In most of the world, it is a corporate crime to sell private health insurance.
That’s because most countries insure their citizens as a matter of right.
Private insurers dilute the public pool.
One nation, one payer.
Medicare for all.
Everybody in, nobody out.
No bills from the doctor.
No bills from the hospital.
No deductibles.
No co-pays.
No in network.
No out of network.
No corporate profits.
No threat of bankruptcy from health bills.
Health insurance will be the number one domestic political issue in the USA in 2008.
Polls indicate that the majority of the American people want single payer.
But who will deliver?
On Saturday, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sponsored a forum in Las Vegas for presidential candidates to discuss health care.
No Republicans accepted.
Seven Democrats accepted.
All the candidates at the forum agreed that universal health care was the goal. (Even the Business Roundtable and the insurance industry now say they want “universal health care.”)
But only one–Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)–accepts the only answer that will work–single payer.
Medicare for all.
The rest–including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards–want some mixture of public and private health insurance.
They know this public/private mix won’t work–the healthy wealthy will buy private insurance, the sick poor will sign on with the government–and the government program will be crippled.
But they don’t have the guts to stand up to the private insurance industry and say–get out.
Kucinich has introduced single payer legislation (HR 676) in Congress that would make it unlawful to sell private health insurance for benefits that are medically necessary.
Last week, we entered the belly of the beast–the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) 2007 National Policy Forum at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.
AHIP is the trade association for the companies that will be sacked if single payer becomes law.
We walked into a session titled–Coverage for All Americans: Putting Access at the Top of the National Agenda.
The session was moderated by AHIP President Karen Ignagni.
Not once during the 90-minute session was single payer mentioned.
Universal coverage, yes.
Single payer, no.
But during the discussion, the geography of nowhere was laid out.
On one side, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA had teamed up with AHIP’s Ignagni.
On the other, Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP and John Catsellani, president of the Business Roundtable.
AARP and the Business Roundtable have joined with SEIU to form something called Divided We Fail.
Divided We Fail is a corporate liberal answer to single payer.
All Americans should have access to affordable quality health care.
All Americans should have peace of mind about their future long-term financial security.
Families USA and AHIP do a separate dance but mouth similar platitudes.
But both Divided We Fail and Families USA/AHIP dismiss single payer as unworkable.
On the single payer side is Kucinich, about 60 members of the House of Representatives, the California Nurses Association, Physicians for a National Health Program, and Health Care Now.
Kucinich is now the single payer champion.
The problem with Kucinich, of course, is that if he doesn’t get the nomination, he will take the stage at the Democratic Convention in 2008 in Denver–as he did in 2004 in Boston–raise the hand of the corporate nominee and endorse the corporate platform.
Then where will we be?
Nowhere.
Again.
CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER is located in Washington, DC. They can be reached through their website.
