Now that the healthcare debate has been reduced to arguing about how to extract an additional trillion dollars from the economy over the next decade in order to enrich the insurance industry and drug companies, I thought it timely to suggest a public campaign to inform the citizenry as to how other countries obtain better results with fewer resource.
If an international strategic consulting firm was hired to provide an overview of the current situation, the very first questions which would be asked are:
How does everyone else do it??
Is there any element of what our "competitors" are doing which we could incorporate in our final report??
One of the rules of consulting is "Don't reinvent the wheel."
I think we, the reality based community, can be of greatest service and perform the same task by creating about 20 Diaries, permanently posted, to cover every other industrialized country, and include all the relevant, accurate information that can be found. Each Diary would address how each system is structured, what services are provided under teach plan, how are health professionals compensated, who owns the hospitals and all the other facts needed to counteract the fears and mis-information being spread all over the country. I'm certain I haven't covered all the topics to be covered. And perhaps there is an alternative site already doing this, but none of them have the ability to create exposure the way Kos can.
Now, I recognize that in a democracy this job should be handled by the news media. (Have you ever read or seen anything titled "How do they do it in Germany" or "What makes the French system so successful"???) They have failed us completely, but most Americans are too stupid, or arrogant or uninterested to become educated citizens.
This totally fucked up reform package wending its way through Congress is stupid and expensive, even criminal. It was written by lobbyists for their clients and represents another giant step toward a corporatist state. The "reform" is to force everyone to buy insurnce from the insurance industry and to give the insurance industry government funds to compensate them for poor people. How could this abortion ever be considered a reform?
We need to educate and advocate.
If we worked our asses off through the August recess, I truly believe we could be ready to ask the really important question of the government and have the public support to demand answers. Or, this diary will slide into oblivion before the next segment of "Morning Joe".