Tags
AFL-CIO, CNA, Il health care reform, John Sweeney, Michael Lighty, Rod Blagojevich, Rose Ann DeMoro
Endorsed by the SEIU, UFCW, Bricklayers and Teamsters and none other than DLA Piper Law Firm partner and former MO Congressman, Richard (Labor) Gephardt, the Illinois Health Care Reform Plan is off to a flying start. And if that isn’t enough the plan has now been endorsed by John Sweeney for the AFL-CIO. Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association (CNA), and Executive Board Member of the AFL-CIO, is definitely not amused. She calls the endorsement, “unfortunate”.
The program, an employer based state health insurance reform plan has been pushed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. DeMoro, along with the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) have severely criticized employer based “reforms” as undermining to the nationwide single payer movement.
According to Michael Lighty, public policy director for the CNA, the plan is very similar to the plans introduced by California’s Schwarzenegger, Mitt Romney in Massachusetts and Hillary Clinton’s candidate’s proposal.
They all take the current system and try to make it meet our current human health care needs. We think that is wrong. You can’t do that. Private insurance by definition makes money by denial of care. And you can’t meet the needs of people through that approach. That’s why we support single payer.
Lighty went on to say that the Illinois plan “keeps the health insurance industry at the apex of power and diverts the momentum for single payer.” But he notes that just because the AFL-CIO has endorsed the Illinois plan it does not mean that they do not support single payer. The single payer movement in the labor movement is a bottom up effort and at least 300 locals support single payer. There are also 26 state AFL-CIO labor federations and 70 labor councils that support single payer. Lighty states that there is no reason that the CNA cannot work with those supporters within the labor movement.
The California Nurses Association is no newcomer to the health care reform battle. They have put blood, sweat and tears on the line for reform. In fact they passed a single payer bill in the California legislature last year, which was unfortunately vetoed by The Arnold. Only four votes in the Senate and six to eight votes in the Assembly were needed to override the veto. Schwarzenegger’s compromise bill is currently moving through the California legislature and, of course, will put insurance back in the picture.
And what does Blagojevich have to say about all of this. Well, this is what…:
So much of what you do in politics is done through political realities. The art of politics in government is the recognition of what is possible. The choice is between whether you take an existing structure – an employer based health care system and build on that, shore that up … or whether you scrap the whole thing and create a whole new system that has not yet taken root in the United States.
C’mon Rod, you can do better than that! Did anyone ask Illinois employers if they want to continue to play on the roller coaster with insurance? Perhaps if you were truly interested, you could find a plethora of polls that show that a majority of Americans would love for a single payer system to “take root”, if only the “artful” politicians would allow it to happen. And political realities generally have to do with big money donors or do you think we don’t know that. I think overall, this is what Lakoff calls “surrendering in advance”.
One bright spot in the picture is the fact that so much candidate energy (at least on the democratic side) is going into the health care reform debate. And the discussion centers on what kind of reform, rather than “should we reform”. And that, I think, should be viewed as good. But, if the economy worsens, the issue of health care may very likely take precedence over the Iraq war in the coming election.
Now let’s see, are Harry and Louis still on the Riviera?
is even common among true progressives. I was part of a small MoveOn delegation that visited with Lacy Clay last spring and discussed a number of issues. He’d like to see single payer, but he feared it was impossible and said Congress might have to start with just insuring children. Clay has the best interests of his constituents at heart, always. But he didn’t believe that political reality would allow single payer at this point.
People want insurance for protection when tragedy occurs. Thus healthcare insurance should put the patient first and not interfere with medical care. But these mandatory insurance plans still leave the insurer in charge so they can deny care and counter the doctors recommendations for treatment. The main beneficiaries well be the private insurance companies, hospitals & Wall St. They get to collect more premiums, somewhat reduce the number of uninsured, and take a bigger amount of the loot for their profit & overhead cut. But if we really want to improve patient care, we must take a different course and switch to nonprofit singlepayer system. That reduces administrative & accounting overhead & thus costs and eliminates the profits taken by most private entities. Thus premiums go to patient care with little overhead ( ~3-5%) & community healthcare planning. We need guaranteed health care not more private insurance. The HR676 singlepayer legislation in Congress that should have hearings next year would do that. Just pouring more money into our fractured, fragmented & broken current public/private system won’t. Tax funds already pay ~60% of all costs but ~25% of the population is uninsured and a greater number are underinsured. Why not both simplify and drastically improve American healthcare delivery by fighting for a singlepayer system?
Unfortunately, only Kucinich has enough courage and brains to support it while the rest just console themselves on the campaign trail while hoping to get more corporate contributions.