Bosses, Democrats and Single Payer Health Care

Which Side Are You On, Michael Moore?

By CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

Via Counterpunch

Michael Moore has made a great movie.

Sicko.

Everyone should see it.

And take the kids.

The movie's message in a nutshell -- we need single payer.

In the United States.

Now.

But Senate Democrats are trying to co-opt the message.

On Capitol Hill today, SEIU held a rally for a couple of hundred health care workers.

The group was addressed by six Senators.

None support single payer.

Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) -- does not support single payer.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) -- does not support single payer.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) -- does not support single payer.

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) -- does not support single payer.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) -- does not support single payer.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) -- does not support single payer.

We asked Dawn Lee, a spokesperson for SEIU, whether SEIU supported HR 676 -- the single payer bill in the House.

She said SEIU takes no position on that bill.

SEIU -- does not support single payer.

At the SEIU rally, all spoke in favor of "universal health care."

That is code for -- keep the insurance companies in the game.

Single payer would take them out.

Martese Chism was at a similar rally in Chicago last month.

Chism is a registered nurse at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

She also sits on the board of the California Nurses Association (CNA).

CNA is pro-single payer.

Chism was attending an SEIU rally in Chicago in support of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's "universal health care" bill that would keep the insurance companies in the game.

Chism says that the SEIU members who gathered for the rally were being actively misled by SEIU.

"SEIU members are being led to believe that universal health care means free health care for all -- single payer," Chism told Corporate Crime Reporter. "But it doesn't mean that. It means keeping the insurance companies in the game. I had to leave because I couldn't take it anymore. The insurance companies and SEIU are misleading people."

CNA president Rose Ann DeMoro is a touch less subtle.

"Rather than being on the side of the workers, SEIU continues to be on the side of the bosses," DeMoro told Corporate Crime Reporter. "And it's a disgrace."

"And the problem is that SEIU is giving cover to these Senators -- it makes them look like they are accomplishing something when in fact they are accomplishing nothing. These legislators are gutless, and the SEIU is giving them cover."

DeMoro is using the movie Sicko to generate public support for single payer around the country.

Unfortunately, the powers that be in the Democratic Party are working -- with SEIU and other unions -- to undermine public support for single payer.

And soon, Michael Moore too will have to choose.

Between single payer -- and the corporate Democratic Party's candidate for President.

That candidate will be -- if past is prologue -- opposed to single payer.

And the question will remain, as always -- which side are you on?

Corporate Crime Reporter is located in Washington, DC. They can be reached through their website.