost effective less burdensome to tax payers and the will get their monies worth.

    This is the greatest news.

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 21:42 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    This is the greatest news. Let's hope the momentum continues. It's exactly what we need as a nation. It would save money and save lives. And it would go a long way to restoring confidence in the government. Thanks for the hard work done by the Baucus 13.

    As long as corporations

     Wed, 06/10/2009 - 21:45 β€” mysterioso (not verified)
    As long as corporations continue to cut jobs and wages and to cut hours which intentionally takes workers of their health care insurance because they are no longer "full time" employees - the only other option is single payer health insurance. Right now, in what is supposed to be the wealthiest and strongest country in the world - more bankruptcies are created because of medical bills than any other reason. Greed on the part of doctors, insurance companies and drug companies force people in the USA to do without health care for themselves and their children. Force those who can afford just a little more to travel to other countries where operations cost only a fraction of what they do in the US. Don't believe those who would tell you that the care in these countries is substandard, it isn't. My uncle had to have a tumor removed on his spinal chord. He traveled to South East Asia to have it done because he lost his job and had no insurance. It cost him about 25% of what the same operation would have cost in the US. He said he had the best care he has ever had in a hospital.

    Health is Yours to Keep or

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 02:07 β€” David (not verified)
    Health is Yours to Keep or Lose Of course the insurance industry, surgery-drugs industry, hospitals, and others are corrupt, as is Senator Baucus. He should be arrested for not allowing Kevin Zeese and other single-payer advocates to speak. That being said, there's too much emphasis on "health care." The best health care is for you to exercise, eat organic, avoid lifestyle harms, go outdoors in unpolluted Nature, do yoga, fast, and otherwise take responsibility for your own body. Depending on the government, drugs, surgeons,hospitals, tests and other interventions is a dodge. Most health problems are self-caused, and can be avoided. Other than industrial and car accidents, which are the result of a society that relies too heavily on polluting machines and an inhumane grid that punishes bicyclists and pedestrians. Something to think about instead of freaking out about whether the government will provide you with pills and surgery. I don't have health insurance, don't want it, haven't been to a doctor in 35 years, bike 20 miles per day, swim, run, and don't take pharma drugs, smoke cigs, or drink booze. Other than being hit by a car, I am not worried about health care.

    Thanks Kevin! Do you want us

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 03:09 β€” Abbama (not verified)
    Thanks Kevin! Do you want us to march on Washington for single payer insurance? Say when! We'll be there!

    Obama has sold his soul to

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 04:50 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    Obama has sold his soul to the corporate shills and the single payer idea will never see the light of day... sure they will entertain the concept but will it not go anywhere from the discussion stage... sure... will it get some movement past these discussion... but i highly doubt it once in Washington politicals are instantly part of the problem and cease being proactive agents of real change... the status quo will never allow Obama or any democrat, free movement of idea's beyond the discussion stage for a single non-profit desk, health care plan your not living in a free democratic country anymore... corporations own everything including airwaves... we seriously need a real national leader like Teddy Roosevelt... Obama... i can't see him doing anything on this file ...therefore... FAIL

    Many thanks to Kevin Zeese,

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 14:05 β€” Michael G (not verified)
    Many thanks to Kevin Zeese, and those like him who persist in the face of overwhelming odds, through an abundance of common sense. Will an affordable national health plan with no exclusions cause Americans to eat even worse food than we do now? Will it give people the green light to exercise even less than now? Will obesity explode more than now? Will people abuse the system to get cheap drugs to feed a habit? WHO CARES? Or, someone can make a living picking one of these problems and starting a business. The issue here and now is affordable healthcare for hardworking Americans, a plan that doesn't cut them off when they need it most, one that doesn't exclude them for family history or an existing condition, exactly the reason to have healthcare. Conservative fear about a national health plan is just fear. Could the system be any worse than it is now? That's a legitimate concern, but much evidence suggests it will be a better system because there's no reason people could not continue to buy private health insurance if they want to, but it may be less expensive. Basic healthcare should not be a for-profit proposition! Health insurance companies have abused their access to the population for far too long A single payer system is the ONLY plan that has been demonstrated to work for millions of people, with an acceptable amount of administrative cost to run such a large operation. GIVE US A SINGLE PAYER HEALTH PLAN. A majority of Americans, myself included, and American doctors, want it. Oh, and please call your representatives to support HR676. Thanks.

    Single payer hasn't a

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 14:34 β€” hark (not verified)
    Single payer hasn't a chance, and the public option won't survive, or won't be recognizable if it does, such as the compromise Sen Kent Conrad D-N.D. is proposing. The NYT reports today that the AMA has come out against the public option. The only reform we're likely to see is that Americans, for the first time, might have the right to purchase private health insurance without regard to pre-existing conditions and at the same rates as anyone else in their class. That's not insignificant, but it will be the end of health insurance reform in this country, for good. We are, as a nation, moving ever rightward, lurching here and there, but rightward overall.

    Of course the AMA opposes

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 15:56 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    Of course the AMA opposes single payer and any other public health care option. That would deprive them of one conduit for bribing Congress.

    To David, "Health is Yours

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 16:16 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    To David, "Health is Yours to Keep or Lose": If it was that simple, there would be no need for insurance at all. A good friend of mine was a vegetarian, didn't smoke or drink, ate organic, worked out regularly, and died at age 43 of stomach cancer, untreated because he was self-employed with no health insurance. Another friend's family is bankrupt due to an aneurism (she was 38) brought on by a congenital condition. Another's is going broke because their son was born with a cleft palate and other problems (all correctable but expensive). "Clean living" won't protect you from all the toxic insults in your everyday environment, nor from drunk drivers or any number of communicable diseases or congenital conditions. Anyone with children wouldn't be so blasΓ© about relying on good luck to keep your health intact.

    MY HAT'S OFF TO THE 13!!!

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 16:18 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    MY HAT'S OFF TO THE 13!!! THANK YOU FOR YOU BOLDNESS AND STANDING UP FOR ME AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS IN THE FACE AND REALITY OF ARREST... YOU ARE MY HEROES...!!

    I know its like tossing

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 16:23 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
    I know its like tossing Straws at a Camel.. But, if Letters to Elected Representatives are like Straws and Representatives are the Camels, how many letters does it take to break the Representatives Back so that all those ''Camels'' listen more to millions of citizen-letter-writer-voters and less to Insurance Lobbyists carrying suitcases full of... 'promises''..?

    Why don't we set up a

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 16:37 β€” Vaughn (not verified)
    Why don't we set up a boycott? A 2 year boycott for all health insurance by just 25% of us who currently pay would wipe out health insurance industry.

    Single Payer is the ONLY

     Thu, 06/11/2009 - 17:24 β€” Allan J Krueger (not verified)
    Single Payer is the ONLY answer to the health care disaster and the only option to make it available and affordable. If EVERYONE has coverage, the cost goes down! DUH! Look at the countries who are already doing it!

    I need more numbers. Total

     Wed, 06/17/2009 - 17:41 β€” paul Allen (not verified)
    I need more numbers. Total US health care spending in 2004 was $2.2T. 60% is paid by government, 20% directly by consumers, and the rest by insurance. The bit paid by insurance is about $440B, close to the $400B Kevin says is insurance company waste, fraud and abuse. HB676 replaces employer-paid premiums and consumer out-of-pocket expenses with essentially a 9% payrole tax. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers for 1Q09, that tax would raise about half of the $880B needed to replace insurance and consumer spending. Single-payer is clearly the right answer, but the argument cannot be compelling without numbers behind it. Hand-waving and slogans doesn't cut it.