"This is why we elected him," said Sarah Starnes, a hospital social worker who has volunteered to help campaign for the Obama plan in Missouri. "It used to be that we'd elect a president and then the lobbyists would determine what happened. This time it is going to be us who determine what happens."
____________________________________

Ouch! The editors at CD must feel that we commenters need to start the week with a nice, not-too-fresh bucket of chum.

Poor Sarah-- imagining that this time it is going to be "us" who determine what happens.

Perhaps she'll comment here, encouraging or scolding the skeptical to Not Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good. Obama's Plan, with its Public Option, is the Next Best Thing to Single-Payer!

Yeah, and road kill is better than an empty stomach, but I'm not running between cars waving a putty knife.

The activist vs. lobbyist conflict anticipated here is simply more "reality teevee" orchestrated by the politicians in partnership with corporate media. It's the equivalent of a professional wrestling bout-- a circus sideshow.

That is, framing the issue as a struggle between those supporting "Obama's Plan" vs. those supporting whatever travesty the Republicans are proposing simply paves over the real struggle to break through the government/corporate elimination of single-payer health care.

That's the win-win outcome for the duopoly and the corporate insurance cartel that will get lost in the infotainwhore play-by-play of the conventional "liberal" Obama and his (diminished band of) enthusiastic disciples vs. "conservative" Republicans.

Rest assured that "single-payer" will be relegated to an occasional reference as the "extreme" option that was always "off the table" and didn't stand a chance. It will be as handily dismissed out of hand as the presidential campaign of a Kucinich, McKinney, or Nader.

This scripted and fictitious analysis will sustain plenty of teevee bloviating and earnest, "serious" op-eds-- all staged to distract We the People from being cheated, fleeced, and pickpocketed one more time.

· Yr Obd't Servant

Just as Obama's NO WALL STREET BANKER LEFT BEHIND Program is channeling boatloads of taxpayer money to enhance the fortunes of the criminals who undermined the US and global economies, Obama and Congress are shaping "health care reform" into a NO ,INSURANCE COMPANY LEFT BEHIND Program, and a NO DRUG COMPANY LEFT BEHIND Program, that will channel boatloads of taxpayer money to the insurance and drug industries while reducing health coverage and raising taxes for the working class.

As they have in the past, the politicians of both parties will gloat about how the legislation they enacted was better than doing nothing.

As bad as the existing US health care system is, the industry-driven program Obama and Congress are crafting is likely to be worse.

Supervats of DELUSION in the USA: The one labeled Repuk is flavored pathetic, and the other labeled Demok is flavored diabolic. You may indulge only from the supervats, you superconsumer. Will do a body good! Clog clog clog...

"scripted" says it all for me.bush with a voice.Tony

What a coincidence! I'm rolling out my new astroturf campaign, too! My slogan is FIRST DO NO HARM. If all you're doing is shoveling another $1.2T into the corporate maw, don't bother.

If only I had tens of millions to spend and databases of hopium smokers like Sarah to call on, I could point out how Obama's program is a non sequitur. First, identify the problem: Health care is unaffordable and for-profit insurance takes an increasing amount of tax money for an increasingly unworkable system in which it profits at our expense. Not only does the private insurance system does not provide adequate access to care, it doesn't even insure against bankruptcy.

Obama's solution: Give an even larger portion of tax money to private insurance profits. Mandate buying insurance and be vague about raising taxes to pay for it. Ignore the bankruptcy issue. Tell hopium addicts that some day, some way this is going to trickle down on them.

Single-payer solution: Real change. Cut out the middle man and make health insurance non-profit. Save the third of the healthcare money being spent that is going to administration and profiteering. Every employer would be out of the health insurance business, and all that cost to them freed up. Every employee could now expect that raises wouldn't be eaten up by increased premiums, meaning that they might get a little extra money in their check. No more bankruptcy by medical bills, and no more people dying because they can't afford basic preventative care.

The only "grassroots" healthcare campaign is for single payer. Obama using his database of those who joined the cult of Obama during his campaign to push the agenda of those who were invited to his healthcare meetings is about as grassroots as the economy's green shoots.

Grassroots: "the basic, direct political interests of the electorate." On other words, those not at the meetings or on the table.

for those interested and may be unaware to the tactical assaults of the Democratic Party....

On the local level, the Democratic Party has been pandering company line to communities for months. The local level apparatchik --city., county/borough-- spend less time on local issues and are now focused on beating the continual 'campaign' drum.

...the Party expects fidelity....

What a bunch of goobledly gook doublespeak. Uggh, is that Baucus next to Obama?? Headlines today; Several Shriners hospitals for children to close, Fughrer Arnie to throw a million poor children off of healthy families plan, eliminate home health care for the elderly etc.
They gave 13 trillion to Wall Street and they want to eliminate a few trillion from Medicare/Medicaid. If that is not fascism, I don't know what is.
Let's fight this reform before it kills us.

I am a single payer advocate. Here in California we have had single payer legislation being considered for many years, most lately as SB 840, currently as SB 810 carried by Senator Mark Leno (google it). In order to understand what a single payer health care system is you must realize that "universal health care" is not single payer- it just means that all people are covered in some form with someone paying (themselves, their employers, etc.) a mandate for a universal coverage means that the person will be penalized if they don't get covered. A single payer system is one where everyone is covered with the same benefits and the government is the single payer of all claims from all licensed providers. Where does the money come from? Taxes on individuals, employers, businesses. The money is collected in a progressive way with a financial cap usually set at about $200K income, at about 4% of individual income, 8% for business and employers- reasonable and fair- calculate yours.

Interesting. Health-insurance industry trolls typically show up on this site in the Comments threads. They don't usually post articles. Someone at CD is asleep.

q

Wonderful photo of Obysmal breathing in Baucus' CO2. His (The Great Boy Scout's) corruption, his own mental Department of Newspeak, will now become even more virulent.

And "Doctor?" besides walk on water, keep people waiting forever, and hurry to his next patient$$$ once he sees you, what else does "Doctor" do?

Doctor makes sure via the AMA that new Dr.'s are rarer than cures for cancers, thus keeping fees ultra-high. "We only want da smartest becomin doctuhs," is the line. Bullshit, it is about money.
More docs=competition, lower fees=Not Allowed!

And these DoctorGods COULD back up the insurance/pharm industries, but they all play for the same team=PROFIT.

"Doctor" does it by making SURE medical schools are scarce and near impossible to enter though many want to. Sanctimonious. Condescending and Rarified. Holy. The Amarikkkan Dr.

Not THE doc. just 'Doctor,' will see you now, whoah, God Almighty will see you now, For Cash Up Front. Trust me as a poor person speaking, you got no cash? You can bleed to death on the waiting room.

And "Doctor?" besides walk on water, keep people waiting forever, and hurry to his next patient$$$ once he sees you, what else does "Doctor" do?

Doctor makes sure via the AMA that new Dr.'s are rarer than cures for cancers, thus keeping fees ultra-high. "We only want da smartest becomin doctuhs," is the line. Bullshit, it is about money.
More docs=competition, lower fees=Not Allowed!

And these DoctorGods COULD back up the insurance/pharm industries, but they all play for the same team=PROFIT.

"Doctor" does it by making SURE medical schools are scarce and near impossible to enter though many want to. Sanctimonious. Condescending and Rarified. Holy. The Amarikkkan Dr.

Not THE doc. just 'Doctor,' will see you now, whoah, God Almighty will see you now, For Cash Up Front. Trust me as a poor person speaking, you got no cash? You can bleed to death on the waiting room.

And "Doctor?" besides walk on water, keep people waiting forever, and hurry to his next patient$$$ once he sees you, what else does "Doctor" do?

Doctor makes sure via the AMA that new Dr.'s are rarer than cures for cancers, thus keeping fees ultra-high. "We only want da smartest becomin doctuhs," is the line. Bullshit, it is about money.
More docs=competition, lower fees=Not Allowed!

And these DoctorGods COULD back up the insurance/pharm industries, but they all play for the same team=PROFIT.

"Doctor" does it by making SURE medical schools are scarce and near impossible to enter though many want to. Sanctimonious. Condescending and Rarified. Holy. The Amarikkkan Dr.

Not THE doc. just 'Doctor,' will see you now, whoah, God Almighty will see you now, For Cash Up Front. Trust me as a poor person speaking, you got no cash? You can bleed to death on the waiting room.

It is so obvious it hurts. Make Heathcare Non-Profit! You can still have private ownership, which will still allow for innovation and creative inquiry, and you will still have money to pay for the doctors, nurses, and procedures.

The only groups that oppose this measure are those making money right now off of our health, our sick mothers and fathers, and our sick children.

Why are there no new cures for old diseases, yet plenty of new treatments for "new" diseases (Guess what baby boomers? It isn't ED, you are all getting old and out of shape... The blood doesn't flow the way it used to... You aren't broken, you just are done with the procreation stage of your life. Go gracefully like those before you, and stop trying to change the inevitable... "Your dick just simply stops working at some point!")

Firefighting used to be ran for a profit, all the way back in the Roman Empire. Arson started to become a huge problem, and surprise surprise, the firefighting companies were setting the fires.

The same tactic is now being employed by the Healthcare insurance companies and HMOs. They have us by the balls, and they will squeeze every last drop for the sake of more profits...

Keep it private, just make it non-profit.

SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER

We have to take INSURANCE OUT of HEALTH CARE. The for-profit predatory health insurance companies take 30+% of each dollar and use it for their administrative costs, i.e., advertising, lobbyists, beancounters who find ways to deny coverage, and investigators to discover how something HAS to be a pre-existing condition and excluded.

MEDICARE, on the other hand, has a 3% administrative cost. Gee, this seems like a no-brainer.

SINGLE PAYER does NOT mean no choice. It means you HAVE your choice of provider (dr, hospital), it's just that they are paid by one payer --- our government.

If we have TRILLIONS to wage war and bail out multiple corporations that have screwed up, isn't it about this the PEOPLE were put FIRST before the PROFITS of these insurers?

GET OUT and start DEMANDING your senators and representatives support the Conyers' bill-- HR 676.

I cringe at the thought, but is anyone for a purely strategic alliance with the right on this issue?

If Obamacare ends up being what I think it is going to be, better that nothing at all gets passed, thereby keeping HR 676 viable.

The rich have us by the balls. The banks used a percentage of that money WE gave them to hire lobbyists who will use that money to bribe lawmakers not to pass any regulations on the banking industry.

Chuck Colson said "When you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow".

We worship the rich. Look at the TV shows we watch: "Who Wants To be a Millionaire", "Survivor", Game shows that glorify greed.

We don't want to get rid of the rich, we just want to join them. We are stupid bastards who, to some extent at least, are getting what we deserve.

Forget about their goddamn money. It is your greed that is keeping you enslaved. "Is not life more than meat, or the body more than raiment?"

Response from my congressman regarding single payer universal health care, he is republican:

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office regarding H.R. 676, the United States National Health Care Act or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.

While I agree that health care reform needs to come about, I do not think it is the federal government's job to regulate it. I think with any health care reform it needs to be patient and doctor oriented. The federal government already has proven it can not handle something as critical as health care. One needs to only look at FEMA and how the government runs the Veteran's Affairs health care system to know that this will not work.

And now the 'administration' is carrying on about how we are in such a serious recession. More serious, they say, than the numbers they used to plan the present mammoth deficit budget. Gee, it's amazing how when they don't want the money to be there (think healthcare), we have such a serious recession but when it's about war money, hey, it's okay!
WE WANT Healthcare, NOT warfare. Until we stop funding the CIA to make trouble everywhere and pull out of any and all wars AND stop sending Israel money until they dismantel the illegal settlements and stop killing their neighbors, everything that comes out of this adminstration's mouth is NOT to be taken seriously.

Note to the 'administration': This is not about "hearing voices". You may need a shrink but we don't. This is about HEALTHCARE, not bullshit.

"Though he is leaving the details to Congress, Obama has said reform must ensure a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans..."

If we all are right and public health insurance is infinitely more efficient than private, which means it will win in the market, is this not an incremental step towards single payer?

Considering the reception of the overwhelming call for Single Payer in congress and the White House and the corporate media, I can't agree with everyone's "single payer or nothing" mentality because that's what we're going to get - nothing, and I have too many friends whose lives are being severely limited by our lack of national health care.

To be uncompromising in my beliefs AND AT THE SAME TIME work within the realm of possibility seems desirable to me.

http://pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

Check out this report by Elizabeth Warren,
She knows what she is talking about,
Illnesses,
Plus +
Credit cards
+late fees, charges,
=
financial disaster for many familys across the US..
it goes a lot deeper than that also. There is so much more, and credit card companys are all over the colleges..too.

Organizing for America, which is doing these "grassroots" things, should be called Organizing for Obama as they "mobilize" people on the Obama campaign data-base to support whatever comes from the Great One. Actually, from their hope-crazed perspective(I loved that "hopium" description of one of the posters above) that change in nomenclature would not be necessary because Obama IS America. So citizenship has come down to this: to be "mobilized" to support the political agenda of the party in power. When do the Nuremburg rallies start?

"Obama has declared this summer "make-or-break" time for healthcare reform and has called on Congress to pass comprehensive legislation by the end of the year, saying America can no longer afford the costs of a system dominated by profit-driven insurance and healthcare companies which leaves 46 million people uninsured."

So, let's see, he's announcing his intention to "break it" by leaving intact "a system dominated by profit-driven insurance and healthcare companies which leaves 46 million people uninsured."

Unlike mealy-mouthed Bush, eloquent Obama takes doublespeak to a whole new level.

Even Germany and Switzerland, which don't have single payer won't allow outfits in the private sector to sell basic health care if those outfits aren't non profit organizations, strictly regulated by the central government, and sell health insurance to all who want regardless of prior health condition. The public funded option in both countries is the one that is the default or one of first resort. Those who want the privately funded one have to opt out of the publicly funded plan. That makes sense. This president doesn't, as he is a cynical Daley machine politician, and that's the real deal. We will have to scare him into backing it by having overwhelming support for the publicly funded plan as the first option and just like those in Germany and Switzerland if we aren't going to have single payer if we want to get health care coverage that really is for all and means higher quality and choice for all people. The US Congress gets the very "socialized medicine" some in that same body so demonize. So why is it their "lowly" constituents who elect these hypocrites aren't entitled to as good a health care coverage? Who the hell do these jack asses think they damn are?

AD

Even Germany and Switzerland, which don't have single payer won't allow outfits in the private sector to sell basic health care if those outfits aren't non profit organizations, strictly regulated by the central government, and sell health insurance to all who want regardless of prior health condition. The public funded option in both countries is the one that is the default or one of first resort. Those who want the privately funded one have to opt out of the publicly funded plan. That makes sense. This president doesn't, as he is a cynical Daley machine politician, and that's the real deal. We will have to scare him into backing it by having overwhelming support for the publicly funded plan as the first option and just like those in Germany and Switzerland if we aren't going to have single payer if we want to get health care coverage that really is for all and means higher quality and choice for all people. The US Congress gets the very "socialized medicine" some in that same body so demonize. So why is it their "lowly" constituents who elect these hypocrites aren't entitled to as good a health care coverage? Who the hell do these jack asses think they damn are?

AD

So, what happens to HR676 and S703 in all of this. Those are both single payer bills in the House and Senate respectively. Why is no attention being paid to existing bills in already in committee, except that to the committee is where bills like these are sent to be embalmed and buried.
I don't like the "scripted" and "talking points" part of the plan. Kind of like the dummy being briefed by the ventriloquist; a bit reminiscent of the "grass roots" tea bagger "movement".

Maybe we should leave the "details" to the Public, and then give it to congress to pass into law word for word, except there are too many "ditto heads" and "factorers" and Coulterites" and such out here that keep chanting the Corporate mantra: "That would be Socialism, That would be Socialism, That would.........". We won't get anything passed for "We the People" when many of "Us" are on the other side, bought and paid for to lend support against our own good interests.