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| Ryan's wrong -- we need 'Medicare for all' |
| 2011-05-19 |
| [Iran Press TV] The Nation's ...Weekly journal of lefty opinion, featuring half-assed analysis on politics and culture. Founded in 1865. Hasn't had an original idea since... Political Correspondent John Nichols spoke to Press TV's U.S. Desk on Wednesday about the debate in Washington over Medicare and Medicaid. "The debate in the United States has been very focused on our Medicare and Medicaid programs and these programs provide basic healthcare for the elderly as well as for people with disabilities and low income folk," Nichols said. He continued, that the Republicans in the U.S. have been proposing deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and the cuts would make those programs dysfunctional. Nichols concluded that there may be a real debate in the U.S. and that the battle lines will be drawn in fascinating ways raising the possibilities that in 2012, "we might have a genuine election fight in this country between the Republicans who propose cutting back dramatically on our existing health care programs and the progressives who suggest that it is time actually to expand those programs." The following is Nichols article about the same issue published by Common Dreams: House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan ...U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President B.O.'s 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies... proposes to undermine the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with an eye toward enriching the insurance companies that so generously fund his campaigns. The American people are not amused. They have sent clear signals that they want to maintain Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan's town hall meetings in April featured noisy opposition in communities such as Milton and Kenosha, and tough questioning even in the most conservative communities of Walworth County. Likewise, Republican House members from Pennsylvania, Florida and other states got earfuls at their town meetings. The protests at the meetings were just the tip of the iceberg of objection to the plan championed by Ryan, R-Janesville. Polls show that roughly 80 percent of voters think it is a bad idea to try to balance the budget by gutting Medicare and Medicaid as Ryan proposes -- with a scheme to force seniors to buy coverage from private, for-profit insurance companies that happen to be major contributors to his campaign fund. Overwhelming majorities say that they would prefer that Congress end tax cuts for wealthy Americans and reduce Pentagon spending before making any changes to Medicare and Medicaid. And rightly so. Despite the battering they have taken from misguided and malicious policymakers, the Medicare and Medicaid programs still provide the rough outlines for a single-payer health care program that keep costs down while expanding access to prevention and treatment for millions of Americans. So, instead of gutting Medicare, as Ryan proposes, why not expand on what works? That's what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... is proposing. "The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its people. Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... we spend about twice as much per capita on health care with worse results than others that spend far less," Sanders explained recently as he announced plans to introduce the American Health Security Act of 2011, which would provide federal guidelines and strong minimum standards for states to administer single-payer health care programs. "It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American health care system. It is time for us to end private, for-profit participation in delivering basic coverage. It is time for the United States to provide a Medicare-for-all single-payer health coverage program." Sanders' plan is the right response to the health care crisis in America -- and any country where tens of millions of citizens lack health care coverage, where tends of millions more lack adequate coverage, and where costs are skyrocketing because of insurance company profiteering. Don't get the independent senator wrong. He voted for the health care reform legislation that passed Congress last year and was signed by President B.O.. He even improved that legislation by fighting to include funding for public health programs and community clinics. But Sanders also recognizes flaws in the 2010 reform -- which, reformers note, keeps the for-profit private health insurance industry at the center of the U.S. health system. And the senator argues that the ultimate cure for what ails American health care is a "Medicare for all" approach that ends the profiteering and focuses on prevention and treatment of disease. And he is not alone. Congressman Jim McDermott ...Representative-for-Life from Washington state. McDermott is noted for his 2002 trip to Baghdad in support of Saddam Hussein and for tapping Newt Gingrich's cell phone in 1997. He is consistly returned to office with Stalinesque majorities from his district, which seems to be populated by hippies and community organizers... , the Washington Democrat who has for two decades been one of the House's steadiest backers of real health care reform, will introduce a parallel bill in that chamber. Says McDermott: "The (2010) health care law made big progress toward covering many more people and finding ways to lower cost. However, The contradictory However... I think the best way to reduce costs and guarantee coverage for all is through a single-payer system like Medicare. This bill does just that -- it builds on the new health care law by giving states the flexibility they need to go to a single-payer system of their own. It will also reduce costs, and Americans will be healthier." The Sanders-McDermott initiative in Washington comes as the Vermont legislature has taken steps to make the senator's home state the first in the nation to develop what advocates describe as a state-based variation on the single-payer approach. Sanders applauds the move, and thinks it could serve as a national model. Others agree, while noting that Medicare provides another model. Sanders and McDermott were joined at the announcement of their new "Medicare for all" push by Arlene Holt Baker, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO; Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United; Looks like an astroturf nurses organization: "NNU was founded in 2009 unifying three of the most active, progressive organizations in the U.S.--and the major voices of unionized nurses--in the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and Massachusetts Nurses Association." They've got pictures of cops and firefighters and guys with hard hats on their website and pics of a protest that has Sean Penn in attendance. and Greg Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. All three groups are encouraging this fight for real reform. "Providing a single standard of high-quality care for all is a priority for registered nurses, who have seen their abilities to act as patient advocates made more difficult as for-profit interests control more patient care decisions," says Ross, whose union has been in the forefront of the fight for single-payer. "We commend Senator Sanders and Representative McDermott for their vision and passion to help registered nurses create a more just health care system through the American Health Security Act and applaud our brothers and sisters in labor for their support." Physicians for a National Health Program, Physicians for a National Health Program is a single issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. PNHP has more than 18,000 members and chapters across the United States. Since 1987, we've advocated for reform in the U.S. health care system. We educate physicians and other health professionals about the benefits of a single-payer system--including fewer administrative costs and affording health insurance for the 50.7 million Americans who have none. the movement of doctors and medical students for real reform, welcomed the national legislation. "At a time when the airwaves are filled with talk about cutting or even ending Medicare," said Dr. Garrett Adams, PNHP president, "Senator Sanders has boldly stepped forward with the seemingly paradoxical proposition that the best way to financially strengthen the Medicare program is to upgrade it and expand it to cover everyone." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 In the land of liberty there are "negative" rights. You have rights to be free from gov't imposition of obligations. You have a right to provide everything that you want for yourself. Your right cannot oblige anyone to fulfill your desire. My right to a house allows me to build my own house, it does not force anyone else to build it for me. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-05-19 07:41 |
| #4 In economic terms, one person's positive "right" is another persons coerced obligation. I believe there's an amendment about involuntary servitude. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-05-19 05:22 |
| #3 Because GPs (or taxpayers) should be slaves.... Treatment can never be a "right" (unless the right means the government won't stop you choosing whatever treatment you can afford). Treatment entitlement would make a bad situation worse for the states, as the population would have NO financial incentive to look after their own health. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-05-19 03:24 |
| #2 Nichols lips are moving. The Ryan plan is the most comprehensive, fair, and sane plan presented in that Congress in a very, very long time. Pass it or everyone will live in squander when everyone is broke (cept for the politicians who will fly to other countries to retire). |
| Posted by: newc 2011-05-19 00:56 |
| #1 The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its people Please cite the applicable Article and Section or Amendment to the Constitution that authorizes such 'right' and empowers the national government to impose it upon the citizenry. BTW, when you go making it up to justify your invalid assumption of powers, remember in the last few seconds when your head's on the chopping block the little warning about removing the safe guards of the Constitution as written. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-05-19 00:23 |