@Mark – I absolutely agree – I think this is a key point that many Americans seem to consistently fail to take into account. Surely the recent financial crisis has shown that the private sector can be anything but efficient, and can in reality be a far greater drain on resources than the public sector?

I also strongly agree with the point put by Steve and others that any increase in taxes would be far more than offset by the reduction in the costs Americans are now paying to private health insurance companies. Do Americans want a health care system that gives them the best and cheapest health care, or is basically mostly a charity for health insurance companies, drug companies and doctors?

Originally Posted By Aspasia
Long time, no see Sachiko!

It’s good to see you here again Aspasia!

It is a pervasive feature of conservative ideology that everything in the private sector is assumed to be “productive” and “free” and everything in the public sector is presumed to be parasitic and wasteful. The U.S. health care system is perhaps the best example of how misleading these stereotypes are.

If the USA had an efficient bureaucracy such as Sweden’s, I think national health insurance would pass in an instant. The fear of an inefficient government bureaucracy drives fear of the system itself.

The HMO’s, AMA doctors, trial lawyers, pharmaceutical and drug companies are lined up with the current system. It’s what enables them to reap huge fortunes with very little oversight. I know of a doctor, in fact a relative, who makes $700K per year removing kidney stones. Is that really the true value of his work? Does he love the current system? It’s not just him, but thousands of doctors like him that will lobby using every scare tactic they can find to maintain the present system. They play on fear of the unknown.

Personally, I think a national health care system is a good thing. Would taxes go up? Sure, but probably not as much as most would save from their current health insurance payments deducted off every paycheck. If the companies they work for continue to pay into a national system, my guess is that the majority of people would actually pay out LESS money each month. Using a tax increase without taking the current company deductions into consideration is misleading.

To sell the system, the backers need to attack the actual problem, which is fear of the unknown. The workings of the new system must be explained in the most transparent and thorough way possible. The current mess that Congress calls a health reform plan will need to be drastically amended before that sale to the American people will be possible.

I would LOVE for the United States to have Universal Health Care. I agree, it is long overdue. It is absolutely ridiculous that people walk around in fear that a single accident of any sort could financially ruin them for years, if not for the rest of their life. That’s even if they have insurance!

I wouldn’t mind paying higher taxes for this as I will see and literally feel that my tax dollars were being served correctly. Of course, I can’t help but to also think that if this country wasn’t so busy funding unnecessary wars, much of that military budget could be rerouted to life-affirming services such as health care and education.

But, oh! The military-industrial complex lobbyists definitely won’t like that one bit. Ah well.

Originally Posted By Robert
As far as taxes are concerned, shouldn’t I, as a taxpayer, receive something back for the taxes I pay? What good does going to senseless war, subsidizing genocide in Israel, finding out if Mars ever had water, or paying farmers not to grow crops help WE THE PEOPLE. What Americans need now and always are jobs, health care, and peace of mind.

While I think the question of whether Mars ever had water (or life) or not is one of those “blue sky” scientific investigations that can often have great pay-offs for society in unexpected ways (e.g. the technologies we’ve gotten from the space program), I certainly agree with you on your other points specifically, and your main point generally. The US government has squandered a lot of money on things the majority of Americans have never asked for or wanted, while not spending money on many things that would truly benefit the American people – universal health care being a prime example.

The beneficiaries of inaction are, of course, the insurance companies and drug companies, as well as many private physicians , who make more money in the US than their counterparts do elsewhere. THe New York TImes has done a good job a following the lobbying efforts of these industries: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/lobbying-increases-as-health-care-debate-intensifies/

A couple of years ago Canadians had a spirited national debate on national television about who “The Greatest Canadian” was. Pierre Trudeau came second. First was Tommy Douglas, who, among many other things, fought the doctors and insurance companies who were trying to frighten people about the dangers of “socialism” and brought in our first system of universal health care.

The number of Canadians who go to the US for surgery is tiny compared to the number of Americans who come to Canada to get cheaper drugs and better, more affordable health care.

Even The Economist, which is an ideologically neoliberal magazine, supports Obama’s efforts to have a government insurer and mandatory insurance. Their main criticism is that he isn’t going far enough.

If anything the inefficiency of the Canadian system does NOT come from the single payer, but from the private biller. Even Tommy Douglas had to compromise, and that compromise was fee-for-service.

In Australia, ask yourselves whether the public health care system benefits from having a parallel private system or not. My guess is that it usually doesn’t.

As far as taxes are concerned, shouldn’t I, as a taxpayer, receive something back for the taxes I pay? What good does going to senseless war, subsidizing genocide in Israel, finding out if Mars ever had water, or paying farmers not to grow crops help WE THE PEOPLE. What Americans need now and always are jobs, health care, and peace of mind.