Dr. Dean's RX: Single-Payer Is Not Off The Table

Here is my take on health care reform. I have sent this letter to everyone from Obama on down the list. Most of it has also been in my local newspaper. If you like what I have written and agree with it, pass it on! Posting it here is simply preaching to the quire otherwise!

Al K.

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I am writing you to voice my concern about the appalling state of health care in this country. As a self employed individual, I must either pay for any medical services I might incur out of my pocket or purchase insurance from some greedy middle-man corporation. These corporations exists solely for the purpose of making money off our fear of financial ruin. Health insurance companies maximize their profits by providing the minimum amount of coverage for the maximum premium cost they can manage and by denying coverage for costly procedures using legal loopholes known only to them. Anyone who has a known medical condition will find it difficult or impossible to purchase health care insurance in the first place, even if they can afford it. Under our cruel greed based system the only way to get health care insurance is to prove you don't need it! This is totally outrageous. Every industrialized country in the world except the United States has some form of government financed medical coverage. House bill H.R. 676 introduced by John Conyers establishes a single payer not-for-profit system. I totally support this legislation, and I beg you to support it and even to become one of the co-sponsors.

I have often heard the argument that it would be too expensive. This is ridiculous! Removing the greedy middle-man would reduce cost, not increase it. It is quite obvious that the cost of caring for the elderly is the single largest segment of the overall expense for health care. This segment has already been covered by Medicare. The additional cost would only be a fraction of the cost of Medicare. Statistics show that one dollar out of every three spent on health care in this country is wasted on profits for these greedy middle-man insurance companies and on widespread bureaucratic inefficiency. Our hospitals and doctors offices employ huge numbers of people just to keep track of the mess generated by so many insurance companies.

Another very serious consequence of our health care financial system is the unfair burden that it places on virtually every industry. When employers are forced to bear the burden of covering the cost of health care for their employees they are placed at a competitive disadvantage to competitors based in other countries where the government takes care if its people. This causes them to move their facilities out of the country creating a loss of jobs. A government paid system would solve this problem. Let's spend our tax money on heath care not unemployment checks!

The system of independent health insurance we now have is perpetuated by an army of public relations firms spouting propaganda such as categorizing a single-payer government sponsored system as "socialized medicine". This too is ridiculous. Our health providers would remain private. They are not the problem. Only the greedy middle-men that do the financing need to be eliminated. The insurance industry also perpetuates itself by giving huge contributions to politicians coercing them to vote in their favor on all legislation that effects them. These corporations should go the same way as those of yesteryear that manufactured buggy whips and Oogahh horns for automobiles. They should be relegated to selling health insurance to pet owners!

The right to health care should be guaranteed to all of us by our government. A single-payer system would be a major benefit to every aspect of the U.S. economy and to the welfare of our society. Only the greedy middle-man health insurance industry would suffer. They deserve it!