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Single Payer Universal Health Care

Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by Sarah on 05-22-04 22:11

Download and print these trifold brochures to help promote single payer
Universial Health Care

http://www.kucinich.us/supporter_resources/otherpdfs/HealthCareBrochurePetition.pdf

http://www.kucinich.us/supporter_resources/otherpdfs/HealthCareBroch_NoPetition.pdf

Learn More:
http://www.kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

Health care is currently dominated by insurance firms and HMOs, institutions
that are more bureaucratic and costly than Medicare. Right now, private
companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of
Medicare administration is only 3%. People are waiting longer for
appointments. Fewer people are getting a doctor of their choice. Physicians
are being given monetary incentives to deny care. Pre-existing illnesses are
being used to deny coverage. It's important to understand that insurance
companies make more money by NOT providing health care. A single-payer
system can save money by investing in preventive care, as well as by cutting
out the insurance companies' profits.
Insurance companies do not heal or treat anyone. Physicians and health
practitioners do.

Non-profit national health insurance will actually decrease total health
care spending while providing more treatment and services -- through
reductions in bureaucracy and cost-cutting measures such as bulk purchasing
of prescriptions drugs. A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and
Public Citizens found that health care bureaucracy last year cost the United
States $399.4 billion. The study estimates that national health insurance
could save at least $286 billion annually on paperwork, enough to cover all
of the uninsured and to provide full prescription drug coverage for everyone
in the United States.

How would we pay for it?
Funding will come primarily from existing government health care spending
(more than $1 trillion) and a phased-in tax on employers of 7.7% (almost $1
trillion). Employers who provide coverage are already paying 8.5%, on
average. That would raise about $920 billion. In addition to that, there's
already over a trillion dollars being spent a year in local, state and
federal dollars for health care. The American people are already paying for
universal health care; they're just not getting it.

Privately delivered health care, publicly financed -- has worked well in
other countries, none of which spend as much per capita on health care as
the United States. The cost-effectiveness of a single-payer system has been
affirmed in many studies, including those conducted by the Congressional
Budget Office and the General Accounting Office. The GAO has said: "If the
US were to shift to a system of universal coverage and a single payer, as in
Canada, the savings in administrative costs (10% to private insurers) would
be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage."

Over the years, groups and individuals as diverse as Consumers Union, labor
unions, the CEO of General Motors, the editorial boards of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution and St. Louis Post Dispatch, and Physicians for a
National Health Program have endorsed a single-payer approach. In the
"Physicians Proposal for National Health Care," 7,782 physicians agreed that
"proposals that would retain the roles of private insurers -- such as calls
for tax-credits, Medicaid/CHIP expansions, and pushing more seniors into
private HMOs -- are prescriptions for failure."

It is sound economics -- what actuaries call "Spreading the Risk" -- to
extend Medicare to younger and healthier sectors of our population, thereby
putting everyone in one insurance pool. It permanently saves and improves
Medicare, while eliminating duplicative private and government
bureaucracies.

====================================
Petition to the Democratic Party:
We Want Universal Health Care
(you do not have to be a democrat to sign the petition)
http://www.kucinich.us/petitions/petition_text_uhc1.php?s=p
I, the undersigned, approve the establishment of a universal single-payer
national health care system in the U.S.

Such a system will be publicly financed and privately delivered, allowing
people to choose their own health care providers. The system will provide
preventive health care, dental care, mental health care, and affordable
prescription drugs. This system will make health care available to everyone,
regardless of pre-existing conditions, status of employment, or income
level.

I urge Democrats to make this resolution a plank in the 2004 party platform.

http://www.kucinich.us/petitions/

Re: Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by mike gray on 05-23-04 08:20

Sarah wrote:

> Health care is currently dominated by insurance firms and HMOs, institutions
> that are more bureaucratic and costly than Medicare. Right now, private
> companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of
> Medicare administration is only 3%.

I am also in favor of a single payor universal health plan, but (1)
using misinformation such as this is unlikely to be helpful in the long
run and, (2) there will be dramatic tradeoffs in any universal plan,
including a reduction in service levels for union members and government
employees, both stalwarts of the Democratic party.

The only way you will ever see universal coverage is if the divisions
between Democrats and Republicans are put aside for the common good, and
that is unlikely in the near term.

Whoever wins the coming election will get the blame for several social
and economic disasters and will be out of office for twenty years. Best
to wait five or six years before raising the healthcare issue.

Re: Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by Harvey R. Stone on 05-23-04 09:32

"mike gray" wrote in message
news:5j3sc.52527$hH.984829@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> Sarah wrote:
>
>
> > Health care is currently dominated by insurance firms and HMOs,
institutions
> > that are more bureaucratic and costly than Medicare. Right now, private
> > companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of
> > Medicare administration is only 3%.
>
>
> I am also in favor of a single payor universal health plan, but (1)
> using misinformation such as this is unlikely to be helpful in the long
> run and, (2) there will be dramatic tradeoffs in any universal plan,
> including a reduction in service levels for union members and government
> employees, both stalwarts of the Democratic party.
>
> The only way you will ever see universal coverage is if the divisions
> between Democrats and Republicans are put aside for the common good, and
> that is unlikely in the near term.
>
> Whoever wins the coming election will get the blame for several social
> and economic disasters and will be out of office for twenty years. Best
> to wait five or six years before raising the healthcare issue.
>
lOLOLOL You wish. It is better to hope that the two parties work together
to get things done. I am not going to list the proof of how the dems show
this when they are not in power but I could. This is not a political
newsgroup and me proving you wrong would not change anything about the way
you vote. I will just be content that you will. All I will say is that we
have people posting from Canada and England in alt.support.arthritis and
their words do not give that system such a glowing report. I have a
daughter that is a professor at the univ. of Leeds in England. The people
there go out of the country to get fast or needed medical care quickly,,,,
such as Germany, ect.
People that do not wait 6 months for the chance they get care have their own
insurance. That is not political BS,,, it is just the facts.
After the next election,,,, lets make a count of where the power in the
USA is and please, make new plans. :-)

Harv

Re: Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by Ted Rosenberg on 05-23-04 10:03

Typical false claptrap

YES, in England (or Canada) you can wait for months to get your tennis
elbow treated, however, in the US, to get your diabetes treated, you may
have to wait until you are brought by ambo to the Emergency Room, or are
ruled totally disabled (takes SS an average of 2.5 years AFTER you are
actually totally disabled). Of course, if you are lucky enough to work
for one of the shrinking number of employers with good health care, or
you are rich, you can see someone rapidly. OR, if you qualify for
Medical Assistance (assets under $300).

By every statistic, the US has the worst health care in the developed
world, the highest mortality rates, and the highest morbidity rates.

Harvey R. Stone wrote:

> "mike gray" wrote in message
> news:5j3sc.52527$hH.984829@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
>>Sarah wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Health care is currently dominated by insurance firms and HMOs,
>
> institutions
>
>>>that are more bureaucratic and costly than Medicare. Right now, private
>>>companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of
>>>Medicare administration is only 3%.
>>
>>
>>I am also in favor of a single payor universal health plan, but (1)
>>using misinformation such as this is unlikely to be helpful in the long
>>run and, (2) there will be dramatic tradeoffs in any universal plan,
>>including a reduction in service levels for union members and government
>>employees, both stalwarts of the Democratic party.
>>
>>The only way you will ever see universal coverage is if the divisions
>>between Democrats and Republicans are put aside for the common good, and
>>that is unlikely in the near term.
>>
>>Whoever wins the coming election will get the blame for several social
>>and economic disasters and will be out of office for twenty years. Best
>>to wait five or six years before raising the healthcare issue.
>>
>
> lOLOLOL You wish. It is better to hope that the two parties work together
> to get things done. I am not going to list the proof of how the dems show
> this when they are not in power but I could. This is not a political
> newsgroup and me proving you wrong would not change anything about the way
> you vote. I will just be content that you will. All I will say is that we
> have people posting from Canada and England in alt.support.arthritis and
> their words do not give that system such a glowing report. I have a
> daughter that is a professor at the univ. of Leeds in England. The people
> there go out of the country to get fast or needed medical care quickly,,,,
> such as Germany, ect.
> People that do not wait 6 months for the chance they get care have their own
> insurance. That is not political BS,,, it is just the facts.
> After the next election,,,, lets make a count of where the power in the
> USA is and please, make new plans. :-)
>
> Harv
>
>

--
"...in addition to being foreign territory the past is, as history, a
hall of mirrors that reflect the needs of souls observing from the present"
Glen Cook

Re: Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by J on 05-23-04 10:50

Ted Rosenberg wrote:

> Typical false claptrap
>
> YES, in England (or Canada) you can wait for months to get your tennis
> elbow treated,

Wait for what?
They've delisted physiotherapy. They've delisted chiropractic (which was already
co-paid by the patient).
What does a person who works do? Go on UIC sick benefits (which the federal gov't
funds) and wait for what?
J - Canadian

Re: Single Payer Universal Health Care -- Posted by Harvey R. Stone on 05-23-04 13:44

> By every statistic, the US has the worst health care in the developed
> world, the highest mortality rates, and the highest morbidity rates.
>

Talk about calp whatever..... a little real world would help a great deal.
Harv

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