HuffPost on Medicare for All (Tasini vs. Clinton) --->

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-beinhart/medicare-for-all_b_26729.html

Larry Beinhart
Medicare for All


The best thing you do for your health this year is to support the David vs. Goliath candidacy of John Tasini against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. To be specific, if you live in New York, you can get out and vote on primary day, September 12th.

If you live outside of New York, contact someone you know in New York and let them know. If you live anywhere, you can always send money. Go to Tasinifornewyork.org. David has plenty of stones, but no cash. Goliath, of course, has a huge supply of funds, much of it from the health care industry. Here's why you should care even if you live outside New York. And why you should care even if Tasini seems destined to lose. If we are ever going to fix health care in this country, we need a real dialogue on the issues. Tasini addresses the issues, with clarity and simplicity, and he offers a solution. Again, with clarity and simplicity. If we, as individuals, demonstrate with our votes and voices and our money, that we care about health care, then we will get a change. If we, as individuals, sit on our butts while the corporations who make money from manipulating the system are out there working and spending, then we will continue to have what is probably the worst health care system in the developed world and it will continue to get worse.

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Our current Senator, Hillary Clinton, has a hodge-podge of 10 health-related items on her website. She's against Obesity; for drug safety; for mental health and substance abuse treatment; for more money for the National Institutes of Health; she voted for more money for HIV/AIDS; she wants to make sure we have a reliable supply of flu vaccine; and she introduced legislation to form a committee to "recommend thoughtful reforms to Medicaid." She introduced one piece of legislation, the Healthcare Quality and Technology bill. Her co-sponsor was Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. I generally don't believe in guilt by association but Mr. Frist has grown rich as a result of the healthcare frauds committed by his family's company, HCA; he's known as "the healthcare industry's man in the Senate." It's fair to say that anything he does puts industry profits ahead of the public welfare. Clinton's solution for the 42,500,000 without coverage is "to allow uninsured individuals to buy into existing health insurance programs." Median family income, for a US family of four, is $65,000. In several states it's below $45,000. An employee working fulltime at the US minimum-wage makes $10,700 a year. The average health care premium for a family of four is $10,800. So I'm not sure how it helps to "allow" people to put somewhere between 16 percent and 101 percent of their income into a health care plan.

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Johnathon Tasini has a solution. He calls it Medicare for All. Individuals and firms who now have medical plans could buy into Medicare. (Medicare spends only two percent for administrative costs; private health care uses up 25 percent on administration, profits, executive salaries and bonuses, marketing, and advertising.) Tasini wants Medicare to use its power in the market place to get drugs, equipment, and supplies at the best price. The savings from that would be used to extend coverage to those who can't afford it. Our political and civil health suffers from the same disease that our healthcare system does. Money is the gatekeeper. Nobody is left to speak for the public interest. You can read it in more detail, if you wish, at www.tasinifornewyork.org. Go to Hillary's website, too, and compare.

Tasini speaks for the public interest. That's probably why his positions are so clear and sensible. Clinton is running on money. Her motto could well be, "If it's good for Hillary, who cares if it's bad for the country." For your health, for the health of your family, for our national health, get out the vote on September 12. Let's dump Hillary, she is, on the record, Bush-lite in drag, and elect someone who will work for the real common good.