Obama Tries to Rally Lawmakers on Health-Care Legislation

How many earmarks did it cost the Administration to get the votes????

I want the same health care that congress has and nothing less.

I want true competition for the insurance racket, outlaw of policy rescission, and care denial for preexisting conditions.

I want insurers to pay out 90% of payments instead of the 79% they now COMPLAIN about spending on American's health.

In other words - I WANT MY MONEY'S WORTH OUT OF MY HEALTH INSURANCE!

We have a health exchange in Massachusetts, a requirement for everyone to be covered, and its working well - not as well as a single payer plan which is approved nationally by the majority of voters but this is not really a free country if you are advocating elimination of the insurance companies and their profits. Our businesses have an unfair burden compared to those from England, France, Canada, and Germany - they have to provide health care which in the other developed nations they don't. Why hobble our businesses and our citizens. Health care should be a right not a privilege for the richest and the politicians.

It's time to close ranks.

No more pussy-footing around.

Any so-called Democrat who goes against this reform -- any who dare block our access to a public option that they as legislators enjoy on our dime -- any who for one second think they can get away with setting policy based on health care industry bribes and counting on us to forgive and forget -- will be met with the most concentrated effort to unseat one's own incumbents in the history of a political party.

We are watching every twitch you make, Democrats, and you best not slip up. There will be no excuses. We won't accept any more Demublicans.

If Reid won't do it, if Pelosi won't do it, well, dammit, then we're gonna do it.

How many arms were twisted and how many threats were put out by the Obama thugs? This Congress is not listening to the people of this country, they are just forging ahead and spending trillions of dollars we don't have.

Obama said a month or so ago "we are already out of money" so what rational reason do they have to spend trillions more for a program that will limit care (ration) and still leave millions uninsured? Do they care about the irresponsible spending? Obviously not.

Obama's only obvious goal is to bankrupt this country, declare Marshall Law when the people rise up in protest, and take over the country declaring himself dictator in chief.

This bill and Cap & Trade MUST BE STOPPED.

Who will be exchanged in lou of this bill?What member of what family,what profession will be micromanaged,and who will be the counsel for those of US who are being affected by the new administrators changes?As an international event occurs in any given state as a result of such organizations,which most insurance will pay fore,as the National Alliance on Mental Illness(NAMI)with such "sponsors" as Oakwood Heritage Hospital,Gateway Community Health,Havenwyck Hospital,Wayne State University,The job shop,Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan,Community mental health authority,and a whole host of other sponsors who do absolutely nothing but protect their organziation,doctors,and encourage participation to educate and of course raise money for them.Would that fall under the "extortion" category,the can't seem to comprehend the cumulative affects of pigeon holing individuals into mental health diagnoses to negotiate job deals,criminalize mental illness or further someone careers?Ignoring the gravity of these issues and the extent of which "sponsors" and these type of organizations have gone to involve a multicultural population will only lead to more problems.

"...but this is not really a free country if you are advocating elimination of the insurance companies and their profits."

I'm just wondering: where did you come up with this idea?

Are we a free country without for-profit police departments? How about fire departments?

How about the U. S. military? We've seen what happens when we outsource that: the showers electrocute the servicemen, the water they drink is filthy, and the armed for-profit mercenaries run amok, lawless, making ten times the grunt next to him.

So I guess I'd disagree. Freedom guarantees no one the power to deny their customers life-saving medical care to improve their profits. It's akin to arguing that a filmmaker should have the freedom to make a snuff film.

"This Congress is not listening to the people of this country, they are just forging ahead..."

No, YOU are not listening to the people of this country, three quarters of whom want a public option for health care, and 58 percent of whom would gladly pay an increase in taxes in exchange for the lower costs that will result.

You are among a minority that fancies yourself still in charge. Sorry. The election's over and you lost.

We tried it your way since Reagan began dismantling the middle class. Now we're gonna try it our way, and you're going to benefit despite your belligerent intransigence.

So just keep your panties from bunching up, relax, and everything is gonna be all right, OK?

Seems odd AARP is supporting a bill that will result in significant reductions in Medicare spending. Makes one wonder if their leadership has sold out the interests of many of elderly, which would be sort of typical of some special interest groups.

The Republicans and conservative Democrats need to be asked what does it say it terms of their moral compassion or lack thereof, that they are opposed to raising taxes a little on the wealthy, instead apparently seeking taxes on middle class employer paid health benefits and more reductions in Medicares spending. Another way in which Republicana and conservatives offer very few, if any, viable policies or initiative for ordinary people in this country.

The CBO director seems to think this is the last health care bill ever to be passed by Congress. Long-term health care costs can be addressed later.

Members of Congress, the executive branch and federal workers get excellent health care benefits, while some of them do not want ordinary people to have basic health care coverage. Talk about being selfish and greedy.

Spare us the morality argument. What is immoral is trying to pass a trillion dollar bill that dramatically adds to the trillion dollar deficit for life obama blueprint at the expense of our country's long-term health so we can live a little better now. talk about being selfish and greedy

all you have to do is explain how it will be paid for

problem is, you can't, as the CBO director proved

We have a health exchange in Massachusetts, a requirement for everyone to be covered, and its working well

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Working well? This is from the front page of today's Boston Globe:

"Commission members stressed that failing to control medical spending - which is growing by more than 8 percent annually in Massachusetts, driven largely by the high price and heavy use of hospitals - could threaten the state’s model health insurance law and bankrupt employers and patients."

Pay for care a new way, state is urged

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/17/pay_for_care_a_new_way_state_is_urged/

Read these statistics published in the Investor's Business Daily June 30, 2009. Go to their site and you can read a lot more about Canada's plan and other countries.

QUOTE: In 2007, there were at least 40 mothers and their babies who were airlifted from British Columbia alone to the U.S. because Canadian hospitals didn't have room. It's worth noting that since 2000, 42 of the world's 52 surviving babies weighing less than 400g (0.9 pounds) were born in the U.S.

It must be embarrassing to Canada that a G-7 economy and a country of 30 million people can't offer the same level of health care as a town of just over 50,000 in rural Montana. Where will Canada send its preemies and other critical patients when we adopt their health care system?

As we have noted, in Canada roughly 900,000 patients of all ages are waiting for beds, according to the Fraser Institute. There are more than four times as many magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units per capita in the U.S. as in Canada. We have twice as many CT scanners per capita.

Expensive? Wasteful. Just ask the Jepps or the parents of Ava Isabella Stinson. UNQUOTE

Sobering information!

"Spare us the morality argument. What is immoral is trying to pass a trillion dollar bill that dramatically adds to the trillion dollar deficit for life obama blueprint at the expense of our country's long-term health so we can live a little better now. talk about being selfish and greedy all you have to do is explain how it will be paid for
problem is, you can't, as the CBO director proved"

First off, correct grammar is essential to a good argument.

Secondly, it appears that this bill "would raise $544 billion over the next decade through a surtax on household incomes above $350,000. The rate would begin at 1 percent and rise to 5.4 percent on household incomes over $1 million." Looks like legislators have figured out how to pay for this.

Lastly, how can one "spare the moral argument" when discussing the most grossly exaggerated lack of health care in the industrialized world? THIS IS A MORAL ISSUE! Sack up and understand that YOU NEED TO DO YOUR PART AND HELP TO PAY FOR YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS! You probably consider yourself to be a "good moral Christian" as well, except when your taxes are discussed. Then its no-holds-barred. Unbelievable.

This DEATH CARE .. bill is a result of the BILDERBURG MEETING in GREECE and the billionaires that met in N.Y. a few weeks ago to gripe about OVERPOPULATION.

I hope every politician that votes for this bill and has voted for it so far is dumped in 2010. That's the only way thse politicans are going to listen to the people. I wouldn't give a plug nickle for anything that AARP supports and I have some questions about the AMA too. I am a sernior citizen on Medicare and I also work in healthcare 40 hours a week.

To nancycrichton:

Lets compare statistics. 40 Canadian mothers airlifted to the US vs. 50 million US citizens without the means or coverage to visit a hospital in their own country.

Last summer while visiting family in Spain, I suffered from a serious bacterial infection. I visited the hospital in their town and left with a prescription for antibiotics. The entire visit took less than 30 minutes and cost me a whopping total of 12 euros. If this had happened in my own country and I had been uninsured, this would have been MUCH more expensive and time consuming. Check THOSE statistics. Point is, you can spin stats however you want to. The bottom line is that we are the ONLY industrialized world that does not offer a single-payer government option. This is simply unsustainable and wrong.

This is essentially the Swiss system, minus the option to buy into Medicare insurance. It works beautifully in Switzerland. Everyone by law is covered, just like car insurance. If you refuse to buy your own plan, the local authorities will buy one for you and bill you. They have around 20 private health-insurance companies and the myriad of plans we have, but of course without the arbitrary "pre-existing condition" exclusion. Nor do you have to have a three hour interview on the phone with some joker underwriter asking personal details. PASS THIS CONGRESS. IT WILL WORK AND SAVE KAZILLIONS BECAUSE EVERYONE IS IN THE INSURANCE POOL!

The fact that the Health bill advances in the House is news similar to the advancement of an epidemic that will drain the U.S. taxpayer’s pocket. If you do not believe this, read the following:

Who are you going to believe the Congressional Budget Office, nonpartisan director, Douglas Elmendorf, or the Democrats in the White House? Obama is pushing health care reform in a desperate move to try to maintain his political career with the liberal Democrat supporters such as Kennedy with their big name in U.S. Democrat politics.

Most Americans know that the Democrats' health reform measure would put another drag on the U.S. economy downward spiral particularly with regard to the "public insurance option." This option written into law translates to U.S. government health insurance program for those who cannot afford to pay private health insurance.

This costly and massive federal insurance program will destroy private health insurance companies resulting in more employees losing their jobs in the private sector and the quality of medical service will significantly deprecate due to the lack of any competition in the health insurance business. If passed, we will experience a major negative impact on the U.S. economy very soon as confirmed by Elmendorf. Thank God for his integrity.

THIS IS IT!

The healthcare reform bill released by the House Of Representatives is an excellent bill as I understand it. It's a bill with a strong, robust, government-run public option, and an intelligent, reasonable initial funding plan to cover almost all of the American people. It is carefully written, and thoughtfully constructed, informed, prudent and wise. This bill will save trillions of dollars, and millions of your lives. It is also now supported by the AMA.

This is the type of bill that all Americans can feel good about. And this is the type of bill that has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of healthcare for all Americans. Rich, middle class and poor a like. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and all other party affiliations. This bill has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life of every American.

The house healthcare bill should be viewed as the minimum GOLD STANDARD by which all other proposed healthcare legislation should be judged. All supporters of true high quality healthcare reform should now place all your support behind this healthcare reform bill released by the United States House Of Representatives, as the minimum Gold standard for healthcare reform in America.

You should all now support this bill with all your might, and all of your unrelenting tenacity. This healthcare bill is a VERY, VERY GOOD! bill for all of the American people. Fight tooth, and nail for every bit of this bill if you have too. Be aggressive, creative, and relentless for this bill.

From this time forward, go BIGGER and DEEPER with the American people every day until passage of healthcare reform with a robust, government-run public option.

FIGHT!! like your life and the lives of your loved ones depends on it. BECAUSE IT DOES!

It should also be noted that Ron Wyden’s “Free Choice Proposal” in the senate is a highly intriguing proposal and possibly a brilliant idea. And an Idea that should be strongly looked into as a way of increasing consumer choice, and consumer access to a government-run public option.

SPREAD THE WORD

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSM8t_cLZgk&feature=player_embedded)

God Bless You

Jack Smith — Working Class

If there is a public option, employers will dump you into it to save money, and odds are your existing plan is going to be way better than the public option. If you like what you have now, get ready to hold your nose when you go into the yearlong waits of the public option.

Cost estimates for this plan are not taking this into account. Take whatever number Obama is saying and multiply it by 10 to get a true number. Even as stated, the funds allocated do not meet the Obama projected costs.

Obama, Pelosi and Reid know entitlements like social security, medicaid, medicare are in debt to the tune of $100 Trillion dollars, yet they repeat the mistake of proposing yet another redistributionist entitlement with a crap funding scheme.

They ram this leglislation through on party lines in the dead of summer before recess to minimize the polical fallout.

This is more democrat horse manure. I saw that empty headed dumbo Pelosi on tv saying that the corrupt democrats who passed this blivet were working for the people.
What a lousy joke.
These vacuous turdheads don't work for anyone except themselves and whomever pays them off.
All of these sleazes who vote for the bill to bankrupt private insurers need to be sent home at the earliest opportunity.
What monumental disgraces these pieces of feces are.

Ms. Murray reports, apparently with a straight face --

"...22 Democrats...wrote a letter...protesting the tax as harmful to small businesses.... 'We believe that any revenues for the health care program should be collected from a larger base than the critical small business sector.'"

After Joe the Plumber last year, a news writer with a brain should easily remember that a personal tax is not a business tax. A business owner fortunate enough to earn a family income over $350 thousand has the option of plowing some of that income back as business expenses. Then, for an S-corp filer, the income is not taxed.

It's time the Post left off reporting that rank political refuse as news.

Thousands of pages of mind numbing nonsense and still not one member of Congress has been able to tell Americans WHO will be covered and HOW much will it cost.

How can they draft any kind of bill for Health Care Reform when they don't even know whom they are covering?

This is typical Congressional idiocy at its finest. And they call this Representation?

Q - Who is Elmendorf?

A - He is with the CBO who is currently working to assess if it is too costly to save a human life. Along with republicans he has stated that saving some American lives is too expensive and should be avoided. This is the selection process of who lives and who dies that Republicans have wanted.

Q - Why not tax medical office visits and procedures?

A - This is a great idea you have. That way private insurance can pick up the tab for national care insurance.

"Ways and Means also voted to make deep cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, totaling up to $500 billion."

And the AARP endorsed this?

Do i love it, no, do i like it, yes.

It turns a huge corner in ideology and policy. Once we are around the corner more efficiency can be legislated. I remain trustful of Obama to initiate and lead ongoing reforms. He is the best I've seen in 70 years.

In the future, nationalize the federal reserve to pay for single payer and i will love it!

To nancycrichton:

Last summer while visiting family in Spain, I suffered from a serious bacterial infection. I visited the hospital in their town and left with a prescription for antibiotics. The entire visit took less than 30 minutes and cost me a whopping total of 12 euros. If this had happened in my own country and I had been uninsured, this would have been MUCH more expensive and time consuming.
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If spent 30 minutes and left with a prescription, you didn't have a serious anything. Health care for acute conditions in basically healthy people is inexpensive. Health care for the elderly with kidney failure, stroke, heart disease, cancer, etc. is phenomenally expensive.

Which is how comments break concerning foreign socialist medical systems. The young like the free part and they don't cost much. The old are rationed with the hope they die sooner than later.

By the way, why do Canadians come to America at all for health care? They have a utopian system far superior to ours at a lower cost. And Canada isn't exactly a third world country.

Instead of sending serious cases to the USA, Canada could take serious cases from the USA and make a big profit just by splitting the difference.

Anyone who actually reads this bill would not support it. This is government takeover of America, folks. Constitution be damned.

That the same category of people, high incomers, are taxed for every new Dem program is immoral. What's the point of striving to be financially successful, if the Dems are going to tax away one's success to pay for their programs.

CHOOSING THE USUAL PROFITING INSURANCE COMPANY, OR CHOOSING GOVERNMENT PLAN SHOULD BE UP TO AMERICANS?
The deciding factor in implementing health care for everybody--LEGALLY--in America, is the Publics voice? Those who want to just follow the same old road, can do so with the profit taking commercial insurance. Those who would be satisfied with a government run health care program, can now start demanding it from the lawmakers. Those who see a Universal health care system, similar to most developed countries in Europe, should start informing every Representative and Senate politician starting today. Rationing in places like England, was caused by the major impact of uncontrolled immigration.
Most American working class can do--without-- high premiums, pre-existing condition clauses. deductibles, co-pays that is representative of the wealthy medical care insurers. Whatever pertains to your family, you should start ruffling the indifferent feathers of the people in Washington at 202-224-3121 Just like illegal immigration , we cannot afford anymore to subsidize the business that hire them or the millions of illegal families.

Actung! GOP against this bill - Please make special note that the bush drug plan was initial proposed as 400 billion over tens years

The cuts in Medicare are not cuts in service but cuts on overcharging - that is why the aarp has supported this 2009 HC Bill.
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Bush's Medicare Plan Will Cost Almost Double What He First Claimed. "The federal government plans to spend more than $700 billion during the next 10 years to provide drug coverage under Medicare as part of a landmark bill signed by President Bush in December 2003." Originally, Bush's prescription drug plan was to have cost $400 billion over 10 years.
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The Congress has not done its basic homework. With the amount of staff available to both parties, it would appear that they would at least be in a position to address facts with the people they work for. THEY CAN'T!

Folks, if you want health care, take charge of your own! Look at the credibility of Congress from all national polls, and then ask yourself 'WHY WOULD I ENTRUST MY HEALTH CARE TO THEM?? Charlie Rangel? Nancy Pelosi?

Come on Good People! Rangel is still under investigation for skulldugery!

Why do taxes ALWAYS hurt small businesses, but outsourcing jobs overseas is called competition? I don't get it.

Why should I care about a deficit NOW?! Congress gave loads of money to these defense contractors to pay for all these wars, but Americans can't get healthcare. Enough is Enough! Healthcare for every American. It's time!

"Spare us the morality argument. What is immoral is trying to pass a trillion dollar bill that dramatically adds to the trillion dollar deficit for life obama blueprint at the expense of our country's long-term health so we can live a little better now. talk about being selfish and greedy all you have to do is explain how it will be paid for
problem is, you can't, as the CBO director proved"

First off, correct grammar is essential to a good argument.

Secondly, it appears that this bill "would raise $544 billion over the next decade through a surtax on household incomes above $350,000. The rate would begin at 1 percent and rise to 5.4 percent on household incomes over $1 million." Looks like legislators have figured out how to pay for this.

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Better yet, some clear thinking. The nonpartisan CBO has come to a dramatically different conclusion regarding whether legislators have "figured out how to pay for this." And a big FYI for those who are looking past these warning signs, entitlement costs will bankrupt this country if they are not addressed honestly and head on. And if that happens, all the platitudes being spewed today about universal coverage will be a distant memory.

I heard that in the healthcare bill is a mandate to have counseling for seniors every 5 years to convince them of alternatives to end life care to help encourage people to consider ending their life.

I also heard scuttlebutt that also in the healthcare plan, is a provision that abortions may be "demanded" if a fetus may be mentally or physically challenged when born.

I am trying to confirm if the second provision is true.

Why can't this newspaper read the bill and let us know about its provisions instead of us having to scrounge around for the information for ourselves.

But then again, hasn't that been the case since the Primaries?

You've got to admire the Democrats balls. this is a bigger power-grab than even Hugo Chavez would try - and it will drop this country even lower than Venezuela as well.

The argument that the tax would fall on small businesses is absurd.

Just look at the average salaries of Goldman Sachs, etc in yesterday's articles.

The costs of this program won't put a dent in their massive bonuses.

So tell me how deep cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, totaling up to $500 billion, will improve health care for the elderly?

This bill is a farce. Only the insurance companies will benefit from it.

We want a national single-payer health insurance program that is truely non-profit. How do we get that? The only real solution is to extend Medicare insurance to all citizens, and pay for it through the Medicare tax. Increase the tax and tax all income including capital gains and dividends, not just wages. We the citizens of this country, are tired the insurance companies skimming 30% or more of our premium payments into the pockets of executives and stockholders. We are not getting our money's worth. We are tired of fraud and waste, double billing, claim denials, and emergency rooms crowded with the uninsured. We are tired of being the richest country in the world with a third rate health care system, because our politicians are too corrupt to do the right thing.

This is ridiculous. There is a better way. Too bad the conservative ideology is dragging us down to third world status.

I submit to you that the ABSOLUTE ONLY reason these democrat are so timid about passing OBama;s healthcare reform bill is MONEY. LOSS OF MONEY! They are deathly afraid of LOOSING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MEGA INSURANCE COMPANIES AND HMOs. They are hiding behind the ruse of the national deficit as a reason for their timidity. PASS OBAMA'S HEALTHCARE BILL, DEMOCRATS!!!! DO IT NOW!!!! i IMPLORE ALL PEOPLE TO CALL OR EMAIL THEIR CONSGRESSIONAL REPS AND URGE THEM TO PASS THIS BILL AND STOP BEING A BUNCH OF WUSSIES!!!!

I really wish someone would step forth with the intellectual honesty to call this health insurance reform. Then I would like that same person to explain how available coverage gets the poor, the homeless, the rural, to the doctor for medical care. Real health care reform focusses on the care and not the coverage. This is misguided tax and spend, money saves all, democratic non-sense.

Still think we should have single payer national health care.

It would be cheaper.

And the tax on multi-millionaire Bank CEOs is too low, considering how much they're ripping we American consumers off.

We have an administration that is hell bent on universal healthcare and are lieing to the american public about saving money. If the issue was the healthcare spend, then what is needed is analysis of what drove signficant cost increase over the past 10 years. This would take a few staffers a weeks worth of work to analyze, then you correct the areas that are out of line. NO ONE IS DOING THIS, think about it, what Obama and Biden say is basicly the world as we know it will end unless we have universal care and we must have universal care as the ONLY way to reduce cost...THEY ARE LIEING! wake up and call you congress person, this administration we have is out of control and we must stop it.

Good for dgblues (12:45 PM). I have been giving money to the Democrats for years, and I second his/her motion. No more excuses.

My parents small business already offers insurance to its full time employees. Its better then the insurance I get from working for a much larger non-profit. Small businesses can afford to offer insurance to their employees, they've just never been forced to make it a priority yet.

"The House bill would create a public health option to compete with private insurance plans, and a health-insurance "exchange” that would allow people to compare costs and coverage. New rules would prevent insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions."

IT'S FUNNY YOU DON'T MENTION THAT THE HOUSE BILL WILL MAKE INDIVIDUAL COVERAGE ILLEGAL...

I'm a Republican and fiscal conservative..

I'm for this.. Congress is not going far enough.. Dump private health care.. It's a racket.. Rep. Eric Cantor's arguments are a joke. "Basic Health" converage mandate? What the heck is that? A $100,000 annual cap? Try dealing with Cancer with that kind of coverage. Look a Germany's coverage.. that works. I just don't want to pay for illegal immigrants and offspring - American's only

Yes! At last health care is being recognized as a right. This is great, because then we can go on to food, clothing and shelter as basic rights. While we are at it, let us not forget that that transportation should be a right also. After all, most of us have to drive to work.

Wow! Free health care, food, clothes and cars. Oh wait! How will all of these wonderful rights be paid for? What the heck, we can just ask the California legislature how to do it. What's that? You say California is out of money and the people there don't want to pay any more in taxes? Well, what the heck, the US government can just print the money to pay for it all. Free money, backed by nothing but hot air. Is this a great country or what?

The test is: If it's not good enough for Obama and company then it's not good enough for us! KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY HEALTHCARE!

Why would AARP support this bill? Anyone over 60 will be put on" the waiting list for the waiting list." As Tom Daschle wrote before his tax problems were exposed," The old and sick Americans will have to live with their infirmities." Rationing medical care by ignoring the sick and elderly will be the only way that the government can cover all the illegals and non productive citizens.50 percent of the taxpayers will ultimately contribute 50 percent of their income to support the 50 percent who secure all their needs from the government. This situation can not be sustained and the nation will cease to exist,thanks to Obama's Marxist propensities.

dgblue's you don't really understand the Democratic Parties Demographic right now do you. Fully 1/2 of the party voted against Obama and is backing these conservative democrats, many of whom got into office in formerly Republican districts by being moderate.

1, The progressive wing of the party does not have the votes in these districts to unseat anybody.

and

2, Even if you do unseat them, your candidate will lose to the Republicans in the general election which will swing the House back over to them.

I hope progressives like you start an internecine war in the Democratic Party for 2010 and 2012 so we can kick you back under the rock you crawled out of......

As someone from ND, Earl Pomeroy is no conservative. And don't paint him to be a hero, he is just covering his own backside because a majority of the people in ND are against this and he made a deal with Pelosi that if he could cover himself on this one because he has a re-election next year (as do all representatives) that if he got re-elected he would be on her side on more radical left wing agenda items. Please Earl, a conservative, you may be trying to fool the rest of the country but here in ND, we know that label is not true about Earl Pomeroy.

What President Obama really means when he says we have to spend less on health care is that the top %50 have to spend less on their healthcare and more on other peoples'.

The government shoudlnt be concerned with what people pay for insurance, except for the fact that people dont buy their own insurance, their employers buy it for them.

We need to decouple health insurance from employment, without simply substituting the government for the employer as the decision maker. People know best what they are willing to pay for, instead of having a cookie cutter bought by someone else.

If, at this point, they were still concerned with how much people decide to spend on insurance then they could give them a very good incentive to buy less by taking away the non-sensical tax exclusion for health care insurance.

we know enough now to realize that if you make money for health care cheap, a price bubble will follow.

The insurance companies and HMOs are spending MILLIONS to defeat this bill. Whose lobbying for the people!!???? Barack Obama. Call or email your Congressional rep and urge them to vote YES for theis bill. It will help the average citizen by giving them CHOICES. This country needs afordable healthcare for ALL AMEIRCANS, not just those who can afford it...

There is a reason why(actually countless reasons) why republicans are out of power. Zero, nada, nothing...8 years in power and there is not 1 thing they accomplished to better America. Eight years in power, never ever even tried to reform health care. Spare us your phony outrage republicans, President Obama is the real deal. He is for the American people not big business. Finally we have a president that is getting things done to better the future of America. Republicans are as outdated in ideas as a polyester suit.

I herd abowt this tooday. I readed the artikal but it dont make no sents to me. Is congras going to pay for everones dokter bills. Halleylewya cuz I got a corn on mah rite tow drivin me crazee. Uh gotta go the cheese truk is a pullin up owtside and mah yunguns is hungree.

Bill narrowly clears two committees Friday amid intense debate over funding
Senate moderates break with Obama, release letter calling for slower timetable
Senators cite findings that legislation won't reduce long-term health care costs
Obama calls on Congress to finish: "Now is certainly not the time to lose heart"

The Supreme Leader, appeasment is upon him, has spoken and all those democrats who want to be re-elected better get on board, or else!

kubrickstan
President Obama is the real deal. He is for the American people not big business.
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Kneel down and pray, you heathern: says church of Obama. Btw, this bill is for big insurance; only that the govt now gets to tap the vein of tax flow and employers while insurers share the reins. Yea, this is reform for the simpletons who are drinking this kool-aid in drones.

Colorado's Second District, represented by Jared Polis, is certainly not a swing district.

Good. Health care reform is truly important. You can cite the numbers (50 million uninsured, tens of thousands undergoing rescissions, etc.), but when you feel the pain of individual stories, you know how desperate people are.

The health care cartel and insurance companies will pour hundreds of millions into ads and lobbyists to keep this from happening. They don't care about hurting people. All they care about is big bonuses and glutted profits.

And Congress has the cushiest health care plan around. Why should they care about ordinary people?

The only answer is for all of us to stand up and shout. And the only reform will be a public option. Anything else will just be another Medicare Drug Plan written by the companies with its huge donut hole and skyrocketing drug and insurance prices.

If ordinary people don't fight for health care and vote against those in the pockets of the big lobbies, health care reform will not happen.

Today Obama tells us :
"This is not the time to slowdon; it is not the time to lose heart" regarding his outrageous HC scam

No, Mr POTUS, IT IS TIME TO STOP....IT IS TIME FOR TOUGH LOVE by Congress.

Stop the irrational spending, cut taxes for business in order to create jobs, and stop the arrogant bully behavior of the WH for whatever O wants, but America does not want! Your confidence capital is ZIP ! ! !

OneStep wrote:
"I want the same health care that congress has and nothing less"

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Sorry OneStep, I've read the bill.

Congress, federal employees and some American Indian group are all EXEMPT in the new plan.

Check it out yourselves, it is in the very early pages of the bill.......Obama lied about this only 2 days ago........now you see why his RUSH ? This man is incredibly arrogant, and must truly believe Americans are very stupid!

Bad, bad move. Open eyes please. Look at India and many other Asian countries, look at South America. Incidently, Europe is catching on. Notice the boom in Med-Clinics, cutting edge surgery and high tech advances. Closing in on us and even in some instances surpasssing us (yes, the Saudis do have more $ for this than we do). Well, guess where the talent will go? Not here anymore once you pass this bill. No reason to come here, capitalism is gone from the market. What incentive to come here? The same old tired system that Europeans know does'nt work for them.
How sad, we lose, they win. Yes, and once again, we the tax-payers, our children and grandchildren will be paying for this and suffering both in the quality of care that will diminish for us and we will have less $ in our paychecks because we will pay for this. Another case of the road to hell paved with good intention. Good intention alone is not enough. The system we have actually does work. However, you are not working it, it is working you.

If this sham of public health care is so good why did Congress pass a special provision to exempt themselves and the president from it. That in itself should tell the American public that this is a disaster in the making and will cause massive increase in health care cost to all of us. Thru Taxiation and lack of benefits with massive beauracy to oversee who gets what and when if ever you will get treatment. Oblable and the Demorats have found a way to remove oppositon from their paty. Just deny them medical treatment. Oh in case you didn't know this also include the destructon fot he VA for Veterans who have medical problems also. They want to lump everyone except themselves under one bucket. While the politicians will have an unbrella we get the bucket. Go King Oblable, Where is your birth certifiate?

"Ways and Means also voted to make deep cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, totaling up to $500 billion."

Can anyone please explain how we will expand health care access while cutting programs that provide care to the POOR and the elderly.

Please will someone who supports this legislation explain how this makes sense????

Obama has been overexposed. Do not feel that the White House did its homework on health care. Think that they GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED the emotion of the subject, and GROSSLY OVERESTIMATED their ability to get it through.

The American people have little confidence in the Congress -- as evidenced by a surveys (GALLUP and Real Politics average). Support for the Administration has fallen as a result of the lack of stimulus felt from the stimulus package; rising unemployment; the fear of Cap & Trade; and now health care which could further erode American jobs for up to a generation.

The Obama Administration is in real trouble -- already; and Speaker Pelosi has not helped!

Obama wants to create competition in the healthcare insurance business and HMOs. THis is good for everyone... Only fools and greedy insurance companies oppose this bill...

No Govement Health plan! Good Lord they can't even do the job they were elected for!
We taxpayers would have been fired from a job done badly. Congress is to busy getting rich on Cap and Trade Our job is give and congress to take...They forgot they were elected to serve the American People.... WE will remember them by our
Vote against everyone of them that has cause this mess.

The only way Obama can expand coverage without worsening our already unsustainable budget deficit and catastrophic national debt is to tackle the real elephants in the room:
1. 30% of all healthcare services in the US are inappropriate and / or uneccessary. We must stop paying for incorrect care and ineffective treatments. One example: it's time to close the books on lumbar spinal fusion for chronic low back pain. It doesn't work. Lets stop wasting public resources for it.
2. Specialists are raking it in. Just look at the MGMA data. $500K - $750K per year is not uncommon. Many are pulling in $1M and more. Remember, these are nondiscretionary public dollars enriching specialists with rock star salaries while primary care medicine is dying on the vine. Obama must tackle over-compensated specialties and bring them back down to earth.
3. Self referral must stop. It is inherently immoral and unethical. As soon as physicians buy their own MRI / CAT their utilizations soars. In addition to radiating the hell out people, their over-imaging leads to false positives.
4. The under-the-table "consulting fees" paid by device and implant makers must stop. The folks who make spine screws co-opt the surgeons with consulting fees to use their product. The more they use, the more their "consulting" is worth.
So here is how the game is played. You don't do primary care. You go into ortho or spine, buy your own magnet, invest in your own surgery center, "consult" for a screw maker and self refer. You can double and even triple dip. This is how you make $2M off the backs of minimum wage workers.
Unless and until Obama grows the gonads to tackle these issue, he cannot rein in costs.

Obama-Care is bad for America. The director of the CBO says it will balloon the deficit. If it isn't good enough for Obama and family or Congress, it isn't good enough for you. Rationing, not medical treatment will be the treatment of choice by a faceless and uncaring governing agency. The handicapped will receive less care under Medical, and seniors will find it harder than ever to find physicians that will accept them as Medicare patients. Medicare will pay doctors less and less money so that the elderly will be pushed into nursing homes and then into hospices to die!

One problem in paying for the change is that a lot of the cost cutting can't be "scored" by the Congressional Budget Office. It has been estimated that 30% of what we spend on health care is not only wasted but makes the outcomes worse.

That implies the best way to pay for the bill might well be to tighten the provisions that attack that 30% and make them capable of being scored.

Obama is an perfect example why government health care won't even work--the American people. We smoke too much, have too much stress, eat badly, are fat and don't exercise. But aside from all that, nothing a few trillion can't fix!!

If centerist democrats go weak in the knees in the face of insurance cmpany lobbying they can kiss their majority goodby. If they wreck this they are no better than republicans.

I don't understand why people are so afraid of Obama. If I have to hear one more silly fret over some slight increase in taxes for all the good this whole plan is going to do for everyone, I think I'm going to have to slap someone. Wake up! We've been losing our middle class for years and look where it's gotten all of us. America's best times for everyone were when their middle class was strong. Middle class equals buyers. Buyers promote business which promotes business owners and the wealthy.

The company for which I work caters to the middle to upper class. None are buying the way they used to, except the uber wealthy. And without that middle class purchasing power, my company has suffered their lay-offs. And... a drastic reduction in our health care. I now pay $520/year and that's without seeing a Doctor. If I go to the Doctor, it's a $250 deductable and with the other payments I'll be at roughly $1,000. My company is paying $700+month for my $40month payments, putting this "small business" further in the whole. And yet my health care only covers up to $3,000. That means with all these payments, if anything more than getting a few moles removed this year happens to me, I'm all out of pocket at God knows what sky-high prices, which I would never be able to afford if not for my wealthy mother. All I can think to all of this is... PLEASE, take 1% more out of my taxes, because it's going to cost me a whole lot less in the end... and my mother too.

I know the majority is with me. But, I just wish the others would stop being so afraid long enough for them to see... it's good for you too.

Obama health plan is bad for Americans.
Obama Energy plan is bad for Americans.
Obama Stimulus plan is bad for Americans, and needs to be re-called now!
Obama GM plan has been bad for Americans.
American freedom and prosperity is severely threatened by the spending Obama has stampeded the fearful vote for. Do not let yourself be destroyed. Vote NO for Obama administration plans. DEFEAT OBAMA SPENDING AND TAXATION PLANS!His plans only make the wealthy wealthier and keep the citizen masses poor and dependent!

Bring a Job home, Call Obama 202-456-1111 we want a 3-5% retail sales tax on all imported goods to pay for healthcare . Support Buy America Their are 2 upsides to this #1 everyone would be paying #2 It owuld encourage buy America, help what few american manufactures we have and maybe bring home a job or 2

JULES5, I did have that same question myself in reading this article, but then I clicked on the "president's comments." I think this is what they are referring to with the cuts in Medicare/Medicaid...

"Obama: Already, Congress has embraced our proposal to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary spending and unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in Medicare and Medicaid.

So we actually believe that about two-thirds of the costs of reforming health care could be achieved through these savings alone, without any new revenue."

it is wrong ideal with the so called health care plan see what california is to day the democrats will destroy america with nancy pelosi barbaRA BOXER THEY CANT EVEN TAKE CARE OF THEIR ON STATE WE THE PEOPLE WILL GET THEM OUT OF OFFICE IN THE UP COMING ELECTIONS

It seems to me that when congress has an accounting office telling them that they cant afford this program and that the program will raise costs rather than lower caost that somebody had better stop and take a deep breath. I hope that reason prevails rather than political philosophy. If health care is needed then find a way that works rather than forcing a defective piece of legislation. Could it be that the majority party just wants to be able to say we did it? "We passed health care, we don't care what the future brings." I hope that is not true, it cetainly is not leadership.

The House Health Care Bill, 1,018-page document, released this week (July 14th, 2009) reveals some concerns as noted by http://www.benefitsmanager.net and http://www.dentalinsuranceutah.net. Mike Oliphant serves as health care consultant with these two popular websites in Utah. He also is a serving board member with Utah Association of Health Underwriters. A provision within this bill would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
This translates into those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. It is likely that those same people will suffer abnormally high rate increases over time which would force them out of coverage. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, www.benefitsmanager.net and www.dentalinsuranceutah.net warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage. The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, "fizzle out altogether."
What wasn't known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law. The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs. With HSAs out of the way, a key obstacle to the left's expansion of the welfare state will be removed.
http://www.SelectHealth.biz states that the public option won't be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny. Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn't be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) said the leadership so far isn't addressing their concerns. "They ignore at their own peril," he said.

And these are OBAMA's people here. They're trying to warn him to slow down yet he only speeds up.

He's also projecting cutting Medicare and Medicaid by $500 BILLION and yet the CBO says there will be 11 million more people on the Medicaid rolls with the subsidies applying to them?

Exactly WHERE is the money coming to fund that?

I'll tell you where. Where it ALWAYS comes from when medicare and medicaid costs are shifted. And its not just me saying it, its the MAYO clinic as well as Democrats that are ADMITTING it now.

PRIVATE INSURANCE.

I'm a Republican and fiscal conservative..

I'm for this.. Congress is not going far enough.. Dump private health care.. It's a racket.. Rep. Eric Cantor's arguments are a joke. "Basic Health" converage mandate? What the heck is that? A $100,000 annual cap? Try dealing with Cancer with that kind of coverage. Look a Germany's coverage.. that works. I just don't want to pay for illegal immigrants and offspring - American's only

Posted by: genbarlow | July 17, 2009 5:17

I'm sorry but if you're FOR THIS, there's NO WAY you're a fiscal conservative. This is the farthest thing from fiscal conservatism that exists on the planet.

This bill is a load of crap. Even Elmendorf is saying that this bill won't stop the sky rocketing expenditures of health care, which is exactly what it is designed to do.

Also, people should take more pride in themselves and work to get their own health care instead of expecting the government and "the rich" to do it for them. Its pathetic.

Let's see if I'm getting this right:

1. The insurance industry, the AMA, and the AARP are all supporting this bill.

2. This bill is supposed to reduce medical spending.

Am I the only one who's terrified by this?

In a communism country, media are gov. In U.S. (now) media are gov. follower so how can I can believe these statistic, analysis and news of one way street? Al I got is the few unbias analysis on this
"reform health care" = hell care