Let Obama’s Healthcare Plan Die in Congress, Please

I’m so tired of talking about healthcare. There are solutions that work, that have been proven to work, and none will ever get passed because money brainwashes much easier than rhetoric.

You don’t have to take my word for it. In July 2009, Bill Moyers interviewed Wendell Potter (36:30), a former health insurance executive (head of corporate communications) who worked for CIGNA for 15 years. He wasn’t pushed out or fired, but left out of conviction. If there is anyone with more veracity speaking candidly about the health insurance cluster-frak, I don’t know of any. I strongly encourage you to view the entire interview, but let me excerpt some key quotes:

WENDELL POTTER: The industry shifted from selling primarily managed care plans, to what they refer to as consumer-driven plans. And they’re really plans that have very high deductibles, meaning that they’re shifting a lot of the cost off health care from employers and insurers, insurance companies, to individuals.

BILL MOYERS: So what did you think when you saw [Michael Moore's SiCKO]?

WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie.

WENDELL POTTER: The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you’re heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.

BILL MOYERS: Was it [SiCKO] true? Did you think it contained a great truth?

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely did.

BILL MOYERS: What was it?

WENDELL POTTER: That we shouldn’t fear government involvement in our health care system. That there is an appropriate role for government, and it’s been proven in the countries that were in that movie.

Can it be any clearer than that?

Here’s the thing: healthcare for profit has been a disaster. A recent article in “The American Journal of Medicine” makes it very clear that our current healthcare structure is ruinous.

As recently as 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy did so in the aftermath of a serious medical problem.
…
Illness or medical bills contributed to 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007.

Wow. And this is before the Great Recession hit in 2008.

It’s been obvious for years to a lot of people who aren’t beholding to financial or political dogma that the only solution to the healthcare problem is a National Health Plan. It frees up the red tape (ask any doctor how much they enjoy having to navigate the waters of insurer paperwork), it makes access available without question or precondition.

Oh…and to you all calling it “socialism”? Big Frakkin’ Deal. So what if it is? It isn’t that communism you are really afraid about (the two a different, you know). The current system only now serves to line the pockets of insurances execs and hedge fund shareholders (seriously, if you haven’t already, watch the Potter interview). It isn’t about health care.

The thing is, the current plan spearheaded by President Obama and currently committee-ized by Congress does nothing to solve the problem. They will force insurance on everyone, regardless of ability to afford it, and will provide a minefield of red tape for those who need to get some relief from the government (but not you…you’ll make just enough not to be eligible). I’m simplifying, of course, but if you read the policy, that’s basically what it is. It’s STUPID. At best, things will mostly remain the same, but we will have one more layer of bureaucracy on top of it all.

Here’s the solution: take the core plan from another country successful at running their healthcare system (Canada, UK, etc.), add our non-necessity political complications, and get it passed. It will be cheaper, it will be accessible, it will be simpler to manage, it will be fair. Call it the Socialized Liberal Health Plan That Makes Me Weep For America, if you want. The name or epithet doesn’t matter. What matters is that Americans can see a doctor in a few hours instead of being neglected in an overcrowded emergency room for upwards of a day (if that isn’t your experience, then you have one hell of a good health plan–i.e., you must be in Congress).