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TechnoratiMax Baucus Should Not Be Deciding Health Care for America
The “Senator for K Street” is Putting Campaign Donor Profits Ahead of the Basic Needs of the People
Senator Max Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee are too corrupted by corporate health industry profiteers donations to give America the health care policy it needs.
Health care is 15% of the U.S. gross domestic product. U.S. health care expenditures, which have been rising rapidly for several years, surpassed $2.4 trillion in 2007, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990. The cost of health care is projected to reach $4.4 trillion by 2018. There is a lot of room for corporate profiteering in the increasing cost of health care. The millions the health care industry has invested in Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee could therefore turn out to be very profitable.
It is evident that any bill that comes out of the Senate Finance Committee will be a pro-industry bill that will ensure trillions in profits for the health insurance industry, HMOs and the pharmaceutical industry.
Baucus has held two hearings so far and has refused to allow advocates for the most popular reform-a single payer national health policy-to even testify. Single payer "improved Medicare for all" is favored by more than 60% of Americans as well as majorities of doctors, nurses and economists. It is the most cost-effective and efficient way to provide health care to all Americans from cradle to grave.
Why aren't single payer advocates allowed to testify before Baucus' committee? Follow the money. Campaign donations explain why, and demonstrate that the Senate Finance Committee should not be in charge of health care. Senator Reid should remove the health care reform bill from Baucus and start all over before the Health Committee in the Senate.
Here's why Baucus is not doing the people's business:
According to OpenSecrets.org, over his career he has taken donations from:
* The Insurance Industry: $1,170,313
* Health Professionals: $1,016,276
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry: $734,605
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $541,891
* Health Services/HMOs: $439,700
Baucus has shown his bias and should be removed from leading the health care reform effort by the Democratic Party leadership.
That is a grand total of $3,902,785. Can we trust Baucus to put aside the profits of the industries that have kept him in the Senate? Will he put the people's necessities ahead of the profits of his contributors?
In 2008 Baucus had virtually no challenger in Montana. A little-known Republican was on the ballot, and Baucus won with 73% of the vote. But, Baucus sought big donations from big business anyway. He used his connections to corporations with business before his committee to raise an immense campaign fund of more than $11 million. In 2008, 91% of his donations come from individuals living outside of Montana, which is why he is more the "Senator for K Street" then the Senator for Montana. Corporate health profiteers who invested in Baucus will now benefit from his stewardship over health care reform. His 2008 donations from health care profiteers included:
* Insurance: $592,185
* Health Professionals: $537,141
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $524,813
* Health Services/HMOs: $364,500
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $332,826
That is $1,826,652 Baucus took from these industries, and now he can reward them by deforming health care reform.
The health care profiteers knew that Baucus would determine their fate and ponied up. Now the only thing standing between them and their payback is a single payer national health care plan. Yet single payer, which would end private insurance and control the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, is not being considered-not even allowed to participate in the conversation before Baucus.
It is not just the chairman of the committee who has received massive donations. The full Finance Committee is a gluttonous embarrassment of campaign pay-offs. In 2008 the committee members received a total of $13,263,986 from industries affected by health care reform. Can we trust this committee to put the interests of the people before their donors?
The donations to the Finance Committee in 2008 included:
* Insurance: $5,103,900
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $3,308,831
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $2,809,353
* Health Services/HMOs: $2,041,902
These industries expect to be rewarded with billions, even trillions, in profits and hundreds of millions in corporate welfare. Senator Baucus's behavior shows they have made a good investment-they've bought themselves a senator who should be called Chairman Blagojevich. He is doing his best to make sure the single payer message is not heard because he knows it is the fairest, most efficient and cost-effective way to ensure health care access for all Americans-but he can't let that be implemented because it would put some of his donors out of business and control the profits of others.
It is time to remove Baucus from the leadership of health care reform. It is time to move the critically important priority of reforming America's health care system from the Finance Committee and put it before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. At least their mission is health care, not money.
96 Comments so far
Show AllFrom pnhp.org's Single Payer FAQ:
"The Medicare program operates with just 3% overhead, compared to 15% to 25% overhead at a typical HMO. Provincial single-payer plans in Canada have an overhead of about 1%."
"The VA gets a 40% discount on drugs because of its buying power. This “monopsony” buying power is the main reason why other countries’ drug prices are lower than ours."
"because Medicaid doesn’t serve the wealthy, the payment rates are low and many physicians refuse to see Medicaid patients. Calls to improve Medicaid fall on deaf ears"
"allowing the development of a parallel, private system for the wealthy means the creation of a permanent lobby for underfunding public care."
"If private insurers are allowed to cherry-pick the healthy, leaving the public health care system with the very sick, the system will fail."
"This, in fact, is what we see happening to Medicare through the Medicare Advantage program."
"Japan and Europe are already facing the problem of an aging population head-on and are doing fine. They have a much higher percentage of elderly than we do, and still spend far less on health care."
"There are three reasons why the U.S. health care system costs more than other systems throughout the world. One, we spend two to three times as much as they do on administration. Two, we have much more excess capacity of expensive technology than they do (more CT scanners, MRI scanners, and surgery suites). Three, we pay higher prices for services than they do."
"past competitive activities in health care under a free market system have been wasteful and expensive, and are the major cause of rising costs."
"When, for example, hospitals compete they often duplicate expensive equipment in order to corner more of the market for lucrative procedure-oriented care. This drives up overall medical costs to pay for the equipment and encourages overtreatment. They also waste money on advertising and marketing. The preferred scenario has hospitals coordinating services and cooperating to meet the needs of their communities."
Open season on lobbyists... only way. A fatwah.
yohocoma,
Your 2:29 comments caused me to wonder about how many doctors you know well. It is not unusual for many doctors to work 80+ hours a week.
That's actually two jobs. Most of my colleagues do work that much as well as support an office staff from their incomes. Aside from office rent and staff salaries to name a few expenses, there is liability insurance needed to get hospital privileges if you're a doctor who goes to hospitals. Even if you have never been sued and do just one surgery you pay (thousands per year) the same as someone who has been sued and who does 150 surgeries. These are significant expenses that don't begin (at the soonest) until you are 30 years old, which, however, is when the income you complained about begins.
Until that time you have spent 8 years in college and 4 more in training with no or less than average income and a debt accruing from the education that today amounts to $100-200,000. When I went to med school and graduated 42 years ago, doctors in training had no restrictions on the number of hours per week they worked and expenses were minimal. Often an intern or resident would work 24+ hours straight and then be on call a day later. That changed a few years ago and doctors now in training are limited to only 80 hours a week.
Most doctors I know are interested in making money and a large percentage are workaholics. None, however, is more interested in money than in giving the best possible care to their patients. Most feel the system has changed to the point that it is broken and needs fixing.
The national average for physicians wanting single payer healthcare is over 50%. We are very concerened about the changes that have taken place in medicine which include interlopers taking a large share of the healthcare money spent without doing any of the actual work. Profit driven healthcare in my opinion is as inappropriate as a for-profit fire department.
As part of health care reform let me suggest that tuition-free medical schools, living-wage salaries for doctors in training and meaningful compensation and care for injured patients instead of the current liability insurance scheme would be a good start toward non-profit health care for everyone.
N It Together, your last paragraph has excellent suggestions. I worked as a nurse at Stony Brook NY and thought the environment for the residents was horrific. And that was in 1992 after laws had been passed somewhat improving the conditions for residents.
The most recent poll I read was 59% of doctors prefer single payer. I'm sure we will reach the point where the only ones opposed will be the insurance industry and their shills in the House and Senate (and a few crazy Libertarians).
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Experience tells me that even with the cost of liability, staffing, leasing, med school, etc., doctors make out very, very well compared to the rest of society, and even compared to most other professionals, and that's the thrust of my previous post.
I'm aware of the high cost of liability insurance and I understand this is a burden on doctors. "Consumer protection" is necessary for injured patients; but I'll agree with you that there must be a better system than the one the US is using, that would save costs all around.
I don't want my health care providers working long hours and running ragged, making them more prone to make mistakes with my care. That's not a plus of the US health care system, and this should be taken away as well as any extra monetary reward for it. Workaholism is not a virtue, and after a point it becomes detrimental. Still, even taking this into account I believe doctors are much overpaid.
In the total US health care overhaul, let's make doctors' pay on a par with the standards of pay doctors receive in Western European countries, for example. Let's level it out better with the rest of society. That's one of the central ideals of "everybody in, nobody out", of a more socialist framework, rather than the "get all you can get" mentality of US capitalism, which doctors have taken advantage of very well.
Similarly, hospital profits and drug company profits must be leveled out. This is all part of making the system affordable and workable for the citizens.
Insurance companies are not the only problems in the US system.
And this one is for RoR:
"If the FedGov - military spends $500 for a claw hammer, at the end of the day, there is a claw hammer that can be used to keep the barbarians from crashing thru the gate and getting me and mine. If the FedGov spends $500 for medical care, at the end of the day what is accomplished? (also, I love it when people say stuff will be 'free' if we only pay more taxes. LOL)"
"Everybody (everything) dies, get used to it."
Why spend so much defending yourself...if in the end your still going to die? Also, when's the last time barbarians attacked the US? (Excluding special interest groups.)
I did again, sucked into answering a couple of trolls. Total waste of time. We've heard their arguments ad nauseum and as usual, they offer no solutions except their insane theory that the answer to our problems is being self centered.
Just add them to the ignore list. There is no such thing as a thoughtful discussion with them anyway.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
K A T H Y,
Perhaps not a good thing for others, but I now choose to challenge the over-the-top trolls and shills, especially the new breed of nastiness we're seeing way too often.
Sometimes it is nothing worse than directing the various discussions into the dirt and fog, as some individuals are purposeful in their manipulations to re-engineer a twisted manufactured consensus. To route us away from important issues is often malicious sabotage, not some "accident" of clueless and deranged oddballs.
With some refined discernment, the distinction is pretty obvious to me -- as I've a knack for seeing through their card-board cutout existences.
Remember the adage that 1st we need to know how much another cares, before we invest in caring about them and/or their ideas ?
It is their attack of the integrity and honor of CD and its conscientious participants that irks me, because I know that ( some of ) their intent is to destroy the fabric that we weave together. They're like the landmines of blogging, that the unaware are disemboweled by, or injured to never return to receive the wisdom that they seek.
TROLLS is far too a nice of image for these agent provocateurs, who hide amidst the boorish and racists ones, but have real evil and despicable intentions to dissolve our supportive community -- exactly because we're making solid progressive "sense" -- and this result is antithetical to the very nature and neoCONing core.
We may best decide to police our own, as a civil society -- where mere shunning and lack of any response -- leaves the cancer to grow and destroy us from the inside.
Some may brand me politely "far fetched", but the Global War OF Terror is now brought by these manipulators of reality, directly to us and many other blogs.
Namaste
Or perhaps, they are just afraid, they need to turn off the TV and learn to think for themselves.
"I see you in line, dragging your feet, you have my sympathy."
Dear Encino, this one goes out to you buddy ;)
Encino:
"BSingle payer is a waste of taxpayer money and is unconstitutional. Move to another country if you want it so badly."
You know, last time I read the bill of rights, Cruel and unusual punishment (hrm...torture?), was unconsitutional, but I don't ever remember reading an amendment staying "thou shall not have publicly funded health insurance".
"Healthcare is not in the Constitution so it's not a right and shall remain a privilege"
Ever heard of the tenth amendment? No? Let me give you some insight
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
And I do believe our declaration of independence states we all have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" Health care is essential to life...no? Seems to be a fairly reasonable connection to me.
"I learned to pull myself up as a police officer"
You pulled yourself up on public funds.
"I nor RoR should be forced to give our tax dollars to lazy welfare queens"
Pretty accurately describes most cop's and politicans I've meet.
Welfare...bailout...hu?
It's alright though, most cops I've meet have had superiority complexes, makes one very self-centered. Better teach your offspring not to be so insecure, make sure they don't push us back down the evolutionary ladder like your mentality does.
"Better teach your offspring not to be so insecure, make sure they don't push us back down the evolutionary ladder like your mentality does."
I never married let alone had offspring. Them damn women always want everything too nice or I can't be with them but I love to play tough and rough like John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm 63 and am proud to have defended this nation even if I had to batter or kill a few trouble makers to get it done. I was also like a tough sergeant as a top-notch manager at a health insurance corporation. Every meeting, I'd make sure that employees had their bladders empty before the meetings because I'd talk tough and loud and whack the stick on the wall and make them pay attention. The female employees are so damn touchy and have a habit of wetting themselves and crying too often. If I detected a female employee getting pregnant, I'd have her laid off and replaced. She can pay for her own pregnancy crap and take care of herself. Most women take time to get back to being productive after pregnancy so it's better to let them go. I haven't received any complaints though a couple of women committed suicide after they suspected that I laid them off for detecting that they're getting pregnant and unproductive. It was my tough and rough attitude that made me and the company a tough to beat success. I'm a self-employeed entrepreneur doing business with other huge corporations and trading on Wall Street like a bulldozer. I've even taught a few corporations how to get tough with the politicians in Washington when they won't listen. I even helped a couple of health insurance industries in Oregon and Tennessee get tougher on government sponsored health care legislation they call "single payer". Freedom is the power to choose, not for government to give lazy poor losers welfare handouts.
EncinoM wrote:
"Freedom is the power to choose, not for government to give lazy poor losers welfare handouts."
EncinoM, crusader against Wall Street welfare kings and queens! You go, you commie! Take down those Wall Street sharpies, EncinoM!
Considering all those "lazy poor losers" getting "welfare handouts", even though they will be PAYING for them in taxes, makes about as much sense as everything you've posted so far. Then again, all those huge corporations that are getting bailouts...at those "lazy poor losers" expense is ok because it's welfare for the rich? I also suspect your full of sh*t about your business, but that's just my personal opinion.
Some advice, there's more important things than money, it's ok to step outside the box, instead of suffocating yourself and everyone else inside, or maybe in your case, just suffocate yourself and do everyone else a favor ;)
I can only imagine how deeply sad and lonely you are inside that tough SOB exterior of yours... hopefully all that money you make is able to buy you some temporary happiness - until it doesn't anymore. You are only fooling yourself...
RoR is right. Government has no business deciding people's healthcare. It's not in the Constitution. Defense spending is constitutional because the Founding Fathers made defending the country a high priority, not giving out welfare handouts. Single payer health care is way too costly and neither I nor RoR should be forced to give our tax dollars to lazy welfare queens. I learned to pull myself up as a police officer, later a mercenary, later a top-notch John Wayne kick ass manager, and now an entrepreneur and I took personal responsibility seriously. Healthcare is not in the Constitution so it's not a right and shall remain a privilege whereas the right to own guns and defend the country is. Passing single payer health care means more big government intrusion and killing the Constitution. Try passing an amendment first before asking for single payer if you dare.
EncinoM, when cops get shot or get a paper cut when they are writing a ticket who pays for their treatment?
By your standards they should have their own insurance policies and any deductibles should be paid by the injured officer. I don't like cops, so why should my property tax dollars go to fix them up. Furthermore since I own a gun, I don't need or want the "protection" or the "service" of my local police department(good for nothing freeloaders}, why should my property taxes pay for their salary. The same goes for the Military(trained killers), I have no use for them either. But I live in a democracy, and I understand that majority rules in this type of system(before any one starts LOL that's they way is supposed to work). Oh, the reason for the second amendment was that the US did not have a standing army(on purpose), they relied on well regulated Militia(The term militia refers to a military force composed of ordinary citizens). So using your logic since the defense department is not in the constitution it is a privilege there for my taxes should not be used to pay for it.
EncinoM--
Have you ever actually READ the Constitution you babble about? Here's the preamble:
"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, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
So the federal government has a clear CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to "PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE." This is not about your racist smear about "welfare queens"--besides, poor people are already covered by Medicaid, you dolt. This is about covering the 50 million middle-class Americans who lack health insurance and who are thus are at risk of illness, death, and/or bankruptcy if they fall ill--these are the people who can't afford private care, don't qualify for Medicaid (not poor enough) or Medicare (not old enough). SOme 20,000 of them are dying every year, that is mass carnage--SEVEN 9/11s EVERY YEAR--because of this country's criminally negligent health-care "system."
The government has a constitutional duty to "secure the welfare" of these people by making sure they get adequate medical care.
Moreover, if you would actually study world health systems, you would know that publicly funded systems around the world are the LEAST costly per capita and the MOST efficient--Canada, Europe, and Japan have HALF the per capita annual health care costs of the United States. See the following:
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm
Single payer, because of its inherently low overhead and the lack of redundant billing bureaucracies, would save by far the MOST money of any proposed reform.
You, sir, are an ignoramus and a fool.
I earned this air and sunlight and water by pulling myself up by my diapers and no one is going to take it away from me even if I have to jab them with my diaper pin.
I've gone long past diapers but I see you're still in them. Government doesn't change your diapers.
Your brain could sure use some diapering assuming it can be repaired. If I remember you from alternet.org, you were the same clown that said "Rush Limbaugh is an analyst" ! You have a habit of defending Rush Limbaugh on alternet.org even when everyone pounds you for being such a rightwing troll. You were especially mean to "Bliss Doubt" but I'm glad Quannah kicks your butt every time you troll.
ror maybe someone elses kid will invent a cure for stupidity and then you can get a overdose- you need it! we are all in it together in the frame work of a true democracy
which we no longer have! isn't rush on?
We should send our sick and dying to Max Baucus with a note: "You took the money - now YOU cure them" or else!
Not only Wall St. it seems owns DC. The Ins. Industry is right there with it's snout in the trough. We can forget about a meaningful change coming out of DC from either party on bread and butter issues. The BIG CORPS own the place lock stock and barrel.
Two Observations:
1. The US has a far higher percentage of it's citizens in prison than any other country. It is actually a form of junk socialism. Prisoners do get their basic living conditions provided free or close to free. And ironically, prisoners in most cases get better health care than non-prisoners who can not afford health insurance.
2. A far higher percentage of the US economy is consumed by the military and by health care than any other country. Aside from greed and mismanagement in the financial sector, the other precondition for the current depression (or at least severe depression) was the relative lack of resources for industires other than military and health care.
It is hard to imagine how the US can ever again effectively compete with successful European and Asian economies that have far more diversified economies than the US does, unless both military and health care spending is brought under some control.
The Country with the HIGHEST trade exports is Not the United States. It is not slave wage labor China and its 1.5 billion people.
It is Germany. Germany has a high wage structure, strong unions and schools and less then a third of the population of the United States.
They have a much smaller land mass then the USA and less in the way of Natural resources.
Now they certainly suffer from the economic downturn and are no utopia but how is it that German Industry can remain competitive with China ?
Could their investments in health Care and other social programs that ensure an EDUCATED population play a role?
The "I got mine and to hell with everyone else attitude" will bankrupt the United States of America.
Single payer healthcare would actually bring health care spending under control and make the government make better use of the money we send to them every April 15th but our pols are hell bent on diverting the money towards more weapons of mass destruction of all forms. Military spending is a complete joke. What have we won or accomplished after WWII? Nothing and don't get me started with Cold War. The US never made USSR come to its senses. USSR crumbled long before Reagan came to power.
How about removing all Senators except for Bernard Sanders and replacing them with Independents? I've talked to various Independent 3rd party voters and except for the Libertarians, all of them are for single payer health care ! Neither the Republicans nor Democrats care to support single payer healthcare. Even in the House of Representatives, very few Democrats support HR 676 and even amongst them, none of them are pushing for HR 676.
I emailed a letter to my senators Kohl and Feingold expressing my outrage with what Baucus did to the advocates of single payer health care. Feingold wrote back a letter apologizing saying he was sorry but that nothing could be done about it. Kohl took a while and then he wrote back calling me a "disruptive" citizen begging for government to do everything for me !! I called back and after a few attempts finally reached one of his staffers who was very rude. He got personal asking questions about my life and how much I make. Like my stupid conservative family, he insists that I get a better job and quit bugging the government for healthcare. According to him, there's no money for what he calls "such wasteful spending". Herb Kohl is a hardline DLCer and nobody primaries him. Senator Feingold, despite his progressive populism streak, is always the target of Republicans just like Paul Wellstone. I'm disappointed with both senators but I am especially disgusted with the way Kohl and his staffers talked to me when I tried to get them to listen to my making the case for single payer healthcare. How many more senators are just as rude and arrogant as Kohl ??
I agree with your first paragraph.
I've gotten the same responses from both Senator Mark Warner and Representative Frank Wolf. Wolf is Republican so I'd expect "welfare queen" responses from that creep. Warner was nothing but a lousy governor to begin with and his receiving a major endorsement from the US Chamber of Commerce was already a sign that he was a corporatist to come. He opposes single payer too and he had the nerve to reply "And that's why Democrats lose. We can't keep engaging in more government bureaucracy and that's what single payer does." He even went on ranting about his defense of Max Baucus's assault on the advocates for single payer. I'll bet that at least 75 US senators are just as rude as Warner and Kohl.
But if our pols aren't bad enough, we have rightwing trolls such as EncinoM and RoR who emulate the Joe the Plumber talking points.
There is nothing so fearful as a single payer system.
Imagine all those companies that shuffle paper all day, all those advertisements by the health care providers and insurers, then there are the recipients of campaign contrabutions, etc.
There is a lot of people working for those companies and politicians whose income rely on the health care industry. The unfortuant thing is they have nothing to do with providing health care to the "client". They are only an economic burden.
Why does health care cost so much less in Canada, which uses a single payer system. It is efficient as all those people are not required to run/manage the "system". Supplies and services are negotiated and purchased in bulk. The "middlemen/women" are not "needed". Advertising is not needed.
Medications cost less in a single payer system as all the advertising for prescription medications is not required. The difference between medications in the US and Canada is due to advertising. Look at their advertising budgets here in the US. It is not research costs as some would like you to believe.
No kidding!
Lest we forget, it's the Democratic leadership that put Baucus in position to bury single payer and line the pockets of "big medicine".
Yohocoma, you're not being fair. 59% of doctors support single payer, only 30% are members of the regressive AMA. Doctors and nurses are getting arrested for asking why isn't single payer one of the "all options on the table". Doctors and nurses are out marching and picketing for single payer.
Are you?
RoR, that $13 million paid to the finance committee to keep single payer off the table came out of our pockets to supposedly pay for health care. Is that how you want your money spent? And let's not get started on their salaries, perks, golden parachutes. All out of our pockets while they deny claims. Of course I realize if you're being paid to say this you're not listening.
If we had single payer, 95% of taxpayers would pay a total of 3.5% income tax for all their health care needs, including dental and prescription. For a family making $40,000 taxable income that would be $1400 a year and peace of mind with no more medical bankruptcies and for the uninsured, no more dying from lack of insurance. Businesses would be globally competitive. More and more small businesses are another group that wants single payer.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"If we had single payer, 95% of taxpayers would pay a total of 3.5% income tax for all their health care needs, including dental and prescription. For a family making $40,000 taxable income that would be $1400 a year and peace of mind with no more medical bankruptcies and for the uninsured, no more dying from lack of insurance."
That's not true. We would have to be paying more in taxes to pay for irresponsible people's health problems. With insurance companies, you get to decide what you want and what you don't and it's your choice and responsibility to take care of yourself, not the government's. Healthcare is not in the Constitution so it's not a right but a privilege for those who deserve it, not lazy welfare queens.
EncinoM--
Have you ever actually READ the Constitution you babble about? Here's the preamble:
"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, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
So the federal government has a clear CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to "PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE." Now when 50 million people are at risk of illness, death, and/or poverty because they have no health insurance--can't afford private care, don't qualify for Medicaid (not poor enough) or Medicare (not old enough)--and 20,000 of them are dying every year, that is mass carnage--SEVEN 9/11s EVERY YEAR--because of this country's criminally negligent health-care "system."
The government has a constitutional duty to "secure the welfare" of these people by making sure they get adequate medical care.
You, sir, are an ignoramus and a fool.
vanmungo, good post. But a waste of time to address EncinoM. Have you noticed that when the topic under discussion is health care and single payer the trolls flood in? Makes me suspect they are paid to be disruptive.
CNA/NNOC emailed me three great videos about single payer. No link, I can only forward them. But anyone can sign up with CNA/NNOC and be kept up with what they are doing, which is valiantly fighting for us.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
EncinoM yesterday admitted to working as a manager under big insurance and he angered us with his "John Wayne" talk yesterday and today. He claims to be a self-paid entrepreneur but I too bet that he is being paid to badmouth single payer. He has done this before on alternet.org and he's very conservative on both foreign policy and the economy. He's made lots of enemies. EncinoM is a staunch defender of status quo. We should seriously ignore him. Let's also add Nebraska Nathan1 and RoR to the list.
EncinoM if you can't do your homework, you should keep your mouth shut. You might start by watching SiCKO and reading the bill before Congress HR676. But if you knew what you were talking about you wouldn't have anything to say. Fire departments aren't in the Constitution either. Do you oppose them?
The only welfare queens in this country are bankers. To the tune of $13 trillion. Happy now?
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Sicko by Michael Moore? You actually believe all that propaganda from that fat slob? He only publishes such propaganda to make money. Fire departments are part of defending the nation. Handing out healthcare benefits to lazy slobs isn't. The bankers had to be bailed out or else the economy wouldn't have turned around. Where are you going to stuff your money without banks? Banks aren't the problem. The problem lies with the customer who didn't do their homework before getting a mortgage. If it weren't for all those dumb bell losers wanting to profit from selling their houses, the banks wouldn't have been strapped for cash. Bush and Obama did the right thing by bailing out the banks so that the capital would be flowing once again.
EncinoM,
I, and most of us, know many people who work VERY hard every day and are not able to afford the huge premiums for health care coverage. That's because living wages are not paid by many employers--even the ones who can afford to be paying their workers much more. Referring to those without coverage as "lazy slobs" shows a lack of understanding of the plight of so many of our fellow Americans. We have the largest gap between rich and poor than any other developed nation.
Let us debate more respectfully.
truejusticematters.blogspot.com
Relax. A compromise is being worked out. We'll get to single payer even if it takes a century. Don't worry. Be Happy. LOL !
Everyone posting on this forum will be dead by then. Most of their kids will be dead, too. Hey, but at least their grandkids will have single-payer in their old age!
That is, if single payer even makes it.
The huge sums spent by industry to buy policy are disgusting, just another example of an economy founded on waste, non-productivity, and, ultimately, destruction.
The US govt has got to be the most corrupt anywhere, including all the other planets.
The only way out of this and every other bought and paid for screwing that we are and are going to be getting is through SERIOUS campaign finance reform. Until we take the private money out of politics, NOTHING will change, or even has the opportunity to.
We have to end corporate personhood, remove ALL private money from elections (ALL of them), and make it completely illegal to give gifts or money to congress people under penalty of jail time for BOTH parties. Using one's own money for elections should also be illegal.
Until we remove the rot, the stench will continue. No matter what the SCOTUS says, money and speech are NOT the same things. Money corrupts, speech does not. Money ruins most things that are attached to it, speech can only improve the situation. It's clear that Baccus knows that OUR speech will destroy the pretense of his "honesty". He must GO.
What we have now is completely unsustainable, and about ten times more expensive for those of us who have lost everything under the last 28 years of Republican and right wing rule. It's time to stop this idiocy. And until we take the private money out of politics, WE will lose every time. It's time to clean house.
There is a bill in Congress today to get public finance of political campaigns. It will limit contributions to $100.00 per person (no corporate funding) to any candidate that receives public finance (and TV time). The funds for these campaigns will come from companies that receive contracts of over $500,000 and from an assessment fee on the sales of new broadcast spectrums to broadcasters. The bill, the Fair Elections Now Act, is HR 1826 in the House and S 752 in the Senate.
ANY bill put forward by anyone in congress (with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders) is useless. ANYTHING that makes it "voluntary" to do public financing is a waste of time. NO ONE would take that option if there are others available.
What I am talking about is a system that makes it ILLEGAL for ANY private money to be involved.
1) If you are running for an office, you get a certain amount of money, and that is ALL you are allowed. NO private money, NO family money, NO corporate money. PERIOD.
2) A certain amount of air time is included, as that is the price of having a license to broadcast. Those pieces of paper that allow you to broadcast cost NOTHING, they are a license to print money. The very least you can do is to give back for your millions in revenue.
3) ANY corporation found to be giving money or gifts to a candidate is immediately disbanded, and the candidate is put in jail. NO exceptions. This also goes for any private individual involved in such activities.
Ideas and plans are what should count in an election, not how much money some schmuck can throw into a market. This would also be a way to eliminate the constant incumbent advantage. One of the biggest problems we have is the stagnation in BOTH houses of congress. These dirt bags think we OWE them a living making our lives hell. I say send them ALL home and start over. TWO terms for senate, 6 for house. PERIOD. NO exceptions. If we can limit the president to two, then we can certainly limit those in congress as well. 12 years is long enough for anyone.
BTW, as long as we don't get nationalized health care, I see no reason for congress to have it. Take that away from them. Lower their compensation to no more than twice what the average worker makes, as well. Hell, most of them are FAR more wealthy than any of us are, and those in the senate are generally millionaires to begin with. They don't NEED OUR money. And let's limit their pensions, too. Why pay pensions to millionaires, especially since WE don't get them anymore?
Elected office should return to being a position one takes for the good of the nation, not of oneself. It's turned into nothing but a greedy hearts club, and it's time to rid ourselves of that.
ANY system that makes it voluntary to take public money instead of private is nothing but a smokescreen. It allows congress to say they have changed things while actually changing NOTHING at all. It is going to take US forcing it down their throats, just like they've done to us with every miserable law they have passed in the last 28 years.
And like I said, until we get rid of the private money, only those with enough money to throw it at the whores in congress will get anything at all. And it will ALL be at OUR expense.
You seemed to be misinformed.
There is a single-payer bill in the House that would essentially do away with the HMOs and all profiteering in the health-insurance sector. It is HR676. See
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/united_states_national_health_care_act_hr_676.php
The bill has 76 cosponsors.
The Senate single-payer bill is S703, initiated by Bernie Sanders. So far it has no cosponsors.
So calm down long enough to get informed on this issues before you go off on a rant.
If you want a good summary of the issues and want to keep up with activism on this issue, go to
www.pnhp.org
www.singlepayeraction.org
http://www.1payer.net/
READ what the comment was about BEFORE you rant in my face. I wasn't talking about 676, I am WELL aware of it. READ my comment, and you will see that it is NOT about that at all. It was about CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, NOT health care reform. READ IT if you are going to bitch at me about it.
Apples and oranges.
My point is that until we reform the electoral system, we will NEVER ANY bill like 676 through EITHER house of congress, let alone anywhere near a president's desk. And if it DOES get there, it will be so watered down by the big money grafters that it won't mean a damned thing to any of US at all.
Do you get it yet?
First of all, your premise is incorrect. It is possible to win important victories short of full public financing of elections. Your position is essentially defeatist.
Now--as regards what I "get." What I get is that you have the temperament of a rhinoceros in heat on methedrine. You write like someone giving dictation in a straightjacket in a padded cell.
I hope that single payer passes so that you can get some serious psychotherapy before you do harm to yourself or someone else.
And wipe the foam from your mouth. It's gross.
I'm not a defeatist, I am a realist. I have my eyes open and can see the way things are. And it drives me to absolute distraction that it's not glaringly obvious to others.
Do you REALLY think that 676 stands as much chance of getting out of committee without being watered down as a snowball in hell? There are literally hundreds of billions of dollars involved here, do you think that the insurance companies are going to let you take that away from them just because you WANT it? Over 60% of the public knows that single payer is the ONLY way that works. In today's political environment, that is a HUGE number. And it's only going to get bigger as time goes on. Who is the ONE group of people that isn't even allowed to testify in this discussion? The single payer people. The money is going to make this decision, and it just doesn't matter what you or I think, want or need.
My attitude is sometimes angry, yes, and your comment basically put me into overdrive. You tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about and bring up something that wasn't even close to what I was discussing. It told me that you hadn't read a word I had written, you were just here to tell me I'm wrong. I don't see much else in your last statement.
For the record, I have spent the last 30 years keeping an eye on this and other situations, so don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I know all too well what I'm talking about. I have watched this country go from a position of power and strength to being the largest third world country on the planet. I have watched those who hate gov't take it over and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it doesn't work when the likes of them do the job. I have watched the people of this country take a serious beating from it's own "leaders" and keep coming back for more. And the whole time I have been telling people about it and pointing out the reality, and just being either insulted or ignored for it. I have watched money become the ONLY thing that matters to the country, and watched every other aspect of our lives disappear before my eyes. So don't tell me that I don't know what I am talking about. I know all too well what I am talking about.
You, on the other hand are being naive. But go ahead and be an optimist, we need all of you that we can get. But don't think for a minute that because you look at something differently than I do that I don't know what I'm talking about. I know all too well. And I don't believe that 676 stands a chance in hell of even being voted on, let alone passing. It will not be implemented unless and until the money no longer calls the shots. And until we get rid of the current system of institutionalized graft, it's not going to happen. If it stood a chance, it would have FAR more of our congress people behind it than it does. I wish it would, but it won't. Too much money against it. You and I don't mean a thing as long as it's money that is calling the game. Try and talk to your congressman or woman either on the phone or in person. Unless you have shelled out millions to them, it just ain't going to happen.
I apologize for my tone. But I DO know what I'm talking about, and I have full awareness of what I'm talking about. And I'm getting damned tired of being told that I am crazy when I see it very clearly and have for over 3 decades now.
WJM, If sanity is the condition of the American public, then I rather be insane.
That's the reason I chose my handle. We need to use our common seance to kick the "sane" in the ass and see if their brain is still functioning.
Yep, remember how we had the McCain-Feingold "we're workin on it" fraud of campaign finance reform? I guess Obama put an end to that charade. I understand there is another similar bill floating around to make public finance voluntary again. It's just a way to prolong the fraud. The only way to have meaningful campaign reform is to declare that while speech may be free, bribery is a crime, and for elections to be fair the playing field has to be level.
Same with healthcare. All they propose are appeasements to make it look like something might get done so they can keep on looting.
Baucus is an amateur when it comes to taking money from the health insurance industry. The real champ is Ted Kennedy, long-time chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee. First step in getting health care reform is getting the old drunk off of that committee.
Hey Teddy, did you enjoy your deluxe healthcare coverage on your recent hospitalization? Bet you got the best coverage provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield. We pay for most of it, but I understand all federal employees are seeing their premiums go up again, by 8% in 2009. Good deal for you, Teddy, but I was disgusted to hear you badmouth the uninsured as the cause of high premiums. I'm more inclined to see YOU, Teddy, and all your check-cashing friends selling out the American people as the problem.
The whores in Congress, such as Baucus, who are willing to sell their vote for money are destroying our democracy with IMPUNITY!!! They should be ousted upon the first appearance of their abominable corruption!!!
There's only one possible solution to the constant interference in, and buying off of, our government by special interests. LOBBYING our congressional and government personnel in any form from which they gain a personal benefit must be OUTLAWED and made into a CRIMINAL OFFENSE!
It's the only way to return our country to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Our congressional personnel are currently operating under a distorted belief that they are both the masters and beneficiaries of a "government of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite" (special interests) of which they are, de facto, a part.
Our political leaders are not stupid. They know that "you don't bite the hand that feeds you." And they are constantly being fed plenty (in the form of money, privileges, and notoriety by every special interest imaginable). When are we going to wake up and DEMAND a return to the government that was fashioned by our founding fathers (who were common people) - a government of the people, by the people, and for the people?????
Creating a third party is NOT the solution. It would be only a matter of time (and probably a very short time) before that third party would be just as dirty as the others.
MAKE LOBBYING A CRIMINAL OFFENSE!!!! (It unfairly robs American Citizens of the right to have an equal voice in our government. The whores will promise us anything to get in the congressional door and, once they get in, it's all about the money they can rake in!!! The hell with the suckers who voted them in!!!)
FrankS, the problem is that the lawyers for these corporations are the the ones writing the laws. We need to amend the Constitution to allow ordinary people to put measures on the ballot, or an amendment that allows for recalls of elected officials (including the President). Then and only then would you be able to pass such a law. Certainly the Lawyers, and the politicians(I don't have the numbers but most politicians are lawyers)will NEVER allow that bill to become law. And if by a miracle lobbying was to be outlawed, then the Supreme court would rule it Unconstitutional.
Lobbying is basically legalized bribery. I agree, it should be banned.
YEAH! What he said/wrote...!!!! Publicly post the $$$$ influence on our legislators as it comes in, along with the votes that they cast, and if anyone still is interested, ACT on the outrage(write letters, inform others)...oh, never mind, my programs just came on...
The only thing Mack's Baucus is thinking about, the only decision he is struggling to make, is which prostitute he'll be seeing next and should she defecate or urinate on him this time.
… politics is a lot like going to the ophthalmologist :
" Is number 1 better, or
_ is number 2 better ? "
Think strategically. Think long term. Think in terms of principle. Even if we lose this round, the "reform" that these corporate interests enact will fail. In two or three years we will be at this again. Now is the time to build a political movement strong enough to continue the challenge in the primaries today and to hammer away in electoral contest in the future. Like Harbvey Milk did coming back again and again, defeat after defeat until he finally prevailed. In my district, (4th Congressional PA )we are up against bullies like Jason Altmire who confronts those who want Single Payer and snarls at them, "You are a minority, you don't represent a significant part of your district and you are not going to get Single Payer." There is only one answer to him, to build a political movement strong enough to put him out of office. Like the situation in California we will just have to keep coming back primary after primary, election after election, each wave stronger, each time making the oposition have to pay more to defend their lies, each time making our case stronger as we wittness the failure of the private corporate approach. Now we are dismissed. If we get a bit stronger they will try to coopt us, finally they will have to listen because there will be no other way for them to be elected. We are at the begining of this fight. How badly do we want this? How willing are we to fight?
You're not alone. Senator Kohl and his staffers are just as obnoxious and bullying as Rep Altmire. I agree with the need to keep primarying these lousy pols election after election.
Backass is not the only senator on the Finance Committee
He, in fact, is not even on the Subcommittee on Health Care
which is under the chairmanship of Rockefeller.
Schumer and Kerry are both on the Health Sub-Committee. Backass is not on the Health Sub-Committee.
Both are usually the first to bitch and complain. Why have they been so quiet on this issue?
It's time to ask these pompous assholes where they stand and why they are powerless when they represent the majority party on the Finance Committee.
Could it be that the Democratic Party is really a party of frauds - headed by a talented mouthpiece.
Considering what the businesses mentioned invested in Senator Max Baucus and are potentially getting in return, it is further affirmation of two things: politics is a good investment for business and some of the cheapest whores in America walk around in business suits in the halls of Congress.
"It is time to move the critically important priority of reforming America's health care system from the Finance Committee and put it before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee."
Oh, that'll fix everything.
"At least their mission is health care, not money."
*cough*
Now I'm going to go into a vegetable patch and wait on the Great Pumpkin.
--
Eric Patton
Cincinnati, OH
ebpatton@yahoo.com
The windup doll speaks again!
Quoth the windup doll:
Don't take any action to remedy any human ill. Just sit at your keyboard all day and type pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
Ya' think this doll's battery will every die? Must be a super energizer . . .
relax kevin - baucus is not in charge of one-payer health insurance
he is in charge of the do nothing blitherings that are supposed to seem like some kind of official process
in the end we will still have no health care but the nwo/controllers will have put us off for yet another year or two
let's face it: the controllers are making big bucks from sickness and they are not going to give up the easy cash
they have us by the balls and if there is any movement at all it will be to squeeze harder
mine are already sore - so to speak
how are yours
Baucus is in charge of the 'do nothing bliterings' that the Democrats are having. For those of you who still think the Democrats are the 'lesser of two evils', face the fact that the Democrats are EVIL and don't give any attention to any but the people who give them big 'donations' (bribes!)
Last week the good Senator Baucus had a nice gathering in San Francisco for the Democrats. Out in front of the mansion where the Senator was having a dinner party for Democrats were some thirty people with card board signs that said, "Put Single Payer on the table!". The invited guests, good Democrats, came to the party in their expensive cars that the valet service would park for them. These men (all men) were wearing VERY EXPENSIVE SUITS AND SILK TIES. The point I am making is that these guys were not working class. They are very wealthy. Rich people think the current system of health care is just fine.
The sad fact is that only these very rich men have ANY INFLUENCE IN OUR GOVERNMENT.
These rich guys have purchased BOTH OF THE MAJOR PARTIES. If you support Single Payer you need to write three letters this week. One to your Representative and two to your Senators. You need to tell them VERY CLEARLY, that is they don't vote yes on HR 676 (Single Payer) you will NOT VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN---EVER!!! And don't forget that in the next election cycle. Don't vote for people that do not vote in your interests.
Why give them another chance? They always shrug and arrogantly say "so what?". Instead of warning them, let's just move on to voting them out already.
crushed
I wonder if there is any consternation among the Democratic representatives. The Obama Party is just as good at looting as the Bush Party was. The brand, "Democrat" is being rapidly destroyed.
Who's going to remove Baucus from his leadership role on health care? "The people"? Who's going to take this issue away from the Senate Finance Committee? "The people"? We have no influence or power in Washington, all claims to democracy having been neutralized years ago. Demanding anything from these corporate lackeys only leads to despair and cynicism. They answer to no one but their corporate puppeteers. All we have in the healthcare "debate" is articles like this and bitching about it among ourselves. We have no representation in Washington. Obama wants no more to do with single payer than Baucus does. They're all on the same corporate team and we're watching it on TV, powerless as ever. It's time for torches and pitchforks, not more repetitive words echoing back and forth.
"It's time for torches and pitchforks, not more repetitive words echoing back and forth."
I'll agree with you as long a we understand that the object of our wrath must be the health insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, and HMO administrators.
As I've pointed out previously, the professionals who actually deliver the healthcare servces are just as much victims of this insane system as the patients - oops, I mean "clients."
q
Only partially true, and we shouldn't deify doctors. The insurance-run system is an overarching problem, but many doctors game it as well to maintain the incomes they think they "deserve". I have several examples from personal experience alone that I could provide.
As part of health care reform, I think we have to ask ourselves why we let a small class of professionals - doctors - make exorbitant 6-figure incomes, often over $200,000, when so many other vital professionals in our society make much closer to the society-wide average income. Why are doctors such saints that we remunerate them in this way, but not most career scientists, or firefighters, or teachers, or hundreds of other important professions?
Teachers, for example, also require special training beyond college, and in many states now a master's degree also, yet they are constantly vilified as "having it too good" when it comes to their salaries and benefits. Their salaries are usually less than $50,000.
One crucial difference, I believe, is that teachers are usually on a public payroll, which makes them targets in our tax-averse society, but also they are simply not respected as much.
Doctors often point to their expensive training to justify their incomes, but give me an effin' break - med school isn't THAT expensive, particularly for people who will haul in well over $100K for the rest of their working lives.
Doctors have hard jobs, so much more than people working other professions that they deserve their ultra-high compensation? Let's not even go there.
I believe that doctors in many of the countries that have a universal, government-run system typically have significantly smaller incomes than do doctors in the US. Could that be a reason for many US doctors not to want the US system to change too much, and could that be why we don't see US doctors en masse protesting and storming Congress?
Bottom line - doctor, hospital, and drug company profits should all be re-examined in health care reform.
Yohocoma, you are correct to include doctors as part of the waste in our non-system of health care financing. Some doctors make far more than the $200,000 you cited. Some at the Cleveland Clinic make close to a million from what I've heard. No wonder it costs so much to be treated there.
The big culprits are the insurance companies, the high cost of pharmaceuticals, and the providers (doctors and hospitals).
Even if we forget about the high cost of the providers, getting rid of the insurance companies for the single-payer alternative would save billions for actual medical care. The overhead (administrative costs) for Medicare (single-payer for 65 and over) is between 2 and 4%. The overhead for most insurance companies runs between 15 and 30%. That is wasted money down the corporate rat-hole. It is money that goes to greedy execs and shareholders who play the stock market's casino game. We should be a more enlightened society by now. But the corporates just love our ignorance.
truejusticematters
Exactly so. I have cousin who is a surgeon and has made over a million a year for about 25 years. He's a typical rightwing prick, of course. The doctor vector is as important as any other in this debate--insurers, pharmaceuticals, hospital administrators. They all collude to keep single-payer off the table by flooding corrupt jackasses like Baucus with endless funding. Some doctors and most nurses are on our side. Baucus, the Senate financiers, and Obama are decidedly not.
Being a surgeon is a tough profession. He has to work hard and do his job very carefully lest he face frivolous lawsuits from those greedy trial lawyers. He's probably a hard worker unlike you. Single payer is a waste of taxpayer money and is unconstitutional. Move to another country if you want it so badly.
Plantation owners are businessmen who work very hard to raise cotton in Americas South. They have to continually deal with the John Browns demanding that slaves that they have invested hundreds of hard earned dollars in be freed. Freeing the slaves is a waste of resources and taxpayer dollars and is also unconstitutional.
If you want the blacks freed so badly then move to another country.
(EncimoM the First in a speech Given at the Courthouse of Montgonery Alabama May 15th 1857(
If single payer is unconstitutional, then so are publicly financed fire departments, police department, schools, sidewalks, highways, water supplies, and sewage disposal.
Besides--a survey of U.S. physicians in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine shows that 59 percent of U.S. doctors--INCLUDING SURGEONS!--favor single payer. (See http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31432035) Ya' think maybe their opinion counts for more than yours? Ya' think maybe they would roll their eyes at your deranged right-wing babble? Ya' think?
I mean--you're joking, right? No one could assert such stupidities with a straight face.
Very correct. I worked in healthcare for 25 years as a private practice psychotherapist. When the Clintons turned it all over to the HMO's I saw my income drop by 60% in one year, and then I went bankrupt. I also never turned anyone away for lack of funds.
So you went from $400/hour to only $160/hour?
He/she couldn't possibly make 80/hr even in the best of times unless he had a top position. What was his actual position?
I had to smile at the banal response of RoR (another health insurance troll).
Obviously, he (?) doesn't mind how often the corrupt for-profit healthcare industry sticks ITS hands in his pockets.
Right-wing fools who whine about having to pay more in taxes try to ignore the fact that they wind up paying far more to the private sector for the same service, whether it's healthcare or garbage collection.
q
PS Who else would love to see Kevin Zeese on the Supreme Court?
I've been following (thanks to commondreams) with great consternation the plight of the courageous physicians, nurses, and other single-payer advocates who were arrested during one of Sen. Baucus' "reform" hearings. I had seen these brave people live as C-SPAN covered the hearing. There was hardly a word about the incident in mainstream news outlets precisely because we and they are owned by the corporations. It was only on commondreams, some weeks later, that I found out that the protesters had been arrested.
We should all be contacting the corporate news outlets to protest their virtual non-coverage of anything remotely suggestive of single-payer, which in essence would be Medicare for all--a far more equitable solution to health financing than the horrendous patchwork that passes as a "system" today. (It's really a non-system.)
I so often feel, as many do, that my actions on behalf of justice in our nation and world are not enough to effect change. I know and know of many noble individuals who devote much of their free time to advocacy on behalf of marginalized people. They give me inspiration and hope. Their numbers have not yet reached that critical mass that would make for permanent and meaningful change, but these people keep going as a matter of principle. Eventually, they will prevail, at least on the health care issue. The majority will finally see what the single-payer advocates have been seeing for at least twenty years or more: health care should not be treated as a commodity. After all, it is now a right for people over 65. What about the rest of our society?
Each one of us can do something to keep the fight for health care justice on the front burner. Just talking about it with family and friends is a start. Contacting Congress, the White House, and the Senate Finance Committee, are other steps. Maybe we can join a protest. (I suspect many commondreamers have done one or all.)
truejusticematters.blogspot.com
"The majority will finally see what the single-payer advocates have been seeing for at least twenty years or more: health care should not be treated as a commodity. After all, it is now a right for people over 65. What about the rest of our society?"
And there are special programs, whose funding is often attacked, but the programs exist, to provide health care for children.
So our society recognizes that children and older people should automatically have health care, but everyone in the middle....what, we're strong enough to fend for ourselves, beat off illnesses and accidents, walk with a limp, tough it out? We Americans can't just go around mollycoddling all our adults with guaranteed health care.
1984,where are you!?Tony
"Senator Max Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee are too corrupted by corporate health industry profiteers donations to give America the health care policy it needs."
Here's a novel idea! How about you take care of you and yours, I'll take care of me and mine.
Keep 'your' hands out of 'my' pocket.
That sounds so elitist so you.We all benefit from ur "Socialist" Police,our "Socialist" Fire Department and EMS,"Socialist" Schools,and "Socialist" Roads.If you don't like them,DON'T USE THEM!!
a self-laid egg
How do you feel about spending $1,000 a year to help cover all those uninsured by our corrupt, profits-instead-of-health care system?
How do you feel about the 18,000 Americans who die each year due to lack of health care? That's six 9/11 attacks per year!
"You take care of you and yours, I'll take care of me and mine" is the narrow, selfish attitude of those who are unwilling to be true citizens in a democracy, sharing both its responsibilities as well as its rights.
Pitch:
One of the reasons it cost so much is because of unnecessary procedures required by Ins Co's to cover potential lawsuits from ambulance chasers. Another reason is because 'someone else is paying' so why not run little johnny to the doctor every time he gets a fever and demand a cure!.
If You had to pay, maybe you would think twice before wasting the systems' time (money) on the common cold or every other minor bug that runs through the day care center.
Baruchzed:
Frankly, I'm not that pleased about paying for other people's kid's education. I sent my child to a private school, so I got to pay twice. I pay for road repair every time I buy something that was trucked to local store. I have know idea which roads I 'use'. I use most roads indirectly. I understand, I don't mind.
GwNorth:
It will be cheap, like Social Security and Medicare?
If the FedGov - military spends $500 for a claw hammer, at the end of the day, there is a claw hammer that can be used to keep the barbarians from crashing thru the gate and getting me and mine. If the FedGov spends $500 for medical care, at the end of the day what is accomplished? (also, I love it when people say stuff will be 'free' if we only pay more taxes. LOL)
Hamster:
So if I want to pay my own way, I'm an anarchist? Is that what you are saying? Geez, I had no idea!
ED:
How do I feel? The same way I feel about the 56.6 million deaths each year on the planet. Everybody (everything) dies, get used to it.
Also, I don't live in a democracy.
>>f the FedGov - military spends $500 for a claw hammer, at the end of the day, there is a claw hammer that can be used to keep the barbarians from crashing thru the gate and getting me and mine. I
The Government just gave several TRILLION of your taxpayer dollars to the bankers and you are happy because you have a claw hammer to keep someone from Iraq stealing YOURS.
Goering was right when he referred to the masses as schmucks if YOU are any example.