In a short time, you will be voting on the health care reform package that the House has been working on during the past couple of months. I strongly urge you..no, I demand that you give your full consideration to and vote in favor for Congressman Andy Weiner's single-payer plan that Speaker Pelosi has agreed to debate over and vote on the House floor. I am assuming that this plan was given floor time for a debate and vote because Speaker Pelosi believes that it does not have a chance at getting passed. Please be one of those courageous Congressman who stand up for what is right, for what you know in your heart is the right thing to do. I want to be able to look my son (who is18 months-old) in the eye someday and tell him that yes, in some small way we did the right thing and we fixed health care.
You are probably getting all sorts of views from our fellow citizens on this issue. Let me help you with some facts. A single-payer system is socialized medicine. What is wrong with that? Medicare is socialized medicine, although many of our citizens don't realize that. Bill Moyer's Journal ran an excellent interview of Wendell Potter, and I urge you and your staff to take time out of your busy schedule to watch his program. It is a lie that our current health care system is the best in the world. It is not. The US Healthcare system ranks as #37 on the World Healthcare Organizations list of 191 countries. According to a study done by the American Journal of Medicine, in 2007, 61% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. were because of medical related expenses. All the talk about the Canadian healthcare system as being a 'bad' idea that limits choice is simply false. Most recently, a Canadian doctor wrote about the differences between the two systems in an LA Times op-ed. I encourage you and your staff to read it. My company recently switch from an HMO to a PPO health care plan. That means I can no longer see the doctors in the HMO without paying higher deductibles and co-pays. How is that not limiting my choice? Our current fee-for-service payment system to doctors and hospitals means that it is more important to provide as many tests as possible to patients even if some of those tests are not necessary or even needed. This system is very strong because in addition to making more money from doing more tests, this system also provides cover to doctors who fear malpractice suits. That is the American system.
How is our current system even remotely fair? I am lucky that both my wife and I are employed and I am able to get health insurance through my provider. But I live in fear that if I lose my job, I will either have to go on COBRA which would be financially devastating, or I would have to chance the private insurance market. Private insurance is even more scary because my 18-month-old son has a congenital heart defect that could require surgery down the road. Unless I am employed at the time my son needs the surgery, or we have managed to get my son added to my wife's plan during the enrollment period, my son could, COULD go without the medical care that he may need. Now that scenario isn't certain, but it could happen.
President Obama has been very disappointing for me since he entered office. He has not allowed the single-payer debate to be discussed, saying that our current system is too complex and it would be too disruptive. My response to that is "isn't that the point?" Our current health care system IS too complex. It needs to be disrupted. Healing sick people should not be a Wall street for-profit business. If politicians insist on using fear tactics, the truth should be the most fearful thing being said. What isn't true is that the free market system is the best way to contain costs. This is simply not true. Free markets contain costs to increase profit, but when cost means treatment like in health care, the best way to contain costs is to deny treatment, which is what we see in our system today. If the bottom line in the system was to provide the best care and not highest profits, then the free market system works. But that is not how the free market system works.
I applaud your legislation to streamline healthcare IT for chronic medicare and medicaid patients to reduce cost and improve patient care, but a lot more must be done. Simply keeping the current system in place while subsidizing the 47 million Americans who don't currently have care might win you points in the next election, but it will certainly lead our country to economic ruin before my lifetime is up. It's time for you to serve your constituents in the best interest. It is obvious that some of your collegue's are nothing but parrots for the private health insurance industry. Take Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas who boasted:
We ensured that if there is a government option, it will be just that -- an option -- and it won't be mandated on anybody. If it had been based on Medicare rates, I can assure you that it would have eventually ended up resulting in a single payer-type system, because Medicare has really good rates, because they're negotiating for every senior in America. Private insurance companies could not have competed with that.In summary, the best way to provide universal health care and rein in spending is to go to a single payer health care system. Now it is true that there are other ways to provide universal health care through private industry, but none will be as effective at reducing costs and saving jobs. Please give single payer your full consideration.
Thank you
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