Republicans should opt out of their FEHBP health care coverage if they are against the public plan
By John Amato Friday Jul 17, 2009 11:00amYou can always count on John McCain and Tom Coburn for some high drama, but now they mock American families with this one.
Congressional Republicans opposed to the public insurance option want House and Senate members who vote for it to take a dose of their own medicine — and enroll in the plan.
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a family physician, kicked off the quixotic bid last week, urging House members to give up their right to participate in the much-revered Federal Employees Health Benefits Program if they support a government-run program as part of the health care reform package.
Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma are pushing the same concept in the Senate, preparing separate amendments that would require members — and maybe even their staffs — to sign up for the public option. With Democrats firmly in control of Congress, the idea is not likely to gain traction. Proponents of the public plan say the resolution would do exactly what Republicans have warned against, undermining the private insurance system by moving people into a public plan.
But the effort has caught fire in the right-wing blogosphere and on talk radio, serving as a rallying point for conservatives opposed to one of the top priorities of Democrats...read on
The blogs have been suggesting that all members of Congress should give up their health insurance and then try to find it on their own without mention that they are in Congress and then we'll see what they think about the health care debate. I'd say 40% of them wouldn't get any coverage at all. (My number is just a guess)
Now with this dopey amendment I wish the media would ask these two and the rest of Republican obstructionists to give it all up.
Republicans who oppose universal health insurance should immediately relinquish their federal health insurance. After all, these members of Congress have long enjoyed taxpayer-subsidized health insurance, a privilege that they apparently believe tens of millions of working, uninsured Americans and their families don't deserve.
Congressman Fleming of Louisiana says that "Congress should lead by example."
I agree.
If Republicans don't think being uninsured is a big deal, then they should go right ahead and try it out. And if they really believe a public plan is such a bad option, maybe they can persuade their parents to give up Medicare too.
I'm so sick of these gasbags and their elitist views about life in America. Mrs. McCain can build her own mini-hospital with her cash if need be, but her husband attacks reform that could help millions of American families. Instead of mocking workers with satirical amendments they should try to find real solutions. Playing games with dumb proposals is government waste. Maybe Coburn and McCain can refund the portions of their salaries back to us for the time they waste with this on our dime.
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The public plan? The one that MIGHT start in 2013.
That promises a 'level playing field' with private insurance, ergo cost overrun.
Ha!
The joke is on you (and us) and you keep repeating it.
that the people most easily propagandized were/are the middle-class, because they had so much at stake in maintaining their own belief structures which the propagandas of the modern state are adept at exploiting. They believe what they are told because they are so invested in the 'truth' of what they're told that doubt might topple the whole edifice, and upset their safe, status quo existences...
In the Corporate State, corporate media are State Media...
Again I ask where is the open and transparent government with is going to bring a change for the American citizens..
Talk and BS is cheap but voting for policies that benefit the Global Empire pays dividends to the elected officials that kiss their.....
The elected offices will never discuss the details of their policies which they are voting on """"that are suppose to be the wish and needs of American citizens..
Just like the bailout to the Global Banking Monopoly , war in Iraq , illegal spying , the no-bid war contracts given to Halliburton / Blackwate , the free trade bill , the outsourcing of American manufacturing plants - jobs we are never told the details BUT HURRY UP AND DO AS I SAY>>
Again the fear factor card with the rush to the finish line is being play and we are suckers for falling for it..
The Global Health Empire has paid the democrats to make sure they are the winners in this bill..
In response to the question from our courageous comrade saying essentially SINGLE PAYER was the best way (I asked the same question here), asked here
Nancy Pelosi said "On single payer - For 30 years I have supported a single payer plan, but our next best choice is to support an exchange and a public option…" here
A 'Public Option' is next best. One that starts in four years is that much further down the list from being next best.
In between the question and the answer I said this, after Eisenhower:
here
Eisenhower was, of course, referring to the Military Industrial Complex, that very instance, I believe, is the source of the term. My comment added Wall Street to the cue.
Everything in my reply to the question, except the 'update', she could have seen BEFORE she answered the question. I can only imagine (and hope) that influenced Ms Pelosi, or her designee, such as the case might actually have been, to have made, in my humble view, such a FRANK admission.
By her own admission, for 30 years, the present Speaker of the House of Representatives has supported a proposition which deals with the health and well being of the entire population of the country, a proposition for which she will now, NOT STAND UP AND FIGHT.
Here's a video proving that ABC is nothing more than a shill for the corporate American for-profit health insurance companies.
Obama's own personal physician was invited to attend the ABC Town Hall Forum on Health Care but a few days before the event he was "disinvited". Why?? Because they realized he was a proponent of Single Payer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTdTvg6K7w
For me it's all very simple. Congress has theirs and they DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CONSTITUENTS.
Only those who have signed on to Conyers 676 or to The Sanders Bill in the Senate truly CARE about their constituents and the American taxpayers.
But you can bet The Pentagon will get all the funding THEY need!
Something seriously stinks here people....the stench is becoming unbearable.
Abbybwood, R.N.
I agree. If the public health plan will not be good for Americans, then the Republicans who vehemently oppose it should do the right thing and relinquish the federal health plans that they have.
After all, the federal health plan is supported by taxpayers, many of whom are unable to receive or afford adequate private health care. I am yet to see what viable alternatives the Republicans have to the public system that they are against.
Yet another glaring example of elitist behaviour on their part. Do you really think they give a damn about the rest of us?
As rgnewton points out, the free healthcare plan that the politicians enjoy is paid for by the very people they want to deny the same care to. Unfrickinbelievable!!!
No they don't give a damn about anyone other than themselves first... and with the most cash incentive for that as well. Crooks and liars pretty much every single one of 'em!
it out. To willing to accept bones tossed in their direction.
So you agree congress members should maintain premium insuarance plans while forcing uninsured Americans into a poorer plan? Somehow what the repubs have suggested is wrong?
but in order for that to be 'the point' then the America hating Republicans would have to be offering America a plan as good as FEHBP.
for catching that nice try...
I'm advocating that congress members lose their insurance plans if they do not support the same plans for every single citizen in the United States. Why should they have excellent coverage while denying others the same coverage? I can't understand why they think they should receive this benefit and not include others. After all it's the people (taxpayers) who pay for the congress members' coverage, isn't it?
That's what I'm saying...
The only congress members supporting the same plan for Americans as those in congress are these republicans, thats why they're asking for an amendment to put congress members on this new plan. Look you and I both know this will never happen, but the point is easy to see. This new health plan of theirs is good enough for Americans but not good enough for congress, meaning the new plan has a number of shortcomings. What might these be? Rationing? Denial of care? Waiting?
It is not economically possible to offer all Americans the same plan as FEHBP, so whats wrong with offering everyone, both Americans and Congress, enjoy their new plan (which is worse) together?
By your argument, should I not also drop my health care because some Americans do not have coverage and I do not support the recently proposed bill? This sir is not rational decision making.
and realms in the infinite universe where the "caste" system doesn't exist.
But alas, post Hydro Carbon Man will never reach them.
Wouldn't it be cool if this became the rallying cry of the people who want a public plan. Demand the the Republicans who are trying to deny Americans an AFFORDABLE health care plan, demand that they give up their insurance and buy their own. And if we don't get a plan that is reasonable we have to show the "teabaggers" what a real protest is. Something HUGE! And it's not just the Republicans either as we all know. How many emails/letters/phone calls have you done to your Representative/Senator and other congresspeople?
.
There is a fair amount of the old having your cake and eating too maxim
wafting around Camp GOP..much like a stale beer fart.
Welcome to Hypocrisy Theater.
and a Congressman enrolled with an address on C Street I would certainly rule any STD as a preexisting condition.
Put 300 million Americans on their heath care plan.
Then they can go home.
resolution to the problem at hand... I like it!!
to do it.
There.
Done.
I haven't been paying a lot of attention to much of anything today but from what I am hearing on tv now, they are making it sound like the whole health care bill is falling apart. Is it?
Mis-post, sorry.
Too many blue dogs are fucking with the plan and making it worse. I would rather see it go down in flames then have a very bad bill passed.
to vote against it unless it is good for America's working men and women and their families. Screw the medical industrial/insurance complex!
The Congressional Budget Office came out and said that the plans as presented to them would cause more fiscal damage than we have now. Let me see if I can find a link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
only because the CBO refuses to look at single payer
for not evaluating single payer - it and impeachment are off the table.
Is out , why isn't there a report on it?
That might be a good question for Pelosi.
What a bunch of hypocrites. So the Republicans want to throw their staffs off the golden policy . I would quit. Anyway, it is my understanding that in the Kennedy bill, members of Congress are exempt from having to enter the plan. The whole thing is a farce. I'll be eligible for Medicare before this plan will even take effect.
McCain is a Grifter to the nth degree. Why is he collecting a check every month for 100% disability?? He is milking us.
He's an enormous Hannity fan, and claims the Free Market© can cure anything. Has nothing but praise for it.
But he's career Air Force himself, and his father raised him on a government salary. He hasn't actually been *in* that "Free Market" he praises for so much as an hour in his entire life. When I told him he should leave the Air Force early and get a civilian job, he said no way-- that he was afraid of that. "You can get fired and then you have nothing".
I mean, really-- what is wrong with these people?
They refuse to see beyond their own self-interest.
I always like this line of reasoning, except for one glaring fact. I mean, it feels great to get out our anger by telling the right-wing hypocrites that they enjoy government-supplied health care while denying it to the general population. The only thing is... the government is their employer. So, they can easily say that they support the status quo: employer-supplied health care. I have long believed that the best argument in favor of health care reform is two pronged: it will provide the security of guaranteed care for everyone and it will increase the competitiveness of our economy as a whole. My strongest allies would be big businesses and I would find a way of getting as many of them as possible to come out in favor of government-sponsored health care.
but their healthcare and pension are forever despite how long they keep their job. Can that be said about anyone else?
They have to be in their job for five years first (i.e., get re-elected). And that's five long, hard years of working almost six months every year, for more money than most small business owners get.
Who amoungst us would be willing to do that?
(me! me! me!)
"The only thing is... the government is their employer"
And they only work about half the year. Well, as a small business owner, I work about half the year to pay my taxes, so I guess I'm their employer. And I think I'd like to end their insurance scam now...
END FEHBP!!!
Since you're so all fired against American workers having any kind of public healthcare plan then end your enrollment in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program!!! But you're not really aginst public healthcare plans for YOU are you? No you just want to wreck America's competitivness in the international marketplace you worthless lazy America hating pile of shit!!
Thanks for this post, John.
You might want to highlight a little discussed issue of the proposed health care plans.
Age-ranking - the Senate version has a 5:1 -- for people over 50. If you are in this category, you will pay 5 times the going rate. The other two plans list a 2:1 ration.
Frankly, I want single-payer, 'universal' health care.
You think government run healthcare is so good? Then prove it by giving it up!
Truly baffling. On the other hand, republicans who decry government run healthcare while touting the awesomeness of privatized healthcare absolutely should give up their plan.
it will likely be more watered down that most of us would like, but it will be a start. It won't be perfect, but anything will be better than the current system. That said, everyday that reform is delayed is a day where reform will be eroded by the healthcare lobbyists. The six "so called" centrists that asked for a delay today, are all recepients of lobbyist healthcare dollars. (Look them up) It is disgusting, but predictable, that these cretins have put their own self interest above such a basic human rights issue as healthcare, especially since they all have fantastic healtcare. Let's face it, they have NO SHAME. They count on Americans not paying attention and forgetting. We have to let them know that we will NOT forget this time and we want a Strong Public Option. We also need to let the White House know we are counting on a Strong Public Option and not more compromise. Senator DeMint is quoted as saying quashing healtcare can ruin Obama's Presidency. That is the goal of the GOP. These "country first" traitors are about themselves and Party only.
A weak plan that is clearly a costly plan helping a small number of people will do more damage than good. Better to have the whole effort go up in smoke and have it become the single biggest campaign issue of the next cycle. Then single payer MIGHT be back in play.
Fuck the public option. Just more thievery.
Shouldn't it be that the Republicans who vote against a public option who are required to give up their government plan? If it's ok for them to have one, why not the rest of us?
More smoke and mirrors brought to you by the GOP. Let them buy their own private insurance. With all the bribes they take, they can certainly afford to buy it.
should be getting health care. Their job was not supposed to have benefits, no retirement, no health care, no life long job!
republicanism is a mental illness!
to give up their current coverage and enroll in the public option. If they have to do that, then the public option will be solid and comprehensive. If its good enough for the voters, its good enough for their representatives.
Finally! I've been saying this ever since the argument started. And I've emailed Olbermann, Stewart, and everyone selse I could to ask Republicans the obvious questions:
1) Would you agree to just let everyone else have the same insurance that YOU have?
2) If not, are you willing to drop your free insurance and buy regular insurance like the rest of us?
This should be asked over and over and over and repeated every night on all the news stations.
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