Why there were not any Single Payer reps at the Senate Hearings. They were not allowed a table and tried to protest this and were all thrown out.
Huffingtonpost Article, May 10th 2009
" WASHINGTON — Protesters pushing for a government-run health system have been thrown out of a Senate hearing room after disrupting the meeting.
It happened at the start of a Senate Finance Committee session on overhauling the health care system to cover some 50 million uninsured Americans.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has said that a so-called single-payer system _ one that's run by the government _ is not on the table. Many liberals favor that approach but Baucus and others say it's not practical or politically feasible.
Single-payer supporters repeatedly interrupted as Baucus tried to convene Tuesday's hearing.
When one protester shouted "we want a seat at the table," Baucus responded, "We want police."
Capitol Police removed eight people."
It's not just liberals who favor it, it's many people who simply escape any political label who see it working in other industrial countries and want it here, too.
Meanwhile, the so called Health Industry met privately with Administration, and they have made a "pie in the sky" offer to trim Trillions off their own fat dollars over the next ten years to, "help out". Now we know why there was no seat for the Single Payer System at the table. A deal has been struck that is voluntary, and will be affective until the clamor dies down amongst the masses. Then it will all go back to what we have now, and even more than 46 million will be without basic health insurance, while those who have it will still be asked for hundreds of thousands of dollars,upfront, for expensive procedures that aren't covered by their health care plans.
Is this really the best thing that the wealthiest nation on the planet is willing to do for the people who cough up the money to run government? We are pathetic, if that is so.
This isn't political, this is basic human rights. It's like water, or air. Our money should go to help our people when they find themselves in dire straights. It works for other people in other democracies around the world. Why don't we have it here? I'll tell you why. It's the same selfish greed that started it in the first place.
What do they say? "We have the best health care system money can buy." Which is great, if you have the money to buy it. Otherwise, we rank under some so-called third world countries who are enlightened enough to see that health care is a government function. Like the military, the post office, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere's your last word, Dr. You've got it.
ReplyDeletePogonip, exactly. People are dying here NOW, and they are doing it silently and with very little press. We already have a system that is broken and not working and PEOPLE DYING from lack of care. They are just in the shadows...
Aside from the obvious inhumanity of denying health care to people who cannot afford it (and those people may be permanently indigent or maybe they've been bankrupted by bills!), there's also the missed productivity. That can be viewed from a human perspective, as well, as in feeling worthless because one is not able to contribute as one wishes.
ReplyDeleteI recognize that there may be problems with a universal system. But there are very big problems with the system we have as well, and it is becoming steadily more untenable.
What dumazzlibs says is simply untrue. I've a friend in the U.K. with fibromyalgia, and she receives excellent care. I have friends and relatives in Canada, and it's the same there. It's true that Oregon is rationing some treatments, like organ transplants, but our system tends to ration anyway. What difference does it make if the rationing is done by the government or by your health insurance company? Heaven help you if you have no insurance coverage, because then you're rationed out of treatment entirely. Unless you have the cash, of course.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that insight, SayingThings - the missed productivity issue!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think we will, as Americans, figure out what, of all the systems, works best for us. And, we WILL forge a plan, if Capital co-operates, and stops it's erroneous thinking that this is something that the majority of Americans are not willing to work hard to achieve.
I'll expand on what you said:
There was a point in time that more care was taken to insure that people really could keep a hold on their dream of improving their lives in the United States. That was when Labor (work) was valued as an integral part of a good society by Capital interests. Capital interests weren't out for slave labor wages and all that entailed, because Labor organized itself into Unions. We can see what happened as union busting commenced under Reagan - the Voodoo Economics as described by George Bush, senior.
In our past, Unionization of Labor was actually what saved us from having a strong Communist movement in the US. Unions took Labor and gave it a better position in the triad of Land, Labor, Capital. No more! We have a free falling economic system and health care is a victim of it.
Unions were the major factor in forcing Capital to see that health care for workers and their families made good economic sense.
This is not a liberal issue. This is observable fact.
Pogonip, I have other issues with what he/she said as well. But I, too, know - as you do - that fibromyalgia is treated in the UK because I've got friends there with it, too. Canada, same same.
ReplyDeleteSome of those comments made by DA were lifted right out of arguments that I've also seen on the web.
Well, I've given them their last words here. I'm sure that freedom of speech has nothing to do with it, other than a bogus cry of "Hypocrite" to be tossed. The several comments are so full of errors that this, one, nearly pristine, seems to have been written by another person up the chain.
Sadly, anyone can fabricate a profile and history for themselves and then make up stories that are backed up by their phony profile.
ReplyDeleteIt is telling that dumazzlibs says "I am still a licensed phycian in 3 countries and can provide many examples of people who would have lived had they not had to stand in line for a year before allowed treatment," but then fails to provide any such thing. dumazzlibs may not be right wing but that means nothing when almost of the rhetorical questions really come from the so-called conservative windbags on talk radio who have made them up. Far too many of the critics of health care reform fail to understand that we are not talking about socialized medicine. The providers (the doctors, nurses, specialists, therapists, etc.) would not be working for the government, nor for a government run institution. They would continue to work for themselves or clinics and hospitals. With a public option people needing insurance would still have to pay for it just as they do now, only it would be more affordable. Medicare is just such a system and has been working well for many years.
I challenge provide real examples of all those terrible things that happen in countries with health care for all. Our eyes are open and waiting to see some real proof of the evil that is in health care reform. Some of the examples are things that have actually happened in the U.S. I have yet to see any "reality" in what dumazzlibs has said.