Actual socialist weighs in on "socialist" health bill

[IndianaGreen]

Monday, Mar 22, 2010 11:40 EDT

Actual socialist weighs in on "socialist" health bill

Party co-chair slams healthcare reform
By Alex Koppelman

If you listen to damn near everyone on the right these days, you'll hear that the healthcare reform bill that the House passed last night is "socialism," or "creeping socialism" at the very least. In reality, that claim just doesn't hold up. Just ask a socialist, like Billy Wharton, who's the co-chair of the Socialist Party USA.

The Socialist Party just e-mailed reporters a statement from Wharton in which he slams the bill, saying it's not reform but is "instead a corporate restructuring of the American healthcare system designed to enhance the profits of private health insurance companies disguised with the language of reform."

I'd say we should alert Glenn Beck about this, but I have a horrible vision of that leading to some new conspiracy theory about the White House getting Wharton to release this statement as a false flag sort of thing, and some very convoluted chalkboard drawings.

The full press release:

Co-chair of the Socialist Party USA, Billy Wharton, opposes the healthcare bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives and scheduled to be signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Wharton's opposition is based on the belief that this bill is not a reform. Instead, it is a corporate restructuring of the health insurance industry created to protect the profit margins of private insurance companies.

The bill passed by the House yesterday would mandate all Americans to purchase health insurance coverage or face a fine. It would also create health insurance exchanges, an idea crafted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, where people would purchase insurance from private companies. Those not eligible for Medicaid but who still could not afford to purchase insurance would receive public funds from the federal government to purchase bare bones coverage insurance plans from private insurers.

Wharton opposes this restructuring on the grounds that the mandates allow private insurers to use the coercive power of the state to enhance their private profits. Insurance credits will serve as a public subsidy to private companies. It is yet another case of public money that could be used for necessary social programs being funneled towards companies that engage in practices that are abusive and detrimental to the overall society. He believes the bill is also a demonstration of how deeply corporate lobbyists and campaign contributions have infected the country's political system.

"This is not a healthcare reform bill," says Wharton, "It is instead a corporate restructuring of the American healthcare system designed to enhance the profits of private health insurance companies disguised with the language of reform"

Instead, Wharton believes that public funds would be better spent in creating a national single-payer system. Democratic socialists see such a system of open access to care as one part of a larger transition toward making healthcare a guaranteed human right for all. Wharton calls for people to take power into their own hands by supporting the demand for single-payer health insurance and by conducting a red and green rebellion at the voting booth and in the streets to claim our human rights.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/03/22/spusa/

[Tansy_Gold]

1. K&R from another actual (lower case) socialist n/t

[pa28]

2. The charges of "socialism" crack me up.

You have to look hard to find traces of socialism in this bill. In fact it actually looks closer to the 1972 Nixon plan for health care reform than something devised purely for the public benefit.

Honestly, the people wagging the finger of socialism over this bill need a couple of weeks in detox or at least some quality time breathing into a paper bag.

[DesertFlower]

3. i agree. nt

[Hissyspit]

4. They make Europeans laugh.

Of course lots of what Americans have done have made Europeans laugh over the past decade.

And sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.

[Skittles]

5. plenty of DUers need some detoxing too

[pa28]

6. Not quite sure what your intent was but actually I agree.

I tend to run out of patience though for anyone who actually believes the bill will actually curb spiraling premiums or will even be a lasting solution in itself.

I expect distortion from the Glen Beck's, the Rush Limbaugh's and even from the MSM falsely crying socialism. I've also gotten used to my friends on DU serving a bit of fantasy from the other side as well. If they think this bill is purely about the public good I start to think they need to take a break from a certain cherry flavored and sugary beverage.

[Enthusiast]

7. DUers know it

isn't socialism. The problem isn't with us, it's with the Fox watchers and the Limbaugh listeners. They don't even know what socialism is.

[Stuart G]

12. Yes, the above post says it all...rt wing nuts don't know what socialism is.

[h9socialist]

8. This is getting Chaotic . . .

I understand what she's saying . . . but had the HCR bill been defeated it would have been a disaster. Some realism would help every once in a while.

[jtrockville]

9. "designed to enhance the profits of private health insurance companies"

I couldn't agree more. We're gathering crumbs while they're reaping millions.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. That is it in a nutshell.

Corporate profits above actually health care. This is a very sad day for me, as a Democrat and an American. :(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Ever since the mid 1990s, I've felt that the Socialists make more and more sense

and the MSM are dedicated to the task of preventing as many people as possible from realizing how much sense the Socialists make.

[SnakeEyes]

13. Spot on

However, I do think this is a foot in the door. Albeit a tiny foot. Or perhaps a slight widening. Medicare was the foot in the door. Just look at what was attached to reconciliation. Student loans from the government via private banks being taken from the private banks is, hopefully, what will happen to health care in the future.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Kicked and recommended but don't expect the conflict of interest saturated corporate media to

report on this perspective of criticism, it's better for the American People to remain ignorant.

The alternative to for profit "health" insurance might endanger the corporate media's cut, that being commercial and advertising money from your health care dollars.

Thanks for the thread, IndianaGreen.

[nightrain]

15. knr. Thanks for posting this. Maybe it will help clarify the difference

between fascism and socialism for those who confuse, perhaps intentionally, the two.