Health-Care 'Reform' - or Insurance Industry Preservation?

[SHRED]

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I gotta laugh (or cry) when people claim Obama is a "Liberal".
His minimizing of the importance a single-payer health insurance system is proof that corporate influence runs deep in our system.

50,000 Doctors want it.
And 16,000 members working towards it:
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php

Here is a link to write him and demand Universal health insurance.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

Here is what I wrote:

Please consider giving us the option of a single-payer universal health insurance system.
Doctors, business, and our citizens want it.
http://www.pnhp.org

You were elected by "we the people" not Blue Cross and Kaiser.

Thank you



Obama's Plan: Health-Care 'Reform' - or Insurance Industry Preservation?
By Susie Madrak Wednesday Mar 18, 2009 6:00pm

Scenes from Obama's traveling insurance preservation healthcare forum:

Yesterday, presaging what is likely to be a sharp debate within the Democratic Party in the coming months, a good share of the crowd in this liberal state - as well as about 200 protesters outside - enthusiastically cheered for Canadian-style government-run healthcare, or at least an option to buy into a public insurance plan like Medicare.

Obama has said it is not politically feasible to get rid of private insurers, but in his campaign he proposed letting people choose to buy into a public insurance option - something insurers view as potentially fatal to their business.

Deborah Richter, a Vermont physician and advocate of a Medicare-for-all style system, said the country can no longer afford to squander precious healthcare dollars on administrative hassles associated with private insurance. If everyone is "deemed worthy" of insurance, then the government should come up with a single benefits package for everyone. "Why would we even need private insurance?" she said.

CONTINUED:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/obama-healthcare-reform-or-insurance-

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[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Done. Again

Thanks for the reminder to continue to write about this problem. I am the person in the doctor's office who files insurance claims, and I know how awful those companies are.

[SHRED]

2. We need to flood the White House...

...with calls, letters, and emails.



Contacting the White House

Mailing Address

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500


Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: [phone]

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact /

[cosmik debris]

3. 50,000 Doctors want it. 40+ Senators don't want it.

Who do you think has the most power?

We need health care reform now. There are a lot of people who can't wait 2, 4, or 6 more years for a Senate Super Majority.

Fighting for a bill that can't pass the Senate is tilting at windmills. Meanwhile, people are suffering. How will you explain to them that if they can just stay alive for 2, 4, or six more years, they can have FREE health care?

[SHRED]

5. I fear Obama will opt for...

... a mandated system where we are required to purchase private insurance and the government subsidizes private insurance for those who can't afford it.
Having an optional to enter a government insurance program, "Medicare for all", sounds good but I am not holding my breath.

We need to call, write, and email the White House. ALL THREE!!

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[cosmik debris]

6. I believe you may have missed my point

What Obama wants is not nearly as important as what the Senate wants.

If we stop talking about plans that don't have a chance in hell of getting through the Senate, and limit the conversation to plans that actually have a chance, the landscape looks a lot different.

I don't believe Obama is the obstacle. If a single payer universal health care bill made it to his desk, I suspect he would gleefully sign it. But there aren't many people who believe that it could make it to his desk. And the people who do believe that don't have a vote in the Senate.

[SHRED]

7. got it...thanks

[Delphinus]

8. Since HR 676

has yet to make it out of committee, will it make any difference to contact the senators? If it will, I'll start pushing that too.

[cosmik debris]

9. I guess it depends on how much influence you have

My Senators are K.B. Hutchison and J. Cornyn. They both will support a filibuster of single payer universal health care. And I can't change that.

It is a pretty safe bet that no bill will ever leave the committee as long as a successful filibuster is awaiting. Reid will not give the Republicans such a sweet victory.

The key is finding a way to break the filibuster. That means compromise with a few republicans, or maybe a lot of republicans. And of course, we don't even have all the Democrats on board with single payer. So getting the required 60 votes means a lot of give and take. With out give and take we get nothing.

[Delphinus]

10. Is it even in the Senate?

Conyers only has 64 (IIRC) Representatives signed on so far.

If there's any similar bill in the Senate, I'll start dialing.

And, I've no influence whatsoever. Just a peon trying to do the right thing and HR 676 Medicare for All seems to be the right thing.

[diamidue]

11. I disagree

Obama's selection of Zeke Emanuel to advise re health care reform shows that Obama would NOT sign a single payer bill. If so, why would he pick Emanuel, who opposes single payer?

Just listen to Zeke describe his plan. This guy is as shifty as they come.


http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22zeke+emanuel%22+health+care+program&fr=yfp-t-501&u=fora.tv/2009/01/08/Zeke_Emanuel_Scrapping_the_Health_Care_System&w=%22zeke+emanuel%22+health+care+program&d=brmBR52uScoq&icp=1&.intl=us

[cosmik debris]

12. I believe Mr. Obama is a brilliant politician.

He knows better than to reach for things that he can't get. (see HRC Health Care Plan)

Politics is the art of the possible.

I believe he would rather succeed at the possible than fail at the impossible.

Single Payer Universal Health Care is DOA in the Senate.

If Mr. Obama pursued that goal he would waste an enormous amount of political capital, and it would still be DOA (see HRC Health Care Plan).

Instead, he has decided to try for "half a loaf" which is a reachable goal.

In politics, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

[diamidue]

13. Yes, he is a brilliant politician.

But I am tired of people making excuses for the Democrats. Over and over - on everything from impeachment to the war to health care - they say one thing and do the opposite. And supporters say, "give them a chance"; tomorrow"; "soon"; "one of these days"; "when we get in power". Obama has brought in the worst people to oversee the economy and he is doing the same with healthcare.

Just because something is "reachable" does not mean it is worth reaching for. Having "half a loaf" in this case, means scrapping Medicare and Medicaid (what will happen to Veteran's health care?), and setting up a regulatory body similar to "The Federal Reserve" (in Emanuel's own words) to oversee things. It means vouchers. It helps business. It helps the pharma industry and the insurance industry.

I don't care about Obama's "political capital". I want a leader with enough courage and guts to try to do the right thing NOW for the American people, not special interests. Obama could make the case for single-payer, bring it to the people, and let them pressure their elected officials in the Senate. But Obama, judging by his selection of Zeke Emanuel, does not want single-payer. Period.

Sorry for the rant. I respect your views. I just don't share them.

[cosmik debris]

14. Then you want HRC

She tried to do exactly what you wanted done.

How did that work out for you?

[uppityperson]

15. He won't do enough fast enough for me, congress won't either. Aside from

that, I agree with what you write here. Politics sucks. And he is a brilliant politician.

[cosmik debris]

16. Let's just hope that we can get a good compromise.

Because I'm sick of having nothing.

[trotsky]

4. I think it's hilarious that private insurers view it as "fatal to their business."

WHY? I mean, Republicans have told us for decades that private industry does EVERYTHING better and cheaper than government. What do these insurers have to fear - are they suggesting that their lobbyists and Republicans LIED to us? No way!