[Dialogue] Emailing: Mayors Make Good Move On Health Care - CommonDreams.org.htm
Harry Wainwright
h-wainwright at charter.net
Wed Jul 16 22:39:50 EDT 2008
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Published on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 by The Capital Times (Wisconsin)
<http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/296351>
Mayors Make Good Move On Health Care
by Dave Zweifel
It didn't get much attention last week- the country's obviously preoccupied
with the state of the economy and out-of-control oil prices - but there was
a significant development in the growing movement to fix the broken American
health care system.
For the first time, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the high-powered national
organization that met here in the summer of 2002 and gathered this year in
Miami, adopted a resolution at its annual convention supporting national
single-payer health insurance.
The resolution, adopted unanimously by the mayors, specifically calls on
Congress to enact H.R. 676, the bill sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of
Michigan and 90 other members of Congress including the 2nd District's own
Tammy Baldwin.
"This is a major achievement, a qualitative change in the movement for
genuine health care reform," said Dr. David Prensky, a member of the
Chicago-based Physicians for a National Health Care Program. "It shows that
our country's mayors now support the kind of approach that every other
industrialized country has - an approach that guarantees health care for
everyone at an affordable cost."
Conyer's bill, which would guarantee everyone care for all medically
necessary services much like Medicare does for the nation's senior citizens,
realistically isn't going to get very far during this session of Congress.
It's becoming clear, though, that the momentum for a universal health care
system is growing.
What can finally turn the tide is this fall's national elections.
Voters need to hold candidates' feet to the fire on where they stand on this
crucial issue. The time is long past due for our country to rid itself of
the embarrassment that 45 million of our citizens have no health care
coverage, not to mention the millions more with inadequate coverage that
leaves them hopelessly in debt when they get ill.
A single-payer system similar to Medicare is the fairest and most economical
way to correct this long-neglected problem. It's free of the costly layers
of insurance bureaucracy and easy for people to understand. Nothing is more
frustrating than trying to sort out the complicated ifs, ands and buts that
mark our current system. Band-Aids have been placed over Band-Aids, saddling
our health care system with incomprehensible rules and exceptions that
require a law degree to navigate.
Yes, it will cost, just as Medicare costs us on our paychecks now. But the
cost will be more than offset by the fact that employers and employees will
no longer have to shell out monthly premiums that are threatening to
bankrupt even our giant automobile corporations, not to mention the little
mom and pop businesses struggling to survive.
The shrill cries of the anti-government crowd are becoming less frequent as
Americans come to realize that the government itself couldn't do as poorly
as have the private firms that produced our current health care mess.
We're wasting roughly 20 percent of our health care dollars on
administrative costs that have nothing to do with treating illnesses. The
government's Medicare program, which covers all the nation's seniors, spends
about 2 percent on administration.
The nation's mayors have come to see the light. And the nation's voters can
make sure that Congress finally sees it too.
Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. dzweifel at madison.com
The Capital Times C 2008
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10 Comments so far
1.
AdeleTheCzech July 16th, 2008 12:44 pm
This is really good news! (Of course, our local paper didn't have a
word about it.) I also read recently that the majority of doctors now prefer
universal medical coverage, whether it be "Medicare for All" or something
along the lines of the French system. And polls for YEARS have shown that
most Americans want simple single-payer insurance for everyone.
If it's only the health insurance companies that are opposed, what's
keeping us from moving this agenda forward? I wish Dennis Kucinich would
ally himself with some heavy hitters as co-sponsors of his bill, so that it
gets some media coverage!
2.
Daniel David July 16th, 2008 12:48 pm
Well, while we're getting Congress to "see the light", let's be sure
we don't elect a guaranteed veto-guy (McCain) or some idiot that might
appoint Supreme Court justices who would declare national health care
unconstitutional (also McCain.)
Obama is integral to progress on health care. Without him, NONE will
occur. With him, a DEM Congress, and no more Scalia-types, you've got at
least a shot.
3.
bushiswmd July 16th, 2008 1:37 pm
Hey, Daniel David! Thanks for the commercial.
"Now, back to our regularly scheduled program."
Zweifel says high gas prices and "the economy" kept the healthcare
story off the front pages. A two-alarm fire at Tony Franks Bar would have
kept healthcare off the front pages.
Who is kidding whom here? The newspaper industry with its ties to
Wall Street is going down the crapper because of its uniform policy of
keeping America in the dark about anything important. Who is spending ink on
in depth, well-sourced stories on privacy rights, government secrecy, the
petro-euro, the 700 US military bases circling the globe, election fraud,
Israel (the 51st state) AND healthcare for all? NYT stock is down 50% and
the smartasses that run the rag haven't a clue about what the nation really
needs. Gannett stock price? Look out below!
The newspapers and their co-conspirators in the electronic media
tell us that this race is between Obama and McCain. Democrats tell us,
"There is NO choice, this time." Funny, that's what they used to say in the
Soviet Union.
Nader/Gonzalez will be on the ballot in as many as 45 states. He has
been fighting for universal, single-payer healthcare longer than Obama's
been acting cool.
**Vote for Obama and you can be sure there will be no
single-payer,universal healthcare for Americans.**
How do I know? Obama told me (and anyone who has cared to read his
plan). And on that, I believe him.
VOTE NADER/GONZALEZ "REALLY, THERE IS NO CHOICE."
4.
Daniel David July 16th, 2008 2:07 pm
bushiswmd does not know that votes wasted on Nader are also wmd.
5.
andersdl July 16th, 2008 3:17 pm
bushiswrnd's observation of the media cannot be overstated. The same
people that own the media also own the medical insurance business, war
business.you name it.
That is why what we have referred to as the miltary industrial
complex for the past 50 years is actually the military industrial media
complex.
6.
ezeflyer July 16th, 2008 3:58 pm
It's Obama or Hari Kiri.
7.
NMlib July 16th, 2008 5:35 pm
When Bill Clinton ran, many people said the healthcare system was
going to change. I was excited and voted for him. Nothing changed. A friend
says, "Well, at least they tried!"
I am in debt from major surgery and have another problem that's kept me in
pain, daily, for months. I don't qualify for Medicaid and indigent funding
won't pay for anything more at this time. I've just learned to live with the
pain, which is affecting my quality of life, keeping me from doing most of
the things I enjoy. Not to mention causing depression and irritability. I
can only imagine what people with serious, potentially life-threatening
illnesses must go through.
If the healthcare system doesn't get majorly overhauled after this next
election, I may have no choice but to emigrate. The same friend, quoted
above, tells me we'll get universal healthcare eventually, but I need to be
patient; it's not going to happen overnight.
This country puts priority on corporate interest and unnecessary and illegal
wars over its own citizens. No one holding public office should have access
to healthcare until and unless he or she is willing to afford their
constituents the same.
8.
PissantNobody July 16th, 2008 9:06 pm
To call for single payer, or even nationalized health care might be
a step in the right direction, but if it is not linked to a call for a
communist world, with free, top-quality health care for all, it is
treachery.
Stated otherwise, who gives a s**t about health care when the
a-bombs start to fly? The system will crumble at that point, anyway.
WW3 is an ever-present threat for the imperialist Titanic, and a
stand-alone call for health care reform is just so much deck-chair
rearrangement as the fiery iceberg approaches. The crew needs to organize,
and lead the passengers in a mutiny that puts the power-mad captain and his
stooges in irons, and take over the helm. The hour of doom is near, and
there are definitely not enough lifeboats!!
9.
Siouxrose July 16th, 2008 9:09 pm
NMLib: First, my sympathies for your pain. I have no medical
insurance either, as a result I am open to alternative methods of dealing
with any anomalies that come up. Have you thought of, or explored
chiropractic? Sometimes the tuning of the spinal column can alleviate pain
and expedite the proper functioning of the organs. Ditto massage. I have
avoided surgery in at least 2 cases, possibly 3, by going to a health food
store (the one in the Florida Keys is operated by a very wise woman who
truly knows her product lines and which vitamins/minerals/herbs assist the
body's healing capacities) and learning what I could do. Have to tried that
route? I know some conditions are more difficult to treat, but I personally
know of two with so-called life threatening diseases that both healed. I
know 2 others who were in plane crashes told they'd never walk again and
both are quite able to walk. Modern medicine likes to use labels to limit
people, and keep them in categories where their condition is maintained as
chronic, something to manage. This approach gives big pharma the equivalent
of rental leases on our bodies.
If you have tried other approaches, again, my apologies. Sometimes
even floating in the water (especially if you can get to water that has no
chemicals, or not much, can be VERY healing0.
10.
alaskamaid July 16th, 2008 10:25 pm
"Yes, it will cost . . . "
That's right, just keep paying more upfront for services you may
never need or use but have to have access to 'just in case' - wouldn't it be
better to divert some of what we ALREADY PAY that goes to 'defense' ?
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