Health care run by psychos

[Lanya]

Universal Health Care Run by Psychotics

by Matt Stoller, Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 01:10:55 PM EST
[................]

  It's been clear for some time that America already has a universal health care system, it just works through pushing costs to states and localities and shunting people to emergency rooms where they die faster and their care costs more.  Once we accept the framework that American taxpayers already pay for health care coverage for everyone, we just do it in the worst way possible, the argument changes from 'should the government pay for health care' to 'who's ripping us off'.  And the answer is the health insurance industry.

These companies render our health care system bloated and inefficient, but let's be honest, that's somewhat dry language to describe what they are really doing.  Through their immoral decisions to deny care and coverage based on excessive bureaucracy, the executives of these companies are simply killers.  Their wealth is literally built with blood money.  And their chief lobbyist, Tom Donahue, probably believes that there should be a special tax exemption for equipment to clean the blood off their hands.  You might think I'm being rhetorically hot or irresponsible, but dealing with horrible customer service designed to deny you care when you have, say, cancer, demands a certain level of honest outrage.  It isn't wrong to disdain these people, though I suppose that Very Serious People like to pretend that decisions made by a corporate elite denying millions medical care isn't actually murder by spreadsheet.  But it is.

As progressives, we are going to be fighting these terrible people who use poisonous political tactics for a long time.  They are well-funded, they are smart, and they have a lot of institutional allies.  I don't know what it's going to take to convince Democratic wonks that this is a very aggressive time in politics, and we ought to change our strategies to emphasize public persuasion.  But we ought to.

So anyway, to recap, we already have universal health care, it's just run by psychos.  These psychos happen to wear nice suits and drive fancy cars and have titles like 'CEO' and credentials like 'Harvard Business School' graduate.  These psychos will resist any attempt to take away their power.  Taking away their power is a necessary part of any solution.

You do the math.
http://mydd.com/story/2007/1/1/131055/9172

[BT]

The reason we don't have universal health coverage in this country is because those who are being asked to pay for it don't like the ones who are demanding it enough to give it to them.

Do the math.

[Lanya]

Well, as the article points out, we really already have universal health care.  It's just not run well and doesn't cover everyone when they need it.  But we all pay for it.  Even those people who don't like the ones who want it.  So they're kind of cutting off their nose to spite their face.

[BT]

That is why we have tort lawyers.

And no we don't have universal coverage.

45 million americans on any given day go to sleep hungry are not covered by any type of health insurance.

[Religious Dick]

Well, as the article points out, we really already have universal health care.  It's just not run well and doesn't cover everyone when they need it.  But we all pay for it.  Even those people who don't like the ones who want it.  So they're kind of cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Not entirely true. I may now be paying for other people's health care, but those are still largely outliers. Most people are still paying for their own, or at least have an insurance arrangement to pay for them. So while we may have universal health care, I'm not yet paying for universal health care, I'm paying for my own health care and a portion of the cost for the outliers.

If you want to see the difference in cost, compare the tax rates between Canada, Europe and the United States. Even if I'm stuck with the bill for the outliers, I'm still getting off cheaper than I would paying for a single payer system.

And besides, the current system does more to torment the people I'm forced to pay for now more than a single-payer system would. So I'm at least getting some satisfaction for my money. 

[Lanya]

I've taken care of many people who lie in ICUs undergoing operation after operation, and we spend many millions of dollars on their care. Some I can remember could have been prevented if only we'd had preventative health care, so they could keep their diabetes in check.  Or so they could afford the finger-stick strips that cost more than the finger-stick glucose machines.  But they can't afford it, so they end up on dialysis and having amputations.

 They aren't worrying.  But it's good to know you're taking pleasure from their pain.  Know thy enemy, and all that.