Over the next several days we hope to post the Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senatorial Candidates position on HR 676 (Single Payer Health Care). Our goal here is not to criticize the candidates, but to inform you so you can make a decision in the Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senatorial Primary based on facts. Today we have Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senatorial Candidate Darlene Price's position on Single Payer Health Care. Our email correspondence is as follows:
Darlene Price,
My name is James Pence, a Progressive Democratic
Blogger. I'm in the process of writing a article concerning Single
Payer Health Care. My question is this: Do you support HR-676 Single Payer Health Care?
Thanks a million.
James Pence
Dear Mr. Pence,
Thank
you so much for your question! I'm honored to answer a resounding yes
to the Single Payer Option. Now is not the time for half measures - Now
is the time to be bold!!!! This bill simply expands Medicare to create
a new and more functional method of collecting and distributing
payments for medical services. It leaves the physician system
completely alone and will save literally billions of dollars every year
by eliminating wasteful duplication. It is not "Socialized Medicine" as
many have mistakenly characterized.
Here are just some of the benefits the Single Payer method will provide:
No more pre-existing conditions to be excluded from coverage.
Every resident of the U.S. will be covered from birth to death.
No corporate bureaucrat will ever come between you and your Doctor to deny your care.
No more expensive deductibles or co-pays.
All dental and eye care will be included.
Cost of coverage will be assessed on a sliding scale basis.
Long term nursing home services will be included.
Mental health and substance abuse care will be fully covered.
Your coverage will be portable and not tied to any job or location.
The
lack of health care in our country is one of the very large reasons
that many are losing their homes. My husband and I are just a health
care incident away from bankruptcy ourselves, and we have a law office,
would be considered middle-class and have Anthem Blue Cross/Blue
Shield. After working as an investigator in a law office I have had a
front row seat for just how the insurance industry has made their
record profits over the last three years. They take your premiums,
raise them with no real rhyme or reason, and then when you file a
legitimate claim because, God forbid you get sick, then they will come
up with any reason they can to deny your claim. I have seen this with
my own two eyes, repeatedly!!!
Further, Insurance companies should
not be deciding what care doctors are to give their patients. Under
the current system many of your medical decisions are not being made by
your doctor but by some corporate bureaucrat working for a private
insurance company whose main concern is making larger profits - NOT
YOUR HEALTH. I've seen this first-hand. I worked for three years as
a surgical technologist in the operating room. I saw how surgeons
would have to stop in the middle of surgery and argue with the
insurance companies in order to use a more proper/better device that
they knew to work better than the cheap device the insurance company
wanted them to use. This is not Health Care!! This is Health Scare!!!!!
I know that many are saying, "Well how can we pay for this?" My answer is, "YOU ALREADY ARE PAYING FOR IT - YOU'RE JUST NOT GETTING IT!!!
Most folks pay ludicrous premiums every month and get very little if
nothing in return. Anything worthwhile is never free. However, the
taxes that will be used to support this option will be a lower cost
alternative to the staggering private health insurance premiums that
most of us already pay. Moreover, If we can afford to give billions to
billionaire, boneheads on Wall Street then we can and should be taking
care of our citizen's health! !!! If we can afford no bid contracts,
which we still have, for the war in Iraq, then we can afford this. If
we the middle class and poor can pay for all of congress' health care
plans via our taxes, then why can't their tax dollars help pay for
ours!!! If Congress (house and the senate) can vote themselves a raise
with our tax dollars virtually on a yearly basis, then we can afford
this.
When you hear the "Pocket Politicians" fighting against the
Single Payer Option, please do your own investigation. "Google" who
are funding their campaigns. I'm willing to bet that you will in fact
find money from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
Quid-Pro-Quo!!! These very "pocket politicians" who are so avidly
fighting against healthcare for their citizens are of course getting
their healthcare paid by the very citizens they are denying.
I have
family members and clients who have lost everything because of our
current healthcare system. This is why I have vowed in my campaign not
to take ONE THIN DIME from either the Insurance industry or the
Pharmaceutical Industry. Our country pays more for
medicines/pharmaceuticals than any other country, and oh what a
coincidence, pharmaceutical companies are one of the top contributors
to campaigns on Capitol Hill as are insurance companies. We must
connect the dots here. I feel this is the most important thing wrong
with our government: CRONY CAMPAIGN FINANCING!!! It
is the big, fat, ugly domino that keeps trampling over all the other
dominoes (health care, education, reasonable medicines, jobs, etc.).
My
campaign is being run by an all volunteer staff. We started out with
just a hand full of folks who believed in me because of my story (ten
year battle against government corruption), and now we have over a
thousand volunteers statewide campaigning for me. My stance on
campaign financing is one of the reasons that one of the largest unions
in the nation, the National Federation of Federal Government Employees
(NFFE) has endorsed me.
I'm convinced that in the long run, a
Single Payer Option will become cheaper and more efficient for our
country than the path we now take. Albert Einstein coined the phrase, "The definition of insanity is when you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results." Our current healthcare system is insane. We desperately need REAL CHANGE and we need it now!!!
I
feel very passionately about this. I have dear friends and family
members who are currently suffering a serious healthcare crises and are
having to battle their insurance companies to get the simple healthcare
they have already paid for. I may actually lose two of them because of
this fight. For me this is heart-wrenching to watch. I do not claim
to be a health care expert, but I know the difference between right and
wrong. OUR CURRENT SYSTEM IS WRONG!!
The best plan that I've seen put forward thus far is the Single Payer Plan. Based on the aforementioned, I support this plan.
Darlene F. Price
www.Darlene4Senate.com
1-888-DAR-2010
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