Nader Accountability

So Nader is running for President, fine, okay, good. He needs to be as accountable as any other candidate. So I'll be posting his policy proposals periodically to see if there's any substance. Here's what he has on his web site about health care. Single Payer.

How's he going to pay for it? How much is it going to increase every American's taxes? What about the unemployed? Who is going to administer it? How is he going to deal with competition and the different fees charged in cities? How's he going to address nursing shortages? How's he going to stop doctors from setting up a private practice? How's he going to stop pharmaceutical companies from continuing to develop drugs and sell them? How's he going to recover 18% of the GDP that health care now contributes?

I want Ralph's plans, NOT Dennis'.

"Health Care Universally Available

We need to get the insurance companies out of administering health care, increase patient choice, expand coverage and save money. The United States spends far more on health care per capita than any other country in the world, but more than 45 million Americans have no health insurance. A single-payer program, with full medical coverage, should provide health care that provides comprehensive benefits with quality care and cost controls to all Americans throughout their lives."

Nader is Bush lite.

Seriously, you've been harping on this for days and it doesn't even make sense. Accountable to whom? Do you mean "Practical"?

and how Nader accounts for his policies.

Most of Nader's statements are highly dubious and deserve a look over to examine the facts.

What is wrong with the statement?

"How's he going to stop pharmaceutical companies from continuing to develop drugs and sell them?"

What are you talking about? I thought I explained this to you the other day?

"How's he going to recover 18% of the GDP that health care now contributes?"

Why do you assume a goal is "to recover GDP"? I assumed that you had taken Econ 101, but now I'm starting to doubt it. What you mean "recover GDP"?

You're not making any sense at all.

The point is very clear. Nader should be doing more than offering glittering generalities. Some concrete plans is the least he could offer.

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Please understand that sandnsea has been saying the same thing for days...last time the topic was how "Progressives" aren't "Accountable" and then used really poor examples to back up that claim.

Anyway, let's take what Ralph does say:

We need to get the insurance companies out of administering health care, increase patient choice, expand coverage and save money."

- Makes sense. Yes, when you take insurance companies out of the administration of healthcare, so that everyone has the same governmnet-run Payer, they would also have unlimited choice of care. It, in fact, would expand coverage. It would also save money because they could regulate prices and reduce waste.

"The United States spends far more on health care per capita than any other country in the world, but more than 45 million Americans have no health insurance."

- This is true and we should be ashamed of this. Don't we demand and deserve the best as Americans?

"A single-payer program, with full medical coverage, should provide health care that provides comprehensive benefits with quality care and cost controls to all Americans throughout their lives."

Sounds like a good plan to me. I guess one would have to refute this to proove that such a plan wouldn't be "accountable" (whatever the poster means by that).

Making plans is what I do for a living, and that is not a plan. A plan explains how one gets from here to there. It explains what will be done and who will do it.

All that is is a list of goals.

"get the insurance companies out of administering health care"???

Great idea, Ralphie? Now *HOW* are you going to accomplish that?

increase patient choice

Great idea, Ralphie? Now *HOW* are you going to accomplish that?

the media doesn't exactly allow the likes of Kucinich and Nader to get into the details of single payer healthcare. So its kind of a catch-22, because they are forced to boil it down into soundbites.

But, yes, on a website, they should at least be able to link to other sites that offer a good explaination. Last time we had this debate, we proved that, in fact, nothing about Single Payer healthcare is unrealistic...but to stay on the "accountability" meme, sandnsea is now trying to make this about Nader.

It would almost seem as though sandnsea has a vested interest in insurance companies.

No one is stopping them from writing up a plan an posting it on their website.

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

Much more "accountable" whatever that means.

and you should be able to tell the difference between DK's and Naders lack of a plan. The difference is huge, and shows what a phony Nader is and how real DK is. If Nader really cared about single-payer, he'd come up with a plan.