Progressive Review reveals that over the past week, hundreds of stories in major newspapers and on NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR and PBS's News Hour With Jim Lehrer mentioned healthcare reform, according to a search of the Nexis database. Yet all but 18 of these stories made no mention of single-payer (or synonyms commonly used by its proponents, such as "Medicare for all," or the proposed single-payer bill, H.R. 676), and only five included the views of advocates of single-payer--none of which appeared on television.
Of a total of 10 newspaper columns FAIR found that mentioned single-payer, Neo con hack Charles Krauthammer's syndicated column critical of the concept, published in the Washington Post and reprinted in four other daily newspapers, accounted for five instances. Only three columns in the study period advocated for a single- payer system.
The FAIR study turned up only three mentions of single-payer on the TV outlets surveyed, and two of those references were by TV guests who expressed strong disapproval of it.
Single-payer ~ a model in which healthcare delivery would remain largely private, but would be paid for by a single federal health insurance fund (much like Medicare provides for seniors, and comparable to Canada's very popular current system) ~ polls well with the public, who preferred it two-to-one over a privatized system in a recent survey (New York Times/CBS, 1/11-15/09). http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3733
Health insurers and drug makers have been showering members of Congress with millions in campaign contributions over the last four years, with a special focus on leaders who will play major roles in shaping health-care legislation.
The biggest beneficiaries in the Senate included John McCain (R-Ariz.), with $546,000; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), with $425,000; and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), with $413,000, who as head of the Finance Committee will play a leading role in the debate over health-care reform. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/07/AR2009030701748.html
Obviously, the healthcare special interest lobby groups are exerting tremendous pressure on politicians as well as the media to stay on the Privatized bandwagon and ignore the people's wishes ~ but never underestimate an informed and angry public demanding change.
Here are the unanswered questions that the lobbyists can't answer and infuriates most Americans.
Why does every developed nation except the U.S. have universal healthcare? Why do they pay half as much in medical costs? Why are their infant mortality and longevity statistics superior ? Joe Conason, Salon, addresses these questions and effectively argues that " healthcare is a public good and a human right ~ the domination of private interests must be curtailed." http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/03/09/healthcare/index.html?source=newsletter
Take Action ~ National Call-in Day for HR 676 March 12, 2009. Call Congress, and the President Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 (ask for your representative's office) .
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/03/10.html
