AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Hillary Rides to the Rescue - of the Insurance Industry
Can Dennis Kusinich save the day?

This week Senator Hillary Clinton unveilled her health care plan. While up to now, her campaign rhetoric was based upon the fact that she learned her lessons and had the scars to prove it, her new plan doesn't look a lot different than the one that was shot down in flames in 1993. In her new plan, insurance is mainly provided by employers, and consumers must carry insurance or face penalties. If there's anything significant to take costs out of the system, I haven't seen it. If there's anything that reduces the burdens on struggling employers, I haven't seen it. If there's anything that equalizes the playing field betwen employers that cover retirees (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and those that don't (Toyota), I don't see it.

Senator Clinton's plan Looks a lot like Senator Obama's and John Edwards', especially Edwards'. While Rudy Giuliani accused Senator Clinton of advocating "socialized medicine." In fact it is the lack of a single (government) payor which is the key flaw in the Clinton plan. The Clinton plan looks like the Massachusets plan put into place by Governor Mitt Romney. Recent statistics show that Massachusets has the highest per capita health care costs in the country.

Even Michael Moore is not smitten by Clinton's plan. Moore advocates the single payor "Medicare for all" plan that is pending in the House as H.R. 676. It's also known as the "Conyer's bill", named after Michigan Representative John Conyers, and it has 78 cosponsors. Among the presidential candidates, only Dennis Kusinich has come out in favor of it.

The Detroit Three may need single payor insurance to survive in the long term. They need a system that takes the cost of health insurance off of the employers' backs. Only "fringe" candidate Kusinich supports this. Can Kusinich save the automakers? I'd like to support Kusinich, but I'm having a hard time getting past the whole hair thing.

If you want to sound off on the healthcare issue to your congressional representative, here's a link to all of teh e-mail addresses through the Michaelmoore.com site.