Most people think of single payer health care in America as something akin to science fiction--a bold idea that might be possible someday, but certainly not an option in the here and now.
Journalist Jennifer Nix points out that the U.S. already has single payer care, not only for the aged (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid) but also for patients with end-stage renal disease (kidney failure) who need dialysis or a transplant.
Nix has a unique perspective on Medicare ESRD, as the latter program is known. It saved her father's life in 1973 and her own life this year. Nix found out in 2008 that she inherited the same cystic kidney disease that put her dad on single payer dialysis in the seventies. Medicare ESRD covered a stint on dialysis, her kidney transplant, and anti-rejection drugs for a limited period after surgery (her private insurance covers them now).
Since its inception, Medicare ESRD has enabled over 1 million people survive regardless of their ability to pay. If your kidneys failed tomorrow you won't be left to die because you can't afford dialysis or a transplant. Wouldn't it be nice if all Americans could enjoy the same level of security for their hearts and other organs?
Here's my podcast interview with Nix at the Daily Pulse.
Excellent post, Lindsay. Most people like the single payer systems we have in place now. Of course, when Medicare was first proposed, we had scare tactics similar to what we hear now.
Conservative love this Ronald Reagan quote: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
Except no one mentions that Reagan was talking about Medicare.
Posted by: Sasha | October 01, 2009 at 04:52 PM
I've commented previously on the extensive testing I had to go through to qualify for a kidney transplant. I was diagnosed with ESRD in 1995 and at that time was covered by insurance through work. After going on dialysis, Medicare paid secondary to my work insurance primary for a certain number of months, then Medicare became the primary payer. After 39 months I got my transplant with Medicare as primary payer at a Medicare-approved hospital. Medicare paid for my immunosuppressants for only 3 years, but fortunately by that time I was 65 and, thanks to a federal law passed during the Clinton administration, a transplant recipient reaching Medicare age who had a transplant paid for by Medicare can receive immunosuppressants under Medicare Part B. Unfortunately people not yet eligible for Medicare are cut off after 36 months and left to find their own coverage. A recent NYTimes story--don't have a link--illustrates the foolishness of this. I'm so glad to hear Jennifer Nix has coverage for her drugs--wish everybody did.
Posted by: Rosie | October 01, 2009 at 08:23 PM
I didn't know that program existed, and am very happy to hear it does. Not because I need it (my kidneys, knock wood, work just fine) but because there should be programs like that.
Kidney transplants are routine and effective, and their ROI can't be overestimated. It's almost an exemplar of how the benefits of government-subsidized healthcare far outweigh the costs.
Posted by: CaseyL | October 02, 2009 at 11:47 AM
WARNING: DO NOT CLICK ON JESURGISLAC'S LINK!!!!!!!! It is extremely disgusting! I'm assuming that the imposter is back.
Posted by: Dave C (the uppity newcomer) | October 03, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Bookmarked for ridicule when Medicare goes bankrupt in 2014.
Because government can spend money better than the people who actually earned it....
Posted by: John Eden | October 03, 2009 at 06:46 PM
"If your kidneys failed tomorrow you won't be left to die because you can't afford dialysis or a transplant."
Because the free market has never ever been able to meet the demands of millions of people who want a product.
Posted by: John Eden | October 03, 2009 at 06:49 PM
Because the free market has never ever been able to meet the demands of millions of people who want a product.
I think, John Eden, if you read the sentence you cited in your comment slowly and carefully, you might notice the flaw in relying upon the "free market" to solve this particular problem.
Posted by: brent | October 05, 2009 at 02:38 AM
DaveC: WARNING: DO NOT CLICK ON JESURGISLAC'S LINK!!!!!!!! It is extremely disgusting! I'm assuming that the imposter is back.
Yep. All over some threads. :-(
Where is the kitten? Taking the weekend off?
Posted by: Jesurgislac | October 05, 2009 at 05:54 AM