National Health Insurance In America, Part 2

So why don't we have National Health Insurance In America

The political will has not gained momentum on this issue due to AMA
propaganda that continues to cast doubt in the public mind concerning the
success of such a plan. The first misgiving usually offered is that our
country cannot afford to pay for comprehensive care for everyone.

Every other industrialized nation provides comprehensive care to all at a
much lower cost than our system which leaves so many people out. Other
nations spend 6-10 percent of their Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, whereas
we, the wealthiest nation on earth, spend 14 % of our GDP.

Our country already has enough funds dedicated to health care to provide the
highest quality of care for everyone.
Studies conducted by the Congressional Budget Office, the General Accounting
Office, the Lewin Group and Boston University School of Public Health have
shown that under a single payer system, comprehensive care can be provided
for everyone without spending any more funds than are now being spent.

There has been considerable publicity about the delays in receiving elective
services that are characteristic of other nations, especially the United
Kingdom and Canada. At 6% and 9% of their GDP, respectively, they are
spending much less than we are as a nation.

Not only do we have more than sufficient funds, we are also a nation that is
infamous for our excess health care capacity. Typical of these excesses is
the fact that there are more MRI scanners in Orange County, CA than in all
of Canada.

With our generous funding and the tremendous capacity of our health care
delivery system, the delays would not be a significant limiting factor in
the U.S.

"Americans do not want socialized medicine," is a phrase that is frequently
used glibly to dismiss the single payer concept. Socialized medicine is a
system in which the government owns the facilities, and the providers of
care are government employees.

In sharp contrast, a single payer system uses the existing private and
public sector health care delivery systems, preserving private ownership and
employment. The unique feature of a single payer system is that all health
care risks are placed in a universal risk pool, covering everyone. The pool
is funded in a fair and equitable manner so that everyone pays their fair
share in taxes, unlike our current defective system in which some pay far
too much while others are not paying their share. The funds are allocated
through a publically administered program resulting in optimum use of our
health care dollars.

A single payer system has no more in common with socialized medicine than
our current Medicare program.

Many contend that government bureaucracies are very wasteful compared with
the efficiencies of the private market place. In the health care arena, this
has not been true. Our Medicare program, a publicly administered program,
operates on an administrative cost of less than 2%. The managed care
intermediaries consume 9 to 30% of the health care dollar.

This difference is due to large corporate administrations, costs involved
with competition between companies and marketing expenses that would be
nonexistent in a public program. A single payer system has as its mission
the optimization of resources for better patient care. Funds are not wasted
on corporate administrative excesses.

Another argument is that a single payer system, by being universal, would
lower the standard of care to a level of mediocrity for everyone, preventing
the affluent from exercising her/his option to obtain the highest level of
care.

However, our current system is characterized by essentially two
alternatives: either no insurance with severely impaired access to even a
mediocre level of care, or being insured by a managed care industry that has
whittled down what is available until mediocrity has become the standard of
care. Only the relatively affluent have access to unlimited care.

The generous level of funds that we have already dedicated
to health care, adding to this a more efficient
administration with an exclusive mission of optimum patient care well above
the mediocrity that we now have, lays the foundation for a universal health
care system in America.

A single payer system does not preclude the affluent from paying, outside
the system, for a penthouse suite in the hospital, or for cosmetic surgery
or for any other service that should not be part of a publicly funded
program.

Other than the assurance that everyone would have coverage for health, there
is even a greater good that a single payer system would bring to our nation:
Making preventative and public health services available to everyone would
improve the level of health of this country. Reduction of communicable
diseases and reducing the higher costs of untreated chronic diseases helps
us all.

Healthy people, for instance, make for a healthier work force with less lost
work time, greater productivity and a more positive healthy environment.

Socialism is a dirty word in this country. Universal health care for all has
been equated with socialism, and much propaganda has been communicated by
the press, by right wing politicians, by medical groups such as the AMA or
anyone else who has an agenda to keep the 1500 plus health insurance
companies a thriving market with profits that undoubtedly help to pay for
their agendas.

But if Americans knew the truth, and would turn off their TVs and use that
time instead to change this country, using the power of grassroots politics,
to make a single payer universal system a reality for all, then we would
finally have the best health care system in the world. The Green Party in
this country has as one of its missions to bring a universal system of
health care to all Americans.

Any group with the passion to change the world, one issue at a time, with a
loving intent, can do it.

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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator of the
e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover Your Calling and
Destiny." Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com
Check Out Kate's Blog: http://www.nursehealers.typepad.com
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