You know, I get really sick and tired of hearing people claim that the U.S. health care system is anything more than an oxymoron. I could regail you with facts and figures, but that has been done before. I can attack the boilerplate response to a single-payer system, “you’ll wait 2 months to see a doctor”, by telling you that I am currently waiting 2.5 months to see a doc in our “free market” system (and I’m certainly not alone in that). But I’d rather focus on real, pragmatic, first-hand reporting from inside these scary, spooky, “other” worlds. You know, places like France and the United Kingdom. Boogedy!
Do yourself a favor and read Steve Weissman’s report for Truthout about the French single-payer system. Weissman worked for many years in London as well, so he knows that experience, too. In fact, the taxes he paid to the UK now cover his health care in France. What a concept!
It is time for the citizens of the United States to tune out the noise coming from the medical-insurance complex (not my term, but a good one) and do what is right for ourselves. We have the opportunity to take the single-payer system and make it work for us! We don’t have to blindly adopt another country’s system. We can use our ingenuity and make it the best system in the world. But first, we all need to get serious and get on board with the new mantra: single-payer or bust! Disagree and have the intellectual wherewithal to back it up? Meet me in the comments section!