AlterNet / By Joshua Holland
comments_imageCOMMENTS: 346

It's Now or Never for a Public Option: Why We Need to Take a Stand Against the Insurance Industry's Greed

We are at a crucial moment in the health care debate -- Obama needs pressure from all of us to keep the public option as part of his agenda.
August 18, 2009  |  
 
 
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Editor's note: It's now or never for the public option. Campaign for America's Future has put together 4 key actions you can take to win back the health care debate. "We absolutely cannot let the far right fringe do the bidding of the insurance and drug lobbies and hijack the debate," they write. "The battle for health care reform has moved to town halls during the August congressional recess. But the wild mobs disrupting events, intimidating lawmakers, and shouting down reform are not just expressing their views, they are doing the dirty work for corporate interests that want to cut the heart out of the Obama health plan."As Joshua Holland explained in a recent article, this fight is about making your health care more affordable, giving you better coverage and helping people who have no coverage under the current system.

Now or never -- Push for the public option:

1. Call your representative and senators to find out when and where August town halls will be in your area, using the main congressional switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. You can also check this calendar.

2. Go to the Congress.org congressional directory to get the direct phone lines of your representatives' offices.

3. Find out when and where citizen groups will be meeting and organizing throughout August, and find out what's happening in your area at Health Care for America Now.

4. When you're at a town hall, communicate a simple message for your representatives to understand what their constituents want:

  • I support health care reform with a strong public plan option—and most people I know do, too.

  • We sent you to Washington to get health care for all—and we will support you if you work to get that done.

  • Please ignore the right-wing extremists who are attacking health reform—and do what a majority of your constituents want: Vote for health care for all.

****

It's Now or Never for a Public Option: Why We Need to Take a Stand Against to the Insurance Industry's Greed

by Joshua Holland

The Obama administration took a single-payer solution to America's health care crisis "off the table" at the outset of the debate. Since then it has cut dubious "deals" with Big Pharma and the private hospital industry. And finally, this weekend, officials signaled that the Obama team might be willing to jettison the central progressive plank of reform: the creation of a publicly run insurance program that could compete with private insurers.

On CNN, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the public option wasn't "the essential element" of reform, and at a town hall in Colorado on Saturday, President Barack Obama himself said of the public option: "whether we have it or we don't have it, [it] is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

It may be just one "aspect" of health reform, but without it, the legislation promises to be a massive rip-off; a taxpayer give-away of hundreds of billions of dollars to an unreformed 'disease care' industry.

The industry would get millions of new customers thanks to generous government subsidies and a law requiring that (almost) everyone carry insurance. And that windfall would come without the structural changes needed to bend the medical "cost curve" in years to come -- without any provisions that might endanger the industry's bottom line.

The number of uninsured would plummet -- obviously a good thing -- but with little potential to control costs or come up with innovations in terms of delivering care or controlling overhead, it would achieve only incremental improvements in Americans' health -- and economic -- security overall.

As such, it's a small improvement with a huge price tag. And the drop in the number of uninsured Americans would make more substantial reforms much tougher to bring about down the road.

While some argue that even without a public option, the rest of the reform package is good enough -- with subsidies to help workers buy coverage and new insurance regulations -- the reality is that while it might be an incremental improvement over the current system, it wouldn't be worthy of any significant investment of public money.


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Sure
[Report this comment]
Posted by: RevolutionNet on Aug 18, 2009 12:05 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let's have a bake sale and donate the proceeds to the Democratic National Committee.

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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» SURE & WE WILL! Posted by: foreverhope
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: sasquuatch55
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: Beck
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: Beck
» BAKED BAMBOOZLERS NOT TASTY Posted by: americansheep

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ProfBob
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ProfBob on Aug 18, 2009 1:46 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dropping the public option is bad for patients but good for health providers and insurance companies because the government can contract for lower fees than the other insurers.
As an American living in Norway I have had some experience with both insurance and socialized systems. The American system is much faster, and for me, cheaper. In Norway I pay a yearly fee of about $1200 and a co-payment of about $20 for every primary care visit and about $40 for specialists. The treatments seem to be quite thorough, but there are usually months between appointments for extra tests and specialist exams. In the U.S. Medicare A fees were paid while I worked. Medicare B is about $1200 a year. Then my previous employer pays for an additional Blue Shield plan that pays a little, when it pays.
Yesterday I checked on what my insurances have paid. I find that my combined insurances pay about 12 to 40% of what the doctors and hospitals billed—but I owe nothing more. Medicare and the insurance companies have contracted for lesser fees than the doctors bill. Then I found that the doctors and hospitals pad their bills so that they end up with a fair return. But people without insurance are stuck with the whole amount. This isn’t fair.
My doctor in the U.S. has stopped taking new Medicare patients. We need to arrive at fair rates for all. When my doctor has spent 8 to 10 years of training it seems that he or she is entitled to a minimum of $200,000 a year of net profit. It seems that our top students, after ten years of education and training, should be able to earn in a lifetime what a professional athlete or film star earns in a year. But then being entertained is much more important than our health. Free enterprise is fine for entertainers, but is seemingly limited for health professionals. (Let’s not even think about the worth of top notch teachers and professors—they don’t entertain enough! But that’s another letter!!)
I found some interesting observations on the problem in Book 4 of the free ebook series”And Gulliver Returns” –In Search of Utopia—at http://andgulliverreturns.info

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» RE: ProfBob Posted by: Lilly
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: technocrat
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: ellie
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: sonofthewest
» Good for you Posted by: songbird1268

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The Right is Louder Than the Left
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Lilly on Aug 18, 2009 2:00 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Spend some time on townhall.com and learn how the Right operates. As an example, townhall.com beats anything we have on the liberal side. First, every day brings to TH a dozen or more new articles by conservatives who are fed talking points by this website developed by The Heritage Foundation to disseminate conservative ideas. Second, every article is followed by a Comments thread, and it's not unsual for 400-500 comments to pile up quickly. This echo chamber serves to reinforce talking points and spread rumors. Third, townhall.com offers a wealth of opportunities for conservative mischief. You can email a Congressman (or all of them at once), join a club, sign a petition, buy a book, or in other ways raise conservative hell, every single day, just with a mouse-click.

I believe that we liberals believe as passionately as conservatives, but we do not operationalize our beliefs as efficiently or as loudly as they do. Remember the day a bared breast in Superbowl halftime caused such a stir? So many citizen complaints expressed moral outrage that the law was changed---then it turned out that 97% of the complaints came from the same organization, the conservative Parents' Television Council.

Another conservative specialty is masking the professionally organized work of a political operative group or a corporate group as spontaneous, popular, and "grassroots". Recently Rachel Maddow has been exposing this.

Another is the "blitz" in which people are rallied to shut down a website or a telephone line. Last week when the White House set up an email address for referral of false information and rumors, it took the Right about half an hour to organize a program of sending all their junk mail to this address, thereby choking it and sabotaging its purpose.

And, as we all have seen lately, conservatives show up at protests and scream very loudly. We liberals are more likely to watch this on TV then say Hmmmmm and go back to reading our book.

What I am saying is that the Right has a kind of natural affinity for mob rule. They are very good at this, and if we don't figure out how to counter their speciality, we are at risk of losing much in this country that we treasure.

I sincerely hope that last night's TV news wasn't lost on liberals when it showed a group of openly armed citizens protesting in Arizona outside where Obama was speaking. Guns, including military weaponry, were flamboyantly displayed. What they were protesting was the notion that you shouldn't be able to carry a gun to a political protest. Their schtick is that if open carry is permitted in the state, then open carry should be permitted at a Presidential appearance or a protest rally. Imagine the possibilities.

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» THE LEFT IS ABOUT TO ROAR!!!!! Posted by: foreverhope
» Left doesn't equal Liberal Posted by: bonapartist
Sorry, this comment has been removed from the system.
» RE: Beck Posted by: improperly_sedated
» I agree with the sentiments Posted by: james108
» Yup Posted by: james108
» Mudwrestling Pigs Posted by: madmac10
» RE: The Right is Louder Than the Left Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson

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A 21st Century Comedy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: hsr0601 on Aug 18, 2009 2:03 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A 21st Century Comedy

1. Wait until someone gets sick, fire breaks out.
We don't care swine flu & $2 trillion pandemic loss and invaluable lives, investments in vaccine cause deficit compared to big money after all.

And if we admit this common sense, in the end, we will join all of the socialist nations.
Just wait until for-profit runaway devotes colossal investments of non-profit to preventive care.

2. If you wait and get ill, just keep eating and working, no rest, otherwise, you will go bankrupt. And if the insecurity damages your mental health and spreads to a number of different diseases, it will add to the deficit.


3. Under the advanced market theory, free market even includes arbitrary, illegal malpractices, no touch. In case runaway premiums drive the enrollees out, 4C + 2R (canceling, capping, cherry-picking, cash for special, rationing, rapid premium hike) guarantee multiple times as much profit, and backers are worrying too much about our loss later on, instead of the struggling, too.
By the way, fair competition should begin with our unfair market value.

4. In terms of unnecessary tests, procedures, The more ,The better. We lose money when we embrace IT system and improve care in ways that reduce admissions

5. We share the urgent need for redesign, as long as Just-Say-No and Slow Down to shout, disrupt are guaranteed.

We as financially conservative patriots urge and urge deficit-free (except for inaction & bankruptcy).

Or let's make one more insurer-friendly competitor, it will add to the inflation.

6. When we invest in sustainable energy, just ignore the savings from the equation while the sky is falling.
If the economy is running smooth, go ahead, if not, in this economy.

7. More Cash and Better Quality (rank of 37th) is a tween, Hands Off. No Tax, No Saving, No debt. The entire world is awaiting the magic outcome.

8. Best friends, the envy of the world, still the uninsured & underinsured, disgrace all over the world.
If someone as a family gets ill, left untreated, even though we are still the richest, just sing deficit.

How about " war on bad health " ?, like someone said.

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the corporation is an efficient machine for robbery and murder
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Suzon on Aug 18, 2009 2:06 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Though corporations may be used for positive purposes, at heart they exist to take unfair advantages.

Medieval royal charters spell it out very directly, allowing an association of powerful men to raid other people's houses and destroy their goods.

Today it is all done more politely, through mortgages and courts.

It is the concept of incorporation that must be exposed for what it is. The vast majority of us just want to live and let live.

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» Ish Posted by: james108

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Let's Be Realistic About What A "Public Option" Would Be Like In Practice
[Report this comment]
Posted by: jooljetkmae on Aug 18, 2009 2:13 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It will be an underfunded ghetto, much like Medicaid, to heard the unemployed, under-employed and indigent into.

It's not that I don't want it, given that single payer has never been on the table in health reform debate in Washington. I just wouldn't expect it to be much.

Anyway, the issue is moot since even that little crumb of bread isn't going to be thrown our way by Obama.

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» What about the Seniors? Posted by: james108
» What about the Seniors? Posted by: jooljetkmae

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Learning from the Clintons' mistakes
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Perry Logan on Aug 18, 2009 2:32 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In struggling to get health-care reform, Obama has learned from the Clintons' mistakes.

Unfortunately, he has managed to make even bigger mistakes.

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It's just a theory, mind you
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Tom Degan on Aug 18, 2009 2:36 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
DEATH PANELS! DEATH PANELS! DEATH PANELS!

What could possibly be the explanation for the American people's positive genius for falling for the most blatant and obvious propaganda? I have a possible theory if you're interested in hearing it....

We're idiots.

That could be the only explanation. What other reason could they possibly be? Any takers?

When a contemptible half-wit like Sarah Palin "twits" (an appropriate word) about "death panels" and the next moment it is a serious part on the national conversation - there is really something seriously wrong.

Here is (Excuse me, I meant "was") a golden opportunity for real reform and the idiotic Americans are screaming about socialism. Is it any wonder that we are the laughingstock of the industrialized world?

Woodstock Revisited

Tom Degan

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» That's a pretty darn good theory! Posted by: foreverhope
» We Already Have "Death Panels"... Posted by: jooljetkmae
» True Posted by: james108

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Jane's appearance on MSNBC was pitch perfect
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Sister_Lauren on Aug 18, 2009 3:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here is how it is done,

Jane's appearance on MSNBC was pitch perfect

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Basic US Health Care= Basic US Public Education
[Report this comment]
Posted by: drricklippin on Aug 18, 2009 4:03 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks Josh- We are indeed at a tipping point. The progressives must mobilize right now.

Among one of my basic arguments is why are most US citizens who have accepted basic public education in the US so afraid of basic government health care for all?

Obama is right. This all boils down to a battle between fear and hope. Change is tough but we must move forward after 60 years of trying to do this. IT IS TIME.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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» rediculous Posted by: james108

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Kill This Health Care Bill ... Obama needs an Ass Whoopin'
[Report this comment]
Posted by: mmckinl on Aug 18, 2009 4:16 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama has done nothing but betray the poor, working and middle class ...

Trillions for banksters ... zip for the people ...

More war ... not less ...

More domestic spying ... not less

And the list goes on and on ...

We are about to get screwed again ... Obama has set the table for the Health Care Maggots ... so we will be paying more even though we pay almost twice as much as other single payer countries now ...

Obama promised transparency for health care negotiations. I guess his idea of transparency is back room deals that we don't hear about until it is too late ...

Kill This Health Care Bill ... Obama needs an Ass Whoopin'

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Sorry, this comment has been removed from the system.
» That's entirely different. Posted by: Lex Thomas

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In the meantime, HR676 is coming up for a vote. Let's use the switchboard there.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Aug 18, 2009 4:16 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Public option" was just a joke and can't substitute for single payer.

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Mr. Holland. Stop being an Obamacare/Hillarycare apologist. Single Payer or else !
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 18, 2009 5:09 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Democrats had no excuse this time and they fucking blew it even with a filibuster proof majority. I hate to say this but especially on the issue of health care, the Democrats blew their greatest opportunities away and deserve to be punished. We can laugh with Rachel Maddow about the "death of the Republican Party" with delusions of grandeur but let's be honest here. The Republicans are actually being "rescued" by the Democrats who keep siding with them. Believe it or not, more liberals, independents, and moderates are leaving the Obama/Democratic building en masse as a result of Obama and Congress seeing to it that they fail and go down in flames by pandering to the rightwing. Mark my words, passing Taxachussetts Care instead of single payer will make it extremely easy for the Republicans to SMASH the Democrats in 2010 and 2012 like a BATTERING RAM !!

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» How soon we forget Posted by: james108
» RE: How soon we forget Posted by: maxpayne
» RE: There are no third parties Posted by: kettleblack

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popham
[Report this comment]
Posted by: popham on Aug 18, 2009 5:26 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There is a glimmer of "hope" coming from the
White House. In a recent TIME magazine interview and again on Sunday, the President and Administraion indicated a strong willingness to incorporate co-ops into the overall health care reform initiatives. We would hope that this slight conciliation on the part of Mr. Obama will lead to an honorable and cost effective outcome for health insurance for all Americans.
For more information on a co-operative system
known as The Alexander/McGee Medical Plan, see
my article at www.breakingnewsjournal.net

A government sponsored non profit co-op plan would offer 'healthy' competition with the private health insurance sector, but not drive them out of business. It would in time reduce costs for all Americans.
At a time of contentious and egregious town
hall meetings and the accompanying vitriolic
political theater, it is now time to consider
a healthy resolution, that will benefit all
Americans. The President has begun this proper process. We hope that he will continue to be
more open to all alternaives and options for
health care reform.

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» In your dreams kid Posted by: maxpayne
» Brand Obama Posted by: bonapartist
» Settle down Beck. Screaming like a child won't help you. Posted by: LaughingModerateIndependent

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email the White House
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kiel on Aug 18, 2009 5:27 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
go to www.whitehouse.gov and click on Contact.

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Reform done wrong, or not at all?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bthespoon on Aug 18, 2009 5:32 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tough choice...and you want us to fight for "Reform Done Wrong"?

I'm fighting for United Protection under One Plan (AKA "Single Payer"), not some watered down version that feeds a broken status quo. We're being sold down the tubes to moneyed interests, plain and simple.

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A war on words to silence critics?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: james108 on Aug 18, 2009 6:04 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The implication in many of these articles is if you're against this big moneyed interest plan you're against health care reform? We don't have to play that way. Any progressive action happened from people taking a stand outside the script.

Limiting the discussion to fighting for or against a very bad plan, which has discrepancies in the pitch and devil in the details is not helping reform and spends our energy like crazy. I think it's the opposite. If you're giving up that the people will ever be a real part of the discussion, if you want to lump any criticism blindly into right wing fears, if you're ignoring the thousands bravely fighting for single payer, transparency and accountability in health care reform, you are deforming reform, not helping it, Mr. Holland.

There's a bigger discussion on the subject than to back a bad plan or fight it, though I think fighting it's better than backing it. I guess even fascist con artists want people to want it and beg them for it though. That way they can pin some of the blame on us...

It reminds me of the election, when many "journalists" and politicians wanted us to focus the choice on Obama or McCain. The choices were to send more troops to Iraq or send them to Afghanistan, with no real option of bringing the thousands stationed around the world home or ending the masquerading imperialism. They pretended the only options imaginable to back were which country to invade more. Not buying it then, not buying it now. Eventually more will see their other choices too.

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» Hey Lex, f*ck off Posted by: GuitarBill
» You flunked this one then Posted by: james108
» The old Guitar Bill would never say this ! Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: your heart is wicked. LOL ! Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: songbird1268
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» Ah, poor birdie brain. Thanks for the satire. Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» pelican beak, chill. Posted by: Lex Thomas
» meant to reply to pelican beak. Posted by: Lex Thomas
» Do you get it? Posted by: james108
» Yay Posted by: james108
» by the way Posted by: james108

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OUR Mandate! Leave us alone!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Iraan Ozonjo on Aug 18, 2009 6:10 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My level of acquired rage over this issue has set off alarms in my guts and at my US Representatives office building, where possessing an undisplayed sign while reading the building directory got me evicted. The stench is intolerable of so many rotting or incontinent, brain-dead participants, from AHIP to The AMA to Joe-The-Prostrate imbecile with his prostate waiting to blow, screaming his ignorance of socialism. My state of New Mexico has an alternative plan, which we will enact when we get the expected garbage from Washington. And Washington will assist us, by keeping out of our way! Gosh, too bad for the rest of the country. "Democrats", "Republicans", MeMeCapitalists, you are killing us.

Richard Rubin PA-C
Albuquerque, NM

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The point of the article is pressuring lawmakers
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Beck on Aug 18, 2009 6:31 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are we going to? I am. Are you? It's not at all surprising that the comments seem to be about anything but. Is anyone going to follow the steps given, let your employees know what you, the boss, wants? Internet forums can't remain a place to vent and divert. The right obviously knows this. Having our say here might be satisfying, but that has nothing to do with getting what we know we need.

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Frank Rich, Barack Obama, and the Corporatist "Punking" of America
[Report this comment]
Posted by: WYGunston on Aug 18, 2009 6:57 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Frank Rich, Barack Obama, and the Corporatist "Punking" of America

August 15, 2009 By Paul Street


Paul Street's ZSpace

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22319

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need advice on attending my Senator's public meeting!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: zooeyhall on Aug 18, 2009 7:04 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My senator (Ben Nelson, D-NE) is going to be holding some public meetings on the health care proposals. I am planning to attend one, and would like some advice on what to say and how to confront/confound the inevitable right-wing noise machine shills that will be there (I live in Nebraska, and you can bet your xxxx that they WILL be there!)

I'm just a farmer and not very good at this sort of thing, so any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

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What would we do without THEM?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Matamillion on Aug 18, 2009 7:05 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What amazes me beyond reason is the absolutely unbelievable lies the right is using to quash the debate on the single payer public option.

Has America REALLY become sooooooooooooooooooo stupid that some among us believe in Death Panels? Death Panels. SERIOUSLY! How deliciously dumb? It boggles!

Anyone that goes for that bunkum is completely out of it. They can't be driving our bus, delivering our mail, operating on our kid or defending our country, can they?

Are they sitting right next to you in the office?

Are they serving you 31 flavors?

I mean, they're like crack addicts among us or something. They may seem normal, but they want to eat your brains!

I don't think they should be allowed to be part of the debate. They shouldn't have anything to do with the framing of this thing, they're obviously completely nutjob-cuckoo. And they want to guide public policy?

They don't just NOT know what they're talking about, they're making up CRAZY SHIT and screaming it out loud at town halls like they have a point! They DON'T and I consider them a danger to the common good. They are WAY out of line, as usual, and can't even fathom why.

If I remember correctly, they got a bunch of people killed over WMD & yellow cake, did they not? Shouldn't let that happen again! Plus, they don't seem to mind getting people killed at all, especially someone else's people.

You know? I don't care any more. Whatever drives these hammerheads to cut their own throats and ours is between them and their corporate sponsors. Let them stay the way they are. When their liver is hanging out by a tendon and they finally have to come in for free medicine...

They still won't get it. They'll think we're weak. They'll obviously never understand why there should be a public option or the good it will do everyone and they're just holding us hostage at the Klingon Council!

And seriously, I don't care why any more. They just need to shut up...


Call your self serving & rapacious Congressional Rep TODAY & say "Public Option, DAMMIT!"

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» RE: What would we do without THEM? Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson
» Yes and No Posted by: Joshua Holland
» Yes and no, but not really Posted by: james108

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Time....
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Spiritgirl on Aug 18, 2009 7:08 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Alright people, is it time to storm the bastille aka Congress, and take back our country from these greedy bast---s now or what?

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» Not yet Posted by: bonapartist

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Only the Democrats could blow this
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Defenestrator on Aug 18, 2009 8:24 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A Gallup poll from November 11, 2007 found that 64 percent of Americans agreed with the claim that it "is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have health care coverage," while only 33 percent felt it was not the government's responsibility. Public support for a government program remained steady (ranging between 58-69 percent from January 2000 through November of 2007).
citation

More than three fourths of Americans support a major change in the health care system (CBS July 24), and more than half favor enactment of a national health insurance program (HSPH June 17).
citation

The Democrats would rather do what's "centrist" than what is massively popular.

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» RE: It's far worse than that Posted by: improperly_sedated

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Money Talks And The Public Option Is Quieted.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: melpol on Aug 18, 2009 8:26 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Billions have been spent by the health insurance business to shape the voice of the people. That voice is now trembling with fear. It believes that seniors will be left to die and the mentally ill will be deprived of medication and be wandering the streets in confusion. The seed of fear has been planted and the public option will be defeated. It proves that the voice of big business is the voice of the people. Money talks and public opinion follows their lead.

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OBAMA LOOKING FOR A PUBLIC REACTION
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Posted by: VZEQICVA on Aug 18, 2009 8:36 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I got the feeling that his retreat form the Public Option was simply to get a feel for public reaction. Well, he got it. As for the Insurance companies: if they can't make outrageous profits (30% +) they might have to make do with 16 or 17%. Same applies to the pharmaceuticals. The health care sector can no longer expect the crazy rate of inflation that has benefitted them for years. It's not sustainable and it's dishonest. There has to be a profit margin, no argument there. But not at the cost of the basic dignity we owe ourselves and each other. We are not all going to run out to get Botox injections on the public's dime. But if someone out there has a lump someplace or other they have to be allowed to have it checked out. Greed is not all bad. It does motivate us to get up in the morning. But while the insurance companies are entitled to make money they have responsibilities to their consumers. It's a two way street. Problem is, they have called the shots for so long now that reining them in is a hard sell. We're at at the point of trying to 'equalize' things and level the playing field in this country. We have to start someplace. Making it possible for every American to see a doctor when necessary is a good start. Next in line, we will be addressing wages, which is part of the answer to the question, "how will we pay for this". When we realize that engineering a minimum wage society and creating povety didn't work we'll be on the right path. There should be no such thing as 'working class poor'. People ought to be able to afford themselves and their children. When that happens, government assistance will be a last resort. We have to be allowed to take care of ourselves.

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healthcare
[Report this comment]
Posted by: terry388 on Aug 18, 2009 8:46 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama wants the public option but unfortunately the major vested interests won't allow him to introduce it. The mainstream media is an absolute disgrace who have done nothing to foster an intelligent debate regarding health care. The main focus has been on the right wing nutbags who have interrupted town hall meetings. Americans will get the health care they deserve, a third world system run for profit by insurers. Are Americans so stupid or naive to believe the garbage coming out of the mouths of the GOP?
Why are you yanks afraid of publc health care is beyond me?

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» Obama was open to dumping public option from the getgo? Posted by: LaughingModerateIndependent

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TBD
[Report this comment]
Posted by: solrev on Aug 18, 2009 8:52 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Is Obama a shill? The House and Senate are like Sodom and Gomorrah, can you find just ten good people. The Senate appears to be so corrupt that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is a lost cause. Hopefully, the House will not pass a healthcare bill without a public option. No bill is better than a bad bill, no matter what Obama says. If Obama does not take the process over, at least the young people who supported him will withdraw from the corrupt political process. Will the progressives continue to support the lesser of two evils? If Obama passes up the chance to rope a dope, he is a shill. Where is slick Willy when you need him?

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Obama, Pelosi, and Reid had no business forcing Single Payer off the table.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LaughingModerateIndependent on Aug 18, 2009 8:54 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Single Payer is the COMPROMISE. All these other "public option" plans are toothless and at best a slap on the wrist to the insurance and pharmaceutical giants.

Who wins even with public option?

The insurance and pharmaceutical giants.

Who loses even with public option?

We the sheeple.

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Government price controls
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Posted by: pg on Aug 18, 2009 8:52 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We need healthcare reform. I won't be able to afford mine when my COBRA runs out.

That said why is everybody so hot for Government price controls (single payer or public option) when history has shown time and time again price controls do not work.

Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke, why not have the Government prove it can at least fix Medicare before we give it more to screw up. Why is there no talk of Insurance reform and Tort reform?

Here is a partial primer on price controls from-

Hugh Rockoff a professor of economics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research:

The appeal of price controls is understandable. Even though they fail to protect many consumers and hurt others, controls hold out the promise of protecting groups that are particularly hard-pressed to meet price increases. the maximum price for bread was supposed to protect the poor, who depended on bread to survive; and rent controls were supposed to protect those who were renting when the demand for apartments exceeded the supply, and landlords were preparing to “gouge” their tenants.

The reason most economists are skeptical about price controls is that they distort the allocation of resources. Price ceilings, which prevent prices from exceeding a certain maximum, cause shortages. Price floors, which prohibit prices below a certain minimum, cause surpluses, at least for a time.

The incentives to evade controls are ever present, and the forms that evasion can take are limitless. The precise form depends on the nature of the good or service, the organization of the industry, the degree of government enforcement, and so on. One of the simplest forms of evasion is quality deterioration. In the United States during World War II, fat was added to hamburger, candy bars were made smaller and of inferior ingredients, and landlords reduced their maintenance of rent-controlled apartments.

Rationing is another effect to control the eventual price inflation- The obvious costs of queuing, evasion, and black markets often lead governments to impose some form of rationing.

Rationing, however, comes at a cost. The government must undertake the difficult job of adjusting rations to reflect fluctuating supplies and demands and the needs of individual consumers. (this is where the inflammatory death panel thinking comes in)

When the United States set maximum prices for gasoline in 1973 and 1979, dealers sold gas on a first-come-first-served basis, and drivers had to wait in long lines to buy gasoline, receiving in the process a taste of life in the Soviet Union.

Is that what we want for our healthcare system? Surely there is a better way to get affordable healthcare to all US citizens.

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» Government price controls by Big Insurance. Posted by: LaughingModerateIndependent

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Obama is a owned by the insurance companies
[Report this comment]
Posted by: MeyravLevine on Aug 18, 2009 8:55 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
so forget about a public option, let alone a single payer system:

Ralph Nader again shows the corruption in our government.

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Break up the Monopoly!!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: dover23 on Aug 18, 2009 9:26 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The ugly truth about reform.

http://liberalaw.blogspot.com/

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Single Payer? YES!!!!! Public Option? NO!!!!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: wireup on Aug 18, 2009 9:37 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Have you lost your mind?

Public Option? NEVER!!!!

Public Option leaves the insurance industry involved and this is simply UNACCEPTABLE! If we get public option, it will mean that health care will continue to be a FOR-PROFIT COMMODITY and this should NOT be.

Why in the world would you want to keep the insurance companies involved so that they can continue to make a profit off of your illness? This is exactly the problem we have now and the reason that costs are continually pushed up - along with the involvement of Pharma.

Get the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry OUT of the business of health care and costs will plummet.

Bring alternatives and complementary medicine - which are now practiced by a huge part of this country - to the fore and we will be on the way to health.

Teach people how to take responsibility for a lot of their health problems and we will finally be on the road to wellness in this country.

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» Not sure the title is accurate Posted by: Joshua Holland

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Does anyone have a list
[Report this comment]
Posted by: timenotonmyside on Aug 18, 2009 9:40 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
of all the internet sites the right wing ntters use?

Like Freedom Works, Rightonline, Americans for Prosperity,etc.....
The Internet Freedom Coalition has amember list:
Coalition Members

The Internet Freedom Coalition is made up of organizations and websites who share a desire to keep the Internet free from government interference. We share a view and a belief that there are three basic threats to Internet Freedom: Taxes, Regulations, and any attempt by the United Nations to manage the Internet.
American Seniors
American Conservative Union
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
Black America’s Political Action Committee
Catholic Citizenship
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Center for Individual Freedom
Citizen Outreach
Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Cornerstone Policy Research
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Ethan Allen Institute
Frontiers of Freedom
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Illinois Policy Institute
Independent Women’s Forum
Institute for Liberty
Institute for Policy Innovation
Iowa Association of Scholars
Kansas Taxpayers Network
Media Freedom Project
National Taxpayers Union
Ohio Taxpayers Association & OTA Foundation
Public Interest Institute
Reason Foundation
RightMarch.com
TechPolicyWatch.com
The Maine Heritage Policy Center
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc.


Me thinks, there are a lot of trolls out there, but me thinks we could also be the ones trolling............

The GOP hate groups are highly organized as we have seen with the healthcare town hall meetings.

The rest of us need to get informed so we can infiltrate and stop their movement.

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» RE: Does anyone have a list Posted by: desidid
» Don't worry Des! Posted by: foreverhope

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Good luck Mr. Holland
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bonapartist on Aug 18, 2009 9:48 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Those four steps are nice and constructive, best of luck with them.

I don't think that public matters in this and even if it does I think even tens of thousands of emails/calls carry less weight than a single well moneyed lobbyist.

Let us wait and see, I would like for it to succeed but I think it will go nowhere. Being powerless isn't a good feeling, is it?

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» Members of congress ... Posted by: Joshua Holland
» RE: Members of congress ... Posted by: desidid
» RE: Members of congress ... Posted by: desidid
» RE: Members of congress ... Posted by: Joshua Holland
» Would you bet on that Mr. Holland? Posted by: bonapartist
» You're not powerless Posted by: Beck

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Lets ask all politicians a few simple questions!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: weslen1 on Aug 18, 2009 10:14 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just exactly where did they get the idea that their JOB is to protect the profits of a few hundred insurance company, Wall Street bank, big pharma, and other CEOs over the millions of people who, unfortunately, trusted them enough to VOTE them into office? How MUCH did it NET them to throw those people under the bus and side with the fat cats? When all those insurance company STOCKS went through the roof yesterday or the day before, at the very prospect that they'd KILLED the public option, HOW MUCH DID THE BLUE DOGS, THE RETHUGS AND OTHERS MAKE FOR THEMSELVES? How much did they really get for each American who will DIE between now and next century when someone else comes along and tries to work for the PEOPLE instead of the corporate interests and the billion dollar giveaways?
Let's also remind the rethugs that just as many LIBERALS are hunters and sportsmen, albeit REAL sportsmen as opposed to lily livered cowardly pretend sportsmen who carry guns to threaten the President, opposing congress members, and innocent bystanders with the inference that "you must agree with our view or we will shoot you all", so they are just as likely to be shot as to shoot someone else. The difference will be the liberals will be the defenders and the thugs will be the aggressors, as usual.
Let's ASK those THUGS in the Republican party, the BLUE DOG "CORPORATION", and the PHONY Christian, Glen poison lover Beck, Limbo, Scammity, Savage Savage, Katy fruit cake the Beck Boot Licker, and all their worshipers exactly what part of the Constitution they want restored back to the way the "founding fathers" wrote it and restore the "country" to? Would that be the part where Black People could never be President because they were PROPERTY of some of the signers of the Constitution? Or would it be the part that valued black people as only 3/5 of a person for TAX purposes?
Aren't these the same people who believe the Iraqi's should PAY US for illegally INVADING their country, murdering their leader, such as he was, destroying their homes, murdering millions of them and driving millions more into fleeing their country, because we've done such a GOOD thing for them? They don't show enough GRATITUDE for all we've done?
George Bush didn't QUITE make it to the DICTATOR he set out to be but the THUGS are still trying really hard to get there and the Dems are still kissing their back sides and caving in to their demands. So what's changed?

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Californians!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: badkitty on Aug 18, 2009 10:35 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Californians! Don't take Boxer for granted to support a public option. We all know Feinstein has doubts, but I got an email response from Boxer yesterday regarding health care and she mentioned a lot of things she supported, but not ONE word on supporting a public option, not to mention single payer. She is running for re-election next year. Make sure she hears from you about single payer and public option, and keep up the pressure on Feinstein.

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» Not only Posted by: Joshua Holland

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Josh, pay attention to your precious "political process"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: leafsong1 on Aug 18, 2009 11:05 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The vast majority of the public is clearly in favor of serious reform, and has been for decades.

The Democrats ran on a platform that excluded serious consideration of any other issues.

They won, running on a platform of reform.

They then took bigtime graft from the industry and produced legislation through a manifestly corrupt process that predictably resulted in a bipartisan boondoggle like Medicare part D that puts money in the pockets of the industry.

What on Earth makes you think that the Democrats are not aware of public feeling on this issue?

What on Earth makes you think that the Democrats are more concerned about public opinion on this issue than they are with industry money?

What on Earth do you expect callers to threaten their "representatives" with? Voting Republican? Contributing their $100 to a non-existent primary challenger? Or should they just weep and beg?

Any idiot can follow politics; it takes some intelligence to understand it. More and more lately, I get the impression that you don't have what it takes.

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» my sentiments exactly Posted by: kogwonton

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"Public option", my ass
[Report this comment]
Posted by: willymack on Aug 18, 2009 11:08 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
By now anyone who's been on Planet Earth, knows what a canard the public option scam is.
We need to demand HR676, (or whatever that number is) be approved first by Congress, then by the Senate, UNCUT, UNADULTERATED, and NOT POLLUTED by the insurance and drug vampires.
That's single-payer universal health care for EVERYONE, folks.
With this in effect, we can eliminate ALL other programs as everyone from all walks of life will be covered.
The time for debate has long since passed; all one has to do is look at the countries that have it to see it WORKS.
We deserve no less than HR 676.
As for the insurance and drug crooks, they can KISS MY ASS!

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» RE: "Public option", my ass Posted by: willymack
» RE: Your accounting is flawed Posted by: improperly_sedated

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Oh, what a difference a month makes
[Report this comment]
Posted by: launcher on Aug 18, 2009 1:04 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just a few weeks ago, demonstrators at townhalls tended to be protesting the lack of congressional debate on a single-payer plan. This link, mostly about Howard Dean, is one example: http://horsesass.org/?p=18147

Where has that passion from the left-wing gone? It seems there was a big hole in the media's attention that the conservative astroturfers gladly filled. I'm glad Mr Holland has given us a few ways to fight back.

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letter I sent to DeMint
[Report this comment]
Posted by: desidid on Aug 18, 2009 1:39 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You and your party created this staggering deficit by steamrolling bills through congress that brought us two wars. Your party deregulated nearly every industry, which brought less competition and exorbitant prices for everything from cable to energy services. Today you will stand in the way of progress to bring relief and healthcare to millions of Americans, all because of party philosophy. If you were indeed part of a representative government why is it your appearances are by and large on FOX? FOX according to Accuracy in Media is notorious for not being very accurate. I have to assume you choose to carry your message there because you will face little questioning. You may be my representative of record but, there is little that you have done in my name. Frankly I see little difference between you and those Dixiecrats of my youth, your rhetoric is more sophistocated but, your reasoning isn't.

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The passion of the left
[Report this comment]
Posted by: goodsensecynic on Aug 18, 2009 2:10 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Passions are easily inflamed by attack; they are easily drained by betrayal.

Of course, President Obama did not really "betray" his promises by dumping the universal, single payer health insurance plan for the simple reason that he never made that part of his platform. He never actually said that he would implement the kind of plan that is available in Canada and most other advanced democracies. In fact, he never promised much of anything specific - all he touted was "change," and then allowed his followers to read into that whatever they liked.

Mr. Obama didn't even betray his commitment to the fundamentally flawed "public option" for the obvious reason that he never explicitly promised that either.

If his former enthusiasts and even some of his former opponents in the Democratic Party have lost their passion, however, they might reflect on what Mr. Obama said on the campaign trail:

(a) he was in favour of capital punishment;
(b) he was against gay marriage;
(c) he wanted to expand the war in Afghanistan;
(d) he opposed the legalization of marijuana;
(e) he was against unfettered abortion on demand;

and, best of all,

(f) he was "a free market kind of guy."

These positions, singly or collectively, would place him on the extreme right wing of the Canadian Conservative Party. Not exactly the stuff that leftist dreams are made on.

Looking south with a kind of bewildered bemusement, I can only say to my American friends: "Next time, pay better attention!"

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» Actually ... Posted by: Joshua Holland
» The point being ... Posted by: Joshua Holland
» He did some tricks though Posted by: james108
» RE: He did some tricks though Posted by: Joshua Holland
» You're rationalizing Josh Posted by: james108
» Rationalizing? Posted by: Joshua Holland

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Don't sell out - Single Payer, non optional
[Report this comment]
Posted by: notchomsky on Aug 18, 2009 2:21 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Physicians for a National Health Program (pnhp.org) has debunked all the tired old DP cliches. Obama is a corporatist who is doing the same thing with the insurance industry that he did with the financial industry, namely redirecting the wealth upward to his corporate buddies. If you don't see it by now, you are fools.

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Inspired by some of these comments ...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Joshua Holland on Aug 18, 2009 5:00 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wrote a blog-post on the split between single-payer and PO advocates here.

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To everyone
[Report this comment]
Posted by: wormfarmer on Aug 18, 2009 5:45 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Who has cause to comment on this article; did you not notice that Obama the candidate was funded by CORPORATIONS, therefore Obama the president OWES favors to these CORPORATIONS. Yes, we are RUBES.

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Who's competing with the private Insurance Companies?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: zrants on Aug 18, 2009 6:36 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What is all this talk about the government plan putting private insurance companies out of business? They are putting themselves out of business. They are throwing people out of their plans when they get sick, or old, or can't afford the payments when they get laid off. How is a government plan that takes on the people they deny insurance a threat to them? If they want to cover these people they can quit denying them coverage.

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MAD AS HELL!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Sushi on Aug 18, 2009 7:52 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
OK, here's a little nugget that I found out about today (bear with me on a little back-story...it isn't long):
I recently had a wax buildup in my ear and went to see an ear specialist. (Took me two weeks to get an appointment. )
I have BlueCross (for which I pay 20% of my income in premiums!). After a minor procedure, I was charged a $32 co-pay (so far, so good).
Three weeks later, I get a bill from the doctor for $142, so I call up the doc's office and ask what it would cost me for the same procedure if I DIDN'T HAVE INSURANCE? She looks it up and says it would cost $46 !!! Hmmmm $32 + $142 = $174 for something that would cost $46? So, I am paying $500/mo in premiums for the privilege of paying almost four times the cost of a simple office visit? HAVE WE FALLEN DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE? Where is the "insurance" part of this equation?
I immediately called both senators and my congressman and asked if they had any good explanation for this stupid system and why can't we have nationalized health insurance like the rest of the civilized world where it works just fine! (No good reason was forthcoming...just the usual "I will let the senator know how you feel...") 

I also owe $800 on my $10,000 tab for the 6 hours I spent in the hallway on a gurney last February when I went to the ER when my heart rate doubled. I wonder what it would have cost if I "didn't have insurance" then either? Bullshit rip-off!  I am so ANGRY that I can barely see straight!

Which brings me to my next question: Why are my ears "covered" under insurance but not my eyes or teeth? What's next? Will they will only cover my right side and not the left? 

Now I hear that that United Health's CEO makes $102,000/hr salary! (Not a year...per hour! ) Haven't figured out what BlueCross CEO's make, but I am sure it is about the same. THAT is where our premiums are going, folks! Not to our health and not to our care!

Sushi
"Politics is the art of making the possible impossible."

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Here's another excellent article Joshua Holland ought to read about healthcare and politics.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 18, 2009 8:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

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THE REPUBLICANS PLAY DIRTY. THE DNC SHOULD TELL THE 'BLUE DOGS' THAT THE
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Raymond Emerson on Aug 18, 2009 8:51 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
DNC will come against them in the primaries with money. We mean enough money to break you and elect another democrat in your place. Actually that might not be possible. Their electorate "thinks" republican. But the republicans did it to their "turncoats" and put enough fear in them to keep them in line.

Will Rogers was right. "I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a democrat."

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Finding the best health care plan in the United States
[Report this comment]
Posted by: PaulK on Aug 18, 2009 9:04 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Is like finding the world's fastest Chihuahua.

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Here's my letter to the White House
[Report this comment]
Posted by: lulu on Aug 18, 2009 9:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dear Mr. President and White House team,

Thank you for all of the honorable and difficult work you are doing on health care reform.

Most Americans I know and have talked with about health care reform want single-payer and single-payer only. They believe the insurance industry is a failed and intrinsically inefficient market and cannot be meaningfully reformed. Hence, when single-payer isn't even on the table as an option, there is no real debate in our opinion. Hence, no excitement, no passion - people have already given up and written off whatever "reform" might happen as just another corporate giveaway from the DC operators who brought us the Medicare Part D taxpayer shearing.

Health care insecurity is keeping this economy down: even those of us with employer-sponsored health insurance feel deep health care insecurity. We don't know when an unexpected illness is going to bankrupt us, insurance or no insurance. We're afraid to even go to the doctor and "blow our wad" on treating and recording a non-deadly condition that may result in a serious condition being denied for coverage years from now. Such is the degree of fear and uncertainty the industry's practices have visited on covered individuals, let alone those who have suffered real harm or have suffered going without coverage. Primarily because of health care insecurity, we feel we can never save enough to achieve overall financial security. Nearly every other variable in our financial lives can be controlled to some extent - but nobody has any control over future health care bills, and it's dampening our urge to spend any money, ever again. American companies need to be freed from the burden as well.

Universal mandates or health insurance reform will only result in a new race to the bottom, as health insurers invent new ways to skirt regulations and shift costs. They've had their chance to clean up their act since President and Mrs. Clinton raised their proposal in the 90s. The result of their efforts? They've made a few shareholders unreasonably rich, most of the rest of us quite a bit more insecure, and a fair number of us dead.

I respectfully suggest that the Executive Branch shake it up by putting single-payer back on the table. Americans understand single-payer; they don't understand "the public option." I know the conventional wisdom is that single-payer is supposed to be a non-starter in Congress, but I believe it's the only thing that is going to get a majority of Americans interested in this discussion again. Until then, the only ones interested are going to be the "government takeover" troglodytes and the industry shills and right-wing screamers who are feeding them a steady diet of nonsense. It's a shame that so many of the economic elite have chosen to throw in their lot with the lowest order of illiterate thugs in this country as their only viable means of scrambling back to some level of power. A real debate on health care reform - one that includes single-payer/Medicare-for-all as the globally proven, centrist option it truly is - will expose the real and valid questions about exactly what it is the other side stands for. Even if single-payer cannot come to pass, a real debate will invigorate our democracy by showing people that real debate on an important issue is still possible.

Thank you for continuing to fight for what is good and right for the people of this nation, and not just for the corporations that presume to own it.

Respectfully

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OUR NATION IS IN THE MIDST OF A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
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Posted by: cori on Aug 19, 2009 7:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The numbers of people here facing dire health circumstances are in the ten's of millions- no other developed nation is facing a humanitarian crisis on this scale. We must not allow congress and special interests to wage economic terrorism on us! Ten's of millions of lives are at stake for those insured and uninsured. There must be a public out cry! The must be a public option! This is a threat to our nation that far surpasses anything else. Are we a nation that will allow ten's of millions of our people die when trillions are being paid for 2 wars, the biggest prison system on the planet and over 800 bases? Now we must give trillions to big pharma and health insurance companies at our expense and the cost of a vast number of lives. Call your rep now and demand a public option! 202 224 3121. Say no to trillions to big pharma and health insurance companies. 202 456 1111 for Obama.

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Forget Bipartisanship
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Posted by: RWE on Aug 19, 2009 8:46 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You can't outwit stupidity. Stop trying to get the followers of Joe The Plumber and Sarah Palin to understand anything.

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Why Americans Oppose the Private Option
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Posted by: overseasteacher on Aug 19, 2009 9:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Most of middle America is mad as hell and don't know where to put their anger. Most people have been conditioned to get their news in short sound bites without any real analysis and our educational system and culture does not encourage critical thinking or analysis of the big picture.

I saw a wonderful clip on The Daily Show with a "TV interviewer" at a state fair who was shouting liberal ideas in an angry voice. People being stopped for interviews agreed with what was being said, obviously agreeing with the angry tone of voice rather than the content.

What's the big beef? Health care reform costs less ($1.3 trillion) than our insane defense budget ($6.5 trillion) or Bush's taxcuts for the wealthy ($3.5 trillion). Why no media outrage over these? Why no cry to close the many unused overseas military bases which cost a fortune? Why no comparable outrage over government regulated bailouts? Could it be that the latter two serve the interests of the powerful?

If government regulation is so evil, why no outrage over government regulated broadcasting ... public education ... interstate highways ... water supply systems ... national parks ... postal service??? Americans are being manipulated and haven't even noticed that the socialist boogy man is all smoke and mirrors.

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Going in A POSITIVE Direction
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Posted by: CTC123 on Aug 19, 2009 12:14 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Health Care Reform With a STRONG Public Option.
We need to move in a POSITIVE direction.

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» RE: Going in A POSITIVE Direction Posted by: coach-bags

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Say NO to making health care a commodity!
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Posted by: yankee2 on Aug 19, 2009 1:08 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let me say this: I will not settle for a costly, unjust commercial version of the universal, economical health care all Americans should have. I will not willingly pay a premium to have a commercial company decide what health care I am entitled to, and what I am not. I will accept nothing less than the efficient, economical, powerful and FAIR option which single-payer, government run health care can provide.

What are we, a third world nation? Without knocking them, even some poor nations have better access to medical care than Americans have!

I want to support all those members of the U.S. House of Representatives who promise that they will not accept any bill which does not offer a single-payer, tax-funded, non-commercial option for medical care in the U.S.

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What about personal responsibility?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: wireup on Aug 19, 2009 10:35 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In all the discussion on health care I have rarely heard anyone discussing alternatives and complementary medicine. I have rarely heard or read anything on people taking responsibility for the state of their own health.

Health is NOT something that someone else can give you. It is achieved through good food (which is difficult to find these days given Big Ag and the atrocious manner in which food is raised/manufactured), exercise, and the proper and judicious use of food supplements.

Were Americans in good health to begin with...were Americans the least bit concerned about HOW they became unhealthy to begin with...well, then we might have a discussion.

But Americans don't think this way. They want everything to be given to them in the form of a medication prescription from their MD. They can't see beyond this.

I don't know. Maybe people in this country have been so dumbed down that they can no longer think. Personally, I no longer feel much hope. I think it is simply too late.

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SINGLE PAYER for all - EQUALITY in HEALTHCARE!
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Posted by: rwcbanzai on Aug 20, 2009 4:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for ONE people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and EQUAL station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God ENTITLE them, a Decent Respect to the opinions of HUMANKIND requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.-
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all HUMANS are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable RIGHTS, that among these are LIFE, Liberty and the pursuit of HAPPINESS..."
Just quoting the beginning of our nation’s declaration of independence, to King George’s tyranny and unjust and repressive MONOPOLY laws. Today in the 21st Century we all face similar corporate situations and oppressive economic life & death living conditions. It seems and is… a situation in which we are not created equal – I’m talking about the RIGHT TO LIFE with affordable health care, and decent wages! Today those with money get the bed and those without get the dirt! I’m sure Jefferson and Franklin would have enacted Single Payer Healthcare for all, if they would have had such wonders of science back then. The Constitution limits the powers of our Government and the Declaration of Independence and the 27 amendments to the constitution preserves our rights or what the right wing nuts call legislative entitlements!
Now, when Congress, Executive Branch, Judicial branch, Federal, state, county, and some city workers, including our Armed Forces, Postal system, veterans, and other military/industrial complexes/monopolies, eg. NASA, including most corporate kingdoms, receive the benefits of a single payer lower benefit rate - WE THE PEOPLE (independent taxpayers) are being cannibalized by COPORATE BARONS and their loudmouthed RUSH minions who don’t want to lose their profits from our pain. Wait till your disabled, retired without pension or benefits or laid off from work and they cut you off from your medical entitlements and you’ll understand the economic slavery to which we allow to occur against the nature of Jesus and his good words against greed.
The CAUSE that separates us is the HUMANE responsibility of an equal and fair health care for all… “We the PEOPLE of the UNITED States, in order to form a more PERFECT UNION, establish JUSTICE, insure DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY, provide for the common defense, PROMOTE the general WELFARE, & secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA….”
Shame on all those for profit GREEDY cannibals that exist & control thru franchises we the people allow - called CORPORATISM - like the King's (corporate) charters! They cannot exist without U.S.! When we should have non profit medical care for all like our dieing soldiers and single payer (government) armed forces protecting our democracy. Nationalize the Red Cross and all medical non profits and make them compete with for death/profits healthcare. We the people pay for and supply these brave men and they are not the only ones sacrificing for this - their war that should not continue - forever at war? Health Care for all is the mantra for today & the future and those FOR PROFIT cannibals will reap what they sow! SINGLE PAYER or DIE BROKE! Cause... REMEMBER your and OBAMA’S GRANDMA!

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solid democrat
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Posted by: s7818 on Aug 20, 2009 11:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am about to give the president a new name which is accomodating bipartisan Obama unlews he acquires some steel in his backbone stands erect and confronts his adversaries.I did not send money to see him stepin fetchit to the republicans.

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Public Option in healthcare reform
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Posted by: mgrogger on Aug 21, 2009 7:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I find that those willing to drop the public option are overlooking the fact that without it the insurance companies will be given a license to steal. By requiring that prior conditions be covered, and everyone must be covered, we are providing the insurance companies with the best justification possible to raise premium rates. The Public option will help offset this, so it is imperative that it be included in the final bill.

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Nike Dunk
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Posted by: Nike Dunk on Aug 23, 2009 10:06 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thank you for your sharing. Maybe you are interested in Nike Dunk.

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.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: jtpatrick108 on Aug 27, 2009 5:44 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One of the sweetest ways to eliminate the obesity problem in the United States would be to give people miracle berry so that disgusting healthy food will taste amazing. Since obesity is such a big problem, this could save money when it comes to health care. Ok I'm just joshing!

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Alternet Comments:

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Sure
[Report this comment]
Posted by: RevolutionNet on Aug 18, 2009 12:05 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let's have a bake sale and donate the proceeds to the Democratic National Committee.

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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» SURE & WE WILL! Posted by: foreverhope
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: sasquuatch55
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: Beck
» RE: LAXBRAYNE Posted by: Beck
» BAKED BAMBOOZLERS NOT TASTY Posted by: americansheep

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ProfBob
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Posted by: ProfBob on Aug 18, 2009 1:46 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dropping the public option is bad for patients but good for health providers and insurance companies because the government can contract for lower fees than the other insurers.
As an American living in Norway I have had some experience with both insurance and socialized systems. The American system is much faster, and for me, cheaper. In Norway I pay a yearly fee of about $1200 and a co-payment of about $20 for every primary care visit and about $40 for specialists. The treatments seem to be quite thorough, but there are usually months between appointments for extra tests and specialist exams. In the U.S. Medicare A fees were paid while I worked. Medicare B is about $1200 a year. Then my previous employer pays for an additional Blue Shield plan that pays a little, when it pays.
Yesterday I checked on what my insurances have paid. I find that my combined insurances pay about 12 to 40% of what the doctors and hospitals billed—but I owe nothing more. Medicare and the insurance companies have contracted for lesser fees than the doctors bill. Then I found that the doctors and hospitals pad their bills so that they end up with a fair return. But people without insurance are stuck with the whole amount. This isn’t fair.
My doctor in the U.S. has stopped taking new Medicare patients. We need to arrive at fair rates for all. When my doctor has spent 8 to 10 years of training it seems that he or she is entitled to a minimum of $200,000 a year of net profit. It seems that our top students, after ten years of education and training, should be able to earn in a lifetime what a professional athlete or film star earns in a year. But then being entertained is much more important than our health. Free enterprise is fine for entertainers, but is seemingly limited for health professionals. (Let’s not even think about the worth of top notch teachers and professors—they don’t entertain enough! But that’s another letter!!)
I found some interesting observations on the problem in Book 4 of the free ebook series”And Gulliver Returns” –In Search of Utopia—at http://andgulliverreturns.info

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» RE: ProfBob Posted by: Lilly
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: technocrat
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: ellie
» RE: ProfBob Posted by: sonofthewest
» Good for you Posted by: songbird1268

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The Right is Louder Than the Left
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Posted by: Lilly on Aug 18, 2009 2:00 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Spend some time on townhall.com and learn how the Right operates. As an example, townhall.com beats anything we have on the liberal side. First, every day brings to TH a dozen or more new articles by conservatives who are fed talking points by this website developed by The Heritage Foundation to disseminate conservative ideas. Second, every article is followed by a Comments thread, and it's not unsual for 400-500 comments to pile up quickly. This echo chamber serves to reinforce talking points and spread rumors. Third, townhall.com offers a wealth of opportunities for conservative mischief. You can email a Congressman (or all of them at once), join a club, sign a petition, buy a book, or in other ways raise conservative hell, every single day, just with a mouse-click.

I believe that we liberals believe as passionately as conservatives, but we do not operationalize our beliefs as efficiently or as loudly as they do. Remember the day a bared breast in Superbowl halftime caused such a stir? So many citizen complaints expressed moral outrage that the law was changed---then it turned out that 97% of the complaints came from the same organization, the conservative Parents' Television Council.

Another conservative specialty is masking the professionally organized work of a political operative group or a corporate group as spontaneous, popular, and "grassroots". Recently Rachel Maddow has been exposing this.

Another is the "blitz" in which people are rallied to shut down a website or a telephone line. Last week when the White House set up an email address for referral of false information and rumors, it took the Right about half an hour to organize a program of sending all their junk mail to this address, thereby choking it and sabotaging its purpose.

And, as we all have seen lately, conservatives show up at protests and scream very loudly. We liberals are more likely to watch this on TV then say Hmmmmm and go back to reading our book.

What I am saying is that the Right has a kind of natural affinity for mob rule. They are very good at this, and if we don't figure out how to counter their speciality, we are at risk of losing much in this country that we treasure.

I sincerely hope that last night's TV news wasn't lost on liberals when it showed a group of openly armed citizens protesting in Arizona outside where Obama was speaking. Guns, including military weaponry, were flamboyantly displayed. What they were protesting was the notion that you shouldn't be able to carry a gun to a political protest. Their schtick is that if open carry is permitted in the state, then open carry should be permitted at a Presidential appearance or a protest rally. Imagine the possibilities.

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» THE LEFT IS ABOUT TO ROAR!!!!! Posted by: foreverhope
» Left doesn't equal Liberal Posted by: bonapartist
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» RE: Beck Posted by: improperly_sedated
» I agree with the sentiments Posted by: james108
» Yup Posted by: james108
» Mudwrestling Pigs Posted by: madmac10
» RE: The Right is Louder Than the Left Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson

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A 21st Century Comedy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: hsr0601 on Aug 18, 2009 2:03 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A 21st Century Comedy

1. Wait until someone gets sick, fire breaks out.
We don't care swine flu & $2 trillion pandemic loss and invaluable lives, investments in vaccine cause deficit compared to big money after all.

And if we admit this common sense, in the end, we will join all of the socialist nations.
Just wait until for-profit runaway devotes colossal investments of non-profit to preventive care.

2. If you wait and get ill, just keep eating and working, no rest, otherwise, you will go bankrupt. And if the insecurity damages your mental health and spreads to a number of different diseases, it will add to the deficit.


3. Under the advanced market theory, free market even includes arbitrary, illegal malpractices, no touch. In case runaway premiums drive the enrollees out, 4C + 2R (canceling, capping, cherry-picking, cash for special, rationing, rapid premium hike) guarantee multiple times as much profit, and backers are worrying too much about our loss later on, instead of the struggling, too.
By the way, fair competition should begin with our unfair market value.

4. In terms of unnecessary tests, procedures, The more ,The better. We lose money when we embrace IT system and improve care in ways that reduce admissions

5. We share the urgent need for redesign, as long as Just-Say-No and Slow Down to shout, disrupt are guaranteed.

We as financially conservative patriots urge and urge deficit-free (except for inaction & bankruptcy).

Or let's make one more insurer-friendly competitor, it will add to the inflation.

6. When we invest in sustainable energy, just ignore the savings from the equation while the sky is falling.
If the economy is running smooth, go ahead, if not, in this economy.

7. More Cash and Better Quality (rank of 37th) is a tween, Hands Off. No Tax, No Saving, No debt. The entire world is awaiting the magic outcome.

8. Best friends, the envy of the world, still the uninsured & underinsured, disgrace all over the world.
If someone as a family gets ill, left untreated, even though we are still the richest, just sing deficit.

How about " war on bad health " ?, like someone said.

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the corporation is an efficient machine for robbery and murder
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Posted by: Suzon on Aug 18, 2009 2:06 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Though corporations may be used for positive purposes, at heart they exist to take unfair advantages.

Medieval royal charters spell it out very directly, allowing an association of powerful men to raid other people's houses and destroy their goods.

Today it is all done more politely, through mortgages and courts.

It is the concept of incorporation that must be exposed for what it is. The vast majority of us just want to live and let live.

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» Ish Posted by: james108

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Let's Be Realistic About What A "Public Option" Would Be Like In Practice
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Posted by: jooljetkmae on Aug 18, 2009 2:13 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It will be an underfunded ghetto, much like Medicaid, to heard the unemployed, under-employed and indigent into.

It's not that I don't want it, given that single payer has never been on the table in health reform debate in Washington. I just wouldn't expect it to be much.

Anyway, the issue is moot since even that little crumb of bread isn't going to be thrown our way by Obama.

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» What about the Seniors? Posted by: james108
» What about the Seniors? Posted by: jooljetkmae

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Learning from the Clintons' mistakes
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Posted by: Perry Logan on Aug 18, 2009 2:32 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In struggling to get health-care reform, Obama has learned from the Clintons' mistakes.

Unfortunately, he has managed to make even bigger mistakes.

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It's just a theory, mind you
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Tom Degan on Aug 18, 2009 2:36 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
DEATH PANELS! DEATH PANELS! DEATH PANELS!

What could possibly be the explanation for the American people's positive genius for falling for the most blatant and obvious propaganda? I have a possible theory if you're interested in hearing it....

We're idiots.

That could be the only explanation. What other reason could they possibly be? Any takers?

When a contemptible half-wit like Sarah Palin "twits" (an appropriate word) about "death panels" and the next moment it is a serious part on the national conversation - there is really something seriously wrong.

Here is (Excuse me, I meant "was") a golden opportunity for real reform and the idiotic Americans are screaming about socialism. Is it any wonder that we are the laughingstock of the industrialized world?

Woodstock Revisited

Tom Degan

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» That's a pretty darn good theory! Posted by: foreverhope
» We Already Have "Death Panels"... Posted by: jooljetkmae
» True Posted by: james108

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Jane's appearance on MSNBC was pitch perfect
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Sister_Lauren on Aug 18, 2009 3:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here is how it is done,

Jane's appearance on MSNBC was pitch perfect

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Basic US Health Care= Basic US Public Education
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Posted by: drricklippin on Aug 18, 2009 4:03 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks Josh- We are indeed at a tipping point. The progressives must mobilize right now.

Among one of my basic arguments is why are most US citizens who have accepted basic public education in the US so afraid of basic government health care for all?

Obama is right. This all boils down to a battle between fear and hope. Change is tough but we must move forward after 60 years of trying to do this. IT IS TIME.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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» rediculous Posted by: james108

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Kill This Health Care Bill ... Obama needs an Ass Whoopin'
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Posted by: mmckinl on Aug 18, 2009 4:16 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama has done nothing but betray the poor, working and middle class ...

Trillions for banksters ... zip for the people ...

More war ... not less ...

More domestic spying ... not less

And the list goes on and on ...

We are about to get screwed again ... Obama has set the table for the Health Care Maggots ... so we will be paying more even though we pay almost twice as much as other single payer countries now ...

Obama promised transparency for health care negotiations. I guess his idea of transparency is back room deals that we don't hear about until it is too late ...

Kill This Health Care Bill ... Obama needs an Ass Whoopin'

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» That's entirely different. Posted by: Lex Thomas

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In the meantime, HR676 is coming up for a vote. Let's use the switchboard there.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Aug 18, 2009 4:16 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Public option" was just a joke and can't substitute for single payer.

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Mr. Holland. Stop being an Obamacare/Hillarycare apologist. Single Payer or else !
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 18, 2009 5:09 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Democrats had no excuse this time and they fucking blew it even with a filibuster proof majority. I hate to say this but especially on the issue of health care, the Democrats blew their greatest opportunities away and deserve to be punished. We can laugh with Rachel Maddow about the "death of the Republican Party" with delusions of grandeur but let's be honest here. The Republicans are actually being "rescued" by the Democrats who keep siding with them. Believe it or not, more liberals, independents, and moderates are leaving the Obama/Democratic building en masse as a result of Obama and Congress seeing to it that they fail and go down in flames by pandering to the rightwing. Mark my words, passing Taxachussetts Care instead of single payer will make it extremely easy for the Republicans to SMASH the Democrats in 2010 and 2012 like a BATTERING RAM !!

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» How soon we forget Posted by: james108
» RE: How soon we forget Posted by: maxpayne
» RE: There are no third parties Posted by: kettleblack

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popham
[Report this comment]
Posted by: popham on Aug 18, 2009 5:26 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There is a glimmer of "hope" coming from the
White House. In a recent TIME magazine interview and again on Sunday, the President and Administraion indicated a strong willingness to incorporate co-ops into the overall health care reform initiatives. We would hope that this slight conciliation on the part of Mr. Obama will lead to an honorable and cost effective outcome for health insurance for all Americans.
For more information on a co-operative system
known as The Alexander/McGee Medical Plan, see
my article at www.breakingnewsjournal.net

A government sponsored non profit co-op plan would offer 'healthy' competition with the private health insurance sector, but not drive them out of business. It would in time reduce costs for all Americans.
At a time of contentious and egregious town
hall meetings and the accompanying vitriolic
political theater, it is now time to consider
a healthy resolution, that will benefit all
Americans. The President has begun this proper process. We hope that he will continue to be
more open to all alternaives and options for
health care reform.

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» In your dreams kid Posted by: maxpayne
» Brand Obama Posted by: bonapartist
» Settle down Beck. Screaming like a child won't help you. Posted by: LaughingModerateIndependent

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email the White House
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kiel on Aug 18, 2009 5:27 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
go to www.whitehouse.gov and click on Contact.

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Reform done wrong, or not at all?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bthespoon on Aug 18, 2009 5:32 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tough choice...and you want us to fight for "Reform Done Wrong"?

I'm fighting for United Protection under One Plan (AKA "Single Payer"), not some watered down version that feeds a broken status quo. We're being sold down the tubes to moneyed interests, plain and simple.

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A war on words to silence critics?
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Posted by: james108 on Aug 18, 2009 6:04 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The implication in many of these articles is if you're against this big moneyed interest plan you're against health care reform? We don't have to play that way. Any progressive action happened from people taking a stand outside the script.

Limiting the discussion to fighting for or against a very bad plan, which has discrepancies in the pitch and devil in the details is not helping reform and spends our energy like crazy. I think it's the opposite. If you're giving up that the people will ever be a real part of the discussion, if you want to lump any criticism blindly into right wing fears, if you're ignoring the thousands bravely fighting for single payer, transparency and accountability in health care reform, you are deforming reform, not helping it, Mr. Holland.

There's a bigger discussion on the subject than to back a bad plan or fight it, though I think fighting it's better than backing it. I guess even fascist con artists want people to want it and beg them for it though. That way they can pin some of the blame on us...

It reminds me of the election, when many "journalists" and politicians wanted us to focus the choice on Obama or McCain. The choices were to send more troops to Iraq or send them to Afghanistan, with no real option of bringing the thousands stationed around the world home or ending the masquerading imperialism. They pretended the only options imaginable to back were which country to invade more. Not buying it then, not buying it now. Eventually more will see their other choices too.

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» Hey Lex, f*ck off Posted by: GuitarBill
» You flunked this one then Posted by: james108
» The old Guitar Bill would never say this ! Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: your heart is wicked. LOL ! Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: songbird1268
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: Lex Thomas
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: COMPLETELY AGREE Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» Ah, poor birdie brain. Thanks for the satire. Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» pelican beak, chill. Posted by: Lex Thomas
» meant to reply to pelican beak. Posted by: Lex Thomas
» Do you get it? Posted by: james108
» Yay Posted by: james108
» by the way Posted by: james108

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OUR Mandate! Leave us alone!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Iraan Ozonjo on Aug 18, 2009 6:10 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My level of acquired rage over this issue has set off alarms in my guts and at my US Representatives office building, where possessing an undisplayed sign while reading the building directory got me evicted. The stench is intolerable of so many rotting or incontinent, brain-dead participants, from AHIP to The AMA to Joe-The-Prostrate imbecile with his prostate waiting to blow, screaming his ignorance of socialism. My state of New Mexico has an alternative plan, which we will enact when we get the expected garbage from Washington. And Washington will assist us, by keeping out of our way! Gosh, too bad for the rest of the country. "Democrats", "Republicans", MeMeCapitalists, you are killing us.

Richard Rubin PA-C
Albuquerque, NM

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The point of the article is pressuring lawmakers
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Posted by: Beck on Aug 18, 2009 6:31 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are we going to? I am. Are you? It's not at all surprising that the comments seem to be about anything but. Is anyone going to follow the steps given, let your employees know what you, the boss, wants? Internet forums can't remain a place to vent and divert. The right obviously knows this. Having our say here might be satisfying, but that has nothing to do with getting what we know we need.

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Frank Rich, Barack Obama, and the Corporatist "Punking" of America
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Posted by: WYGunston on Aug 18, 2009 6:57 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Frank Rich, Barack Obama, and the Corporatist "Punking" of America

August 15, 2009 By Paul Street


Paul Street's ZSpace

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22319

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