[Iowa-dx] Clarification: Kucinich Supports Single-Payer Universal
National Care
Daryl Northrop - Co Chair Iowa Green Party
dnorthrop@PolkCoGreens.org
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:39:46 -0600
Wendy - sorry, I was not clear in my original word choice of "the
falsehood of mortal medicine." That quote is an integral belief of
Christian Science, not an interpretation of your email regarding
healthcare. Again- sorry for that not being clear.
As for your comments below about the nature of health care, the profit
motive, and de facto rationing that results from it - I agree with your
assesment 125%!!!!
And, you are also correct about Christian Scientists evangelizing - they
almost never prostelitize or go out on active recruiting drives. That's
either a written or unspoken rule of the church - not sure why. But,
you'll never have a Christian Scientist knock on your door trying to
convert you on the spot.
D
iagp-cochair@usa.net wrote:
> By my joke about Christian Scientists, what I meant was -
>
> most of the Democrats are proposing a mandate that everyone purchase
> insurance, which could cost each American thousands of dollars a year
> (such as we see today). Opposition to such a mandate would appeal
> especially to the pocketbooks of those people who would never use that
> insurance even if they were forced to purchase it, for example those who
> reject the falsehood of mortal medicine. I have never known a Christian
> Scientist to evangelize by insisting that those outside of the faith
> should abandon contemporary medical care. However, as we continue on the
> path of for-profit medicine we have been on, more and more people are
> turning to faith-based healing by necessity, as they cannot afford
> standard mortal medicine. Which ain't all bad - there is a lot of wisdom
> in alternative medicine. Some ailments are not really healed by the
> magic pills sold for profit by big pharma. However, for those cases
> where modern medicine has been shown to be safe and effective, it should
> also be available for those who choose to use it, regardless of income.
>
> So how do we pay for it? Two standard answers: either by raising taxes
> or by collecting insurance premiums (what is this voucher idea?).
> Regardless whether you pay Blue Cross or Uncle Sam, what really has to
> be addressed is the expense of medical care. Shopping around for
> reasonably priced health care just isn't working. If you have acute
> appendicitis with severe pain, and you need an operation immediately, do
> you do comparison shopping and find a surgeon and a hospital, (and
> nurses, and an anesthesiologist...) that is within budget?
>
> There's a lot of expense directly related to the profit motive in the
> insurance industry, in the for-profit hospitals, our highly-paid
> doctors, and in the for-profit drug companies. But there is also a lot
> of expense in the obfuscated bureaucracy of myriad insurance companies
> with their confusing rules that force health-care providers to spend
> great effort to get paid. Furthermore, there is a sizable amount of
> bloat in a system that found it could get away with increasing prices,
> because complacent customers didn't question the cost, they just assumed
> the insurance will cover it. Not to mention expenses that arise from the
> implications of malpractice litigation - malpractice insurance,
> excessive CYA testing ...
>
> Socialized medicine takes out the profit motive, takes out the
> obfuscated beareaucracy, and might take out the bloat. Malpractice will
> still be an issue. Torte reform doesn't appeal to me because we do need
> a system to get rid of the bad doctors, and to make up for their
> mistakes. Socialized medicine won't necessarily change the fact that we
> have a shortage of doctors - they rush to see as many patients as
> possible in a day, giving each maybe 10 minutes. Make an appointment, it
> may be a month before you get in. We need to change the system of
> education so that we are training more doctors. The AMA rigged the
> system to maintain a perpetual shortage, so as to keep the existing
> doctors rich.
>
> I don't know if that's what you meant by "the falsehood of mortal
> medicine".
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> *Received: *Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:40:03 AM CST
> *From: *Daryl Northrop - Co Chair Iowa Green Party
> <dnorthrop@PolkCoGreens.org>
> *To: *iowa-dx@gp-us.org
> *Subject: *Re: [Iowa-dx] Clarification: Kucinich Supports Single-Payer
> Universal National Care
>
>
> Interesting point, Wendy. My father, an ardent Christian Scientist, may
> have to weigh in on this one. :):):)
>
> I suppose opposing the expansion of healthcare in any form is a way of
> rejecting the falsehood of mortal medicine, and encourage people to
> adopt a "faith-based" approach to healing.
>
> However, the rhetorical question of "Who would Jesus deny healthcare
> to?" comes to mind.
>
> I'm going to stop typing now, before I am struck my lightening......
>
> Daryl
>
> Wendy Barth wrote:
> > good summary of all the democratic and republican candidates'
> > positions on health care is at
> >
> >
> http://www.americansforhealthcare.org/storage/materials/AHC_Comparision%20Booklet.pdf
>
> >
> >
> > Most of the Democrats "achieve universal access" by requiring
> everyone
> > to purchase insurance and advocating a hybrid of public and private
> > insurance, with individual differences in how the public
> insurance is
> > allocated. Gravel and Kucinich have single-payer plans which do away
> > with insurance, Gravel's uses vouchers (?)
> >
> > Most of the Republicans "oppose legally mandated universal coverage"
> > (angling for the Christian Scientist vote?)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------ Original Message ------
> > *Received: *Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:38:03 PM CST
> > *From: *dr_pac-man@mchsi.com
> > *To: *iowa-dx@gp-us.org
> > *Cc: *kputman@mchsi.com (kelley putman), tpfeiff@earthlink.net
> > *Subject: *[Iowa-dx] Clarification: Kucinich Supports Single-Payer
> > Universal National Care
> >
> >
> > I was wrong.
> >
> > To clarify;
> >
> > Kucinich supports a universal national single-payer health care
> > system which is
> > the position of the Green Party platform.
> >
> > No other Democratic or Republican candidate supports our position,
> > which I
> > understand was the position of the Democratic Party platfom from the
> > time of
> > Harry Truman until Bill Clinton was nominated for President in 1992.
> > Please
> > correct me if I'm wrong. I feel that what was once a majority
> > position in the
> > Democratic Party has been swept away in the Party's movement to the
> > right.
> >
> > http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/issues/healthcare
> >
> > 2004 Green Party Platform
> > http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#1004611
> >
> > Cosponsors fof The National Health Insurance Bill (HR 676)
> > http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P
> >
> > Peace,
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------- Original Message: ---------------------
> > From: "Kelley Putman" <kputman@mchsi.com>
> > To: <tpfeiff@earthlink.net>, <dr_pac-man@mchsi.com>,
> > <iowa-dx@gp-us.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Iowa-dx] Richardson and Kucinich support Universal
> > Health Care
> > Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:26:01 +0000
> >
> > > Richardson also supports universal health care.
> > >
> > > Kelley
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: <tpfeiff@earthlink.net>
> > > To: <dr_pac-man@mchsi.com>; <iowa-dx@gp-us.org>
> > > Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2007 8:08 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [Iowa-dx] Only Kucinich supports Universal Health
> Care
> > >
> > >
> > > > If Karen Kubby isn't on this list, would someone ask her to
> > share her
> > > > caucus experiences? I'm trying to visualize a juggler at the
> > moment when
> > > > she has an A and a Z in the air with DEF in hand. When fatigue
> > begins to
> > > > take its toll, which set of letters will be the first to fall?
> > Will there
> > > > ever be a mid-air meeting/collision, or is the juggler such a
> > master of
> > > > her
> > > > craft that there will always be uniform separation?
> > > >
> > > > Ted Pfeiff
> > > > Scott County
> > > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Iowa-dx mailing list
> > > Iowa-dx@lists.gp-us.org
> > > http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/iowa-dx
> > _______________________________________________
> > Iowa-dx mailing list
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> >
> >
> >
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