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twitterLetter to the Editor:
People’s will can’t be ignored indefinitely
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.
In the form of town-hall rallies on health care, liberals are getting a dose of their own medicine, and they don’t like it. The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress are bent on shoving down the throats of the American people a health care agenda that has outraged masses of people. Both the administration and the leaders in Congress mistakenly believe that the election in 2008 gave them a mandate to do anything they want. Nothing could be further from reality.
They are finding that out, and they do not know how to deal with the passionate and powerful pushback by the American people. The rallying cry in town-hall meetings across the nation on health care is “You work for us.” Still, the Obama administration and congressional representatives are refusing to get the true message — either listen to the people or get out. They ignore the will of the people at their own political peril.
The existence of “group think” in the Obama camp will be the source of its undoing, such as labeling the throngs of passionate crowds attending town-hall meetings as “mobs.” It is the will of the people that will win the ultimate debate over health care in this country, not administration personnel and congressional representatives who refuse to listen to their bosses — the American people.
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The dishonesty of Mr. Jack's first paragraph renders the remainder of his letter not worth reading. It is well known that the orchestrated intimidation tactics are headed by someone who has been involved in the most massive medicare fraud ever, and paid a fine of more than 1 billion dollars.
You are known by the company you keep, and if Mr. Jack follows that leader, then he must idolize Bernie Madoff as an American hero.
The "mobs" are aptly named. They are the tool of the hateful Limbaugh, Hannity, & Beck, who are causing delays in solving America's biggest problem, healthcare reform. Television and radio ratings mean more to them than the solvency of America's economy.
When people were protesting against President Bush and his policies they were called patriots but when people today protest against President Obama and his policies they are called mobs or nazis or haters. LIBERALS ALWAYS WITH THE DOUBLE STANDARD!
The runaway premium similar to the peak fuel price last year and left so many folks in despair insists on staying the course with the attitude 'unchanged', clearly this trend could bankrupt individual, business, and government. Now the government subsequently is tasked with these two main assignments, first, to address premium inflation, second, to expand coverage to all in urgent need.
In order to cover all and not to add to the deficit, the public option can not set the same rates of private market, rather, it need to have the function to keep it in check in terms of inflation, too. Unfortunately, this 'unavoidable' direction is aggressively being accused by the runaway premium, citing government 'take-over' .
Under the circumstances the energy bill to determine human future and the other major issues is presently piled up, who wants to waste time making enemies ?, which also does not benefit the forthcoming election.
On the other hand, to make things worse, critics say the savings from the proposed public option is not enough to meet the revenue goal. Furthermore, on another hand, some say 'hands off' . Where do these No tax, No saving and the like intend to force this reform to go ? The conclusion by 'just-say-no' is no doubt. Ironically, the Deficit-sensitive groups have a distinctive common ground, they all have a Deficit-driven background out of question.
Of all choices, the best thing would be savings through efficiency. Considering the wasteful structure, the highest premium in the world, and the most expensive part of medicare, with the prevention / wellness program in place, an American style innovation, an 'outcome'-based payment founded upon IT system may be enough to save more than 50 billions per year (500 / decade), both 'improving quality' and removing the unnecessary procedures (as pay is dependent on patient's outcome). Young folks and advocates need to explain the notion of a pay for outcome agreement to the elderly misled by the disinformation.
Unlike private market, this public option includes large-scale investments, these large investments still does not get the fair score, instead seem to become a source of acute conflict, even so, this common sense-based program needs to develop further as early detection goes beyond monetary value.
In short, with the heartbreaking tears in mind, private market also needs change and should join together to complete this reform , as promised, if not, the runaway premium only has itself to blame. Job-based coverage (indirect payment), mandate code, and ample capital might be favorable to the private market. And It can be said that fair competition starts with fair market value.
Over time, supposedly, the public plan will concentrate more on basic, primary cares, and the private insurers will provide their clients with differentiated services.
Thank You !
In the 18th century, King George 111 didn't listen either when the patriots began rebelling over unjust taxation. We all know what happened as a result. Apparently BHO hasn't learned from history.
Any attempt by the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled Congress to force on the American people a health reform plan that does not take into account the will of the People will mean political suicide in the 2010 and 2012 elections. When 68% of Americans are currently satisfied with their health coverage
any major change in such coverage, which is forced on the American people, will be highly unpopular and politically and morally wrong.
The main fact that both the administration and the Democrat controlled Congress should recognize is that their proposed health care plan is not popular with an overriding number of Americans. Instead the administration, together with a number of key Democrat congressional representatives, is stubbornly adhering to a "group think" mentality which leads them to perceive the broad based outrage and opposition to their plan as being only by small organized "mobs" of far right extremists. They adhere to this group think mentality at their own political peril.
Instead of promoting a "government option" with major cuts in Medicare to pay for it, any reform package should focus on a private option with reform legislation that will eliminate pre existing conditions restrictions, make insurance plans portable, permit interstate competition between insurance carriers, and provide subsidies for eligible Americans who are currently uninsured and cannot afford coverage.
Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck are causing this? Read the polls fool. Every major poll shows over 50% of the public is against this evil monstrocity. I have great coverage now and 68% of the American people feel the same as I do. I am against it because I know that every word that comes out of Obama's mouth is a lie. He will raise my taxes sky high to finance this worthless scam in spite of what he said. Everyone has a right to whatever healthcare they can afford, no less, no more.
jlb:
I'm done playing patty cake with you. You're basically saying I should die because I can't afford the health insurance I need to stay alive once my Medicare coverage terminates.
You can go "Cheney" yourself.
Jeez, Houstonjac, last week you were saying that 85% of Americans were happy with their health care and that half of 45 million was 13 million.
Time for a little remedial math, don't you think?
The main fact is that President Obama was elected overwhelmingly and he told us during the campaign that reforming health care was his single most important priority. It's the primary reason I voted for him.
Ok, so 68% of Americans are happy with their health care. Well bully for them. Under Obama's plan they will get to keep it. There is nothing in the bill that requires anyone to give up the coverage they already have. What are you afraid of?
My wife's story is typical. When she was diagnosed with MS she was forced to retire from teaching. Then Clark County dropped all medical benefits for retired teachers. My insurance wouldn't cover her because she had - you guessed it - a pre-existing condition. She is now on Medicare disability. Without that program she would, in all likelihood, be in a wheelchair today, if not worse.
What if she had not qualified for Medicare? There are millions of people out there who through no fault of their own can't get insured. The President's plan would see to it that those people have a way to get medical care through a government program. Nobody would be forced to join it and nobody would have to give up any coverage they already have. What's the problem? That we have to pay for it through taxes? Our costs would probably go down because we foot the bill for these people anyway, but only when their problems become acute. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; preventive care is less expensive than acute care.
jlb101,
Let 'em eat cake!
Douglas Democrat-After six months of Bumbling Biden, Chaney is looking really good. Chaney could always put two or three words together without making a total fool of himself.
Your future is and should be in your hands, not mine. Simply because we reside on the same piece of dirt does not mean I am responsible to take care of you.
The only thing that Obama talked about in the campaign was "Change". Now the people are waking up and realizing that he was refering to the amount of money you would have in your pocket after he got through with his outrageous tax increases to finance his scam programs. If anyone thinks this Obamacare thing is going to save anyone money, they are an absolute fool. When has government ever got involved in anything that didn't cost three times what they said it would and work one-fourth as well? Cash for Clunkers now costing $3B instead of $1B. In six months the repos will start and the auto dealers will be going broke from lack of business. Everyone will then be saying what a stupid idea it was. I always buy used cars so I may get a real bargin from this thing yet.
"Your future is and should be in your hands, not mine."
And yet you consign me to a system that punishes me because of something that wasn't my fault.
In other words, my future isn't even in my hands.
You're a coward. You figure that if the system fails me, then you're not responsible.
You want to leave me to the mercy of a system that doesn't regard me as a person but as a liability? Fine.
I'll give you my address, you come over and put a bullet in my head. At least that would be more merciful.
If 2/3rds of the people don't like iti and 1/3rd of the people cannot live with it, we should not have it.
Doug,
"And yet you consign me to a system that punishes me because of something that wasn't my fault."
Stop with this already. In your world you would punish other people for things that aren't their problems. Its not the system that has failed you its your genetics. Nobody at this point and time can do anything about that without causing harm to other people.
DD,
"And yet you consign me to a system that punishes me because of something that wasn't my fault."
You mean like abortion?
Great system we have, all the Libs scurrying to have "health insurance" so the government can enable them to do "productive" things with their lives.
doug,
There is no money for the government to pay the medical expenses of every uninsured person in the country. Think about it, every prescription, every exam, every procedure, every operation, every mole that needs to be burned off, every broken bone, every sprain, every session of physical therapy, every overdose, every pregnancy, every prenatal expense, every delivery, every x-ray, every mri, every ekg, every heart bypass, (that's if the death panel finds you "worthy") etc. Not to mention every smoker, drinker, stoner, junkie, and fatass in America.
The government cannot afford a health care bill like this and the expenses will be subsidized by every working American.
It becomes socialized medicine. Put yourself in my shoes. Does that seem fair to you?
You think I should have to go from paying my own insurance, to paying my own insurance and a portion of everyone else's too?
Seriously, does that seem fair to you?
Henderson, Patrick, and getalife,
You are all just as cowardly as jlb.
Say it to my face. Look me in the eye and tell me that I should DIE to protect your precious money.
Better yet, I'll give you a gun. Pull the trigger yourself and stop hiding behind the system.
DD,
I am not saying you should die. I merely pointed out the crazy comment you made and compared it to abortion. The similarities are shocking.
The current health care proposal will do NOTHING to help you. You will not be better off and you will be more frustrated than before.
If President Obama really wanted true reform he would mandate that insurance companies lift the restrictions on prior illnesses and MAKE AVAILABLE a government option that screened out people who could afford it or ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
The President does not want reform. He wants control.
Tough choices have to be made, but nobody wants the wholesale killing of citizens. BTW, any politician who advocates this or spreads the fear mongering is an IDIOT. Anybody!!!!!
You only need to go 16 pages into this health care bill before they start talking about what health care WE can have. It talks about being "grandfathered in" with your policy, no new enrollments in your private insurance, and from the moment this bill goes active, you are no longer able to simply purchase private insurance. It must be part of an Exchange - participating health benefits plan. If you are not granfathered in to a policy at any point after this becomes effective, no private insurer can take your money and give you coverage without you now being part of the Obamacare plan.
People need to read this bill! They keep saying, "if you like your insurance, you can keep it!" What they aren't telling you is that if you lose it for any reason, or decide to change insurance companies, no company can take you without making you part of the Exchange - participating health benefits plan. Absolutely no changes to your existing policy can take place after the day before this bill goes live. No terms or conditions, including benefits and coverage. I am not positive, but I think this means that if you have a baby after Obamacare goes live, your insurance company may not be able to just add them to your coverage, it looks like your new baby might have to be part of the "Exchange - participating health benefits plan." I see nothing that "grandfathers" in new dependents to your current private/employer based insurance!
Sorry Doug, but not everything is just about you! People have to realize that these politicians are lying to the American people trying to convince us that private insurance is still available under this plan. We have to vote every single one of these lying jokers out of office.
Henderson, where is the GOP's plan?
Not your plan, or Patrick's plan...the official plan of the Republican Party. Where can I see it?
Oh wait, that's right...the GOP HAS NO PLAN. They were supposed to show it off three weeks ago, and suddenly it disappeared.
All I hear from the spokesmen of the Republican Party is how the Democrat's plan (and remember, there are currently 5 of them being bandied about) won't work. But they don't offer an alternative.
In other words, the people in office want the status quo.
Given the choice between the status quo (which sucks) and various Democratic plans (which all suck a little less), what should we do? Sit on our hands and wait another year for the next one?
How many people will lose their insurance in that span? How many will die?
Health care protesters are no better than community organizers rallying the people against something. Oops, that's the President.
All the Dumbocrats' plans have this in commom:
1) Cost More
2) Get less
No wonder the polls say that a majority are against the Dumbocrats' plans.
Only idiots will buy into that crap.
DD,
Why are you worried about the Republicans plan?
They don't have the votes to stop a jaywalker let alone any Bill the Dems want to pass.
That is the key, the Dems don't want this to pass. They want to deflect blame to the Republicans.
Harry Reid is spineless and couldn't lead the crew of Gilligan's Island.
Come on, stop whining about the Republicans and hammer the Dems. The party of stall.
I thought they had a mandate. Oh, it was a man date. Sorry for the confusion.
doug,
The Obamacrats are lying to us about what is in H.R. 3200. They are liars! Nothing they are telling us about this bill is true. They don't have the money for this, we don't have the money for this. The amendments that republicans have tried to get in the bill have been resoundly squashed by the democrats.
getalife is right...the dems didn't even try to create a bill that the conservatives can get behind. They don't care, they just keep lying about what's in this piece of socialist legislation. This bill will not protect free choice. 20 pages. Just read 20 pages and you'll quickly see what's in this piece of garbage legislation.
DouglasDemocrat.....
I agree with you. The Republicans have NO plan. Their plan is simply the status quo........
I'm not surprised with that information. The Republicans have become the party of NO! What ever the Democrats are for, the GOP is dead set against...
Like you, I was looking forward to seeing the GOP's alternative health care plan that they said that they were working on......
Like you, I'm still waiting for the plan to be released to the American public.....of course, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
When one thinks about it, what really happened under the leadership of George W. Bush than could actually be called progress? Surely the Bushiites achieved some type of progress....? Right?
Maybe the current economic debacle that came about on GWB's watch is what the GOP considers progress?
Maybe the war in the Middle East is progress according to the GOP? One can only wonder....
As Woodrow Wilson said....
"Conservatives are people who sit and think, sit and think, but mostly sit."
El Lobo,
Are you brain dead? Get your Dems to all vote yes and this is a mute point.
If this Bill is so good why are the Dems shying away?
SgtJfRockNance32;
DUMBOCRATS???
Is that and "only idiots will buy into that crap"
the best you can come up with?
getalife;
It may be a mute point, but it would certainly be rendered moot if all the dems would vote yes.
Which, when consensus is reached, they will do.
I'll repeat again;
Anyone who would deny a fellow human being lifesaving health care because they are too damn cheap to help pay for it are flawed in a way you can't fix.
"Too damn cheap"? The government is taking over half of the average man's income now. Income, Social Security, medicare, sales, property, vehicle registration, gasoline taxes. What the hell do you think, they should take it all and give us a few dollars to live on? Why work. What ever happened to the American concept that people should take care of themselves. We all are going to die sooner or later. If you want lifesaving health care, pay for it. I am not responsible for you and you are not responsible for me. There are many countries in the world for lazy drones to get by. China, Cuba, Venezula, Russia, Sweden, Denmark et.al. You would probably be quite happy there. They will give you free stuff in exchange for your freedom. I just happen to prefer freedom.
Also, it's not one fellow human being! It's every uninsured American you are asking us to pay for. Again, every smoker, drinker, stoner, junkie, and fatass in the country. Every welfare mom that has a litter of kids, everyone of her kids until their 18 or start having litters of their own, then as the cycle repeats itself it goes so on, and so on, for the rest of their lives.
How is that fair? Pay mine and part of everyone else's? I don't think so.
A "friend" of mine contracted diabetes II and fell on hard times. I loaned him more than $18,000 and, when he was evicted from his apartment, housed him for six months to help him turn his life around. He lied to me and gambled it away. When I found that out, I kicked him out and haven't seen or heard from him since.
Am I supposed to care what happens to him now? Is his health care my responsibility? How about the other hundreds of thousands of people like him? How many more like him will there be if we eliminate the consequences of bad life choices?
gmag, I agree but by the time consensus is reached this may actually be an effective Bill.
I am not trying to deny anybody anything, I am trying to deny power mongers whoever they may be my hard earned money.
For the record the Repubs are just as poisoned as the Dems.
The Dems just lack spine, when Bush was in office in his first term the Repubs pushed all kinds of trash through. Consensus.
Animals take better care of each other.
Gordon,
That shows what you know, in the animal kingdom it is survival of the fittest. The week that don't get plucked off by predators are denied food.
Sound good?
OK, so we're the same as animals.
Snap!
"Anyone who would deny a fellow human being lifesaving health care because they are too damn cheap to help pay for it are flawed in a way you can't fix."
I believe they call that government ran rationed health care.
There is a documented story about healthcare program ran by the Oregon government. A lady had cancer and wanted to try a cancer drug. The state of Oregon declined her request for it reasoned that she only less than a year to live and the drug cost some $4,000. In the same letter, they offered to pay for a drug treatment that cost around $50 to end her life. BTW, the drug company gave her the expensive drug cancer treatment for free.
In Sweden, the average wait for many surgeries is over 3 months. That is why more and more people in Sweden are buying private health insurance or traveling to other countries so that they do not have to be in pain so long.
Recently in Canada, a famous person died from a skiing accident. Canada has far fewer MRI stations than the USA on a per capita basis. Some experts have said that because of rationing of MRI's in Canada it was one the main reasons for her death. It took so long to get to the nearest MRI that they did not know that her brain was bleeding until it was too late.
Obama has said often that he wants to reduce medical treatments and he wants a committee of his experts sitting in DC to decide what treatments Amercians should get.
With Obamacare we will get less healthcare but at a higher cost.
Rock,
This panel has 1 year from the date Obamacare goes live to even determine what is covered. Comforting, no?
Alf: why don't you dig into your pockets and pay for the insulin that your fellow traveler Douglas requires to maintain his literary prowess?
Why not? The will of the people was totally ignored under the Bush/Chaney admin.
Doug,
My choices to purchase private insurance without government involvement should not be taken away to accommodate you or anyone else.
It's about freedom. Quit thinking it's all about you. A right for one person should not limit the freedom of another.