[lbo-talk] New York doctors call for single payer health care

[Auguste Blanqui]

An interesting article, but I think it signals all the problems with the
single-payer movement, which seems to have placed its bets on the tactic of
moral suasion.  But what incentive do politicians hae to listen to these
overtures?  I don't see single-payer appearing on the agenda as a wedge
issue that could make or break a politician's run, in part because the
single-payer "movement," such as it is, is mostly composed made up of lefty
doctors who don't do a very good job of reaching beyond their limited
circles.  Big business's tiring of paying for increasing is really the only
other avenue I see to break the chokehold of commercial insurers, but I
don't see much traction there, either.  I also think most leftists are too
into ideological purity to consider how their interests (single payer as
human rights issue) might converge with big business's (cost-cutting) and
craft a pragmatic strategy around that.

On 3/6/07, Steven L. Robinson <srobin21 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Doctors call on Albany over health insurance
>
> Business First of Buffalo
> 10:43 AM EST Monday, March 5, 2007
>
> The New York State Academy of Family Physicians has called on Gov. Eliot
> Spitzer and the state Legislature to create a single payer health-care
> system.
>
> Family physicians from across the state gathered in Albany Monday to lobby
> lawmakers. Their concerns include the fact that nearly 3 million New
> Yorkers
> are uninsured and many more are underinsured, while others have insurance
> that does not cover significant items like medications.
>
>
> Rising costs have a growing number of employers either dropping or
> reducing
> coverage. The doctors also complain that dealing with multiple insurance
> plans, with their different rules, forms, and procedures, wastes an
> estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of the health care dollar.
>
> The Academy, which represents about 3,000 family doctors and more than 700
> medical students, would like have all payments funneled through a single
> payer, eliminating multiple rules and procedures, enrollment and
> eligibility
> problems.
>
> "A single payer health plan is the best way to control costs and reduce
> administrative waste and thereby insure long-term survival of universal,
> affordable coverage," said Dr. Linda Prine, chair of the Academy's
> Commission on Public Health.
>
> "In Albany, the attempts at expanding coverage and cost control, though
> laudable, only tinker with the current system. The weakness we all witness
> with tinkering is that New York has achieved neither universal coverage
> nor
> effective cost control. Instead, we are bankrupting ourselves, making
> small
> dents only in adding broader coverage, and implementing even more
> administrative procedures. Moving to universal coverage is a big step. The
> current system is not working; we should not take a failed system and make
> it a bigger failure."
>
> http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2007/03/05/daily4.html
>
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