GOP Rep Johnson Shows Why Single-Payer Is the Only Solution

Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) just demonstrated why private health insurance cannot provide necessary care to all Americans -- and, what's worse, while doing so he doesn't seem to understand that he made the best case for a single-payer system.

During an interview on Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd noted that Republicans in the Senate had held no hearings on their health care bill and so they could not say for sure why insurance companies were abandoning some markets.

Johnson sidestepped the refusal to hold hearings and insisted that he already knows the answer “but nobody wants to talk about it.”

The Wisconsin Republican pointed to Obamacare rules that forbid insurance companies from charging more for people with preexisting conditions.

“We know why those premiums doubled,” he opined. “We’ve done something with our health care system that you would never think about doing, for example, with auto insurance, where you would require auto insurance companies to sell a policy to somebody after they crash their car.”

“States that have… guarantees for preexisting conditions, it crashes their markets,” he continued. “It causes the markets to collapse. It causes premiums to skyrocket.”

Notice that Johnson is more concerned about markets than people. That's the fundamental problem. He likens people to old cars, which are thrown into a scrapyard when no longer userful. And he doesn't even realize what he's saying.

But it's been known for over 50 years that markets cannot provide quality, universal health care to everyone in a society. Nobel Laureate economist Kenneth Arrow showed why in the early '60s:

"Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care," Kenneth J. Arrow, The American Economic Review, Vol. LIII n 5 (Dec 1963)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/top20/53.5.941-973.pdf

For a synopsis you can read:

"Why markets can't cure healthcare," Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 25, 2009.
"Patients are not Consumers," Paul Krugman, New York Times, April 21 2011.

In short, markets cannot deliver health care like they deliver bread or shoes, because

(1) you cannot predict when you will need care

(2) or what care you will need (you need to rely on experts)

(3) you usually can't comparison shop, especially for the most expensive costs.

Buying health care is not like buying bread. Thus, you need an insurance system. And private insurance systems demand a profit, and a large administrative staff to analyze and deny claims (NOT paying for care is, after all, how they make their money). Private insurers refuse to insure those they think will be too expensive, and drop clients who have become too expensive. 

You can be sure I am taking this pretty fucking personally -- at my age I need health care. If my government can't help me get it I will seriously need to think about moving abroad to somewhere where it's affordable. And moving away from my family, especially my niece and nephew, who I am very close to and want to watch and help grow up, is one of the major thrusts of my life.

We all know that America has been in decline for some time now. This GOP health care bill -- really a tax cut bill; it's just that healthcare is where they found the money -- will kill people, will cause millions to suffer, will mean hundreds of thousands of the elderly will not be able to live in nursing homes -- and it is so severe it could possibly be what finally sends the U.S. over the edge.

And it won't reduce insurance premiums and deductibles and copays at all. With tens of millions of people lacking health insurance, but still needing care, hospitals will pay for them by charging those with insurance even more, like it was pre-ACA.

Imagine a political party that cares so much for the wealthy and so little for the rest of the country that they are throwing the country into the sewer. Try to imagine the hearts of such men. Because I can't.