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Bottoms Up

Feb 19th, 2008 at 11:08 am by Susie

Does this sound like a nation not ready for single-payer health care?

Posted in Politics As Usual, The Best Healthcare in the World

12 Responses to “Bottoms Up”

on 19 Feb 2008 at 11:13 am1snuzy mandrake

the nation’s definitely ready. the sad thing is that the politicians are not. none of the major candidates are even proposing it.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:03 pm2brendancalling

I have to admit, I am surprised that a disgruntled patient with a terminal disease (or the parent or spouse of one) has not simply walked into the corporate offices of Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross or any number of “health insurers” and simply opened fire out of sheer desperation and rage.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:07 pm3Heath

If you want single-payer, in this country you need to organize. When the politicians primarily attach significance to contributions and lobbyists for HMO/Insurance Co’s./Big Pharma, they won’t hear you if you speak as an individual.
I figure this was probably directed at me, since I was a “wet blanket” earlier. Believe me, my family has been figuratively screwed by insurance companies. Single payer would be my preference. I own Sicko, and believe it to be the starting point for my own little manifesto on “the way things oughta be.” I’m a socialist in the tradition of “Fightin’ Bob” LaFollette. But the government in this country doesn’t respond to individuals, unless we ask for assistance. When we want something to get done, the system is designed to discourage it.
Who wants to organize this campaign? Or, in the alternative, who wants to support an existing campaign?
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:12 pm4snuzy mandrake

actually, if we want single payer, we need to win over corporate america. it’s in their interest to externalize the cost of health care. they’re paying the increased premiums for their employees.

outside of the insurance sector of the economy, it makes economic sense for big business to have single payer. it’s just a question of how long it takes for them to wake up.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:16 pm5Susie

I believe GM and Ford are already broaching the subject.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:41 pm6snuzy mandrake

yeah, they started to, but then they (along with chrysler) found a way of dumping their health liability on the UAW. so now they have less of an incentive to do it. that obviously doesn’t apply to the rest of corporate america though.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 1:21 pm7jeff

Yeah, if we can get the fucking doctors on board.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 1:27 pm8votermom

The insurance industry is acting rather like a cartel, isn’t it? It controls the supply of a precious resource (health care) for profit, dictating prices to both consumers (patients) and workers (doctors/hospitals).
on 19 Feb 2008 at 1:55 pm9Susie

And the medical schools control the number of doctors, to keep it a high-paid profession.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 2:15 pm10snuzy mandrake

actually, aren’t the doctors shifting on this issue? the doctors i know have gradually come over to single payer after years of fighting with insurance companies on behalf of their patients and sometimes just to get paid themselves. has anyone polled doctors about health care reform? it would be really interesting to see what they think.

sometimes i think the best booster single payer has in the u.s. economy are the insurance companies themselves. they have done such a good job at pissing off the people who would otherwise be their natural allies, things like big business and the medical establishment, it’s only a matter of time before they turn on insurance companies too.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 2:15 pm11brendancalling

I can’t stand doctors. The field has devolved to little more than an overpriced drug salesman, especially psychiatrists who would rather give you some happy pills than get to the root of your problems. Cus that would be work.
as for medical doctors, I have never met an MD who wasn’t an arrogant asshole who either dismissed my health complaint, didn’t do the research necessary to determine what the problem was, or just simply cancelled appointments.
on 22 Feb 2008 at 8:10 pm12Tony Braga

I wrote an essay somewhat on this subject and, before I ever did a Google search and found this Blog, oddly enough entitled it Bottoms Up
here’s looking at you

My thinking on the essay’s title is in my mind a hope that the root will convey the message upwards that the plant is being nurtured from below and eventually affect “change.”

Although it is a rather short essay it is too long to post here. If you get a chance to give it a look it is at the Website listed above.

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Bottoms Up

12 Responses to “Bottoms Up”

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