Dr. Oliver Fein Interview

Single payer is often misunderstood.
Some people believe, for example, that you need to be single to get insurance under a single payer system.
That’s according to Dr. Oliver Fein, President of Physicians for a National Health Program and Professor of Clinical Medicine and Public Health at Cornell University.
“I’ve had people come up to me and say — you mean I have to be single to get into your plan? No no no no. We’re talking about Medicare for all. So there is a lot of educational work that needs to be done with the public,” Fein told Single Payer Action earlier this month.

That’s one reason why single payer is not gaining traction in this pivotal year.
“Also, there’s an enormous influence on Congress, on our political leaders through the private health insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry — both of which wield disproportionate influence because of the amount of money that they’re able to pour into the system,” Fein said.

Dr. Marcia Angell says that because of the political forces arrayed against single payer, it’s not going to happen in this country.
Do you agree?
“In the short term that may be true,” Dr. Fein says. “But I really think that there is building sentiment that we need to really do some fundamental change. I’m not sure the public identifies quite yet with the term single payer. But I think that they do recognize that there needs to be fundamental change.”

Fein says that when he travels to speak about single payer, he asks the question:
— Do you want to keep the health insurance you currently have?
“And you know 5 to 10 percent of the audience say yes that’s what they want to do and the rest want some real change, they don’t want the present private health insurance industry.”

That sort of differs from what we are hearing from the anti-single payer camp — that surveys show that the majority of Americans want to keep their health insurance, no?
“I think those studies are really suspect at this point,” Fein says. “You have to dig much deeper about how were the question is asked. Were they really inquiring about a Medicare for all type of system? Or were they in fact given words that might turn people off like government run and that kind of thing?”

Source: Single Payer Action

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Life expectancy could be topic in health care debate

Source: UC Atlas of Global Inequality

Despite spending more money than any other country on health care, the United States does not lead the world in life expectancy, a long-known fact that some experts say could raise more questions in the health-care reform debate.
The United States ranks 50th out of 224 nations in life expectancy, with an average life span of 78.1 years, according to 2009 estimates from the CIA World Factbook.
Some argue part of the problem from the privatized nature of the U.S. health care system, whose reform is being vigorously debated on Capitol Hill.

"What we are able to find in the industrialized world is that life expectancy will be influenced in a beneficial manner to the extent that health care expenditure is publicly financed," said Harvey Brenner, professor of public health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Johns Hopkins University. "The higher the government expenditure on health care, the lower will be the mortality rate."
In countries where individuals pay for their own care, people often don't get treatment until their symptoms have become serious, Brenner said. There is also less emphasis on preventative care in those countries, he said.

An analysis by Bianca Frogner, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Public Health, supports the view that a Single-Payer system may be associated with higher life expectancy. The federal governments of countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and Canada are the payers for the respective systems, and these countries have some of the highest life expectancies in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
"Inevitably the conversation about reforming our health care system focuses on the question of what are we getting for our money and how are others doing with their health care dollars. Life expectancy, along with mortality and morbidity rates, are fairly straightforward numbers to rely on," Frogner said in an e-mail.

A 2008 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that with the implementation of the Taiwan single payer systems, gain in life expectancy was slightly faster in the 10 years after reform than the 10 years prior to the reform.
Source: CNN

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Everybody In, Nobody Out !

Jammin' for a Single-Payer National Health Plan

Friday, June 12, 2009
5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
The Linda Norris Auditorium
339 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Music and entertainment by the bands Broadcast Live and Mother Mcrees,
the disc jockey Jardread, and the humorist Gregor Wynnyczuk.

Admission is based on ability to pay with a suggested contribution of $10 - $25.

Light refreshments will be provided with a cash bar for beer, wine and
non-alcoholic beverages.
The event is co-sponsored by Single-Payer New York, Troy Area Labor Council, Hunger Action Network of New York State,
Capital District Alliance for Universal Healthcare and
The Capital District Area Labor Federation.

For more information contact Connie LaPorta at:
connie3049@earthlink.net or 274-4863

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