Today's Roundup: The Usual Suspects Are Doing Their Best To Sandbag Health-Care Reform
By Susie Madrak Monday Nov 16, 2009 1:00pmSo according to the Times, the pharmaceutical companies are jacking up their prices high enough to cancel out the savings they promised Obama for the health care bill. Why am I not surprised?
What does it take for Democrats to understand how this works, anyway?
And in other healthcare reform news, the Washington Post reports what the usual suspects are up to:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation's economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a top Chamber official.
The e-mail, written by the Chamber's senior health policy manager and obtained by The Washington Post, proposes spending $50,000 to hire a "respected economist" to study the impact of health-care legislation, which is expected to come to the Senate floor this week, would have on jobs and the economy.
Step two, according to the e-mail, appears to assume the outcome of the economic review: "The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."
Well, of course it's assuming the outcome! They're paying someone good cash money to produce the outcome they want!
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a genuine revolt against the grotesque elites that have betrayed our families and the security of our country?
being loss of whatever remaining comfort and security people have would be at risk.
So they should keep their powder dry until they can't even afford powder?
and cuts in Medicare funding, throwing millions more Americans into the rotten Medicaid program where it is damn near impossible to find a doctor (nevermind a "decent" doctor who will even accept Medicaid patients) , it looks to me like the Democratic Party has sold us all down the river:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
Individuals like me and other members of Physicians for a National Health Program should not be chastised for criticizing the legislation that was recently passed by the House of Representatives. There was nothing to celebrate then and there's nothing to celebrate now.
The above comments in The Washington Post bring out but a few of the valid criticisms many progressives have.
Between the corporate health insurance, big pharma, their lobbyists who are swarming around Congress and the members of Congress they now own, this whole mess of a bill should be dumped.
It's too tainted now and blatantly discriminatory to be enacted into law.
Thanks for saying that abby. I almost wanted to pose an open question "who here still supports the health care reform bill?" It has been completely ass-raped by special interests, looks to create a new criminal class of uninsured people and appears to be a total loss.
We cannot get anything done until campaign finance reform and lobby reform are addressed.
No wars will be ended.
No expanded access to medical care.
No net neutrality.
We will get nothing!
..don't forget to die quickly. At least I can afford to do that much.
After a quick Google search I found out that James P. Gelfand,the Chamber's senior health policy manager,is quite a little weasel.
He's been an active apologist for the Tobacco Industry-pushing "smokeless tobacco" and has favored Giuliani's health care proposals among other things.
The 30 year experiment is long over.
Time to nationalize the banking industry AND the insurance industry.
Commerce is illegal once it puts its own interests ahead of the nation and the nation's people.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D494229.html
like every day.
I'd be making some noise along the lines made about eliminating the anti-trust exemptions for insurance companies. To wit: restore patent terms to their original ten years and allow no extensions. That would make the bastards shake in their boots.
If people knew the sweetheart deal AZ and DuPont got while Biden was the Senator a while back they would cringe even more.
You have to love how delaware flies under the radar yet is home to all the major banks and Astra Zeneca, Dupont, Gore, and on and on
such a lovely place to do business/
...NATIONALIZE the Phrama Industry. It is time to kill capitalism off once and for all.
on pills first.
Vitamin D3. Cures, prevents almost everything.
*
That will be on next week's shopping list.
Pharmaceuticals are in general both effective and cheaper than the alternatives.
Boy - I'm with you on that.\
*
..Greed is the killer!
Greed may be the killer/drug but capitalism is the delivery system.
.
It's just a shame to see those young kids trying to trade sheep behind the gymnasium.
Drugs are only 12% of the cost of care in the US. Why don't you talk about the real cost center, which is outpatient care?
which has been running television ads proclaiming the Health Care Bill is a job killer and threat to the economy for weeks is now soliciting funds for a study to prove their claim.
i try to encourage right wing/republicans to GOOGLE two future facts regarding health care insurance cost: 1) the current cost for an average family of 4 is about $13,000.00 in less than 10 yrs. that cost will almost double to about $25,000.00 for a family of 4.
2)the health care insurance cost per-employee for a company will TRIPLE in cost by 2019.
i bring up these speculated/facts by actuaries/economists along with the increasing COST SHIFT to the paying pool/TAX payers to absorb the medical cost of the uninsured/under insured that can't/won't pay their medical bills. this demographic is/will increase. THE philosophy/religion of "individualism" is destroying this country. when i ask (r)ight wingers is it FAIR to SHIFT the cost of people that can't/won't
pay their medical bills on to others? i get glazed eyes and mouth breathing.
provide "value added service" for all your health care needs.
http://kloppertjie.files.wordpress.com/2008/0...
I feel the same way when I go to these grocery outlet and then after a purchase the cashier recite how much I have saved shopping with them
sucks anyway. Obama, Reid, et al have allowed the rethugs (and the blue dogs) to take over the debate. Wait a minute - was there actually a debate on "healthcare reform?
aren't allowed to directly participate at the negotiating table.
to be a representative democracy. We elect these selfish, myopic pols to do what we want, but that never seems to happen.
You may be on to something. There is no "I" in team.
..there are two "I"s in motivation.
even most visually impaired ones.
would have three "I"s. It causes hell with stereoscopic vision when there's that extra center channel.
and their mono-ocular depth perception challenges?
pirates can (and do) freely engage in unabashed self-interest.
allowed "the rethugs" to take over the debate by not repealing the First Amendment, establishing a government press, and objecting when they were called "the Democrat Party." And they could have lied too.
I caught this gem in today's Los Angeles Times. It seems the new legislation passed by the House is going to be putting the screws to progressive health insurance guidelines that have been enacted by some states like California:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mandate...
It seems that every day another nasty "detail" of the health care legislation passed by the House and the oh so WONDERFUL!!! Democratic Party just keeps oozing out....
The growth in healthcare costs is not driven by drug costs, not by a long fucking shot. Drugs comprise ~12% of the cost of healthcare delivery in the US. Outpatient care comprises ~41% and inpatient care ~25%. Outpatient care is the fastest growing segment, and outpatient hospital care is both the largest and fastest growing part of that. (Numbers from this 2008 McKinsey study: http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/reports/pdfs/heal... -- free reg required.)
So, how about shifting the focus to give a more complete picture of real costs drivers?
"What does it take for Democrats to understand how this works, anyway?"
it would take big PHRMA's suspension of political pay-offs to the dems. until that happens the dems will never "understand" *wink* (or really care)
before we finally elect the Nader/Kucinich ticket and a Green Congress?
.
That some old fool "stole" all their votes. LOL ;-)
yes, i think the dems would figure it out before pigs fly
Rick Perry, first Aggie Governor of Texas. Pigs could be flying real soon, y'all.
is that people can now re-grow severed fingers...
... you may even re-grow non severed fingers, and limbs, and stuff like that.
i am hoping for a third arm... just to do more stuff.
joking aside, check this out if anyone has a sec:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7354458.stm
unfettered capitalism is the problem. along with that is the strategy of: cartels,monopolies, UNfair advantage, buy politicians.........this is the health care insurance industry. their strategy is to have no competition. then when the lawmakers try/intend to cultivate competition the health care insurance giants CRY.......UNfair advantage, buying politicians,monopoly, unified competitive body(public option). they use what they cry about on the public......... as their own business strategy.
healthcare is a core problem.
flock to football stadiums and movie theaters on weekends they might notice that.
the moronic Los Angeles City Council along with their City Attorney and the wonderful District Attorney of Los Angeles voted this morning to ban all sales of medical marijuana in the city of Los Angeles which is going to bring on a showdown with those who are supporters of Prop. 215, the Compassionate Use of Marijuana Initiative that the people of California passed about ten years ago:
http://www.commondreams.org/comment/reply/49467
The D.A. Cooley is up for re-election next year. I'd like to see every member of the L.A. City Council, the city attorney and Cooley dumped over this.
(I heard the news of the City Council vote on the radio about an hour ago here in L.A.)
can be traced to the use of marijuana by dirty hippies.
... most problems can be traced to the LACK of use of marijuana by reactionary a**holes.
true, and can be backed-up by my own scientific research.
Always tricky when you're your own test subject
nice bud, bong, slide-rule (not sure for what) and a mirror.
... due to a lack of twinkies and cheetos as control for the experiments.
You should redo your experiment this afternoon. I believe 20 minutes past 4 in the pm is deemed the best time due to the proper coriolis effect and perfect terrestial angular momentum with respect to uranus. I am doctor, trust me...
What does it take for Democrats to understand how this works, anyway?
The democrats get money from big pharm, too? They understand perfectly.
Shining City on a Hill now.
Why should they care?
This is why I'm a big fan of the "trigger"...
Washington DC, a city of BOUGHT (mostly) MEN.
They all understand precisely how it works.
or in the papers would say: "Republicans are job killers and a threat to the nation's economy. Want proof? See previous administration."
The health insurance mafia and the banking thugs are out of control. The Republicans have ZERO shame in supporting them.
Maybe capitalism does need to go the way of the Dodo. I'm all about *gasp* socialism right about now.
Stop calling this crappy legislation HEALTH CARE REFORM. It's not. A better name would be the Private Insurance Corporate Welfare Act.
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