Reports: Passing Universal Healthcare Could Kill The GOP

Barack Obama's selection of Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services Secretary, as well as "health reform czar," signals that the incoming president is serious about passing comprehensive healthcare reform. Over at the think tank Cato, Michael Cannon warns that blocking any such legislation is vital for the GOP's survival (h/t Kos):

Ditto Baucus' health plan. And Kennedy's. And Wyden's.

Why? Norman Markowitz, a contributing editor at PoliticalAffairs.net (motto: "Marxist Thought Online"), makes an interesting point about how making citizens dependent on the government for their medical care can change the fates of political parties:

A "single payer" national health system - known as "socialized medicine" in the rest of the developed world - should be an essential part of the change that the core constituencies which elected Obama desperately need. Britain serves as an important political lesson for strategists. After the Labor Party established the National Health Service after World War II, supposedly conservative workers and low-income people under religious and other influences who tended to support the Conservatives were much more likely to vote for the Labor Party...

James Pethokoukis, at U.S. News and World Report, draws the same conclusion as Cannon does from Markowitz's analysis of how universal healthcare changed the political dynamic in Britain:

The GOP strategist had been joking about the upcoming presidential election and giving his humorous assessments of the candidates. Then he suddenly cut out the schtick and got scary serious. "Let me tell you something, if Democrats take the White House and pass a big-government healthcare plan, that's it. Game over. Government will dominate the economy like it does in Europe. Conservatives will spend the rest of their lives trying to turn things around and they will fail..."

...Recently, I stumbled across this analysis of how nationalized healthcare in Great Britain affected the political environment there. As Norman Markowitz in Political Affairs, a journal of "Marxist thought," puts it: "After the Labor Party established the National Health Service after World War II, supposedly conservative workers and low-income people under religious and other influences who tended to support the Conservatives were much more likely to vote for the Labor Party when health care, social welfare, education and pro-working class policies were enacted by labor-supported governments."

Passing Obamacare would be like performing exactly the opposite function of turning people into investors. Whereas the Investor Class is more conservative than the rest of America, creating the Obamacare Class would pull America to the left. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, who first found that wonderful Markowitz quote, puts it succinctly in a recent blog post: "Blocking Obama's health plan is key to the GOP's survival."

Comments

[Diomedes374]

And this is a bad thing? They ought to care more about the country than their party.

[Wilbur]

GIT 'ER DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wilbur

[JBS]

Ugh! Two Birds ... One stone!

Let's Roll!

[pokemon]

I have good health care through my employer, better then most people will ever see. It is half the reason I have never left cause I do not make more then a decent income as a police officer.

The problem with universal health care is the same problem you get when anything is passed out of free, people will not appreciate it for what it is. No.. have universal health care, but make people work for it. Just like wel-fare (which I support), I want to pay MORE into the system do they HAVE TO WORK, so they have to earn it and their kids can attend a educational facility to help break the cycle.

Plus I have good insurance so i would not like a government plan, I had to get service through the VA after the gulf war and did not have a good experience.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Must be nice. I happen to be one of the 47 million of your fellow Americans shut out of heatlthcare coverage entirely. Something about being self-employed and suffering from a degenerative condition rendering me "not profitable enough" according to a nice Blue Shield/Blue Cross broker whom I got off the record after being turned down for the umpteenth time for private coverage.

Pity I'm not rich enough to afford all the care I really need, nor destitute enough to qualify for MediCaid. President-Elect Obama isn't pushing a government plan per se, but to rein in the corporate predation of our current system, and make healthcare options that are both affordable and available to such as myself.

BTW, my wife is a British national, so our family knows first hand how a national single payer system works as opposed to the corporate sponsored system of loot, pillage, and deny, deny, deny coverage to maximize profits mess we have here in the US. The contrast is frankly breathtaking in the way the corporations have perverted healthcare, the very practice of medicine for no other ned than to enrich a very few at the expense of not only the majority of Americans, but even at the cost of peoples' very lives when coverage is denied solely on the excuse to see if the client will actually contest a legitimate procedure being denied by an insurance representative.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[jayceee]

I'm sorry, but health care should be a right for everyone. The mentally ill. Criminals. Unemployed. You can tell a lot about a society from how they threat their poor, and elderly.

Also, imagine how productive everyone would be if they could go to the clinic and get check out before whatever they were sick with became worse? Fewer sick days = more productivity.

Jaycee, RN from Vancouver, Canada.

[ljkcan]

I was born before health care and my father had to take a loan to keep me in the hospital for three months. Imagine 1957, 10 years later the Health Canada Act was introduced.

Americans are still struggling with the problems my father had in 1957. That is really quite sad. Quite frankly I am grateful I live in a country where we do not kick our ill to the curb.

[roooth]

When I see someone saying how horrible it would be for my friends to have the same health care I have, I just look at them and wonder if they have the health care they are so quick to deny others.
If they're members of Congress, then, yes, they do - some of the best health care in the world, in fact. And when it came time to give it to themselves, not one of them stood on the floor of Congress and screamed, "Socialism!!" You never see any of them willing to give theirs up either, and they see nothing wrong with us paying for theirs.
What does that tell us?
And when I hear them gush about their, "investor class" crap, I know it's just the Great American Pyramid Scheme. Millions of Americans investing all their money so that these greedy pigs can keep living at the top of the pyramid.
These people really need to be stripped of everything and see what it's like.

[chiron777]

consider that trying to fix the broken healthcare system by pushing more money into conventional medicine, esp with the insurance companies as middlemen, would be like trying to help the auto industry by buying everyone an SUV - it might help the industry and increase access to the product but at huge cost and heading in the wrong direction

this issue will not evolve to a meaningful solution without grasping the centrality of natural medicine, especially naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, chiropractors, etc) as effective, safe, empowering and less expensive (and less risky) healthcare choices that reward self-responsibility and make "wellness" real

choice needs to be supported and responsibility for self-care needs to be emphasized

[Beachchick]

Prayer, incense and leeches are always a good alternatives to a doctor. Uhg!

Remove profit and negotiate pharmaceutical cost like every other developed country.

[justShareandbeNice]

Ack!! PLEASE don't describe natural medicine and it's many manifestations in such a debasing way. It isn't correct, it isn't polite, and it is beside the point. Natural medicine is not only here to stay, it is going to be much, much more accepted in 10-20 years. Get used to it!

[proteus66]

The response following yours was meant for chiron 777, not you. I recognize irony when I see it. I just pressed the wrong button.

[proteus66]

You need to do some reading on Quackwatch (available on the Internet), and I think you might stop recommending this crap.

[redplanet]

Stephen Barrett of quackwatch is a vicious fear monger using quasi scientific jargon to push his corporate agenda. He is backed by the pharmcos and is their mouthpiece. If all you do is read his rants on quackwatch and don't do any research on your own, you are not fully informed. We can cut health care costs by looking at the science behind a lot of what he trashes. It exists, but you have to look for it. He would push statins when niacin would be better because statins make a profit and he's too damn lazy and doesn't care to search for the science. And universal health care is no panacea if we have deals with drugs by the pallet from pharmcos and they don't do any good, just increase the bottom line. for example: Taylor AJ, Sullenberger LE, Lee HJ, Lee JK, Grace KA. Arterial Biology for the Investigation of the Treatment Effects of Reducing Cholesterol (ARBITER) 2: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of extended-release niacin on atherosclerosis progression in secondary prevention patients treated with statins. Circulation 2004;110.

[VorpalAuroch]

Natural medicine, by and large, doesn't work. The placebo effect works really, really well, which hides that pretty well. But every time someone tests natural medicine in double-blind studies, it completely fails. The main difference between people who use natural medicine and people who don't is that only the relatively rich can be bilked into natural medicine; the poor can't afford it. The rich are healthier.

There are exceptions, of course; acupuncture works, except that sticking pins in random locations and telling the patient it's real acupuncture works just as well, statistically. And the whole nutrition industry doesn't work as well as eating traditionally does (the French paradox; they eat as a culture) because centuries of eating and not dying from malnutrition gives some strong evolutionary evidence that it must be somewhat healthy. But overall, natural medicine doesn't stand up to any scrutiny; it's, in Richard Feynman's words, "cargo-cult science."

[shelsay]

the notion that an elected official would block something so vital as health-care should mark the end of their term in service to the people...they are no longer serving anyone in good conscious at that point.

[NoSillyName]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

[goosegoose]

the simple solution is to disband the republican party..

they incite, hatred, racism, and urge and support violence...easy to target them with laws already

on the books,, and put them out of business..same as you would any gang or ring or organized crime.

it's simple.

[win2kpro]

What scares the American public about Universal Health Care are the words "socialized medicine".

The public needs to wake up and remember this. If you are now have a HMO or PPO medical healthcare plan, it is a modified "socialized medicine" program. If you are in the military you have "socialized medicine". I receive my healthcare from the VA and it is "socialized medicine".

The "socialized medicine" medical care I get from the VA is far better than any healthcare I ever received from the "private" sector.

CONGRESS, PASS UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION IN 2009!

[SunshineDaydream]

socialized fire department

socialized police department

socialized public education

socialized public library

socialized highway

socialized postal service

[Tom Payned]

Socialized medicare

Socialized Social Security

Socialized Military

Socialized health care for government employees

Socialized judiciary

socialized federal government employees

Socialized House and Senate (maybe that's the example that makes them leery?)

[degenerate1991]

socialized fire department: let my house burn down even though I live less than 1/3 of a mile away from a fire department

socialized police department: still plenty of crime last I checked; the ones around here are only good for giving speeding tickets

socialized public education: people in my 9th grade HONORS English class could not read; the dropout rate at my old high school is around 40%

socialized public library: I'll give you that, libraries are cool (if only people would use them)

socialized highway: non-point; all nations build roads, not just socialist ones

socialized postal service: People still use the USPS?

[NealHib]

A twofer!

[Tom Payned]

Typical Repug, more concerned with their party than the health and welfare of the citizens they are supposed to represent.

They always whine and complain about medical costs being so high because of medical malpractice coverage, and the trial lawyers. Yet here is a chance to eliminate malpractice insurance, just like in the VA.

Problem solved.

[RODERICK098]

And also to force the corrupt drug companies to drop their ridiculous cost. I believe in Canada the costs are two thirds less and most people do not pay for it the government does.

[IanInCanada]

Most medical services are paid by government In Canada. For example, I've paid nothing for xrays, MRi's, blood tests, doctor's visits, stress tests, ultrasounds, colonoscopies, flu shots, gall bladder removal, visits to an otheopedic surgeon for knee surgery, visits to an oncologist, visit to the hospital Emergency Ward for blocked urinary tract, and melanoma surgeries. Each drug prescription cost me $6.10 because I'm over 65. That even included Interferon which would have otherwise cost me $40,000 over one year.

But if you're under 65, you pay for drugs or get private insurance.

Dental coverage is not paid for by the government.

[floib]

We need to pass HR 676 which is medicare for all/universal health care/single-payer. If we were to pass HR 676, the people would be pooling all of their money, and thegovernment would be the ones to pay the doctors, nurses, secretaries, etc. The government would not be paying anything anymore. When we pool our money, we have more buying power. Passing HR 676 would cover everyone from cradle to the grave. We would have enough money for doctor's visits, eye care, dental care, prescription drugs, mental health reviews, chiropractic care, rehab, nursing home care, and much more.

With HR 676 you can go to any doctor, any hospital, and there would be no more pre-conditions. The goverment would be the only payer. Everybody in, nobody out. Half of all foreclosures are due to medical bills.

Our current health care system is totally broken and needs to be put out of its misery. HR 676 will accomplish that. Write your congressman and relay that message.

[SunshineDaydream]

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-676

[onenvrnos]

Ok, my understanding is that Obama does NOT support universal health care. Does Daschle? Can someone enlighten me on this one, please? I thought Obama only wanted to cover kids, not adults?

[Hawka]

Where'd you read that? Its been a top priority on his agenda since the beginning.

[onenvrnos]

I thought I heard it during the primary debates...but I couldn't find anything about it on his website...

[onenvrnos]

Here's something that relates to what I was talking about:

http://www.factcheck.org/clinton_vs_obama.html

[LHoney]

Passing Universal Healthcare could kill the GOP? That's a 2-fer I can believe in!!!!!