There is often a lot of talk in America about ‘single payer health care systems’ but what does that really means? To put it simply, a single payer health care system is one in which the federal government is the only ‘payer’ to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers with no existing private insurance companies or competitors. Essentially, it is the cornerstone of ‘Universal Health Care’.
Why is this important? Because this is essentially what President Obama promises will not happen. The President has repeatedly told audiences that if they liked their insurance providers, and doctors, nothing would change under his plan. He forgot to add ‘for now’. The President’s health care proposal is a major down payment on a single payer system, and the quickest route to crowding out private insurers and putting the government in between you and your doctor. But don’t take our word for it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJkXl4wG2eU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
In this video courtesy of Hot Air, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) describes a conversation she had with an insurance industry representative. She says: “I said, excuse me sir, the goal of health care reform is not to protect the private health insurance industry.” She adds: “I am so confident in the superiority of a public health care option, that he has every reason to be frightened.”
But maybe she is only speaking for herself? Here is President Obama in 2003, speaking to the AFL-CIO where he says “I happen to be a proponent of single payer, universal health care plan.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
But maybe he dropped that goal in 2003, and has moved on. Well, in 2008, First Lady Michelle Obama said: “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”
In an Editorial on Monday, the Washington Post said: “For liberals, labor unions and others pushing to make health care available to all Americans, however, the fixation on a public plan is bizarre and counterproductive.”
As the President said in the video: “Everybody in, nobody out.”
