I am writing in reply to Rae Piepho’s letter of August 15.
Rae, in her letter, recognizes the need for health care reform, but asks can it be accomplished in a “capitalist” way that does not reward “for profit” insurance companies without the “non-socializing” of America? She seems to reject categorically the “single payer system” for being “socialistic.”
Every industrialized Western European nation with lower health care costs than we, with the exception of Switzerland and Luxembourg, have “single payer” systems. A sampling of per person health care costs as of 2003 are as follows: Denmark – $2,743; Belgium – $3,044; Canada – $2,998; Finland – $2,104; France -$3,048; Sweden – $2,745 to mention a few.
Switzerland comes in at $3,847 and Luxembourg’s at $4,611.
TheUnited States is at $5,711.
Why? Because they all – excepting the three last named—have “single payer” systems. It is the only effective way to control cost And YES, it does ration. But so does our system – ask anyone who forgoes health remedies because he or she does not have the means to pay for the same.
In Christian charity, Rae appears to see access to health care not a human right but as a potential “for profit.”
What is not recognized is that the health care benefits we gladly wished to be assumed by “for profit” corporate America, that actually makes things like cars, TVs and electronics, locomotives, etc., are either no longer in business or are struggling, due in part health care burdens. (One of the reasons for the demises/declines of GM and Chrysler.)
In no other industrialized nation are these costs borne by the employer, they are borne by the taxpayer, and thus not an expense of doing business that has to be passed on to the consumer. Complaints about unfair tax burdens are another topic for a dissertation. But it does make them uncompetitive because of this shifting.
Our system is broken, sick and getting sicker, but will it now be adequately reformed – meaning a “single payer system”? I doubt it. It will probably have to become completely broken.
But I suspect that Rae is on Social Security and has opted for Medicare— a “single payer system”— and doesn’t think that it is “socialistic” but rather a “Godgiven right.”
John LaVine
St Paul
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