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Pressing Forward the Fight for National Health Care

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Pressing Forward the Fight for National Health Care Inside: A Socialist Night At the Movies PUBLISHED BY THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA March/ April 1994 E T -·~·= Volume XXII Number 2 Pressing Forward The Fight for National Health Care Susan Cowell on This Year's Congressional Battles Theda Skocpol on the History of Health Care Activism Single Payer Across the Nation: Reports from DSA Locals INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT PRESSING FORWARD: DSAction. .11 THE FIGHT FOR On the Left NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE by Harry Fleischman . .. 12 Next Steps for Single-Payer Activists by Susan Cowell . .3 A Socialist Night at the Movies compiled by Mike Randleman. .14 Has the Time Finally Arrived?: Lessons from the History of Health Care Activism Forty Years of Dissent by Theda Skocpol. 6 by Maurice lsserman. .17 Reports from the Field: Jimmy Higgins Reports. .24 DSA Locals' Health Care Work. .10 cover photo: Clark Jonesllmpact Visuals As U.S. progressives, our first But NAFI'A cannot be defeated EDITORIAL impulse may be to make common in the United States alone. It must be cause with the Zapatistas through brought dovm in all three nations. CHIAPAS AND prominent displays of international We have the same :.truggle \\ith the support. For some of our members, same objective. • THE NEW such displays are a fine and noble In DSA's draft Political State­ expression of socialist values. For ment, we say that " the sociall5t \•alue INTERNATIONALISM others, there is always some discom­ of international ~olidant} J,) no fort in linking our organization to a longer utopian. but a pres::img neces­ BY ALAN CHARNEY distant armed movement whose po­ sity for any democratic reform:. at litical values are not yet totally clear. Ct is too easy to understand the home and abroad." Chiapas is a Still others may worry: "What do the events in Mexico - the indigenous dramatic manifestation of du::. per­ Zapatistas have to do with the people's uprising in Chiapas and its specti' e, for the event::. in Chia pas struggle for justice in the United suppression by the military - in the have galvanized the soaal m ,,·e­ States anyway?" old way. It is our responsibility to ments in Mexico, giving tremend 1Jus The globalization of capital comprehend this uprising in a wholly impetus to PRO candidate should put this old discord to rest. different manner than we are accus­ Cuauhtemoc Cardena::' presidential Today, there is something called tomed. campaign and gi\•ing the 1exican NAFTA -- a trade agreement among The Zapatista Liberation Army Mexico, the United States, and Can­ co11tim1ed otz ]'111,'?e 23 clearly rose up in response to the ada that, in a fundamental way, manifold injustices suffered by the makes indigenous farm workers in indigenous people Me~­ DEMOCRATIC LEFT of southern Chiapas the same economic citizens ico. In this regard, it is a 1994 maru­ as autoworkers in Detroit. Thiscross­ Natzonal Directer festation of a resistance to oppression border condition was not lost upon Alan Charney stretching across five centuries and the Chiapas insurgents. In full recog­ Mana\oll · E.dltOT encompassing twenty Latin Ameri­ nition of our transnational common­ can nations. David Glenn ality, the Zapatista began their upris­ The Zapatista Army has also Editorial Commi!ttt ing on January l, 1994 -- the first day assumed the mantle of a national lib­ Shakoor Aljuwani. l~nne Barkan, of NAFTA's implementation. eration movement. It harks back to Dorothee Benz, Suz.ume Crowell, An immediate goal of the Zapa­ the Mexican Revolution of 1914 and Mitch Horowitz. Shern 11..e\ine, tistas is the abrogation of NAFT A. Steve Max, Mailile Phillips links its cause with other liberation That is our goal as well. In place of movements that have convulsed the NAFTA we want a fair trade agree­ Founding Editor continent for the last fifty years. In Michael Harrington (192.8-1989) ment based upon a North American their manifesto, the Zapatistas cor­ Social Charter that would level up Dm>ocratlc Ldt (!SS,.,; 016«1320ii,. bitmnthly 11 rectly describe the current Mexican 180Vanck~rett,NY,NY 10014 ~posug.poi<hl Jiving standards in all three countries. New York,NY(Publicauon • CA"l~ ~-<:$8 government as a one-party dictator­ regular; SISlnslllulional ~ addns&changes Then, the indigenous people ofsou th­ to 180 Va rirk ~ reo!. SY, NY 10014 Domxntlc Left Is ship serving the interests of trans~­ em Mexico will genuinely benefit published by th• O.mocnl><Soda~ ofAnwrb. l!!O V•nck tional corporations and domestic Strttt,NY,NY10014 (212)T::l 1 0. Sog!d~ur•rtt lht from closer economic integration, as "P'""'"'cfthl#1.t""'1. - ""' nt:nuri; °""'<fDv ~hon . elites. will auto workers in Detroit. 2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Round Two • What the Single-Payer Movement Must Do During the Coming Months BY SUSAN COWELL historic opportunity for fundamen­ easier task. All the opponents of reform have to tal health care reform is slipping do is spread doubt and fear. And they have away. Substantially more members enormous resources with which to do st. A of Congress are co-sponsoring leg1s­ Increasingly, the middle class and union lation that would not ensure health care to eve­ members are afraid of losing what they have ryone -- that would, m fact, substantially and are susp1c1ous of government proposals. worsen our health care system -- than there are As a ttentson shifts from the fear of the status quo supporting the single-payer and Clinton bills to the fear of change, many are forgetting that combined. Members of Congress went home the status quo means a continued erosion of over the holiday recess and heard mostly fear benefits, rising cost-sharing, more employer­ from those who have good insurance, from controlled managed care, stagnant wages, in­ small businesses, and from the medical and evitable cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, and a insurance industries. While polls show contin­ lack of real health security for anyone. ued broad backing for universal coverage, poli­ A more serious problem has been disarray ticians are hearing primarily from those with on the left. The forces for health care reform something to lose. Support for real reform has have spent months debating whether the Clin­ eroded to the point that some Republicans, and ton plan is good enough. Energy spent on eve!Jai' few Democrats, feel politically secure armchair critiques, rather than active political declJhng that there is no health care cnsss. mobilization, has helped to create a vacuum in rt is not too late. The loss of momentum is which the opposition has been able to nurture real, but the health care crisis is real as well. Our public fears. job is to mobilize the forces who suffer from the status quo. The administration has been slow in The Next Tasks for the Left getting its campaign in gear, and its own forces But the left also brings strengths to the fight. often seem divided and ill-informed. The sheer Despite differences of tone and nuance within complexity of the Clinton plan adds to the con­ the single-payer camp, there ss substantial unity fusion. Using free-market rhetoric to disguise over strategy, with very few groups seeking to what is in reality a comprehensive social insur­ defeat the Clinton plan outright. At the center ance plan with real cost controls and substantial now are five aspects of the Clinton plan that consumer protection misleads the supporters of must not be compromised away -- universal national health care more than the opponents. coverage by 1998, comprehensive benefits, an Constant reminders of the administration's employer mandate to pay for health care, cost willingness to compromise only demoralizes controls (including premium caps and fee activists further. schedules), and the state single-payer option. Although the opposition is divided, with These are substantially the same elements pro­ fundamental splits within the provider, insur­ moted by the AFL-CIO and other liberal groups. ance, and business constituencies, they have an Moreover, the fight for reform has taken on MARCH/APIUL 1994 J Ata many fronts. First, some single-payer groups, cial interests can help weaken the credibility of community especially grassroots organizations, are focus­ the opposition. But unless the public under­ health center ing on state initiatives. These activities can play stands that true security lies only in a national operated by an important role, both to pressure Congress to health care system that includes everyone, the the AslCl'I retain the state single-payer option and to pre­ opposition will have an easy job. One of~ Pacific pare for state action if national health care most important things advocates can do is to American passes. However, single payer at the state level make sure that our actions do not inadvertently community In is really only viable in the context of a national help the opposition by feeding fears of govern­ Boston. system that provides federal subsidies, man­ ment regulation and rationing. dates employer contributions, and establishes a Part of this political education process in­ federal floor on benefits. If the state efforts volves exposing the weaknesses of conservabve detract from the pressure on Congress, then bills, such as the Cooper bill. The Cooper bill they are not likely to produce real results. would have little public support if people Second, most national single-payer organi­ understood that it proposes to: 1) tax employers zations are working through the Campaign for who provide good benefits to subsidize vouch­ Health Security to apply single-payer principles ers for workers whose employers do not pro­ to the health debate now taking place in Con· vide any benefits; 2) eliminate Medicaid and gress. Health reform is now in congressional substitute vouchers toward an uncertain bene­ committees, where the Clinton plan may be fit; 3) prohibit states from enacting single-payer systems; and 4) leave an estimated twenty-five million people uninsured.
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