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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Single-Payer the Health-Care Remedy

By John R. Hall
New Mexico resident
      In 2003 Sen. Barack Obama announced to an AFL-CIO meeting: “I am a proponent of a single-payer universal health-care program.” President Obama now tells us that single-payer is off the table. Off the table even though he still admits that it would be the best possible system.
       A two-thirds majority of Americans favor single-payer. Most doctors and nurses want single-payer. The rest of the industrialized world recognizes single-payer as the only system that works. And in most civilized countries profiteering at the expense of the sick is a crime.
       But President Obama is under a lot of pressure to send the whole idea of single-payer to Neverland. He knows how dangerous it is to rock the boat of corporate America.
       America's statistics on life expectancy and infant mortality are approaching Third World standards. Our health-care system does not serve the people, but fat-cat profiteers are well served. Over served. The following are just a few of the vultures who prosper at our expense and feed on the roadkill of a failed system:
       n The insurance industry. It makes its billions denying the claims of the sick. Covering medical expenses is a last resort. Malpractice insurance puts the squeeze on the system from the other end, keeping health-care costs sky high.
       n The American Medical Association. Only about 1/4 of all physicians are members. Most doctors favor a single-payer system, but this organization is composed of the wealthy, powerful and conservative. Its lobby is well-funded and well-known to your senator and congressperson.
       n The pharmaceutical industry. It works tirelessly inventing new diseases and treatments. It lavishly courts physicians to promote questionable and expensive chemical treatments. Its worst nightmare is a world full of doctors with no monetary incentive to push its pills.
       â–  The Media. Mainstream network television would die a quick death if not for the endless procession of drug ads. “Ask your doctor if blah-blah-blah is right for you!” Don't expect your local newscaster to host a thoughtful discussion of single-payer health care, nor to even mention it.
       President Obama is pushing a public health plan which would offer a government-run alternative within the current broken system. He says he can reduce our premiums by creating more competition within the free market.
       But perhaps President Obama hasn't noticed that the growing stench in the room is the rotting corpse of free market capitalism. It was brutally murdered by its ugly stepsister, Greed. What the free market is doing for the banking, mortgage, and automobile industries … for the world economy in general, it is also doing for the established health-care system.
       We already have publicly funded police and fire protection, parks, education and highways. These services would not work at all if operated for a profit. Greed has broken our health-care system, and only a single-payer solution will repair it.
       John R. Hall lives at Cochiti Lake.
       

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