Galindez writes: "'Medicare for All' is picking up steam throughout the country. In Iowa, a health care crisis is looming. No insurance companies plan to offer coverage on the exchange in 2018, and the three current providers have announced they are pulling out of the state."
Rally for Medicare for All. (photo: AP)
Momentum for Single Payer Reaches Iowa
19 May 17
edicare for All� is picking up steam throughout the country. In Iowa, a health care crisis is looming. No insurance companies plan to offer coverage on the exchange in 2018, and the three current providers have announced they are pulling out of the state.
Activists in Iowa are concerned about the GOP move to repeal Obamacare and will resist those efforts, but don�t see Obamacare as a long-term solution to our country�s health care needs.
According to Physicians for a National Health Program: �The reason we spend more and get less than the rest of the world is that we have a patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales, and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. As a result, administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans� health dollars, most of which is a waste.�
I completely agree with them on that. My story shows the problem with the current system. I need a kidney. I currently can�t get on the kidney transplant list because my insurance won�t cover the operation. It did last year, but without notice, Aetna will not cover it this year. I can get on Medicare early but would need a supplemental to cover a transplant. I may be able to get additional coverage before the enrollment period, but if not I have to wait until January to get on the transplant list. Dialysis will keep me going until I get on the list, but if we had universal coverage like most of the world, I wouldn�t have to wait. I am working, I have insurance, and the system still fails me. TrumpCare would even be worse.
Insurance companies are only middlemen, and they profit without providing anything that couldn�t be provided cheaper and more efficiently by the government. This is already happening in the form of Medicare and Medicaid, but some doctors don�t accept them because they don't pay as much as private insurers pay. What we need to keep costs down is a single payer system that doesn�t have a profit motive or a marketing budget to raise.
Single payer is the ultimate goal; I think the path to single payer is a public option. Here in Iowa, there will be a need for a public option if no private insurers come in. The government will have to provide an opportunity to Iowans, or the hospitals will be full of people with no insurance.
I agree with Republicans who say a public option is a back door to single payer. Insurance companies will not be able to compete, and that is a good thing. Many single payer advocates oppose a public option, fearing it would set up a system where the elderly and sick end up in the public system and the healthy stay on private insurance. The only way that would happen is if private insurers offered coverage that was competitive with the public option. While not ideal, that would still be an improvement over what we have now.
As Bernie Sanders has always said: �Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman, and child in our country should be able to access the health care they need regardless of their income. The only long-term solution to America�s health care crisis is a single-payer national health care program.�
This weekend�s events will happen throughout Iowa, calling for �Medicare for All!� The events will serve as a launch for Our Revolution in Iowa. Speakers will include candidates for Congress in Iowa who supported Bernie Sanders in 2016, including Pete D�Alessandro, who was the Iowa director for Bernie�s 2016 presidential campaign.
Events will take place at the following times and locations:
May 20th at noon
Waterloo / Public Library, 415 Commercial St.
Sponsors:
Our Revolution Iowa
Americans for Democratic Action Iowa
May 20th at noon
Cedar Rapids / Greene Square Park, 5th St. SE
Sponsor:
Our Revolution Cedar Rapids
May 20th at 4 p.m.
Des Moines / Neil Smith Federal Building, 210 Walnut St.
Sponsors:
Our Revolution Central Iowa
Our Revolution Story County Iowa
Central Iowa Democratic Socialists of America
May 20th at 4 p.m.
Sioux City / Rep. Steve King�s office, 526 Nebraska St.
Sponsor:
Northwest Iowa for Our Revolution
May 20th at 4 p.m.
Iowa City / Iowa City Pedestrian Mall, 201 Dubuque St.
Sponsors:
Our Revolution � Johnson County
Iowa City Democratic Socialists of America
May 21st at noon
Dubuque / Town Clock Plaza, 890 Main St.
Sponsors:
Our Revolution: Dubuque
Americans for Democratic Action Iowa
Dubuque Democratic Socialists
May 20th at 1PM
East Davenport, Village Theater, 2113 E 11th St
Sponsored by Our Revolution Scott County
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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