Is there a decent health care system in our future?
Tommy Douglas (1904-1986), the fiery Canadian progressive, is the father of the Canadian system of Medicare; he has been honored by the CBC as the greatest Canadian politician in history (for a little Americana reference, he is also the grandfather of actor Kiefer Sutherland, son of the marriage between his daughter, actress Shirley Douglas and actor Donald Sutherland). Tommy Douglas headed the first socialist government in North America, when his party won the election of 1944 and he became the Premier of Saskatchewan. He later went on to become the national leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. Although he was responsible for many progressive legislative initiatives, he is most fondly remembered as the father of Canada’s modern universal health care system, passed in 1967 when Lester B. Pearson was Canada’s Premier. So, the message is this: if Canada views the father of its Medicare system as its greatest politician, why doesn’t our current President begin the casting of his own bronze likeness on the Washington monument scene by supporting universal health coverage or “Medicare for all?”
So far, Obama has proven to be something of a wimp on health care reform, although some have argued that he is clearing the way for such a plan by first further reducing the influence of the Republican Party in national politics (I thought that already happened). Even if true however, Obama has managed to shut out the single payer sponsors from participation in the debate and Senator Max Baucus, who is holding the Senate hearings on health care reform, has said on many occasions that a single payer plan has no chance of passing. Baucus incidentally, has received more political campaign donations from health insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry than any other Democrat. Obama also received campaign donations from the health insurance industry and drug companies and this may be a factor in persuading him to support a very conservative and unworkable fix to our health care system. The problem front and center is that profits of private insurers and the inferior health care system they have imposed to insure those profits, is not really a health care system at all–it’s an exclusionary practice in which more and more people are saddled with increasing debt and reduction of care. More than half the bankruptcies in America are from medical bills that cannot be paid. If we stopped the profiteering from taking place in our health care system, we would, according to students of our health care system, such as David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, have enough money to pay for our entire health system and cover the 48 million who presently have no insurance. Think of it: we would eliminate the huge bureaucracy that has grown up under the current system, dramatically reduce the paper work to justify billing and allow physicians far more time to spend with their patients. In other words, we would allow doctors to practice medicine like they used to, where patient care becomes their top priority. Right now our patient care system is simply imploding. Obama’s promise to fix it is the best thing that has happened since Clinton tried to do the same early in his first term. Let’s hope that we can get something done this time. Perhaps way down the road, it may be necessary to begin rationing health care, but if so, with a single payer health care plan, it could be done fairly and uniformly for all. In the meantime, we pay enough into the system to cover all current costs for now and well into the future.
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