‘Top Line’ — New Momentum in Health Care Push?
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein reports: A series of breakthroughs on Capitol Hill leaves Democrats newly optimistic about the prospects of passing a major health care reform bill, after several days of apparent setbacks. One key lawmaker, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told us on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” that he and a bipartisan group of 15 senators who have signed on to his health care proposal are encouraged by the developments. “I think we've got a lot to work with. There are positive developments today,” Wyden said. “I'm glad the president is out talking to workers who are insured. He's spending his political capital to market the case for health reform.” Wyden is the co-author of a bipartisan bill that the Congressional Budget Office and other nonpartisan groups have said would achieve near-universal coverage without adding to the deficit. The centerpiece of the plan — empowering states to set up purchasing pools through which individuals would obtain insurance — isn’t quite the co-op system being discussed as an alternative to the public option. But Wyden said he and his co-sponsors are open to suggestions of other ways to get “I'm not one of the senior members of the Finance Committee, but I can tell you, we're being consulted, particularly on our big ideas,” Wyden said. “For example, one of the key issues that we're pursuing is something called the ‘free choice proposal.’ If you're going to make it possible for insured folks — the folks, for example, that President Obama is talking to today — to get a better deal, more affordable coverage, you've got to get these exchanges right so that everybody has real bargaining power.” Watch our interview with Sen. Ron Wyden HERE. Also today, we caught up with Ana Marie Cox of Air America — who did not make good on her offer to bring props along to demonstrate tomorrow’s White House beer diplomacy. The Audacity of Hops, perhaps? Watch the interview with Ana Marie Cox HERE.
Santorum: Money Will Not Defeat Obama, Ideas Will 
Rick Santorum's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
You know they were going to give Obama a watered down version so he could save face
just another of a series of bad jokes from this administration !!!
Posted by: hkdakota | July 29, 2009, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
This puts Republicans in a real bind. Can no longer legitimately talk about “government takeover” or a partisan bill. This pretty much is a complete cave to moderates. The public should like this.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | July 29, 2009, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
“This pretty much is a complete cave to moderates.” – Without a public option its more like a complete cave to the insurance companies: Mandatory coverage and you can only get it through the insurance corporations.
Posted by: Mark from atlanta | July 29, 2009, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
The senate bill is poop. The house bill is a good one. Vote public health care straight up or down. We win either way. We either get public health care or we get a list of politicians to send packing.
Posted by: rifghtbehind | July 29, 2009, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
The only thing people in politics can run is their mouths and that’s both sides of the isle. If we get government health care
most med students will switch to law.
Posted by: hkdakota | July 29, 2009, 4:04 pm 4:04 pm
reforming if it is tweaking is ok, if its a govt option plan it wont fly. after these guys go home to see their constituents….there will be no govt option but a watered down bill as it should be. after cap and bull, and the stimulus that didnt most americans want a well thought out plan and how its going to be financed. no wants to pay someone else bills.
Posted by: catman | July 29, 2009, 5:04 pm 5:04 pm
We need to get this health care reform done. Republicans do not want it, in part, because of the pressure and money they got from their rich friends in insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. For instance, big pharma does not want to cure obesity in this country, they want them to stay unhelthy and develop complicated metabolic disorders then they will have a lifetime customers.
Posted by: Holly 65 | July 29, 2009, 5:14 pm 5:14 pm
Does the new version through senior citizens on the “Go away and die” pile?
Posted by: ZK | July 29, 2009, 6:53 pm 6:53 pm
HR 676 Single Payer is the only option where “everybody in, nobody out” is a reality. The rest of the options being discussed benefit the insurance companies and why they are working hard, spending tons of money, and calling in political payback to keep the American public from hearing and knowing about it.
Posted by: Baddawg00 | July 29, 2009, 6:57 pm 6:57 pm
You can get more info on HR 676 Single Payer by doing a simple google search on
“we interrupt your usual programming”
Posted by: Baddawg00 | July 29, 2009, 7:31 pm 7:31 pm
Obama never promised true universal health care, as in single-payer plan. His promise, which disappointed me, was to enrich the insurance industry by making everyone purchase policies that return a profit to the insurance industry after paying out (as little as possible) to doctors and other health care providers. Not the best solution. Not a good enough solution for Americans.
Posted by: Rafe McBain | July 29, 2009, 7:38 pm 7:38 pm
people dont WORK for free. doctors, office workers etc dont work for free. how can you expect FREE healthcare? who is going to pay the docs?….oh yeah the people who work. with NO PROFIT…no incentive to work and be better than the next guy and come up with a better idea.
Posted by: catman | July 29, 2009, 8:19 pm 8:19 pm
Obama’s own Family Physician of 22 years, Dr. David Scheiner Prescribes HR 676 Single-Payer for America
Do a You Tube search
“Obama’s Family Physician Dr. David Scheiner Prescribes Single-Payer for America”
Posted by: Baddawg00 | July 29, 2009, 8:44 pm 8:44 pm
Universal Health Care at its finest……
A 31-year-old mother from the U.K., who was sent home twice by hospital staff, ended up giving birth over a toilet just a few hours later.
Geraldine King was refused admission to Wishaw General Hospital twice in 24 hours after doctors insisted she was not in labor.
But hours after being sent home and told to take painkillers, her water broke while she was in the bathtub.
“I managed to get myself up from the tub — when all of a sudden the baby’s head popped out,” King said. “Then Kyle arrived while I was standing over the toilet. He fell straight into the toilet and into the water.”
King managed to scoop the baby out of the toilet – but then noticed the umbilical cord had broken. Her husband, Frankie, used a shoelace to clamp the cord while he called paramedics for help.
The baby was then taken to the hospital and administered antibiotics to combat any side effects from falling into the toilet.
The couple – who has three other kids – now plan to make a file a formal complaint against the hospital.
“Although everything worked out fine, it could have been very serious,” King said.
Posted by: Elle | July 29, 2009, 9:35 pm 9:35 pm
Elle:Universal Health Care at its finest……
Those scare tactics only work on uniformed people, apparently such as yourself. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but it is worth looking further into before you come to the conclusion you seem to have come to.
Invest the time to find the truth about HR 676 Single Payer. It may well be the single most important investment for yourself and your family that you’ll probably make in your lifetime.
Posted by: Baddawg00 | July 29, 2009, 9:56 pm 9:56 pm
As a retired person who just saw his insurance go from 70$ a month to 1500$ (Because the company cancelled its share)I’ll be the first to sign up for the government insurance. Bring it on ASAP. The uncontrolled price increases caused by the health industry needs to be shut down NOW!I have no faith in “private enterprise” to fix this problem. They are all scam artists. I hope the Dem’s Nationalize the whole rotten bunch of companies (and throw the “Executive Staffs” in jail). Go for it!
Posted by: Steve | July 29, 2009, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm
The senate bill is poop. The house bill has been turned to poop. Vote public health care straight up or down. We win either way. We either get public health care or we get a list of politicians to send packing.
Posted by: rightbehind | July 30, 2009, 9:45 am 9:45 am
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”. Thomas Jefferson
Limited government has made us one of the greatest countries in the world, and regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican you should not allow the gov’t so much power. Business(GM), Banks, Energy, and now Healthcare!
Posted by: Curt | July 30, 2009, 10:33 am 10:33 am
It is not and never has been the role of government to “compete” with private business. Wake up, you do not have any chance of competing with the government when they can print money and tax at will. The government is setting up a system, where they create the rules and I gaurantee those rules will benefit them and push out the “competition”! The SEIU(a union) has been instrumental in drafting this bill and their own leaders have said the key to a Universal government run plan is to get your foot in the door…this is what the “healthcare” bill is all about.
Posted by: Curt | July 30, 2009, 10:42 am 10:42 am
BARACK OBAMA: …When you rush these budgets that are a foot high and nobody has any idea what’s in them and nobody has read them.
RANDI RHODES: 14 pounds it was!
BARACK OBAMA: Yeah. And it gets rushed through without any clear deliberation or debate then these kinds of things happen. And I think that this is in some ways what happened to the Patriot Act. I mean you remember that there was no real debate about that. It was so quick after 9/11 that it was introduced that people felt very intimidated by the administration.
Finally, something I really truely agree with the President on…im a bit confused though. Isn’t this exactly what he has been doing on a much much larger scale in an even shorter time frame(just replace 9/11 with the recession)!?
Posted by: Curt | July 30, 2009, 10:48 am 10:48 am
This is not what I voted for. I say come November 2010 we vote anybody that does not want a public plan out of office. Why are the Dem’s running scared. I want health care I am tired of paying more for health care than my house note. These insurance companies are criminals and once again Washington has proven it is for sale.
Posted by: macrose83 | July 30, 2009, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Of those who do not have insurance — and who therefore might be better off — approximately one-fifth are illegal aliens, nearly three-fifths make $50,000 or more a year and can afford insurance, and just under a third are probably eligible for Medicaid or other government programs already. For the slice of the uninsured that is left — perhaps about 2% of all American citizens — Team Obama would dismantle the world’s greatest health-care system. That’s a losing proposition, which is why Mr. Obama is increasingly resorting to fear and misleading claims. It’s all the candidate of hope has left.
Posted by: Karl | July 30, 2009, 11:39 am 11:39 am
Has any congress person mentioned Tort reform? Let get those liability premiums down for doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Keep this reform in the private sector and keep government totally out of it. So far they have messed up Fannie and Freddie and trashed the housing market, the SEC wasn’t listening to warnings about Madoff or performing properly, Social Security is bankrupt, Medicare & Medicaid are in financial trouble. The private sector does better without government intervention. If they make a mistake, it can be corrected, it doesn’t affect as many people.
Posted by: Kary | July 30, 2009, 2:18 pm 2:18 pm