The New Civil Rights Movement

Health Care Rights is gaining momentum as a leading US civil rights movement of our time. Polls show that the majority of citizens in the US want a single-payer national health care system. However, politicians, including our beloved president, refuse to even consider this option. On May 5, eight health care advocates were arrested during a senate finance committee “public round table discussion on health care” for daring to request that an advocate for a single-payer national health care system have a seat at the table (click here for a statement from those arrested). Instead this “public” meeting consisted of representative of business, the insurance industry and their supporters. This would be business as usual if not for the actions of these eight citizens who spoke for the excluded majority.

So why do the majority of politicians (especially those with the most political power) refuse to seriously address this basic human right? Why do we have the most expensive health care system in the country yet continue to lag behind Canada, Australia and most other Western European nations when it comes down to basic indicators of health (you know things like infant mortality, life expectancy)? The answer lies in the fact that we have the most inefficient health care payment system on the planet. We could easily meet the health care needs of everyone in this country for less than the amount we currently spend on health care. The irony is that the largest barrier to single-payer health care is that it would be much more economically efficient. To address this would mean opposing very powerful economic and political interests as this efficiency could only be achieved by the removal of the bloated insurance industry and the multiple layers of public financing that currently dominates the health care payment system. The pharmaceutical industry would also lose much of its strangle hold on the citizens of this country. Of course this means loss of corporate profit and displacement of a large sector of the work force (indeed part of my job is helping individuals gain access to health care resources). However, maintaining corporate welfare and unnecessary employment can not even begin to justify maintaining the most inefficient and cruel (I plan to blog more on the personal impacts our current system has on human health) health care delivery system on the planet.

Our president and other leading politicians continued to be suckered into the idea that some magical combination of private and public health care provision is the answer (in other words, more of the same (did not we vote for change?)). This is despite the massive failures of just such plans in Oregon, Massachusetts, Tennessee and everywhere else this has been tried. The problem is private/public solutions continue to maintain the complicated and inefficient multiple health care payment systems, they rely on mandates for individuals to buy into the program and allow for a situation where private insurance companies can cherry pick healthier patients and leave the burden of the patients with the largest health care costs on the public. The proponents of such systems will provide fantasies about how government regulation will prevent such corporate abuse (we have certainly seen lately how great government is at that?). Insurance companies quickly find ways to target marketing towards healthier individuals and utilize bureaucratic red tape to deny access.

I think we should be very grateful for the actions of these dedicated citizens who were willing to be arrested for what they believed in. Because, as with all movements for civil rights in the US, our so-called political leaders will refuse to lead and will only follow once they see they have no other choice. That is why we must support further non-violent protests, educate our friends and neighbors and do everything else in our power to fight for this basic human right.

I certainly do not believe government can solve all our problems and I am very opposed to government violations of our rights and liberties. However, why even have government if it does not provide for basic human needs? This nation was founded on the idea of government for and by the people (at least for those who were considered people at the time). Previous civil rights movements have expanded this definition of people to a large (though not complete) extent. Now we must continue the fight for our basic human rights to include access to health care!

Refer to H.R. 676 for a current single-payer proposal in congress (actually has been there for several years and is starting to gain more sponsors).

For in depth information and resources about the need for single-payer system refer to Physicians for a National Health Program.