I've made my position on the issue clear time and again.
See: No Choice But Single Payer
If it is not designed the way those other countries I don't want it.
And we know why we are not getting it, either.
Let's see how far up he goes:
"Obama urges Senate Democrats to settle healthcare issues; Seeks bill vote before recess of Congress" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | June 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama summoned Senate Democrats in charge of writing healthcare legislation to the White House yesterday, urging them to find common ground on his top domestic priority even as long-simmering disagreements broke out between factions of the party over what it should contain.
The president said passing a healthcare bill is "not a luxury" and said the time between now and Congress's August recess, the deadline House and Senate leaders have set for floor votes, will be the "make-or-break period."
Seems hollow now, doesn't it? I'll take that grain of salt next time something is so "urgent."
But in the last several days, differences have emerged between the two main architects of the healthcare legislation in the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana. Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, is leaning toward creating a widely available Medicare-style public insurance option. But Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman, strongly favors a bipartisan solution - and Republicans consider Kennedy's public plan an intolerable threat to the private insurance industry.
But how will you vote against the Ted Kennedy Health Memorial Act?
The White House and Baucus have also disagreed how the bill should be financed. Baucus wants to tax a portion of healthcare benefits provided by employers - an approach Obama campaigned against. After meeting with Obama, Baucus told reporters the president suggested he was open to reconsidering - but the White House later said he was not....
Yeah, he'll twist that finger around quit a bit during this post.
In a reminder of the ideological divide between the Democrats and the business community, which so far has expressed support for a health overhaul, the US Chamber of Commerce issued a statement opposing some of the key ideas the Democrats are discussing, including a requirement that all employers provide insurance, the establishment of a public plan, and regulations that would require all insurance policies to include generous benefits, which the chamber said would be unaffordable....
Yesterday Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat and chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said the party's left wing must come to grips with political reality. "At the end of the day if we want to achieve something we're going to have to understand we don't any of us get precisely what we might like," he said.
Related: National Health Care: Liberals Left in the Waiting Room
Lying Looters Large and Small: Countrywide Corruption
They are ALL CROOKS!
Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, called the draft proposal being circulated by Kennedy's committee "very discouraging," little more than a collection of "old ideas that have been around for a long time on the left," including a Medicare-style public plan, a broad expansion of Medicaid, and an employer mandate. But he also said he agreed with the White House that major health changes are essential to economic progress....
Don't worry, none of those things are making it into the bill.
--more--"
"Obama challenges GOP healthcare critics; Will address the AMA with insurance plans" by Philip Elliott, Associated Press | June 12, 2009
GREEN BAY, Wis. - "To those who criticize our efforts, I ask them, 'What's the alternative?' " Obama said at a town hall-style meeting, surrounded by supportive citizens in the heartland....
Just like Bush would have been.
And I've given you the alternatives, sir. Pick a country, pick a plan.
Obama's political arm, the grass-roots machine known as Organizing for America, has collected hundreds of thousands of similar stories that could shame lawmakers who don't sign on. But the brief ride from the airport to the high school where he spoke featured a rare sight for the new president: a large gathering of protesters. Signs held among the several hundred demonstrators lining his route said "NObama" and "No to Socialism."
****************
Ow.
Related: Britain rejects report calling for health cuts
Still, opposition is building to the direction of proposals from Obama and fellow Democrats. The US Chamber of Commerce is convening business groups today to plot strategy.... Obama will also face some foes to his healthcare proposals in Chicago on Monday, when he addresses the American Medical Association, the nation's largest doctors group, which is wary of a public insurance plan....
--more--"
So how did the consultation with the doctors go as you are lying there with your pants down, America?
"Obama takes healthcare campaign to doctors" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | June 16, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama yesterday took the fight for a public healthcare option to a skeptical audience, telling the American Medical Association that a government plan that would compete with private insurers is "not your enemy; it is your friend."
Addressing a key constituency whose rejection of Bill Clinton's healthcare plan helped crush it 15 years ago, Obama said he believes a public plan would "put affordable healthcare within reach for millions of Americans."
He also told doctors that if health costs keep growing at current rates, the pressure could destabilize the healthcare system and threaten all reimbursements. Doctors, hospitals, and other providers worry they would lose money under a government insurance plan if it used the power of its size to dictate payment rates that are much lower than what private insurers pay. That is essentially what Medicare and Medicaid do now, and many providers make up their losses by charging private insurers more.
I thought OUR HEALTH was supposed to be the MOST IMPORTANT THING!
Silly me!
The AMA has not ruled out embracing some form of a public option, but its members have been concerned about Obama's intentions. Obama tried to reassure doctors by saying the reform bill was not a "Trojan horse" for a Canadian-style single-payer system, as insurance companies and other opponents contend. But he stopped short of saying a public plan would pay doctors as much as private insurers do....
:-(
Obama got a mostly warm reception....
After that last comment, I'll bet he did!
A large public option plan could devastate the private insurance industry....
Good. The last thing we need around here is more looters.
"That would effectively end the employer-based healthcare system as we know it today," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the insurance industry lobby. Key committees in the House and Senate are scheduled to begin finalizing bills this week.....
PICK a COUNTRY, PICK a PLAN!! Don't like Canada's? Take Britain's. Don't like that one, shop in France. Ask Cuba how they did it.
How much is all this going to cost, anyway?
"Health bill would cost US $1 trillion, says budget office" by David Espo, Associated Press | June 16, 2009
Yikes!!!! That is going a bit to far, Doc!
WASHINGTON - A leading healthcare bill under consideration in Congress would cost the government an estimated $1 trillion over the next decade and reduce the ranks of the uninsured by about one-third....
No universal coverage?
--more--"
"Obama leaves door open to health benefits tax" by David Espo and Philip Elliott, Associated Press | June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama left the door open to a new tax on healthcare benefits yesterday, and officials said top lawmakers and the White House were seeking $150 billion in concessions from the nation’s hospitals as they sought support for legislation struggling to emerge in Congress....
It has gotten to the point where if he DOES NOT BREAK a CAMPAIGN PROMISE I am surprised. How sad is that?
Referring to proposals in the Senate to tax workers who get expensive insurance policies, Obama, who campaigned against the tax when he ran for president, drew a quick rebuff from organized labor....
The rest has been rewritten from my print copy, although the web did add this:
The chief executive also met with governors and arranged a primetime Town Hall at the White House, the latest in a string of events designed to bend public opinion toward his top domestic initiative....
Otherwise known as AGENDA-PUSHING PROPAGANDA!
At the White House, Obama sidestepped when asked whether he was open to taxing healthcare benefits, a proposal he opposed vigorously in his campaign....
--more--"I don't know; I'm feeling a bit reamed out.
"Obama confronts skeptics on healthcare, pledges action; Urges public to take role in overhaul" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | July 2, 2009
ANNANDALE, Va. - President Obama, pledging to overhaul healthcare this year despite divisions in Congress and the public, took on his skeptics directly yesterday, seeking to assure patients that their costs would not increase and that they would not be victims of a “government takeover.’’
“There’s no doubt that we have to preserve what’s best in the healthcare system,’’ such as allowing Americans to choose their own doctors, but “we also have to fix what’s broken in the healthcare system,’’ Obama told a pre-selected audience of about 200 at Northern Virginia Community College. While some critics have complained about the high cost of healthcare overhaul - more than $1 trillion over the next decade, according to some congressional estimates - “the costs of inaction, of not doing anything, are even greater. They’re unacceptable,’’ Obama said.
A cancer patient from Appalachia, Va., added an emotional plea to Obama’s policy defense....
I'm tired of government and MSM manipulation.
**********************
Yesterday’s town hall meeting - which included participants who asked questions via YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as in person - is part of a public relations blitz to keep pressure on Congress to send him a bill this year.
Still feeling around in there, huh?
Obama addressed public worries head on: Why no single-payer system, one Internet questioner asked. It might work elsewhere, but so many Americans have become so used to receiving health insurance through their employers, it’s too dramatic a change, Obama explained.
The DISINGENUOUSNESS is NOT APPRECIATED!
And what about taxing healthcare benefits, a “Twitter’’ chatter wondered. Obama said he does not want to raise people’s health costs, so he instead wants to raise cash by limiting the amount of tax deductions very wealthy people can take on the income taxes.
Still, both Congress and the electorate are showing signs of nervousness at the first major effort in 16 years to revamp healthcare: Some key senators are withholding support for the Obama-backed “public option,’’ which would allow Americans to buy government-offered insurance, and citizens are also worried about potential costs, according to a recent poll.
Just a bare majority - 51 percent - support Obama’s healthcare plans, compared with 45 percent who oppose them, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released yesterday. Further, 54 percent of Americans think their healthcare costs would go up, while just 17 percent said their healthcare financial burden would decrease, according to the poll - numbers clearly frustrating to a president eager to convince the public that they would be better off, fiscally and physically, if the healthcare system is reformed.
“The scare tactics of those who would oppose reform don’t work,’’ Obama told his audience, dismissing warnings of a government takeover....
No, WE AMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THAT at least!
Something I THINK EVERY TIME there is a "terror" scare -- or any other "urgent," agenda-pushing cause!
--more--"
"Obama backs health program that would cover long-term care; Deal close with hospitals on uninsured" by Associated Press | July 8, 2009
WASHINGTON - Moving to broaden the scope of the proposed healthcare overhaul, President Obama threw his support yesterday behind the creation of a program to help families struggling with long-term care costs.
The voluntary insurance program, sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, would pay a modest daily cash benefit of at least $50 that people could use for a range of in-home services or nursing home expenses.
$50? That's it? That's chump change.
Kennedy’s own Senate health committee will include the long-term care provisions in its version of healthcare legislation. But other lawmakers could prove a tough audience. The Congressional Budget Office is warning that premiums will not be enough to cover benefit costs after the program has been in operation for a few years. And Republicans said that over the next 75 years, it could cost $2 trillion.
But no one seemed to care when we threw away 12 times as much to the banks or wasted the same 2 trillion on wars.
Nonetheless, Obama’s support could persuade skeptical lawmakers to take a second look at Kennedy’s idea.
How many people gonna look up your poop shoot anyway, 'murka?
In a letter to Kennedy released yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that Obama believes the long-term care program should be part of a healthcare overhaul. As Kennedy envisions it, workers and their spouses would be able to enroll in the insurance program for a monthly premium of $65.
How come it is ALWAYS YOU that is PAYING, Amurkn citizen?
For middle-aged people, that is well below the cost of private long-term care insurance. People would have to pay premiums for at least five years before they could claim benefits, and they would have had to be working at least three of those years....
With the jobs situation in this country?
This is nothing but Kennedy's final fart mist.
--more--"
I'm feeling a little gassy myself, doc.
WASHINGTON - Even while delivering impassioned speeches and trying to light a rhetorical fire under Congress, President Obama has stayed away from the politically treacherous question of how to pay the nearly trillion-dollar cost of healthcare overhaul.
The president has a plan that would raise hundreds of billions by limiting charitable deductions for the wealthy, but he has not pushed it on Congress, at least not publicly, even as lawmakers in both parties remain deeply divided over where they can find the cash to extend healthcare coverage to all Americans.
Obama’s role as healthcare’s cheerleader-in-chief makes sense from a political standpoint, analysts say, because it allows him to avoid angering the rich or other interest groups.
Who knew we REELECTED GEORGE W. BUSH, huh?
But just weeks before Obama’s August deadline for passing legislation in both the House and Senate, pressure is growing on the president to get more personally involved and stop leaving all the painful details to Congress.... Obama has thus far kept most detailed discussions private, between himself and lawmakers and health reform specialists....
Yes, that is the TRANSPARENT and OPEN "democracy" this guy blathered about in the campaign.
House Democratic leaders unveiled a healthcare plan yesterday that would impose a new tax surcharge on Americans who make more than $280,000 a year. The tax would be set on a graduated scale, ranging from 1 percent at the low end up to 5.4 percent on taxpayers earning more than $1 million a year. That idea is opposed by the GOP, and Senate Democrats are lukewarm at best about the plan. “There’s not a lot of support for it here’’ in the Senate, said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon.
The Senate Finance Committee has yet to unveil its plan for paying for the overhaul. Meanwhile, some Republicans want to impose a tax on healthcare benefits, an idea both Obama and key Democrats in Congress dislike. Just 1.2 percent of taxpayers would be hit with the House’s surcharge tax, but “people believe they’re going to be there someday,’’ said Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska.
Maybe the American people are dumber than I give them credit for.
The money “doesn’t come from somewhere, it comes from someone,’’ he added. “And there’s the rub.’’
Maybe not.
Even after a year of derivatives-trading scandals and billion-dollar Ponzi schemes, levying any new taxes is unpopular on Capitol Hill and will prove to be a tough vote.
Yes, WE ARE TAXED TOO MUCH as it is!!!!!
And what do they mean "even after?" Those things did not make Americans pro-tax? What is with the agenda-pushing paper anyway?
Liberals point to polls suggesting that Americans believe the wealthier should shoulder more of the burden for healthcare overhaul. But still, “there’s a nervousness among Democrats . . . because there’s a fear [among the public] that today, they’re going to come after the wealthy, but tomorrow, they’re going to come after you,’’ Alan Charney, program director for USAction, a liberal group advocating a tax on wealthier Americans to pay for the plan, said.
So true.
Republicans are eager to slap Democrats with a tax-and-spend moniker, and the proposed House surtax has given them an opening. “This is not the time to be raising taxes,’’ a grim-faced House Minority Leader John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, said as he strode into the House chamber yesterday. “I thought they were trying to create jobs in America. You can’t tax the job-creators.’’
Obama, for the moment, has been spared from the attacks and counter-attacks on how to pay for it. Democrats say they are prepared to defend their tax proposals on their own....
--more--"
And another rewrite. What a surprise. MSM sticking a finger in.
WASHINGTON - President Obama sought to reassure jittery Democrats yesterday that healthcare legislation was within reach, although he urged his party to take bolder steps to address long-term cost concerns.
Democratic defections on two House committees yesterday underscored divisions among the party’s rank-and-file over the scope of the bill, along with its massive price tag. The latest rebellion stirred among newly elected Democrats who are wary of the surtax on wealthy households....
But NOT on YOU, average American.
Aiming to rally lawmakers, Obama spoke from the White House in a hastily scheduled appearance near the end of a week of tumult for the legislation atop his domestic agenda. “I realize that the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run, but I have to say now is not the time to slow down, and now is certainly not the time to lose heart,’’ Obama said.
A few hours earlier, two House committees approved their portions of the sweeping healthcare bill over Republican objections after working overnight.... That left one more House panel to act, but conservative Democrats were rebelling, demanding additional measures to hold down skyrocketing costs.... Given the complexities, as well as fresh calls for delay in the Senate, Pelosi opened the door to pushing off a vote past the early August timeline that she and Obama had laid out weeks ago....
Six key senators -- three Democrats, one independent, and two Republicans urged a delay..... The letter was signed by Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Republicans Susan M. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who usually caucuses with Democrats.....
Obama, who also plans a primetime news conference Wednesday and a healthcare event in Cleveland Thursday, did not mention the August recess. Instead, he urged lawmakers and the public to look past the daily ups and downs and focus on the “unprecedented progress’’ toward overhauling healthcare: hospitals and drug companies have pledged givebacks to help pay for the bill, the American Medical Association and American Nurses Association endorsed legislation this week, and broad agreement on major elements of the bill.....
--more--"
Now he thinks he found a polyp.
WASHINGTON - Obama, after meeting with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers at Children’s National Medical Center:
“We can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to healthcare. Not this time. Not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses, and breaking America’s economy.... Let’s fight our way through the politics of the moment Let’s pass reform by the end of this year.’’
Striking a more populist tone, the president complained that “health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.’’ Obama criticized those “fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests’’ and others out to put off action for “another day, another year, another decade.’’
That reflects a shift in his timetable; Obama had said that he wanted the House and Senate to vote on legislation before lawmakers leave town for their August recess, with a comprehensive bill for him to sign in October. As Obama continues his healthcare push in a prime-time news conference tomorrow and a town hall in Ohio on Thursday, Republicans are sharpening their attacks....**************
Two polls released yesterday showed support slipping of Obama’s handling of healthcare. In the USA Today/Gallup survey, Americans by 50 percent to 44 percent disapproved of his stewardship of the issue. And in a
Conservative Democrats have raised objections, particularly on the bill’s financing. Pelosi is floating an idea that could make proposed tax increases more palatable. She would like to limit income tax increases to couples making more than $1 million a year and individuals making more than $500,000, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said yesterday. The bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee last week would increase taxes on couples making as little as $350,000 a year and individuals making as little as $280,000.
Is there something that strikes you as a LITTLE odd in those phrases?
Are YOU seeing as MUCH as I am, reader?
Meanwhile, the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business group, planned to announce ads today criticizing the government insurance proposal, saying it would threaten employer-provided coverage. R. Bruce Josten, the group’s top lobbyist, said the campaign would begin with a $2 million budget and include newspaper and Internet ads, as well as efforts to drum up public support across the country.
Also, the insurance industry, which challenged President Bill Clinton’s healthcare effort in the early 1990s, launched a $1.4 million ad campaign, its first TV spots of this year’s healthcare fight. The ads restate the industry’s support for an overhaul that provides universal coverage, but does not mention the insurers’ strong opposition to creating a government-run insurance option.
--more--"
More "urgency!"
"Obama ties healthcare to nation’s fiscal future" by Associated Press | August 9, 2009
WASHINGTON - Using better-than-expected jobs numbers to press his top domestic priority, President Obama is arguing that overhauling the healthcare system is essential to the country’s economic well-being....
The lies never end.
A net total of 247,000 jobs were lost last month, the fewest in a year and a drastic improvement from the 443,000 that vanished in June as the United States tries to pull out from the worst recession since World War II. “We’ve begun to put the brakes on this recession and . . . the worst may be behind us,’’ Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address yesterday.
He cited Friday’s Labor Department report that showed a dip in unemployment.... It’s a pitch that is being made as the Democratic-controlled Congress struggles to write a healthcare plan....
Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP leader, said in a jab at majority Democrats: “The only thing bipartisan, so far, is the opposition.’’
He's right!
With lawmakers embarking on a monthlong summer break, opponents and supporters of various proposals under consideration are waging fierce campaigns. Obama is redoubling his effort to explain his positions to a public that polls suggest is becoming increasingly wary he can deliver on his promise to revamp healthcare.
The president argued that Congress was close to finalizing “real health insurance reform,’’ but, as he has for weeks now, he warned against listening to opponents who he said were spewing misleading information and outlandish claims to defeat “the best chance of reform we have ever had.’’
After the WARS we have been LIED INTO and the DAILY DOSE of GOVERNMENT and MSM BS, he's got some nerve!
Obama was getting a boost from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who as the wife of a president led the failed effort in the 1990s to overhaul healthcare. In an interview with CNN set to air today, Clinton....
That probably isn't helping him. She should keep her mouth closed at all times.
--more--"
And now for the worst part of the exam:
PHOENIX - The “public option,’’ a new government insurance program akin to Medicare, has been a central component of Obama’s agenda for overhauling the health care system, but it has also emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the public option was “not the essential element’’
***********************
Obama himself sought to play down the significance of the public option at a town-hall-style meeting Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo., when a university student challenged him on how private insurers could compete with the government. After strongly defending the public plan, Obama suggested that he, too, viewed it as only a small piece of a broader initiative....
For Obama, giving up on the public plan would have both risks and rewards. The reward is that he could punch a hole in Republican arguments that he wants a “government takeover’’ of health care, and possibly win some Republican votes. The risk is that he could alienate liberal Democrats, whose support he will also need to pass a bill.....
That is such a joke.
Obama might have to give up on the notion to get a bill through....
Then WHAT GOOD will it be?
It will MANDATE that we BUY a LOUSY, OVERPRICED INSURANCE PLAN.
--more--""White House appears ready to drop 'public option'" by Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer | August 16, 2009
WASHINGTON --Bowing to Republican pressure, President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.
Just like he has abandoned you, America.
Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan.
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Doctors' Diet
Such a concession probably would enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.....
When are liberals going to learn that THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU?
"GOP unmoved as Obama renews health care push; Democrats seek way to pass bill without help" by Charles Babington, Associated Press | August 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - Obama reengaged yesterday, urging religious leaders to back his proposals and “spread the facts and speak the truth’’ against critics who are “frankly bearing false witness.’’
Yeah, you can START with 9/11!!!
He also prepared for a pep talk today to a much larger audience of liberal activists, whose enthusiasm has been questioned....
Can you BLAME THEM? They are GETTING a FIST up there!!!!
Yesterday, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate majority leader Harry Reid, warned that the White House and Senate Democratic leaders still prefer a bipartisan bill, but “patience is not unlimited, and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary,’’ he said.
Related: National Health Care: The Democrats' Final Option
Well, that will sure put a hole in your colon.--more--"
"A floundering campaign on health care" by Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | August 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama’s campaign for the White House was widely hailed for its ability to stick to a script. But as prospects for the passage of health care reform become murkier, and a backlash among liberal Democrats becomes louder, even some of Obama’s strongest supporters are suggesting that his discipline has slipped.
In recent weeks, Obama has delivered mixed messages that have bogged down the debate and sapped momentum from his top domestic priority.
He's fooling around in there and he doesn't know what he is doing!
He distracted attention during his own prime-time press conference last month on health care when he stated that Cambridge police acted “stupidly’’ when they arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., which dominated the news for a week.
Related: The Supreme Insult: Jewish Supremacism Is Not Racism
He took several days to directly rebut charges that the health plan included “death panels’’ that would determine end-of-life care. This week, he and his top aides appeared to waver on the importance of creating a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
Republicans, meanwhile, have stepped into the void of the August congressional recess and, in a page taken directly from Obama’s 2008 playbook, are using a combination of online organization and message-of-the-day discipline to frame the legislation as a government takeover....
MSM gets mad when anyone else does the framing 'round here.
Another caller told the president that “it’s very frustrating to watch you try and compromise with a lot of these people who aren’t willing to compromise with you.’’
So he rigs the phone lines like Rush, 'eh?
Later yesterday, Obama appeared in an online forum with Organizing for America, his postelection grass-roots group.... He optimistically declared, “Nothing’s more powerful than millions of voices calling for change.’’
Then HOW COME we did NOT GET ANY?
During the campaign, Obama marveled at the way many supporters viewed him as a clean slate onto which they could write their hopes and dreams....
Which is why we are SOOOOOOO DISAPPOINTED!!!!
And after a long wait on the table.
"Health plan’s effect on costs may be slight; Many steps are incremental" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | October 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - Despite repeated promises by President Obama and Democratic leaders that their health care overhaul would lower costs, the proposals before Congress would probably not cut overall US health care spending significantly anytime soon, health policy specialists say....
One reason for this: Lawmakers are afraid of offending powerful industries or angering voters....
Let's face it, voters; they don't give a crap about us.
That last part is just thrown in there.
Another daunting roadblock to lowering costs is disagreement over how to impose major structural changes on the health economy. No one knows precisely how to fix the problems that lead to runaway costs, and even if solutions become apparent, they would take years to implement. Most health economists believe the financial incentives for doctors and hospitals must be changed to reward them for providing good care, not merely as much care as possible. One way to do this may be to create “accountable care organizations,’’ where clinics, hospitals, and other providers develop a network delivering high-quality but efficient care - but no one knows exactly how to entice providers to reorganize. So Congress is experimenting....
EXPERIMENTING with YOUR HEALTH, huh, America?
Distinguishing political obstacles from technical ones is not easy. Massachusetts leaders understand this: They recently proposed quickly implementing a radically new system for paying doctors and hospitals. Hospital leaders warn the changes could “kill the industry’’ - but they also stand to lose money, so critics question their credibility on the issue.
Oh, IN THIS CASE that is questioned and a point is made, huh, agenda-pushers?
Stuart Altman, an economist at Brandeis University, noted that Massachusetts policy makers in 2006 decided to get everyone insured first and then attack the more challenging issue of cost. Congress seems to be doing the same, he said, and wisely so. “I’m convinced there is going to have to be a follow-on [bill], like in Massachusetts, dealing with health care costs,’’ he said....
Related: "Brandeis as the premier Jewish university in the country"
Yeah, every source in the Globe is either a (rhymes with who) or a crypto-(same thing).
For now, cost controllers are pinning their hopes on taxing high-cost insurance. But unions and a huge contingent of House Democrats hate the idea, since many union workers have sacrificed raises to keep good benefits. But it may survive, since it is key to paying for coverage expansion. It would grow at the pace of medical inflation; the House Democrats’ income tax surcharge would not....
So LABOR gets it STUCK up its ASS AGAIN, huh?
"Insurance industry attacks Senate overhaul plan on costs; Democrats say the criticisms are ‘distorted’" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | October 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - The White House and Democratic lawmakers scrambled yesterday to challenge the conclusions of the industry-funded study, which forecasted that the bill, over time, would add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical policy....
Single payer.
The health insurance industry’s top lobbyist in Washington stood her ground. In a call with reporters, Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, pointedly refused to rule out attack ads on TV featuring the study, though she said she believed the industry’s concerns could be amicably addressed.
Related: The Healthy and Hearty Voice of the Healthcare Lobbyists
No wonder there isn't a whiff of single-payer in the "debate."
And what about OUR CONCERNS?
You know, the CITIZENS who are going to have to PAY FOR ALL THIS?
At the heart of the industry’s argument is a decision by lawmakers to weaken the requirement that millions more Americans get coverage. Since the legislation would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on account of poor health, many people will wait to sign up until they get sick, the industry says. And that will drive up costs for everybody else.
Single payer.
Insurers are now raising possibilities such as higher premiums for people who postpone getting coverage, or waiting periods for those who ignore a proposed government requirement to get insurance and later have a change of heart....
--more--"
"Panel approves health bill months in the making; Snowe is sole backer among Republicans Both chambers brace for fight on final version" by Susan Milligan and Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | October 14, 2009
WASHINGTON - A bill that would require most Americans to get health insurance....
Significant disagreements remain between the House and Senate, most prominently over whether to include a public option. That provision was left out of the Finance bill....
Is this exam almost over yet?
Pressure is mounting on Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to make greater concessions to the party’s left, which wants a government-sponsored insurance option, along with more generous premium subsidies that would make the legislation more expensive....
Pfft! What they piss off the middle so know they need you guys?
Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia and an ardent supporter of the public option, said yesterday he was voting for the bill despite what he considered its tilt toward for-profit insurers. “They get half the money, and no real responsibility to put it into medical care,’’ Rockefeller said....
They slide the check across the desk in his office or just mail it in?
Despite the angry rhetoric, Democrats saw yesterday’s vote as a big step toward passing some kind of healthcare overhaul, even if it does not represent all that liberals want.
Does the term TAKEN for GRANTED mean anything to you guys?
For single payer?
--more--"
And then , all of a sudden, he STARTS PULLING OUT!!!
"No quiet fadeaway for federal insurance option" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Writer | October 15, 2009
WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, top White House aides, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, traveled to the Capitol to meet with Reid, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., about combining the Finance bill with the Senate health panel measure.
Republicans say the fix is in for a public plan. Behind the scenes, Democrats will take Baucus' middle-of-the-road plan and turn it hard to the left, they say. "We know that the bill written behind closed doors here in the Capitol will be another 1,000-page, trillion-dollar Washington takeover," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Democrats did try one new tack Wednesday, on an issue involving doctors. Senate Democrats are now pushing for quick passage of separate legislation to spare doctors a $247 billion cut in Medicare fees over a decade. That would raise federal deficits, but the White House says the increase should not count in the price tag for the health care overhaul....
And now we have ANOTHER CENSORED and REEDITED REWRITE, sigh. Think of it as lying on the table as the MSM fingers around.
Meanwhile, insurance companies and unions pushed back hard yesterday against the healthcare legislation that could cost their members billions of dollars. About 30 unions are running a full-page ad in the Washington newspapers opposing the measure's plan to tax generous employer-provided benefits.
Why not just GIVE US what WE GIVE CONGRESS?
America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's trade group, is running a TV ad in six states criticizing the bill's call for more than $100 billion in cuts in Medicare Advantage, under which private insurance companies provide Medicare benefits. The ad says 10 million senior citizens would be asked "for more than their fare share" if the bill passes.
Frustrated with health insurers' opposition to their health care proposals, Democratic lawmakers called yesterday for revoking the industry's antitrust exemption. Reid said the companies are anti-competitive because they make more money than any other type of US business.
He's been out in the Nevada sun too long. What an idiot statement.
See what BANKS are pulling down these days?
Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's antitrust division, said the department supported repealing the antitrust exemption.
And right about this time the campaign cash started to dry up.
--more--"
"Party tries to lock up health bill backing; Appeasing factions a must for Democrats" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | October 17, 2009
WASHINGTON - Seeking to preserve critical public support for a health care overhaul, the White House and congressional Democrats are busy tailoring the sweeping package to appeal to physicians, women, union leaders, and others whose enthusiastic backing will be needed to pass the legislation....
Pffft! Are they just stoo-pid, or.... ?
They CRAP ALL OVER YOU, and then AT THE END they want your BLESSING?
Democrats are increasingly confident they have the votes to pass the legislation without much GOP support, so their focus is on mollifying key factions within their own party....
Translation: THEY DON'T HAVE the VOTES, otherwise the lingo wouldn't be so couched and they wouldn't be SCROUNGING AROUND the LEFT for VOTES!!!!
The “doctor fix,’’ which would cost about $240 billion over 10 years, will not be included as part of the overall bill because it would vastly increase the price tag of the measure....
Yeah, JUST PUT THAT OFF-BUDGET like BUSH DID with the WARS!
Forget about FURTHER DEBT, etc, etc. It NEVER CHANGES with these people!
Instead, the restoration of the Medicare cuts will probably be done in separate legislation scheduled for an initial Senate vote next week, lawmakers said. The legislation would help keep the support of doctors for the overall health care package, said Representative Richard E. Neal, a Springfield Democrat and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Women - more than half of the population and a great majority of Democratic voters - also “better receive consideration that makes sure health care reform is a positive improvement for them,’’ said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, which advocates a health care overhaul....
Related: Happy Mother's Day
That's a SHAME, America.
PRICE-GOUGING the LADIES with KIDS to PAD PROFITS?!!!
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts secured language in the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the health bill that would ban insurers who sell individual policies from charging women more for coverage or denying them coverage for pregnancy and maternity costs.
Yeah, but THEY ARE LOOKING OUT for YOUR HEALTH as their TOP PRIORITY!
The legislation would also prohibit insurers from denying coverage to victims of domestic violence, which a handful of states allow insurers to consider a preexisting condition. Massachusetts does not allow this gender-based discrimination. “There’s a lot of things in here for women,’’ said Judy Waxman, vice president for health and reproductive rights at the National Women’s Law Center, which conducted a comprehensive study of the issue last year.
(Blog editor is speechless)
But she said the Finance Committee bill does not go far enough, because it does not protect women covered by large group policies from being forced to pay higher premiums based on gender. The center is pushing the broader antidiscrimination language in the House version.
So WHAT GIVES, ladies? My political screeds have nothing to do with that.
Labor unions, another critical group, won a small victory in the Senate Finance version, which increased the threshold for a proposed excise tax on high-cost insurance plans.
That is the only kind they ever get.
The unions argue that generous benefits are often negotiated in lieu of pay increases and that the tax would hurt the middle class. Democratic lawmakers have upped the threshold for the tax, sparing more insurance plans.... Kerry also said he is planning to introduce an amendment on the Senate floor requiring employers to provide health insurance. The Finance Committee bill includes a mandate on individuals, but not on employers.
--more--"And here is the report, readers:
"Public health option finds backing in poll; A divide persists on Obama’s role and overall plan" by Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, Washington Post | October 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - In a sign of the fragile coalition politics that now influence the negotiations in Congress, Obama’s approval ratings on health care slipped among his fellow Democrats even as they solidified among independents and seniors....
Pffft!
Yeah, JUST IN TIME to PUSH the AGENDA!!!!
Overall, 45 percent of Americans surveyed favored the broad outlines of the proposals now moving in Congress, while 48 percent were opposed, about the same division as in August at the height of the angry town hall meetings over health care....
Translation: Another BS headline and MSM poll.
Also see: Turning Healthcare Into Hate
On the issue that has been a flash point in the national debate, 57 percent of all those surveyed said they now favor a public insurance option, while 40 percent were opposed. Support has risen since mid-August, when a bare majority of respondents, 52 percent, said they favored it....
Yeah, probably WITHIN the MARGIN of ERROR for the poll so OPINIONS HAVEN'T CHANGED, readers!
I am SOOOOOOOOO TIRED of AGENDA-PUSHING POLLS in the MSM!!!!!
