Dawn Of Kaos

There has been a lot of talk about Health care and I thought I throw in my .02 cents.

The healthcare overhaul that was passed this month by congress is nothing more than a further entrenchment of the private insurance industry at the expense of the American tax payer. While the right calls this a “government takeover of healthcare” and the left hails this new law in the league of Medicare, Social Security and the Civil Rights legislation in fact it is neither.

When the rhetorical fog lifts, we will see the system has not really changed much. Health care will still be dominated by profit-driven insurance companies. More public money will go to executive salaries and private industry profits. Tens of millions of people will remain uninsured and costs will continue to increase. The challenge for the future is how to get public dollars to go to the nation’s public health and not to corporations that serve as middlemen that do not provide health care.

The centerpiece of the “reform,” subsidizing the insurance industry, forcing Americans to buy their overpriced product and more deeply embedding insurance market-control of health care, was barely debated. Only after passage of the bill is a debate beginning on whether this is within the constitutional power of government. Of course, the corporate media are saying the mandate is constitutional, not surprisingly since it is in the interests of corporate power. But never before has the federal government required Americans to buy a corporate product or face a penalty. This unprecedented expansion of federal power raises a very real constitutional question.

We never had a debate about whether it is a good idea to have the federal government force Americans to buy a corporate product. This major, unprecedented approach was lost in the din of death panels and the public option. Where does this precedent lead? Should Americans be forced to buy a retirement plan from JPMorgan or Bank of America to ensure retirement security?

Perhaps the change that will have the most positive impact is one produced by Senator Bernie Sanders; a deal he got for not forcing a vote on a single payer system in the Senate, and that was the expansion of funding by $12.5 billion for community health centers so that they can double the patients they see. Community health centers are the foundation of primary care for residents of rural areas and inner cities, providing basic services such as blood and dental work for about 20 million U.S. residents.

Now the law in the opening paragraph states an aspiration: for the first time ever in U.S. history, the law codifies the view that all people should have access to health care, regardless of age, income, health or employment status.
What should real reform advocates do now?

The first step is to know clearly what we want: Public dollars should only go to health care not to insurance expenses, profits, and bureaucracy. That means a national health program based on expanded and improved Medicare for all so we cost effectively provide health care to everyone in the United States.

A particular spotlight needs to be kept on the insurance industry. Their behavior will not change with the new law, indeed it will worsen. Single payer advocates need to continue to highlight their abuses, denials of care, excessive executive salaries, rapid increases in premiums and cut backs in coverage. Tools like shareholder actions, boycotts and divestiture need to be used. When abuses occur the movement needs to use tactics like sit-ins at insurance companies to show that people are angry.

The last year has seen an expansion of activism from those who favor improved Medicare for All. It is critical that the momentum of the movement not be slowed by a law that protects the status quo even if it is called reform. The urgent need for such change remains as tens of thousands will continue to die annually, and hundreds of thousands (mostly with insurance) will still go bankrupt. The task of providing at-least a basic level of health care to all as a birth right still remains.