Single Payer 101, Not Tomorrow or Next Year, Right Now!

What Does Single-Payer Healthcare Cost?

The United States spends more money per capita on healthcare than any other developed nation. However, study after study has shown that Healthcare in America lags behind most of these same developed nations. So, what makes America different?

At the top of the list, America is the only nation in the world who does not guarantee healthcare to all its citizens. Unlike, Canada, Great Britain, France, and others. In the United States, healthcare is a for profit business opportunity.

While Obamacare was a step forward it's not perfect and far from it. Because of many factors under Obamacare insurance is still expensive and becoming more unaffordable every day to the point it should be renamed the "Unaffordable Healthcare Act."

Single Payer Explained.

Bernie Sanders made this a focal point of his 2016 campaign and became a major point of contention within the Democratic Party. Just like anything in this world "Single Payer" may have some problems but the benefits and opportunities of Single Payer have way more pluses than minuses.

Single Payer By Definition

Single-payer healthcare is a system in which the state, rather than private insurers, pays for healthcare costs. ... The term "single-payer" thus describes the funding mechanism, referring to health care financed by a single public body from a single fund, not the type of delivery or for whom physicians work. [Wiki]

With single payer, there is some contrast to the dreaded " Socialized Medicine" term. Unlike socialized medicine where the government owns the hospitals, medical practices, and runs the delivery systems a single payer system would be a wonderful compromise. Under the single payer system, you would have public funds used to provide private delivery of care. This is a concept of single payer that is often misunderstood and why it's often times associated with socialized medicine.

The term Medicare and Medicaid for all is a more accurate description of a "Single Payer System." It would function as an expansion to both those already in place healthcare systems. Millions of people over 65 and millions more of our nation's poor and disabled depend on these systems right now. It's our view here in the House of Public Discourse that a single payer system would not be hard to implement in the practical but in the political, that's another ordeal altogether.

The single payer system would function as a national healthcare system. Every 300 million and growing Americans would have an insurance card. Even more, you would be able to go to any doctor or hospital you choose and would have a full range of benefits from the day you're born until the day you die. With no more co-pays to boot.

In fact, it's accurate to say we have single payer and socialized medicine to some degree already in America in the form of Medicare and Medicaid and socialized medicine in the form of the Veterans Administration. That's why implementing single-payer for all would not be hard to install but for the political football that surrounds this issue.

Single Payer 101, Not Tomorrow or Next Year, Right Now!

Single Payer has proven to be an efficient healthcare system along with its big brother Socialized Medicine. Canadians love their socialized medicine system. [See Source]

The most important thing in our [House of Public Discourse] view is if someone is ill and they want to see a doctor the first thing that registers in their minds is " Do I have enough money to pay for it?" With a single payer system, this dilemma would not be a factor in the equation.

No co-pays, deductibles, and medical bankruptcy which is not only common in America the situation is getting worse and if the Republicans get their wish it will be common as Apple pie and Baseball. In Europe, there is no such thing as medical bankruptcy. For anybody, in America, to have to file bankruptcy because of their medical bills is not only embarrassing it's immoral. The leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America is getting sick.

Christina LaMontagne

Bankruptcies resulting from unpaid medical bills will affect nearly 2 million people this year—making health care the No. 1 cause of such filings, and outpace bankruptcies due to credit-card bills or unpaid mortgages, according to new data. And even having health insurance doesn't buffer consumers against financial hardship.
The findings are from NerdWallet Health, a division of the price-comparison website. It analyzed data from the U.S. Census, Centers for Disease Control, the federal court system and the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that promotes access, quality and efficiency in the health-care system.
"A lot of Americans are struggling with medical bills," said NerdWallet Health Vice President Christina LaMontagne.

 The real question is how much longer can " We the People" live with this current bloated costly and inefficient system with years of documented data that show there are much better systems that would benefit every single American citizen, How Long?

How Do We Transition from Current System to A Single Payer System?

The first thing we must do is address the current problem we have with a for-profit corporation and Republican legislatures trying to privatize Medicare. There have already been some holes dug to do so.  There should be no space or room for any for-profit corporation to be allowed near our Medicare and Medicaid systems and any attempt to privatize it should be met with the strongest civil disobedience we can muster.

There have been bills proposed by Sen. John Conyers (D-MI) and Bernie Sanders both have gone nowhere thus far. There is no doubt that the challenges we face getting a single-payer system are not that it would be hard to implement but for the money and influence peddling that now exists in our governance.

The role of money in politics must be addressed before even thinking about this transition. There are untold millions paid out to politicians by the healthcare lobby, "Big Pharma," and other special interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce.  

Bottom-line before any transition can be accomplished we must get big money out of politics. It's our view in the House of Public Discourse that new regulatory provisions should be enacted to corral the out of control lobbying that goes on inside the beltway.

No matter what your view on Bernie Sanders maybe nowadays we all must admit his 2016 presidential campaign awaken many Americans to this major malfunction in our society and he deserves credit for doing so.

A "Single-Payer System" no matter the negative chatter from the right and left establishments makes good common sense. And, we pull no punches Hillary Clinton was dead wrong in her opposition to single payer and now that Trump and the Republican's attempt to replace Obamacare has failed and there is a strong voice calling for a single payer system she once again has evolved or flip-flopped on this issue. We make this point because it was not just the Republicans that have created obstacles for the single payer system.

There have been some transition plans bandied about one being to simply reduce the age requirement for Medicare. Others have suggested that single payer is implemented into Obamacare as the public option which quite frankly should have never been negotiated out of the "Affordable Healthcare Act" in the first place. Obama and the Democrats had control of both houses of Congress and it was the biggest blunder in the whole process.

Our research in the House of Public Discourse has found that no plan for the transition presented thus far touches on the economic benefits of the single payer system. Right now, the "Public Option" may be the best way to transition opposed to just throwing the switch. However, the enormity of the cost saving that would be realized by transitioning to a single payer system cannot be understated on American's three-trillion dollar healthcare bill. The healthcare bill is one of if not the biggest drain on or economy and what is sad it does not have to be that way.

In Closing, American's need to organize, protest, litigate, and push your local and state politicians for a National Healthcare Plan. That would integrate Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Care all into one pipeline. Also, and if not before Progressives living in Progressives states need to get the lead out and pester your local and state representatives that we need a Single Payer Healthcare approach, not tomorrow or next year, but, Right Now!

From 2014 Senator Bernie Sanders

Written By: Johnny Hill

TrumpCare's Message to the Poor and Elderly, Just Die Already!

TrumpCare's Message to the Poor and Elderly, Just Die Already!

America is playing Russian roulette with its most vulnerable citizens and the just out Congressional Budget Office [CBO] report clearly indicates that Trumpcare's message to the poor and elderly is to just die already. [See Report]

Back in 2008, when the Affordable Care Act [ACA] commonly referred as Obamacare was being sold to the American people one of the main sales pitches of the Obama Administration was if you like your current plan and doctor you could keep them. Millions of uninsured Americans were told that the insurance under the ACA would be affordable. 

When the reality hit and some people could not keep their same plans or doctors and when the bloodsucking insurance company’s rates grew higher and higher all you heard from the Republicans was that Obama was a liar who sold the American people a huge bottle of snake oil.

No matter how you slice the pie the Obama team dropped the ball when setting up and

negotiating the ACA. The healthcare industry accounts for 20% and rising of our nation's overall economy. Yes, the website fiasco was more a "Ha Ha" moment than a substantive failure of the ACA, however; it was an indication of incompetence not making sure the servers were prepared and ready to go. It was like fumbling the ball on the opening kickoff. 

Now, with the Trump Administration and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) attempting to repeal

the ACA and replace it with the Republican plan we see now from the recently released CBO report that Trump's boastful claims of a better more improved plan than the ACA is just not true. Trump made claims that his plan would cover everyone. He made that claim all throughout his campaign. The CBO report says otherwise to the tune of some 26 million uninsured people by 2026 and only God himself knows how much more after. How does that in anyway make Trumpcare better? Trump also claimed that premiums were going to go down. Not true! Rates are going to go up in the short-term and for some younger people, for example, the rates will lower over a period of time but for other's like the poor and elderly the rates are going to skyrocket.

One of the biggest claims that Trump made regarding Trumpcare is that he would no ways no how touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. As of the rendition of this article, they have not touched Social Security. The same cannot be said about Medicaid. If the American Healthcare Act is put into play some 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare in the first year. Per the CBO report, that number will swell to 26 million by 2026.

American Healthcare Act Will Create a Modest Reduction of The Deficit at The Expense of the Elderly and Poor.

From the Report:

Although average premiums would increase prior to 2020 and decrease starting in 2020, CBO and JCT estimate that changes in premiums relative to those under current law would differ significantly for people of different ages because of a change in age-rating rules. Under the legislation, insurers would be allowed to generally charge five times more for older enrollees than younger ones rather than three times more as under current law, substantially reducing premiums for young adults and substantially raising premiums for older people. 

 The top 1% are basically getting a hidden tax cut. The real kick in the butt is how the American Healthcare Act affects Medicaid. Most of the 14 million people who will lose health coverage will come from both regular Medicaid and the expanded Medicaid. This will affect our poorest Americans many who are elderly and only common sense tells you this will cost lives. That's right, Trumpcare's modest deficit reduction will cost American lives and that is a tragic reality to the so-called American Healthcare Act.

What this barbaric healthcare does is take us back to a time where almost 20% of Americans will not have medical insurance. Most of these people will be poor and elderly with no means for preventive care, no means to purchase medications, they must use the Emergency Room as their primary care provider and will be saddled with huge medical bills that they will be unable to pay. Like before, the taxpayer must pick up the tab and like before your health insurance rates will soar because of this history repeating itself. The Republicans will say " Blame it on the poor folk." They're lazy!

Also, these tax credits that are being offered are a joke and meaningless to the poor and out of work Americans not due to being lazy but to our jobs being exported overseas and other jobs being replaced by other new mechanized technologies like Robots. Others will forgo health insurance from their employers because the cost will be high and their wages low.

The proposed American Healthcare Act is just another shining example of the attack on the poor, working poor, and lower middle-class Americans. Once again, we see the Oligarchs and their political establishments taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Trumpcare if passed will take 880 million dollars from Medicaid and moreover, in the long term will cut trillions of dollars in healthcare services for low-income Americans.

The indications here are clear the rich elites (not all rich people) find us poor folks a nuisance and by cutting healthcare services to finance a tax cut and slight deficit reduction Trumcare's message to the poor and elderly is, "Just Die Already."

Harvard Professor Explains Why TrumpCare Is Terrible

Written By: Johnny Hill

The Tools of Political Repression were Built by Both Democrats and Republicans.

The Tools of Political Repression were Built by Both Democrats and Republicans.

Photo Credit: Neo.org

One of the biggest concerns people have about President Trump is his bombastic personally and ego having access to the nuclear codes. Of course, this is a somewhat " over the top" example but many Americans are rightfully concerned about Trump's authoritarian tendencies and how he might overstep his authority.

One of these powers is embodied in "National Defense Authorization Act," or NDAA.

Under provisions in the NDAA, the American Government can now detain anyone they claim is an enemy combatant, terrorist, spy, and what's worse they can detain them indefinitely without the right to counsel or trial. It’s important to note here that the NDAA was enacted into law by the Obama Administration in the midnight hour in 2011. The NDAA essentially permits the government to carry out acts of unimaginable civil rights violations against not only American citizens but human beings.

Basically, the NDAA says, if you support radical Islamic ideology you could be faced with the reality of being labeled an enemy of the state and face unlimited detention without " your day in court." Your rights to due process are stripped. In fact, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay detention camp!

The NDAA has been challenged by activist Chris Hedges and others, however, the Courts have upheld the NDAA as constitutional. [See Source]

There have been attempts by Hedges and others who have approached the Democratic Party leadership about excluding American citizens from the NDAA and those request fell on deaf ears.

The NDAA was written in a moment of civil unrest throughout the world. It essentially overturned the "Posse Comitatus Act."  What we have now is the military being used to quell civil disobedience. A good example is the Standing Rock protest.

I Stand With Standing Rock Shirt $20

What Is the Real Reason for The National Defense Authorization Act?

For starters, "Climate Change," economic dislocation, " Black Lives Matter" and other forms of civil disobedience are a threat to the ruling elites. These factions know and see that the American populist are becoming uneasy and more aware of the tools of political repression and that unrest is intimate.

So, the ruling elites want to use the military as a tool for breaking up these ever-growing national protests on a myriad of issues. To accomplish this goal, both the Democratic Global oligarchs and the Republican Nationalist oligarchs needed a law that would allow them to do so. Hence, the NDAA.

President Obama said when he signed it [NDAA] into law he would not use it. What our research here in the House of Public Discourse has led us to is the power of political repression has been thrust upon " We the People" by judicial mandates. These mandates have overturned many of our rights to privacy, civil rights, and to our liberty and freedom.

The unlimited amounts of money that can now be used to influence eager and ready politicians with their hands out through another judicial mandate " Citizens United" has created a whole new ballgame in American democracy.

You add to this the increasing actives of the surveillance state all these powers are now in the hands of people like Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, and others.

With our society going the way of the 1920's " Robber Barons" era and wealth inequality growing daily with our jobs continuing to flow overseas and our workforce being replaced by new technology and now our rights to protest being made illegal you can best believe the Donald Trumps of the world will not hesitate to use the military against angry civilians. We have already seen it happen.

These tools of political repression were built by both the Democratic and Republican Parties. We all should be putting on our shields and armor gear to fight against these grotesques violation of our civil liberties. "Civil Disobedience" is American as baseball and apple pie. It is the only mechanism we have left to combat these powers that be. Our Democracy is not dead yet.

America has not been a fully functional democracy for some time. Most of the traditional institutions in our country can longer be considered democratic. All of them have been taken over by corporate influence peddling Mass Media, Academia, political establishments, and the lobbyist. 

What we fear the most here in the House of Public Discourse is under a Trump regime we could see these tools of political repression become even more violent. Under this authoritarian and his authoritarian follower's anyone who dissents or doesn't fall in line will be labeled a traitor, terrorist, and they will be certainly demonized. 

Right now, not next week or next year it's time for people to step out of the grip of the mainstream media narrative and the tool of political repression. It's time to break out the pitchforks folks.

Don't Push Me, I,m Close to the Edge, I,m Trying not to Lose My Head! Reminds me of a song.

Written By: Johnny Hill