The fact remains that the only downside to the public option is that it's just too awesome. We don't deserve anything that good. Simply put: it's Medicare, but for anyone who wants it. And this is somehow a nightmare scenario -- one that we must never be allowed to experience even though it would cost much less than our current system, it would cover everyone who wants it, and it would be accountable to the American people.
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The "it's too awesome for your own good" argument was the one we heard from both Republicans and centrist Blue Dog Democrats for several months recently. But now it's back to the good old fashioned socialized-healthcare-is-awful frame, most notably trotted out by Republican minority leader and Deep Space Nine shapeshifter Mitch McConnell, who has been peppering his floor speeches with the tear-jerking story of the one person from Canada who doesn't like her free and universal healthcare.
Imagine that. Free. And this one person hates it so bad, you don't even know!
Too bad there's nothing free and universal in God's non-socialist America. Like roads, police protection, fire departments, public schools, and public parks where we can protest against public programs like funding for parks.
But Mitch McConnell says that in Canada people have to wait for a knee replacement. See now, if I'm getting a free knee replacement surgery without fear of being dropped by my health insurance carrier or having to run up credit card debt in order to cover the co-pay, the co-insurance and the deductible, I want my damn knee replacement yesterday.
Waiting eight weeks (the average wait time) for a free Canadian knee replacement surgery is eight weeks too long. In America, I can have my knee surgery over lunch, yes? Of course I have to pay more for such a convenience. And I'm participating in an enterprise that could easily screw me out of the coverage entirely. But I can have my surgery whenever I want it. (Actually, it's about a 21 day wait.)
Let's start with "free". He tosses that term around a lot but he doesn't seem to realize that none of his examples are free. Someone pays for the roads and parks and police. Specifically, it is the taxpayers who pay for them. So go back and reread his screed but replace "free" with "taxpayer funded" or "paid for by other people".
Now that that is settled, I'll start from the top. Yes, the public option is like Medicare - except it isn't. Medicare is subsidized medicine and it is quickly running out of money. Last year it paid out more than it took in. The public option is being sold as revenue neutral. That means that it is supposed to support itself through premiums, just like a private insurance company. In reality, it will have to be subsidized for the poor and it will probably be subsidized for everyone enrolled. Congress is already looking at new taxes to pay for this. And they are looking at people who make a lot less than $250,000 a year.
Higher taxes is one way to cover the expenses. Rationing medical treatment is another. Cesca dismisses this, saying that the average waiting time in Canada is only eight weeks. If you follow his link you will find that he got that figure from an article published in 1994 which was based on data from 1992. Here is an article from this year. It's statistics are much less awesome.
Knee replacement surgery is a common surgical procedure that allows for an effective reduction of pain and adequate restoration of function for the vast majority of patients suffering from advanced knee osteoarthritis or other forms of arthritis. [1] In the last decades, the growing needs of the population have made this procedure, along with hip replacement, the second most popular orthopaedic surgery. [2] In Canada, in 2006, the rate of knee replacements reached 106.9/100 000 persons, in sharp progression from the past decade. [3] This sharp rise in demand has translated into growing waiting lists. Governments have tried to tackle this problem, and with the allocation of new funding and the development of new policies, more patients are being operated. [4] But wait times remain a problem; recent Canadian data show that, depending on the province, the median pre-surgery wait time range from 112 to 291 days and still today an important proportion of patients are not operated within six months, the maximum acceptable waiting time benchmark established in Canada.
Then there is the awesome British health care. Liberals (or progessives) don't talk about the Brits much anymore. It is too easy to find stories like this one which says that hospital overcrowding makes patients likely to contract "superbugs". Canada has an easier solution for overcrowding - they've been sending their overflow to the US for a decade.
Cesca doesn't really care about any facts or figures. He is sure that single-payer health care is the best solution and he has no interest in looking any further. This is troubling because of the prominence that the Huffington Post has been given. It now feeds stories into MSN broadcasts and sends journalists to presidential press conferences. His bio says He's been a featured blogger/columnist for the Huffington Post since August, 2005. His posts appear on the front page above-the-fold every Wednesday (sometimes Thursday). That makes him pretty prominent for being so wrong.
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