PUBLIC OPTION VS SINGLE PAYER

I have noticed a lot of people think single payer and the public option are the same thing. I stole this nifty comparison chart from the blog Shakesville, where a bigger version was posted by Quixote.

Single payer is the system Obama promised us during his campaign. All of those brilliant people who are talking about single payer on TV, Bill Moyer, Senator Weiner, Bill Maher, the Mad as Hell Doctors were not talking about the public option. I am sure they would like to at least have the public option, but it is not what they have been working on. The white house and senate committees refused to talk with health care professionals about it. In fact they have been closed out of meetings. The white house had meetings with big pharma, the health care industry, insurance companies and others in big business, but no doctors or nurses supporting single payer. The truth is we have been being screwed by these companies for years so that a few people can be wealthy while others do without. They are still going to be allowed to control the health care industry, and will find a way to weasel around controls, that is what they do. They also have a lot of money which can be used to buy congress. http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/06/single-payer-vs-public-option.html






Here are some doctors, nurses, and activists practicing civil disobedience. Only pharmaceutical, insurance and health care industries are being represented and people are being lead to believe we are getting what we were promised. We are not. The congress has been getting paid a lot of money by these companies, so of course they don't want a change. They want respect, but only give big business respect.







Clearly single payer is a dead subject, the only choice we are left is a public option. We may not even get that. Some of the rules for insurance companies in HR 3200 will help protect those with chronic illnesses, catastrophic injuries. etc. from corrupt insurance industry practices. These are positive changes. More people will be covered at work and more people will be able to afford insurance. They are raising the level of income for medicaid which they should have done years ago. I am on Medicare. The plan to straighten out our prescription coverage which was hijacked by big pharma is an improvement, but it looks like for those who do not take a lot of medication the premiums are going up. No, Medicare is not free for the elderly and disabled, but it is a lot cheaper than private insurance. I have faith our country will eventually have single payer, the question is how long do we have to wait to get our health care out of the hands of corporate America and into the hands of health care providers?  http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=348