The truth about American health-care reform

Today in America we witness the disgusting performance of corporate lobbyists, self-interest groups and certain “conservative†leaders and media who seek to misinform, mislead, frighten and take advantage of a gullible, ignorant and angry segment of the American public on the issue of health-care reform. In contrast, the truth is succinctly and brilliantly summarized by President Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, in “Health Insurance Reform Reality Check.†(See WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck.)

No, there is to be no “death panel†to pull the plug on Granny. No, there is no secret “liberal†plot against children, veterans, small businesses, the poor or elderly. No, Medicare benefits will not be cut, but rather expanded. Nor will health care be “rationed.†(It’s the insurance companies today who do the rationing.) No, you won’t be forced out of your current insurance plan, or made to switch your health-care providers. The truth on every one of these allegations is quite the reverse of the disinformation trumpeted by the naysayers.

Yes, a “public option†— which you can select as a matter of free choice — will provide better coverage at far lower cost. I have previously reported on this. (See “Cost of universal health care vs. cost of doing nothing,†and “Comparative costs of private health insurance vs. a public option,†in The Lakeville Journal, July 30 and Aug. 6, 2009.) A public option is the only effective way of ensuring that health insurance costs are reduced and made affordable to all Americans, thanks to the beneficial effects of head-to-head competition, honest negotiation and bulk purchasing.

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The insurance industry wants you to take your eye off the ball (the real issue being the public option and not Granny) so they can go on taking unconscionable profits out of the existing health system — and out of your health. Today, average premiums on private health insurance policies are rising at a rate of 12 to 15 percent a year. What does this do for the insurance companies? According to the current “Harper’s Index,†since 2002 the percentage change in profits of the top 10 insurance companies has been an astounding 428 percent, or more than 60 percent a year. Little wonder the private insurance industry doesn’t want to compete with a lower-cost public option. They prefer the survival of the less fit.

The pharmaceutical industry, scientifically admirable as they are, feign support for health-care reform, but their real interest is to be sure that that price controls are excluded from the reform package. So far, they are winning.

By way of example, I previously reported on the example of the excellent anti-cancer drug Thalomid, a month’s supply of which costs less than $100 to manufacture, but sells to American patients for $5,000 a month — an unconscionable price markup. No wonder the industry spends tens of millions of dollars lobbying Congress to resist fair pricing standards. That would be “socialism.â€

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Industry, of course, has the right of free speech to argue its case, but deliberate misinformation is not protected free speech. Our elected congressional representatives and senators also have the right to free speech, and we American citizens have the right to hear them. That’s the democratic contract. When obstruction, misrepresentation and violence are spread across state lines, using the federal postal system, there may be grounds for prosecution and conviction of the ringleaders. We need to sharpen the codified law, so wrong-doers get the point.

We have to face the fact that there are self-centered, self-interested individuals and groups in America who do not serve the interests of the country because they have “other priorities†— their own priorities — that come first. Fundamentally, they have lost faith in American democracy, values and law. We see this, for example, in the “conservative†movement known as the “Brotherhood†of C Street, as intriguingly investigated and revealed by Jeff Sharlet in “The Family†(Harper Collins, 2008).

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Is it possible that leading personalities, businessmen and elected officials could possibly believe all this, or feel free to misinform the public, hoodwink the gullible, the better to manage and manipulate them? Would they outright lie about health-care reform, when they know better? Would they obstruct Congress and the American people? Of course they would. They’re doing it.

Criminal justice attorney Michael Tigar quotes former University of California system President Clark Kerr for this view. In his book, “Industrialism and Industrial Man,†Kerr anticipates a future society divided into two classes: “the managers and the managed.†The managed (us) are to be trained to follow orders from the managers (them). Kerr adds, “Intellectuals are by nature irresponsible,†and must be captured and utilized, for “they may be a tool as well as a source of danger.†(See “Fighting Injustice,†American Bar Association, 2002.) “They†know what’s best for our health. We don’t.

Ultimately, this is what the health reform versus disinformation campaign is really all about: Who rules America — the American people or the self-centered managerial few? Can the 72 percent of Americans who want a public option be heard? Or will the moneyed self-interest groups drown out American democracy? The success or failure of the current disinformation campaign on health system reform is ultimately a litmus test, a measure of how venal or how principled are our congressional representatives and senators, and how gullible or how discerning are we, the majority of citizens of the United States of America.

Here’s the test: If the public option prevails, all Americans win. If the public option fails, we flunk. It’s as simple as that.

Sharon resident Anthony Piel is a former director and legal counsel of the World Health Organization.