Feb 05 Singlepayer Silently Goes Nationwide

In my post titled "The battle we can't afford to lose", I cited a study done by the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) on the viability of a single-payer healthcare system. Here's the 'study' that AMSA did for the Greater Minnesota Health Care Coalition:

Although there are some advantages and some disadvantages to each system, universal health care confers the greatest number of advantages. They include:

• Every individual would receive necessary medical coverage, regardless ofage, health, employment, or socio-economic status.
• Health care spending would decline because centralized billing procedures would reduce administrative overhead. Consequently, a larger percentage of the cost of health care would actually be spent on patient treatment.
• Increased access to preventive care and the ability of government to purchase prescription medications in bulk would also help drive down health care costs. However, the corresponding drop in revenue for pharmaceutical companies could lead to a reduction in overall research and development, slowing down technological advancement.
• Patients can choose their physician and physicians can choose the most appropriate treatment for their patients.
• There would be a removal of profit-motive in health care. The driving force behind the health industry would be patient care and not profit maximization.

At the time, I ridiculed the study for saying that "the corresponding drop in revenue for pharmaceutical companies could lead to a reduction in overall research and development" and for saying "The driving force behind the health industry would be patient care." What they've just said is that the single-payer system would all but eliminate R & D spending and that they'd dramatically restrict profits for healthcare providers.

As alarming as that study is, AMSA is tied into something far more sinister and widespread than just single-payer. When I visited AMSA's website, I found a link to an article about an upcoming event being held in Brooklyn, NY. Here's the opening paragraph of that article:

On Feb. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Weaving the Fabric of Diversity Committee of First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn will present "Crisis in Health Care," a forum open to the community. Health care is one of the hotly debated topics in the presidential race this year. At this forum, experts in the field will explain how health care is an ever-worsening crisis in New York and America, and lead a discussion of proposed solutions.

One of the panelists at this forum is Nisha Agarwal. Here's what the article says about Ms. Agarwal's area of expertise:

Nisha Agarwal is a staff attorney and Skadden Fellow at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), a non-profit civil rights law firm that specializes in access to health care, environmental justice and disability rights. She will focus on improving access to health services for patients whose English is limited and who require interpreter services.

She will also address the impact of hospital closures and mergers and how this has added to the disparity of health care available to New York City's poor and minority residents.

This article essentially says that Ms. Agarwal will speak about improving access to healthcare to illegal immigrants. Simply put, that article says that AMSA thinks illegal immigrants should have access to taxpayer-subsidized healthcare. It isn't a stretch to think that GMHCC also shares that opinion.

Here's something else that AMSA believes:

The most visible victims of America's decision to treat health care as a privilege are the 45 million Americans who lack insurance. In contrast to prevailing stereotypes, 80% of the uninsured are hardworking Americans who are employed or come from working families. However, they are unable to obtain insurance through their work either because their employer does not offer it, their employer does offer it but the employer share of the premium is too expensive, or they are not eligible for health insurance (e.g. they are part-time or have not worked long enough at the job).

That's from a page titled "The Case for Universal Health Care." It's apparent that AMSA thinks like John Marty that "healthcare should be thought of as a community need", not as a product that people should buy. I strongly recommend that everyone read the entire AMSA report. It's as informative as it is scary.

Based on the information contained in this post, AMSA and their allies have a simple agenda:

They want to implement a system that gives Mexicans more incentive to illegally enter the United States. They also will have to increase taxes to pay for the disastrous single-payer healthcare system currently employed by our neighbors to the north.

Isn't this motivation for attending tonight's precinct caucuses? If we stay home tonight to teach the Republican Party a lesson, won't we pay through our wallets for the next generation or more? Here's my simple admonition to you:

Get to the caucuses & tell AMSA and their allies that we won't tolerate their radical agenda.

Comments welcome at LFR.