Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)

Thousands of US Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) support the only equitable system - government-sponsored single-payer coverage, Medicare for all, everyone in, no one left out.

PNHP co-founder Dr. Steffie Woolhandler discussed Obamacare, Trumpcare and single-payer coverage in a recent interview. Here are the highlights.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA-Obamacare) “was never a good bill. It left 28 million Americans completely uninsured and tens of millions more with…unaffordable gaps in their coverage, like (unacceptably high) copayments and deductibles and uncovered services.”

The best way to fight GOP-sponsored deplorable House and Senate versions of Trumpcare is by saying “(l)et’s move forward from the Affordable Care Act to a single-payer system, rather than backward through repeal.”

“The single-payer system works, because by having a single, simple Medicare-for-all system, you save so much money on administrative costs and overhead that you can cover all of the uninsured and improve coverage for everybody else who has gaps in their coverage without raising total healthcare costs.”

“(T)hat’s why about 20,000 US physicians have come together into Physicians for a National Health Program to advocate single payer.”

“That’s why the National Nurses United, the biggest nursing union in the country, is pushing single payer.”

That’s why 112 Democrats co-sponsored Rep. John Conyers single-payer bill. It’s time to assure all Americans have this fundamental human right - instead of today’s deplorable system, based on the ability to pay.

Polls show most Americans support Medicare for all. “(W)e’re getting a whole lot more discussion of single payer now than we’ve ever had before,” Woolhandler explained.

Making it the law of the land is only possible if people maintain “pressure on the politicians.” It won’t happen any other way.

“It’s going to happen (one day) because we have a movement that’s strong enough to counter the political power of these rich people, who are getting these huge tax cuts; of the insurance industry, who would have no place in an efficiently run single-payer system,” Woolhandler explained.

Who thinks Big Pharma will voluntarily accept lower prices under single payer?

“The only way to push (it) through (is by) building a movement. (It’s) possible right now, with polls showing that two out of every three Americans who have an opinion on healthcare think we need some sort of Medicare-for-all program,” said Woolhandler.

“So, now is really the time to be pushing this. (It’s) the only way to really counter the Republican momentum at this point.”

What’s hard to accomplish takes great time and effort, the impossible a little longer to achieve.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

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