Suggested Short-Quiz Answers

[johnkarls]

.
Question 1

Is there another developed country in the world that has not long since enacted “Single-Payer” (i.e., the Government) Universal Health Care?

Answer 1

No.

Question 2

Who was the first U.S. President to propose “Single-Payer” Universal Health Care?

Answer 2

Harry S. Truman.

Question 3

Who was the last U.S. President to propose “Single-Payer” Universal Health Care?

Answer 3

William J. Clinton.

Question 4

Did any Democratic-Party Presidential Candidate in this last election cycle propose SINGLE-PAYER Universal Health Care?

Answer 4

Only Dennis J. Kucinich.

Question 5

Was there a Democratic Presidential Candidate in this last election cycle whose health-care proposal was not even “universal”?

Answer 5

Yes - Barack H. Obama. The other candidates (including Hillary R. Clinton) were proposing making health insurance available to everyone ACCOMPANIED BY A “MANDATE” (such as Massachusetts has) THAT EVERYONE BUY THE HEALTH INSURANCE.

Question 6

Did Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” on 12/5/2007 accuse that Democratic Presidential Candidate of a “lack of candor” for claiming that his health-care proposal was universal when, in fact, it was not?

Answer 6

Yes, Tim Russert pointed out (and Barack Obama did not dispute) that the lack of a “mandate” means that approximately half of the uninsured will not buy the insurance.

Question 7

What is the difference in how “universal” health INSURANCE is financed depending on whether there is a “mandate” (a requirement to buy the insurance)?

Answer 7

If there is a “mandate” then, in theory, there need be no governmental outlays.

However, the Massachusetts “mandate” has resulted in the exemption of more than 20% of the uninsured for inability to pay, and tremendous administrative costs to prosecute and fine solvent individuals who have not purchased the insurance (just like individuals often refuse to obey state laws to purchase auto insurance).

However, it is easy to “ball park” the annual cost of covering the 48 million Americans who are currently uninsured, including the 9.6 million Americans (20% using the Massachusetts experience) who are unable to pay for insurance. Candidate Obama’s web site stated that America spends more than $2 trillion on medical care every year and the CIA’s official web site estimated the US population at 301 million as of last July.

Therefore, the cost of medical care for the 9.6 million Americans who cannot afford it should approximate $63.8 billion/year.

The cost of medical care for all 48 million Americans who are currently uninsured (including the 9.6 million who cannot afford it) should approximate $318.9 billion/year.

And these costs do not begin to account for the cost of employer-provided health care that employers (such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) will attempt to shift to any governmental program.

Question 8

How is “Single-Payer” Universal Health Care typically financed in European countries?

Answer 8

European countries typically finance Single-Payer Universal Health Care (as well as their social-security) with an excise tax on gasoline – which means that the typical price of gasoline in Europe is 3-4 times the U.S. pump price. Since this also reduces gasoline consumption (which means, among other things, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and reducing any foreign-balance-of-payments deficit), it means that the typical European country believes in “killing four birds with one stone”!!!

Question 9

How do uninsured inner-city residents in the U.S. obtain health care?

Answer 9

They show up physically at the Emergency Room of the local hospital. Following medical ethics, the ER does not deny treatment, even though it is obvious that the bill will not be paid.

Question 10

How are the costs of providing health care to uninsured inner-city residents absorbed?

Answer 10

The unreimbursed expense of treating uninsured inner-city residents reduces or eliminates the hospital’s profit, often creating an overall loss.

Question 11

Is there a substantial number of inner-city hospitals in bankruptcy because such a high percentage of their total costs cannot be recovered from uninsured inner-city residents?

Answer 11

Yes.

Question 12

How does this method of funding health care for uninsured inner-city residents compare to the method of funding public K-12 education for inner-city kids?

Answer 12

As we have discussed in the past, most recently January 2009, America finances K-12 public education primarily through property taxes. Which means that America’s inner-cities which have only a small or non-existent property-tax base have little or no financing for their public schools.

Similarly, America’s inner-city hospitals have a disproportionately large number of uninsured residents obtaining unreimbursed medical care from the Emergency Room, bankrupting the inner-city hospitals.

Question 13

Could both methods be described as the “Marie Antoinette ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ Method”?

Answer 13

Yes!!! Except that Marie Antoinette was merely ignorant!!! And America knows what it is doing!!!

Question 14

Taking into account that last week’s vote on the economic-stimulus bill on which Republicans in the House were unanimously opposed and only 3 Republican Senators voted for it, how likely is President Obama to obtain passage of any major domestic program such as universally-available health insurance? In this regard, how many “Blue Dog” Democratic Senators are there? And how many “Blue Dog” Democratic Representatives?

Answer 14

Very unlikely.

So-called “Blue Dogs” are Democrats that manage to win in conservative States or conservative Congressional Districts. Accordingly, they typically vote as conservatively as the Republicans they defeated would have – except on organizational matters.

According to “BlueDogDems.com” (the official web site of the Congressional Blue-Dog Democrats who conduct joint fund-raising and have their own caucus, etc.), there are 47 Blue-Dog Congresspersons, including Jim Matheson of Utah.

Among the 435 voting members of the House of Representatives (there are 6 non-voting members), there are currently 254 Democrats, 178 Republicans and 3 vacancies.

If the 47 Blue-Dog Congresspersons vote conservatively, the vote becomes 207-225 AGAINST any social legislation.

In December 2008, Sen. Evan Bayh began trying to organize a formal Senatorial Blue-Dog Coalition resembling the one in the House of Representatives.

Although there is, as yet, no formal Blue-Dog Coalition in the Senate, it is probably safe to assume that all 8 new Senate Democrats (the 110th Congress ended with 48 Democrats, 2 Independents voting with the Democrats on organizational matters, 49 Republicans and 1 vacancy, while the 111th Congress currently has 56 Democrats, 2 Independents voting with the Democrats on organizational matters, 41 Republicans and 1 vacancy) are Blue Dogs.

These presumed eight are in addition to the Blue-Dog Senators that were already in the Senate.

Accordingly, if the Blue-Dog Senators vote conservatively, SOCIAL LEGISLATION CANNOT EVEN MANAGE A SIMPLE MAJORITY in the U.S. Senate, much less reach the level of 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster (which, nowadays, is “virtual” rather than “actual”!!!)!!!