The New York Times and Other Elites Attempt to Stem Growing Demand for Universal Health Care

[eridani]

http://www.nesri.org/print/3042

Yesterday The New York Times ran an article trotting out elites’ two favorite narratives. Both are incredibly disingenuous, and say more about the political agendas of the people spreading the narratives than they do about health care.

The first narrative is that publicly financed health care is economically infeasible. The Times cites a grand total of just three economists who question the costs laid out in Sanders’ health care plan. The three economists the Times cited are absolutely overwhelmed by the 106 U.S.-based economists who signed an open letter last year in support of public health care financing. That letter stated, “As economists, we understand that universal, publicly financed health care is not only economically feasible but highly preferable to a fragmented market-based insurance system. … We support publicly and equitably financed health care at federal and state level.”

<snip>

If elites are arguing that no president could muscle through legislation for truly universal health care, they’re absolutely right, but they’re missing the point. This isn’t about Sanders or other politicians. Enacting truly universal health care means changing what’s politically possible, and that takes a social movement. It was organizing by workers, women, African Americans and others that brought us women’s suffrage, the 40-hour work week, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act, and there’s reason to believe we are on the brink of major social changes again. Look around. People are fed up, and movements are growing.

The infeasibility narratives pushed by The New York Times and other elites say much less about health care than they do about elites’ agendas and the incredible historical moment we are living through. For decades, we’ve all been told that if we work hard, we’ll succeed. But millions of people are struggling in a very real way, and aren’t buying the myth of trickle-down economics anymore. Let’s not let a small cadre of political and media elites scare us into accepting the way things are. Let’s stand up for universal publicly, financed health care not only because it’s sensible, but because it’s right.

[Jim Beard]

1. I agree

and it is hard for me to accept many on this board cursing the government who we need in favor of loving approval of Apple.

The hard part to explain is how some taxes on the middle class will have to be passed, but the rewards will yiels more than the family income. For instance there may be a raise in healthcare premiums but they will have insurance and will not have to pay a huge bill .

It will average out for the best in the long run. Public college education will be free but instead of student loans being repaid, the schools will be paid for by local taxes. If the educational system helped some more they will make more income and pay larger property taxes. It works ot if given time.

[eridani]

2. There will be a tax INSTEAD OF a premium

And that tax will be substantially lower than a premium. The Washington Health security Trust has no age ratings, and if you were 55, you'd pay the same $200/month as every other adult, instead of the $900/month I was paying for shitty catastrophic coverage until I got old enough for Medicare.

[earthshine]

3. What does your first paragraph have to do with the others?

Your first paragraph is an incoherent statement about government overreach.

The second and third appear to be about how government can play a bigger role in healthcare and education.

I want the government out of my phone, and in the business of providing health care and education.

[JDPriestly]

4. K&R.

I worked for a non-profit that provided services to homeless people for a number of years. They need healthcare. And they need something more reliable than just free clinics. They need the dignity of having a family care physician that treats them like any other patient.

Also, we will not, I believe, come to terms with or solve our national addiction problems -- to alcohol and other drugs -- or our hunger and obesity problems unless we get a well organized national healthcare service of some kind. We could have non-profits organizing the individual's healthcare, but we need to a) get for-profit companies out of the physician-patient relationship and get the best care possible for all patients regardless of ability to pay and, b) set national goals for good health habits and without force get information on how to live a healthy life and the benefits of living a healthy life to as many Americans as possible.

How to do part b? Well, let's start by getting everyone insured and then taking a real national and personal inventory of Americans' health problems. Good health is an individual matter, but we have a lot of Americans who are, in spite of the internet which does a good job of making information available, utterly uninformed about how to live a healthy life.

Most of us don't eat right and don't exercise enough.

I'm working on it, and because good health is the greatest gift anyone can have, I hope all DUers are too.

But we need universal health care insurance if we are to make both a) and b) above realities.

I'm not advocating for forcing people to be healthy. That would be impossible. We aren't all born with super great genetic material, but we should all try to be as healthy as we can be, and we should as a nation make it much easier for individual Americans to be healthy.

[CanSocDem]

7. Good points, but this...

"... but we have a lot of Americans who are, in spite of the internet which does a good job of making information available, utterly uninformed about how to live a healthy life."


The prime force behind 'health information' is televised pharmaceutical advertising. It goes to great lengths to convince you that you are sick.

One of the first things the Canadian government did when they 'socialized' our medical industry was to ban pharmaceutical advertising.

We also ban Law Office advertising, so you know we have no compunctions against limiting an individuals right to make a living.


.

[eridani]

12. " Healthy lifestyles" cause increases in overall health care expenditures

Simply because they promote longevity. The longer you live, the higher your total health care expenses.

[myrna minx]

5. "The war is over - if we want it" - John Lennon

We can enact any program or policy we want - it's just clear that the elites are having none of it. I'm just a little astonished at the push back from our own party. This election is truly exposing how entrenched Milton Friedman's failed economics is in this country and how profoundly protective people are of their dark money in politics.

I'm saddened by the people on "our side" that are fiercely fighting against this, and now it's clear why the public option wasn't on the table - SO many in power are against it.

[brer cat]

6. I'm not sure there are so many

on our side fighting against it as there are those looking for a realistic way to move forward. "We can enact any program or policy we want" assumes we have a majority that I certainly don't see. Further a big part of the debate is just what "it" is: universal healthcare, single-payer, socialized medicine, medicare for all get tossed around as though they are synonymous and there is only one path to achieving access to healthcare for all people. The devil is in the details, and many of us simply disagree on how best to tackle those pesky details. Turning the debate into "you are with us or against us" is stifling and undemocratic.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. And I still l cannot get why most corporations in this country...

don't get behind it- it would save them money. I can understand big pharma and insurance companies fighting it, but people like Ford, GM, GE, etc, etc, would benefit greatly from a single payer system.

[LiberalElite]

9. Freudian slip? -

"people like Ford, GM..."

[awoke_in_2003]

10. Yeah, I could have worded that better...

maybe the people at those corporations who make these decisions

[Omaha Steve]

11. K&R!