Socialized Medicine?

Part I - Socialized Medicine?

WE can’t overstate how tired we are of hearing complaints about health care reform that use the jingoistic phrase “socialized medicine” -- as if the changes we might see would amount to living in a totalitarian, communist state! So let’s start from this point: this is not a slippery slope to communism. The rest of the industrialized world’s democracies have already discovered that people have an absolutely essential need, and a right, to good health care, just like they need highways, fire departments, sewage systems, and public education.

In fact, the single-payer proposals floating around out there are so American. They all involve the patient freedoms so beloved by us. What we want is the freedom to choose our caregivers; what labs we go to for mammograms or blood work; whether we want to pay a little extra for a private room in the hospital; and where we’ll fill our prescriptions (as determined by our doctors, not our insurance companies!).

The health industry lobbies would have us believe that a single-payer system would put a “bureaucrat” between us and our doctors. That’s ridiculous! A single-payer system would actually LIBERATE many of us who are now tied to “networks” of “preferred providers.” Ask your friends how many of them have had to switch doctors because their health insurance carrier changed networks. You’ll also find many who ended up paying extra for lab work because some insurance company drone got between them and a lab that used to be IN NETWORK without bothering to adequately inform them of the change -- BEFORE they were sent for doctor ordered blood work!

Doctors won’t work for the government. They’ll be free to work for YOU! All that changes is how they get paid. Instead of having 10 billing clerks to figure out the complexities and dodges of 1900 different payers, they’ll need 1 to send the paperwork to a single payer.

Do you work for a company that provides health insurance? Lucky you. But what if you don’t get coverage for the treatments or procedures or prescriptions your doctor thinks you need? What choice do you have? Virtually none! You can opt out of the company plan, but you won’t get a raise with the company’s savings, to help you pay for a private plan. Besides which, a private plan with reasonable coverage would cost you big bucks, especially if you arrive with a pre-existing condition -- which they probably won’t cover.
A single-payer plan also won’t exclude coverage for mental health, dental or vision care.

The hospitals won’t be controlled by the government either. They, too, would experience tremendous savings in the outrageously high cost they now have in their billing departments. That money could be spent on more nurses and aides on inpatient floors; more outpatient care for follow up visits; or extending your stay enough to make sure your stitches are healing, your pacemaker is working, or your baby isn’t jaundiced.

There’s more to this story… the lies you’re being fed about waiting too long for treatment, the lies about how we’ll need a gigantic tax increase to pay for this… we’ll take on those issues in the next posting. For now, listen to what Congressman (and Majority Whip) Jim Clyburn has to say about the political realities of this urgent and necessary reform process (click the video below, then come back to our blog):

To help influence those reluctant Democrats, check out this website:

http://vote.wewantthepublicoption.com/

Jacque