It is clear that any progressive movement to take back this country needs both the Dorothys and Wendells of this world. There is much more that unites us than divides us. I want to thank Wendell Potter for giving us permission to publish his response to Dorothy– Chuck

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Dear Dorothy,
We share in common the desire to make sure that every American has access to the best care available, and that that care is affordable for all. Millions of people desperately need it now, which is why I am supporting the effort to get the legislation that has a chance of being passed enacted as soon as possible. I wish it were possible for a better bill to be passed, but as someone who used to cover Congress as a reporter, as someone who has traveled to 25 states over the past nine months and heard heartbreaking and maddening stories and as someone who has spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill during this debate, I know what the political realities are and I know that people are dying every day because of our broken system. It I felt single payer could be enacted in the next year or so, I would not back this legislation. But another thing I have observed over the past several months is that as well-meaning and passionate as single payer advocates are, they do not have a viable plan to make it happen any time soon. I am told that a movement is underway, that we will be at a tipping point soon. But, I will be honest with you, I have seen no real evidence that is the case.

You mentioned Marcia Angell. As you may recall, in response to a question from Bill Moyers about the political realities of passing single payer, she responded that one has to separate policy from politics. Well, that sounds terrific. It’s a wonderful sound bite, and it can actually be accomplished in a classroom at Harvard. It cannot be done in the real world we live in, certainly not the political world that is Washington. To suggest otherwise is being naive at best and disingenuous at worst.

I have read the Senate and House bills. I’m concerned that critics on both the left and right have not. The bills do many, many good and important things. I could not in good conscience not support the effort to get something done NOW.  I have no interest whatsoever in going back to the hundreds of people I have met across this country who are desperately in need of care but can’t get it because of insurance company abuses and tell them that, sorry, we couldn’t get single payer so you’ll just have to tough it out until Americans come to understand that the higher taxes that would be necessary to establish and maintain such a system would be a bargain in the long run and until our politicians quit taking campaign contributions from insurers and medical associations and drug companies and medical device manufacturers and hospitals and…. the list goes on and on. And I have no interest in telling them that they’ll just have to wait until our system gets so much worse that more and more of us will be losing our homes and our lives and seeing our children having to forget about college because of soaring medical debt and bankruptcies.

Yes, a single payer system would be far better than what we have now, but America is nowhere close to understanding that or embracing a single-payer system.  I would like to be part of an effort to help people understand that there are better ways to finance the delivery of health care in this country, but that will take time. Considerable time.

As for my principles, they are intact. Getting help for the millions of people who need it as soon as possible is more important to me than steadfast adherence to ideology.

Thank you for taking the time to write. I feel certain we both want the best health care system attainable for us and our fellow citizens. We may have to agree to disagree for now on the best way to begin attaining that goal.

Best regards,
Wendell

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