A Good Note from CounterPunch on HR 676
Posted by Richard S. on March 27, 2007
Following up on my post from the other day… I wanted to mention that there’s a good note at CounterPunch (written by Corporate Crime Reporter) on HR 676 - the single-payer healthcare plan - and the lack of support from U.S. presidential candidates. CCR says:
Polls indicate that the majority of the American people want single payer.
But who will deliver?
On Saturday, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sponsored a forum in Las Vegas for presidential candidates to discuss health care.
No Republicans accepted.
Seven Democrats accepted.
All the candidates at the forum agreed that universal health care was the goal. (Even the Business Roundtable and the insurance industry now say they want “universal health care.”)
But only one - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) - accepts the only answer that will work - single payer.
Medicare for all.
The rest - including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards - want some mixture of public and private health insurance.
They know this public/private mix won’t work - the healthy wealthy will buy private insurance, the sick poor will sign on with the government - and the government program will be crippled.
But they don’t have the guts to stand up to the private insurance industry and say - get out.
…
Kucinich is now the single payer champion.
The problem with Kucinich, of course, is that if he doesn’t get the nomination, he will take the stage at the Democratic Convention in 2008 in Denver - as he did in 2004 in Boston - raise the hand of the corporate nominee and endorse the corporate platform.
Then where will we be?
Nowhere.
Again.
March 28, 2007 at 12:22 am
[...] on CounterPunch via Commie Curmudgeon (II): Polls indicate that the majority of the American people want single [...]
March 31, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Fitness for the Occasion, thank you for the reference. Re. your post and the quotes from Kos, a couple of things…
One, as a few people pointed out, John Edwards is not proposing a single-payer plan. The Kos post says that his was the only plan “on the table.” That’s clearly not true. The Kos post says that he’s the “only major candidate” who, blah, blah… Note how we are limited not only by choosing among the plans proposed by announced candidates, but also by those deemed “major” candidates.
Among the three Democrats whom the media has been willing to push (never mind any minor party candidates), Edwards has had the most palatable rhetoric, if only just for giving adequate lip service to issues like inequality and poverty. But as the cliche goes, does he walk the walk? I think he still does quite a lot not to go against the interests of the rich; i.e., his class.
And regarding those posts… Would getting universal healthcare - even single-payer - really be like the ’60s mission to “put a man on the moon”? The comparison would hold up only if, in the ’60s, visits to the moon had been accomplished by every advanced capitalist nation outside of the U.S. (and quite a few Third World nations too). People also have different opinions regarding the social worth of putting a man on the moon. I think it was generally a good thing. But the call to do so was a call for the U.S. to be ahead of the rest of the world with something. Asking even for single-payer healthcare would be asking the U.S. to catch up with much of the world and take one step out of its social backwardness.
March 31, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Sure thing, keep up the amazing posts!
As for citing the Kos post, it was to point out that this is a strong issue for the Democrats, and not just one the American people favor, but one that will galvanize the American public to civic action.
If the US could combine it’s strength in research with the ethical muscle to medically back every one of its citizens, yes, I think we would find an enormous response is the result.
We are asking our fellow Americans to catch up and then pass the rest of the world. This is true. But it is a truth most of America recognizes. I think we are just looking for a candidate with the courage to take a stand on this issue. A real stand. No backing down, show the lobbyists your political teeth kind of stand.
I think such a candidate would attract a lot of voters.