Obama: If the Private Sector's So Great, Why Worry About Public Option?
By Susie Madrak Thursday Jun 25, 2009 12:00pmI could be wrong, but I just don't remember members of the media jumping to include our views when we were the minority party. Then again, this is Charlie Gibson, who's not exactly a flaming liberal:
On the "Nightline" edition of the health care forum, Gibson read the president a letter from Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee expressing concern about the creation of a government-run health care plan.
"At a time when major government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are already on a path to fiscal insolvency, creating a brand new government program will not only worsen our long-term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice," the senators wrote.
"The end result would be a federal government takeover of our health care system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy."
"They're wrong," the president said, arguing that in a Health Insurance Exchange, the public plan would be "one option among multiple options."
The concern, Gibson articulated, is that such a plan wouldn't be offered on a level playing field.
The president rebuffed that, arguing that "we can set up a public option where they're collecting premiums just like any private insurer and doctors can collect rates," but because the public plan will have lower administrative costs "we can keep them [private insurance companies] honest."
Obama said he didn't understand those advocates of the free market who constantly say the private sector can do things better and are yet worried about this plan.
"If that's the case, no one will choose the public option," the president said. He also suggested, however, that the private sector might not necessarily be better, point out that users of Medicare and Veterans Administration hospitals constantly rate "pretty high satisfaction."
The rest was about what you'd expect - umbrage and horror from Charlie and Diane Sawyer who are always so worried on behalf of any of their friends who are mildly uncomfortable with the concept of paying a few of Their Hard-Earned Dollars so that others might live. You can read a more robust version here.
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Mommy, mommy, that man touched me on my PRIVATE sector...
..about Chuck and Diane,
trying to muddy the water
the very best they can.
Clever, very clever. I like it.
calling their bluff!!!Go Obama!!
The ultimate media douchebag, Gibson. Remember the last ABC debate with Obama and Clinton? It took Gibby and Stephanapolo 45 mins to to get to a direct question. All the while quoting Hannity talking points.
Even when Gibson made Palin falter by asking her what she thought of the Bush doctrine, he LOOKED like a nose glass wearing junior high principal pedo.
Yuckie yuckie yuck yuck GIBSON!
This whole conversation is phoney-baloney. Obama's trying to cover his left while he lays the groundwork for the big sell-out. Watch. We'll be told no reform will be possible without junking the public plan, or watering it down to essentially nothing different from the corporate scams we have now, so it's better to get a little reform than not at all, blah, blah, blah.
Of course, O doesn't want us to know the fix is already in, so we get conversations like this.
Nothing will change health-care-for-profit in this country but a working-class mass movement, and that's a long way off.
...a Health Insurance executive.
Now we're even.
is to completely exclude them from the process.
Medicare and Medicaid is not on the road to insolvency either. Somehow, they neglected to mention that they could completely fund the programs with a dedicated tax and it would still cost the public far, far less than any kind of insurance.
Afterthought: funny how finding money so that poeple might live just sticks in their craw, but finding even more money so that people might die, en masse, goes down real smooth, with nary a trace of indigestion.
...Republicans love "the unborn" so much--until they're born.
Unfortunately, in this case, Democrats are absolutely complicit--just as they have been in repeatedly, continually, adding to war funding.
Tell me, what's the difference between the two parties again? Oh yeah, when Democrats' blow jobs are revealed, the media howls for their removal from office. When it's Republicans, we need to respect their privacy and give them time to get right with Jesus.
two pockets on the same shirt. Perfect.
Republican Conservatives want live babies so that the babies can grow up to become dead soldiers.
and, again, we can see example after example of the corporate msm's ability and effort to color and frame issues.
They ask questions, in the form of statements, that are both wrong-headed and self-obvious, e.g., "Why get the government involved in something that the private sector can do with the right impetus. . . .?"
Frankly, it would be nice if we could elevate the level of public discourse beyond sixth-grade reasoning.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
i've been saying this all along. why are the healthCare insurers worried about the terrible government plan. they're concerned because at least a public option could be a game changer. 30% of the healthcare cost is inefficient management/administration of billing. there's also strategy to rid people that are going to cost them. the other concern is that private industry/corps. will switch to government insured plan. the healthCare industry makes money by not spending money. they also have their money in investments. they are not as concerned about efficiency. the healthCare insures are another example of "too big too fail".
Why would single payer stop you from seeing your curent doctor?
Obama on the 1 question on single payer said it would be hugely disruptive and would cause people to compltely change thier doctors or healthcare providers in a way he doesn't want to go.
As I understand single payer you could go to any doctor so why does he think you'ld have to change anything. because too many people would want to see your doctor. as you had a previous history the doctor would likely try to keep you. I don't understand this (or alot of the arguments really)
they are all nonsense. The people who put them forth are displaying their scorn and contempt for real people. They think we are all stupid and as corrupt as they are.
Which, frankly, seems to be the case, since most people polled repeatedly say they want a "public option," but majorities also say they fear "government-run health care removing their choice."
Americans don't reason very well.
pro insurance company and Big Pharma propaganda. At least people are paying some attention and feel threatened. And they should feel threatened. If Big Pharma says they are going to contribute $80 billion to "help" us, we all better duck. I swear, I will figure out what they are up to.
The reason single payer is no longer on the table is not because our representatives are greedy, its because they understand universal healthcare cannot work in this country for a number of reasons;
1. We are much less healthy than other countries making UHC much more expensive
2. We have many fewer doctors relative to the number of patients in the US, meaning greater wait times than in Canada France etc
3. Medical school is not free in the US, meaning we must pay doctors more than in Canada, France, etc
4. We cannot afford it...other countries aren't 10 trillion in debt and managing two wars
5. Why would we extend medicare to everyone when medicare itself is doomed to failure within the next 10-20 years
.
Now there's a solution!
Sorry to disappoint you, but you are not the first troll to come here and spout the exact same trash. Don't you people coordinate your efforts? And you can post your canned rant here 45 times under 45 different topics, and no one will believe or agree with you. Single-payer. You don't define it. No one wants anything for free, except the insurance industry. All you gravy train passengers, here comes the conductor looking for paid tickets.
Here as to actually "has" a doctor??
Seriously.
Every time I see one of those ads in a magazine or on teevee that says, "Ask your doctor about such and such", I think...WHAT doctor???
I'm a complete supporter of total public healthcare, fuck the health insurance industry. HOWEVER it seems to me to be a little intellectually dishonest to posit, as Obama has, that the the private industry shouldn't be threatened by a public option if they're doing a good job. Wouldn't the public option be non-profit? All else being equal (and lord knows they're not) would a new govt backed non-profit industry represent a valid concern to a for-profit industry?
This assumes the public option would be non-profit. I haven't heard anything about it, but it just seems to figure no?
Shhhh, quiet now.
I smell a big rat here, and I just can't exactly find it. Yet.
But they have dozens of for-profit subsidiaries who charge the non-profit part hefty fees for their services!
Since Fox Noise did the tea parties. Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer asked every Mother fucking GOP talking point twice if not more. I haven't seen a man so Intent on tripping up Obama in a while.
Obama Kicked there collective asses. You felt sorry for quite a few of the people who were called on to ask questions because if you looked those few tried to make sure the people knew that they were being used. I can't remember his name but his group did quite a few scenarios and he tried his hardest to make sure we knew the one he was called on to comment about by the two “reporters” was a far out there one.
The "student" nurse who probably weighed in at about 400 pounds and was 5 feet tall.
Sorry, but I don't trust a "nurse" comin' at me with a 3 inch I.V. needle (besides I have bad veins) who obviously could care LESS about their own health! Just my luck he'd put the damn tourniquet on my arm and keel over with a massive coronary. It'd be like the scene from "Airplane"....you know ysbaddaden, the one with the girl who has an I.V. going and the flight attendant is playing the guitar and pulling on the I.V. tubing?? Ha!!
If they were going to put a "nurse" on to yack it up about "prevention" and "being healthy" you'd think that they'd make an attempt to find a person who actually PRACTICES WHAT THEY PREACH!!!?
Good goin' ABC.
And one more thing. ABC's resident doctor was OBVIOUSLY in the disintegrating A.M.A. camp. Between him and the head of the A.M.A. and the other physician they had who "picked" on Obama, it was obviously a tag team set-up.
"The end result would be a federal government takeover of our health care system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy."
I think a washington bureaucracy would be better then an insurance bureaucracy and would cost about 35% less.
Our so called elected officals have millions of reasons to vote against the people and for the insurance companies!
Here is a list of elected people taking payoffs to cheat the American people and the amounts of bribes being taken. This is just from health care and insurance.
It is mind boggling to think how much these people are taking from others!
Arlen Specter (R-D- PA- $4,026,933)
Max Baucus (DLC- MT- $2,833,731)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY- $2,758,468)
And when you just go right to Big Insurance, the non-presidential candidates who got the biggest legalized bribes were the 7 senators who have been tasked with the job of killing single-payer:
Ben Nelson (DLC-NE- $1,196,799)
Max Baucus (DLC- MT- $1,184,113)
Joe Lieberman (DLC- CT- $1,036,302)
Arlen Specter (R-D- PA- $1,035,530)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY- $981,400)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY- $929,207)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA- $884,724)
We need to investigate and prosecute these criminals now. Severe jail terms are in order for these criminals!
republicanism is a mental illness!
I am no republican apologist but your statement,republicanism is a mental illness!, is weird because you list 5 Democrat insurance company employees.
Roughly 95% of anything that can go medically wrong with the human body can be punched into a computer program and ta-da!!!! There's the standard, up-to-date "treatment".
Preventive medicine is not rocket science. Any nurse practitioner can take care of "yearly" physicals etc.
Massive burns? There is a routine, standardized treatment that 99% of burn doctors would agree with. Massive coronary with 4 arteries 90% blocked? 99% of all cardio/thoracic surgeons would agree on the treatment. Appendicitis? Textbook labs/symptoms for diagnosis and the surgery is routine and standardized along with a course in post-op I.V. antibiotics.
ETC.
We don't need to re-invent the wheel here.
Here is an example of a HUGE (no pun) problem in this country right now. Non-compliance from patients. Can you imagine what a difference it would make here if every person who is obese and pre-diabetic would see a nurse practitioner and be started on a new diet/exercise plan and FOLLOW THE ORDERS? If every person who smokes cigarettes went on a program to quit and FOLLOWED THE ORDERS?
We could become a healthy country with Single Payer health care. Diet and exercise are CRITICAL to a healthy population. Stop smoking and weight loss clinics could be started in every community. Do you know how many people's bodies are becoming diseased because of a lack of proper dentistry, flossing etc.? Lots. How many cases of malignant melanoma, glaucoma etc. are missed because we have no eye care coverage?
We, as a country, are sick, non-compliant, lazy and generally apathetic.
We need a National Health Program to heal our citizens and teach them how to treat their bodies with respect. THAT would save us lots and lots of money.
And I'm only scratching the surface.
If you cannot receive proper preventative care, you can get a pill for what ails you. The insurance companies are dead set (no pun intended) against paying for preventative medicine. Big Pharma has a pill for practically every bodily function, including growing one's eyelashes. They both must keep advertising their poisons. Big advertising companies are in on this and reap billions from ads advising people, in a sneaky way, that one can just take a pill instead of personal responsibility for one's behavior. The intertwining gets more elaborate.
This is why the right-wing deserves nothing but contempt for their constant drumbeat that the media is "liberally biased". They're relentless in their attacks, even as the media blatantly shills for their powerful corporate masters.
Actually, there are a LOT of reasons why the right-wing deserves nothing but contempt, come to think of it...
"The end result would be a federal government takeover of our health care system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy."
As opposed to the "hands" of the CPA's who hold them now? This whole debate is So dishonest! Single-payer only. Nothing else is acceptable. The insurance "industry" had its chance. It deserves to die. Let them go and insure all the "less than 16 year old cars" for repair bills. Maybe they can insure the marriages of politicians against what is becoming the obligatory sexual "misadventures." Enough of this.
And Rush--skip a meal once in a while, you fat smug self-satisfied "I got mine" pig. How long do you think you are going to stay healthy at that weight? You are tempting fate. All your money will not save you from yourself, you gigantic pompous ass.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/natio...
this has been my argument, can we afford not to do something?. healthCare are going to double in 7-10
years. presently we're trying to keep corporations/manufacturers in the u.s. at this rate they will say they can't compete. this avoidance of our country/people has to change. this country for years and now bares the burden of world police if you will. well, other countries have to share the burden. we spend too much money on the military. people have to think just for a fxxking minute about life beyond today. CHINA is. they are going to universal healthCare. with healthCare cost climbing along with energy we will not be able to compete. more companies will leave.
dumping private insurance for the other option, if one is offered. Exactly. If you sell an inferior product, and someone else offers a better one at a lower price, you lose. One does not need an MBA to see that. And the insurance companies want government mandated purchases of their inferior product, which they will then make worse by raising premiums and lessening coverage.
they didn't care if GM or Chrysler went out of business
a smaller profit margin. They actually have to pay some claims.
I am sick and tired of businesses thinking they are entitled to special treatment at our expense, just because they hang an "open for business shingle" outside their door.
The American people don't owe these insurance parasites (or any other private corporations) a damn thing!
Nada! When is someone gonna bring that up?
I for one am also sick of being charged exhorbinant fees for services that use to be free until the asshole republicans privatized everything because of their "private sector does it better" bullshit.
example of that concept. Hey, Monsanto! Your genetically modified seeds are intellectual property? I'll bet Mother Nature would disagree. See, Monsanto, if you can honestly put forth the concept that you can claim ownership of all seeds, which is what you are trying to do after you distort them in a effort to profit from that ownership, then I can believe that Mother Nature not only exists, but will get you for this. You are going to screw up everything to the point that we all die, you short-sighted greedy bastards. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says, "Christ is coming, and is he pissed?" Mother Nature is not as nice as Christ. Keep your heads down, weasels. BTW your cancer causing GM food is killing people. People without insurance, but that probably benefits you, too. I mean who in their right mind invests only in one kind of business?
The American "health care system" is a complete failure in every regard. I have not heard one sane and informed person defend the current market based system. And this is because you can't defend it and still use logic. We pay twice as much per capita as other nations in the world, we don't cover everyone, and we get worse results. If the markets were the be all and end all, why do we still have these problems? As far as I can tell we have hundreds of insurance companies competing in a rigged market (they don't have to cover the most expensive people - those over 65)and our "system" is the most inefficient in the world.
The markets are not the magic bullet that can solve all problems in the world. Stop believing that it can. Health care is not a perfect market and the market based approach cannot fix it. We need a single payer system. That is the only answer. The public option is a sham.
For more info on a single payer - watch
http://1payer.net/what-is-single-payer-health...
Charlie Gibson gives us just another day in the Corporate Fascist States of America.
I must admit however, I have been pleased with the presidents tone lately. Keep pushing in the public option direction.
so why is the msm almost in lockstep against a public option? is it merely due to the obvious fact that they are all extremely well paid individuals and would most likely bear the brunt of any progressive tax supporting a public plan, and thus are just protecting their own selfish intrests, or are other more coordinated mechanisms at play here?
politicians get lobbied by the healthcare industry and brazenly change their positions to reflect that monied bribery, why not msm?
in the case of msm healthcare lobbying = advertising, and the networks know where their bread is buttered and alter their reporting accordingly, in effect becoming paid shills for the healthcare industry. they are everthing but neutral, unbiased, observers.
follow the money.
They are protecting their jobs. Co-opting at its finest. Some people start out at least intending to be honest, and then get sucked into the melee with money, etc. A self-corrupting system.
years ago i went to diane sawyer's place for some kind of equine related function as they kept horses on their property. the one thing that stuck in my mind was, "these people have a lot of money". draw your own conclusions as to their political tendencies. never forget her strong ties to nixon.
If they don't want to follow legitimate journalistic standards and ethics, stop treating them as legitimate, mainstream, or even worthy of adult conversation or blogging.
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They hate the truth, the corporate elitists who own the teevee mind rot they sell us against our own self interests.
It might also have something to do with every other commercial being for big pharma or insurance. They are beholden to their corporate sponcers. They never talk about this conflict of interest. Michael More did poit this out once to Wolfe Blizer back when they ambushed him over Sicko.
One minute the repubs are saying a govt healthcare system would suck and in the next moment they say if there was a govt healthcare system all Americans would turn to it and private insurance companies would go belly up. So which is it? Would it suck or would it be so good we would all like it?
Just keep throwing mud until all the truth is obscured. You know who else has a dog in this hunt? The advertising industry. Health care advertising should not be allowed ever. In any form, drugs, or otherwise.
note the whining from msm elitist calderone when a lowly blogger, nico pitney, was picked to ask a question by obama.
oh, talk about "uppity".
Republicans say that with a Public Option there will be a bureaucrat between the Doctor and his/her patient. How is this worse than the current situation in which there is an insurance bureaucrat between the Doctor and his/her patient. The only difference is that the insurance bureaucrat is looking to deny coverage in order to enhance profits for the insurance company.
Give the American people the choice of opting for private health insurance and a single payer public option. Let us decide.
If the private insurance companies can offer a much better product at a lower price, what are they afraid of?
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that when republicans want to get between me and my doctor, regarding my reproductive health choices, that's ok?
Their hypocritical BS is driving me insane.
Haven't Republicans ever heard of the post office? You know, that public option mail service that competes with private mail services like Fedex and UPS and DHL?
Yes, I'm sure this comparison is not an exact one to our health care fight, but it's a very simple one to show that we already have such a public option in place, and that it hasn't destroyed the private industries yet.
political shows on MSNBC have been preempted to cover this occurrence. I wonder if he has insurance?
CNN, too. This country is pathetic.
The prick died now we have to deal with his death for a few days while the gop and conserva-dems use it as cover to screw us all over.
... the administration choose ABC and Charlie Gibson is beyond me. I was also outraged at the anti-health reform "health facts" ABC put up on the screen during ad breaks.
In a commercial on tv by a conservative organization, they mention that too many people would unhappy to lose what they have: Take mine, please. I have Aetna, and it's getting more and more expensive. It eats up half of one paycheck, and my co-pay contiues to rise.
The best insurance I had was in the military and when I worked in the VA hospital, both government-run programs.
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