Of course I could be wrong. Congress could turn around and pass

some cockamamie scheme to kick the issue of health care reform down the

road, offering some kind of minimal insurance coverage to a few million

more people, and cracking down on this or that particularly egregious

health provider rip-off, and then staging a "mission accomplished"

photo op.

But real health care reform of the kind that Democratic candidates

were promising during last year's presidential campaign is dead, killed

by the timidity of the promiser-in-chief, President Barack Obama (and

by the massive corruption of the Democrats in Congress, who hav e

accepted the tainted coin of the health care industry).

Obama could have come to the American people as a newly elected

leader and addressed us as adults, saying: "Look, we know what needs to

be done. Plenty of countries in Canada, Europe and elsewhere have

figured it out already. They set up the government as the single payer

to health providers-doctors and hospitals, etc.-and the government

bargains and sets the prices those private providers of health care can

charge. Of course that means you'll all pay higher taxes to finance

such a plan, but the record of all those countries shows that you'll be

saving money over all, because you won't be paying for health

insurance, your employer won't be paying for health insurance, you

won't be paying co-pays and deductibles, and you won't be getting

gouged for drugs or hospital stays or doctors' bills. You won't be

paying state taxes for Medicaid either, nor will your insurance and

local property taxes have to subsidize the hospital care of indigents.

On balance, you'll all be saving money, and you'll never have to worry

about disease or injury bankrupting you. Nor will employers be able to

hold you hostage any longer. The reality is that the countries that

have a single-payer plan are spending half of what we spend per capita

for health care, they have no uninsured citizens, and their health

overall, as measured by such things as longevity, infant mortality,

etc., is better than ours."

The president could have said all this and rallied the tens of

millions of Americans who desperately want a health care system modeled

on the single-payer idea to his side, forcing Congress to go along or

pay the price in 2010.

Instead...

For the rest of this article, please go to: www.thiscantbehappening.net

________________

DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist. He is author of

"Marketplace Medicine: The Rise of the For-Profit Hospital Chains"

(Bantam Books, 1992), and of "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's

Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Author's Website: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

Author's Bio: Dave Lindorff, a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His latest book, coauthored with Barbara Olshanshky, is "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, May 2006). His writing is available at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

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