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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=davidjohnson1451@comcast.net
href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net">David Johnson</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=centralILJwJ@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:centralILJwJ@yahoogroups.com">JWJ C-U</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, October 18, 2013 6:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fw: Grand Theft Health Insurance</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Forget the corporate controled DNC propoganda about
the fraud that is Obamacare, read this from a Working class person dealing with
the reality of Obamacare, NOT the propoganda fantasy from non-Working class
people who HAVE decent health insurance.</FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=-1>
<H1 class=article-title>Grand Theft Health Insurance</H1><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/17/grand-theft-health-insurance/"
target=_blank>http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/17/grand-theft-health-insurance/</A><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=mainauthorstyle><FONT size=5><STRONG>by RUSSELL
MOKHIBER</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=main-text><FONT size=5><STRONG>Here I sit, in West Virginia, staring
down at January 1, 2014.<BR>That’s when my health insurance policy expires and I
have a decision to make — renew or not renew?<BR>Right now, I’m paying about
$7,000 a year in premiums for a monster deductible and yearly out of pocket of
about $15,000 for myself and my family.<BR>My health insurance company informed
me yesterday that my premium will doubled to $14,000 on January 1.<BR>I’ve been
trying to get onto the Obamacare web site now for ten days to search for an
alternative. No luck. I made it through four pages yesterday — then got a
message saying I’d have to wait because there was too much traffic. When I
clicked the continue button, it wiped out the information I had typed into the
first three pages.<BR>But even if I do get onto the exchanges, it’s probably not
going to matter.<BR>I </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/highmark-to-be-alone-on-wva-exchange-702974/"><FONT
size=5><STRONG>read in a newspaper that Highmark</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT
size=5><STRONG> is the only health insurance company on the exchange in
West Virginia. Yesterday, I called Highmark and spent an hour on the phone with
a nice young man — but the results were not good. The skimpiest plan is going to
cost me more than I’m paying now for a higher deductible and out of pocket
result.<BR>Thank you Obamacare.<BR>My insurance agent told me yesterday I had
only one alternative — wait for six years until Medicare kicks in and keep
fighting for single payer.<BR>Obviously, the Democrats and anyone who defends
them are not going to be of any help in the next round. They are irrevocably
tied to President Obama and Obamacare and even those Democrats nominally in
favor of single payer </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/2013/10/03/single-payer-bernie-sanders-and-ted-cruz/"><FONT
size=5><STRONG>refuse to criticize it for the industry written law that it
is.</STRONG></FONT></A><BR><A
href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/2013/10/08/single-payer-advocate-quentin-young-passing-obamacare-worse-than-doing-nothing/"><FONT
size=5><STRONG>I agree with Dr. Quentin Young of Physicians for a National
Health Program when he says that Obamacare should have been
defeated</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=5><STRONG> because it enshrines and
solidifies corporate domination of the health care system.<BR>But what to do
next? Well, first thing is to watch a movie called </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://healthcaremovie.net/"><FONT size=5><STRONG>Healthcare — The
Movie.</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=5><STRONG> It’s a short documentary —
62 minutes — but packs a big punch. The movie was produced by a husband wife
team — the wife Canadian — Laurie Simons — and the husband American — Terry
Sterrenberg.<BR>The movie toggles back and forth between the USA and Canada —
with Americans struggling with bankruptcy, death from lack of health insurance
and the dark cloud of health insurance armageddon menacing their lives from
cradle to an often early grave.<BR>The Canadians, by contrast, are living in a
relative health care nirvana, thanks in large part to Tommy Douglas, a boxer and
Premier of Saskatchewan who stood up to the red baiting being dished out at the
time by the Canadian medical establishment. Douglas emerged victorious and his
efforts resulted in the creation of Canada’s single payer Medicare for all. The
movie is narrated by actor Kiefer Sutherland — Tommy Douglas’ grandson.<BR>The
film features great historic clips — including a remarkable scene where a CBC
television show host asks the question — who is the greatest Canadian? And then,
in reality show format, puts it up to a vote.<BR>“After six weeks, ten
finalists, and more than a million votes,” the CBC host says, “it ended tonight
with one name . And I have the envelope here. The greatest Canadian as decided
by you is — Tommy Douglas.”<BR>Imagine that — the country says that Tommy
Douglas, the father of single payer in Canada, is greater than its greatest
hockey player — Wayne Gretzky.<BR>Tommy Douglas’ courageous act — standing up
for the people of Canada against the vicious attacks of the powers that be — has
resulted in a system that delivers health care for all Canadians — no complex
bills, no deductibles, no deaths from lack of health insurance, no medical
bankruptcies — all funded by a progressive tax system.<BR>The movie profiles
Canadians with serious medical illness — who come out financially unscathed — no
bills, no bankruptcy, no health related financial worries.<BR>And then compares
those Canadians to the suffering human beings south of the border.<BR>The movie
does a good job of making us Americans feel like crap compared to our cousins up
north.<BR>Check out this sequence, for example:<BR>How many people in the United
States die each year because they have no health insurance?<BR>45,000<BR>How
many people in Canada die each year because they have no health
insurance?<BR>Zero.<BR>How many people go bankrupt each year in the United
States because of medical expenses?<BR>922,819<BR>How many people go bankrupt
each year in Canada because of medical expenses?<BR>Zero.<BR>How many Americans
do not have health insurance?<BR>50 million.<BR>How many Canadians do not have
health insurance?<BR>Zero.<BR>How many Americans go without medical care because
of costs?<BR>115 million.<BR>How many Canadians go without medical care because
of costs?<BR>Zero.<BR>One of the stars of this film is a young American from
Portland, Oregon named Lindsay Caron.<BR>“I was a free-lance artist for a long
time,” Caron says. “I gave that up to go sit in an office and file papers
so that I could have health care. And it amazed me that other people in
other countries never had to think about that. I kept hearing that Canada’s
system was broken, and that Canadians were flocking over the border to get US
care. And so I wanted to go to Canada with a camera and ask a couple
hundred people. I bought a ticket up to Vancouver, Canada. I rented camera
equipment. And I took my bicycle. I thought maybe I would stay in
Vancouver for a couple of days and cycle on back to Portland. I ended staying
there the whole week. I got up in the morning, set up a camera on the
street and just start asking people questions.”<BR>Caron finds out what polls in
Canada consistently confirm — that the vast majority of Canadians would never in
a thousand years give up their Medicare coverage for the nightmare south of the
border.<BR>It all came about because Tommy Douglas had the guts to stand up to
the political and medical establishment and do what is right for the Canadian
people.<BR>Canada did it.<BR>There is no reason we can’t do it.<BR>It’s simply a
matter of reordering our priorities.<BR>Let’s put aside, for a moment, our
millions of copies of Grand Theft Auto 5 and start playing a new game — Grand
Theft — Health Insurance.<BR>The goal of the game is to become a boxer, like
Tommy Douglas — and fight back against the insurance industry and its
Frankenstein monster — Obamacare.<BR>Repeal Obamacare.<BR>Replace it with single
payer.<BR></STRONG></FONT><EM><STRONG>Russell Mokhiber</STRONG> edits <A
href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/">Single Payer
Action</A>.</EM><BR></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>