Sep 14 2009
Mandatory Health Insurance On Top of HMO Wishlists
The day after President Obama delivered a speech on health care reform to a joint session of Congress, new data was released showing an increase in the uninsured. According to Census Bureau statistics, the number of Americans without access to health insurance increased to 46.3 million in 2008. Prior to the new figures, Obama addressed revamping the nation’s health care system through a myriad of mechanisms including a public option, a tax on insurers, and mandates for individual. In light of the increasing number of Americans without health insurance, Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates for a single-payer system, remains critical of the President’s plans. Drawing attention to the notion of requiring individuals to purchase private health plans, PNHP cites the example of Massachusetts. The latest statistics available on the state, which passed a similar compulsory reform in 2006, show a slight increase in the number of uninsured persons in 2008. As the poverty rate in the United States recently reached an 11 year high exacerbated by the current recession, the current number of Americans without health insurance is probably much higher than the Census Bureau data reflects.
GUEST: Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, Physicians for a National Health Program. For more information, visit www.pnhp.org.
2 Responses to “Mandatory Health Insurance On Top of HMO Wishlists”
I cannot imagine what Obama and the Gang of Six could be thinking. Perhaps their advanced education (which most people can no longer afford) and their lovely jobs with lovely paychecks and lovely underwritten health plans (which most people no longer have or can afford) have adversely affected their brain in the part designated as “THIS IS THE PART OF THE BRAIN THAT CARES ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED YOU.” When people are choosing among buying food and paying rent and “mandatory” car insurance and simply DO NOT have an extra dollar for “mandatory” health insurance. I see the health insurance companies greedily smacking their lips barely able to restrain the drool of anticipation and rubbing their greedy paws together thinking of all the NEW business they are going to get without any efforts on their part because of those nasty HUGE fines on people who can’t afford the reason for the fines in the first place – the “mandatory” insurance. “Affordable” says the Gang of Six”? WHOSE definition are we using here??? Affordable on a six figure income? or a four? I think it safe to say that a lot of people feel betrayed by the elected officials who promised people a solution that would actually HELP them – not designed to PUNISH by fines for failure to afford their madcap scheme to make insurance companies ever wealthier.
I live in the UK where healthcare is free to all, however illegal immigration has put such a strain on the system that government spending has nearly doubled and our taxes just keep going up as a result. Drug makers can charge what they want because it is an open ended commitment and we have no choice but to pay. There are no caps, but people die waiting for treatment