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StumbleSun editorial:
Obama’s time to deliver
President needs to make case before Congress for much-needed universal health care plan
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.
The most valuable asset an individual can possess is good health, yet tens of millions of Americans are denied access to affordable health care that should be made available to everyone.
America should be a country that cares about its own citizens, not a nation that treats them as though access to a doctor is an exclusive privilege.
This is a simple, yet powerful theme that President Barack Obama should drive home Wednesday night when he is scheduled to address Congress on proposed health care reform.
Health care is as essential as food, shelter and clothing. It is not a commodity that should be made available only to the well-to-do or to those who are fortunate enough to have medical plans where they work.
Obama has an opportunity to draw a sharp contrast to congressional Republicans — who want to block any meaningful health care reform — and regain ownership of the health care debate by calling on the Democratic-led Congress to approve a plan of universal care.
This strategy should include a public option or reasonable alternative that would allow Americans to obtain affordable insurance. A public option would spur competition that would encourage insurers to provide more affordable coverage.
Just as important, all health plans should include coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, and that coverage should continue for people who change or lose their jobs. Improving patient safety and the overall quality of care also are paramount, as is an emphasis on preventive care.
Obama and fellow Democrats should also fully embrace the principle that the federal government can play a helpful role in reform.
He should remind Congress that the government has had considerable success running Medicare. If our government can guarantee medical care for those 65 and older, why shouldn’t similar coverage be extended to all Americans without health insurance?
Health care costs have been spinning out of control for businesses that are trying to provide insurance for workers, and Americans by the droves have been needlessly driven into bankruptcy by obscenely high medical bills.
This is what Congress and the American people should be focused on, not the scare tactics and misinformation campaigns from Republican naysayers who have done nothing to provide the health care that everyone needs.
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The LV Sun kept saying "A public option would spur competition that would encourage insurers to provide more affordable coverage."
There simply is no proof of this.
The government with medicare, SCHIP, the VA, government workers, etc already contols 50% of heathcare. Do you see price control?
Saying it does not make it fact.
The CBO is saying the opposite. Another ponzi government program is not the answer.
The LV Sun must not have gotten the Whitehouse memo that the public option is dead - get with the Democratic talking points. Even Nancy and Harry have shifted direction
My big questions for all the congressional politicians interested in universal health care are as follows:
For 6 of 8 years under GW Bush you offered nothing in the way of health insurance change. Why, not then? and, why now are your ideas so much better
If the US can afford specialized insurance for all government workers and congressional personnel why not the same exact thing for the rest of us? If it is too expensive to insure all the people of the US this way then is is too expensive for we the people to afford it for all of you in government. When will you publically renounce and cancel our congressional health care insurance and joing the rest of us in being privately insured?
When will you rein in the insurance companies and eliminate such things as exclusionary rules for pre-existing conditions and calling specialized medcations and treatments 'cosmetic' and not insurable?
When will you rein in the pharmaceutical companies and require them to be competetive with drug sources throughout the world like Canada and Europe?
When will you enforce immigration laws and make it illegal to treat th illegal immigrants under social security, Medicare and Medicade except in dire emergencies for humane reasons? When will you send these medical bills to the countries of origin for these illegals and deduct these costs from foreign aide we give these countries?
Thank you for your prompt and intelligent responses to these questions. Please publish your responses in newpapers so all of us, WE THE PEOPLE, can see you are truly representing us and responsive to us...
If you want to see what single payer system is about
please click this on
www.youtube.com/one single payer system
if obama does not ram it thru now...
while the dems control the house and the senate...
it will never happen..
so...
those of us that registered and contributed to the obama campaign...
need to reply to each and every e-mail and express our outrage that the public option is being negotiated away...
it is wrong...
like i have said before...
it is really very very simple...
you either support the public option which is the very best means to drive down the outrageous cost of health care...
or...
you support the excessive profits of the greedy pig insurance companies and the excessive salaries of the money grubbing whore doctors...
period!!!
end of story!!!
"you either support the public option which is the very best means to drive down the outrageous cost of health care...'
There simply is no proof of this.
The government with medicare, SCHIP, the VA, government workers, etc already contols 50% of heathcare. Do you see price control?
Saying it does not make it fact.
The CBO is saying the opposite. Another ponzi government program is not the answer.
period!!!
end of story!!!
I got a Christmas card in the mail last week. It was post marked 12/22/08.
Dealers are still waiting for the cash for clunkers rebates.
I now you want these idiots running our health care.
13 trillion in debt already. If they confiscated every American's income from last year it would not pay off the debt.
What are you libs going to do when the government goes bankrupt?
No, sorry, the President does not need to make case before Congress for much-needed universal health care plan.
THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO MAKE HIS CASE ABOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE...
Larry Vegas and Future, are unbelievable hypocrites. For weeks all they have done is use a doomsday crystal ball and rant against needed reforms, predicting rationing, service cuts from Medicare, bankruptcy of the Medicare program and that the public option will drive the private insurers out of business because they could not compete due to their ability to provde insurance at a lower cost.
Now they say there is no proof of their own arguments.
By the way, please note not once did they ever refer to specific language from any of the house bills to support their case. Their entire argument is predicated on lies, distortions, and fear.
Now they ask that supporters of real health insurance reform prove that private and public choice or options will save money.
They can't admit when the VA negotiates for drugs they pay less for the same drugs. They can't admit that the administrative costs for running Medicare is only 3% compared to the 30% we pay to administer private for proft insurance companies. They never acknowledge the outrageous salaries the private insurance companies pay their CEO's. They hide behind falsehoods and fear mongering.
The burning question at the center of the health insurance reform debate: should there be a "public option" that competes with private insurance and will it drive down costs?
Show us the proof, the naysayers scream.
Well there is a place where it is working.
Answers might be found in San Francisco, where ambitious health care legislation went into effect early last year. San Francisco now offer the only near-universal health care programs in the United States.
The early results are in. Today, almost all residents in the city have affordable access to a comprehensive health care delivery system through the Healthy San Francisco program. Covered services include the use of a so-called "medical home" that coordinates care at approved clinics and hospitals within San Francisco, with both public and private facilities. Although not formally insurance, the program is tantamount to a public option of comprehensive health insurance, with the caveat that services are covered only in the city of San Francisco. Enrollees with incomes under 300 percent of the federal poverty level have heavily subsidized access, and those with higher incomes may buy into the public program at rates substantially lower than what they would pay for an individual policy in the private-insurance market.
To pay for this, San Francisco put into effect an employer-health-spending requirement, akin to the "pay or play" employer insurance mandates being considered in Congress. Businesses can meet the requirement by paying for private insurance, by paying into medical-reimbursement accounts or by paying into the city's Healthy San Francisco public option.
There has been great demand for this plan. Thus far, around 45,000 adults have enrolled, compared to an estimated 60,000 who were previously uninsured. Among covered businesses, roughly 20 percent have chosen to use the city's public option for at least some of their employees. But interestingly, in a recent survey of the city's businesses, very few (less than 5 percent) of the employers who chose the public option are thinking about dropping existing (private market) insurance coverage. The public option has been used largely to cover previously uninsured workers and to supplement private-coverage options.
Were jobs lost as a result of requiring business to "pay or play"? No.
As of December 2008, there was no indication that San Francisco's employment grew more slowly after the enactment of the employer-spending requirement than did employment in surrounding areas.
The San Francisco experiment has demonstrated that requiring a shared-responsibility model -- has not led to the kind of job losses many fear. The public option has also passed the market test, while not crowding out private options.
Be not afraid fellow citizens. It's taken us 60 years to get to this point and we're on the right side of history.
I am an unbelievable hypocrite. For weeks all I have done is look into my doomsday ball and ranted that we need reasonable medical reform without a government takeover. I do not and have not predicted anything.
There is no proof in my arguments or my pudding.
Not once did I support my case. My entire argument is predicated on lies, distortions and fear. Oh, dear...
I have never asked that supporters of real health insurance reform prove that private and public choice or options will save money, or for that matter, not save money.
I will admit that I know nothing about how the VA negotiates for drugs. I can't admit that the administrative costs for running Medicare is only 3% compared to the 30% we pay to administer private for proft insurance companies because I do not have a clue. I will never acknowledge the outrageous salaries the private insurance companies pay their CEO's because I don't know anyone that knows. I hide because of all the falsehoods and fear mongering from free and informed. THATS ALL FOLKS!!!