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Healthcare Now has cited a poll showing majority support for single payer healthcare, when it is called by its other name, national health insurance. On the other hand, the support for President Obama's approach to healthcare has slipped below 50%.
This certainly contradicts the corporate media's narrative, but reality often contradicts corporate propaganda. Let's explore some of the differences between single payer and Obama's approach, which explain the difference in support.
1) Single payer is a proven success. Single payer is working quite well in Canada and other countries. Medicare works well here. (The financial problems it currently is experiencing are due to a prescription drug plan pushed through by the GOP which was designed to make Big Pharma richer in the short term and to bankrupt Medicare in the long term.)
2) Single payer is cheaper. President Obama and the Goppers both talk about costs as an issue, and well informed people know that single payer is much cheaper than what we have now, much less the corporate lobbyist pandering Obama plan.
3) Obama's approach is confusing. His plan is based on juggling various corporate interests rather than a policy based approach. Congressional Democrats are still joining Obama in figuring out how to pander to corporate lobbyists, making them unsure of most of the details of the plan that would have such a huge effect on all of our lives.
4) The main reason people with health insurance want reform is to get the HMOs and insurance companies out of their healthcare. The health insurers and HMOs corporate mottoes mights as well be "Lie, Cheat, and Steal." They constantly refuse to provide necessary care while using up enormous amounts of money on byzantine bureaucracies, outrageously high executive pay, and windfall profits. Every day, Americans die because their "healthcare coverage" didn't cover life saving healthcare. Single payer puts a stop to all of that. Any "reform" proposal that doesn't get rid of these murderous corporations is not real reform.
Regardless of how President Obama's current proposal does, we need to keep fighting for single payer. In the long term, it's the only reasonable option.
Psycho Woman Throws Knives At Children
13 years ago
Amen brother. What's going to happen is a version of Obama's plan is going to be adopted and then when it's proven too costly, it will be replaced with single payer.
obama is tryingto please the congressional benefactors - pharma and insurance and please the people
and when you try to please everyone you please no one.
he should ONLY care about the people, but that would be asking too much
Why? Because the Obama plan is the "establishment plan" and the Single-payer plan is the "people's plan."
So much for democracy.
I am a political independent and refuse to blindly commit to either major party due to irrational partisanship, lies, and corruption on both sides of the aisle. I am also a Christian who believes in God and that homosexuality is not moral neutral since it is a behaviorisl choice. However, I am not writing to judge or bash homosexuals. I am just being honest about who is writing this blog.
You made the comment, ". . .Medicare works well here. (The financial problems it currently is experiencing are due to a prescription drug plan pushed through by the GOP which was designed to make Big Pharma richer in the short term and to bankrupt Medicare in the long term.)" Without knowing all the facts, I would bet dollars to donuts that the GOP was in bed with 'Big Pharma" and that the drug plan hurts medicare. But, is this it?
No government mismanagement or inefficiencies would also be factors? What would be your justification that only the GOP drug plan caused the problems with Medicare?
Aside from that statement, I enjoyed reading what you read and thought it was a productive contribution to the broader debate.
JimPol: Medicare wasn't in trouble before the GOP's unfunded prescription drug plan.
Thanks, that got me started on looking into the issue. It appears that there was in-fighting among the GOP in regards to the bill but Tom Delay got his way. Why an unfunded 8.4 trillion liability was passed and considered a conservative agenda is beyond me.