I’m covering the “Take Back America” conference in DC this week. It’s one of the leading progressive confabs, attended by everyone from subscribers to “the Weekly Worker” to green investment funds to Families USA to Sens. Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Klobuchar to MoveOn.org. I’m here to hear what progressives are saying about health care and health reform.
So far, it appears the short answer is “not much”.
Of the dozens of sessions there is precisely one (in the formal schedule) on health care. There is another session, specifically on a single-payer system, that was “self-organized”; these sessions are set up by attendees with a specific interest in a specific topic. In contrast, there are three on various economy-related topics, several on security, terrorism, and Iraq, and at least three on blogs and the new media…
This despite the public’s clamor for health care reform and polls that indicate health care reform is a top domestic issue.
The existence of one attendee-organized session has two possible implications – either health care is more of an issue than the organizers thought, or since there is only one issue it really isn’t a top-of-mind topic.
One early note – based on a couple of brief conversations here, there are more than a few strong single-payer advocates here. I have yet to meet any other ex-insurance industry types; I’ll keep an eye out for middle aged people in suits looking woefully out of place.
The American left has become obsessed with single-payer, to the exclusion of any other route to universal health care. Try going to Daily Kos, the largest progressive political website, and arguing for something other than the complete destruction of private health plans. You will probably be treated with contempt.
The amount of scapegoating of insurers that goes on there and other places on the left (hello Michael Moore!) is astounding. If there is something wrong with health care, they will find a way to blame insurers or big pharma for it pretty much exclusively. And I say that as someone who is solidly left of center on a large majority of issues.
So I’m not surprised there is no serious discussion of health care reform at the Take Back America! conference. They believe we don’t need discussion, other than to find new ways to describe how single payer is the only way to go.
Joe, the link doesn’t seem to be working. It sends me to some odd website about systems thinking.
Thanks JD – link is fixed.
if the reports are correct that there is 43 million without health care in the United States today then the USA should be ashamed of itself,American is supposedly the most affluent country in the west today and it cannot provide affordable health care for all it`s citizens, but it can waste billions of dollars in a war that is meaningful for only the arms manufacturers, what does this say about the government’s attitude towards its citizens.I live in a little country call Sweden and we can afford health care for all.