Blog Debate: Final Word on Costs
Published March 11, 2009 @ 08:26PM PT
Editor's Note: Joining us this week for a blog debate about what approach we should take on health care reform in 2009 will be Dr. Don McCanne, a retired family physician now serving as Senior Health Policy Fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program, and Jason Rosenbaum, a writer and activist, and the Deputy Director of Online Campaigns for Health Care for America Now! Dr. McCanne will be presenting the "single-payer" point of view, and Mr. Rosenbaum will be presenting the "public competitor" point of view. I will be moderating and asking questions to both of our experts-- including a question that was submitted by one of you!
This rebuttal is in response to the question: “How does your solution help us get the runaway train that is the cost of health care in this country under control?”
Read Jason Rosenbaum's original answer to this question.
The argument that single-payer health care would be more efficient is a straw man. Both health care reform plans would increase efficiencies and save a great deal of money. But only one can get 60 votes in the Senate. It may not be "fair" to include the morally bankrupt health insurance industry as part of a health care overhaul, but considering they represent 1/6th of our economy, it's not realistic to talk about legislating them out of existence overnight. A public health insurance option open to everyone would be a giant step forward for our country, save billions of dollars per year, and fundamentally reform our health care system. We must remember to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
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Comments (5)
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Jason Rosenbaum is a writer and activist and the Deputy Director of Online Campaigns for Health Care for America Now, a nationwide grassroots organization dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care for all.
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"Straw man" ... For those readers that don't use that or hear that often, it sounds like you are accusing Doctor McCanne of misrepresenting your position. You're on thin ice, Mr. Rosenbaum to write such an accusation. Read on ...
"Efficiencies" ... You wrote that both save a "great deal of money." Your proposal saves roughly $50 billion, and our proposal saves roughly $400 billion. It would cost roughly $100 million to cover the uninsured. I respectfully suggest that the American people have a much stronger position when it comes to increasing efficiencies.
"Votes in the Senate". Well, you've got me on that one, and you can smile as your proposal hurts this country and millions of its people even more than it's hurt already. If the American public does not start moving soon, then my dear painfully hurting acquaintances in Massachusetts will be joined by millions more Americans.
We want less government involved in our health care. We want a public agency to cover most medical costs. As my 7-point rebuttal documented last night, your proposal will cost us dearly. The health insurance company profits will increase. The government will expand in multiple ways, certainly including more subsidies to health insurance companies, directly or indirectly, plus including the increased regulations that they will attempt to place on those same health insurance companies. And, those whose income is not the poorest of the poor literally on the street will find, just like those MA residents, that your proposal will be a nightmare.
Oops. I was going to write more. It was probably good that I wrote last night, but I must get back to work. If anyone reading this wants to take action to get what we want and avoid having you make things worse than they already are (by increasing health insurance profits and increasing our government's role and our taxes), then they can go here on April 1 or before:
Peace of Mind
http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/Peace_of_Mind
How to Get On Board (Join Million Letters Campaign)
http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/Home
My hope(s) and my prayer(s) hinge on Americans TAKING ACTION by JOINING the Million Letters Campaign. When that happens to influence the U.S. Congress, then getting people to show up at the increasing number of rallies will be a piece of cake, as they say.
Posted by Bob Haiducek on 03/12/2009 @ 07:23AM PT
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"We must remember to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
Strive for mediocrity. Not a great argument. Are you gearing up to blame single-payer supporters when we don't even get a public option? Cause it's looking more and more like we're not going to get one.
Posted by Jeff Muck on 03/12/2009 @ 08:36AM PT
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Mr. Rosenbaum: "We must remember to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
That is the worst slogan I've ever heard!
Health insurance companies are 1/6th of the economy???
What you mean to say is, "What's good for Humana, Blue Shield, UnitedHealthCare, etc., is good for the country."
One can imagine that 60 votes in the Senate would be difficult to get for anyone proposing a plan that did not include United Health Group and their buddies. Too many in Congress are in the health insurance industry's back pocket, including the uniquely American Max Baucus. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, this cycle has seen Baucus raise almost $800,000 from securities and investment firms, $565,000 from the insurance industry, and $462,000 from the pharmaceutical industry. Ninety percent of his funds have come from out of state. No wonder Mad Max is known for his ability to compromise!
In any case, Mr. Rosenbaum, you'd have done better to concede that while Single Payer is America's best hope for healthcare reform, America remains a nation where corporate interests must still be appeased, even if it means sacrificing what is perfect for the American people.
Posted by Martin Bring on 03/12/2009 @ 09:05AM PT
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Thank you, Martin Bring!
I was on a chat this afternoon with one of those very hurting Massachusetts' citizens who lives under their mandated health insurance law.
Here's the message from her: Mr. Rosenbaum, since you indicate (in another page of this blog) that you would "be the first to jump on board" when Congress considers single payer to be "a viable option" ... and since you've made some strong statements about its advantages ... why aren't you supporting us to help make it happen?
Posted by Bob Haiducek on 03/12/2009 @ 01:18PM PT
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Thanks to Jeff Muck. I agree completely. I’m an Obama supporter, but aphorisms such as the perfect being the enemy of the good are a cop-out. I feel the same way about “political feasibility” and “pragmatism.”
In today’s (03/12/2009) New Republic, E.J. Dionne, Jr. argues “Against pragmatism.” He cites historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who believed that “democratic government should be about ‘the search for remedy.’” Dionne suggests it is time for “liberals and progressives to press their larger arguments on behalf of more economic equality, in defense of government's necessary role, and against utopian views of what unfettered capitalism can achieve.”
HCAN wants Single Payer (SP) advocates to focus on a shared mission—improving our health care system. But SP proponents are reluctant to settle for less than meaningful reform. We want a truly universal, affordable, nonprofit, cost-effective single payer plan.
I recall an Italian expression: “ I ask for fava beans, you give me chick peas.”
SP advocates want cost-saving reform that will help individuals, businesses, and our struggling economy. Well- meaning incrementalists may settle for (an undoubtedly skimpy) public option priced so as to create a level playing field with private for-profit plans. The price of the private insurance won’t come down out of the bleachers. The price of the public option will have to come up out of the dug-out. And who will underwrite/subvene insurer profits? Taxpayers! We’ll continue to pay more, get less.
A compromised public option will work like Medicare Advantage which costs taxpayers 12 to 14 percent more than regular Medicare. Senators Bunning and Grassley express fear that their rural constituents won’t have access to Medicare Advantage anymore. In Kentucky, most Advantage plans are sold by Humana. According to the Lane Report, the CEO of Humana received $973,558 in salary and over 16 million in stock options in 2007. Humana also reported $833 million in profits that year, a rise of 71 percent more than the previous year.
And if we allow the HMOs to manage a universal mandate plan (see the failed Massachusetts model), they will bankrupt the nation.
Single payer is not a band-aid. It is a remedy!
Stand with us.
Posted by HM Seiler on 03/12/2009 @ 06:32PM PT
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