To paraphrase the Godfather of the vast right wing conspiracy, Ronald Reagan, “There she goes again!”
Today Hillary Clinton once again pledged to work for universal health care. Appearing on Good Morning America, Hillary said she has “learned a lot” from the first attempt back in the mid-1990s.
Hillary told the interviewer, “I believe the American people are going to make this an issue,” said Clinton. “I believe we’re in a better position today to do that than we were in ‘93 and ‘94. … It’s one of the reasons I’m running for president.”
Our fear is that Hillary — in fact, anyone brazen enough to try to provide health care to 43 million uninsured Americans — has not learned enough. The simple fact is that special interests — the insurance lobby, doctors and the American Medical Association, hospitals and other health care providers — have always put profits over the health of needy Americans. Correct that: they have put profits over the health of ALL Americans.
Back during the first Clinton Administration, the main assassins of health care reform were Bob Dole and Phil Gramm. They did the dirty work of the special interests. (See Hillary Has Taken the Tough Political Road Before and Who Killed Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Reform?) The only thing that has changed since 1993-1994 is that more Americans are uninsured and the health care system is even more dysfunctional.
What hasn’t changed is the ideology that says that Americans without health care must fend for themselves, that the taxes of “well-off” Americans should not be used to pay for health care for the poor (i.e. it’s their fault that they are poor and should suffer the consequences), and that in a theoretical free-market economy the health care providers — doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, etc. — should be free to maximize their profits regardless of the consequences.
Do not deceive yourself: those doctors who whined ad nauseum that health care reform would destroy your relationship with them were referring to their relationship with your wallet, not your body. To most doctors, your body is a means to an end: a high six or seven-figure income and the lifestyle of the rich and not-so-famous.
Mark Rake’s words: in the looming health care battle, the attack points of the far right will be identical to those used 13 years ago. If nothing else, their greed is consistent.
5 responses so far ↓
Obama's campaign is the first to call. « A Rake’s Progress // May 11, 2007 at 11:16 am
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someone // October 13, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Make an educated choice on the facts.
When candidates use fear for votes such as the dems.
The truth from the government census website.
44.8 million do not have health care.
Of that 9.3 million are not Americans, they are a (NON CITIZEN)
35.5 million with out insurance are American
7.8 million Americans without insurance earn more than $50,000
7.8 million Americans without insurance earn more than $50,000
So 15.6 million Americans could pay for health care
That leaves 27.7 million without health care
I would take another 5 million off to account for people in prison and those who don’t care.
That leaves 22.7 million without health care which if you use the same numbers as dems. That’s 8% of Americans without health care
With the poverty rate of 12.7
Remember this is just who is insured not who gets health care
Do we have people dying in the street or in their home, NO WE DON’T
Is American insurance system broke?
Is American health care broke?
No they are not, are they perfect.
No they are not perfect, but they are better than what is being proposed.
Don’t destroy a system that could be improved with minor changes
Do you really what the government who pays for $250,000 for a screw or $100,000 for a toilet seat.
Think about it first
Rake Morgan // October 14, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Chris (AKA “Someone”), I certainly appreciate your taking the time to comment and for making available the chart from the Census Bureau about health care. I realize that there are many people who feel the way you do. Many of us look at the same numbers and come to a different conclusion. It is a matter of perspective and of looking deeper and the situation behind the data.
First, I think you were looking at the wrong column. The total uninsured in 2006 is 47 million.
Second, in an instant you throw out 10 million non-residents and say they should not be considered part of the health care problem. They are a BIG part of the problem for two reasons: 1) They are here in this country, health care is a human right, not a privilege for the wealthy, we have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that they receive proper medical care, 2) Most uninsured non-citizens get whatever healthcare they receive in our hospital emergency rooms — the most expensive place to get care. If they were insured they would go to regular clinics and doctors for treatment and — most importantly — preventive care. So, I put those 10 million people back into the totals.
You also tossed out households earning over $50,000. That’s another 14 million people. What you might not realize is that a) many of those households (as defined by the Census Bureau) are comprised of non-married, non-related individuals. Even if one person had insurance, the other one would not be covered under most insurance programs.
You also dismiss the possibility that — depending on the number of dependents — even family households earning at those levels could not afford today’s insurance premiums if they had to pay for their own insurance.
Finally, the biggest issue is that insurance companies are allowed to cherry pick who they will insurance. Many households with higher incomes are refused insurance, even when they can afford it. If they cannot buy insurance because of their medical condition or past insurance use, it does not matter how much they make.
Those 14 million people that you tossed out go back into the “problem” pool.
Third, your last category of people who don’t need health care are those in prison and those who “don’t care.” I think we can make a distinction between inappropriate “privileges” granted to prisoners and their basic human right to receive appropriate health care services. They’re back into the “problem” pool.
Then there are the people who, as you put it, don’t care. Just like non-citizens, individuals who “don’t care” — typically young people who think they will live forever — do use our health care system and also get their care in the most expensive place to get it — the emergency room. They must be mandated to have health insurance, if only to protect the financially viability of the health care system as a whole.
So, those 5 million go back into the pool of the problem uninsured, and we are back to a total of 47 million people who are legitimately in need of health care coverage.
I know that health care quality always comes up as an issue, but I think we can address that topic during our next “chat.”
– Rake
Lack of health insurance leads to Clinton hostage crisis in New Hampshire. « A Rake’s Progress // December 2, 2007 at 10:12 am
[...] Far right dooms Hillary Clinton’s health care reform. [...]
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