The Words You Use

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Image credit: National Archives, Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice.
http://recordsofrights.org/records/128/for-the-peoples-health

Happy Tuesday Healthcare Advocates

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History

We lecture on healthcare policy and are often asked, “Isn’t Universal Healthcare, Socialism? Let’s talk about that today. Before we go too far, the answer is No, it isn’t.

There is a long history in the United States of trying to increase access to Universal Healthcare. It began in 1912 with President Theodore Roosevelt. He saw how Germany’s early experiment with providing access via non-profit sickness funds, helped protect workers and keep the economy growing.

In the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt also proposed that we consider ways to make healthcare available to all Americans. During World War II wages were frozen and industry needed to make sure workers stayed on the job. Paying for healthcare or health insurance was one thing large corporations could do for employees.

In 1945 and 1949 President Truman proposed that we in the US also have a form of Universal Health Insurance. It was decried by the AMA as socialist and excess government control. It was the end of WWII and we were entering the Cold War with the Soviet Union. I remember a tremendous amount of public fear of them and any thing that smacked of communism or socialism. Of course, it worked. The bills went nowhere.

Here is what Truman wanted. This data is from the Truman Library. He would build an insurance trust to pay doctor and hospital bills and he would use some of the budget to:

1. Address the lack of trained healthcare professionals in all communities.

2. Grow public health services.

3. Increase funding to medical research and education.

4. Lower the cost of individual medical care.

In 1962 President Kennedy again proposed a universal healthcare idea. This time only for the elderly who had no health insurance since most health insurance came from your job.

This time the AMA hired Ronald Regan to declare that Medicare will bring a socialist dictatorship. Building on the 1950’s fear generated during the Senator McCarthy Era, they were able to hold off Medicare for a few more years because there is such fear of socialism and communism in the US.

In 1965 President Johnson signed Medicare into law. This bill doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves, but it was largely responsible for desegregating medical care in the US.

Define Your Terms

Before we recoil in fear let’s look up the words. Here is a link to explore more by Mike Huntington (and a thank you).

What is socialism? It is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

In a socialist system the government would own the hospitals, clinics, and employ healthcare workers. Here are some examples that should be familiar. The British National Health Service, Scandinavian countries and Cuba have socialized health care systems. But so is the Veteran's Health Administration and the US military also offers socialized health care.

What is Proposed for the US?

HR 3421 and S 1655, Improved Medicare for All, are Single Payer Universal Healthcare. In a single-payer system, there is a single agency or payer. This agency collects money from dedicated taxes or premiums. It then pays all hospitals, physicians, and other practitioners for their services. Patients still choose their own doctors and hospitals. They remain as independent as they are today, maybe more because there is no copay, deductible or pre authorization to inhibit your choice. Hmmm Sounds like more freedom, not less.

So it is public insurance paying private providers. Not socialist. That’s the same fear tactics we’ve seen over and over. This is a non profit public insurance plan to pay private providers. Got it?

Part of the problem is that lawmakers and others pick up this fictitious socialist rhetoric and repeat it over and over again until it becomes part of the public consciousness. So one more time. Single Payer Universal healthcare is public insurance paying private providers and gives us the freedom to choose our doctors and hospitals with out copay, deductible or pre-authorization restrictions.

Our representatives need to hear over and over and over that this is what we want them to do. Lather, rinse and repeat.

ACTION

Tell your Representative and Senators in Congress and the President it is time to pass Universal Healthcare, HR3421 or S 1655. Their contact info is in the reference section below or text SIGN PCBARW to 50409 on your cell phone to use RESISTBOT to send the message below.

I am your constituent. Improved Medicare for All is not socialist anything and I don’t want you to repeat that lie, ever. It increases our freedom of choice. It allows us to choose the doctor or hospital, without copay, deductible, or pre-authorizations unlike what we have today. It frees us from medical debt and bankruptcy, and will greatly increase the healthcare infrastructure in under-served and rural communities. I want you to cosponsor either HR 3421 or S 1655 now.

Find My Elected Officials

Contact the White House  https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Contact State and Federal Representatives

https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/addr/

Important Healthcare Resources

League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit

Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare

Healthcare Advocacy Reading List

Organizations to Contact

NARAL - Pro Choice America

Planned Parenthood

Physicians for a National Health Plan

Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do

Appeal a Healthcare Decision

Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill

Save Democracy

Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens

RESISTBOT

Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more

Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water Resistbot write up