State of Play – The Monday Morning Update

If the group of 1,000 that I belongs to, has any say, we will force congress to enact single payer universal health care, S703. The group that I belong to grows every day. Go to sign these 2 petitions demanding single payer universal health care at http://BIT.LY/single_payer_baucus http://BIT.LY/single_payer

Amrican Express gave $50k to Max Baucus for his campaigns. If you have an American Express card, cut it up and send it to Max Baucus to his Helena, Montana senate office and tell him that until he gets S703 enacted into law I will not do business with American Express. If you want to influence officeholders then boycott their contributors and then demand their contributors get the legislation you want or they stay boycotted. It works when thousands of people send these contributors the message.

I want to thank the Washington Post for allowing unmoderated and uncensored commentary on health issues. The Washington Post treats people like adults. Unfortunately the NY Times does moderate comments and my comments rarely show up in their comments section, so thank you Washington Post.

ALL HANDS ON DECK! Howard Dean and the Democrats are correct. "a" (Toothy, Robust, Affordable, Immediate, Triggerless, Medicare-Like ) "public health insurance option" (For All Who Want It) "is more important than bipartisanship, and Democrats should pass health-care legislation that includes the option with 51 votes if necessary." "Democrats should have "no intention" of working with Republicans if it's not the strongest possible legislation that could be passed with a simple majority." (Howard Dean) CONTACT CONGRESS and your representatives Now! And tell them you demand ALL of the minimum requirements above. This is the time for maximal, toothy, sustained pressure on Congress to get this done. Be creative. But be relentless. This is what WE THE PEOPLE gave the Democrats all that power to do for ALL of us. In medicine and healthcare there is only one acceptable standard. And that standard is the HIGHEST level of EXCELLENCE! you can provide for everyone. Nothing less is acceptable for a precious human life. And the White House is right. "Good health care reform is essentially good economic policy." (Christina Romer) BUT HEAR ME WELL! Just as I warned you before 911. Before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And before the US and Global economic crisis. I must tell you now that healthcare reform is now a critical matter of NATIONAL SECURITY. A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) was yet another loud WAKE-UP! call. And there is MUCH! worse lurking, and poised to strike at any moment. Working against the clock, many of us have known this for a long time now. And this is why we have been pushing so hard for so long without fully saying why. But Congress and the American people are literally running out of time. I'll tell you more later. But get healthcare reform done NOW!. SPREAD THE WORD! God Bless All Of You jacksmith -- WORKING CLASS

I feel sad for all the Americans, especially all the American Kids, that are going to suffer and die way before their time because of the limitless greed of the Insurance industry and their Republican lackys. I don't know how long its been since you've visited someone in the hospitial, but try to make some time to go if someone you know is sick. Being sick and being in a hospital is a horrible experience. You get manhandled, pushed, poked, all while you're feeling really, really sick, and death in hospitals in America, especially for people with terminal Cancer, makes the worst descriptions you've seen of Hell loook like a picnic. Now imagine going through the Hell that is Cancer, without painkillers, without a Hospital, without a Doctor. Ok, now imagine how all that would feel to a child. Repubicans worked day and night to block SCHIP and stop those kids from getting medical treatment, even painkillers. Republicans want everyone inconvenient to quietly curl up and die. People don't do that. They suffer. Beyond imagination. If we are more than pigs, if we are more than selfish greedy animals that snarl and fight and tear each other apart, then we are morally commanded to do everything we can for American Kids Dying of Cancer. If we don't either God, Darwin or Karma will get us and even the score. Republicans can be cruel, but they've hit a new low and a new level of evil by first blocking medical care for American Kids With Cancer by blocking SCHIP, and now by again "pulling out all the stops" to stop Americans of all ages with common managable conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol from having the ability to buy health insurance, at any price. Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the USA? Getting really sick is bad enough. Being told you're going to die is even worse. Having to fight with your insurance company while you're sick and dying, like the President's mother had to do, is totally insane and to put people through that is cold and cruel beyond belief. If we can afford Bush/Cheney's war for ego, gold plated flying turkeys like the F22, and a "defense" department that spends more than the entire rest of the world combined, we can afford to pay for medical treatment and pain killers for American Kids Dying of Cancer. We aren't animals. We don't abandon the sick and dying. We're Americans. America and Americans are a lot better than that. Its Time For Universal Health Care. Its the AMERICAN thing to do!!!

I feel sad for the previous posters who use fear to try and sway people to vote one way. This issue is WAY too big to RUSH through, especially without bi-partisan work as Obama promised in his campaign. Then again, he has broken many of those promises so this does not surprise me. Universal single payer is NOT the solution. To open your eyes just read up on Canada or the UK and you will run for your life. Their systems are all built around preventative care, but when you have a more pressing chronic condition, they collapse under their own bureaucracy. What we need is to bring all parties (lawyers, hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals AND politicians) to the table to discuss cuts across the board and devise ways to eliminate waste and control costs. If you are not sure about the single payer system, just think of going to your local Division of Motor Vehicles. Is that what you want in your health care???

Its simply astounding that Republicans are trying to block 48 Million Americans from having access to decent health care. Which party do you guess those 48 Million Americans are going to vote for in the next election, especially if Republicans completely or partially block health care reform? Republicans are dumb. They keep on pissing off more and more of America. Right now they're at roughly 20% of American voters. After fighting tooth and nail to block health care reform, they'll be down to 2%. It couldn't happen to a more deserving group of folks.

Real meaningful healthcare will NOT pass at this time. There is too much money in from the insurance and pharmaceutical businesses now sloshing around the system. So the congressmen and senators will continue to enjoy their own socialized medicine while denying it to everyone else, and healthcare will continue to be a drag on the economy. Contrary to "popular" opinion, American Healthcare is NOT the best in the world. It is merely the most expensive. We spend roughly 18% of our GDP on healthcare to get a system that ranks somewhere between Slovenia and Albania. Western European govenrments and Canada spend about 10% of GDP on a system that covers everyone. This spare 8% of GDP is what is at stake, and the insurance companies are not going to give it up without a fight. But reform will come eventually, and we will have a single-payer system. But not until we have reached a "tipping point" where the American people wake up and see that the parasites in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries have been sucking them dry for years...... only there is now nothing left to actually suck! As Winston Churchill once observed: "You can always rely on the Americans to do the right thing....... once they have exhausted every other possibility".

jimmy -- I'm worried you may be right. The Republicans are "pulling out all the stops" to block health care reform, and Republicans lie as easily as they breathe, and fight dirty, as you can see from what happens on these boards. Republicans will spread lies about Universal health care, block Democrats free speech, and do everything possible to stop American Kids Dying Of Cancer, and all 48 Million Americans that don't have health insurance, from being able to buy it. I can't believe anybody could be as cold-hearted, cruel, and inhuman as that. Its simply astounding.

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