Top Ten Reasons the US Can Never Have Universal Health Coverage or a Single Payer System
In no particular order:
1. Taxing the rich to pay for the coverage of the poor will cause all capitalists to fold their tents and stop producing goods and services. This is a version of the "I'll take all my toys and go home syndrome" so common to those who are used to getting their own way. Once all those uninsured are out of a job, they'll wish they never heard of universal healthcare.
2. Being uninsured is character building. The idea of charging one portion of society, (the haves), to pay for another's, (the have-nots), runs counter to the American spirit. Those with health insurance worked hard to get their insurance, and so should everyone else. Bootstraps Baby! On the count of three!
3. Government is inefficient at everything it attempts to accomplish. One need only look at the US Postal Service to see the truth in this. The corollary to this is the efficiency of the marketplace that is so obvious in the way medical goods and services have become so much more affordable in the US compared to all the other OECD nations that already have universal health coverage.
4. Healthcare is a privilege, not a right. For some insecure people of privilege, offering the same benefits to those less fortunate, detracts from their sense of self satisfaction, and entitlement. Many Americans blessed with financial security remain convinced that they deserve their advantages as a result of indefinable qualities they possess. In the words of the Church Lady: Isn't that 'special'?
5. We just can't afford universal health care. The cost of such a program, last estimated to be about $100Billion/year over the next 10 years), will bring America's economy to its knees. Especially after we spent $ trillions bailing out the investor class by funding the financial sector in their latest get rich quick schemes.
6. We just don't want to insure the poor. It somehow empowers those of us who can afford adequate health insurance to know that there are the less fortunate out there who can't help but envy us. This mantra should be repeated twice a day for 15 minutes in a quiet environment. Everyone: "I've got mine, I've got mine, I've got mine, I've got mine.". Feel better? I know I do.
7. There is no way the healthcare and insurance industries can continue to reap astronomical profits by inflating the cost of goods and services, through their own version of 'churning' the market once all those poor people have been brought onto the public tit. That public tit is there to feed Defense and other corporate sucklings. If room is made for all those poor people the corporatocracy will suffer.
8. America is the land of opportunity. It's like a great game. Each of us has the opportunity to be rich or poor, (ask Bernie Maddoff). Where's the fun in taking the worrying about our health or financial security due to escalating medical costs out of the equation?
9. There will be poor always. Jesus said it. Even though he didn't say there will be the sick always, we get his drift. Speaking of anointing with oil, I've got to get to my massage at the spa.
10. Medical goods and services are 'products' just like any other product. The fact that no one can predict his or her medical future doesn't change a thing. Those products should be subject to one of the central axioms of capitalism, and cost "what the market will bear". In this instance, where access to those products and services can be a matter of life and death, 'what the market can bear' can be quite a lot. Having the proprietary rights to these products is akin to owning the sole toll road or ferry to get to where you want to be, (as in * healthy *). Can I get a 'Ka-ching $$$$'? Anybody?
1. Taxing the rich to pay for the coverage of the poor will cause all capitalists to fold their tents and stop producing goods and services. This is a version of the "I'll take all my toys and go home syndrome" so common to those who are used to getting their own way. Once all those uninsured are out of a job, they'll wish they never heard of universal healthcare.
2. Being uninsured is character building. The idea of charging one portion of society, (the haves), to pay for another's, (the have-nots), runs counter to the American spirit. Those with health insurance worked hard to get their insurance, and so should everyone else. Bootstraps Baby! On the count of three!
3. Government is inefficient at everything it attempts to accomplish. One need only look at the US Postal Service to see the truth in this. The corollary to this is the efficiency of the marketplace that is so obvious in the way medical goods and services have become so much more affordable in the US compared to all the other OECD nations that already have universal health coverage.
4. Healthcare is a privilege, not a right. For some insecure people of privilege, offering the same benefits to those less fortunate, detracts from their sense of self satisfaction, and entitlement. Many Americans blessed with financial security remain convinced that they deserve their advantages as a result of indefinable qualities they possess. In the words of the Church Lady: Isn't that 'special'?
5. We just can't afford universal health care. The cost of such a program, last estimated to be about $100Billion/year over the next 10 years), will bring America's economy to its knees. Especially after we spent $ trillions bailing out the investor class by funding the financial sector in their latest get rich quick schemes.
6. We just don't want to insure the poor. It somehow empowers those of us who can afford adequate health insurance to know that there are the less fortunate out there who can't help but envy us. This mantra should be repeated twice a day for 15 minutes in a quiet environment. Everyone: "I've got mine, I've got mine, I've got mine, I've got mine.". Feel better? I know I do.
7. There is no way the healthcare and insurance industries can continue to reap astronomical profits by inflating the cost of goods and services, through their own version of 'churning' the market once all those poor people have been brought onto the public tit. That public tit is there to feed Defense and other corporate sucklings. If room is made for all those poor people the corporatocracy will suffer.
8. America is the land of opportunity. It's like a great game. Each of us has the opportunity to be rich or poor, (ask Bernie Maddoff). Where's the fun in taking the worrying about our health or financial security due to escalating medical costs out of the equation?
9. There will be poor always. Jesus said it. Even though he didn't say there will be the sick always, we get his drift. Speaking of anointing with oil, I've got to get to my massage at the spa.
10. Medical goods and services are 'products' just like any other product. The fact that no one can predict his or her medical future doesn't change a thing. Those products should be subject to one of the central axioms of capitalism, and cost "what the market will bear". In this instance, where access to those products and services can be a matter of life and death, 'what the market can bear' can be quite a lot. Having the proprietary rights to these products is akin to owning the sole toll road or ferry to get to where you want to be, (as in * healthy *). Can I get a 'Ka-ching $$$$'? Anybody?
