Thursday, July 30 is the 44th anniversary of Medicare.
As LBJ said that day as he signed the bill into law,
No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully, put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts.
And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country.
I hope the health reform bill will make it through Congress before the recess, despite yesterday's speculation that the Senate Finance Committee is considering abandoning the public option.
Celebrating Medicare this week, which marks a very significant milestone in the nation's history, can protect the public option.
Why celebrate Medicare's birthday this Thusday?
Medicare took the nation from a time when the elderly were vulnerable to devastating illness and dependent on the charity of their families, to the dignity and independence of government-run health insurance. It's an important milestone and a model plan that works well, is efficient and patient-friendly, and is highly popular.
1. Celebrating Medicare will help President Obama keep the public option alive.
Our elected officials need to feel the urgency and hardship faced by ordinary Americans, and also need to understand the depth of public support for serious reform. As he said recently,
"It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington. And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not... People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody."
The popular and efficient Medicare program belies false claims that a public option will be wasteful and unpopular. Let's keep it at the forefront of the debate.
2. Celebrating Medicare will keep the conversation going.
It should be pretty obvious from my record that I'm still a fan of a single-payer system. I just feel that it is more economical and more comprehensive; it saves money and is more just. And while I've come to support the idea of a public option instead, if that gets whittled away into nothing, I'm heading back to the barricades for single-payer.
Doing so keeps the conversation alive. The Kucinich Amendment will prevent health insurance companies from suing states that opt to develop a single-payer system, will prolong the debate over robust health reform. Because healthy debate will lead to a more truthful assessment of what the nation needs to recover economically, this is a very important development indeed.
3. Celebrating Medicare will aid the state-wide movements.
State-wide efforts will be popular, in spite of the economic crisis, because they promise three significant benefits to struggling state economies:
- Single-payer health insurance will attract businesses, which will provide state constituents with jobs and revenue for services;
- With unemployment rising, it's the best way to protect state constituents from health calamities that they can't afford;
- Single-payer insurance is the only effective way to rein in out-of-control health care costs, by eliminating duplication, waste and the competing PR bureaucracies of the private companies.
Once a few states recognize these benefits, and begin to think of ways to compete for the the most effective plan, national single-payer insurance won't be far behind.
How to Celebrate Medicare's Birthday?
You can join the Single-Payer Health Care Rally in Washington, DC on Thursday, July 30.
(If you can't get to DC, lots of local rallies and creative events are being organized as well).
Host a screening party with a double-feature of Michael Moore's SiCKO and Bill Moyers' special on health reform.
Join state-wide efforts to enact single-payer plans have the power to drive this debate into the next election cycle. I haven't found a single comprehensive list, but googling turned up a lot of campaigns on the state level. In Colorado, for example, there's a push for HB 09-1271, the Colorado Guaranteed Health Care Act. Find organizations and activists in your own states and post them in the comments.
This is our last week before Congress recesses.
Let's be loud and celebratory.
Let's remind Americans what the elderly faced before Medicare.
And let's remind Americans about MEDICARE, the most popular health program in the nation's history, before the insurance companies manage to stifle the entire debate.