Obamacare (cue the Halloween/scary music)

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare as Republicans call it.

They oppose the individual mandate by calling it socialism. The funny thing is that it was their idea in the '90s and it was all good- a way to protect small businesses--- then. What was that other thing they call socialist? Oh. Taxes. I'm sure there are more.

Making everyone opt in is not a new concept. Car insurance is the same. You are required to have this if you have a car. I realize this is regulated by the states and not federal, so this may make all the difference to a Republican, but it is the same concept to me. Everyone pays who may have to use it at some point to cover the costs of those that do. If you choose to go without and then have an accident, no one is required to cover your cost, unlike in a medical situation where doctors are required to treat you, so the need for the individual mandate seems to be greatest in this case. Why so little complaint about car insurance and so much about everyone being required to have health insurance, something that you'll probably use more than car insurance and for something you're guaranteed service for?

Republicans are against welfare and other social programs because it is a free ride. They have no problem with people who don't get insurance while they're healthy or apparently healthy, then go when the problems can't be ignored and have ballooned into something uncontrollable at everyone else's expense because- hey- I didn't see this coming- I'm healthy- I can't afford this- I need help. Is that not the point of insurance, to pay into it before you need it? Take for example life insurance or car insurance. (Yes, I realize life insurance is totally optional and car insurance is regulated by the state, but I'm talking about the allegedly strange new socialist concept of pooling resources.) I would think Republicans would be for something that prevents people from gaming the system and getting services they never intended to pay for (either because they couldn't or because they thought they didn't need it just yet).

Or maybe I have it wrong and Republicans would like to do away with the concept of doctors helping those who can't pay. I admit I don't know their position on that. I'd be curious to find that out.

Or I wonder if the individual mandate gets struck down if people who opt out could carry a card that says- I waive my right/wish to be treated- so the cost wouldn't be incurred. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't affect the doctors' responsibility to treat people, though. Besides it makes me feel kind of horrible just writing that. I definitely believe those who can't afford it should be subsidized and treated, but those who opt out because they're feeling fine now or oppose it ideologically or opt out for another reason than financial need...maybe I don't feel that bad writing it.

Universal/Single Payer/Socialized Medicine vs our current mess of so-called "choices"

I wasn't really planning to write all this, but I saw something, looked some things up to find out more, and here we are.

I don’t know that universal or national health care is THE answer to all of our problems, but I would like us to have more discussion of actual pros and cons. I am sick of the invoking of the Red Scare (Sound familiar? Great tax debate of 2008, anyone?) and that being sufficient for everyone to run for cover and bury it for 30 or 40 years, no questions asked.

Universal health care does sound pretty good, though, and I think I’m leaning toward it so far. It seems better than what we've got. I know the links are going to make me sound like a huge proponent, but I'm just trying to sort it out and compare it to all the negatives I hear.

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AMA Opposition to Obama Public Health Plan Echoes Group’s Decades-Long Resistance to Healthcare Reform (demonization of universal health care)

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/12/ama_opposition_to_obama_public_health

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, that, the voice of actor Ronald Reagan, employed by the American Medical Association in their campaign entitled “Operation Coffee Cup” to stress that the government-sponsored health insurance system would lead to a form of socialism.

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Socialized Medicine: Polemic or Panacea?
http://www.lawcrossing.com/article/4077/Socialized-Medicine-Polemic-or-Panacea-/

The movement for universal coverage in the United States goes back to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, who first proposed the idea. Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman also attempted to implement socialized medicine as part of their administrations' legislative accomplishments, but it was killed by a public campaign engineered by the American Medical Association which claimed, "Socialized medicine…will undermine the democratic form of government."

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A Canadian doctor diagnoses U.S. healthcare
The caricature of 'socialized medicine' is used by corporate interests to confuse Americans and maintain their bottom lines instead of patients' health.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rachlis3-2009aug03,0,538126.story

What's Canadian Health Care Really Like?
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=111084018

Dr. DAY: I don't think there's a best system. I think that - and Canada and the United States, we have our own personalities, but I think that there are countries that we can look at the best practices from and copy what works in those countries, countries like Switzerland and Germany and Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, for instance, that are socialized democracies, that have an element of government care, but they're hybrid systems. They take bits of what Canada and the United States have. They do it more cheaply, more effectively and more efficiently and at a much lower cost than the United States.

Debunking Canadian health care myths
http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_12523427


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Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php

Netherlands' Health Care Reflects National Values
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92641635

Series- Germany: Health Care for All
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91971170