Health Care And The State Of Arkansas
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Is conservative Democrat Vic Snyder (AR) hiding behind sick children because he's afraid of wingnuts or because he's afraid of working families? First the good news: of Arkansas' 4 congressmen, Snyder has the best voting record. The bad news is that it is still a lousy record that is far from progressive. He's a moderate in a swing district-- better than the slightly more conservative Marion Berry or Mike Ross (each of whom is in a redder district; McCain won all 4 CDs in Arkansas last year) and, obviously significantly better than Arkansas' lunatic fringe Republican John Boozman from deep in the heart of Klan country.
Snyder's district is much more enlightened and includes the city of Little Rock. Bush barely won the district in 2000 (49%) or in 2004 (51%) but that colored fella from
Right-wing crackpots and astro-turf groups have been causing disturbances at Democratic congressmembers' public forums, reading from a list of tactics distributed by a Republican Party front group that urges dittoheads and Fox TV viewers to harass members of Congress, disrupt the meetings and prevent discussion of health care reform legislation. Snyder and Ross scheduled their meeting in a children's hospital so he could shame Republicans into not trying their violent tactics in the proximity of sick children (not that that worked with the really violent fringe elements). Classy guys all around! I called security at the hospital and asked if there were any disturbances and the woman I spoke to bragged that the place was crawling with security forces and to come on over and have no worries about trouble.
Snyder seems to be mildly supportive of Obama's health care agenda and Ross, of course, is opposing it. Snyder has a weak and not very credible right-wing opponent next year, David Meeks, whose health care platform comes directly from Big Insurance. "Any form of government run health care reform," he insists, "is not the solution to our current health care problems. Putting the health care decisions back into the hands of the citizens is the only reform that should be discussed... Health Savings Accounts and Medical Vouchers are non-taxed benefits that an employer gives to an employee so that they can purchase a plan that fits the needs of their family. Also, by allowing people, such as churches and civic organizations or universities, to establish and offer their own health care groups we can offer solutions to health care that are not dictated by Bureaucrats or CEOs... I will not support any plan that is not free market based."
No matter how bad things ever get, remember, at least you don't live in Arkansas. Watch:
Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress looked closely at the need for real health care reform in Arkansas and what they found isn't addressed by the reactionary approach by either Meeks or Ross.
• 80 residents of Arkansas are losing health insurance every day, and 14,000 Americans nationwide lose insurance daily.
• The average family premium in Arkansas costs $1,500 more because our system fails to
cover everyone-- and $1,100 more nationally.
• Our broken health insurance system will cost the Arkansas economy as much as $2.4 billion this year in productivity losses due to the uninsured-- and up to $248 billion nationally.
• In Arkansas there has been a 6 percent increase in the uninsured rate since 2007.
• 500,000 are uninsured today in Arkansas.
• In Arkansas the combined market share of the top two insurers is 81 percent, limiting employers’ and families’ health insurance options as well as the care they receive.
• The average family premium will rise from $11,472 to $19,575 by 2019 in Arkansas without health care reform.
• In Arkansas, without health care reform, 72,980 will have lost coverage from January 2008 to December 2010.
• In Arkansas, 243,000 people would gain coverage as a result of the House health care reform bill by 2013, and 391,000 would gain coverage by 2019.
• A typical Arkansas family will pay $19,575 for health coverage in 2019 without health care reform.
Worst of all the members from Arkansas, of course, is the state's senior Senator Blanche Lincoln, a corrupt shill for Big Business and a disgraceful pandering idiot. We recently ran 1,000 cable TV ads in Arkansas and we'd like to run a follow-up batch. If you'd like to help, our Blue America page is open... 24/7.
Labels: Arkansas, health care, Mike Ross, Vic Snyder
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 6:00 AM
11 comments
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11 Comments:
"Snyder's district is much more enlightened and includes the city of Little Rock. Bush barely won the district in 2000 (49%) or in 2004 (51%) but that colored fella from Kenya Indonesia, Mexico, Hawaii only managed 44% against an elderly gentleman with no solutions to Arkansas' festering problems (see below)."
Howie, please explain how you expect Synder to be re-elected in such an area by looking after progressive interests. It's a fair question. I'm with you on the progressive agenda 110%, but it ain't gonna happen, nor should it.
I always advocate elected representatives slowly and steadily bringing their constituents along by teaching them about what the progressive agenda is-- as opposed to the lies they hear in the corporate media-- and how that agenda will benefit their lives. Watching that video in Little Rock yesterday, I couldn't hope but feel it's just hopeless.
I seriously doubt if those on the video would ever come around to any progressive agenda, and I doubt if they were ever in the group that voted for gore, kerry, or obama---and they never will be.
Wingnuts like them are not necessarily representative of the whole district.
You can go to the suburbs of Minneapolis, Seattle, NYC, San Francisco and see the same types with the same incoherent talking points.
"I always advocate elected representatives slowly and steadily bringing their constituents along by teaching them about what the progressive agenda is-- as opposed to the lies they hear in the corporate media-- and how that agenda will benefit their lives. Watching that video in Little Rock yesterday, I couldn't hope but feel it's just hopeless."
Hey, I'm with you, there. A knowledgeable constituency is a progressive one. I just know, though, that very few politicians really want to teach their constituencies anything. They just want the usual mushroom deal, while they live well on soft money far, far away from the "little people" Reagan so loved at a great distance.
But at least now we've got grassroots ads providing a bit of education to the constituents of folk like Nelson. And we know he doesn't like it, which is all to the good. I hope it gets worse, and I hope he cries and ruins his nice suit, too.
I for one am glad to be living in Arkansas. We have some of the lowest taxes in the nation and are one of the few states that actually had a surplus, becuase we know how to live within our means.
The title of your website is "DownWithTyranny" yet you advocate government officials teaching and bringing constituents to the leaders way of thinking. In essance you are saying the leader should change or manipulate the people to serve his agenda. This mindset is backwards. The representative is there to represent the values of the people. He is to follow and bend to the will of the people not the otherway around.
Stephen
Do you really want elected reps to bend to the will of this kind of ignorance? Are we supposed to check our brains and education at the door and just tally up the votes of folks who get their info from talk radio?
BTW, the grey haired lady who was bragging about being the 80% that know has insurance is most likely on medicare.
what i've noticed in all of this.. aside from the fact that Republican lobbyists and the Republican party have loaded already angry people with words (currently) and pointed them at public meetings. The result is a near melee at times.
What I've ALSO noticed is.. that under Bush, you could not ATTEND a Bush rally or a Republian rally unless you were registered as a Republican, and in Pittsburgh, where I lived previously, they fenced off bleachers for anyone protesting... surrounded by wire fences and far from the speakers and the rally.
The Democrats, at least, have not suppressed the right-wing protesters and wing-nuts, and have allowed them to not only attend their rallies (unlike Bush), but speak at length. Perhaps too much length.
But it does remind me that the correct party IS in power, given all of that.
"I for one am glad to be living in Arkansas. We have some of the lowest taxes in the nation and are one of the few states that actually had a surplus, becuase we know how to live within our means."
And because your governor has never turned down all those federal dollars that went to pay for VA assistance, mental health facilities, town rehabilitation, social security, Medicare, welfare payments, etc. You live within your means, because the feds pay a good portion of what would force you to live beyond your means. Worth thinking about.
Anonymous at 10:41, are you aware how badly Arkansas ranks in comparison with other states in terms of education, health, housing, economic development and prosperity? The median income in your paradise is 38,134, higher than exactly two poverty-stricken states, West Virginia and Mississippi. (Of course, that's wealthy compared to Lee County's $10,983. Searcy County, Woodruff County, Stone County, Phillips County, Monroe County and Chicot County are among the most desperately poor counties in the entire country.) The national median is $50,740 and the top 3 states, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut are all over $65,000. From income inequality to life expectancy and any other measurement you can name to determine the well-being of a community, Arkansas is near the bottom for ordinary working families, although the wealthy in your state live like kings. I was shocked last year when not a single federal elected official from either party had an opponent in the general election. Apparently democracy is another casualty of Arkansas' near feudal social system.
I was at the health care forum in Little Rock. Convenient how you posted video from the least well spoken people there. Why not post all the questions? I was the blonde in the green shirt. I think I asked a legitmate question-respectfully. As did the majority of the people who attended the forum. Some people did talk too much and interupted. But overall we respectfully disagreed with the idea that the answer to our health care problems is the government spending more money!
I have one question: have you even read HR3200??? You keep spouting off Pelosi phrases. So it makes me think like you don't think for yourself.
If people would read the bils, they would know what the commotion is about. But they don't. They rely on lying idiots like Pelosi to give them their information.
THINK FOR YOURSELF. My guide is the Constitution. It's what this country was founded on, what set up our govenment. They HAVE to follow it and it's people like you who are allowing them to be crooks, or in otherwords, tyrants (sound familiar?).
If you don't like Arkansas so much, that is absolutely fine with me. We can build a border and be completely self sufficient. That's how wonderful my state is. Then we could keep all our money in the state instead of paying federal taxes that get wasted on unconstitutional programs like the one Obama is now forcing on us now. (Organizing for America is extreme fascism. He's turning Americans against Americans over his power hunger)
READ THE BILLS. Then, talk. Right now, you're a drone.
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