SiCKO and Health Care - Great essay by Mark Harris [View All]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_har_070712_sicko_and_the_health.htm

"Give Moore credit. With SiCKO he has overnight taken the proposal for single-payer, government sponsored national health care from the fringes of national political debate to center stage. In doing so he brands for-profit health care as immoral, and calls for the elimination of insurance companies from the health care system. It's a tour de force exposition of the perversity of turning health care into a commodity. More positively, SiCKO is an exposition of social democratic values that say society has an obligation to care for people in time of need. In this sense, SiCKO is less a movie about health care "reform" than a bold and brilliant vision of what our society could be, if only human needs came before profit."

<clip - and now a word from a couple nay-sayers from the right-wing>

"More SiCKO backlash comes from writer Gen LaGreca, whose viewpoint essay for the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph (July 1, 2007) expresses incredulity that Moore thinks people have actually a "right" to health care "simply because they need it." LaGreca compares a national health care system to the government dispensing Belgian chocolates and filet mignon to the public under a mythical state "Foodcare" program. If the health care system has deteriorated, she says, it's because of the "despotism" of "crippling regulation." For this libertarian writer it seems that the revolt against tyranny begins with the rallying cry: No One Has the Right to Health Care! It's apparently enough in some circles now to just club the poor, huddled masses to death with your barbarian ideology."

<clip - and now a word from your neighborhood libertarian loonie>

"Sometimes this game of political obfuscation involves catchy soundbites. Take Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies for the libertarian CATO Institute, who in 2004 told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly: "The problem is not that we have 43 or 45 million Americans without health insurance. The problem is that we have 280 million Americans without health savings accounts."

<clip - and our "top tier" Dem candidate?>

"Executive profiteering. Uninsured millions. Rising premiums for policies that increasingly offer fewer benefits. Is Moore wrong for declaring this reality immoral? Is he such a radical for arguing that insurance companies should have zero role in health care? Actually, the answer to the latter question is yes. The leading Democratic candidates for the party's presidential nomination, John Edwards, Hilary Clinton, and Barack Obama, all seek to set the health reform bar low enough that the insurance companies responsible for the current broken system remain a part of the system. But should we really expect different from politicians who say they're opposed to the Administration's war in Iraq, then reject an immediate pullout and repeatedly vote the money necessary to continue that war?"


And much, much more...

HR 676 -- call your congresscritter...

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm