That Blizzard must have made Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin really happy: the good Congresswoman is on record supporting universal health care! Peter Harriman reports that Herseth Sandlin looked big-money Sanford Health honchos in the eye and said that the House-approved increases in the State Children's Health insurance program is "a move in the right direction" [Peter Harriman, "Universal Health Care Gaining Favor," that smutty Sioux Falls paper that makes money by the crass commercialization of sex, 2007.08.11]. That "right direction" appears to be toward universal health care, which Herseth Sandlin says (in Harriman's words) "Americans are beginning to see the need for."
Beginning to see the need? A majority of Republicans say "universal healthcare coverage should be a right of every American" [Aaron Blake, "Poll Shows Many Republicans Favor Universal Healthcare, Gays in Military," TheHill.com, 2007.06.28]. People are beginning to see that the only thing the American healthcare system does better than the healthcare systems in the rest of the industrialized world is to redistribute income from working people to insurance executives. Regular folks struggling to pay their higher health insurance premiums don't need to see the studies to know they're paying more and getting less. Apologists for the free market are seeing their claims of greater access and choice under the American system crumble into myth under the weight of statistics:
September 2007 Harper's Index, p. 17: "Percentage of Americans who report being able to get a same-day or next-day doctor's appointment when sick: 51. Percentage of the French who do: 57."
Beginning to see the need? Oh, Stephanie, the voters are already there. You (and all of your Congressional colleagues) already have federally guaranteed health care; sign on to HR 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill that would extend that great complete coverage to everyone else in South Dakota and the US, and you guarantee yourself a trip back to Washington in 2008 and probably well after that.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteA couple of links for your consideration:
the first from the Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/08/11/frances_model_healthcare_system/
(I really should learn how to imbed or hyperlink these things in a comments section.)
the second from Jim Wallis http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/08/jim-wallis-my-encounter-with-i.html
By the way, you did a great job on Thursday. I don't care what Epp says.
Oh, you crazy liberal you! Glad to have discovered your blog Cory :). BTW, news is that lori and I may be in South Dakota for 4-6 months before we leave for Peace Corps, living in the guest bedroom we're going to build in the basement of her dad's new house. Fun stuff, eh? :D
ReplyDeleteLeo -- huge articles!
ReplyDeleteTasty tidbits from the Boston Globe article on the French system:
--World Health Organization ranks France's universal health care system #1 in the world; WHO ranks US #37 (we're as bad at health care as at soccer)
--French spend $3500 per capita on health care; US spends $6100 p.c.
--"...the French share Americans' distaste for restrictions on patient choice and they insist on autonomous private practitioners rather than a British-style national health service, which the French dismiss as 'socialized medicine.'" :-)
--French med schools are tuition-free! New doctors can start their careers almost debt-free, giving them more freedom in choosing where and how they work.
--no waiting lists, no rationing!
--In France, patients choose doctors, doctors make medical decisions (unlike the US, where insurance companies decide both)
Leo's submission by Jim Wallis is a great anecdotal supplement to the Dutton article. Just a simple true story about the sort of care a foreigner can get in Great Britain... for free, just like any other citizen. Hmm... maybe next time I get sick, I'll just fly over to Europe. For the price of my deductible ($7500), I could fly to London twice and still have spare change for the taxi and some souvenirs.
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HR 676 would evidently also extend those benefits to illegals as you don't need a SSN to qualify for these benefits. Sorry, if I don't think my tax dollars need to benefit law breakers. And if Steffi signs on to this, it will come back to bite her.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about those illegals: the Bush Administration is starting a new push to punish employers for hiring folks with bogus SSN's. I actually like that plan. If it works, there won't be illegals around to take advantage of HR 676.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if some illegals do stick around, I look at the choice this way (slight variant of a dilemma I've posited previously):
--Pass HR 676, create universal health care, save Americans money, and have some poor Mexicans, Filipinos, etc. get some free medicine; OR,
--Stick with the current system, leave millions of Americans at constant risk of bankruptcy and premature death, and have a handful of greedy insurance CEOs buy fancy fourth houses and yachts.
I'll take Door #1....