Congress Will Take Campaign Funds Over Americans Health
This is not rocket science, that today the majority of Congressional Leaders from almost every state in the Union, will put their campaign funding from Health Care and Pharmaceutical companies over the health of every American, with Congress’ opposition to the Single Payer (Medicare like) Health care option. With the current health care discussions occurring in Washington and Sen. Max Baucus completely ignoring the single payer option, it is clear Congress is rejecting this option that the majority of Americans, doctors and nurses want.Common sense would dictate Congress be fiscally responsible and enact at the very least, a health care option providing Americans a more affordable plan, similar to Medicare, in order to save the U.S. Treasury hundreds of millions of dollars by removing the Health Insurance police from determining who to provide health insurance to and who to deny coverage. Common sense would dictate Congress would provide Americans an option which prohibits Health Insurance companies from making health care treatment decisions deciding what procedures to cover or not and who lives and who dies.
A team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine June 4, 2009, that outstanding medical costs are responsible for more than 60% of U.S. personal bankruptcies and more than 75% of these families had health insurance! (A copy of the study is available at http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study)
“Unless you’re Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy,” Harvard’s Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement. “For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection,” he stated.
Even more surprising this report states “Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year.”
Of course what was not mentioned is along with Mr. Buffett, Congress also has no health care worries for treatment or care as all taxpaying Americans pickup their tabs and that of their families and Congress does not have to worry about their health care insurance being cancelled.
What is even more disturbing is AARP is opposing this less expensive option for seniors.
Of course it is no surprise that Congress and AARP support big ‘pharma’ and big health insurance companies as demonstrated by their action in not allowing prescription drug prices to be negotiated for Medicare, which would have saved U.S. Taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead both Congress and AARP supported and passed into law, the more expensive plan which gives more money to huge pharmaceutical companies. These companies OWN Congress and they own AARP. Their motto “to heck with Americans, greed in the Congressional motto.”
Congress wants nothing better than to keep Americans ‘hooked’ on private health insurance, where millions of our citizens and seniors cannot afford it, millions are denied coverage and millions of medical decisions are determined by health insurance companies, not doctors.
”As we move forward, moderate voices should have a key role in this debate and we must never lose sight of how these reforms will impact small businesses and working families across this country,” said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.),
“Expanding private insurance and calling it health reform will fail to prevent financial catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of Americans every year,” Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen said in a statement.
The truth is ONLY the single payer health care option can make universal, comprehensive coverage affordable to all Americans by saving the hundreds of billions that is now wasted on insurance overhead, red tape, and bureaucracy.
Why Congress opposes the single payer health care option – MONEY! Health insurance companies and their employees contributed $2.2 million to the top 10 recipients in the House and Senate since 2005, while drug makers and their employees gave more than $3.3 million to top lawmakers during that period, according to an analysis of federal elections data by Consumer Watchdog, a California-based advocacy group. Who benefitted?
- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), received $546,000
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) received $425,000
- Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) received $413,000
- Rep John Boehner (R-Ohio) received $257,000
- Rep Eric Cantor (R-Va.) received $249,000
- Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) received $104,000
- Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) received $180,000
As Grant Lawrence stated ““A real change in the healthcare system, like single payer (Medicare for everyone), would make a tremendous difference. But just tweaking a broken system with private insurance will not help much.”
Please visit:
- Health Care Now
- Physicians For A National Health Program (membership of over 16,000 physicians)
- 1Payer.Net
- California Nurses Association
- Single Payer Action
- Single-Payer HealthCare HR 676 (thepetitionsite.com)
Filed under: American Injustice
It seems that here, the land that flew men to the moon, and created a government based on high ideals, we could come up with a real solution to this.
Campaign money from businesses has been hurting this country for nearly 200 years, as a capitalist, though also a realist, I know special interests help no one in the end.
Great reporting
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