Our st00pid health care system is still st00pid
So:
I’ve been spending the last two months researching the ins and outs of our st00pid health care system and learning why it’s proven such a wicked beeyotch to reform. The results can be found here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). I’ve put a ton of work into this and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Getting back to the current debate: as enjoyable as it is to whack Obama around for the tactical errors he’s made in pushing reform, we should understand that this is something that has confounded progressives since the time of Woodrow Wilson. We have a fragmented medical establishment made up of hospital chains, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies who have all created fiefdoms within the system and have all staked their claim to profit from it. Without the government acting as the lead negotiator to drive down prices, this inefficient and fractured system has led to absurdly high prices for medical services that simultaneously price tens of millions of people out of the insurance market.
Combine this with the fact that nearly a century’s worth of propaganda has made universal health care seem unpalatable to the American public, and you’ve got the bizarre specter of uninsured, blue-collar workers standing outside of town hall meetings and demanding that the government not give them health care. Yes, we’re the only country where this sort of thing occurs.
What, then, needs to happen going forward? Welp, it’s pretty clear that we’re not going to get real reform — i.e., a single-payer system or a system of tightly-regulated nonprofit private insurers — with this round of legislation. Meaning, that we’re going to have to go back to the damn well again once the costs of health care truly threaten to bankrupt us. And if we’re going to be successful in getting that done, it’s going to require a long-term siege war against the status quo with strong, consistent messaging that makes it 100% clear to Americans that our system is a racket and a ripoff. As I put it in my latest AlterNet piece:
And to be fair, we Americans have a lot to be proud of: in addition to prevailing in two world wars and the Cold War, America has brought the world the cotton gin, the electric telegraph, the electric light bulb, the airplane, the moon landing, the Internet, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop and all the world’s biggest blockbuster films.
But our health care system is not Miles Davis, Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Chevy Corvette C3. Our health care system is Kevin Federline, Waterworld and the AMC Gremlin. Our ability to spend 16 percent of our gross domestic product on health care and still leave tens of millions of people uncovered is not something the rest of the world looks upon with a mix of envy and awe. Rather, it’s something that makes them crinkle their eyebrows and say, “Dude. For real?”
And that’s what it’s gonna come down to.
I think the failure of a lot of the left over the past 30 or so years has been a clear failure of consistent messaging. Bob Somerby hit on this theme recently:
For decades, almost all conservative spin has derived from two simple messages. When you get to work with such clear messaging, being a conservative pundit is the easiest job in the world:
- Big government never did anything right.
- Liberal elites think they’re better than you are.
Later in the week, Somerby made his own attempt to craft a more effective liberal message:
First, it would turn on some well-crafted statement of an obvious fact: Big Moneyed Interests will try to loot you. They’ll do it every time—till they’re stopped.
Second, it might turn on a second obvious fact: Big Moneyed Interests will send tribunes out to deceive you. They will lie in your faces—till they’re stopped.
And I think this is what needs to be said over and over again by Democrats, liberal pundits and political operatives. Ever since the Age of Reagan, liberals have tried to achieve their goals by co-opting the Big Moneyed Interests into playing ball (or, in the case of Rubin-era financial deregulation, letting the Big Moneyed Interests simply run the show). This is the approach that the Obama Team has taken to health care reform so far. And to be fair, it’s gotten us a lot further along in the process than Truman, Carter or Clinton ever could. The trouble is more that it isn’t fundamentally fixing the broken system. It isn’t challenging the Big Moneyed Interests. Going forward, that’s what all of us are going to need to do.
It might be a bit early to talk about O’s mistakes. Missteps, certainly but if _any_ actual reform comes out of this – and I am not so ready to discount that possibility – Obama will have achieved something no one has been able to do for 100 years.
Brad, I don’t have a problem with private health insurance, private doctors and hospitals. Germany has it (in fact, it’s called the Bismarck model), Switzerland has it, even Japan has it, and no one goes bankrupt because of medical bills because of it.
I have a problem with an unfair system that exploits private healthcare for megaprofits.
@actor212 — note what I wrote:
“a single-payer system or a system of tightly-regulated nonprofit private insurers”
And I’d actually prefer the nonprofit private insurers option! Gimme German-style health care any day.
I don’t think we’ll see any reform until it stops being legal to kill poor people in large numbers.
@actor212 — note what I wrote:
“a single-payer system or a system of tightly-regulated nonprofit private insurers”
Oh surrrrrre! Take my idea and post it, why don’t you????
Amen, man, amen. Obama must never be criticized. Let’s all sit appreciatively and be grateful to our leader for being such a smart, special little snowflake.
The problem is that the big-money companies, including–make that especially–insurance giants, are better at marketing than their opponents, and this is all about marketing. They know that short, punchy slogans and talking points will always beat well-reasoned discussion.
You can show the average voter all the statistics, endorsements from prominent economists and health-care experts, and comparisons with other countries’ models you want. All they have to do is quack out the lines they’ve memorized: “I don’t want any government bureaucrat comin’ between me an’ mah doctor!”; “Them death panels ‘r gonna kill granny!”, “No socialist takeover of medicine!” “Them ileeeeguls is gonna get free medical care they don’t deserve!”
What we need, I’m sad to say, are good, short, pithy slogans and bumperstickers, and intellectuals are just no good at that stuff.
intellectuals are just no good at that stuff.
Grammer Nazi’s, the Lot!
What we need, I’m sad to say, are good, short, pithy slogans and bumperstickers, and intellectuals are just no good at that stuff.
The fact that the other side has all the money probably also doesn’t help.
I think when the historians write of the fall of the American Empire, they will trace it to the Supreme Court decision that
legalized briberydetermined that money was speech.The slogans ain’t that hard to come up with, though. “Greedy jerks are trying to loot you” shouldn’t be too tough to fit on a bumper sticker.
How about:
“Stoopid Stays Stoopid. Pills Don’t Help”
They know that short, punchy slogans and talking points will always beat well-reasoned discussion.
It’s not like we can’t do both. “Insurance companies profit by denying you the care you paid for,” “no insurance company bureaucrats between you and your doctor,” “insurance companies are for-profit death panels” etc.
“I voted for health care reform and all I got was this lousy tee shirt”
I thought Alan Grayson had a pretty pithy summation:
“The Republican healthcare plan: Don’t get sick. If you do get sick, Die soon.”
Naturally this has given the GOP vapors, and the Democrats are undoubtedly pressuring him to apologize.
Yeah, except the problem isn’t the people. The people overwhelmingly support the public option and reform and indeed progressive ideology. What’s wrong is an establishment class (congress and media) ignoring and conspiring against the people to maintain the status quo. They know if they succeed, the people give up on democracy and therefore don’t fight the 20% of wingnuts.
When we have over 70% of the country behind us, we shouldn’t be losing the public battle to a handful of wingnuts and insurance comapny employees, but the media wants a reality where such people speak for the majority of america and congress only listens to the media’s characterization of the country because they’ve never seen the rest of it.
That’s the real problem. The people aren’t confused, our leaders are.
“Their income depends on YOU not getting sick.”
“YOU break your back paying him to deny your hospital bill.”
“The faster you die the larger their margin.”
It’s not hard, it just takes money but there’s no profit in helping the poor…
There are plenty of persuasive arguments about health care reform, and that’s why most of the actual policies poll well. It’s just that the tribalism thing kicks in, and people who find out that a particular health care reform policy is “what the liberals want” realize that they’re supposed to support the team by rejecting it. I really don’t think that’s fixable in the short term.
Moreover, I think that Somerby vastly overestimates what he sees as liberal-media and liberal-media-fan contempt for the average Joe. (E.g., his sturm und drang about calling people “teabaggers.”) The whole conservative ethos is driven by name-calling and contempt, and yet for all that they seem to do fine at winning converts.
I think this is why this Grayson fellow from Florida is getting so much poutrage from the GOPers and the media. “Don’t Get Sick” and “Die Quickly” are effective slogans any meatball can understand.
the Democrats are undoubtedly pressuring him to apologize.
Happily, no.
I think the failure of a lot of the left over the past 30 or so years has been a clear failure of consistent messaging.
I think this is missing the major problem. The corporations bought our politicians and they bought our media.
If only we made better signs!
I think Bob S. may be overly critical of “teh Left” because
weNorbiz is the onlypeopleperson who listens to him.~
Cerberus pretty much nails it. Is the only solution “more better dems, plz?” If so, then I’d better get my vasectomy now and just live it up.
Grayson did apologize… to the over 44k people who die every year because they lack decent health care.
The electric light bulb is not an American invention. Thomas Edison purchased the patent from two Canadians, Woodward and Evans.There are also numerous documented attempts (as well as patents) that pre-date Edison from Russian, German, and British scientists.
I had the misfortune of seeing Grayson talk to CNN’s panel of conflicts of interest and discourse scolds last night. I was at the gym, the closed captioning was on, I couldn’t help myself.
I think the scolding was the most annoying thing. “How does this help the debate?” You know what? This country, and the Dem party, needs a few more bombthrowers out there. If for no other reason then to end the whole scolding as political analysis thing.
The right questions are, was he right, and is there truth behind his rhetoric. But those aren’t the questions they were asking.
I like this Greyson guy. He seems to have balls.
And before anyone says anything about it, they are his balls, and nowhere near his own mouth.
Michelle Bachman is at it again.
The bill goes on to say what’s going to go on — comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care — is that abortion? Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser.
What the heck is a “sex clinic?”
This country, and the Dem party, needs a few more bombthrowers out there. If for no other reason then to end the whole scolding as political analysis thing.
Yeah, anything to slow the movement of the Overton Window. Plus it’s fun riling up Cokie’s class.
What Grayson did is much much worse than what Joe Wilson did! Wisloin only insulted the nigger(so he was wrong, big deal), but Grayson insulted EVERY REPUBLICAN IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY!!11! Also!
WP owes me an apology. Also Also,
I’m not sure, but I think I would like one in my neighborhood.
“What the heck is a “sex clinic?””
Maybe it is a Freudian slip. She meant to say
“Someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a health clinic, have…”
Obviously, she had something else in mind too.
Maybe it is what comes to her mind when thinking about 13 year old girls. Should we speculate?
“Good evening, and welcome to the show. Our topic tonight — Alan Grayson accusing Republicans of wanting to kill people. Worst thing ever, or worst thing ever?”
“Well, Bob, you know, the Republicans have repeatedly claimed that the Democrats wanted to kill Granny…”
“That’s all the time we have! G’night!”
“Wait, we just started, didn’t we?”
“CUT HIS MIKE!”
I’m a tard?
Edison’s claim to fame is that his light bulb was the first long-lasting, commercially viable product.
Should we speculate?
Anything else would be unpatriotic.
I’m a tard?
Of course not. But Angry Troll is Lashing Out Blindly.
Kudos to Grayson, but I think what the insurance/healthcare industry really wants is for you to have a long-lasting medical condition that *doesn’t* kill you. As long as you (or the gov’t) pay the fees, it’s all gravy. IOW, the real Republican plan is, Get Sick, Live to 100, and we won’t tax the 38 cents left in your estate.
Should we speculate?
Sure. I’ll go get my speculum.
I’m a tard?
I think the spoofer is just annoyed that you are tardy, and misspelled. He/she/it misses you terribly.
Lurking Canadian got part of it: Money is speech. Also, corporations are people. Invasion is not war. Majority is not enough. etc etc
Outside the constitutional branches of government: I got mine.
I liked Grayson’s statement, but I LOVED his apology.
I’m starting to wonder if this might not be a stroke of genius. If we can get something that’s subsidized by taxes, but which would be political suicide to repeal, then in order to cut taxes, repugs would have to cut profiteering out of the system to reduce costs. Or am I just an overly optimistic idiot?
That made me want to slap someone. Regardless of what the right questions are, “The Right”, who have spent the last several months bleating at full throat about how “Obama’s gonna kill yer momma” and “The Democrats’ Death Panel is going to euthanize my disabled baby”, not to mention what they’ve been doing for thirty fucking years, simply have no leg to stand on when calling anybody out on incivility. None. Scold this, biatch.
Like I said a couple of threads ago, I think he missed a couple of choice opportunities, that being one. Getting assaulted from all sides probably keeps one from finding the choicest replies, which seems like the strategy on that that show. He stuck to his guns well, though.
Yeah, well, you know who had German-style health care?
OMFG BARDOLF OBAMITLER!1!
Or am I just an overly optimistic idiot?
Well the trick is getting something that isn’t a government subsidized giveaway to the insurance industry, but yeah, you’re dialed in to why the
GØP doesn’t like it.
The electric light bulb is not an American invention.
Why do you hate America?
Sure. I’ll go get my speculum.
GASP!! Michele Bachman was right!
The electric light bulb is not an American invention.
No but the ATOM BOMB IS!!1!1 SUCK ON THAT COMMIE PUNK!! WOLVERINES!!11!!!
The electric light bulb is not an American invention. Thomas Edison purchased the patent from two Canadians, Woodward and
EvansBernstein.Fixed for poetry.
Re: Michelle Bachman
Section 2511 of the health care bill referred to by Bachmann, makes no mention of abortion and stipulates,
(i) “SBHC services will be provides in accordance with Federal, State, and local laws governing– (I) obtaining parental or guardian consent; and (II) patient privacy and student records, including section 264 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and section 444 of the General Education Provision Act;
See also the Hyde Amendment which bans any federal funding of abortion and has been on the books for about 15 years. Far be it from me to tell her how to do her job, but for a law to no longer be in effect, it has to be either repealed or modified in some respect. Unless she shows me where in the bill Hyde is repealed or modified, I can only assume that she is pulling things out of her ass and throwing them against the wall to see if it will stick. Or she is an idiot, or both.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/bachmann-sex-clinics-will_n_306292.html
Edison may not have invented the light bulb. But he did invent getting filthy stinking rich from inventing the light bulb. Which, let’s face it, it something the wingnuts like lots more than intelligence and hard work anyway.
I can only assume that she is pulling things out of her ass and throwing them against the wall to see if it will stick. Or she is an idiot, or both.
Always Go With Both.
The other missed opportunity I mentioned in the other thread was calling out Congressman Cobag there on his claim that if the Dems would just play ball, and be all bipartisany, the Republicans would snuggle up like tame chinchillas and the world would be perfect. This, of course, is not just bullshit, but a cannonload of bullshit fired off by a preeminent cattle anus. I knew something was up when I saw the asshole take that tack. I didn’t know it was this ridiculous.
Of course, it would be the height of incivility and detrimental to the discussion to point that out. SHUT UP, THAT’S WHY.
In mid-20th century Germany, they called their leader, disparagingly, Hitlerama. They also said things like “you know who ELSE wanted Universal Health Care? Obama. You know who ELSE wanted to invade Poland? Obama.”. True story. Check the kerning in Mein Kampf, it’s all there in Black and white.
Ahh. Sorry, troll, for being tardy.
I’m guessing it’s Goober, though the passive-aggressive routine is definitely a Troofy hallmark.
While we’re hating America, when you say “electric telegraph” are you referring to the Francis Ronalds telegraph or the Carl Freidrich Gauss telegraph?
I can only assume that she is pulling things out of her ass and throwing them against the wall to see if it will stick.
this is not a pleasant image.
The more I learn about this Grayson guy the more I like him.
“Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night?”
Now that is what I call service! Is this country great or what?
Just be glad you’re not the guy with the speculum.
He responded in a fundraising e-mail: “Well, ’some say’ that the Sentinel is a trashy tabloid that dresses up bias and gossip as news.”
Damn!
Some say this guy rocks!
~
“enjoyable as it is to whack Obama around for the tactical errors he’s made in pushing reform”
Obama seems to be getting exactly what he wants, a massive handout to the health industry and big pharma, and still has hundreds of liberals falling over themselves to kiss his arse. Tactically, it looks like he’s doing just fine. Things will become clearer when you stop reflexively thinking of him as on your side.
“a century’s worth of propaganda has made universal health care seem unpalatable to the American public,”
this is just bollocks. most americans want a national health care system of some sort. why is this so hard for you to grasp? you’d be far better employed holding the Dems’ nuts to the fire, instead of blaming the whole fiasco on a bunch of goobers who have dick all to do with anything.
As for “getting your message across”, since the message seems to be “let’s all sit tight and hope the Dems don’t fuck us in the ass Again”, good luck with that.
A few points: neither Republicans nor health insurers want you to die quickly if you get sick; if you’ve got plenty of money in your pocket to pay your own way on any and all medical procedures needed to keep you alive after they dump you, they’re fine with you living until you run out of money. Then you should die.
The short, succinct message on healthcare should be this: those who oppose a public option do so because they are more concerned about protecting health insurers’ rights to unlimited profits than they are with protecting the health or financial security of their constituents. It doesn’t come down to cost or anything else, and everyone in Washington, and everyone covering the issue knows this. But this central fact is what is known as the “turd in the punchbowl” that everyone knows is there, because it’s bloated, brown, and disgusting, its stench permeates all, but in Washington, it’s the height of incivility to say aloud what it is that is the central issue that everyone is trying so furiously to talk around. That’s the cause of the poutrage over Grayson’s comments; he came dangerously close to pointing directly at the turd in the punchbowl, and they want to warn him off of actually doing it.
Third, why the fuck can’t the Democrats learn how to play this game? The Republicans and Repub-lites like Lincoln are screeching about the “costs” of a public option; why doesn’t some progressive member call them out on their bullshit by introducing an amendment that will impose very invasive regulation on the health insurers, creating a new bureaucracy to set limits on the costs of premiums, co-pays, and on hospitals and doctors’ costs for procedures, etc, and throw it out as a dare? As in, “you say you’re concerned about “costs” but oppose the easiest way to inject some cost-control into the system with a public option. Ok then, here’s the alternative: we create this bureaucracy to regulate them. Because otherwise there’s no way to control costs, which is what you say you’re concerned about. Choose your poison.”
On the second point, I’d love to see some HCAN or MoveOn ads targeted against those democratic senators who voted against the public option in committee. “Blanche Lincoln thinks the top priority for health-care reform is to protect the profits of insurance company shareholders. If that means thousands of Arkansans will still have to go without healthcare they can afford, she thinks that’s a better outcome than allowing the people who own health insurance companies to make lower profits.”
I mean, shit, pick up that damn turd…and hit them right between the eyes with it. Enough of this bullshit.
Do you have a better chance of survival if you buy your health insurance and your life insurance from the same provider?
I can only assume that she is pulling things out of her ass and throwing them against the wall to see if it will stick.
“this is not a pleasant image.”
Monkey poo-flinging its called although I think the monkeys learned it from the Republicans.
“Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night?”
So much for those “months-long waits” Republicans are so terrified of…
What is wrong with a 13yrold making their own decisions about their healthcare? What exactly is wrong with really short waiting times for minor procedures? And what is wrong with protecting patient privacy?
Bigby said…
Yes, that’s why Hitler was the Obama of German fascism.
Utterly OT, but this reminds me that I picked up Daniel Kehlmann’s Measuring the world the other day as a birthday present for my father, but was tempted to get a copy for myself as well. If any of the learned commentariat have read it, I’d be curious to hear your reactions.
This dumbfuck knows perfectly fucking well that most states have either a parental consent or a parental notification law, as well as a waiting period of some sort. Though “pro-lifers” are in love with conspiracy theories and the idea that abortion providers break the law willy-nilly (see Tiller, George for a prime example), I’m pretty sure most clinics would rather stay open and follow the law than risk being shut down and prosecuted.
Also, I just want to know who the fuck these people think their fellow Americans are? Obviously, they think that liberals and pretty much every government employee are depraved, sick people who are just ITCHING to brainwash their children, force them to have gay sex and abortions until we’re sick of them and decide to round them up into concentration camps. What the fuck?
Woodward and Evans still eventually earned their overdue recognition by exposing Roy Rogers’ role in the Watergate breakin.
Brad, thanks for the excellent, clear explanations. You and Jennifer should be testifying in Congress. Better yet, you should go on the TV talk shows and speak slowly and clearly, and maybe half of America would start to catch on.
So much for those “months-long waits” Republicans are so terrified of…
Anything other than abortions and sex-changes take forever unless you’re an illegal immigrant.
The Kid from Kounty Meath said,
October 1, 2009 at 20:50
Ahem!
Anything other than abortions and sex-changes take forever unless you’re an illegal immigrant.
That reminds me. I have a sex change operation slotted in between doing my nails and buying a new cell phone tomorrow.
Shit. Sorry, Doctor. Nixon humor always struck me as so yesterday there was no risk I’d step on someone else’s.
That reminds me. I have a sex change operation slotted in between doing my nails and buying a new cell phone tomorrow.
Tucking your junk between your legs is NOT a sex change operation.
@Willy: NO, that is incidental. He COVETS.
Tucking your junk between your legs is NOT a sex change operation.
That’s what SHE said.
But it does improve his cell phone reception.
I forgot I’m dealing with folks who are nearly as fast and funny as I am…I have to be more careful.
you’ve got the bizarre specter of uninsured, blue-collar workers standing outside of town hall meetings and demanding that the government not give them health care.
Even more bizarre is the specter of FUCKING MEDICARE RECIPIENTS standing outside of town hall meetings and demanding that the government not give them health care.
“Their income depends on YOU not getting
sicktreatment.”That’s the way I’d put it!
This dumbfuck knows perfectly fucking well that most states have either a parental consent or a parental notification law, as well as a waiting period of some sort.
When the fucking Republicans had control of all three branches of government, they did fuck-all about the abortion issue. Where the fuck is the outcry from the Christaliban?
The problem is, our last pithy sloganizer and far left extremist
died in 2005.We are too nice, dammit. We respect and value our opponents arguments, no matter how shit-wallowing crazy they might be, and want to look at all sides of an argument or criticism, carefully considering each point and fact, until we can rip their stance to wet bloody shreds with one well placed and witty riposte, utterly humiliating them and undermining all opposition with one arc white bolt of pure undeniable Logic.
And there is the rub, really. We need some of our numbers to sacrifice themselves and fall straight off into crazy town sound bite rhetoric. We need people who can boil the most complex issues and multi-faceted arguments into easily digestible phrases that they immediately trumpet off to everyone and anyone who will listen, and scream loud enough that the ones who won’t listen can’t block it out no matter how much Jesus-wax and Gun muff they put on their ears.
Hell yes. Sing it sistah!
I stopped reading Somerby after his grotesque series of columns about Henry Louis Gates. Plus I just got weary of wading through paragraph after paragraph of him saying the same thing. Don’t know why I hung in there as long as I did.
the bizarre specter of uninsured, blue-collar workers standing outside of town hall meetings and demanding that the government not give them health care.
“You can give us health care when you force it into our cold, dead hands!
“There’s nothing wrong with you that a series of expensive operations won’t prolong.”
–John Cleese as a Doctor (I suspect ‘Dr.’ Graham Chapman of writing the line.)
Nothing in this world is inevitable but death & taxes, so I hear … but one rich vein of revenue remains untapped.
America can become a better & richer nation, if it takes this advice which I offer free of charge:
START TAXING BULLSHIT.
A simple per-person surcharge will suffice. Want to BS one person? You’re going to pay x dollars … want to BS millions? You’d better have deep deep pockets – or an appetite for cat-food.
You’re welcome.