If Democrats think the American public would reject single-payer health care...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

due to the bungled Clinton attempt of 1992, they should read these readers' responses to the NY Times article on the NY attorney general's investigation of health insurance companies:

http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/02/18/opinion/18mon1.html?s=1&pg=1

Having skimmed all 151 responses, I'd say that they were at least 90% in favor of either single payer or nationalized health care.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. If the program were packaged and called "Medicare for ALL", I think

it would go over better.

[Captain Hilts]

3. tha'ts what Michael Dukakis said on C-Span. Love that man. nt

[NNN0LHI]

15. It would make a lot more sense to call it that n/t

[dysfunctional press]

20. i'm not so sure...the word "medicare" conjours up negative images to a lot of people.

especially the well-to-do.

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Government sponsored health care to their parents and grandparents being a "bad" thing???

[hootinholler]

24. Oddly enough, Yes.

In some conservative circles it is seen as a handout, bad like welfare.

-Hoot

[defendandprotect]

26. And who is buying into r-w propaganda . . . do you even recognize it as propaganda ...????

THAT's one of the reasons why they want to institute "income" levels to Medicare . . .
to enable them to more readily call it a "welfare" system ---

Right wing PROPAGNDA -- as effective as Hitler's ever was --- is still with us !!!

[hootinholler]

33. lol, I should have been more specific...

I was talking about how it is seen in conservative circles, not how I view it.

I usually recognize propaganda, I did when I heard 'welfare queen' etc.

Peace,

-Hoot

[defendandprotect]

36. I also "presumed" . . .

thanks ....

[LWolf]

37. So let's just call it HR 676 and be done with it.

:D

[eridani]

34. That's exactly what HR 676 does n/t

[Captain Hilts]

2. Health care costs have skyrocketed - if you still have insurance. It's a different time now, and-

people are FAR more interested in healthcare reform now than they were then.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. The comments are really interesting

A few say that doctors charge too much, but most are totally fed up, and this is in the Establishment newspaper par excellence.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Mandatory health insurance isn't single payer!

I'll be damned if I'm going to be forced to pay premiums for some bullshit high-deductible 'coverage' so that the fucking CEO of Humana can buy himself more yachts. Fuck that noise.

We need to get a single payer plan through Congress. The only way that will happen is to elect progressive Dems to Congress.

Clinton's plan is crap and so is Obama's.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Agree. But politically they're more likely to happen. It's a step in the right direction.

Having had military medicine in the US and Canadian medicine in Canada, I'm a big time single payer fan, but it's not yet going to fly here. The right has effectively frightened people with the horror of 'socialized medicine'.

[lynnertic]

8. that horror will be a true prophesy if mandatory health care is enacted

without first making it ALSO not-for-profit.

And if you're on the VA system like me, and have health care for the rest of our lives already, would we have to buy more insurance on top of that? And from whom?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. But it apparently hasn't frightened the 151 people

who responded to the article before comments were closed.

Now when the Minnesota DFL proposed a single-payer plan for Minnesota, our Limbaugh-wannabes immediately began raving, and the original responses were highly negative and made mostly by people who hadn't even read the details of the plan. But the later remarks, including those by people who had actually experience with single payer, were more positive.

[bvar22]

35. Both are a step in the WRONG direction.

Both plans move America AWAY from true single payer HealthCare.
Each plan legitimizes and codifies the FOR PROFIT Health Insurance Scam and just deepens the entrenchment.

[monktonman]

9. B b but that makes me a "deadbeat"

I've been told by Hillary's supporters that because I'm a deadbeat
she's going to garnish my wages to pay for healthcare and somehow thats going to
make the CEO of Humana lower costs. huh?

Perhaps I CHOOSE to reject health insurance cause I can see it for what it is,
A FUCKING SCAM! I dont care how cheap you make it, buying health "insurance" from any
health insurance company is like throwing your money down a well.
Ask michael moore.....

[defendandprotect]

27. Right -- Simply fight to extend Medicare to EVERYONE . . . !!!

DEMAND this of the candidates --- !!!

Have you even ever heard any TV host ask a question like this . . . ???

[Kitty Herder]

32. Free market solutions, my ass.

Now tell me. What's free about being forced to buy something? Especially a crappy product that you can't afford. Not that I'm in favor of free market solutions to this problem, mind you. I'm just pointing out the nonsense of calling these mandatory health insurance plans(like Hillary Clinton's)market solutions. They're just the opposite. They're nothing but give-aways to the insurance companies.

You have to be careful whenever politicians talk about free-market solutions. That's a code for giving huge gifts to the wealthy corporations and screwing everybody else.

These mandatory health insurance plans like the one instituted in Massachusetts, don't solve any problems and create a slew of new ones.

By the way, as far as I can tell, Obama's plan does not mandate that everyone buy insurance. It does look like a better plan to me. But only marginally.

I wish candidates wouldn't talk about universal health care unless they mean SINGLE PAYER. That's the only true universal health care system.

[bemildred]

7. The public has NEVER rejected universal tax-funded single-payer health care.

The Congress has avoided it and rejected it many times. I would love to see these weasels put up an honest referendum on the subject so that the electorate could voice it's opinion.

[Sadie4629]

11. Um, yes they did

The mid-term elections in 1994 were ALL about the boogeyman of national healthcare, and if the Democrats think otherwise, then they are doomed to cause another "Republican Revolution."

Granted, it is now 14 years later, and some things have changed, but talk radio is bigger than ever, and you can bet that Rush, Sean, and the gang will amass all the troops to make sure it never happens.

[dmosh42]

12. The problem is educating the public first....

Of course the insurance industry will flood the airwaves with the dangers of "socialized" medicine, and whatever other misinformation they can spew out. It has always amazed me how the public doesn't see any other civilized countries clamoring to have a system like ours!(USA) I thought the movie "Sicko" was a good first step in getting there.

[Sadie4629]

13. "Sicko" is a movie that you see once

and is countered by hour after hour of right-wing talk radio. The Fairness Doctrine would have to be the first step.

[unpossibles]

18. and equally importantly

like An Inconvenient Truth, it is a movie that will never be seen by those who need to see it the most.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Like hell the midterm elections were about health care

They were about NAFTA and Clinton and the DLC's appearing like wimps in the face of united and vicious Republican opposition. What the American public hates most of all is wimpy politicians. They like fighters, so much so that they'll vote for someone they disagree with because "he's a fighter."

Besides, the 1992 Clinton plan was NOT single-payer. It introduced the concept of "managed care," or, in other words, insurance companies having a new scheme for screwing over patients and providers.

[dmosh42]

16. Yes, you're exactly right...

and that's what we're going to get presented again. A plan written and approved by the insurance cos. I have the feeling that because there have been no 'specifics', they already know that there will be bickering for the next ten years, and it will go down again. Both parties are in lock step with the AMA, and insurance racketeers.

[defendandprotect]

28. No ... that was a corporate-media "swift-boating" by GOP, using . . .

let's see . . . it was a parody of the movie, "Thelma & Louise" . . .
was it "Thelma & Larry" . . . ???

Right-wing propaganda has been as effective as Hitler's as turning truth upside down in America!

[annabanana]

38. Rush Sean & the Gang didn't keep McCain from the nomination. .

They have lost their mojo. . . .

[sarcasmo]

17. I reject making health care like car Insurance where everyone must pay even if you can't afford it.

[w8liftinglady]

19. As a nurse-I agree 100%-I favor a plan that has premiums based on income.

I can afford to pay my insurance premiums,and have no problem doing so -so that someone who can't can get care.

[defendandprotect]

30. The most affordable coverage for EVERY American will be single-payer . . . MEDICARE .. . .

Extend Medicare to everyone ---

ANY system which includes PRIVATE corporations will be more expensive . . .

If we had a national pool to cover car insurance --- you and the government, basically --
it would be cheaper than your "for-profit" insurance that you have now -- !!!

[VotesForWomen]

22. nice slam against the clintions there. americans may want it now; they didn't want it then. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Touchy, aren't we!

This isn't GDP, and for the record, I'm not crazy about EITHER H.Clinton or Obama.

What the Clintons proposed in 1992 was NOT single-payer health care.

[defendandprotect]

25. All we need to do is extend MEDICARE to everyone . . .

any other new shiny system -- especially anything which includes insurance companies/drug companies --- will also do harm to Medicare.

[SoCalDem]

29. Yup.. eliminate the VA. MedicAid, and all the rest.. make it ALL Medicare

and pay for it through the tax structure..more you make..more you pay through taxes..

Eliminate ALL medical insurance..make hospitals non-profits & pay doctors & nurses a LOT..

Yank public funding subsidies from pharma, & make them non-profits too:)

People should not get rich from the suffering of sick people..

[defendandprotect]

31. ....great point about hospitals which used to all be NON-PROFIT . . !!!

Also agree knock out the drug deal under Medicare which only enriches drug companies ---

And also agree with your overall philosophy --- !!!

:)