I keep hearing that real progress on the Senate version of the Health Plan is slow going, can't be ready before August vacation (which really IS a crucial deadline) because they can't get Republicans to sign on and need to "give them something," I become just a leetle bit irritated. "Why," sez I, "do we need two or three Republicans? There's a fillibuster-proof Democratic majority, and two or three 'R' votes aren't gonna make anybody agree when we say it was a "bipartisan effort."
"We can't," is the utterly wussish response, "allow them to say we passed it unilaterally. It would make us look like bullies." Um-hmm-m... "Wel-l-l-l... we can't be the only party in the box if something... um-m-m-m... er-r-r-r-r..."
"Goes wrong?"
"Wel-l-l-l... that's ONE way to put it."
"Unh-huh. Well, if you keep "giving them something, I can guarantee something WILL!"
"You don't understand..."
"We established that at my first question.... which I will now repeat: to wit: "Why do we need two or three Republicans? There's a fillibuster-proof Democratic majority, and two or three 'R' votes aren't gonna make anybody agree when we say it was a "bipartisan effort."
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Our elected reps have a sacred duty to vote as their constituents direct, regardless of their party affiliations.
Are the Democrats who are crafting the health care reform plan all willing to accept the same standard of care, the same facilities and the same limits as those for whom they are making the plan? No more golden parachutes and lifetime health care deals? When that happens, I will take them seriously.
No, no... a couple dozen times NO! What they have a sacred duty to do is vote as will best serve their country. If that were not the case, Rev. King would have marched and died in vain.
It's good to want things you can't have. The disappointment builds character.
Every president for many years has pushed the envelope and assmed to himself more power than he was entitled. Each one garnered a little more. Bush pushed harder and aqjuired power no president should ever have but Obama has assumed even more. Why? Because the all work for the same people. There is a take-over of our nation underway and either this president or the next will become our nominal ruler under an Oligarthy of big money people who will make all the decisions for us. The time to stop that is now if it's not too late already.
These are the things both parties should defend, but they DON'T - NEITHER PARTY!
The last thing I am is a One Worlder. Bush is and so is Obama. Both were and are backed by the CFR
I think that is a outstanding idea, really. Only the Democratic Party members get the insurance and it is paid for by their contributions / taxes without it costing any member of any other party or independents anything. Then if it works, the number of Democrats increases because they want that insurance and if it fails then they did it to themselves.
Is there some way we can institute such a plan for other social services?
YES! Mary Ann! Tell it like it is!
The public deserves good health care, it does not deserve corporate military buildups that eat away at our society. Eisenhower said it best. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Let Europe pay for its own defense or go without any and we will be able to have the necessities we need. Tell the WTO to take a hike along with American companies that support communism for profit we don't need them.
Its very easy to fund real health care we just have to stop squabbling amongst our self and start attacking these political hacks with the vote and put them where they belong, Tell them to either support the public or your fired hit the soup kitchen.
AMEN !!!
Who is going to be the "health czar" and the board of unelected bureaucrats dictating healthcare standards? It will be called "Healthcare Rationing Scheme". Plug your nose because it will be NOTHING anyone will want, once they see what the actually are getting.
Of COURSE he told them what he wanted. EVERY President,parTICularly if he has a Congressional AND Senatorial majority, will.
Have you listened at ALL to people who are fortunate enough to have anything like this where they live?
whaaaa whaaaaaaa whaaaaaaa.
You're a whole 'nuther' entity.
*snicker*
If you think people do not deserve anything for their tax money you are talking just like the people you are talking down.
How can anyone say the public is not worth taking care of but corporate theft is good business?
Obama is smart but is no national leader proven by the neocon hacks left over from Bush he keep in every critical position. Obama probably could do the job if he could just get over the ego trips he suffers from.
"According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, more than 80 percent are concerned that health-care reform will increase costs or diminish the quality of care.
Even as two House committees passed a reform bill last week, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that the proposal "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs" and dramatically raises the cost "curve."
This sort of voter and expert feedback can't be comforting to the president."
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20
09/07/17/AR2009071702093.html
I am totally against the redistribution of wealth but Obama and his czars will have their way--the Republicans don't have the you know what to stand up and be counted.
As I said Chuck you and your lefties should enjoy because you are on the way out. I would not be suprised if Obama was impeached right after the elections in 2010.
And your second comment is just wishful thinking (and just dumb into the bargain). Obama has done NOTHING for which he could be impeached.
Do you see any difference between him and Bush other than the spelling of his name? I don't see any. They both have the same group of bosses.
He can take his socialism and shove it where the sun don't shine!
What is the obsession with these czars? you didn't talk like this when Bush was doing the same thing and supporting corporate socialism. Russia, Cuba MY BAD, but communist China is WONDERFUL because the supply you with that cheap junk, junk that is not worth owning.
Where have I been Linda? Maybe I missed something when I was in London helping pull down the Bush effigy, or maybe it was when I was at the Sheehan camp outside the Bush ranch for a few weeks protesting his murder for profit, remember that blitzkrieg that murdered so many innocent people? Maybe it was at the docks in CA when Bush ordered his troops to fire on us protesters. Its easy to be somewhere and miss a few things when your trying to do something positive for your constitution.
Chuck you leftie, how dare you support something that benefits the public instead of corporate hacks?
That 72% who support a change in the medical care field are a misnomer because many of them support HB676 which Obama has said he would not consider.
Are you going to give up your benefits? No. Probably not.
I'm really tired of people who have insurance, telling the nation that not everybody should have it.
You'd feel really, really different if your next "trip" down the steps netted you a week long hospital stay (Goddess forbid that happen...) but without insurance, folks who go through that scenario, can lose the house that shelters their children.
So, I'm really glad you have insurance. Stop trying to tell folks that they shouldn't have it.
Jay-Suess Keeeerist! Speaking of which, what would your Jesus do?
He would stand for the underprivledged and perhaps undeserving, because it is the right thing to do.
Wilka
It's about a good program - not about a dictated plan. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT WILL BE.
Obviously you think a bad plan is better than none. Be VERY careful what you wish for.
We must fight AGAINST govt. takeover of healthcare.
The next time you see one of those billboards or television commercials about how the health insurance companies care about you, consider today’s LA Times story about a man whose health insurance was canceled retroactively after he was in a car accident.
I know well the form that is referred to in the article. When you apply for private health insurance (not through an employer) you have to go through an underwriting process. They ask you numerous detail questions about your health for the last 10 years. You have to provide detailed dates, doctors, diagnosis, etc. Unless you have detailed records of your medical history for 10 years then you will have a hard time answering the questions.
So, if you get private health insurance through this process (and many don’t even for minor preexisting conditions) everything is fine and the insurance gladly accepts your extremely high premiums each month.
http://checkonjim.com/?p=472
Any healthcare carrier must have enough healthy paying into it in order to pay for those who aren't as healthy - that is the only way it will work. And, profit is not a bad word - it is what is utilized to expand and grow the business. And create jobs. Many look at profit as greed. If an "owner" works hard, he deserves the fruits of his labor too.
The escalating health care crisis, while causing an ever-widening circle of human misery, is also revealing the ugly underbelly of U.S. capitalism. The health crisis is giving rise to a raft of illegal and fraudulent practices, all driven by greed.
Insurance policy scams
A recent report from the prestigious Commonwealth Fund, titled “Health Insurance Scams Leave Thousands with Large Medical Debts and No Coverage,” says that a proliferation of phony insurance companies have “left nearly 100,000 people with approximately $85 million in unpaid medical debts and without health coverage” since 2001. They reported that Florida leads the nation with 30,000 victims of this swindling. While the primary targets of these phony insurance plans have been senior citizens trying to fill the gap between what Medicare pays and what doctors and hospitals will pay for health services, other Floridians are also being scammed.
The other state prominently cited in the report is Texas, where the Texas Insurance Department has shut down 129 phony insurance companies that swindled over 20,000 people.
It is painfully obvious that the Bush brothers, Jeb (of Florida) and George W., are not cracking down on these practices. Quite the contrary: They are allowing these swindlers to do their dirty work under cover of darkness, with little or no public scrutiny.
The report recommends greater public oversight and an increase in penalties to those who prey on people seeking health insurance. They make a few more window-dressing recommendations, but their final recommendation points to the real solution: “Expand access to health insurance coverage to reduce the need for affordable insurance that allows phony plans to thrive.”
Dumping family coverage
The Kaiser Family Fund reports that health insurance premiums rose by 13.9 percent in the past year, the largest increase since 1990. Premiums for family coverage increased by 49 percent from the already high figure of $1,619 to $2,412.
Insurance carriers claim that the increasing premiums merely reflect higher health costs, but they rarely offer proof. At the same time it’s clear that the insurance companies are handsomely increasing their profits.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the Wall Street Journal published a front page story on Sept. 9 titled “Company Health Plans Try to Drop Spouses.” The article cites Verizon’s demands in their recent contract negotiations to impose restrictions on their workers’ spousal coverage, along the lines of what Boeing workers have had to face. The General Electric contract with the electrical workers unions contains similar revisions. These revisions are a foot in the door for greater cutbacks.
One thing is for sure: the days when workers, through their labor contracts, were able to count on coverage for their spouses and children are almost finished. The most cynical attack from employers is to follow the insurance company lead by charging more for family coverage if the family is a large one over a small one. So much for family values.
‘Rationing’ health care
Another front page article in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 12) finally says what is really happening in our health care system: “Rationing is Here.”
Our backward economic and health delivery systems are based on profit. Under capitalism, profit governs everyday decision-making. Money has long served to ration health care. The more money a person has at his or her discretion, the more services the person is able to afford.
In the past, insurance policies and workplace health benefits limited the risks for everyday people. Medicaid would take care of people suffering from unemployment and poverty and Medicare would protect retirees. Cutbacks in both of these programs are now being coupled with sharp cutbacks in employer-based and negotiated programs.
Why? The answer is simple: skyrocketing prices being charged by pharmaceutical and insurance companies, medical and hospital supply companies and similar charges. The sky’s the limit for profits under Bush and the Republican Congress. “Let the market decide” is their decree. Well, the market is deciding, and people are suffering, people are dying prematurely; and the crisis is reaching epic proportions.
Changing course will require a major struggle. Every candidate for public office has to choose a side: “The People’s Health or Health for Profits.”
The author can be reached at pww@pww.org
http://www.pww.org/article/view/4100/1/181/
Your info is just propaganda, as proven by the above absurd statement. 99% of the people do not understand capitalism because they've given it the "evil" label. When it doesn't work, it must have been capitalism.
The MARKET NEVER DECIDED because we've never had free capitalism.
BTW, Debra NO ONE owes me healthcare. Why do I owe it to you?
I guess you don't understand how your own insurance company is SUPPOSED to work? Everyone pools their money... you said yourself, the insurance company needs enough healthy people to pay for the sick.
But, naw, you don't owe them anything do you? So pay for your own medical bills and stop depending on your insurance company to pay!
We call them Robber Barons now.
Thank God, THAT era is over.
Wilka
Kathy we have never had anything that is capitalism in America and capitalism is never even brought up until corporate hacks go to far and need socialism to bailout their capitalism scam.
Our money prevents a free market every where and every time.
www.nopom.info
Linda medicare is a dictated program because it taxes people to support it that never use it or are not eligible because of age and Medicare says "you get what we decide is necessary not what you need."
Social Security is a socialist program but I notice all the independents and GOP followers grab onto it as soon as they can.
US govt programs rob from peter to pay paul and then borrow from china to pay them all. we must stop this.
The rest of all this is just a rehash of the Medicare arguments of Johnson's era. The naysayers haven't changed a word. Any of you "old folks" wanna give up your MediCare or MedicAid?
Thought not.
Especially now that once again no one knows your age.
The wish of the Obama administration going into D.C. was to be a uniting force. Bipartisanship on something as important and necessary as health care reform would go a long way toward making that possible and bringing more Americans together politically. But I believe they're understanding now that the Republicans aren't willing to compromise on anything.
The Dems will hopefully wake up (I think they are) and just let the Repubs chalk up another opportunity lost to make positive change happen for the good of the middle/lower economic classes. They didn't want civil rights and they didn't want Medicare/Medicaid.
HA! The root of it....(and this is really, really ironic...)
NOW they want to "get in touch with their constituents..." build bridges of communication to the underprivledged...
Man, they just don't get it. And they never will, In My Not So Humble Opinion.
Wilka
If our health care system goes as Tom Daschle says "Older people need to accept having health problems...", I will be paying taxes for young citizens and illegals to receive health care, but will not be allowed to receive that care myself.
Its Obama's political campaigning since he was elected that brings the bipartisan issue into the whole thing.
Keep our own money, pay for our own healthcare? who would have thunk of such a thing? Uh, not Politicians!
I wish I felt sure that our large numbers were not a drawback or that we will be perceived as a drag on the economy.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977740682
Lieberman is going to do as much damaged as he can before he is voted out next election.
However, there is always crap snuck through in the dead night and under a different name.
We must encourage good people to run, then support their efforts. Track their voting record to make sure they represent OUR best interests and freedom.
We must raise our children to be the leaders we want to see.
what was it?
good luck finding "good people" in your run down party!
Donna, do you have anything important to contribute to the conversation?
Hey, Chuck, we have a Gather czar making comments on YOUR post. Aren't you excited?
Hey, you called my party "run down" so what party do you think I belong to?
Guess you have a hard time keeping up with your own ignorance.
uhm, I asked Donna a question. Are you her interpreter?
I'd like to stay and play... but you bore me after a while.
For Linda... Thanks for speaking up for me. Like you, I got bored with this triffling debate way back! TTFN......
Now, that was priceless and a chuckle out loud.
In fact, Obama seems to be trying his level best to tow the bipartisan line, now he is calling health care reform, health insurance reform.
I am sick of corporations brainwashing people in this country, they need to be taken down for good and for ever or we will be turned into slaves and end up enslaving the rest of the world along with us.
Fascism is when the fed. govt, statist media, and corporatists scheme to control everything.
Corporatists are taking over the food supply - Monsanto is the most evil company and is well on it's way to controlling all the world's food supply. That's a corporatist.
And please add Exxon Valdese, and the electronic car
battery recall.
And please add the following list of corporations that
are outsourcing jobs.
http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/
popups/exporting.america/content.html
I'm trying to think back to when the country was not owned by the
corporations...When did we allow it to be a country...
..."of the corporations, by the corporations and for the
corporations?"...
Under the aegis of the party who protested too much
about capital profits being sacred, and and DEregulation
Free Markets, and "trickle down" theories of cash mgmt.
There will never be clean deregulation in a FREE market
until corporations are cut down to community size...
and are not "running the world through Lobby efforts."
I want it to be (once again) OF the people, BY the people
and FOR the people.
Take the profit out of War Building, Education and Medicine.
Then maybe they can strive to "sell us" something, like maybe a better car that lasts more than 7 years and costs 1/4 of what my house is valued-- instead of just selling us out.
Wilka
It's also happening in the meat industry - the dairy industry, and [insert your favorite one here]
Nothing natural - all chemical bases drugs is all you are allowed.
Vitamins? Herbs? Gone by the wayside if CODEX get's it's way.
We will have to get scripts from the docs for vitamins and nothing about them will be natural or healthy.
Good equal rights health care as good as Bill Gates and Donald Trump gets. That is equal rights. Affordable to the poorest of the poor and below. Even the homemaker whom society scorns today as being worth nothing. Bet they would not have said it to our G. G. G Grandma's that they were worth nothing. Stop kissing the rear end of the Pharm companies, big industry insurance companies, Medical doctors who think they are God. If I CHOOSE not to use pharm poisions and want natural health care then I should have that right. As to having insurance I think that to should be a choice not a mandate by ANY government. I don't trust the "hardship" clause they want. It is too broad and vague. The polititians Dems and Reps don't give a diddly squat about we the people they only care about the bottom dollar and theirselves. I do NOT want goverment dictating I MUST have health insurance. Nor telling me what they believe is a hardship case. Because what is a hardship for some is not for others. Yes I do want good health insurance I can afford without robbing me of other things In life I enjoy and need. But don't want them dictating It is mandantory. I don't have any insurance now. My insurance is in God and Christ and they sustain me.
Secondly, they have their OWN RETIREMENT plan - PERS. The dictators WILL NOT BE PART OF SOCIAL SECURITY!
did you? Wonder why...
If anyone wants me to forward all the pictures, please ping me privately with your email address and I'll send them on. Col. - THEY ARE GREAT! I never saw so many poignant signs!
In DOWNTOWN CHICAGO - Obama's back yard!!!
“The change sucks”
“Read my lipstick”
“No taxation with foolish distribution”
“Re-distribute MY work ethic”
“Audit the FED”
“Obama – Pelosi – Reid – the Axis of TAXES”
“From little A.C.O.R.N.S. Mighty Marxists Grow”
“Spread YOUR wealth around”
“Mr. Geithner, may I borrow YOUR TURBO TAX?”
“I listed the Fed. Govt. as a deduction on my taxes this year”
“Read my TELEPROMPTER ‘No New Bailouts’’
“HONK if you have Voter’s Remorse”
“The American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama’s oven”
“The real pirates are all the Politicians in Govt.”
“Right Wing Extremists: Jefferson, Adams, Madison & Me”
“In GOD we trust – Obama & Congress – eh, not so much”
“Guess they don’t teach this: ‘Federal Budget for Dummies’ at Harvard”
“Pirate-in-Chief” (picture of Obama with a patch on his eye)
MY PERSONAL FAVORITE:
“Why pay taxes when they can just print money