Adot Central

Nick Skala was in a bit of shock. In early June, he was invited to speak before the Progressive Caucus of the House of Representatives about single payer health care. There are about 71 members of the House who belong to the Progressive Caucus — about a third of the Democratic Caucus. Skala is a true believer in single payer — having spent four years with Physicians for a National Health Program. So, yes of course, he would love to speak before the Progressive Caucus to explain why single payer was the only way to control costs and cover everyone. And that Obama’s public option was bound to fail. He sent his presentation ahead of time to Bill Goold, the executive director of the Progressive Caucus, and Darcy Burner, executive director of the American Progressive Caucus Foundation. Both were not pleased... (continued below)

FROM PUBLIC CITZEN: SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE 06/11/09 Public Pressure Helps End Silence on Single-Payer in Congress 06/04/09 Two-thirds of US bankruptcies are medically related... 05/28/09 Health Care Reform in the United States: Arguments for a Single Payer System 05/16/09 Administrative Waste in the U.S.Health Care System 05/15/09 Study Shows National Health Insurance Could Save $286 Billion on Health Care Paperwork

“Bill Gould emailed me after reading my testimony and materials I was going to present to tell me that they were not acceptable and that there could be no comparison between single payer and the public option with side by side comparison,” Skala told Single Payer Action. “Darcy Burner told me that they would construe talking about the public option — even comparing it to single payer — as an attack on the members of the Progressive Caucus.” “Now, I can’t see how honest discourse about whether or not a public option will work — especially when it comes from 16,000 doctors and the majority of nurses — as an attack on anybody who supports it. We see it as telling the truth.” Despite Goold’s and Burner’s objections, on June 4, Skala went ahead and made his presentation to the caucus. “During the presentation it was very nasty,” Skala said. “I got some very dirty looks from Darcy Burner. During the question period and once during the testimony, I was interrupted, told that the Progressive Caucus had taken a position on this issue and unless I had something positive to contribute, then there wasn’t really much point to answering my questions. At least one of my questions to the staff of the Chairman of the caucus was interrupted by the staff of the Congressional Progressive Caucus unfortunately.” And what exactly was Skala’s crime? He believes the public option being pushed by Obama and the Democrats will fail. “The public option preserves all the systemic deficiencies that we see in the current system,” Skala said. “It maintains a finance system that is based on private insurance and private insurers and their drive to fight claims, issue denials, screen out the sick and make a big profit generate tremendous administrative waste — 400 billion dollars a year.” “Now you can expand coverage by just raising taxes and paying insurers to cover people but that’s not a sustainable system,” Skala said. “But it won’t cover every body and it will fall apart quickly due to rising cost as we’ve seen in Massachusetts, Vermont, Oregon, Tennessee and Minnesota — state after state after state and it hasn’t worked.” “Now the definition of insanity is to repeat what has gone on in the past and expect a different result. Yet that’s what we’re doing with the public option. And as a representative of physicians in that capacity, and certainly the relationship I have with nurses and patients, I feel it’s my duty to be honest about the best policy research, the best literature, and the best experience that we have and that all indicates that the public option is going to fail.” ... Read the article.

June 11, 2009: Common Dreams:
"Conyers Rips Rangel, Waxman for Backing Off Single Payer"

John Conyers (D-Michigan) was not happy last night with his colleagues Charles Rangel (D-New York) and Henry Waxman (D-California). Conyers is sponsor of the single payer bill (HR 676) in the House. The bill has 79 co-sponsors. Rangel and Waxman were co-sponsors last year. But they are not co-sponsors this year. Rangel, Waxman and George Miller (D-California) each chair committees that will be hearing health care reform proposals. Only Miller is cooperating with Conyers - remaining a co-sponsor of HR 676 and holding hearings. In fact, Miller's committee today held the first ever Congressional hearing on HR 676. Conyers spoke last night on Capitol Hill at a dinner in honor of outgoing Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "There are three committees that have been designated to work on (health care) on the House side," Conyers said. "[They are headed by] three dear buddies of mine - Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman and George Miller. Guess what? All of them were on single payer (HR 676)." "Guess what? All of them got off except for George Miller of California. Not only did he not get off, he said - you want a hearing, you got a hearing." "It's one thing to go down in defeat, which I don't plan to do by the way," Conyers said. "But it's another thing to say - we don't want to hear the most popular bill. I've got 79 co-sponsors. Seventy-nine men and women saying - let's get this thing on. We've got 300 to 400 unions. We've had three polls. The American people have spoken." "And here I am in the most Democratically controlled legislature in my life. And they are saying - it's kind of too late because we have to get this thing through by the end of July. And we don't have time." "Hey look - I've worked on this too damn long to let anybody - I'm going to every Committee not just Miller's. Charlie Rangel - get ready for your pal to come to your Committee." "Henry Waxman, my brilliant friend, open up your door. And then if you want to try to pull something that's okay. But to tell me it's too late - I've got news for you. That means you really didn't know me all of these years." "We're going to have HR 676 heard in every committee of the House of Representatives or my name ain't John Conyers." "I don't mind losing a debate or losing the vote, but Jesus Christ don't tell me that my proposal is off the table before we start, without even a hearing," Conyers said. "What kind of a Democratic congress is this?" he asked. Conyers also gave the back of his hand to President Obama. "I've finally persuaded my favorite president in life to - not put single payer on the table - but to at least let me in the room," Conyers said. "That was a great complement I suppose." "How are you going to have a transformational health care program that has been vaunted and touted for so long if you take the most popular remedy for it off the table to begin the negotiations?" Conyers asked. "You won't get it." "The reason is elementary Dear Watson," Conyers said. "The corporate health care people, the insurance people don't want to leave the room. And they are not leaving the room. And as long as they are there, you are going to have some sad version of the same crap you were supposed to be fixing in the first place."

June 10, 2009: Huffington Post:
"Health Professionals Tell Congress They Want Single-Payer"

At a long-awaited House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, health care professionals made it clear that they believe a Single-Payer System to be the best and perhaps only workable option for health care reform. "Single-payer is the only reform that can control health care costs," said Walter Tsou, a University of Pennsylvania professor and an adviser to Physicians for a National Health Program. The last 50 years of government policy have protected insurance industry profits at the expense of taxpayers, doctors and hospitals, he said. "Our most famous radical document begins with the words, 'We the People.' Not 'We the Insurers,'" he said. "It is time for our own generation's revolution." Keywords: health insurance, John Conyers, care, reform, regulation, taxpayers, doctors, hospitals, National Health Program, single payer, coverage, profits, consumer rights, inusured, underinsured, insured, excluded