50,000 posts. That's a lot, eh?
I just noticed I passed 50,000 posts. This one was post #50,000:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214363221#post8
hehe
I was planning on something a bit more substantive but I think that one suits me well. 
Anyway....this is what I *was* going to go for:
Single-Payer Health Insurance is NOT Socialized Medicine
Remember the days of Dennis Kucinich and H.R. 676 (PNHP.org)?
There's a lot of talk about Single-Payer and Medicare for All and the right skewering it as Socialism (even though tens of millions of senior citizens - many of whom are Republican - rely upon it and love it and wouldn't give it up for anything)
The only Socialized Medicine in the US is the Veterans Administration. Hospitals and Doctors are part of the government, itself.
With Medicare for All/Single-Payer, that's NOT the case. Existing hospitals and private physicians will still be in place. Nothing will change in terms of that. What WILL change is that instead of having dozens of private health insurance companies with much higher administrative costs (due to large HR departments, executive compensation, for-profit focus to satisfy stockholders, etc), we'd go to the government being a Single Payer. Your healthCARE is NOT government-run but the health INSURANCE is and would fit in line with much of how Medicare has been run for decades. This removes a HUGE portion of overhead which would be used to lower premiums and costs for Americans as well as increase services available to everyone.
Say you make $75,000/yr. That's $1,442/wk before taxes. The average ins premium for a family of 4 is between $200-$300/wk
14-21% of GROSS. 16-24% of NET! And that does NOT include CO-PAYS and DEDUCTIBLES.
Imagine payroll taxes went up 2.5% (that's just a bit less than 14-21% wouldn't you say??) but you now have Medicare, which is NOT socialized medicine. It's Single-Payer Healthcare. There will still be PRIVATE hospitals and doctors. Just no more private insurance to gouge families and enrich execs
And look at the corporate side: They'll pay more in payroll taxes from their end (7-8% or so) but no longer will need to carry large sections of HR departments to manage healthcare options. That's a HUGE reduction of overhead for most companies
Also look at what your healthcare insurance does NOT require: No more deductibles. No more co-pays. And it would now include Dental/Vision, too.
#HR676 can be revived and can help save American families
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/march/universal_health_for.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's still only a penny a post!
Good job, Roland99. Here's to 50,000 more to go! 
Happy 50,000th post! 
Congrats!
