[lbo-talk] Poll: 67% Favor Single Payer

[joanna bujes]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The majority of 
Americans have wanted a "Canadian" style plan for a long time. But 
that's not what matters. What matters is that health care costs are 
bankrupting people -- eating up potential consumption dollars & making 
American capital less competitive. The capitalists need to figure out 
that health care is a cost that needs to be socialized -- that shouldn't 
be too hard: they try to socialize all losses.

The rich can still pay for private care if they feel like it. No one is 
stopping them. How "socialized" medicine plays out with pharmaceuticals 
continue to be private remains to be seen.

And then there the deeper layers: the very costly and often ineffective 
type of medicine practiced in the west, the effect of ill-making 
life/work/stress/environment on health... It's a lot more complicated 
than just "who pays."

Joanna

mike larkin wrote:


>".....The poll of 1,202 Americans, conducted earlier
>this month, showed that:
>
>Two-thirds (67 per cent) want a government health
>insurance program. Even when prompted with the phrase
>"Canadian-style health care" (which most Americans
>equate with socialized medicine), 61 per cent still
>said yes.
>
>  
>
[snip]