Yes, nations that have universal health care--health care for all--and so, don't tie its cost to profit like we in America. A partial list.
Check that out.
Slovenia, for God's sake.
But no, we can't do it.
Idiots.
Showing posts with label health care insurance companies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care insurance companies. Show all posts
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Nations That Have Universal Health Care
Yes, nations that have universal health care--health care for all--and so, don't tie its cost to profit like we in America. A partial list.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Further proof on the good of "Obamacare"--and a great question for Kansans and Missourians
The Right Wingers are going to hate this little gem:
Kaiser study finds 'lower than expected' ObamaCare premiums
And from Forbes, the Right Wing, Conservative, business mag/rag:
And Bloomberg, also very business-friendly:
Just some of the findings:
A 25-year-old New Yorker earning $25,000 a year will pay as little as $62 a month for health insurance next year, and a peer living in Vermont may pay nothing, according to a 17-state survey of premiums under the U.S. health-care overhaul.
The Kaiser Family Foundation report is the broadest look yet at what consumers will pay for health insurance when the Affordable Care Act takes full effect next year. The cost issue has been a top concern for President Barack Obama’s administration, which is trying to persuade at least 7 million Americans who now lack insurance to sign up for coverage starting Oct. 1.
California and New York are among the states that have announced rates for the plans to be sold through marketplaces called exchanges. Republican officials in states including Ohio, Indiana and Georgia have released partial information on premiums, emphasizing big increases for some customers.
“There’s obviously intense interest in what the choices are going to look like for consumers and what they’re going to have to pay in 2014,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at Menlo Park, California-based Kaiser, said in a phone interview. “For the most part insurers seem to find this market attractive and they’re pricing accordingly.”
The health law sets up a system of state-based online and telephone exchanges that will sell insurance from companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) to people who don’t have coverage at their jobs. The law makes government subsidies in the form of a tax credit available to discount monthly premiums for people with low- to moderate-incomes.
So the question is, to all the Kansans and Missourians and all the other Right Wing, Republican, "red" states, do you really want to be left behind in all this?
Do you REALLY want to keep paying unnecessarily high--and higher--rates for health insurance, for the same coverage?
Do you?
The Kaiser Family Foundation report is the broadest look yet at what consumers will pay for health insurance when the Affordable Care Act takes full effect next year. The cost issue has been a top concern for President Barack Obama’s administration, which is trying to persuade at least 7 million Americans who now lack insurance to sign up for coverage starting Oct. 1.
California and New York are among the states that have announced rates for the plans to be sold through marketplaces called exchanges. Republican officials in states including Ohio, Indiana and Georgia have released partial information on premiums, emphasizing big increases for some customers.
“There’s obviously intense interest in what the choices are going to look like for consumers and what they’re going to have to pay in 2014,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at Menlo Park, California-based Kaiser, said in a phone interview. “For the most part insurers seem to find this market attractive and they’re pricing accordingly.”
The health law sets up a system of state-based online and telephone exchanges that will sell insurance from companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) to people who don’t have coverage at their jobs. The law makes government subsidies in the form of a tax credit available to discount monthly premiums for people with low- to moderate-incomes.
So the question is, to all the Kansans and Missourians and all the other Right Wing, Republican, "red" states, do you really want to be left behind in all this?
Do you REALLY want to keep paying unnecessarily high--and higher--rates for health insurance, for the same coverage?
Do you?
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
STILL think "Obamacare" isn't good for you and me? Good for the people?
If you're still stuck on "defund Obamacare", read up:
WASHINGTON — Personal health care costs rose in the 12 months ending in May at the slowest rate in the last 50 years, as spending on hospital and nursing home services declined, the White House announced Monday.
Personal consumption spending rose 1.1%, Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said. Hospital readmissions rates dropped from an average of 19% to 17.9% for Medicare patients since the passage of the 2010 health care law, Krueger said.
A series of recent government reports and industry analyses have shown a decrease in overall health care costs. In May, a Congressional Budget Office report showed a $618 billion drop in projected Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next decade. A recent study by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showed that for Americans who receive health insurance through their employers, premiums rose 3% from 2011 to 2012, the lowest increase since 1996.
The law is not affecting job growth, Krueger said. Job growth in industries that have traditionally not provided health insurance for their employees, such as restaurants, was higher. Restaurant sales and employment have increased more than any other retail sales industry since the law was signed, at about 11% for employment and 17% in retail sales, and weekly hours also have grown about 3% since the law was signed.
"Data from across the economy — covering consumers, government and private employers — point to the same conclusion," Krueger said. "Health care cost growth has slowed."
It's working. The Affordable Care Act--"Obamacare"--is working.
It's already working.
Is it enough?
Heck, no, but it's helping and it's helping us, the people who need it.
Get behind this thing or get left behind.
This whole thing is exactly like FDR, back in the 30's and the creation of and Democratic support for it while the Right Wing, the Republicans and some business people were against it.
Need more proof? Here you go, another, separate article:
Saturday, July 27, 2013
One man's personal testament to the great good and improvements of "Obamacare" (guest post)
Obamacare confession. ~ July 24, 2013 By JT Eberhard
This is my father’s facebook status from last night:
"The hammer has dropped. The sky has fallen. I have been a staunch defender of the ACA. I have defended Nancy Pelosi’s much maligned (and taken out of context by the right) statement to pass it so we would know what was in it.
Well.
Today, I got a letter from my current insurance company inviting me to call them and find out what the exchange could do for me. The letter informed me that I could keep my current $600 per month, $10,000 deductible policy since it is grandfathered in, or I could get a new policy starting Jan. 1.
For a total of $105 per month, I will be able to get a new silver policy. My current policy equal to a bronze. For a total of $300 per month, I will be able to get a gold policy. The higher your metal, the lower your deductible, your copay, and the higher the drug benefit.
So, instead of $7200 per year for catastrophic insurance for Carol and I, plus paying out about $10,000 out of pocket each year due to the high deductible and pre-existing conditions………we will pay either $1200 or $3600 per year for a damned sight better coverage and much fewer out of pocket expenses.
So, for all the conservatives who have been desperately straining for years to scare me out of this, and to the Republicans in the House who have voted 37 times to repeal the ACA……kiss my country ass. You’re a bunch of lying, fear mongering and ignorant demagogues, and you should be ashamed of yourselves."
Link to the original blog post:
Obamacare confession. - Patheos
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Happy 3rd birthday, "Obamacare"!
And, of course, it's actually the Affordable Care Act.
Just a few of the benefits we Americans have, because of this important and so-necessary, long-overdue legislation:
- Provides Coverage to Americans with Pre-existing Conditions: You may be eligible for health coverage under the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.
- Protects Your Choice of Doctors: Choose the primary care doctor you want from your plan’s network.
- Keeps Young Adults Covered: If you are under 26, you may be eligible to be covered under your parent’s health plan.
- Ends Lifetime Limits on Coverage: Lifetime limits on most benefits are banned for all new health insurance plans.
- Ends Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Children: Health plans can no longer limit or deny benefits to children under 19 due to a pre-existing condition.
- Ends Arbitrary Withdrawals of Insurance Coverage: Insurers can no longer cancel your coverage just because you made an honest mistake.
- Reviews Premium Increases: Insurance companies must now publicly justify any unreasonable rate hikes.
- Helps You Get the Most from Your Premium Dollars: Your premium dollars must be spent primarily on health care – not administrative costs.
- Restricts Annual Dollar Limits on Coverage: Annual limits on your health benefits will be phased out by 2014.
- Removes Insurance Company Barriers to Emergency Services: You can seek emergency care at a hospital outside of your health plan’s network.
- Covers Preventive Care at No Cost to You: You may be eligible for recommended preventive health services. No copayment.
- Guarantees Your Right to Appeal: You now have the right to ask that your plan reconsider its denial of payment.
Small Businesses
Learn about tax credits to help cover the costs of covering your employees.
Seniors
Read about new annual wellness exams and prescription drug discounts.
Read about new annual wellness exams and prescription drug discounts.
Women
Learn about how the Affordable Care Act benefits women.
Learn about how the Affordable Care Act benefits women.
Young Adults
You can now stay insured under your parent’s plan until age 26.
You can now stay insured under your parent’s plan until age 26.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The US: Only the most expensive health care in the world
Quote from link below: "The US has the highest health spending in the world - equivalent to 17.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP), or $8,362 per person. And it's not all private - government spending is at $4,437 per person, only behind Luxembourg, Monaco and Norway."
The number one cause of bankruptcy in this country, folks, is one health care incident suffered by someone who can't afford and doesn't have health care insurance. And there's a lot more ugly facts about our absurd, crushing, far-too-expensive system.
We need to do things about this, starting with fighting the health insurance companies and pharmaceuticals. They're cleaning our collective financial clocks, folks.
Link for statistics and further proof: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
About this health care reform Republicans hate...
Facts:
"The Republicans have made the individual mandate the element most likely to undo the President’s health-care law. The irony is that the Democrats adopted it in the first place because they thought that it would help them secure conservative support. It had, after all, been at the heart of Republican health-care reforms for two decades.
The mandate made its political début in a 1989 Heritage Foundation brief titled “Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans,” as a counterpoint to the single-payer system and the employer mandate, which were favored in Democratic circles. In the brief, Stuart Butler, the foundation’s health-care expert, argued, “Many states now require passengers in automobiles to wear seat-belts for their own protection. Many others require anybody driving a car to have liability insurance. But neither the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement.” The mandate made its first legislative appearance in 1993, in the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act—the Republicans’ alternative to President Clinton’s health-reform bill—which was sponsored by John Chafee, of Rhode Island, and co-sponsored by eighteen Republicans, including Bob Dole, who was then the Senate Minority Leader.
Link to original story: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/25/120625fa_fact_klein#ixzz1yDVrKXKX
"The Republicans have made the individual mandate the element most likely to undo the President’s health-care law. The irony is that the Democrats adopted it in the first place because they thought that it would help them secure conservative support. It had, after all, been at the heart of Republican health-care reforms for two decades.
The mandate made its political début in a 1989 Heritage Foundation brief titled “Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans,” as a counterpoint to the single-payer system and the employer mandate, which were favored in Democratic circles. In the brief, Stuart Butler, the foundation’s health-care expert, argued, “Many states now require passengers in automobiles to wear seat-belts for their own protection. Many others require anybody driving a car to have liability insurance. But neither the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement.” The mandate made its first legislative appearance in 1993, in the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act—the Republicans’ alternative to President Clinton’s health-reform bill—which was sponsored by John Chafee, of Rhode Island, and co-sponsored by eighteen Republicans, including Bob Dole, who was then the Senate Minority Leader.
Link to original story: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/25/120625fa_fact_klein#ixzz1yDVrKXKX
Friday, June 1, 2012
Health care pigs
What the head of the health care insurance companies in the US are paid annually:
This is what these people each make, per year, yet they can and see to it that they and their respective companies deny you and I health care procedures when our doctors say we need them.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is unfettered, unregulated, laissez faire, free market Capitalism.
It is also a significant reason why we have the most expensive health care in the world, yet are more likely to die younger here than in 36 other nations.
Sick. The system is sick.
And if we tolerate this and stand for it, we aren't very bright.
Link: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910064; http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html; http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_systems.html
This, ladies and gentlemen, is unfettered, unregulated, laissez faire, free market Capitalism.
It is also a significant reason why we have the most expensive health care in the world, yet are more likely to die younger here than in 36 other nations.
Sick. The system is sick.
And if we tolerate this and stand for it, we aren't very bright.
Link: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910064; http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html; http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_systems.html
Thursday, June 9, 2011
States vs. US Government on Health Care Reform Act
There are some really interesting legal questions in the country pending right now dealing with the health care reform of last year.
It seems 26 States Attorneys General and their governors have filed suit against the Federal Government over this Health Care Reform Act. They're fighting the mandate that we all have to buy health insurance.
If you've read anything here, over time, you know I've pointed out how badly, badly broken our health care system is, how expensive it is and how it doesn't work for too many millions of us so yes, I think--know--we need some solutions.
That said, here are the questions I see as pertinent to this lawsuit that either seem obvious or have no answer:
First, if, as these representatives of their respective states contend, the Federal Government can't require us to have health care, then how is it that states can mandate we have car insurance? Doesn't that give the Feds carte blanche, legally, anyway, to be able to require it of us?
Second, sure, as I said, I'm all for health care reform because we need it so badly but as I've asked here before, if you can't afford health insurance, how is passing a law requiring it going to somehow make you paying for it possible? How does that work? If I can't afford it, where is that money going to come from? And isn't, then, some financial penalty if I don't get health insurance rather superfluous? If I didn't have money before, how am I going to pay the penalty? And even if I do pay the penalty, that still doesn't mean I can pay for health insurance.
This requiring us all to have health insurance was just a big hand-off and payday for the insurance companies, as we all know. What good thing was supposed to happen for us regarding affordability? That was where the "public option" for health insurance, where the Feds would be able to offer the health insurance companies some good, positive competition, was going to come in. As we also know, unfortunately President Obama gave up that possibility early in his negotiations with the insurance industry.
Thirdly, on this issue and in this case before the Supreme Court, it will be fascinating to see if they don't come down squarely for the health insurance companies, what with their strong and undeniable record of, time and again, coming down on the side of "Big Business". I think the likelihood they'll throw out the mandate is very strong.
Finally, if they come down against the mandate, the question becomes how far will they interpret this? Will they then say the entire Health Care Reform Act is unconstitutional or will they merely throw out that one stipulation?
Interesting stuff.
Regardless? I think the American public--the "little guy", you and I--will lose on this deal, yet again.
Stay tuned.
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136952195
It seems 26 States Attorneys General and their governors have filed suit against the Federal Government over this Health Care Reform Act. They're fighting the mandate that we all have to buy health insurance.
If you've read anything here, over time, you know I've pointed out how badly, badly broken our health care system is, how expensive it is and how it doesn't work for too many millions of us so yes, I think--know--we need some solutions.
That said, here are the questions I see as pertinent to this lawsuit that either seem obvious or have no answer:
First, if, as these representatives of their respective states contend, the Federal Government can't require us to have health care, then how is it that states can mandate we have car insurance? Doesn't that give the Feds carte blanche, legally, anyway, to be able to require it of us?
Second, sure, as I said, I'm all for health care reform because we need it so badly but as I've asked here before, if you can't afford health insurance, how is passing a law requiring it going to somehow make you paying for it possible? How does that work? If I can't afford it, where is that money going to come from? And isn't, then, some financial penalty if I don't get health insurance rather superfluous? If I didn't have money before, how am I going to pay the penalty? And even if I do pay the penalty, that still doesn't mean I can pay for health insurance.
This requiring us all to have health insurance was just a big hand-off and payday for the insurance companies, as we all know. What good thing was supposed to happen for us regarding affordability? That was where the "public option" for health insurance, where the Feds would be able to offer the health insurance companies some good, positive competition, was going to come in. As we also know, unfortunately President Obama gave up that possibility early in his negotiations with the insurance industry.
Thirdly, on this issue and in this case before the Supreme Court, it will be fascinating to see if they don't come down squarely for the health insurance companies, what with their strong and undeniable record of, time and again, coming down on the side of "Big Business". I think the likelihood they'll throw out the mandate is very strong.
Finally, if they come down against the mandate, the question becomes how far will they interpret this? Will they then say the entire Health Care Reform Act is unconstitutional or will they merely throw out that one stipulation?
Interesting stuff.
Regardless? I think the American public--the "little guy", you and I--will lose on this deal, yet again.
Stay tuned.
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136952195
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
On our--American's--foolish optimism (guest post)
We continue to think that Americans, no matter how crazy, should be able
to buy guns, no matter how lethal. Columbine had no effect. Virginia
Tech, no effect. Lunatic after lunatic, senseless murder after murder,
nothing changes. Somebody like Jared Loughner, who doesn't appear to
know whether he's afoot or on horseback, can wander into a
sporting-goods store and stumble out with a semiautomatic weapon almost
as easily as he can buy a sleeve of golf balls.
We continue to believe that business can regulate itself. Wall Street greedheads nearly blow up the world economy with their pointless, synthetic financial instruments, and we continue to believe that government regulation of financial markets would stifle innovation. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to try to fix the consequences of their most recent innovations, and yet we persist in the belief that regulating the industry would be un-American. We can't even summon the political will to pressure companies to reduce the salaries and bonuses of the most egregious malefactors.
We persist in throwing endless blood and treasure into the endless, pointless war on drugs. After 40 years, untold billions of dollars and countless lives wasted in prison, it's still easier for a teenager in Detroit to buy a bag of cocaine than a six-pack of beer. How much richer is organized crime as a result of the fact that drugs are illegal? How many children have been killed in this war?
We continue to believe — against all logic, all evidence and all experience — that giving money to the for-profit insurance industry is the way to provide healthcare for the poor and sick. There isn't enough money in healthcare for not-for-profit institutions to make a go of it, but adding a layer of investors to skim off the top will make it work.
We continue to believe in the fantasies of smart bombs, surgical strikes and limited wars.
And we continue to imagine that a government funded by corporate lobbyists and dedicated to no higher principle than lower taxes is going to be a guardian of the public interest.
These ideas are not working this time. They didn't work last time or the time before that. We have no idea why. And we all just stand here barking.
--Barry Goldman, arbitrator and mediator and the author of "The Science of Settlement: Ideas for Negotiators."
Link to original post: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldman-sphex-20110515,0,7387307.story
We continue to believe that business can regulate itself. Wall Street greedheads nearly blow up the world economy with their pointless, synthetic financial instruments, and we continue to believe that government regulation of financial markets would stifle innovation. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to try to fix the consequences of their most recent innovations, and yet we persist in the belief that regulating the industry would be un-American. We can't even summon the political will to pressure companies to reduce the salaries and bonuses of the most egregious malefactors.
We persist in throwing endless blood and treasure into the endless, pointless war on drugs. After 40 years, untold billions of dollars and countless lives wasted in prison, it's still easier for a teenager in Detroit to buy a bag of cocaine than a six-pack of beer. How much richer is organized crime as a result of the fact that drugs are illegal? How many children have been killed in this war?
We continue to believe — against all logic, all evidence and all experience — that giving money to the for-profit insurance industry is the way to provide healthcare for the poor and sick. There isn't enough money in healthcare for not-for-profit institutions to make a go of it, but adding a layer of investors to skim off the top will make it work.
We continue to believe in the fantasies of smart bombs, surgical strikes and limited wars.
And we continue to imagine that a government funded by corporate lobbyists and dedicated to no higher principle than lower taxes is going to be a guardian of the public interest.
These ideas are not working this time. They didn't work last time or the time before that. We have no idea why. And we all just stand here barking.
--Barry Goldman, arbitrator and mediator and the author of "The Science of Settlement: Ideas for Negotiators."
Link to original post: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldman-sphex-20110515,0,7387307.story
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Weekend entertainment suggestion
I think I have a great weekend entertainment suggestion for you today.
A friend mentioned that he did it last night while we were at breakfast this morning.
If you either get tired of "March Madness" basketball or your team isn't on or you just want something to watch on TV with the thought of having a good laugh, turn on Fox "News" this weekend.
Oh, yeah.
They're going nuts right now, what with the President and the Democrats anchoring to get a health care reform fix right now.
They're flipping out.
They're coming unhinged.
Whether it's Hannity or Beck or O'Really or whomever, go over and give them a view.
It's a hoot.
They're just sure that this is the end of the world or the virtual end of the world or that by Sunday evening we'll all be living in a Socialist country or some such absurd, ludicrous, insane, and/or emotional nonsense and hyperbole.
You may thank us later.
Have a great weekend, y'all.
A friend mentioned that he did it last night while we were at breakfast this morning.
If you either get tired of "March Madness" basketball or your team isn't on or you just want something to watch on TV with the thought of having a good laugh, turn on Fox "News" this weekend.
Oh, yeah.
They're going nuts right now, what with the President and the Democrats anchoring to get a health care reform fix right now.
They're flipping out.
They're coming unhinged.
Whether it's Hannity or Beck or O'Really or whomever, go over and give them a view.
It's a hoot.
They're just sure that this is the end of the world or the virtual end of the world or that by Sunday evening we'll all be living in a Socialist country or some such absurd, ludicrous, insane, and/or emotional nonsense and hyperbole.
You may thank us later.
Have a great weekend, y'all.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
This is what we need
Sadly, it's likely that won't happen.
Calm, lucid and intelligent analysis of both sides of issues
It seems that PBS is one of the last bastions of what I describe above--calm, lucid and intelligent--truly "fair and ballanced"--reporting and information.
And with health care reform being prposed right now and debated nearly ad infinitum, it also seems true the we, as Americans, need good information sources on what's happening and being proposed.
With that in mind, I feel it important to get word out that the local PBS station, KCPT, is broadcasting a formal "Special Report on Health Care" this Thursday evening at 8:30 pm.
We all need to know what's going on, as I said.
I don't even think the average American knows how bad our current health care system is, really. This should be able to help.
Let's all have a good week.
Link: http://kcpt.org/
And with health care reform being prposed right now and debated nearly ad infinitum, it also seems true the we, as Americans, need good information sources on what's happening and being proposed.
With that in mind, I feel it important to get word out that the local PBS station, KCPT, is broadcasting a formal "Special Report on Health Care" this Thursday evening at 8:30 pm.
We all need to know what's going on, as I said.
I don't even think the average American knows how bad our current health care system is, really. This should be able to help.
Let's all have a good week.
Link: http://kcpt.org/
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Good move, Mr. President
It's great to see the President has called for an address to Congress next week, to clarify and push for health care reform.
That's great news.
As everyone has discussed, he didn't want to make the mistake of the Clintons by pushing through his own reform so he left it up to Congress.
Maybe a little too much so.
So now, with the reform somewhat floundering, he seems to be taking the proverbial "bull by the horns", thank goodness.
This should do two things that are badly needed for this reform, too.
First, it should help him clarify the statistics--the true, hard data--on health care in the US and how dismal it is.
It costs so much, it covers so little, our costs have gone up exponentially and continue to do so, etc. This message, next week, can and should be kept simple so the more of the American public "get it" and so it can't be overridden by the right wing and corporate rants.
Second, it should help him dispel the blatant, out-and-out mistruths, misrepresentations, lies and even hysteria that has been created and distributed by anyone against this reform.
On a side note, I think the President and his staff should stop saying we need government insurance so we can "keep the insurance companies honest." That just creates more problems, I think, and puts them on edge. Instead, he should just say we need this 2nd insurance option to "keep them competitive." He won't so automatically create enemies this way.
So this is terrific. We need to refocus this push and this is just the time and he is the only person, singularly, who can do this.
We have to all be behind him and get the information out, sure. We can help but there has to be a leader and it can only come from him. He has to push Congress.
And then we can bring them along.
Link to story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58146N20090903
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/health/policy/03care.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
That's great news.
As everyone has discussed, he didn't want to make the mistake of the Clintons by pushing through his own reform so he left it up to Congress.
Maybe a little too much so.
So now, with the reform somewhat floundering, he seems to be taking the proverbial "bull by the horns", thank goodness.
This should do two things that are badly needed for this reform, too.
First, it should help him clarify the statistics--the true, hard data--on health care in the US and how dismal it is.
It costs so much, it covers so little, our costs have gone up exponentially and continue to do so, etc. This message, next week, can and should be kept simple so the more of the American public "get it" and so it can't be overridden by the right wing and corporate rants.
Second, it should help him dispel the blatant, out-and-out mistruths, misrepresentations, lies and even hysteria that has been created and distributed by anyone against this reform.
On a side note, I think the President and his staff should stop saying we need government insurance so we can "keep the insurance companies honest." That just creates more problems, I think, and puts them on edge. Instead, he should just say we need this 2nd insurance option to "keep them competitive." He won't so automatically create enemies this way.
So this is terrific. We need to refocus this push and this is just the time and he is the only person, singularly, who can do this.
We have to all be behind him and get the information out, sure. We can help but there has to be a leader and it can only come from him. He has to push Congress.
And then we can bring them along.
Link to story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58146N20090903
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/health/policy/03care.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Never mind
No, there's just too bloody much insanity and stupidity to not write.
Check this out:
"Insurance premiums have risen by 73.8% from 2000 to 2006, while the U.S. median income has increased 11.6% during that same period, according to a study released Tuesday by Families USA, the Helena Independent Record reports (Harrington, Helena Independent Record, 10/18)."
This report just came out in the middle of trying to get our health care overhauled in the US.
Read it again, ladies and gentlemen, and remember this.
The above statistic is further proof that, not only do we need health care reform in the US but we need it badly and it must, by necessity, include the government-run "public option" of insurance.
The corporations, I will say again, are eating us alive.
And we're letting them.
If you aren’t for health care reform in general and the “public option”, in particular, you’re voting against your own self-interests, in favor of the corporations.
Which, normally, would be fine except the rest of us would all suffer along with you, with much higher costs, ad infinitum.
Link to story:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/54522.php
Check this out:
"Insurance premiums have risen by 73.8% from 2000 to 2006, while the U.S. median income has increased 11.6% during that same period, according to a study released Tuesday by Families USA, the Helena Independent Record reports (Harrington, Helena Independent Record, 10/18)."
This report just came out in the middle of trying to get our health care overhauled in the US.
Read it again, ladies and gentlemen, and remember this.
The above statistic is further proof that, not only do we need health care reform in the US but we need it badly and it must, by necessity, include the government-run "public option" of insurance.
The corporations, I will say again, are eating us alive.
And we're letting them.
If you aren’t for health care reform in general and the “public option”, in particular, you’re voting against your own self-interests, in favor of the corporations.
Which, normally, would be fine except the rest of us would all suffer along with you, with much higher costs, ad infinitum.
Link to story:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/54522.php
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