Complete video at: fora.tv Daniel Kessler and E. Richard Brown, Health Advisors to the John McCain and Barack Obama Presidential campaigns, respectively, discuss why neither candidate supports a single-payer insurance system for the United States. —– Health care is a major issue in the current presidential campaign. Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have laid out very different visions, and each believes his plan is best for our nation’s citizenry. Come learn about each plan from the top policy advisors of each candidate, and take the opportunity to ask your own questions and get answers – The Commonwealth Club of California Daniel Kessler is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. In addition to his Hoover appointment, he is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, where he teaches courses on economics, public policy, and the health care industry. Among his recent publications are, with Mark McClellan, The Effect of Hospital Ownership on Medical Productivity, forthcoming in the RAND Journal of Economics, and Designing Hospital Antitrust Policy to Promote Social Welfare, which appeared in Frontiers in Health Policy Research. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a JD from Stanford Law School. Dr. E. Richard Brown is a professor at the UCLA School of Public Health and the founder and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He received his PhD in …
The real reason that the U.S. does not have a single payer system is because it is too radical a step. That does not mean that single payer would be a wrong step or an ineffective one. People are afraid of it because it is so different than what we have now. People are afraid of it because they do not understand what it is. People are not inspired to change to some great unknown.
no. Most smart, intelligent people DO want it. Some Americans are just plain idiots.
@chetohimler so are you suggesting that all doctors are stupid? Cuz 60% of american physicians polled wanted to have a single payer system implemented. Further, why is it that america spends the MOST on healthcare, yet is ranked 37? With all the top spots being run by socialized medicine? Sorry but it really looks like you just think the smart people dont want socialized medicine…when in reality, the smart people are bashing you over the head with facts you blissfully ignore.
Why does’nt America have single-payer Healthcare? Shit, most smart people don’t want it…..Get it Mr. O?
Yes, Rev. Wright is a religious nut bag.
My point is that Republicans tend to legislate their faith and wear it on their sleeve. Democrats tend not to, but of course there are exceptions. You’re ignoring, of course, the religious test for office we have in this country: You have to believe in some sort of man in the sky to even be CONSIDERED for public office.
Apparently the Democratic party is also the party of idiots who like to generalize a group of people by stereotypes.
But what’s wrong with re-enacting the Civil war?
I love idiots like you. You have no real come back except to make generalizations. But that’s only hurting you my friend.
and isn’t Rev. Wright a religious nut bag?so by your logic, he’s a republican right?
so why did Obama go to his sermons?
hmm…I believe that means your logic is flawed my friend.
@brian39900 Actually the Democratic Party is the party of businessmen, and the Republican Party is the party of crazy religious lunatics and Civil War re-enacters.
The commodification of human health is fundamentally a good thing in that allows stakeholders to extract value from policy holders in exchange for truncated service
The businessman doesn’t give me jack. We EARN it by working, and in this country the workers don’t get nearly enough and the business owners get far too much. The idea that “innovation and risk taking” means CEOs getting billions while we have millions without enough to eat or decent health care is sick and wrong. They aren’t enjoying any kind of living, because of the greed of those “businessmen.”
If the businessman doesn’t give (or rather, trade) you your decent living, then why let him take your profits? Quit and work for yourself. Unless of course you’re completely wrong and it’s only through the input, innovation and risk taking of businessmen that you’re able to earn a living of the kind you enjoy.
@sanchez1973 They are not “pictures of inefficiency.” The poverty rate among seniors was over 70% before SS, now it’s almost zero. SS isn’t inefficient, the fund is being raided for OTHER spending by Washington. It is NOT apples and oranges to point out that nations without nearly the resources we have can “afford” health care, to point out what a lie it is to claim we cannot “afford” it. We can.
And it’s hogwash to claim a person has to have “served” to get VA health care.
@brian39900 Bancrupt? That’s absurd. The vast majority of nations in the “developed” world have universal health care. When the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and we end the pointless wars we absolutely CAN afford decent health care for all, and properly fund our schools. We cannot afford NOT to.
@brian39900 No, the “businessman” does NOT give me and my family a decent life, I EARN it, and the “Businessman” keeps the profits of my work. The GOP is the party of the rich get richer. The “lawyer” as you say it defends our rights in court when we’ve been wronged.
Better to say the GOP is the party of the bosses, and Democrats is SUPPOSED to be the Party of the people, although it’s become far too “centrist” and too much like GOP lite.
strange that democratic party is party of lawyers and repub party is party of businessmen.Who do you hate the most?? The guy who gave you and your family a decent life or the guy who sues you??
U.S. has best healthcare in world, we just can’t afford it!!!
Single payer socialized medicine can be very efficient. But the way our system works for maximum infrastructure is with for-profit doctor and insurance, it is the american way. Unfortunately, it drives up the final cost which , with our huge, unhealthy population would bankrupt our nation. Do you really think they could collect enough taxes to pay for it??
That may or may not be true that “Dozens of nations” have gotten single payer right. But we’re talking about America – See Soc Sec Adm, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Pictures of inefficiency. So you see, it doesnt matter what other countries have done. Thats apples and oranges unless youre going to invite them in to run ours too? Is that what you’d propose? Also, I was in the military and thats as close to socialized medicine as I ever want to get. Did you serve, cuz you have to know what i mean
@ColumbiaCowboy And no, I do not believe for one SECOND the right wants improved care for everyone, that’s malarky. They spew hateful, racist lies about “illegal aliens,” they’re people too! If you really wanted improved care for EVERYONE you’d support real reform, not “tort reform” which doesn’t help ANYONE get better health care, just protects profits for HMOs and big insurance.
@sanchez1973 Tort reform is a horrible idea, robbing of the people our constitutional right to seek redress in court from corporate criminals. It is, like EVERYTHING else the right supports in this discussion, about putting profits ahead of people. The assinine lie that the government “can’t run this with efficiency” is PROVEN wrong by dozens of nations with single payer systems far more efficient that ours, where thousands are dying yearly so HMOs can stay profitable.
im not even going to argue with you. government is the problem. but beyond just the healthcare issue, i dont want the government to have anymore power over my life.
I agree our system does need fixed, starting with interstate competition and tort reform. But the Fed govt cant run something as large as our system with any type of efficiency. That’s naive. I’ve been in the military where the govt supplied my healthcare and it was no where near private industry standards. I used to literally wait for hours. Plus, where’s the money to run it coming from? BTW ease up on that ‘decent people’ talk, we all want the same thing here, improved care for everyone.
Getting “government” out means no oversight, thousands already are dying and you want far, far more to die all so big business can hoard more wealth. That’s not what any decent human being thinks needs to be done.
Absolute bunk. This health care “reform” of Obama’s is the best friend big business ever had, it’s an absurd lie to call it “socialized medicine.” A single payer system would be GREAT for small business, eliminating one of their biggest costs, health insurance, and it would save thousands of lives. Saying Obama hates the “free market” is a lie, of course, although any decent person does hate the mindset of putting profits ahead of people. This country IS failing.
subprime credits default is due to the simple fact that US workers ran out of money … The Wall Street’s subprime sistem of credit is useful to support the weak demand only to squeeze US citizens and workers.
This is the collapse of the Friedman’s neoliberal economy…Thatcher & Reagan…Blair & Obama 30 years of neoliberal economic sistem leads to the probably end of the capitalism…Unless another Keynes will come to save it from its moby greed.
Rep,Teapartiers,Beck are CEOcommunists…They want you pay your bloody rates to the CEOs gains and private health care bureaucracy!
40 milions US uninsured citizens and US bailed out economy really need a National Health Care (Single Payer) founded by progressive tax (not flat tax) on the capital gains.
Single Payer Now!