Another One of Baucus's Health Care Forums Turns Into Single Payer Rally
I have a friend who's working in D.C. on health care reform, and she added some context to that "people are happy with the insurance they have" claim that's bandied about. She says their focus groups show that when people say that, they mean they don't want to have to fill out a lot of paperwork the way their parents have to do with Medicare - ever since the pharmaceutical companies took control a few years ago. (As someone who's watched her mother struggle with the Plan D paperwork, I know exactly what they mean.)
They're saying given a choice between what they already have and know, and some unknown plan that requires a lot of paperwork, they'll stick with the devil they know. It means they want a simple, easy-to-use benefit - in other words, single payer. It certainly doesn't mean they're "happy" with their insurance, as this exchange from yesterday shows (h/t DC Blogger):
Steve McArthur is a management consultant.
Read self-employed.
That means he has to buy his own insurance, a Blue Cross Blue Shield policy that costs him $584 a month and carries a $10,000 deductible.
On Tuesday morning, he listened for a long time as Missoulians discussed health care reform at a listening session at St. Patrick Hospital sponsored by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
The hearing ranged broadly over the possibilities for reform, but what clearly resonated for McArthur was something Baucus' chief of staff, Jon Selib, said a couple of times.
Discussing why a single-payer system of health insurance wasn't viable, Selib made reference to the more than 150 million Americans who are covered by some sort of employer-provided health care.
“A lot of people like that,” Selib said.
When the time came for questions, McArthur stood up and asked a simple question. Looking across a standing-room-only crowd of about 275, he asked how many were happy with their employer-based health insurance.
Less than 10 people raised their hands.
“The number is bogus,” McArthur said. “It's not working for 95 percent of us.”
McArthur drew resounding applause.
In fact, any mention of single-payer health care insurance brought raucous cheers and clapping. Any other solution to health care reform - including Baucus' “balanced” plan that would create a mix of public and private plans - was received more coolly.
Tuesday's session was one of a handful of events Baucus is sponsoring around the state this week. He chairs the Senate's powerful Finance Committee, and is the point man on health care reform.
He did not attend Tuesday's meeting, but Selib did, and he heard what the senator himself has heard since he announced that single-payer wasn't really on the table.
As Selib worked to massage that point, one man barked out, “Oh bull----.” Tom Roberts, president of the Western Montana Clinic and moderator at the session, asked the crowd to be civil, but the man had made his point.
I wonder what Max Baucus means by health care "reform." (Personally, I think forcing people to buy private insurance they can't afford during a global economic crisis is a stunningly awesome plan - but I'm a little twisted that way.)
Keep the pressure up!
by his whoring to the insurance industry, that I think he really thought he could get away with keeping the current system... by fooling people with the whole "same shit under different name" meme.
We the people fell for it so many times before this they couldn't help but think they could pull the wool over our eyes again.
We need to keep the pressure up.
There are two-wings of the American Corporate Party(ACP): GOP & Dem. The GOP is wholly owned & most of the Dem Wing is, also. A small portion of the Dem Wing belong's to the self ascribed progressive group. The lack of support by the Dem Wing for single payer is to be expected. Governmental policy is set by those groups that control(contribute) the Congress. "The People" is not one of the groups that lobby Washington D.C.
maybe if we take his balls in one hand
and twist them 5 or 6 turns, he might
stop this bastard foolery, probably not,
since he is a bought corporate health whore.
Corporate meat puppets like this shill need to be removed from much more than reality, how about their elected positions for starters.
Generally speaking I don't trust anyone making over 150K a year.
From Disruption of Congress or Corruption of Congress?:
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
HMO's, for-profit hospital groups and Big Pharma, the amount is closer to $700K.
He's a shameless prostitute who apparently has no problems accepting bribes. This is quid pro quo, and the man doesn't belong in the senate, he belongs in prison.
Is this it? This is the change we heard so much about? Same sh*t with a different name?... woohoo... I am impressed, not.
His plan for Health care SUCKS. He's trying to keep the Insurance companies happy and that will only happen if a single-payer system is off the table. He's about to royally piss off about 90% of America.
I thought he knew how impossible and expensive the health care situation was for average Americans? I guess not.
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Hey, it isn't just America. Things aren't so great in Bikini Bottom, either. Patrick and SpongeBob were discussing going to the doctor. Patrick said he couldn't afford it becase his job didn't provide insurance. "Job? What job?", asks SpongeBob. "Exactly", says Patrick.
Pretty bad when dufous from a kids' cartoon has a better understanding of the health care problems then our elected represenatives.
Keep in mind that if Obama had spent the campaign chanting "Single payer, single payer, single payer!" he probably wouldn't have gotten elected. Keep in mind that even in office, it's not like the man can wave a magic wand and magically make everything perfect. He's been in office for less than half a year - I'm willing to entertain the notion that it might take a bit to fix the things that have been broken in the last 8 years. And longer, if you want to really be honest - the health care system has been around for a long time, and quit being a workable system quite a while back.
With something as big and unwieldy as our government, and our society, it doesn't turn on a dime. Sometimes you have to push and prod it a little bit at a time to get it going the right direction.
It's your choice to wait on the current Administration to fulfill their campaign promises, but it's not up to you to tell others they have to wait. You can try asking them, but ordering adults to calm down is a pretty useless tactic outside the military.
Some of us will be incrementalist, while others will apply increasing pressure on this and many other issues. Some will be content to trust that all of President Obama's decisions will be the right ones, while others will continue to ask questions at every opportunity. You may as well calm down & get used to it, because that's how democracy works.
And I am sick to death of Obama apologists.
The man has lied and flip flopped on many campaign promises. Its undeniable and indefensible, except to the most diehard Obamite.
There is little difference between them and those known as "Bushies". Its the mindset.
And it is dangerous.
...is on-board with Baucus. He's accepted a lot of money from the same donors as Baucus. He has been every bit as energetic as Baucus in trying to exclude and censor and discussions about single payer systems. The White House website needs to be inundated with emails calling him on it. What I find especially insulting is Obama's turn of phrase where he is calling health insurance health"care". If there is anything the last few decades have proven beyond any question, it is that the two approaches cannot be equated. His plan is a POS.
Single payer just isn't viable in the US.
If you take the profit out of health care for the majority of Americans - take out the business people who deny your claim, take out the shareholders, mutual funds, investment bankers etc then all you have is health care. Nobody that isn't a health care worker makes any serious money.
Just health care for regular old people.
It's not the American way. Hell, it's even kind of socilaistic.
We can't have that.
Can't tell if you are serious or being ironic..
"It's not the American way. Hell, it's even kind of socialistic.
We can't have that."
On second thought, I'm sure you are not serious...
I'm still scratching my head to figure out why we aren't converting Medicare Part D to a single-payer basis as a first, easy step of health care reform. It would save tons of money for the taxpayers, save patients and their physicians much unneeded hassle, and get tons of money out of the hands of the insurers (so they can't use it for advertising campaigns designed to scuttle true reform). As this post implies, it would also have the effect of clearing Medicare's good name, as Part D threatens the Medicare brand, and with it, the whole idea of letting the government run anything to do with health care. The dramatic improvement that patients will experience immediately from switching from a system of government subsidizing private plans, a system that creates needless expense and complication solely to profit these plans, to a system of direct, unmediated single payer, will give a huge PR boost to the big task of getting the care of the under-65-year-old population under single payer, "Medicare for All".
But, wait, I forgot. As we proceed with health care "reform", our chief priority, the one agenda we absolutely have to meet, is that the profits of the industry cannot be diminished in the process, and actually have to be augmented by a certain percentage annually. So, of course, far from getting rid of Part D, what "reform" will consist of is copying that model of having the govt subsidize, at great and totally unnecessary expense, the industry to provide what the govt could do directly at a fraction of the cost and administrative hassle imposed on all.
Obama is busy kissing the Insurance industry's ass.
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...because if it did it would cut the legs out from under the bogus argument that privatization works better than publicly run programs. The low hanging fruit are the very things they don't want to receive any scrutiny.
the insurance industry.
The lie being repeated seems to be that people with employer-based insurance are happy as a clam, meanwhile, those of us on Medicaid are *all* miserable schmucks, when, in my case, I wish we could *all* in this country have a single-payer system with experiences similar to the for the most part very positive experiences I've had with Medicaid.
(I had commented in an Open Thread a few nights back about my Medicaid experiences, but the site went down right as I was trying to post it)
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
unhappy, but that's not been the case with me. He pushes the patient's choice meme, but on Medicaid I currently have my choice of primary physician, my choice of psychiatrist and mental health service, my choice of pharmacy, my choice of hopsital, my choice of ob-gyn, my choice of dentist, when I've needed an ultrasound or mammogram I've had my choice of imaging clinic, etc.
My only real negative experience was when a benign tumor was found in my breast, my mammogram was held up for a few weeks because Medicaid didn't approve it in time for the originally scheduled appointment (thus proloniging the fear and anxiety of the unknown).
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
The challenge is getting approved. My sister has a very serious heart condition, and received Medicaid in Indiana. She needed more care than she could provide for herself, so I invited her to live with me in Maryland. Guess what? Once she moved to MD we were told she would have to wait at least 30 days for coverage. My sister can't survive 30 hours without some of her medical care.
It's now been two months, and she just received notice that her application was rejected -- even though she has now been in the hospital three times since April 4.
The reason they denied her? She receives $743 a month in disability income -- so she earns too much to qualify. Are they kidding?? The caseworker I spoke with said that anyone earning more than $350 doesn't qualify for Medicaid, She said that figure was set in 1960 -- and hasn't been amended since.
I've spent hundreds of dollars to make sure she has her medication.
I think Medicaid MUST be portable. If you are accepted in one state you should automatically be covered if you move.
Technically, for the first thirty days she was in MD she could have been covered under her Indiana plan, but no physician or pharmacy in MD would accept her out-of-state card. Does this mean people on Medicaid are prevented from inter-state travel?
When she was in Indiana her doctor visits were covered, prescription drugs cost her $3 each, and there was even a van to pick her up and take her to and from her appointments. So we think the coverage IS GOOD, once you are accepted.
BAC
The income level that hasn't been adjusted since 1960 is ridiculous. I have $640 a month in disability income and I get Medicaid here in California. I believe that at one time my medications for my psychiatric disability would have cost me $800 a month every month without the Medicaid. And without Medicaid, $743 a month in disability income is just not enough for someone with chronic illness to have the medications they need and still get by. :(
They need to do something about that.
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
for Social Security benefits were applied, benefits would be nearly double of what they are now. In other words, your benefit should be nearly $1,500 a month.
by if that, but my God that is crazy....
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
If she's getting Social Security Disablity, then I think the waiting period for Medicare is 1 year. Better check that out and get the ball rolling, if eligible.
Don't let anyone tell you that what you have in the form of healthcare is 'sufficient'.
I'm Canadian and I will be the first to admit that our system has some issues...but, nothing more than any normal system, or company, or procedure has...perfection is not an option, anywhere.
"They're saying given a choice between what they already have and know, and some unknown plan that requires a lot of paperwork, they'll stick with the devil they know."
We don't have any paperwork to deal with...just have to make sure we always have our health card with us whenever we visit any clinic, doctor, or hospital...that's about it. We can also leave our wallets & chequebooks at home.
Yes, we pay taxes for services we get...but I have never begrudged doing so for the return I get.
Don't get me wrong here...if our system hadn't proven to me to be what 'it needs to be', then I would be all over this issue here...certainly I would not extolling the virtues to other people in another country!
There is much research & reviewing to do...but do not give up the fight to have 'all' options looked at. It's incredible that a country of your stature & wealth puts its citizens through so much hardship to get, or denies them completely, the healthcare they deserve.
This country is now a banana republic. Although it had a lot of money, corporate corruption of the government is straightening that out.
It's looking like what we have now is an ever expanding debt bubble, yet another bubble to replace a previous bubble, now blown up.
I have always had my choice of which doctor I go to (can't imagine otherwise); always had surgeries, tests, consultations booked within reasonable time & moved up if the doctor deems it necessary; always had the best of care by nurses & doctors & had access to the best of equipment & testing.
In my 57 years, I have had a number of various health issues...none of which haven't been attended to promptly & exceptionally well.
Of all the people I know, I do not know of anyone who would trade our healthcare system for anything different.
from every Canadian friend I have.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat with a lead role in crafting the proposed overhaul, said he saw a 75 percent to 80 percent likelihood that legislation will pass the U.S. Senate with broad support from Democrats and Republicans.
"I think at the end of the day, every Democrat and a good number of Republicans will agree," Baucus said.
Congress has struggled for decades to expand medical coverage to uninsured Americans and President Barack Obama has made healthcare reform an immediate priority.
Baucus said lawmakers were now motivated by "sobering" projections of rising health costs and millions more uninsured Americans, now estimated at about 46 million, if they fail.
Baucus spoke as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an independent healthcare research group, released a study that said the number of uninsured Americans could soar to more than 65 million in 10 years as healthcare costs more than double.
"In the worst case scenario, the number of uninsured Americans would increase to 57.7 million in 2014 and to 65.7 million in 2019," the report concluded, adding that without major changes the number would grow to at least 57 million in the next 10 years.
YOU may like the healthCare/insurance you have today BUT due to interconnectedness/increasing costs
what you have today may NOT/probably won't be what you will have tomorrow if NO changes occur. healthCare insurance COST is determined NOT only by the individual but also the region they live in and the paying and NON-paying pool.
Republicans? Excuse me but if the health overhaul has the support of any Republicans it surely means there is nothing good about it for the poor and middle-class.
How are people with for profit insurance able to "choose" their doctors? If "your" doctor isn't in the plan can you really choose them?
only come into being because parasitical middle men and the profit motive are driving them. Those issues go away in a non-profit, single-payer system. Baucus and crew are deliberately deceiving the public with their cherry-picked, sample-shopped, dubiously interpretted recitation of alleged facts.
A crook and a liar.
Another Canadian here...In 2003 I had an amputation (diabetes). Then I had 3 more, the last in 2005. It never cost me a cent, and I never had to sign my name, except to accept a blood transfusion before one of the operations. If I lived in the US, I'd be dead. Need any more info?
From The Real News:
Canadians talk to Americans about health care
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Okay - this guy is my new hero.
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Baucus tries to run a dog and pony show shilling for the insurance industry and instead gets a dose of reality from his constituents (the ones who vote, not the ones who fund his campaigns).
Those who still have access to medical care in this country and know it best are the one's least satisfied with the current system. Maybe the Obama plan is to give the insurance companies enough rope to hang themselves. It's up to us to remove the chair and let the insurance companies hang by doing more of what McArthur did.
Attending public forums may be the way to go. Mostly, our "representatives" just throw our letters in the trash, often failing to acknowledge that they even received the correspondence. It's harder for them to ignore an angry, restless crowd.
http://blogs.cbn.com/chinaconnection/archive/...
we like to talk positive about china regarding the olympics,culture,multiple investments and much more but do we see much about china getting all it's citizens with healthCare coverage by 2020. you may NOT like the chinese government which i personally believe will have to change somewhat, BUT they get big projects DONE. why? no to little special interests to slow down/get in the way. this universal model will
stimulate consumerism which has pros and cons.
I am sick and tired of Insurance Companies running everything. How about our Congress working for the little people on this one? !!
company, I'll add) for about five months in NYC. From my conversations with clients, people who've lived in countries with socialized medicine don't understand why Americans put up with this abuse. I spoke with a woman from Georgia/Russia today. She loved the health care in Russia. If you're sick, you go to the doctor. No payment, as the doctor gets a salary. No paperwork. No BS. Now she has Medicaid, and she loves it.
I've signed up or talked with Canadians, Brits, Chinese, Taiwanese, Australians, Italians, Indians, Swedes, Turks, Irish -- all living in the US. They think our system is insane and cruel. I have to agree. Single-payer universal health insurance would put me out of a job, and I'd love it.
On a side note: With the freedom that comes from universal HI, this country will explode with new arts and entrepreneurial enterprises, volunteerism, people doing what they love instead of what they need to do to take care of themselves, their kids, etc. It will change the US vastly for the better.
I completely agree with you. We always hear about how single payer health care will take away our freedom, but in reality it will increase an individual's freedom exponentially. People won't have to work a job that they hate to ensure that that their family has health care coverage. People just won't be chained to jobs that suck the life out of them unless that's their prerogative. With single payer, a person has greater freedom in job choice because she won't have to worry about finding a job that offers health care coverage. I think you are right to say that single payer could spur the arts, volunteerism, etc. I know for me, the day that I have to stop worrying about how I'm going to be able to afford my medications and doctor's visits is the day that a huge relief will wash over me. I seriously don't think our nation grasps how much emotional and mental stress we are under incessantly by not having single payer.
In Russia doctors get paid a salary by the government and in theory the state provides all with medical care , yes that's true but you "must make a gift" , that is you must pay a bribe as we call it in this country , to the clinic or doctor and if you don't have the money you are out of luck , people know what the fees ( bribes ) are , what the government pays doctors there is absurd , unless there has been a recent change it's barely a living wage . I'm certain it's still the same system in Georgia . In my case if I was an average citizen living in Russia I can tell you without a doubt I'd been dead long ago . Unless you are rich , have connections and can get into a modern Moscow hospital catering to the elite , good luck if you have something serious going on ! Doctors performing surgeries while under the influence are not uncommon ,if they screw up which some do on a regular basis , there is no accountability , I could go on and on . Russia is third world in many respects and Moscow is not the real Russia , she is the exception . There is more than one reason life expectancy is so short in Russia but it's not due to the great medical care that's for sure . I agree our system is cruel and it's immoral ,it is outrageous but I must admit medically we are among the best in the world and your odds of success and survival are infinitely better than in Russia I can tell you that .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
to bending spoons with your brain power.
Joking with ya.
but would have to conclude that the problem with Russian healthcare is more a symptom of what's wrong with the entire Russian society: it is a mafiatocracy. A failed state. You can't get anything in Russia without paying bribes, and if you should be dumb enough to attempt to run any kind of honest enterprise, the gangsters will suck every penny they can out of you through extortion, theft or whatever. It is, in practice, a completely lawless country. Any law can be changed with a simple bribe to a politician if it facilitates anything that the Russian mafia wants. Every single politician, public servant, public employee is on the take and functions in part or in whole as an extortionist. The depth and extent of corruption in Russia is mind boggling and makes our own corruption look positively benign by comparison. The problems with medical care delivery exactly mirror how the entire society (dis)functions. The endemic and pervasive corruption only assures that, aside from whatever remains of their might as a military super power, the nation will stumble along as a lower tier third world backwater.
outside of the box that has been the American health care (?) system for far too long...
You are so right, NoOne...people have been so trapped within & trying to 'work an unfair system' that exists only for corporate profit, that they can't possibly imagine freedoms & opportunities beyond that.
Fear is a great hurdle to overcome...but open minds & knowledge are the tools to overcome that...the American people need to make those steps to question & to demand what should be their right.
You'd think Republicans would be in favor of something that would spur people to create their own businesses! (But then, we can't even get all the Democrats on board.)
A former award-winning journalist and lifelong class warrior, keeping a jaundiced eye on the Washington elite.
I volunteer in the local free health clinic. We serve mostly non-ctizens, since the state and county administer Medicaid and otherwise take care of the uninsured who are citizens. While most of the people we serve are indigent, and we screen out people who clearly can easily afford care on the market, there is a fairly large group of people who come to our clinic because the "free market" for health care strikes them as crazy and dangerous. As a patient from Kazakhstan told me the other day, "The only doctors in my country who charge money are quacks. The honest, competent, ones can get hired by the health service, and live on their salaries."
How true. Corporate America has resisted universal healthcare by means of a single-payer system, even though it clearly hurts them in the global marketplace, because it gives them a strangle hold on their
chattelsemployees. By making health insurance a job benefit, it disaudes employees from leaving jobs they hate with employers they despise. More importantly, it turns healthcare into a commodity that is rationed. By putting the price beyond what most without big business employment can afford,thereby creating a cleass of unfortunate have-nones, the subsequent presence of 45-to-50(+) million uninsured helps create a national culture of fear that makes all those who do have such jobs all the more obedient and compliant. If that, the current system, isn't a subtle means of freedom crushing enslavement, I don't know what is. Getting rid of it in favor of universal single payer healthcare will make everybody freer.What it amounts to is Obama caved in to the insurance companies and big money interests and it appears not a helluva lot is going to change for most of us . I had "good" insurance until I got laid off several months ago , can't complain about the treatment received or the doctors other than the fact they are pill pushers and in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies but the bills even with insurance are outrageous , had a couple of surgeries and I'll be making payments to the doctors and hospital for another couple years . It's a good system you say ? Check this out , 2000 bucks literally for sticking a camera ( a scope ) up my ass for ten or fifteen minutes , 1000 dollar "facility fee " and 1000 for the " surgery " ! If that is not outrageous and a rip off you must be a G.D. Repug ! After insurance I got stuck with an eight hundred dollar bill which is all that it should have cost in the first place , eight hundred bucks would have been a rip off ! They can take their scope and shove it up their ass , never again ! I personally do not know anyone that's happy with their medical insurance , what it costs the employer and or the insured is an outrage , if you are well off maybe it's fine and good but for most it's a real burden . F'n greed and profiteering , to hell with people and their health and well being , if you don't have the money that's your tough luck . This wonderful capitalism is a system " for and by the rich and the greedy " who capitalize on we the people , bring on the socialism !
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
When I got my several bills for that scope procedure, there were bills where hospital charges $800, insurance pays $270, patient responsibility $0. In other words, the cost was $270, but if I was uninsured, the debt presented to the bill collectors would have been $800. When they have a pricing disparity on the 5 and 6 digit items that presents a problem.
There is a combination between hospital and insurer to price gouge the uninsured, in order to sell more insurance than would otherwise be the case.
I completely identify. I had surgery recently. Hospital & doctors costs billed to the insurance company, $25,000. Amount approved by the insurance company according to their negotiated contract with the hospital & doctors, $5000. My total out-of-pocket with deductibles and co-pays, $1900.
A new co-worker had an almost identical surgery last year with her c-section. No insurance. She was billed $30,000. And has to pay every dime of it.
I think it's reasonable to assume that the service can really be provided for the $5000 - the hospital isn't going to negotiate down to a price that loses money. But if it really costs $5000, why are they allowed to charge someone $30,000?
And as a little aside - if someone can't pay their $30,000 overcharged bill, and the hospital writes it off, that's a loss that is deductible against their income. They write off $30,000 - but they're actually only out $5000.
Obama recently said we are out of money.
So, it's time to adapt the cheapest, and most fiscally conservative option for health care, which is single payer. It's time to copy a system that covers everyone, and delivers good care for less. It's being done elsewhere in the world.
The reason why single payer is off the table is because bringing out the fact that other countries are paying 11% in GDP for health care costs and cover everyone, while we're spending 16% and leaving 16% uncovered. The European, Canadian and Japanese approaches could be used to establish cost benchmarks that successful reform would have to reach.
The last thing these politicians want is benchmarks, and comparisons, when their job number 1 is to rip the American public off on behalf of their corporate masters.
All medicaid is paid for by an employer matched 1.32% payroll tax. It does a pretty nice job. The entire country could be covered for a 6-10% non-employer payroll tax that would fully fund into the forseeable future. Even at that rate, it would still be cheaper than insurance, and nobody would be left out....as occurs in Obama's plan.
More, it rings pretty damned hollow to say we have no money, when we can somehow always manage to find limitless amounts of money to fund shock doctrine inspired wealth transfers of national treasure into the hands of banksters and the like, or fund wars of aggression that are intended never to end or any number of other scams that benefit only the plutocrats and profiteers. For Obama or any other politician to say we've run out of money is a deeply contemptful insult to every American.
we have learned from these past and still believe they are in complete control
...one which mandates that I buy insurance from some capitalist corporation then my answer is go to hell.
Exactly. If government mandates it, government should provide a no profit option to get it.
and covers everything (except viagra, cocaine, silicone implants, & other BS crap drugz) --- like Preventive everything, dental, eyeglasses, mobility, & U name it if I forgot it.
...but even then --- If it's affordable from a CPC (capitalist pig corp.) it won't be for long. As soon as the reason for it being cheep disappears, ProFit will assuredly rear it's ugly asshOle.
FUCK THAT NOISE.
I'll go to the emergency room if I have to. There is NO WAY I'm enslaving myself to some bunch of vampires for NOTHING. $600 a month and a $10K deductible? What the fuck is that? WHEN could that ever be useful?
Disgusting. And it should be ILLEGAL, not required, for fuck's sake!
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
All states require that all drivers be insured, and we've seen how well that works.
This story is very encouraging. I am convinced that our only hope is that the people take matters into their own hands and force the government to give us single payer. We are going to have to fight for it.
With the economy deteriorating on Main Street, everyone knows that the sorry excuse for a social safety net in this country is disappearing. There are people in my family who are social conservatives from Utah who are unemployed and unable to find health insurance for their children (they have given up trying to insure themselves). They can't get their kids on CHIP because they have a home in foreclosure which counts as an "asset" thereby disqualifying them.
What I am trying to say is that now is the right to ramp up our activism to reach people who would not otherwise be receptive to national health care.
The "reform" ideas in the status quo will be a massive subsidy to the insurance companies which will allow us all to be underinsured forever. At some point, all of us will become unprofitable and will be denied coverage. Do any of you out there think that you have long term cancer coverage?
I haven't taken to the streets for anything since I protested the Iraq war back in 2003. I think this is important enough to return to the streets. I have signed up on singlepayeraction.org and plan on demonstrating outside of my democractic congresswoman's office.
What would happen if this started everywhere in the country?
It is either us or the insurance companies.
They need to see us in person and we need to make them nervous in a non-violent sort of way. Simply sending them more written correspondence isn't going to get it done.
I have seen studies (I wish I had a handy link) showing that requiring people to rely on employer based health care costs millions in lost earnings because it prevents people from easily moving from one job to another where they can be more productive.
It also contributed to the massive debt of large companies like Chrysler (in bankruptcy) and GM (in bankruptcy next week). (I realize that the actual cause of their bankruptcies was not their employee obligations but the greediness of the secured creditors, the banksters, who want to pick apart the carcuses of these companies and sell them for scrap).
Maybe the economic argument will resonate with the conservatives out there. That seems to get their blood pumping more than moral imperatives.
of the politicians to campaign contributions is so high that any reform will need to include a guarantee of expulsion (voted out of office ASAP) of ANY Senator that refuses to endorse single payer.
In that respect, voters will need to be absolutely as cold-blooded and merciless as the...bankers, for instance.
No more excuses, no more spin, BS and no more believing Harry and Louise ads.
It's that simple!
is a dem in name only. like specter he is a person that does what is best for him like all good republicans.
We really need to clean washington out from stem to stern.
Every last one of them needs to be gotten rid of and I don't care how we do it but lets get er done!
My wife does not have employee based insurance. She got an increase last November from Blue Cross of 14.5% on her 60th birthday. yesterday she got her annual increase of another 8.5% bringing her total increase from $6,700 per year to $8,400 per year for a total of 24%. Pretty good don't you think for an economy that's in the worst recession since the 1930 (depression in manufacturing and housing) and a deflationary cycle.
Are they trying to get these increases before we get a public plan? Maybe so, that way their decreases when the public plan goes in to effect will still be way higher than the current rates.
This is awful. Too bad everyone can't drop their policies all at once in protest. What would happen if we did?
But I'm not convinced even that would get a mass march on Washington with pitchforks and shotguns. Each person would go bankrupt paying for this on his own timeline and if it's like Massachusetts wouldn't the refusniks be hit at tax time? So the pain would be drawn out and the impact diffused. The only hope would be a massive uproar of civil unrest that caused some significant economic chaos at the moment of passage.
Why aren't senators who chair or sit on these committees have to declare a conflict of interest if they have accepted funds from affected parties?
But not with the price they have to pay.
is intended to be a factual statement
...seriously needs to lose his job. Can the voters of the state recall him? Speaking of "single", he is obviously single-mindedly intent on screwing the American People with his plan to create another privatization scam to convert our tax dollars and national treasure into a get rich scheme for the thugs who run the health insurance and HMO rackets.
The man must be unbelieveably short-sighted and/or corrupt if he actually thinks that everybody doesn't understand exactly what he is attempting to do. Also, unbelievably dishonest; I've noticed that his feeble excuses sound more like he's trying to convince himself that the scam he is attempting to perpetrate is legitimate and integrity-based, instead being intended to persuade an audience that insn't buying into the self-serving bullshit that he's spewing. It's as if he convinces himself, the rest of us will just fall in line and lap it up. God, but I hate a crook!
Don't give this crooked douchebag any wiggle room.
HR-676!
The only fair and equitable system is for my neighbor to pay my health care bills.
I think the insurance companies are correct: a public option will put most of them out of business. The difference is I think that's a good thing, and they don't. I've worked for insurance companies and they are, in my humble opinion, the scum of the earth.
I'm also confused by this whole long waits for care with government health care thing. Right now I have to schedule my annual check-up 3-4 months in advance, because my doctor only does them at certain times on certain days. If I go to Urgent Care I have to wait for an hour or longer unless I'm bleeding out. Even when I have an appointment I usually have to wait 15 - 30 minutes after the time scheduled to get into the examining room, and then sometimes another 10 - 20 minutes there. I love my doctor and she apologizes for the delays, but the clinic where she works has as many people doing billing as doing medicine.
She wants single payer so she can hire more medical people, treat her patients more efficiently and overall provide better care.
What most Americans don't know is how many (productive, employed citizens) fall through the cracks. I know a lot of greedy, selfish people who don't want to see "universal health care" because they are so concerned that their tax dollars might help someone who is not working (which is really ridiulous, considering how many are losing their jobs and how few jobs provide benefits). Indigent funding exists through county governments, but this does not cover doctors' fees (explaining why so many uninsured go to emergency rooms-- the hospital can't turn down anyone).
Until I found myself (employed but uninsured) needing major surgery last year, I didn't know that doctors' fees weren't covered. So, while indigent funding spared me from a $15,000 hospital bill, I had to come up with the anesthesiologist's fee up front or they would not even do the surgery. (the condition was not life-threatening or I don't think they could have done this). And I still owe for the surgery. Indigent funding will cover tests (but not fees from radiologists and others to interpret) and hospitalization but not doctor fees. And, as many have pointed out, one must have almost no income at all to qualify for Medicaid.
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