Forty some years ago, the Republican Party reorganized with the intent of reshaping public policy to reflect its conservative views. They developed a core group of “think tanks” such as the Heritage Foundation, to set goals, develop strategy and fund other +organizations to implement policy. They bought media outlets and began using the internet to take control of the message, reeducate and reshape the views of the ‘liberal’ American public and the “institutional strongholds of American liberalism: academia, Congress, the judiciary, executive branch agencies, religious institutions and philanthropy itself…actively promoting an anti-government, unregulated markets agenda”, as written by Sally Covington in an article,

    How Conservative Philanthropies and Think Tanks Transform US Policy

, published in the Covert Action Quarterly, in the winter of 1998. They funneled “$80 million to right-wing policy institutions… another $89 million supported conservative scholars and academic programs” and $27 million was spent “to recruit and train the next generation of right wing leaders.”

They also targeted federal anti-poverty programs contending “that poverty was the result of personal irresponsibility coupled with government programs that rewarded and encouraged it.”

They organized grass roots campaigns to put more Republicans into public office, first locally and then on a national level. Using highly questionable tactics – such as intimidation, fear tactics, religion, playing one group against another, spreading misinformation and using wedge issues, they succeeded in shifting the political leaning of the country from center to far right. Then they installed George W. Bush as President. Under Bush, conservatives succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in restructuring policy and changing our laws to favor the wealthy, corporations and Republican ideology.

Throughout history, Republicans have fought unions, workers’ rights, a living wage for workers, women’s voting rights, minimum wage increases to counter inflation, black civil rights and more recently, equal rights for women and gays. Their strategy has been simple: demonize, go on the attack and flood the media with disinformation and propaganda to stir up fear and mislead the public.

Over the past several decades, special interest groups have become very powerful. Their agenda has been to influence legislation and secure even greater economic power and influence for the wealthy, corporations and the health insurance and drug industries. They’ve virtually taken over in the US, in part by hiring former politicians who use their connections and expertise to lobby Congress on their behalf.

After many Republicans were voted out for incompetence last November, they adopted a strategy of obstructing all Democratic efforts to repair the damage done under the Bush administration. After the economic meltdown of Wall Street and the banking and housing industries that occurred before Bush left office, it became imperative for the U.S. to fix our hemorrhaging health care system. We won’t make a full economic recovery until and unless we do. Despite this, Republicans are furiously working to undermine health care reform. Their “strategy” is to bring down Obama and prevent Democratic efforts to create needed change. Though it may fatally wound our country, they believe it will give them a platform and a foot in the door to power in 2010.

Many Republicans (and some Democrats) have received millions in campaign contributions from health insurance companies. These same Republicans are responsible for circulating much of the misinformation used to incite fear and help the insurance industry maintain it’s stranglehold on our country and wallets.

One line of attack is to frighten the elderly about “death panels” that will deny care to frail seniors. Those who are poorly informed accept these false allegations and seem to do little credible research to determine facts. They’re further manipulated by far right organizations that front for health insurance companies. These are the people who are bused into Town Hall meetings to create chaos and prevent any real discussion that may correct misinformation and misunderstandings. They seem to take great pride in their role and the opportunity to speak out. But their outrage seems to reflect an undercurrent of racism in response to the election of a black President and a more liberal Democratic Party intent on change.

Republicans insist that a government option will result in rationed care. The reality is we already have rationed care through the insurance industry’s use of preexisting conditions, their refusal to approve necessary procedures and life-saving treatments and their policy of consistently raising the cost of health care premiums. Most of us pay for health care for many years and rarely use it, until we’re older. When patients do require on-going, extensive or catastrophic care, they often lose their coverage when they need it most or learn that their premiums have become so costly, they can no longer pay them.

Other tactics include painting nightmare scenarios about universal, government-run single-payer health care in other countries. Republicans tell shocking stories of the government making health care decisions for doctors and patients and controlling who lives or dies or receives crucial operations and procedures. They also claim that patients are unable to choose their own doctor, must wait for months to see their physician or years for heart surgery and other time-critical procedures.

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, profits rose 428% for the ten largest U.S. health insurance companies between 2000-2007—from 2.4 billion to 12.9 billion. Combined total compensation for CEOs at these companies was $118.6 million, or $11.9 million each, on average. This is 468 times more than the $25,434 income of the average American.

During this same period, the number of uninsured rose 19%, from 38.4 million to 45.7 million.

According to an article titled, Health Care Lobbyists vs. The People: The Final Showdown, written by Art Levine and published in the Huffington Post on June 24, 2009, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) stated that “health insurance premiums have skyrocketed, going up more than 87% over the past six years.” This article also indicated that the health insurance industry has spent a half-billion dollars over a decade to block meaningful health care reform. They refuse to cover many health care costs, but will willingly spend a half billion dollars on lobbying.

A study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine, indicates that “medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1%) of all bankruptcies and more than three-quarters (77.9%) of those had insurance.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that “nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007”. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to estimate that nearly 54 million Americans, or 27% of the population under 65, were uninsured in the first-half of 2007.

My mother was a single parent who supported her family as a nurse for many years in California. Thirty years ago, she broke her back and had x-rays, but was told there were no broken bones. A year later, after developing serious back problems, more x-rays were taken that showed several broken vertebrae and nerve damage to the surrounding tissue. By that time, she was using a wheelchair. She eventually had surgery to fuse her back and this eventually allowed her to walk again. Throughout this ordeal, the insurance company consistently raised her premiums until she could no longer afford coverage. Despite working hard, saving and investing for many years, she was forced to use her retirement to pay medical bills. For the rest of her life, she lived on social security.

A few years ago, a friend of mine needed surgery. She was told she would die within five years without it. Her health insurance company refused to approve the surgery on three different occasions over a period of six months. Instead, they demanded that she meet this or that requirement, in the hope that she would fail. She didn’t — she met each requirement and the doctors moved forward and set a date for the surgery. Nevertheless, the insurance company refused to authorize or approve it until the day before the operation had been scheduled. She had to fight for six months to get them to do the right thing.

The insurance industry is currently spending $1.4 million a day on lobbying to influence the public and prevent real health care reform. They’ve had decades to change the inequities and develop better health coverage options for more people, but their primary concern has been putting more money into their own pockets and spending enormous sums to prevent people from having the coverage they’ve paid for, for many years and are entitled to use.

A single payer universal health care option will be much less expensive and provide quality care. It will also force the insurance companies to compete, lower their premiums, offer better quality care and stop using preexisting conditions and illness to deny people coverage. Those who don’t want a government option will be free to continue with their current health insurance provider.

Howard Dean, M.D., who was also the Chair of the Democratic Party from February of ’05 until January of ’09, has written a book I highly recommend, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Health Care Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer.

Most Americans are fed up with the greed that drives our politicians, government, corporations, banks and the drug and insurance industries. We want real change that benefits real people.

I hope others around the world with universal, single-payer government health care will share information about your experiences, the quality of your care and the cost. If we can get a dialogue going here in the U.S. based on facts, rather than insurance industry-driven fear mongering, perhaps those taken in by unscrupulous Republicans will recognize that we have much more to gain and far too much to lose, to continue indulging and feeding the greed of the insurance industry.

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