SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To some, the California Nurses Association’s political tactics in pushing for a single-payer health system seemed a bit, well, New Jersey-ish.
Never mind the raucous demonstrations it brought to the state Capitol in recent weeks, the “shame on you” chants in the hallways, the repeated unfurling of banners in the rotunda despite admonitions from law enforcement.
To further the nurses’ cause, the union’s executive director, RoseAnn DeMoro, tweeted out a picture of the iconic California grizzly bear being stabbed in the back with a knife emblazoned with the name of a powerful state lawmaker who stalled the single-payer bill sponsored by the union.
The logic “We are the highest paid nurses in the world but we are mad that we have the highest costs in the world” is not a sensible argument. Just saying.
We keep reading that the U.S. needs to have a health care system like “other countries” but what does that mean? The U.S. is perhaps like the EU with its member States that have excellent health care systems but Only or individual States are comparable to those countries. The EU itself has no system other than to harbor cooperation between the countries within its borders. See: http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/131-us-states-renamed-for-countries-with-similar-gdps
Rendon is right. Want single payer? Put forth a better bill, instead of throwing your energies into the latest public tantrum.
I live with a great health Care system in France and California should copy it. As a new resident several years ago I simply paid the bill at the doctor’s office and was very happy to do so (25 Euro then). Today, I have my French health card due to my wife’s small business and we get 70% of that tiny bill returned to us by the system. Californians who are interested in pushing for better health care should come over here and see one in action. “fear of losing coverage under the ACA should not deter you from moving to State provided excellent health care services. People in smaller States need to look at appropriately sized European countries Check out Scotland’s great health care system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Scotland
That’s a good idea, an apples-to-apples comparison. One thing I would also like to see is for single-payer proponents to take a good hard look at the legitimate problems that people have in those systems, like the wait times, how to control costs, the worries over elderly people being refused treatment, and address those problems to come up with a really good system. I’m saying that not as an opponent of single-payer, but as a devil’s advocate. Let’s get it right.