Single Payer Week: Scare Tactics

Single Payer opponents rarely use facts to counter it as those are easily refuted. Instead they try to overwhelm with scare tactics and shout their opponents down. Watch them and you'll see.

Common Scare Tactics

• Its Socialism: While socialism can go to far the concept is not inherently bad. Other things that can be attributed to socialism, police, fire departments, Non profits that get tax breaks, including churches, FEMA and the National Guard going in for disaster relief, charitable contributions being tax deductible, Social Security, National Parks, and other ideas where the government helps the American people rather that let everything go wild.
• Long wait times for care: Ask your friends from Canada or European countries about it, I have. ERs are based on Triage so see the ones at greatest risk first then everyone else. Other visits you call your doctor and make an appointment. In the USA you may have to wait to have the doctors office check with your insurance company but otherwise your delay is comparable to most other countries.
• Its expensive!: The most conservative estimate (Koch brothers) says it will save $500 billion over the next ten years! Some say as much as $17 trillion, though most estimates come in around saving $2 trillion. Our current system means average medical costs are at least twice that of most countries, and drug prices even more than that.
• Healthy people will have to pay the costs of sick people! Really Mr. Ryan? This should not even need to be addressed but that is exactly how it works now. Insurance companies charge people and hope they are low risk so they make a bigger profit.
• Privatized Healthcare is anti capitalism! Doctors and hospitals will still be privately owned and run, all that changes is you pay the government instead of an insurance company. How well do you like your insurance company anyhow?
• Government run programs are as efficient because they are not trying to make a profit. This IS true for some things. And is a strength of capitalism vs. say communism. However you need to look at the details. If a company produces a product and you dont have to buy it they need to sell it at a desirable price or you wont buy it. Health care does not work this way for most things. If your sick you need care and will pay anything you can to get better. Companies know this which is why prices are so high and the number one people go bankrupt in the USA is medical bankruptcy. Medicare is the most effecnt system in the USA because it has a low overhead and does not spend money lobbying or trying to create complicated policies to avoid covering you when you get sick.
• But Venezuela! A popular Fox talking point. Venezuela like almost every other country in the world has socialist health care and the country is in sad shape. But so does Canada, England, Finland, Sweden, and again just about every other country in the world. They have it so bad because the government is corrupt. Are you really saying that America is so pathetic that instead of doing it better than everyone else we would do it worse?