Obama on Today Show: 'Health Care Shouldn't Be Political'
True to his word, Obama is doing a full-press media blitz on healthcare reform:
President Barack Obama admitted that there is not enough money in the system to pay for medical coverage for the 46 million Americans who have none, and that to bridge the gap additional taxes will probably have to be levied on the nation’s wealthiest citizens.
The president focused on health care reform during a wide-ranging interview with TODAY’s Meredith Vieira that aired Tuesday. But he also covered subjects both trivial (his choice of jeans to wear to the All-Star Game) and deeply individual: a father’s five-year international battle to regain rightful custody of his son, and an American soldier being held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Obama has told Congress he wants a universal health care plan before the nation’s lawmakers leave town for their traditional August recess. Given the enormous complexity and cost of the proposals being floated in the corridors of power, Vieira asked why the president is so insistent on a hard deadline.
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“Because if you don’t set a deadline in this town, nothing happens,” Obama replied. “The default in Washington is inaction and inertia. And there’s a reason why we haven’t had health care reform in 50 years. The deadline’s not being set by me; the deadline’s being set by the American people.”
Some Republicans have grabbed on the President’s crusade and made it a political battleground, with Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina going so far as to say, “If we are able to stop Obama on this, in new health care reform, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
When Vieira repeated that comment, Obama laughed.
“This is all about politics,” he explained. “That describes exactly an attitude that we’ve got to overcome, because what folks have in their minds is that, somehow, this is about me. It’s about politics and the ability to win back the House of Representatives. And people are thinking back to 1993 when President Clinton wasn’t able to get health care, and, right after that, the House Republicans won.”
The president agreed that he has a lot invested personally in achieving health care reform, but he also said that other Americans have a lot more at stake than he does.
“This is not as important to me as it is to the people who don’t have health care. I’ve got health care,” Obama told Vieira. “This isn’t as important to me as the family that’s gone bankrupt because they got a bunch of medical bills that they thought the insurance companies had covered that turned out they weren’t covered. So, yes, absolutely, I am deeply invested in getting this thing done. But this isn’t Washington sport. This isn’t about who’s up and who’s down. This is about solving an enormous problem for the American people.”
Health INSURANCE shouldn't be Corporate.
The Corporate types from Wall Street, J Street and K Street, as well as the Robert's Court, have yet to have their fill of working American's blood it appears
Spoiled rotten and appeased by Congress these past years, the US Chamber of Commerce will begin to spend millions running ads in 5 states against the public option for health insurance.
Maine, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas and Colorado will be buffeted by ads appealing to those weak and enabling Democrats or Moderates.
The Moderates - those half human, half corporate shills, have yet had the spines to stand and fight off lobbyists since the 90's. They've created a monster of a newly empowered Chamber who now literally demands their constituents children's lives as a down payment on the next election cycle.
Who will these Congressmen sacrifice -your families or their jobs??
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/07/us-...
They will never stop the lobbyist money.. It is too d... good for them and there must be a lot of side benefits.
Did everyone see the money that our elected officials have received from them in which has been REPORTED on...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
Lawmakers Reveal Health-Care Investments
Key Players Have Stakes in Industry
None
donations by industry....Sector..Rep or Senator!
Yup. The Republicans had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate for 6 years and they did absolutely NOTHING about health care. NOTHING!!! They doi not give a shit about the little people but so many of their base is the little people. Pretty amazing.
The ignorant little people.
There is a whole lotta stupid goin' on out there. And I know many of them myself. They are so dense, I think they would eat cyanide laced dog turds if the GOP said it was good for them.
Never had an original thought. None of them.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
O/T but have you ever noticed how the commenting drops way off when Olbermann is on???
I just wait for somebody to post the highlights here.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
You can download the podcast the next day and listen to it anytime yoiu want. It may be a day old when you listen to it but it is still interesting.
on MSNBC late in the night.
Edit
On the internet
With single payer the cost would be LESS than we spend, IN THE SYSTEM, now and EVERYONE would be covered.
He is protecting the vampires.
THAT IS NOT TO SAY, HOWEVER, THAT ADDITIONAL TAXES ON THE WEALTHY ARE NOT ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Let's not pull out the L word for the guy actually trying to do something, especially when he's NOT lying if you look at what he actually said. When he says "in the system" he clearly means money that the government has now, not money in the health care system. And he's technically correct, the government is short of cash and would need to raise taxes in order to provide insurance to the uninsured.
The insurance companies have a 20% overhead which is administration and profit.
Medicare has a 3% overhead.
Wendell Potter with Bill Moyers here
Obama knows the numbers completely.
A chart from CNN is here.
With single payer the government can contain costs. This is precisely the reason the Corporations will not even allow the phrase to be heard.
Obama is captive to the Corporations.
You are correct, language does have meaning.
Rhetoric is required when facts alone will not suffice.
It is the tried and true formula of the right wing.
The left wing needs to learn this lesson. The health insurance companies are blood sucking vampires.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
30% overhead is the way I understand it.
the reason for stalling implementation of any "reform" until 2013, after the next election. Wouldn't want the actual "reform" to be found out before that point in time. After 2012, it will all be a problem for someone else. Us.
I read 35%.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
Health insurance companies add far more than 20% to the cost of care. The cost of health care would arguably be cut in half if private health insurance was eliminated.
- Doctors spend over $30B a year simply on paperwork to deal with insurance companies.
- Late (and short) payments by insurers force providers to scramble for operating capital. Hospitals especially are impacted, and nationwide there is a hospital crisis due to insurers failure to pay for services provided.
- Insurance companies underpay providers, forcing them to raise rates, which justifies insurance company premium increases and further reductions in payments to providers.
- Insurance companies post billions in annual profits after deducting huge CEO and administrative salaries, lobbying, advertising, etc.
- Denial of service to those with preexisting conditions, those who've lost their jobs, out-of-network denials, paperwork obfuscation, etc. costs our entire society through care that must be provided in another fashion (state hospitals, families, etc.).
- Much of insurers "administrative overhead" is denial of payment for care through excessive and repetitive paperwork, deliberately difficult application procedures, etc.
If these funds were spent on actual care everyone would have it and the cost would go down dramatically.
No sorry, Obama is a liar. His campaign promises turned to shit. He will serve one term and pull a Palin and hand over the keys to Hillary. That deal is already agreed to. Bill and Hillary in 2012. You betcha.
But I am saddened at his intellectual dishonesty.
He knows what they are patching together will NEVER solve the problem. EVER.
"Medicare for All" with the corporations being deep-sixed out as the "middle men" is the only way to cover everyone with a level standard of care for all AND to keep the costs down/managed. Period. End of story.
It's already been proven in other countries and Obama knows this. He also knows that the United States is under corporate rule which is why he's cow-towing to the insurance companies and making sure they are leading the "meetings" and that their wishes are being honored: SINGLE PAYER OUT OF THE ROOM AND DEFINITELY OFF THE TABLE! Even corporate media got the memo...no discussions of Single Payer!!! We wouldn't want to give the American people any funny ideas, right? Right??!
Well, that's why I'll be schleping to NYC next Tuesday to help FAIR deliver petitions to ABC protesting the fact that their Town Hall on Health Care purposely excluded SINGLE PAYER in the discussion. (Any excuse to go to the city...right?)
Hope maybe I'll see a few C&Lers in the crowd!
I just read where the TARP bank/insurance bailouts may reach $23 TRILLION! But, sorry, we can't afford to secure affordable health care for the public so they have a feeling of security both physically and economically:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206010...
Here's the information for Tuesdays demonstration in NYC:
Help FAIR, Healthcare Now!, Physicians for a National Health Program and the Raging Grannies deliver a message to the media.
"Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate"
Petition delivery
Tues. July 28, noon - 1 pm
ABC News
77 West 66th St.,
(between Central Pk West and Columbus Ave.)
NYC
Abbybwood, R.N.
Member of Physicians for a National Health Program
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
The $23 trillion that Barofsky cited is the TOTAL possible outlay, which would happen if all of Fannie and Freddies mortgages went bust and properties were worth zero. So on and so forth.
It won't happen, but it is useful to demonstrate the vastness of the Oligarchs' grip on the country.
Neil Barofsky on Bloomberg here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
$99 to join, then a flat monthly rate of $39 to $119, depending on age and level of service. Patients can quit without notice and no one is rejected for pre-existing conditions.
“If you spent five minutes in my office you would notice there is nobody waiting. We don’t have to stack them up like jets over Newark,” said Garrison Bliss, a doctor and co-founder of the primary care clinic.
America was better off without tax cuts for the rich. Sorry Rush, Murdoch, Polis, Kerry and the like. Sacrifice is needed by all.
This is not my father's America
Yeah, they had got their tax cuts for the richest sons of bitches and the economy was booming (not becasue of the tax cuts but because of the false economy housing bubble)yet they still ran huge deficits and doubled the debt. They are lying pieces of shit. Tax the assholes at 70%.
95% at the upper margins! Fuck these god damned theives. Time to take back what they stole from the rest of us! Greedy, evil, SOB's!!!!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
every Republican making more than $200k/year...
Give 'em to a volcano...
I have just the volcano in mind…
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
This past weekend, as I was driving around in my car, I was listening to CNN on XM radio. There was a wealthy guy, descendant of Oscar Mayer, who was part of a group of wealthy individuals who say they want to be taxed at a higher rate in order to help pay for health care. He was serious about this and claimed that people like Warren Buffet are also part of this group.
Then there was this idiot from the CATO Institute who argued that, "of course," those who are born into wealth might be in favor of paying more in taxes to support health care. He called them "limousine liberals." I wish I knew who this was so I could send him a nasty email!
If I made that much money, I really could care less if I were taxed a point or two higher in order to help pay for health care for those less fortunate than I.
Yes, America was indeed better off without tax cuts for the wealthy.
LL's, as opposed to cheap, greedy, evil, inhuman, psychopathic conservatives?
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
Well Duh! Is he campaigning to be Captain Obivious now? Able to leap MRI machines in his mom jeans.
Seems like a milquetoast response to me. Who has TR's big stick, and can Obama please borrow it?
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
you are wrong we need health care reformed
Obama has got to get tough or we are doomed.
And we don't need health care reformed, we need to get insurers out of medical care.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
if it were not a for-profit industry.
It is only because the for-profits parasites are opposing these measures that there is a political storm.
No country is worth much of a shit which sacrifices the health of its citizens to the wealth of its elites...
Well said.
I have no problem with requiring insurance companies who underwrite medical coverage operating as nonprofits. Like Germany.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
only an idiot thinks this is politics. we know two things:
1) repuglicKKKans will screw over any and everyone for a fucking penny.
2) dlc/dscc/dccc will screw over any and everyone for a fucking penny.
look at the contributions and you can then explain the meaning of BlueDog.
follow the money. that's the reality. The politics is for show.
Some stuff you can't make up!
It's morally repugnant to profit off the misery or ill health of Americans. It's criminal that medical bills to the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX make up 62% of all bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year. Americans spend 2.5 Trillion Dollars a year on Health care. The overhead at the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX is upwards of 35% of the health care dollar spent each year in the U.S. That is approximately $900 Billion a year the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX uses for BRIBING CONGRESS and their lavish lifestyles, huge salaries plus perks and bonuses. All the while milking the hard-working men/women of this great nation of their hard earned money.
On the other hand Medicare has an overhead of 2%, Canada's system is 1.5%, Europe's 2.5% on average. The money that could be saved by eliminating the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX is estimated at $900 Billion a year. Enough money to help pay for putting all Americans on MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.
We have to fight back and call, write e-mails, letters-to-editors, Congress and to the White House to let them know how Americans feel about the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX that currently provides the health care in this country.
Here are some Senators and blue dog(dems) who are on the wrong side of Health Care reform. Give them a call and demand,
"MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NOW!"
Thanks to Dateline_Molly for this chart that shows how much money was paid to Senators by the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX to OBSTRUCT health care reform. Link Now, when I call each member I can quote to them how much money they were PAID/BRIBED by the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX to throw their constituents under the bus and deny them SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE.
(blue dogs)
Ross D-AR, Boucher D-VA, Kind D-WI, Pomeroy D-ND, Tanner D-TN
Polis (CO), Titus (NV) and Altmire (PA)
These are the problem Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee: John Barrow (GA-12), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Bart Gordon (TN-04), Baron Hill (IN-09), Jay Inslee (WA-01), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Charlie Melancon LA-03, Zack Space (OH-18) and Bart Stupak (MI-01).
Joe Lieberman I-CT, Chuck Grassley R-IA, Lindsey Graham R-SC,
Susan Collins R-ME, Olympia Snowe R-ME, David Vitter R-LA,
Saxby Chambliss R-GA, Tom Coburn R-OK, Jon Kyl R-AZ,
John Thune R-SD, Richard Lugar R-IN, Jim DeMint R-SC
Jeff Sessions R-AL, Richard Shelby R-AL, Mel Martinez R-FL,
John McCain R-AZ, Mitch McConnell R-KY, Jim Inhofe R-OK,
Lamar Alexander R-TN, Dick Burr R-NC, John Cornyn R-TX
Mark Pryor D-AR, Thomas Carper D-DE, Mary Landrieu D-LA,
Max Baucus D-MT, Kent Conrad D-ND, Ben Nelson D-NE,
Maria Cantwell D-WA, Kay Hagan D-NC, Blanche Lincoln D-AR,
Ron Wyden D-OR, Evan Bayh D-IN, Diane Feinstein D-CA,
Arlen Specter D-PA
Here are the toll-free numbers for the Capitol Hill Switchboard:
(House and Senate)
1-800-828-0498
1-866-338-1015
1-866-220-0044
1-800-473-6711
Also give the President a call or write an e-mail:
White House Comments Line:
1-202-456-1111 M-F 9:00-5:00 est. (NOT A TOLL-FREE #)
President Obama's e-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Nothing rattles the Congress and White House more than informed CITIZEN/VOTERS ringing the phones off the hook for real health care reform. Call the House, Senate and the White House and demand,
"MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NOW!"
SEMPER FI!
Beautiful post! Excellent!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Yeah...he doesn't say "bring it on", or "mission accomplished". And he does take this questioning from these hack hosts who try to corner him with every chance they get, and is able to deflect the answers that will tie his hands tomorrow. A tip of the hat.
The guy has got more "cool" on him than any 1000 repugnants of today, and he has a zillion times more class and integrity than this last idiot ever dreamt of having in his wildest dreams.
Obama is a Corporate bagman.
Obama is a Corporate bagman.
Cool is ok but how about some substance.
Corrente on the bait and switch of the 'Public Option' here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
The link isn't working....
I'd love to see it.
Try again??
Thanks!
(I'm forwarding all this great stuff from C&L to lots of docs and nurses nation-wide).
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/20/bait-and-...
Alice's repaired link:
http://www.correntewire.com/how_dems_and_prog...
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
Wow, the blow-dried, botoxed poodles in the media really have their panties in a twist about taxing the rich, don't they? It doesn't matter what network, the bullshit is the same: "He's punishing the rich! He's punishing the rich!". I would, just once, like to hear one of them admit, on camera: "yeah, I make a lot of money and I don't want to pay slightly higher taxes so that working class peons can get treated when they're sick" At least be honest about the fact that our celebrity media stars have a financial interest in pushing GOP conservative talking points.
If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders.
George Carlin
which taxes those with more incomes at higher rates because those with more income are benefiting more,economically, from the society.. and progressive taxation is being rolled back because those with more don't want to have to pay for the benefits they receive..
In terms of health care, it is very important to everyone that we are all healthy.. some of us are so short sighted that we won't be happy until we've drained the life out of those who make our lives possible.. this is encouraged by a corporate structure which looks to the short term and which is not responsible for its actions
At least 20 cases of hepatitis A have been confirmed in five Illinois counties--Rock Island, Mercer, Henry, Warren and Woodford, said Rock Island County Health Department spokeswoman Theresa Foes.
Authorities are still trying to learn why the case of hepatitis A in the McDonald's food handler went unreported for more than three weeks.
This story should give pause to anyone fighting against universal health care. I just wonder, besides the thousands potentially exposed at this McDonalds, just how many people are already, or will be, affected by this one employee. Think about it. One employee exposed possibly thousands, those thousands exposed their families, friends and acquaintances, and on and on. Now think, how many of those exposed have no health care. How many will get a vaccine and how many will not and will subsequently go on to potentially expose more thousands.
This is a frightening example and yet it is real, and it is going on as I write and our congress is worried about universal health care "gouging the insurance companies" instead of the health of the people in this country. Instead, they are blathering about forcing seniors to "stop making bad choices and watch what they eat, stop smoking, go on a diet and join a health club".
Problem is, almost all in congress and on the faux news are, themselves 50 to 200 pounds overweight and drinks like a fish, has a fat cigar stuffed in his mouth, smokes cigarettes, pot, or is addicted to some drug or other.
When I see the Democrats stopping the banksters from sucking up blood, I'll start worrying about other people's diets.
As if FDR was non-political!
The problem with the Democrats' health care "reform" is that it's political, alright -- just political in the wrong way: In favor of the health insurance companies. To see that, all you have to do is look at two numbers that "progressive" advocates of "public option" never tell you about:
130 million -- Enrollees in "public option" as advocated by Jacob Hacker and sold to the American people by "progressives" as a Medicare-style program expanded to all;
9 million -- Enrollees in "public option" in the legislation as written by Democrats, according to the CBO scoring (both figures at link above).
The Democrats' so-called health reform is all about the mandate: Forcing people to do business with the insurance companies and guaranteeing them a market. It's a bailout for a murderous business model of denying people care for profit. It's not about health care at all. Even the cost savings are "speculative" (Ezra Klein) and they're the supposed centerpiece of the program!
The best outcome is for the Democrats' complex, unproven, and Rube Goldberg-esque "As Good As It Gets" plan never to pass. Otherwise, we're going to spend another ten years undoing the damage before adopting the science-based solution: Single payer.
NOTE Look, if the Democrats plan were any good at all, do you seriously think that Obama wouldn't want to run for his second term on it? Instead, they postpone the implementation 'til 2013!
I don't like the way Obama has begun to use the phrase, "health insurance reform".
It's just non-stop conservative talking points from Viera. Imagine if a MSM reporter actually pressed him to defend why we weren't going to single-payer.
Does anyone know where these heavy-weights are in promoting a national plan? Am I missing something? If it's "political" where are the heavy hitters for the democrats?
Nowhere Man.
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