It is puzzling to me why these movements to reform health care continually ignore single-payer. You have certainly made the case that we who advocate government-fuunded universal health care ARE ignored, including a number of rebuffs I wasn’t aware of. I have been following this issue for many years now, and I have seen the support for single-payer steadily rise, even as Americans are increasingly disallusioned with what passes for a “health care system” in this country.

The only reason I can come up with for opposition to single-payer by “reform” advocates is that our opponents are either stupid or they have been co-opted by the people who profit from our current situation. If they bothered to study the polls and read the studies and talk to ordinary people, they could hardly fail to see that the insurance companies are the problem. Private insurance is geared toward only insuring people who don’t actually need health care. You don’t have be a genious to figure that out. So why wouldn’t the solution involve eliminating (or greatly shrinking the role) of the insurance companies? Why not a system funded by an
entity whose purpose is to provide health care (not DENY health care) to the American people? Why not a government-funded system, where everyone is enrolled automatically?

I can’t believe our opponents are all stupid. So there must be some reason besides failure to understand simple facts that motivates their opposition.

When I contemplate possible reasons I come up with this: They must have been bought off by the profiteers. And that makes me angry. Real angry. They are standing in the way of our acheiving the solution to the health care angst we are all experiencing. Putting in place a plan that is sure to fail will only create a backlash, as you have pointed out. Our critics will be out there, loudly intoning the old saw that “the government can’t do anything right.”

Is the HCAN-type approach really pushing a secret agenda? Is it just more Harry and Louise lies?

I won’t stop advocating for what works, through talking, writing letters/emails and passing on the information that shows single-payer CAN work in this country, as it has in most of the rest of the civilized world.