Obama to Single Payer Advocates: Drop Dead

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Dr. David Himmelstein is a founder and spokesperson for Physicians for a National Health Program.

Himmelstein’s take – Obama is caving to the insurance industry.

“The President once acknowledged that single payer reform was the best option, but now he's caving in to corporate healthcare interests and completely shutting out advocates of single payer reform,” Himmelstein said. “The majority of Americans favor single payer, and it’s the most popular reform option among doctors and health economists, but no single payer supporter has been invited to participate in the administration's health care summit. Meanwhile, he's appointed as his health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, a woman who has made her living advising health care investors and sits on the board of many for-profit firms that have made billions from Medicare. Her appointment – and the invitation list to the healthcare summit – is a clear signal that the administration plans to propose a corporate-friendly health reform that has no chance of actually solving our health care crisis.”

Obama to single payer advocates: drop dead.

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/conyers030309.htm

[annabanana]

1. Conyers, and HR 676 will be included in the healthcare summit

that the WH is hosting today..

(This may be an old alert)

[burythehatchet]

3. that struck me as a last second CYA invitation. They'll give him directions to

the wrong building.

[ClassWarrior]

8. So it's not enough that s.p. advocates have been invited? You'd like Obama...

...to jump into the Wayback Machine and invite them in the first place?

:eyes:

NGU.

[burythehatchet]

19. give it a rest and find something useful to do today

[ClassWarrior]

21. That's helpful.

:eyes:

NGU.

[merh]

32. That's uncalled for.

Why not just debate the issues and keep the personal attacks to yourself?

We understand you don't like Obama, please understand that others do like him and are willing to remain optimistic.

[burythehatchet]

38. You're correct. I think I was projecting. I really need to get some stuff done today.

I love Obama. He's the best we could have elected. Doesn't mean I will let him get away with being a corporatist without raising my voice.

[merh]

39. I do understand.

I'm right there with you.

[sandnsea]

9. We aren't going to have single payer

so from that view point, there really wasn't any reason to include the discussion. The outpouring of support made him change his mind. Hopefully the people there will add enough constructive input that they will continue to be included, and won't just disrupt by knocking everything down so the discussions go nowhere.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Saying that he's "caving in" is not necessarily fair.

There are bound to be an abundance of things you don't get to see when you're not in the Oval Office. It is perhaps that he learned more about the feasibility of the situation. I'm not saying you should give him a pass, but the language should probably be toned down.

[edhopper]

5. No

I think the OP has it just right.
It's not "what we would like" it's the only viable solution and Obama has thrown it away.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Upon what expertise are you basing "it's the only viable solution" upon? (nt)

[edhopper]

14. That

we are the only industrialized country without it and we have the worse results for the most cost.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. That doesn't mean that single payer is the ONLY solution.

There are, you know, alternative solutions that might be even better, or at a minimum, better than what we have. Have you evaluated them? Do you know about them? Again, what facts are you bringing to the table along with your absolutist statement?

[Greyhound]

22. It is simply a dollars and sense issue. The justification for maintaining the

for-profit system is to keep insurance companies and investors happy, and there is no way to do that and give everyone access, there is simply not enough money to do that.

Therefore, millions of people will continue to die prematurely in order to finance the profits demanded by parasites.

[Donnachaidh]

7. I disagree -- allowing them in on the discussions is CAVING.

They are a MAJOR part of the problem with healthcare today. It's like inviting the bubonic plague into a nursery.

They need to be cut from the vine. Period.

[elocs]

10. "an abundance of things you don't get to see when you're not in the Oval Office"

We don't need no stinking Oval Office! This is DU where we know how all should be done and Obama should abdicate power to us!

[John Q. Citizen]

I think he learned that most people favor a single payer fee for service tax supported system,

and he was forced to allow some token single payer advocates to attend the meeting.

Which is good. That's the point of putting political pressure on the people you hire to lead you. It's the American way.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Like I said, political pressure is fine and all.

But fairness is always important, and I don't believe saying that he caved to corporate interests is fair in any way.

[John Q. Citizen]

20. Where is there balance in terms of ideology and health care? How many single payer advocates are in

the Obama administration?

We are in a big mess and for our leaders to ignore a time proven solution to funding and cost containment of health care is ideological blindness on a very insidious level.

A tax based single payer fee for service system should have every right to be considered alongside any other competing plans.

What are Obama and Clinton afraid of? Why do they both attempt to marginalize a solution prior to a vigorous hearing and debate about the pros and cons of all suggested solutions?

[Raineyb]

26. The insurance companies and drug companies are in on the discussion.

There is no other way to put it but to say he's caving. You cannot have a health care system that is set up to actually take care of people's (all people's) health and include the pharmecutical and health insurance companies. Those companies are only concerned with their profits and they make their profits by denying health care to people.

Every penny that is used to pay dividends and CEO's outrageous salaries is money not being used to pay for doctors and treatment that will heal people. (1.8 billion dollars for a health care CEO? Someone had to die to be able to put that much money into the CEO's pocket) And having them at the table is like having the fox at the table when discussing how to improve security at the hen house. Any serious reform of our health care system has to keep them far away from the table. (And we should damn well start by going back to the system when insurance companies had to be not for profit.)

Regards

[TBF]

49. "Fair" is a pretty subjective word, is it not? Initially all we heard was

that the Insurance companies were invited to his "talks" but not any representative for "single-payer". I call that "caving" as well because Obama did get significant campaign contributions from the insurance and healthcare companies. I'm quite sure that like many sophisticated firms they played both sides of the fence when it came to contributions, but that is not an excuse to completely cut out ordinary rank-and-file Americans. So, yes, I would say "cave" is a "fair" descriptive.

[RaleighNCDUer]

45. I'd say "caving in" is not fair because he NEVER had any intention

of opposing them. It was NEVER a part of his 'plan'. He NEVER supported single-payer.

When it was between him and Hillary, I wholeheartedly supported him - but I knew then that between the two of them we were not getting real universal healthcare this time around.

[Dawgs]

2. Oops!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3768296

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Health_Insurance_Act

"The United States National Health Insurance Act (Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act) (H.R. 676), is a bill submitted to the United States House of Representatives by Representative John Conyers Jr., D-MI, which as of February 11, 2008 has 42 recorded cosponsors."

[Orwellian_Ghost]

11. Anyone

taking bets on this?



In fact one thing I think the article got wrong is that Obama ever advocated for universal single-payer health care. Quite the contrary. But the people have been fooled or are willfully blinded on many things.

[TBF]

25. He never advocated for it - and he was quite clearly against it in the

early debates. There were other candidates that were for universal health. I see many DUers applying selective memory on this. I've also seen many more DUers using the fact that he never advocated it to shut down conversations "he never said he was for it so shut up" in various posts.

This issue, more than others, illustrates that Obama certainly does not have a hard and fast rule about "bringing all parties to the table". In this case he will only talk with Insurers & unbelievably is leaving doctors and nurses (the very people who provide our medical care) out of the conversation. It's all about money (and campaign donations). Absolutely disgusting.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

41. "The latest"

Obama tries to start conversation on health care

WASHINGTON – The nation can't afford to wait for the economy to recover before tackling out-of-control medical costs, President Barack Obama is telling some of the most powerful players in the health care reform debate.

"If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year, in this administration," Obama says in remarks prepared for delivery to a White House forum on the issue Thursday. Excerpts were released by the White House.

"Making investments in reform now, investments that will dramatically lower costs, won't add to our budget deficits in the long term — rather, it is one of the best ways to reduce them," Obama said.

Obama has invited to the forum more than 120 people who hold a wide range of views on how to fix the world's costliest health care system, one that still leaves an estimated 48 million people uninsured. Doctors, patients, business owners, insurers and drug industry representatives were to gather in hopes of building support for big changes. Republicans are invited, and they're expected to speak up.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_go_pr_wh/health_care_overhaul

[TBF]

44. "48 million people uninsured"? OK, i'm not the best at math but

that seems to work out to about 15% of our population right? Wow, that's a lot. Why doesn't he just start by removing the age limit from medicare? People would have basic care now, and it would be cheaper than the filled er's we're seeing now.

[sandnsea]

4. PNHP President Oliver Fein To Attend Health Care Summit

Update from PNHP


We have good news.

This afternoon we received word that Dr. Oliver Fein, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, has been invited to participate in tomorrow's White House summit on health care. He will therefore be joining Rep. John Conyers in the meeting as a strong advocate for a single-payer national health program.

Given this development, we are canceling the demonstration outside the White House that was planned for tomorrow.

While it remains true that the number of single-payer advocates in the summit will be few in number, we feel we have won an important victory and that demonstrative activity at the White House at this juncture is unnecessary.

Please continue to urge your members of Congress and President Obama to support single-payer national health insurance, the only fundamental solution to our health care crisis.

And thanks to everyone who called and e-mailed the White House about including the single-payer viewpoint at the summit - you helped make this victory happen!


Cordially,


Quentin Young, M.D.
National Coordinator
Physicians for a National Health Program

[annabanana]

31. very good news. .. . n/t

[TBF]

37. Excellent, thank you for posting. We need to keep the pressure on. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

6. I'm dying from Obama's betrayal.

[marshall]

15. This is what a leader does

Not everyone will agree with him or her, but a leader makes the bold moves.

[TBF]

29. "a leader makes the bold moves" - well then how about we elect

a leader who will make bold moves that benefit PEOPLE rather than corporations?

You might be able to (partially) convince me that the language should be toned down if everyone were invited to the discussion. Bring in some folks who represent doctors, nurses, and perhaps a few non-profits who work with people who don't have insurance. Only bringing the business people into the discussion means all you care about is what they are saying. You've left everyone else out. A leader who does that may be bold, but he is not looking out for your interests. Unless you are an insurance company who gives him campaign contributions...

[bluestateguy]

17. You know, we do have separate branches of government

If you support single payer, then get a congressperson to introduce it in the House and see how many votes it gets. If it passes, then repeat the same drill in the Senate. That can be done without Obama. If single payer passes Congress and Obama were to veto it, then you'd have a legitimate gripe.

[John Q. Citizen]

24. Obama invites people to his meeting. Your straw man argument has nothing to do with this meeting.

[bluestateguy]

34. And John Conyers has now been invited to attend

So are you satisfied?

[John Q. Citizen]

43. i would love to see attendence reflect national sentiment. When Obama held local meetings they were

overwhelmingly supportive of a single payer solution. Remember those? Back in December? Across the nation?

The fact that under pressure he has invited a few token single payer advocates to his summit is certainly better than nothing.

But it appears he is ignoring the will of the people who attended his nationwide local meetings and instead is concentrating on having the foxes guard the hen house, so to speak.

I won't be satisfied until everyone has access to affordable health care.

Obama pretending single payer isn't widely popular and that single payers isn't highly effective at controlling costs as well as delivering high quality health care will back fire.

Ideology and greed needs to yield to efficacy and fairness.

[RaleighNCDUer]

47. There is such a thing as the 'bully pulpit'.

Obama has NEVER advocated for single-payer. Congressmen look at that stance and follow it. If he WERE to make a flat-out statement of support of HR676, you'd see the number of sponsors double in a day.

The real problem is that congressmen don't see money as being a form of energy - and the 2nd law of thermodynamics says that energy never just goes away - it merely changes form. If the energy, money, of the insurance industry donations to congress disappears, it will show up again somewhere else, but the congress critter think it will just go away and they won't be able to fund their campaigns without it. That's why they won't take a stand against the insurance companies or pharmaceuticals unless the leader of the party takes a strong stand. Congress and the executive are like two hands - you need both to make any clapping noise.

[shireen]

18. lets wait and see what happens

It's good that Himmelstein will be there with Conyers.
If what you say about DeParle is true, that's pretty awful. But Obama is boss, not her.

The insurance corporate thugs need to feel included, at least at this stage, since they have so many members of Congress on their "payroll". But their days of business as usual are numbered; the country cannot sustain the insanely high health care costs. They can either change their act to support a single-payer infrastructure or get left out. Obama, i believe, is giving them a chance to do the right thing.

Let's see how all this plays out. As the process unfolds, we need to do our part with a little grassroots "lobbying" of our own.

[TBF]

27. You can wait until the cows come home but you'll be sitting there with the cows...

... and no healthcare. The time to say something is NOW - because if we don't then after they make their decisions they will say "but no one said anything".

"little grassroots"? You want to wait until the decision is made and then lobby? This is why democrats lose everything. No one has any idea how to negotiate.

[L0oniX]

23. The sociopaths win again. This is a stick up ...your money or your life!

[nolabels]

30. They already stole our money and many are now paying with their life

When you get close to the bone the law of averages shifts the short end of the stick in your favor. The SCOTUS ruling against the drug companies and in favor of the lady that lost part of her arm is a good indication they know the jig is up. Our society is weary of the corporate overlords

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. Caving in? Hardly. He campaigned against government run health care and higher taxes

[BanzaiBonnie]

33. I've seen this president time and again

Make what appears to be a big mistake and then it turns out to be a very calculated political move.


What better way to go than gather the "offenders" together and listen to their stories. Then WHAM. Take the info to the people and let them give the yeah or nay. He will have fully listened to everyone and taken it all into consideration.


I think this is a political maneuver Too many times over the years I've seen government groups convened to "study" a subject and they blatantly have an outcome they're aiming for. Everyone sees through it and screams bloody murder.

I think I'll trust him on this one until we see how it shakes out.

[edhopper]

35. Yeah

like not throwing billions and billions at insolvent banks, oh wait heis doing that.

[TBF]

36. He is not "fully listen(ing) to everyone" if he only invites one party. n/t

[Froward69]

42. Good golly I hope

you are correct! this is a key issue with me. when I heard Obama talk about the death of his Mom, and how she (on her death bed) was arguing with health insurance companies. Health care reform was a "Personal issue" with him. as it is with me. as I had a similar experience.

In fact This issue alone swayed at least 30 votes out of my family. (some of them) Hard core republicans even.

if single payer or at least some sort of health care reform does not come of it. I will become disgruntled.

[4lbs]

40. Has anyone seen the YouTube video that President Obama gave back in November 2007 at the

Google Talks meeting? He was there with Google CEO Eric Schmidt talking about various things (economy, wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, taxes, etc.) and the subject of health care came up.

Here it is, the entire appearance, about an hour long:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZwo


In it he says that the Clinton health care plan presented by Hillary Clinton back in the 1990s was good, but was sabotaged by the health care industry. They didn't invite the drug companies, or the health insurance companies into the planning process. They also didn't let the public know what was going on in the meetings, keeping them private. So, what those companies did was run the "Harriet and Louise" TV and radio ads that wound up scaring lots of people about this health care plan, turning public and political opinion against it.

By the time it was presented, it was essentially D.O.A. President Obama, then Senator and candidate Obama, decided to do it a little differently.

President Obama said in the Google Talks that he would include all sides in the discussion. Yes, that means the drug companies and health insurance companies, as well as patient advocacy groups, doctors/nurses, and representatives of other departments. He will also open the meetings and let the press and the people see them.

[dysfunctional press]

46. if we don't get single-payer, obama will be a one-termer.

give the people what they want, or face their wrath.

[GeorgeGist]

48. Today I heard President Obama say there were no sacred cows .

To many in this country, profit is the most sacred cow.

From what I've seen, Obama won't sacrifice profit for universal healthcare.

I hope he proves me wrong.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

50. Compromise?

Although Obama wants coverage for all, the president suggested a willingness to compromise. That, too, was a break from Clinton's posture in the 1990s when he promised to veto any health care measure that didn't give him what he sought.

This time, Obama said, "Each of us must accept that none of us will get everything we want, and no proposal for reform will be perfect."

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_go_pr_wh/health_care_overhaul