The source document for this article is from the official United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. I have merely pasted the article I found on the Huffington Post below:Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution, drafted with the help of the Bush administration in 2005 and ratified by the Iraqi people, includes state-guaranteed (single payer) healthcare for life for every Iraqi citizen.
Article 31 reads: "First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions.
Second: Individuals and entities have the right to build hospitals, clinics, or private health care centers under the supervision of the State, and this shall be regulated by law." There are other health care guarantees, including special provisions for children, the elderly, and the handicapped elsewhere in the 43-page document.
Under force of arms, President Bush imposed his particular idea of democracy on a people not asking for it - perhaps a noble undertaking in one context and a criminal violation of international law in another. Bush's followers are proud of the Iraqi Constitution, a model for the world, they told us.
So, according to the American political right-wing, government-guaranteed health care is good for Iraqis, but not good for us. Not good for you. They decry even a limited public option for you, but gleefully imposed upon the Iraqis what they label here as "socialism," with much Democratic Party member support.
Indeed, reading the Iraqi Constitution so near to the 8th anniversary of September 11, 2001 is instructive. It is the very definition of American right-wing hypocrisy. We have (thus far) sacrificed more blood to wrest Iraq from tyranny than we lost on 9/11.
In addition, according to the Congressional Research Service, as of May 15, 2009 (Report 7-5700/RL33110) we have spent and/or authorized $864 Billion in military operations on Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan. The overwhelming majority of those funds have been for the war in Iraq. Additional secret funding has been authorized for intelligence and special operations. The total is more than (or, in the worst case, equal to) the funding required to guarantee minimally decent health care here.
In other words, the most senior members of the Republican establishment - and some Democrats like Max Baucus (D-MT) - have gladly spent more taxpayer funds to ensure health care as a Constitutional right in Iraq than they are willing to spend to give you any level of guaranteed coverage.
Most of our Representatives and Senators have voted to fund the war in Iraq. By default, they feel Iraqi Single Payer health care as a civil right for them. More than 40 Senators in DC feel Americans deserve less of an option even though 73% of the American public now sees the public option of national healthcare as a must.So you can follow this issue further: Mark Dorlester was the author of this piece. You can find the original and embedded links here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-dorlester/guaranteed-health-care-in_b_280528....
7 comments:
Wow.
You should also send out some letters to the Editor on this one - so that folks without Internet access can read it.
NS
Sir: our gov't also said that everybody everywhere, including IRAN, has a right to nuclear power, but we can't build reactors here in the US for our own power needs. Therefore proving..........that gov't decrees, statements, etc are worth exactly zero.
Let's try to look past repub vs Dem, Bush hating, etc. That means nothing. Let's disagree on substance, not labels
All the more reson to oppose Single Payer plan
SOcialism -
Government should NEVER compete with private industry - NEVER !
It just shows that our government believes in the principle that health care is a fundamental right - unless of course the insurance industry sends you gobs of money for you campaign. Then health care is better left to the cruel whims of the marketplace.
We can't build reactors here for our own needs? Of course we can...Three Mile Island. Indian Point...they're built. Entergy man, the sponsor of Kingston Independence Day Celebrations of yesteryear! Get with it doc, you sound like you're ready to call it quits!!
Mike, kudos to you for uncovering this truth. It shouldn't surprise anyone, since it was all designed to treat the Iraqis with as much royalty as possible in order to ensure a place in history for George W. "I almost actually officially served in the air national guard" Bush. Of course, what's a few "collateral casualties"(civilians) in the process of bombing the bejeesus outta the place?
Furthermore, how can any American have health security when the politicians have sat back on their hind legs underutilizing the greatest agriculture workers in the world(ie, Mexicans), while Americans are regularly fed garbage concoctions labelled as "food" but severely altered from their original form in agribusiness stupidity? Not biologically possible. That's why America ain't a great country now and will never regain that status unless and until THIS changes for the better!!
Dear 11:22am,
Somehow I've never thought of my own personal health and well being as an "industry".
That's the root of the matter. Sooner or later we all get sick, and need help. Therefore, the insurance company's actuarial tables and the profit motive don't work in this instance.
Eventually we'll follow the successful health care models that do exist in the world; i.e. the UK, Norway, and Canada. It's only a matter of time.
First, Iraq has all the oil in the world to pay for health care for their people.
Second, Iraq's unemployment is what, 25%?
Third, their wages are what, 20% of ours? So how exactly could they afford their own insurance?
Lastly, Iraq's population is 20 Million? Again, it comes back to the oil covering their costs.
Maybe, a single payor system in the U.S. could have been the winning argument for taking OVER Iraq's oil fields for our own. Then maybe we could have paid for the insurance of 320 Million Americans.
Nice try though. Next batter
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