[Antiracism] Republican sides with insurance companies

[Marty Nathan]

To The Republican:

 

It was my understanding that news articles and entertainment reviews were not supposed to include political editorial. The Republican proved me wrong when, in the space of two days it took a stand against access to health care for all and by default protected the mammoth insurance companies who block true health care reform. 

 

First, in the article "Health care law reaches key marker", Steve LeBlanc called a "single government-funded (health) program" a "politically nuclear option", which conveyed to me that a Canadian-type health care system would incinerate us all.

 

Then, planning to go to Michael Moore's "Sicko", I turned to the spot movie reviews and found that the film which had enjoyed the second-most successful opening of any documentary in this country's history had received only 2 stars because the reviewer called it "simplistic" and Moore "annoying" for "rising up as a folk hero". 

 

I am a doctor who every day takes care of many people in Springfield without medical insurance and with totally inadequate insurance. I spend much of my time trying to figure out how sick people can get the care that they need but from which they are barred because of poverty and economic barriers. It is very, very complicated, and when I went to see "Sicko" I found that the rendition of the problem was the best and at the same time most poignant and humorous that I had ever seen. And if the public audience I shared the viewing with was "annoyed" by Moore's pleading for decent social and medical services to which our tax dollars should entitle us, their spontaneous applause at the end of "Sicko" sure didn't indicate it.

 

"Sicko" advocates for a single payor system, like our successful Medicare, but applied to all persons in this country. Similar to the systems of almost all other countries in the western world, as Moore points out. It would be cheaper, easier to use, and more effective as shown by study after public health study. Such a system would only be a "nuclear option" to the CEOs of pharmaceutical, hospital supply and insurance companies and to the politicians whose pockets they line. 

 

A single-payor system would be a salvation to many of my patients who are either denied medical care due to its outrageous cost or go bankrupt paying bills.

 

The Republican needs to re-examine its editorial policies - not just on the editorial page - and enter into honest debate about how to fix our very sick health care system. As Moore so graphically demonstrates, free government-run health care is the obvious answer.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Marty Nathan MD

Brightwood Health Center, Springfield, MA
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/antiracism/attachments/20070702/5c95fc43/attachment.htm>