THIS IS NOTHING NEW

The problem with health care in America has been clearly understood for many years. It has been the subject of ongoing analysis. A maximum of only three words is needed to explain all the ills afflicting our system of health care: private insurance companies.
If you really like to simplify things, you can boil it down to one word: privatization.
Each year the industry grows and each year health care costs go up exponentially as quality goes down.
Right now, one sixth of the GDP, around seventeen percent, is accounted for by health insurance. In 2008, the amount was $2.5 trillion. That’s trillion with a “t”.
I know it’s become rather commonplace to hear the word trillion bandied about casually these days. To put it into perspective, the $2.5 T we’re talking about amounts to around $8,000 for every woman, man and child in the country. These days, quite a few working Americans don’t make a lot more than that in a year.
No wonder the insurance companies don’t want to see any “public options” let alone single-payer. As defined by a capitalist economy, the health insurance industry is a raving success! Unfortunately, the one thing at which it doesn’t succeed is the provision of quality or even adequate health care for the people of America.
Right now, there are easily fifty million Americans with no insurance at all, around ten million of whom are children. The number rises daily. Given the present condition of the “economy”, it will doubtless increase by millions more as the “change you can believe in” grinds on.
At the same time, many of us who do have insurance can’t really afford to use it. Co-pays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses are so high that the most we can manage is a very basic, minimal, yearly physical exam. If the doctor feels that further tests or procedures may be needed, we must either come up with hundreds or even thousands out of pocket or decline treatment.

THE FACTS MAM, JUST THE FACTS.

If we take an honest look, we see nothing but negative indications for the economy and the health insurance industry is one of the primary weights dragging it down. The hocus pocus of Wall Street is not now, nor has it ever been, a true indicator of a healthy economy except for those who take their unearned wealth therefrom.
The few manufacturing industries remaining in the U.S. spend so much on health insurance that they can’t compete with the rest of the industrialized nations, all of whom have some form of single-payer national insurance plan.
Virtually every other “advanced” nation on Earth has elected to adopt a single-payer model and every one of them is doing better than America.
Compared to nations such as Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, America ranks last in better health outcomes, access to care, patient safety, efficiency and especially equity.
The U.S. also lags in the use of modern information technology to reduce cost and improve coordination of care, particularly for the chronically ill.
We spend at least twice as much as the nations nearest us on healthcare, yet their systems are more efficient, popular and have better health outcomes in such categories as life expectancy, infant mortality and disease prevention.
This is not some new development. It has been this way for some time and the situation continues to worsen, unless you’re in it just for the money. In that case, things have been steadily improving, provided you’re not actually concerned about anyone’s health.

YOU CAN PUT A CAT IN THE OVEN. THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT A BISCUIT.

So, this is how it works! You fabricate an “industry” under the pretext of providing high quality, affordable goods or services when, in fact, your true intention is to produce overpriced garbage and reap unconscionable profit to the detriment of those ostensibly being served.
When profit is the sole driving force, the following makes perfect sense.

Agribusiness is not about producing high quality, nutritious, safe, healthy and affordable food for Americans.
It is about endlessly increasing profit by constantly compromising quality and cutting cost, regardless of the consequences to workers, the quality of the environment or the health and well-being of the consumer.

The energy industry is not about providing efficient, abundant, reliable, secure and affordable power to the people of America.
It is about endlessly increasing profit by constantly compromising quality and cutting cost, regardless of the consequences to workers, the quality of the environment or the health and well-being of the consumer.

The pharmaceutical industry is not about improving life or health for the American people through the use of affordable, carefully researched and judiciously administered drugs that are proven safe, effective and non-addictive.
It is about endlessly increasing profit by constantly compromising quality and cutting cost, regardless of the consequences to workers, the quality of the environment or the health and well-being of the consumer.

The automobile industry is not about producing safe, efficient, practical, durable and affordable vehicles to meet the transportation needs of America.
It is about endlessly increasing profit by constantly compromising quality and cutting cost, regardless of the consequences to workers, the quality of the environment or the health and well-being of the consumer.

Despite the proclamations of their marketing departments, every capitalist industry follows this same odious modus operandi. Profit is the first, last and ONLY motive, consequences to the masses be damned. As long as the profits keep rolling in, everything is as it should be.
The less regulation, the freer the market, the more corporate crime can be perpetrated with impunity. When profit is the motive, things like ethics, fairness, honesty and compassion are costly liabilities and therefore to be avoided assiduously.
This is not conjecture or opinion. It is fact patently obvious to anyone with a heartbeat. All analysis of available data supports this conclusion. It is simply a matter of common sense and accepting what your eyes can clearly see.
As a brief aside for those who insist that capitalism continues to fail because a true laissez faire economy has never been tried, how about present-day Somalia? Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala during the Reagan years would also fit; unqualified disasters every one and there are more if you care to look for them. A good accounting can be found in “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. I have a PDF version, which I will happily email to anyone requesting it.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DISINFECTANT

It is obvious to any rational person; reality dictates that America must join the rest of the “civilized” world in the rational administration of health care. In spite of the obvious urgency of the need and necessity for the change, the money and power of Big Insurance and Big Pharma prevent any progress.
No plan involving private, for-profit insurers will ever provide quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
At least 59 percent of Americans, 60 percent of family physicians and 55 percent of general surgeons want a single-payer system. Regardless, our “government” refuses to bend to the will of the people.
What could possibly be the cause of this paradox?
The answer is disconcertingly simple; PROFIT.
Our alleged government has been privatized; its only purpose now is to ensure that all policies and legislation advance the agenda of the private sector.

FOXES AND HEN HOUSES

Expecting the insurance industry to solve our health care problem is akin to asking Al Qaida to take care of our national security. These corporations are economic terrorists of the highest order.
The conservative capitalist party, which includes very nearly all of both the Republicans and Democrats, is blocking even the so-called “Public Option”. They claim it will open the door to “socialized health care”, like the care they enjoy while the public pays through the nose for the capitalist variety.
The health insurance industry has shown great skill at providing coverage for those who don’t need it while making sure that the sick are excluded and denied care.
It’s interesting to note the market share the insurance industry has been willing to cede to government run health care: people over 65 and the disabled.
As with all those mentioned above, the health care industry is not at all concerned with actually providing the service it claims to offer. Its only purpose is to generate maximum profit for the private sector with no thought to actually providing effective and efficient services.

EVERYONE IN THE PARADE IS OUT OF STEP BUT U.S.!

All across the world, even in some Asian countries, single-payer plans have been adopted. As a result, those nations spend about half what America does, in some cases less. Everyone gets better results, everyone is covered and the majority of people and practitioners are more satisfied and positive about their health care than are the majority of Americans.
Yet the American ruling class insists that only a market driven health care system is acceptable, regardless of the facts on the ground. Despite enormous amounts of hard data, which completely contradict the fear mongering and bombastic rhetoric of the supremacist supporters, our rulers insist that only a market solution will provide the desired result. I suppose it depends upon exactly what result one desires.
What is now being foisted upon the American people has already failed in Massachusetts although it proved very beneficial for the private insurance industry. The program there was allegedly intended to provide universal health care for the state. There are currently around two hundred thousand uninsured there and, as the economy worsens, that number can only increase.
The public option being pushed through congress will be similar. This program, should you be without insurance, would require you to buy it, potentially providing the insurance industry with millions of additional “customers”. Alternatively, we are told, there will be the “public” option, which will force the insurance companies to keep their rates down.
However, since this alleged alternative will be financed by the government, it will be a simple matter to guarantee its failure. Being subject to the budgetary priorities of the capitalist controlled, privatized government, underfunding and budget cuts are a given. Our government, it seems, has money for everything, especially illegal wars of aggression and welfare for the financial mafia, except the well-being of the American people and the maintenance of the nation.
These sabotage tactics, which have long been used to advance the agenda of the private sector, will be cited, as “proof” that “socialized” medicine cannot provide health care as “efficiently” as the market driven version. This will reinforce and imprint upon the popular mind the long repeated lie that government is incapable of efficiency.
What is considered efficient all depends upon the real goal. If you want to make lots of money from the impoverishment of the masses, then privatization is the way to go. If you actually want to provide quality products or services efficiently, then another path must be taken.
Since the government doesn’t need to worry about making a profit, it could certainly deliver much more efficient, effective and affordable health care if that was its actual goal. It couldn’t and shouldn’t be efficient at making a profit. Since government isn’t supposed to be a for-profit endeavor, the next best thing it can do for the private sector is make sure that all policies and legislation are ultimately tailored to advance the capitalist agenda over the welfare of the nation and its people.
In all likelihood, millions will be forced to pay for abysmally inadequate, minimal for-profit coverage they can’t afford. Many will be relegated to a purgatory of a “publicly administered program” designed to fail.
According to The Institute of Medicine, which is part of The National Academy of Sciences, there are certain criteria that must be met to insure successful health care reform. First, coverage must be universal. It must not be tied to a job. It must be affordable for individuals, families and society as a whole. It must provide full access to the same high quality care for everyone.

ALL THE POLITICAL WORLD'S A STAGE

As we witness the dog and pony show being presented by all the political players, we should be amazed that Obama still has an approval rating above fifty percent.
By now, it should be abundantly clear that this is yet another administration wholly subservient to the capitalist profit machine, albeit with a better con artist fronting the scam.
Barrack Obama could never have risen, in such a brief time, from political obscurity to the highest office in the land without the approval and assistance of the ruling class. In their eyes, he has shown himself to be a worthy figurehead to maintain the status quo while, it is hoped, keeping the unclean masses subdued with duplicitous, charismatic rhetoric.

ROT BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD STINK AS FOUL

The fact that our political parties have different names is utterly irrelevant.
The demopublicans feign frustration at the obstructionism of the republicrats and make “concessions”. They could, with the magic majority of 60, push through any legislation they so desired. Even without 60 votes, using reconciliation, as the Bush administration did for eight years to shove through whatever they pleased, the demopublicans could get by with a simple majority.
The republicrats publicly display transparently pretended outrage at the “socialist” demopublicans and then, I feel reasonably sure, they all go out for dinner and drinks at the most expensive watering holes in DC. I have little doubt that most find the plight of the American people laughable.
All the decisions that have been made by the Obama administration are aimed at market solutions, intended to sustain the very monster that has brought us to the precipice. The intent, evidently, is to be absolutely certain we can’t be saved from plunging over the edge.
The corporate media, another capitalist enterprise with the same single purpose as the rest, keeps assuring us that compromised health care reform is better than no reform at all, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Compromises might be acceptable if they were actually incremental steps toward an ultimately just and equitable system. Such is not the case. The proposals being planned and pushed will not work. Similar plans have failed in at least half a dozen states, Tennessee, Massachusetts and a few others, in the last ten years. The numbers of uninsured in those states are higher now than before the programs were put into place.
Until a single-payer plan is adopted, our health care system will remain a continuously worsening disaster. Real change will never come from the top. It will only happen if there is an overwhelming push from the bottom. It will need the kind of mass that pushed the civil rights or anti-slavery movements.
Although there is growing demand for single-payer health care in America, it is not yet nearly massive enough to force the ruling class into compliance. They will maintain the system of inequity until it is no longer physically possible to do so.