What Happened to Single Payer?, the Washington Independent asks in a recent article. One answer, the Independent suggests, comes from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. John Conyers, authors of the single payer bills in the Senate, S 703, and House, HR 676: Both lawmakers argue that private insurers, who have a fiduciary duty to shareholders, are the wrong folks to dictate who receives what care when. ‘The function of a private health insurance company is not to provide health care; it is to deny health care,’ Sanders said last week. ‘Every dollar of premium that a health insurance company does not spend on health care needs is a dollar more in profits.’ If the policy provisions that seem to be deemed politically acceptable seem to be those that most accommodate the healthcare industry, perhaps it’s time, as the adage says, to follow the money. USA Today released data showing that the biggest drug and insurance giants have amped up their lobbying spending by 41 percent this year to make sure that reform gets done right — for them anyway. 20 of the […]