According to the Associated Press as cited in the Post article, "Cuba has made recent advancements in biotechnology and exports its treatments to 40 countries around the world, raking in an estimated $100 million a year. ... In 2004, the U.S. government granted an exception to its economic embargo against Cuba and allowed a California drug company to test three cancer vaccines developed in Havana."
There is a myth that, with national health insurance, the government will be making the medical decisions. But in a publicly-financed, universal health care system medical decisions are left to the patient and doctor, as they should be. This is true even in the countries like the UK and Spain that have socialized medicine.
In a public system the public has a say in how it’s run. Cost containment measures are publicly managed at the state level by an elected and appointed body that represents the people of that state. This body decides on the benefit package, negotiates doctor fees and hospital budgets. It also is responsible for health planning and the distribution of expensive technology.
The benefit package people will receive will not be decided upon by the legislature, but by the appointed body that represents all state residents in consultation with medical experts in all fields of medicine.
Wouldn't you rather have a system where you have real choice to choose your provider instead of that choice being driven by a benefits denial specialist?
A universal public system would be financed this way: The public financing already funneled to Medicare and Medicaid would be retained. The difference, or the gap between current public funding and what we would need for a universal health care system, would be financed by a payroll tax on employers (about 7%) and an income tax on individuals (about 2%). The payroll tax would replace all other employer expenses for employees’ health care. The income tax would take the place of all current insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and any and all other out of pocket payments. For the vast majority of people a 2% income tax is less than what they now pay for insurance premiums and in out-of-pocket payments such as co-pays and deductibles, particularly for anyone who has had a serious illness or has a family member with a serious illness. It is also a fair and sustainable contribution. Currently, over 41 million people have no insurance and thousands of people with insurance are bankrupted when they have an accident or illness. Employers who currently offer no health insurance would pay more, but they would receive health insurance for the same low rate as larger firms. Many small employers have to pay 25% or more of payroll now for health insurance – so they end up not having insurance at all. For large employers, a payroll tax in the 7% range would mean they would pay less than they currently do (about 8.5%). No employer, moreover, would hold a competitive advantage over another because his cost of business did not include health care. And health insurance would disappear from the bargaining table between employers and employees.
...
Another consideration is that everyone would have the same comprehensive health coverage, including all medical, hospital, eye care, dental care, long-term care, and mental health services. Currently, many people and businesses are paying huge premiums for insurance that is almost worthless if they were to have a serious illness.
In an attempt to move the debate away from Mr. Moore and to the real issues of how to design a better system I posted some links to some resources about single payer.
1. Taxes yes, not necessarily more than now. Just take the money from the illegal war we are in.
2. Specify that certain corporate profits from the overgrown overcharging pharmaceutical companies help support UHC, works for me,
3. Specify that all the quiet but huge profits from the Insurance companies help pay for the UHC, that works for me also.
4. They have shown by raising the price of Gas with a 57 cent per gallon gas tax to use for the UHC will fund it almost entirely. And this way everyone helps pay the tax. Non taxpaying citizens, illegals , drug pushers, criminals, everyone has to pay.
Now if I owned a gas guzzler, I would give it away.
no you are just being ridiculous and adolescent about what probably is just a typo .and by the way your responses tell me all about you too.ie you don't like it when other people have a difference of opinion than yours.
Reggie Cervantes worked as a volunteer emergency medical worker at ground zero in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the twin towers. Cervantes says she suffers from a number of respiratory problems, as well as post traumatic stress disorder, due to the time she spent at the site. Cervantes—who worked as a volunteer emergency medical technician for nine years—travelled to Cuba with filmmaker Michael Moore to receive medical attention. She now lives in Oklahoma City with her two children.
Mentuhotep I
30 Posts
Its actually funny that you were serious with that pedestrian response.
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice--and always has been.
Mark Twain