GOP sponsored single-payer guaranteed Health Care in Iraq, but not in US

Well, it would be a dick move not to provide health care to the people of a country you've invaded militarily and are now occupying, but, yes, it is inconsistent, I agree.

tsk tsk people. Private insurance companies have no baseline on which to base the very risk assumptions used to pilfer money from our pockets. Once this data is collected and a viable profit model can be formulated, there will be lobbying to privatize healthcare in Iraq.

Who wants to insure people who are constantly getting bombs dropped on them?

If you do some research on the develpment of the Iraqi Constitution it is immediately clear that is was not drafted by Bush administration. I don't know where the authors got that idea or why no one alse here bothered to do 10 seconds of internet research to validate the author's claims.

What?! Maybe we need to move to Iraq to get healthcare!

Then again the Iraqis aren't afraid to pump their own oil to pay for it like so many flaccid Americans.

I think that it was drafted by an Iraqi Constitution Drafting Commitee.

It's still pretty sad that Iraq has free health care.

Some how i know the rebublicans will blam this on obama

I have just read the text of the iraqi constitution and am now confused as to whether "single payer" is actually implied here.

Note that the first part of article 31 states that "every citizen has the right to health care." I believe this is where the link to single-payer has been drawn, but I don't believe that it is being used in the sense as we have been thinking about this in the US as a right to affordable access.

I'm also not sure the piece about the State building hospitals and clinics is necessarily incompatible with non-single payer systems. The text reads that the State should "provide the means for prevention" by "building" these hospitals and clinics but does not go beyond that.

In reading some of the other articles, I noticed that the term "guarantee" tends to be used when the State has an obligation to provide something to it's citizens. This can be seen in Article 30, where the State "guarantees" health security to some people in difficult circumstances. If indeed article 31 suggests single-payer, article 30 would be a redundant.

You left wing, right wing, democrat, republican talking monkeys don't get it do you? The America of your wet dreams does not exist anymore. Probably never did. Well maybe for 20 to 30 years after the constitution was written. When was Shay's Rebellion? The issues are not the issues. You are not a capitalist unless you own a business and then if you were smart, you enjoy socialism as a captain of industry. The government is the enemy because it is owned by the people with the money. Your vote does not count. You do not count.

Good Luck

Then there is this one from the UN

http://www.uniraq.org/documents/iraqi_constitution.pdf

Article 31:

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.

Maybe the Democrats don't bring it up because it isn't true... The current constitution was approved by a referendum that took place on 15 October 2005. The constitution was drafted in 2005 by members of the Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee to replace the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period (the "TAL"). The TAL was drafted between December 2003 and March 2004 by the Iraqi Governing Council, an appointed body that was selected by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraq War and occupation of Iraq by the United States and Coalition forces.

Under a compromise brokered before the referendum, it was agreed that the first parliament that was to be elected pursuant to the new constitution would institute a Constitutional Review Committee with a view to determine whether the constitution should be amended. Any amendments agreed would have to be ratified by a similar referendum to the one that originally approved it. After this agreement was entered into, the Sunni-majority Iraqi Islamic Party agreed to back a Yes vote in the referendum that took place on October 15, 2005. The Constitutional Review Committee was constituted by the Iraqi parliament on 25 September 2006.
The original 55 members of the Constitutional Drafting Committee were:
* Ahmed Al-Safi
* Abdel Hadi Al-Hakim
* Dr Ali Al-Dabagh
* Dr Hussein ‘Athab Th’ban
* Nouri Al-Maliki
* Ali al-Adeeb
* Beha’ Al-A’reji
* Dr Jeneen Al-Qedou
* Sami ‘Azaze Al-Ma’joun
* Dr Aboud Al-‘Isawi
* Dr Hamam Hamoudi
* Akram Al-Hakim
* Jalal Al-Deen Al-Sagheer
* Dr Sa’ad Qendeel
* Sami Al-‘Askeri
* Dr Jouad Smeisim
* Dr Nadim al-Jabiri
* ‘Abass Al-Bayati
* Sheerouan Al-Ouaili
* Dr Khadheer Moussa Ja’fr Al-Khaza’i
* Ali Al-Safi
* Dr Muhsen Al-Qazwini
* ‘Aqila Al-Dehan
* Zehra’ Al-Hashemi
* Al-Tefat Abed Al-Sa’ed
* Mareem Al-Raes
* Aman Al-‘Asdi
* Najehe Abed Al-Emir
* Dr Fouad M’soum
* Dr S’di Berzenji
* Freedoun Abed Al-Qader
* Dr Mundher Al-Fadhl
* Dr Hussein Balissani
* Abed Al-Khaleq Zengena
* Sami Ahmed Ali Shebek
* Nergez Majeed
* Dara Nour Al-Deen
* Ahmed Wahab Majeed
* Deendar Shafeeq
* Hamid Majid Mousa
* Adel Naser
* Mouneera ‘Abdoul
* Nouri Boutros
* Kamran Khairi Sa’id
* Yonadam Kanna
* Riadh Kehia
* Abed al-Rahmen al-Na’imi
* Qasem Daud
* Oua’el Abel Al-Latif
* Adnan Al-Janabi
* Rasem Al-Ouadi
* Hussein Al-Sha’lan
* Dr Radha Al-Khaza’i
* Thamer Al-Khadhban
* Taher Al-Baka’
Oddly none of these are American... go figure...

Good gravy indeed!!! Taxed to bomb Iraq, taxed to rebuild Iraq, Taxed to give Iraqi's the right to health care. Now there is something here that I would remiss if it were left out. 'Having the right to health care is not the same as having the right to "free" health care at others expense.' (Unless of course you are the American Tax Payer) :/

True interstate competition in health insurance would balance pools out. Tort Reform and removing some of the power from the trial lawyers would help out tremendously. Malpractice insurance rates could drop and viola, its cheaper to go to the doctors. Dont even get me started on the Pharma Corps for those who might think I'm not coming from the middle here.

BBC Version

Article (31): 1st - Every Iraqi has the right to health service, and the state is in charge of public health and guarantees the means of protection and treatment by building different kinds of hospitals and health institutions.
2nd - Individuals and associations have the right to build hospitals, dispensaries or private clinics under the supervision of the state. This shall be regulated by law.

UN Version:

Article 31: First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The state takes care of public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and medical institutions.

Second: Individuals and institutions may build hospitals or clinics or places for treatment with the supervision of the state and this shall be regulated by law.

I am reading this one: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/20704/11332732681iraqi_constitution_en.pdf/...

The other is from the bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/24_08_05_constit.pdf

and there are some variations in the particular sections.

perhaps the poster of this news story should go to Iraq and find out all about their healthcare....

Well, you all have a cellphone so stop bellyachin. And it's Hospital AssOCIATION. When the Internets turns up the cell tower volume to IP-6 where we're going we won't need roads.

Long live plutocracy.

Problem is, Iraq is a small country without the system of federalism that we have.

The Iraqi Transitional Govt. was headed by Paul Bremer, another one of Bush's appointee's

Wonderful posting that shows the bipartisan duplicity and complicity in screwing over the American public. We could vote them all out within 6 years. Live the dream!

i'm just wondering if iraq even had healthcare before this

Great! The Republican's are a bunch of idiot bastards! Like we didn't know.

This is so unbelievable that it's actually probably true. I'm so tired of all this crap about health care, and I'm sure that's what the Republicans want us all to say. that I just feel like caving in. My monthly medical costs from a rare illness cost around 30K a month plus prescriptions. Medicare is the only insurance I have since I cannot afford secondary insurance on disability. Recently my neurologist stopped authorizing my weekly IV treatments for no reason and without talking to me. He is the second Dr. I have consulted with to try and get them started again and I have finally heard some talk from my new doctor about the high cost of the medication and do I realize how much it is costing the government to treat me. So I am now faced with the realization that the government is making the decision for me about whether I should get treatment for my disease or not solely due to cost. I wonder who will pay (or if they will pay) when I am laying in my hospital bed 24/7. I already have nursing care part time that Medicare pays for at a very high cost that will certainly increase substantially very soon. I've been taking the IV meds for over 7 years now with no problem and doing okay and not a word from Medicare. Suddenly, talk of a plan to provide health insurance to everyone and I lost all my care. Yet, we can cover health care--thanks to Mr.rape-the-Americans-Bush for the last 8 years who just had to invade Iraq to pay for his ranch in Texas and pad the pockets of his cronies and oil buddies he owed money to. This country doesn't make any sense at all. We pay off the people who have the most money and commit the most heinous crimes such as taking thousands of peoples retirement money away from, run companies into the ground and reward them with taxpayer money so they can keep their jobs with billions in reward money for doing such a good job. Not a single bit of this makes any sense at all. Not one bit. Republicans and Democrats fighting, lobbyists throwing millions of dollars in the face of whomever will side with them; pharmaceutical companies with their huge checks willing to go to any lengths, even ignoring the lives of patients who are dying as they fight to keep their huge profits and golden parachutes protected...this is not a country to be proud of and I feel sorry to say that, but I have no pride at all. We're owned by China, unable to defend ourselves anymore because we are so involved in "protecting our interests" in other countries (spin for making more money for the Cheney-Bush gang and others), wound up in making cars "greener"-which makes me wonder how it is that they came out with these green cars so fast when they fought so hard 12 months ago saying it would take them years to build such vehicles-and suddenly they're on the road for half the price they would have been a few months prior to that. Of course we had to bail them out to convince them to do it? I think our government thinks that the "have-nots" will just give up, roll over and die leaving them with the power and money to run the country without all this lousy noise they've had to put up with lately at these fake town meetings over health care. Well, after almost 8 years of fighting the system I'm almost ready to roll over and do just that. I can only write to my congressman/senator, who doesn't write back so many times. People in power don't listen for a reason. Simply put, they don't have to. And you know what else, you can write all your negative replies to this that you want, because I get enough of them, just don't plan on getting a response unless they're intelligent, written in English and in complete sentences. Don't like that, write about something else, like health care.

Thats the difference between a capitalist country and a war torn I dont even know what form of government. And I never heard of a Rep not wanting Universal health Care they, just want to make is so they can keep making mega profits

I love that in the picture one of the men at the table is labeled "hospital ass."

But seriously, good information. Will be looking forward to seeing how (or if) this plays out in mainstream media (and with Stewart/Colbert, of course).

And Obama can't do it here.

To quote Lewis Black, "Son of a Bitch!" The average U.S. citizen has got to be the dumbest creature that God ever thought up. Weapons of Mass Destruction? Just let American tourists go anywhere on the planet. That's mass destruction. And the rest of the world wants to be like us? Who's BS is that? The only industrial county with prison sex health care.

Interesting...I wonder, though, whether sociology or economics plays into the placement of the single-payer system there more so than direct US involvement.

I think it might undermine an argument to suggest, as I believe it is meant to be inferred from this post, that resistance towards single-payer in the US is purely a result of special interest campaigns. It would also be misleading to suggest that the Bush administration actually wrote and ratified the entire constitution by itself (although you could argue that the members who drafted the constitution were puppets).

Again, this is interesting news, but would have been more powerful if researched more fully (as I hope a major news organization will do) and if not written in such a partisan manner.

"Article 31:

First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The state takes care of public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and medical institutions.

Second: Individuals and institutions may build hospitals or clinics or places for treatment with the supervision of the state and this shall be regulated by law. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101201450....

http://www.uniraq.org/documents/iraqi_constitution.pdf

Pick which source you feel is more viable and start emailing it to your senators and congressmen.

Someone needs to figure out how to send this to Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert as well.

Obama should have at least stuck to his original premise that healthcare reform is necessary to help the economy.

The economy is driven entirely by consumer purchases.

Problem: We're all fucking broke!

One of the main reason we're all broke (and thus cannot BUY anything) is because we're all spending thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of dollars every year on worthless health insurance. Worthless because the insurance never actually covers most illnesses and procedures and worthless because (as everyone now knows) the insurance companies routinely cancel policies for people who become too expensive (ie. actually go to the doctor when sick)

The reason companies aren't hiring? Because no one is buying! Why hire 5 people to staff the cash registers at Old Navy if no one comes in to buy anything because they're broke?

$500 spent at the local shopping mall actually employes a lot of people from service workers to manufacturers.

$500 handed over to Blue Cross? Pays for a lot of commercials explaining how "awesome" Blue Cross is and pays for the CEO to install a solid gold toilet in his summer home. But it sure don't help create any jobs or even provide any protection when illness strikes.

The reason no one is buying? Because instead of using that $500 to buy, say, an iPod or a hoodie we're just forking it over to Blue Cross.......who then immediately cancels our policy the same day we're diagnosed with a serious illness (so THEY can save money).

Just think how much faster our economy would recovery if instead of forcing a family of 4 to pay out $10,000 a year on insurance and "uncovered" medical expenses such as xrays.....they instead BOUGHT goods and services?

I would much, much, much rather pay $75 in taxes to support a public option then pay $600 a month to pay for Blue Cross (who in the end won't actually cover most medical charges anyway)

Why is it that so many people can't understand that $75 in taxes is cheaper than paying $600 a month?

Well of course, any oil-rich nation should have some free stuff provided by their government.

Unbelievable - thank you for posting this.

Wow this is incredible to read and pretty depressing the state of affairs we're in. As someone stated, why hasn't this been brought up? I mean, if it's ok for Iraqis, why not for us? Oh people they still need to make a $ off of us (which most of us don't have). Sad indeed.

You'd expect some Dem Senators would have, I don't know, made THIS SAME POINT during one of the infamous August Town Hells.

Or perhaps President Obama himself could have brought this up to rebutt some of his more insane critics.

What is wrong with Dems?

Healthcare is the easiest debate to win because its irrefutable that our private insurance system sucks....yet they just keep dropping the ball.

All they have to do is haul up 4 or 5 men and women with terminal illnesses who have all been DECLINED treatment by their insurance companies and yell to the camera (or the crowd) "Here's the problem! They each paid tens of THOUSANDS od dollars in premiums and now they are going to die because the insurance companies won't pay for their life-saving treatment! If you've got a better idea beside a public option.....let's hear it!"

(sigh)

And yet the Dems don't do this.

Why won't they just haul the sick and dying --- who HAVE insurance and have been DENIED care -- out in frotn of the TV cameras?

Not even the true nutjobs would dare scream at a bald women with end stage cancer who was denied life saving chemo by her insurance company.

WOW....Let me pack another bong hit and read that again. Iraqi's have "death panels". Oh yeah, late night home invasions by US troops to throw all the males in Abu Graib, only to be interrogated by Dick Cheney's thugs & Blackwater. Where they gonna get MDs, they all belonged to Bath Party. Does anyone remember De-bathacation? Do they have enough hospital beds? Does anyone remember Shock and Awe? I think I'll have another bong hit and listen to some Todd Snider, for the time being my reality makes a lot more sense!

Incredible... I wonder what the right wingers will have to say about this... where are Jammer and the Nurse?

Republicans are humanities' anus.
They lack all sense of reason, and will pull the plug on grandma themselves if it serves their political views.

What an idiotic bunch ...

They need to shut their silly pie holes because they are all sheep !!!

I wish that we had a "press" in this country that wasn't bought and paid for. This should have been front page all over the country. Why hasn't it been?

Good thing our troops went over there and fought for Iraqi rights. Maybe they can come back home and fight for ours.

I think it's funny but arguing with rebublicans about healthcare seems useless lately

Typical double standards brought to us courtesy of the United States bought and paid for political system.

Hilarious!