The Battle Over Health Care Reform Is Joined-- Corporate Greed Vs American Working Families
>
If Wamp becomes governor, health care in Tennessee will be only for the rich
Obama seems to feel like he needs to instantly take on all the immense problems that were either not addressed, or addressed improperly, during 8 years of Republican misrule. While the GOP continues trying to distract the public with the bright, shiny objects-- the unseemly foibles of Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele-- Obama plowed ahead with his health care reforms today. He knows the special interests, who have payed out billions to corrupt politicians on both sides of the aisle (since 1990, legalized bribes to federal officials have amounted to $312,283,612 the from Insurance Industry, $61,918,128 from HMOs and corporate health services, and $276,648,336 from BigPharma) will field their hack political puppets, from corrupt corporate Democrat Max Baucus (MT- $2,689,501) to an array of some of the sleaziest Republicans to ever slither into the Senate and set up shop sucking up money from the corporations they are supposed to regulate, John McCain (AZ- $4,509,359), Arlen Specter (PA- $2,984,784), Orrin Hatch (UT- $2,798,997), Miss McConnell (KY- $1,949,622) and Richard Burr (NC- $1,599,124), to sabotage everything Obama wants to do and to slander him and his family and his administration, anything to keep him from providing healthcare reform for Americans.
“Those who seek to block any reform at any cost will not prevail this time around,” Mr. Obama said in opening a White House conference, where he promised to reduce health costs and expand coverage.
...The government estimates that the nation will spend $2.5 trillion on health care this year, or an average of $8,160 a person. Without any change in federal law, it estimates, health care will account for more than 20 percent of the nation’s entire economic output in 2018, up from 17.6 percent in 2009, and public programs will account for more than half of all health spending-- without any of the changes contemplated by the White House.
Liberals said Thursday that they were ready for a fight with the health care industry and would not be outmaneuvered as they were in 1993-94, when President Bill Clinton’s effort to guarantee insurance for every American collapsed.
“In 1993, interest groups sounded supportive and made nice at the outset, but then turned and used all their resources to oppose reform,” said Judith Feder, a Clinton administration official who is now a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress. “They pretended to favor reform, and undercut it at every step. This time we are not going to let them get away with it.”
Judy is right... about some Republicans. Others don't even make believe they want to reform health care. To extreme right wing loons like Zach Wamp (R-TN), health care is socialism and a "privilege." Corporate media is ready for their role as well. Today MediaMatters released an analysis of a 75-year-old right-wing smear of what they call “socialized medicine” and how the media has worked hand-in-glove with the right to sabotage reform, from Roosevelt's attempt to include health reform in Social Security to Hillary Clinton's 1993-4 initiative.
Of course, reactionary wimps like Wamp weren't the only ones speaking out about President Obama's health care initiative. One of the Blue America candidates, Eric Massa, who went on to win his race in November, defeating a loon just like Wamp, has been a single payer advocate since the first time we started speaking with him back in 2006. Today he told his Upstate NY constituents that he was glad Obama "has placed healthcare reform on the front burner where it belongs."
For eight years, we've seen health care costs increasing across the board and the number of uninsured Americans climbing. In fact, right now approximately 14,000 Americans lose their health care coverage every single day because of this recession. There is a way to address this crisis and we are the only industrialized Nation that hasn't figured this out yet. Under a new President and a new Congress, we can move in a smarter, more cost effective direction. Many Americans worry about the cost of a national single payer system, but the statistics show this would lower per person costs significantly. We're not getting our money's worth from our current healthcare system, and I hope my friends on both sides of the aisle will join me in demanding a better way forward for all Americans.
Labels: Culture of Corruption, health care, universal health care, Zach Wamp
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 7:00 PM
10 comments
|
Reddit
10 Comments:
Howie,
I watched most of the summit on c-span and its pretty clear to me the lines are being drawn. You got you greedy bastards who just want to move the deck chairs on the titanic like the CEO of General Mills who yammered on about their preventative programs that they want to export and market. do any of their products NOT include high fructose? And yes no one talked about the crap in our foods that cause obesity and disease and strain our aready strained health care system. Mandates were talked about a lot.In fact my Congress woman, whom I generally don't like, was there and I was actually quite impressed. She A Schwartz talked about not having mandates unless there is a pubic option. She's didn't say single payer universal, but I think we can work with her Of course Dingell spoke about single payer universal.Then there were the Republican knuckle draggers like Hatch who seems obsessed with research and your favorite McConnell who was called on by Obama at the press conference and shut out of his seat like the fucking robot that he is and talked about "entitlement reform".He reminds of the boyfriend card ( i think it was Ned)that no one wanted when we played the Barbie game. The knuckledraggers have made it pretty clear they want no public option for we the people.
Lee: Actually, It has been calculated by a college design class that if the passengers on the Titanic had rearranged the chairs on the Titanic and lashed them all together to make a raft, which there was time to do, their would have been enough bouncy to have saved everyone.
We are at a moment in history when we need to recognize that the present system is not working. That making money and making sense is mutually exclusive. It is time to start making sense. If we burn more fossil fuels we are inviting extinction. The owners of coal mines and coal plants are making money but it no longer makes sense. We are heating and cooling the house while warming up the planet. We have been playing monopoly and we know who won. We must redesign the future using our daily energy income which is millions of times more than we can spend and will give us everything we could ever want and need. Universal Health care for all being most important.
I don't know about everyone else but I am definitely having buyer's remorse. He is up-ending everything at once. It is going to collapse. I don't like having control out of my hands. I just don't trust any government no matter who is running it. signed - Scared as hell
Hey anonymous: You can't even control the rate and size of the hairs coming out of your head, let alone much of anything else. Who are you kidding? Dogs play games such as fetch the stick for the amusement of their masters only humans play the games of masks and monuments. Fool yourself and you can fool the world.
Anonymous[wow thats gutsy]; If you would feel better leaving your country in the hands of the business and military you will soon reach third world status. Democracy aint pretty, but it is worth fighting for. Get off your ass and work for and support people in government that deserve your support, not the paid stooges of industry.
Hey Ritchie, maybe supporting the stooges of government is a better alternative. Certainly the social security and medicare Ponzi schemes give me solace that large government programs really can work.
I pay an enormous health insurance premium (that is very difficult for me to afford)yet I am very cautious about larger, more bureaucratic systems to work efficiently.
I am very concerned about the addition of 50 million customers without the addition of new doctors, nurses, and facilities. So I presume that with universal care, everyone will have VA quality care and no one will have prompt, quality care. The lowest common denominator will prevail. The moral dilemma will be solved and health care will be more scarce for everyone. I guess that the only fair way.
The greatest price we will pay for republican failure to be responsible stewards of our country will be democrat success. The corporate greed is second to political ambition when integrity is in question.
If our political representatives fought as hard for our betterment as they did for their re-election; we might succeed. The pay to play political environment is far more repugnant and hypocritical than the corporation that clearly exists only for profits in a capital economy.
Hmm, what public health care are they talking about? My daughters graduated from one of the top ten universities in the country and the older one is still without a job after four years. Of course she has no health insurance. Obama has good intentions but his plans have already been greatly perverted. The corrupt power elite of the country do not want the health and welfare of the people to be considered unless there is a way found for it to be profitable for them. Hey! Turn on your TV...big pharma will give you free medications if you need them. What's the problem? I am unsure if Obama realized how badly crippled this country was when he took office, but it seems you can see it on his face at times now. He is up against insurmountable forces and I believe most of what you see on TV from here on out will merely be an opiate for the battered American public. His grand and humane plans have no chance now. George broke the tricyle. If anyone thinks China is stupid enough to keep loaning us money think again! Dumping our treasuries will make the attack on Pearl Harbor look like an ice cream social! Everyone has a different perspective on this. Some people have suffered from day 1 of their lives and never knew anything else but hard times. Some began suffering at day 10 or later and some have only known the good times, but the the crowd of the dispossessed is growing rapidily. The country will be lucky to survive this one
I can't believe those greedy insurance companies, I mean come on they make money on health care. Hospitals make money on health care so do doctors nurse's. I can't believe that the governement allows that. Why would they that is rediculis i think it needs to be entitlement program. I think no one should be allowed to make money on anything anymore. (I just want them to do that to industreis I don't work in) I think we should control what people make in health care.
I think doctors make too much money also. I can't believe someone that gave up ten years of their life gotten student loans of over $300,000 (that's cheap) and is on call 24/7 deserves to make $200,000 dollars. But I think it is okay for a fork lift driver to $80,000 to $100,000 a year or a locumotive driver in new year making $200,000 a year makes sense to me.
I think we controll all the cost and we will see a huge growth of people wanting to go into health care indsutry to work. Maybe all those greedy people that work in the insurance industry that will be out of a job can work in health care get retrained.
Listen wanted to fix health care Mandante that everyone had to have coverage. has to have minium polcy limits. Must include RX, office visit maturnity, ect. Must include coverage for all disease no carving out as well as no carving out of coverages. Eliminate pre existing if you have had coverage otherwise 2 year wait. And allow people to buy coverage on the open market.Also add a rider that if you are unemployeed for layoff or disability you premiums would be covered fro 36 months and let people buy up from there. we mandate car insurance coverage why not health care. This will elminate all this problem of no coverage. 50% of the People that don't have coverage are choosing it.
This would be an easy fix. If you are under 30 you can get coverage for $50 to $150 a month. The problem is no one wants to pay for there own coverage they think if it goes to government coverge it will be free. You also can't just tax the people that work there buts off to make money to pay for everything it will collapse.
I have paid for my health coverage my whole life but need to start taking responsibilty. the reason health care cost so much is becuase if you don't have health coverage and get sick you still have to get treated. that is the problem. Which these people are shifting the cost to people that have coverage and the taxpayer
Health care is a right. It should be no different than access to education, protection from crime or having someone come to your house and put out the fire and rescue you things that can and do happen. I am self-employed and do not have insurance. Due to pre-existing conditions I had to self insure. Two years ago I hurt my screwed up back and it took about 30,000 to correct the problem. I paid it and all is well but that and my inability to work would have bankrupted alot of folks. Perhaps if I worked for a big company or had a do nothing government job I would have no problem. All I ask is a fair price or at least an adequate way to have a health savings account. I do not wish for any government handout, but I realize not everyone has the options that I have.
Post a Comment
<< Home