Comments on: Sanders, the Lone Senate Voice for Single-Payer Health Coverage

By: peterduncan

peterduncan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:40:52 +0000

I think by making simple decisions to buy or not buy, consumers have changed entire industries — banking, travel, cell phones. A little pressure from consumers typically produces a lot of innovation that shifts products, competition, prices, quality, choices, and ultimately value. The problem with personal and corporate health insurance is that it has been built around providers, insurers, the government, employers — and not around consumers. We've ended up with spiralling costs and few consumer choices, primarily because many of the regulations and mindsets governing health care have inhibited the kind of broad-scale consumer innovation that's happened in other industries.

By: rinorossini

rinorossini — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:04:03 +0000

Forget all the politcal talk. It's useless. The truth is that the medical establishment has already found a solution to trim their costs. Attrition. By letting more people die without treatment, they will save a lot of money! Pharma loses out on long term treatment, and needs to compensate its bottom line. Money Saved by the Hospitals would then go to Pharma. This was Bush's doing: if you're not part of the elite, then we don't care. Does anyone really care? When it's not affecting my very own wallet, it doesn't matter. Let somebodyelse worry about it. I'm a pessimist on the whole picture. I'll keep on seeing all the miserable people who are not in treatment because they cannot afford it.

By: toronto

toronto — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:29:17 +0000

Sen Sanders is an American hero. Keep up the fight!

By: Mark Frethem

Mark Frethem — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:39:51 +0000

Just not this year, eh?

Hmmm… how many more people will either die within this year or slip past “the point of no return” with a condition that becomes terminal? I say this assuming that dying is the worst of it. What about quality-of-life issues and plain 'ol human suffering that come as a result of political posturing. This is yet again all about money, power and the people we elect who apparently care only about themselves and the powerful lobbyist who prop up their careers.

By: Make Them Accountable / Media & Politics

Make Them Accountable / Media & Politics — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:02:39 +0000

[...] profits, fat salaries for insurance company CEO, and paying clerks to deny coverage and claims (see here), that means ALMOST 60% OF HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURES ARE UNNECESSARY. Quite an eye opener, isn’t [...]

By: ajm8127

ajm8127 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:01:17 +0000

“The major reason that our current health care system is so expensive has much to do with the role that private insurance companies play. The function of a private health insurance company is not to provide health care; it is to deny health care. Every dollar of premium that a health insurance company does not spend on health care needs is a dollar more in profits.”

People are just figuring this out?

By: Healthcare Mandates Smell Bad To Me

Healthcare Mandates Smell Bad To Me — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:06:27 +0000

[...] but I continue to remain highly skeptical about the whole healthcare reform debate so long as advocates for a single-payer approach continue to be marginalized in this discussion. So long as we continue to believe that the current health insurance industry [...]

By: ajm8127

ajm8127 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:01:17 +0000

People are just figuring this out?

By: care4all

care4all — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:27:40 +0000

There are two main arguments in favor of single payer health care.

THE MORAL ETHICAL ARGUMENT

Health insurance companies make their profit by denying health care to sick people. That is immoral and unethical.

THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT

Our current system of for-profit corporate health insurance has created an unbearable economic burden on the nation. There are over 100 separate health insurance companies operating under different sets of rules creating a huge 30 % administrative overhead. For comparison, administrative overhead for Medicare is only 2%.

By converting to a single payer system, we immediately save 300 billion dollars in administrative overhead. Medicare is a 40 year example of a successful single payer system which has an administrative overhead of 2%, not 30%.

As a nation, we are now paying twice what other countries pay for health care, yet we do not have universal health coverage here in the US. 50 million Americans are without healthcare and 87 million Americans without health insurance at some point in the past 2 years. Almost half the bankruptcies currently filed in the United States are because of medical bills.

Despite the costs we pay, the United States ranks LAST on a list of 19 industrialized nations in preventable deaths, and 29th of 37 in infant mortality. The World Health Organization ranks the US at 72nd for healthcare accessibility and efficiency. We can no longer maintain the status quo for the ways we currently provide and pay for health care.

By: care4all

care4all — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:24:22 +0000

YES, THIS YEAR! It's time for a single-payer system NOW.

A new study shows that SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE REFORM WOULD BE A MAJOR STIMULUS FOR THE US ECONOMY and would provide:

** 2.6 Million New Jobs,
** $317 Billion in Business Revenue,
** $100 Billion in Wages, and
** $44 Billion New Tax Revenues

The press release is here: http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-rel...

Here’s the study: http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_...

Here is a clear definition of Single Payer healthcare:

Single payer health insurance is a system by which the health care expenditures of an entire population are paid for through one source.   

Distinctly different from socialized medicine (where the government owns and operates health care facilities) a “single payer system” is simply a financing mechanism.The government collects and allocates money for health care but has little to no involvement in the actual delivery of services. Care is provided privately at hospitals and clinics but paid for publicly. (From: http://www.singlepayercentral.com/)

It’s clear that single-payer is the solution, not only in terms of providing quality care for all, but also economically!