[lbo-talk] Challenge for leftists of all stripes

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Sun Nov 28 17:22:59 PST 2004


In 500 words or less tell us how, if you were a US president with a majority in Congress and lots of nationwide governor support, you would implement a health insurance and health service system that would guarantee basic access to health care for all the people living in the US.

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I'd model it very roughly on the old Australian system by expanding Medicare to cover all citizens. It would work like this:

Everyone gets a Medicare Card along with a birth certificate. You use the Medicare Card when you see a doctor. The doctor then bills the government for services rendered at a rate which is standardized by the government for the specific type of treatment, along with hours put in and capital equipment depreciation/use to accomplish that treatment.

If there aren't enough doctors who are willing to do work in the healthcare industry at these rates set by the government and their develop long lines for treatment i.e. they instead cater only to the higher fees which they can charge privately insured patrons, then the government sets up a scholarship program and medial school building program which will train enough doctors to "flood the market" so to speak and keep the system viable. This assumes that there are a lot more people out there who could become physicians, if the study places were made available. I think there are--the Cuban example, if nothing else, proves this is the case.

The money for this program is to come from the wealth accumulated by the employing class from the exploitation of labour i.e. by corporate profit tax and from the landlord class from a flat tax on rents i.e. the higher the rent, the higher the tax.

Regards, Mike B)

===== "Whenever morality is based on theology, whenever right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified and established."

- Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872)

http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal

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