PNHP is underwhelmed with Hillary Clinton's new plan

[Bread and Circus]

Here is Physician's for a National Health Program comments on the Orwellian named plan:

September 18, 2007

Dear PNHP Members and Friends,

We have some bad news, some good news, two great op-eds (on the uninsured and the Massachusetts' plan), and a lot to discuss at our Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 3!

The bad news is that the number of uninsured jumped sharply last year, to 47 million (see op-ed by PNHP Board member Dr. Aaron Carroll, below).

The "new" Hillary Clinton proposal for health reform wouldn't make much of a dent in that figure. Her plan would attempt to shore up the crumbling private health insurance industry with tax credits and mandates that individuals and employers buy private coverage. Overall, Clinton's plan is basically the same as the plans endorsed by her Democratic (Edwards, Obama) and even GOP rivals, including Mitt Romney's flawed Massachusetts' health plan.

The good news is that there is growing interest in single payer national health insurance as an effective alternative to "status-quo" type proposals.

Yesterday's Boston Globe featured an analysis by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler about how the Massachusetts' health plan is both failing to cover the uninsured and draining essential safety-net funding from care. In August, PNHP worked with the California Nurses Association on broadcast and internet ads challenging the Democratic candidates to improve their positions on reform. An editorial in the Des Moines Register echoed our call.


In July, PNHP's Dr. Don McCanne debated the AMA on their reform proposal, also based on tax subsidies for private health insurance. McCanne argues that private insurance is both "defective" and "obsolete" and single payer national health insurance is a better option for today's economy....


more at www.pnhp.org

They endorse John Conyer's plan, which is like a medicare product for all. As a physician who treats medicare patients, I think it is pretty damn good.

______________________

[Warpy]

1. Looking at all the timid plans out there

that fail to get the insurance blood suckers out of the mix, I am convinced that the only way single payer will be accomplished is if someone makes a for profit insurance plan so unprofitable the insurance industry wants to get off the hook.

That should be the focus in all the plans being offered. Sadly, it is not.

[Hieronymus]

3. You got that right ..

[rinsd]

2. Not surprising as PNHP is seeking single payer (nt)

[Hieronymus]

4. Single payer is the way to go .. not appeasing insurance companies.

[MGKrebs]

13. Insurance companies still exist in France and Spain.

And they make a profit too. Those countries are considered to have the best healthcare in the world. I'm not sure why it is that way, but perhaps it is not so simple as dismantling the health insurance industry overnight.

[regnaD kciN]

5. In other words, they're using common sense...

...unlike your favorite candidate's NICLB (No Insurance Company Left Behind) scheme.

[rinsd]

6. I want single payer.

I just don't see a leap to it happening.

And considering how similar all of the Big 3's plans are that is the best we have to hope for in the short term.

[Solon]

7. The problem isn't with the people of the country...

Almost 2/3rds of Americans support a UHC system even if it involved it being "Government Run" and with increased taxes. Its the POLITICIANS who are the problem, they are the ones who accept bribes from the insurance industry, they are the ones who actually get to vote on bills. If we had a national referendum system in this country, and a bill like H.R. 676 was put to the vote, it would PASS.

[rinsd]

8. Not necessarily true.

The Nurses union out here in CA wants to put a single payer proposal but first they wanted to get a prop passed limiting campaign ads. That did not pass so they have not gone with a ballot. The CA legislature has passed a single payer bill twice only to have it veto'd by Ahnuld.

[Solon]

11. State legislatures are generally closer to their constitutents positions than Congress is...

However, even that isn't necessarily true, in my state, as an example, the Concealed Carry law was first put to a state referendum, where it failed to pass, then the Repukes who dominate the state legislature passed it anyways. Those fuckers.

This shows one of the weaknesses in the first past the post districting system of the United States, where a lot of issues, many of which are popular, never even can get half the vote in the legislature because of the disconnect between the voters and the politicians.

[MGKrebs]

19. I suppose if you asked people if they would like to stop paying taxes,

many would say yes. Popular support does not necessarily mean something is "right".

Politicians presumably have to contemplate how to find jobs for all those out of work insurance people, and consider implications to the stock market, and the real estate market, and whatever else might be affected. People answering referendum questions are not compelled to understand the consequences of their opinions.

[illinoisprogressive]

9. Not surprised. Hillary's plan sounded like a boon to the insurance co.

[rinsd]

10. And yet many commentators are calling it more ambitious and universal than Obama's.

[Tellurian]

12. Not only that the OP...This is a very tiny cherry picked org used for a frame of reference...

who are hooked on single payer... We have to begin with a plan as Hillary as proposed and over time keep tightening regulations on Insurance companies until we're in a position to change to single payer. It's not going to happen over night as some think should be with high expectations as the vaunted Kuchinich plan. Kucinich himself can't even get the support of the senate to get the plan noticed.

[truedelphi]

15. I'm sorry but some of us will be dead by then

As in the grave.

My husband was so ill last year that I simply could not take care of my health.

Now that he is okay, we have no inusurance.

We find it hard to even stay employed because we went into bankruptcy over his illness.
The kind of comapny that offers health insurance as a perk also wants you to have a squeaky clean credit rating before they will hire you.

SO how the hell will I survive while the stupid lame dumb asses in Congress take their time picking and choosing.

I need health care. I need it now.

Otherwise it is body bag time (maybe one of the families of the lifeless vets can lend me one of theirs tp put my carcass in.)

I am really really tired of waiting and trying to hope that what is needed ON ALL FRONTS here in America gets done in a manner that doesn't upset those who write out the big campaign checks!!

[WeCanWorkItOut]

14. Neither Hillary nor PNHP look at hospital inflation, etc.

Hospitals are one major source of health care inflation, and one we need to address. Unfortunately, too few people look at this. Not Hillary, not any major politicians I've heard. Maybe it's because many of the policy planners are so Boston-oriented. They need to take a good hard look at some of the big hospital chains in some of the other states. Very disturbing statistics there.

[WCGreen]

16. That's the winner in this....

They endorse John Conyer's plan, which is like a medicare product for all. As a physician who treats medicare patients, I think it is pretty damn good.

Having dealt, as a patient, with both insurance and Medicare, give me Medicare...

[Colobo]

17. Good to know.

[Steve_in_California]

18. 2 plans, not one.

We need a public and a private health care system, each competing with one another. The dynamics of the free enterprise system drive up quality and drive down costs.