Introduction to Cosmos

One of my Favorite short Videos - Carl Sagan - Evolution

Robert Reich: Pharma and Insurance Killing the Public Option for Health Insurance

Full text is at the link. Here is a sample:

I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits.

What is so hard to understand about this? Insurance companies, to guarantee their profits, will always look for ways to deny claims. That's the nature of the business. Time for this country to grow up, treat health insurance the way other westernized, civilized countries do. With a single-payer system.

The World Health Organization recently released statistics that placed the United States at 37th out of the top 40 nations for overall health system performance. You can find a website with links to the full report and the spreadsheet with statistical data here. Note that the top ten are single-payer systems.

No doubt, elected officials in this country, both Republican and Democratic, who are bought and paid for by Big Insurance and Pharma, will unleash their usual gibberish about how we don't want the government between ourselves and our doctors. Really? I am one of the nearly 50 million people in this country without health insurance. I would like to have access to a doctor at all, thank you.