The really sad thing about this healthcare fiasco is that the public wasn’t nearly as hard to convince to go to war in Iraq as they are to support their own healthcare. That’s because the right-wing pundits and media bobbleheads who control the nation’s discourse are more interested in killing other people than they are in protecting America’s children and working people. The same people who worry loudly about how we’re going to pay for our own people’s health never asked where the money was going to come from to pay for the war in Iraq.
I can’t find figures separating the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s probably because the shadowy people who control our government want us to confuse the two – a just war (Afghanistan) and an unjust war (Iraq). But now that the 2010 budget is in place, the cost so far for both wars should be about $1 trillion. That’s not including the “black budget” stuff. Including all costs, assuming we can get out of Iraq by 2016, could raise the total cost to $3 trillion.
Meanwhile, a single-payer health plan would probably save the country $58 billion overall, according to a lengthy CBO analysis. Of course, it would kill insurance company profits ($12 billion in 2007, not including executive salaries and bonuses), so it can’t be done.
An industry that has to lie to make its case can’t be trusted.
Finally, a lack of a single-payer option puts America’s other industries at a competitive disadvantage with foreign companies, and makes a real economic recovery more difficult.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Sean,
Well said and I could not agree more. Our governing structure is so corrupted by special interests that it likely cannot be reformed and real policy changes sufficient to address the extremely serious potentially fatal problems that we face will go unaddressed.
Steve
The idea that “right wing pundits” are controlling the discourse on this debate on healthcare is ridiculous. President Obama has a press conference in which he gets only one probing question about healthcare allowing him to non answer the questions! They have a single payer system in Canada and it forces Canadians to come here for treatment. Our cancer survivor rates are better than many other industrialized countries with single payer systems.
This rant of yours comparing the cost of two wars and healthcare is a non sequitor because the people who do complain loudly about paying for healthcare are the same ones who aren’t willing to spend for our nations defense. Who think if we talk nicely to other nations like Iran or North Korea everything will be hunky dory.
And according to this article in the Politico http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25415.html
Health care isn’t the problem. It’s keeping the cost from rising faster than inflation. We help to control those costs by the buying decisions we make. If something costs too much we find a cheaper alternative. The health insurance system we have divorces us from those costs. To put it another way. Auto insurance protects us from severe accidents or injuries but it doesn’t cover the maintenance of the car. Because we pay for those things we can shop around for low priced gas or inexpensive garage or mechanic to service the car. We should be able to do the same things with our basic medical needs. I wonder how much time and money would be saved if a doctors administrative costs were reduced because they didn’t have to deal with insurance paperwork.
You object to the insurance industry but a single payer system that creates a monstrous bureaucracy that makes the decisions on rationing care instead of you is the worst thing we could do.
I was tempted to mark as “SPAM” the collection of right-wing talking points about healthcare. But if a commenter wants to contradict himself from one paragraph to the next, what the heck. Let him carry Rush Limbaugh’s water if it makes him feel better.
Just to be clear: I favor a single-payer system, like “Medicare for all.” This would be a basic safety net — you’d still be able to buy private health insurance if you wanted to.
What President Obama has proposed is not even close to a single-payer option. The end result will probably look like it was written by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
And hopefully, THAT was my last word on healthcare.
Your grouping of “right wing pundits” as all being willing to spend money on war and unwilling to spend money on healthcare is grossly bigoted and unfair. You group everyone into one big group and make sweeping remarks which is the mark of hypocrisy. I care deeply about the health care of my family and others, but I don’t necessarily agree with the logic of how you propose we get there. In your world, you just lash out and accuse those who disagree with your concept of a solution as heartless and uncaring. Since you’re such a benevolent saint, why don’t you pay for my healthcare and I’ll stay at home, watch soap operas and have babies by illegal aliens.
Wow, I “group everyone into one big group and make sweeping remarks” about them. Yeah, right-wing pundits would never do that. LOL!