In the US, Public Health Care by Stealth

It is funny how the right wing in the US gets up and beats its breast about the glories of private enterprise and how Obama is going to "socialize" medicine. As usual, when people shout the loudest, it is to cover up the fact that reality is running the other way. Here's a bit from an interesting article in Salon by Daniel Gross on private health care insurers in the US:

The system of employer-provided health care coverage is crumbling before our eyes, and for more Americans—and for more American insurance companies—government-funded health care is all that separates them from financial disaster. A Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who say they get their health insurance from an employer has fallen from 58.9 percent in January 2008 to 56.5 percent in May 2009, while the percentage who get it from the government (Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits) has jumped from 26.5 percent to 29 percent. (The rest purchase it on their own.) But this poll understates the case. About 17 percent of payroll jobs today are government jobs. Crunch the numbers, and it's more like 39 percent getting insurance from government sources (public programs and public-sector jobs) and about 47 percent from private-sector jobs.

Simply by doing nothing, we're slowly nationalizing health care.

The other sad truth about US health care is that it is a two-tier system. Those on the government payroll get gold-plated health care, while those employed by private businesses get a second-class system:

The declining numbers aren't simply a function of job loss. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study released this week found that in March 2009, only about 70 percent of private-sector workers had access to employer-provided medical care benefits, "and only 25 percent of the lowest wage earners—those with average hourly wages in the lowest 10 percent of all private industry wages—had such access." Note the difference in the data between the public and private sectors. For government workers, 88 percent have access, and the participation rate is high. For private-sector workers, 71 percent have access, and the participation rate is lower. What accounts for the difference? It's unclear. But at least for single employees, the government picks up more of the tab (90 percent, compared with 80 percent for private sector jobs). For family coverage, the split is the same, 70-30, in both the public and private sectors.

So those on the right who boast about private health care simply haven't bothered to look at the facts. The system is a disaster. Daniel Gross argues that the private health care industry would be on the ropes except for the fact that public health care is growing:

In fact, there's pretty good evidence that government spending is all that stands between the struggling insurers and complete disaster. Look through the insurers' earnings reports, and you'll see that a portion of the loss in commercial business has been offset by growth in Medicare and Medicaid programs.

When what you say doesn't match with reality, that is called "delusional". For eight years under Bush the US was delusional. Obama is trying to fix the system, but those who are delusional simply won't put up with that. They believe private health care is working just fine. They can't be bothered with facts.