#42. Single-Payer Health Care

Perry L. Gardner: Private Journal #42
Sunday, February 28, 1993

 

Suffolk Community Council: Lobbying for Single-Payer Health Care

I am sitting here angry and frustrated because of roadblocks against a single-payer, Canadian-style health care insurance system.

John Lineweaver gave me a reprint from the New York Times about the Managed Competition scheme of the Jackson Hole Group— this brain trust of vested interests from the Insurance Companies, Drug Companies, HMOs, etc.

The article speaks in glowing terms about this group but gives short shrift to single-payer advocates. Somehow, they (the Managed Care Advocates) seem to think that a Canadian system is too radical and somehow un-American. Bullshit!

The crux of the question is whether Americans will support a single-payer system. Given equal time and a balanced presentation of the alternatives, I’m sure they would.