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Sneaking In My Advocacy for Single Payer    Single payer HEALTH INSURANCE , that is. I've mentioned that I am an almost-compulsive "comment" writer on several newspaper sites. Haven't I? Well, maybe two or three a day!  Whenever I see the chance, I sneak in something supporting "Medicare for all," "Single payer" or whatever. Check these three tap dances. You write 'em, I'll comment on 'em.  Washington Post -  David Ignatius: Hypersonics should make a Sputnik moment. 11.7.18 duffworx Is the U.S. now even capable of a Sputnik moment? I'm worried that it's not, based on the 45% who apparently long for a plutocratic autocracy, yet are repelled by anything so "socialist" as keeping our workforce healthy with Single Payer, much less an national industrial policy. It's not just AI where the Hand of the Market is fumbling; the Chinese just demonstrated quantum radar - which greatly deteriorates our ...

Oh Sure, You've Heard About the Latest Trump Noise...      ...But so very much important, significant, progressive, hopeful news is buried under the crashing cymbals of our Distractor in Chief.      Like this earth-shaking bit... * " Fifty-six percent of doctors registered either strong support or were somewhat supportive of a single-payer health system, according to the  survey  by Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruitment firm." 56%!  That's way up from just a few years ago. How come? you might ask. Did docs suddenly become libtards? Why would they care when they get paid, how they get paid? And that's it... getting paid through the tangled morass of for-profit insurance companies' rules and legal dances (different for every company) is a pain in the prolapsed rectum. "P hysicians often say they are tired of dealing with billing and paperwork, which takes time away from patients," is putting it more politely. A one-doc office mi...

Why Can't We Do Stuff Like This? As perhaps you know, I am a True Believer in single payer national insurance.  Belief - a schematic A pal sent me a bunch of links to relevant articles after we discussed the topic. (He's anti to my pro.) Here are just a few random excerpts. Not so much to argue for single payer but to highlight that the some countries - and some journalists! - go at health care problems in a way more low-key, fact-based, research-driven, logical (FBRDL) way than our political shouting matches . Are we hard charging, pragmatic, problem solving Americans or not? Why can't be be more FBRDL on something as important as healthcare? Those darn Danes, always showing off. One of my favorite Danes, Victor Borge, enjoying single payer. A big Danish study happens regularly that self-critiques their health care system.  Here is a single paragraph that caught my eye. Read it and imagine if you would ever see something like this in either t...

As you who patiently wait long periods between posts know, the old Duffer is a strong supporter of single payer health insurance, my one unabashed opinion that's pro "socialism." Here's a paragraph from a May 30, '09 article in the NY Times: "Public opinion polls suggest that many consumers would like to have the choice of a public plan. But insurance companies and Republican lawmakers say a public plan could drive private insurers out of business and lead eventually to a single-payer system run by the government." The "many consumers" mentioned are in the 55-65% range, depending on how the polling questions are asked. Read the NYT article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/health/policy/30health.html?hpw And you are invited to see the whole "Duffer Plan" on single payer and how to make it happen at http://seniorjunior.blogspot.com/search?q=single+payer

Me, John Edwards, John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich All four agree that the way to a fair and universal health plan for America is to DO AWAY WITH FOR-PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. We don't want "socialized medicine" with the government running the health biz. We don't want health care to be "free." We want every penny to be paid by the recipients of the care, just on a progressive ability-to-pay, non-profit insurance basis. The House Bill (HR 676) that describes this approach is called "The New Medicare" or "Medicare for All." (If Edwards were still in the Senate, I betcha there would be a Senate Bill.) OK, great idea . Over some years, we gradually phase out the for-profit insurance companies, and transition to the Medicare-like system with tiny administrative costs comparatively. Nearly all the health care money goes to actual health care providers. What a concept! Inherent in this plan is an absolutely HUGE news story ...

Nobody Considers What the Brain Surgeon Wants * I have a Libertarian pal who sends me stuff from the Ayn Rand Institute to make his side of our various arguments. They are always good for a giggle in my view. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the latest screed. Atlas Shrugged and Today's Healthcare Controversy October 16, 2007 "While Atlas is 50 years old, it contains many timeless truths that are just as relevant today as they were when it was first published. "Take the realm of health care. Most Republicans and Democrats are proposing forms of socialized medicine--under euphemisms like 'universal health care,' 'national health insurance,' etc. Everyone talks about how to protect patient's 'right' to health care--but no one talks about the rights of the doctors that create this value. This is a deadly evasion that one of the characters in Ayn Rand's novel, Dr. Thomas Hendricks, an eminent surgeon who quits the field, eloq...