Recess Doesn't Slow Health-Care Rhetoric

THIS IS IT!

More than two thirds of the American people want a single payer health care system. If they cant have a single payer system 76% of all Americans want a strong government-run public option on day one (85% of democrats, 71% of independents, and 60% of republicans). Basically everyone.

AND NO INSURANCE MANDATES WITHOUT A STRONG GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION ON DAY ONE! An insurance mandate without a strong government-run public option choice on day one, would be a DISASTER! And it would be worse than the GREED DRIVEN PRIVATE FOR PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE HORROR! SHOW you have now. YOU MUST MAKE CERTAIN!! THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN AMERICA.

The healthcare reform bills released by the first two committees of the House Of Representatives are excellent bills as I understand them. They are bills with a strong, robust, government-run public option, and an intelligent, reasonable initial funding plan to cover almost all of the American people. They are carefully written, and thoughtfully constructed, informed, prudent and wise. These bills will save trillions of dollars, and millions of your lives. They are also now supported by the AMA.

These are the type of bills that all Americans can feel good about. And these are the type of bills that have 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. These bills have the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life of every American.

The house healthcare bills released by the first two committees 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 these healthcare reform bills released by the first two committees of the United States House Of Representatives, as the minimum Gold standard for healthcare reform in America.

You should all now support the first two committees bills with all your might, and all of your unrelenting tenacity. These first two House committees healthcare bills are VERY, VERY GOOD! bills for all of the American people. Fight tooth, and nail for every bit of these bills if you have too. Be aggressive, creative, and relentless for these bills.

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!

SPREAD THE WORD

Senator Bernie Sanders on healthcare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSM8t_cLZgk&feature=player_embedded)

God Bless You

Jack Smith — Working Class

As one of the two thirds of Americans and the 71% independents who feel strongly about having a comprehensive single payer universal healthcare system I would "compromise" for now, after seeing an honest vote on HR 676, and accept a strong public option affordable by everyone. But

here is no more compromise beyond the strong and affordable public option. Anything less is simply a sellout to the insurance giants who would love to see an insurance coverage mandate that traps more Americans into their trap of high premiums and skimpy coverage.

Of course, more details have to be revealed such as the meaty and meaningful numbers:

1. Individual and family premiums and how that compares to income.
2. The amount of subsidy for lower incomes (confirm 400% of poverty level)
3. Annual Deductible
4. Annual cap, if any.
5. Maximum annual out of pocket
6. How premiums will be collected (i.e exchange)
6. Range of plans to choose from. etc
7. No taxes on health benefits in order to keep employer funded health insurance if you choose

You get the idea. We want something that benefita ALL Americans, rich or poor, opponent or proponent of the public option.

NOTE: Former Hose Speaker Newt Gingrich replied to Dean's point, saying "That allowing any hint of a Public Option will cause people to 'flee' from Private Insurance Coverage."

There lies the entire 'TRUE DEBATE', to Health Care Reform. Mr Gingrich in his Infinite Wisdom, revealed the absolute reason why the Insurance Companies, Insurance Lobbyist and most of all the Republican Party, are willing do any thing imaginable to Kill or Weaken Health Reform.

He made the point in that statement, which explains all the Pseudo-Protesters, the endless Amendments by the Republican Congressman and Senators, and all the STALL Tactics by the so-called "BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS.

Small wonder Health Care Reform, has been put on the 'BACK BURNER', of America Politics since World War II. It is a Flash Point for any type of 'Legislation put forth before Congress.

It is one thing to Bus in out of Town Protesters, and use Republican Aides to disrupt Town Hall Meeting, with Screaming Mobs to drown out 'Concerned Citizen.

But, here lies the real "DANGER". How will they control the sea of Protesting America Citizens who will take to the streets, Demanding Representation from their Elected Officials.
Or when Voter go to the BALLOT BOX, and Reject Members of Congress and the Senate in overwhelming numbers.

The Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies are spending Millions of Dollars Daily to Defeat the Health Care Reform Bill.

"They have no idea the COST, they will have to Pay when the AMERICA PEOPLE, Rise up and Demand that Congress do it's CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY."

The things that most of the latest polls do not include is the simplest question which only one recent poll has included.

The percent of Americans who want a government health plan as an option, according to the latest polls that actually ask the question indicate:

"Do you support or oppose giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans?"

62 percent support
32 percent oppose
6 percent unsure

Quinnipiac University Poll. July 27-Aug. 3, 2009. N=2,409 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 2 (for all adults).

Most people do prefer to have their private, employee based health care, but the same poll shows that about 66 percent of Americans are worried about losing their health insurance at sometime in the future, about the same are worried that their premiums under the current system will become too high for them to afford and about the same percent believe that without a government option, their health care will increase as much as it would if the government creates a program. Its six of one, half a dozen of the other except that with the government option, there is an option for those who have it if they lose it and there really is no affordable one without the government option.

The trends and statistics indicate that as each year passes, fewer and fewer employers will provide health insurance.

In 2000, 64.3 percent of employers provided health care for their employees. On inauguration day, 2009, that was down to 59.3 percent and it is a few tenths of a percent lower today.

The ranks of the uninsured have swelled as well. Largely because when the 47 million uninsured figure is used, it does not include the 6.6 million more unemployed who no longer have health insurance. The new figure is about ten percent higher, about 55 million, and going up.

These people are being left out, because it is assumed that when they find new jobs, all of them will find new jobs that provide health insurance. The fact is that fewer than 6 out of ten will actually do so.

You know, the sad thing with these "protesters"--clearly organized--is that they will actually influence non-thinking Americans to once again vote against their own self-interests in regards to overhauling or creating a new system of affordable health care coverage for every American. These "protesters" would have you think they represent mainstream America, but you'd have to go back decades in order to find such a "grassroots" display of discontent with a particular policy proposal; there wasn't THIS much "protest" when no WMD's were found in Iraq. These corporate dupes represent the paranoid fringe, and are supposed to get us to believe that the current system, one that is responsible for the majority of bankruptcies due to the inability to pay incredible (and still growing) health care costs, is better than creating a new system to cover everyone? Insanity!

http://beyond-the-political-spectrum.blogspot.com/

In the 1980s, she had lived in Australia, where she had experienced the perks of national health care firsthand. As she puts it: “I’m familiar with what it’s like to take a 4-year-old to the emergency room in Sydney late at night on a rainy night and have five doctors standing at the door and not get a bill.”

Who said this?
Louise Caire Clark

She was Louise in the infamous Harry and Louise ads!

Why all the Canada and England bashing?

Fact: US health care is rated 37th in the world. Canada is rated 30th by the World Health Organization.

Fact: Americans pay 3 times more for health care and we are the unhealthiest people on the planet.

Fact: Drug company CEO's are the highest paid CEO in the world.

Fact: The average doctor salary is 350K per year. Most make much more.

Fact: Drug companies spend more on advertising than they do on research.

Fact: The last disease cured by medical science was polio.

Fact: Drug companies allow their drugs to be prescribed and sold over the internet.

Fact: Medical errors are the leading cause of death in the US.

Fact: A report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents how the infant mortality rate in the United States is growing in relation to other countries. The study, "Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States," found that at least 28 other countries now have lower death rates for infants in the first year of life.

The US's relative position has declined steadily.

In 1960, it had the 12th lowest infant mortality rate, but by 1990 had dropped to 23rd place, and by 2004—the latest year of the CDC's comparative world figures on living standards—the US ranked 29th.

The most recent study, published in July and titled

"The Measure of America,"

estimated that the US is now in 34th place.

Worldwide- USA does not even rank in the top 25 for education.

Notice how many comments are on op-eds that lean one way or the other.

Did you happen to notice the comments posted on the recent bi-partisan option?

How We Can Achieve Bipartisan Health Reform

By Ron Wyden and Robert F. Bennett
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

173 Comments | View All »
COMMENTS ARE CLOSED

Hmm.......

Let that be a poll!

Sign these 2 petitions for single payer health care

http://BIT.LY/HR676

http://BIT.LY/single_payer_ross

Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

"More than two thirds of the American people want a single payer health care system."

And none of them will take FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY/ACCOUNTABILITY for it.

My dog has more experience than Obama does as president.

WHY BELIEVE OBAMA?

There is NO reason to believe Obama. He is a tool of a one-party dictatorship (Daley/Chicago).

You want single-payer?

THEN YOU PUT UP YOUR MONEY TO PROMISE IT WON'T SCREW THINGS UP.

You won't. You're too scared. You don't have the brain-power required.

what's really sad is that these true protestors (those of which are true) are being drowned out and threatened by the same people who stood outside polls this past November and limited the free speech they claim to want to help save.

Its a disgusting double standard.

STATISTICS & LIES

And all that alleged "data" that the USA is so terrible?

Anyone with a brain knows it is easy to GIN UP numbers to make your case.

Whatever happened to the LIB'S "There is no truth."

IF THE USA IS TERRIBLE -- GET THE HECK OUT!! NOW!!

Oh. Only when LIB'S say it? My, my .. how convenient.

a. Wendell Potter, former VP for Cigna, was on PBS two weeks ago and revealed that in 1996 the Health Insurance's portion of
dollars spent on health care was 5%, today its 20%.

b. Yesterday I heard on Stephanolous' show that health care costs 2.5 trillion dollars a year. If that figure is accurate we could save $375 billion a year just by driving down the Healthcare Insurance Industry's take back to 1996 levels.

c. We spend the most of any nation and yet WHO (the World Health Organization) ranks us 37 out of 191 nations with health care
systems.

d. The straw dog the GOP attacks is Canada, the prime example of 'socialized medicine' - never mind the fact that Canadian doctors make almost as much as ours.

e. Canada is rated # 33 (by WHO) out of 191.

f. Watch that neither France nor Italy will come up in the conversation - France is rated # 1 and Italy # 2.

g. When you talk about the health care system you have to make a distinction between the group and the individual. For those with health care coverage the US has the best system in the world according to Time Magazine. However, if that is true it's not due to the Insurance companies but the investments in R & D made by the US government from 1945 to 1965 when no other nation was making any.

h. But as far as group totals France's are almost three times as good as ours. And we are all both individuals and parts of groups. God help you if you lose your coverage under the current system and get sick. You either go bankrupt or die.

i. A study by the Toronto newspaper showed that if the US adopted the Canadian system we could cover everyone and save 1 trillion dollars. But if we adopted France or Italy's system we would still save money and have a much better system - maybe the best due to our superior technology.

j. France's and Italy's systems are mixed - single payer and healthcare insurance - sounds strange but it works.

READ THIS.....For Gingrich to say any part of the bill is dishonest is ridiculous. His party, like usual, spews out nothing but hate and resentment toward any one that disagrees with them. Not to mention all the negative propaganda and rhetoric they are spreading. A lot of their own party is starting to realize they speak very little truth, and when they do they have some kind of spin on it taking a cheap shot at the democrats in the process. Another sick move they make is having religous cults spread lies and propaganda for them. People in these religous packs take every thing that is told to them as the gospel truth. One that I find irritating is the Coral Ridge Ministries and their monthly flier for August "IMPACT" Their stories on health care and their commentaries are nothing but propaganda. Their favorite words are "could and Might" which are nothing but misleading and false. Then you have scare tactic such as words like euthanasia and house call for the sake of a death chat, or the bill will fund abortion or foreign illegals. And then of course you have what went on in some other country that has a similar plan. This plan is not going to do away with malpractice and that's more than likely what happen in a lot of those foreign cases. After reading this article you know there is no truth to any of their accusations. The so called Coral Ridge Hour is going to devote three broadcast August 16,23,30 to examine President Obama's health care and reform plan. They will then present their partisan opinion to their listeners. Its time to start taxing these religous cults and their tax free franchises. They are nothing but dirty political hacks waiting for their next big multi million dollar government buyout. I believe in the Father , the son and the holy ghost. I also believe that proclaiming anyone other than your self to be holy is as bad as passing judgement on another persons sin. Forgive me for the rafter in my eye but don't hide behind religion for your own personal gain. And finally I would like to tell Mitch McConnell that if he doesn't understand the idea of an orderly meeting where information is circulated by question and answer, and the facts of the bill are presented to the public with out interruption, its time for him and his stale cronies to get out of the way so we can get the true process working again. The free ride of these no account porkers will also end with this bill because they won't be able to sell us down the road for large donations to their re-election campaigns anymore. And that's exactly what their objections are hiding. www.coralridge.org August "IMPACT"

I think it's time for a major investigation of WHO is behind all the disruptive meetings when Congressmen try to hold meetings about health care. Is it the health Insurance Industry? Republican Party activists? far right groups I don't even know about? They need to be exposed before they destroy legislation than the vast majority of Americans want. This feels like fascist activism to me.

It's very interesting that those that post here have a singular position on government, that it's meant to give you something...something you didn't earn. I fail to see anywhere in our constitution, or other founding documents that says you, or I, or anyone else are entitled to have someone else pay for our trips to the doctor...and you know that's what these proposals are all about. And it's not insurance once "everyone" is included, it's a revenue transfer from the healthy to the non-healthy, from the rich to the poor, from the makers to the takers, income redistribution at it's finest. That's why the Right calls it Socialism...because it is.

It IS true that America's Medical and Insurance system is out-of-whack. Costs have skyrocketed for many reasons, but mostly because most people don't actually pay the bill, either their insurance does, the government does, or they can't and the medical provider has to eat the cost (meaning they add it to insured-people's bills). No one complains about a price if they don't actually pay. In addition, people have come to demand the best treatment for the littlest thing (like MRI's for sprained ankles), and we sue if we don't get it (and often if we do). On top of that insurers and providers are so powerful that they can influence regulation in their favor, meaning they can squeeze competition out of the system and jack up prices and profits.

Those are the problems we have now in our country. An Honest debate about healthcare should include: 1)changing provider's ability to pass on cost without real justification, 2)changing insurer's ability to limit competition and allow other players into the market, 3)changing peoples expectations about what appropriate care is, and 4)limiting peoples ability to sue for legitimate variances in care outcomes.

Why don't our leaders address these topics? Is it becasue they live on donation money and medical care providers, lawyers and insurers slop their troughs daily?

Why don't you guys address these topics? Is it becasue of a misguided sense of "morality" that believes it's unfair that someone should have less than someone else? Or that you are owed something merely because you exist?

If you really want to "fix" the system, work on those ideas, stop whining about how you want me to pay your bills.

Nothing obama says has any meaning if he can't be trusted.

Watch this video. You’ll see obama lie like a dog in his very own words.

http://www.breitbart.tv/naked-emperor-news-obamas-mother-of-all-political-lies-and-the-town-hall-mayhem-it-caused/comment-page-1/#comment-2529261

People need to wake up and see this lying fraud for who he is, an America hating, Saudi King bowing, dictator loving, former cocaine addict, racist Kenyan usurper dirt-bag Chicago thug!

Misinformation begins with our president! The Congressional Budget Office had informed the president that "the numbers don't add up", regarding the fiscal responsibity of the health care reform plan. The president had counted on ramming that bill down the throats of the people, the same way that the stimulus plan was signed in. Well, it didn't work!
The congress has the 60 votes they need to pass any measures they wish, without bipartisan support. Why won't they do it? Could be that they heard the voices of the people?
Or is it that their tenure in Congress will be very brief if their constituents are displeased with their actions?
I'm guessing that it's the later!