Senate GOP Doctor: Kennedy Death Doesn’t Change Health Care Politics; ‘What I’m Hearing is “Kill the Bill” ‘

The present bill, in the form of HR3200, has hundreds of pages of law, that have nothing to do with health care.
Thats the rub. Let’s pass a bill that deals ONLY with health care, not a subterfuge for obama to tighten his grip on the way we live.
This now out in the open , and has become a justifyable question and major concern

“People are focused on the details of the bill. I held up the House bill at a town meeting in Wyoming, and somebody yelled, ‘burn it’ because they know what the details are, then held up the Senate bill, all of the loose leaf papers that are together in that and somebody else said, ‘Start a bonfire.’ ”
Yeah, we can tell the GOP are really having a detailed, reality based debate. Count the facts cited by the Senators…
The town hall turnout isn’t very impressive. Republicans still make up over 20% of this country, and 60 million people with no respect for others turn to speak can scream lies loudly enough to drown out rational conversation.
Polls indicate the majority of Americans don’t even know what the hot-button “Public Option” is. The only public option proposed is creating a government-funded insurance company that competes with existing private insurers to offer a health coverage option at market rates.
There is NO national health care system proposed (like the British NHS that serves Stephen Hawking). There is no proposal to create a network of healthcare cooperatives. There is no proposal to eliminate private insurance.

Vote public health care straight up or down. The GOP and any yellow dogs will be dealt with when the time comes. Just 15 months away from the 2010 elections!

Rick it already is as with millions of US Citizens, and at a much more expensive rate. It is called the emergency room!!!

I really do not understand why you people continue to defend a bill that we do not have the money to pay for. Seriously, a 9T deficit…and everyone wants to continue to spend more money…it makes no sense. Reform can come in other ways besides passing a public option. Do you people not grasp the concept that we cannot afford it? Is it really that hard to understand?

STDNT DRV
Please answer my Question of why when the Republicans held the Power the Majority they did not Address the High rising cost of healthcare? why they did nothing? Why they let the deficit get out of control were talikng 16 years of a Republican Majority now all of a sudden they care and they have no plans

jhw539 -
So we take it that you endorse the subterfuse for obamas agenda, and we should just take it. And you fully endorse the creation of his civilian
security force hidden in the original prosposal. Why is it so hard for you and your followers to stick to the point of a bill that is for health care only? If this would happen, we could have a fair bill. Hurry and jam it through – WHY?

STDNT DRV
Claims we cannot afford to reform Healthcare, But we could afford Trillons of Dollars spent on the Iraq War, Bush and Republicans hid from us, We could afford no bid contracts to Haliburton, we could Afford Billion Dollar Perscription drug plan for Medicare with no way of paying for it!

Bush was left with a nice surplus and BLEW IT And not in this country TRILLON DOLLAR SENSELESS IRAQ WAR! And he HID The real cost of the Wars! and he still didnt catch Bin Laden

“Do you not understand simple math?”
stdntDrvr | Aug 28, 2009 3:40:32 PM
Corrected for population, the US SPENDS $1 TRILLION MORE PER YEAR THAN THE AVERAGE OF ALL OTHER FIRST WORLD NATIONS ON HEALTHCARE.
Can you do simple math? How can we afford this? Do you really think our healthcare, with equal or lower life expectancy despite extreme measures at the end of life and lower smoking rates, is twice as good as France? Or Switzerland?

Maybe those complaining about a healthcare bill will love things when their healthcare costs double in ten years and their income remains stagnant. Oh, well. Social Darwinism suggests they simply be told they’ve lived a good life and to fend for themselves when they can’t afford healthcare.
Emergency room as an option? That turns a $60 doctor visit into a bill for over $2000, payable by the taxpayers. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather pay sixty bucks for somebody’s office visit than be taxed like I am today for that two thousand dollar visit.

Spending has balloned in the last 8 months, leaving the war spending in the dust. Needless spending – Stimulas mess – Save the “It saved us from a depression” 80% is political payback.
I thought we elected obama to correct the bush situation, not continue it.

“I never said that our system was better. I stated that the Gov’t cannot afford to pay for a public option. There are other ways to bring down costs.”
stdntDrvr | Aug 28, 2009 3:47:18 PM
Of course there are. Lets just ignore the last 30 years of history in this country and the last 50 years of history in every other first world country that exists and go for “other ways.” And while ignoring the well documented successful approaches of everyone else, WE ARE WASTING $1 TRILLION A YEAR.
The government can’t afford $100 billion a year for a public insurance option, but somehow we can afford that 1 TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR waste while the GOP whines about the bill being too confusing and the radical rights screams while waving posters of Obama with a Hitler mustache scribbled in to “debate” the other ways.

Angie,
Read the proposal.
jhw,
How are we going to pay for it?

stdntDrvr’s plan of choice, the Patients’ Choice Act, would eliminate the tax break that employers receive for providing health-insurance benefits to their workers. IE, a huge tax increase on everyone currently recieving insurance from their employer.
Then, it would give an annual tax credit of $2,300 to each individual and $5,700 to each family that they could use to offset the cost of their health insurance. The average cost of a family insurance policy is now over $12,500 a year.
Low-income families would get money from the government to buy into private insurance plans.
So, no competition to drive down costs. At all. Just a tax hike and some more handouts to the poor (and probably like with Reagan’s earned income credits, the handouts will soon be viciously attacked for technically taking more people off the tax rolls.)
And this is not the status quo?

Angie,
Here are the facts: Fiscal
Year Year
Ending National Debt Deficit
FY1993 09/30/1993 $4.411488 trillion
FY1994 09/30/1994 $4.692749 trillion $281.26 billion
FY1995 09/29/1995 $4.973982 trillion $281.23 billion
FY1996 09/30/1996 $5.224810 trillion $250.83 billion
FY1997 09/30/1997 $5.413146 trillion $188.34 billion
FY1998 09/30/1998 $5.526193 trillion $113.05 billion
FY1999 09/30/1999 $5.656270 trillion $130.08 billion
FY2000 09/29/2000 $5.674178 trillion $17.91 billion
FY2001 09/28/2001 $5.807463 trillion $133.29 billion
Clinton NEVER had any surplus, he just had less of a deficit. While I applaud him on that, he NEVER had any surplus.

Republicans are signaling that their strong opposition to President Obama’s plans haven’t shifted.
GOOD AND WE WILL PASS ONE WITH OUT THEM!

Ok. George W. Bush was not the brightest president we’ve ever had. He did some things that I really did not like. Some of the things he said were pretty embarrasing, but for the most part, he didn’t try to involve the government in my life. That part, I liked. Barack Obama is a smart guy who speaks well, but he tries at every opportunity to force his personal views and government mandates on the people of our country. I don’t like that. Based on their individual goals, I would rather tolerate the verbal awkwardness of Bush than live with the smoothly-presented government takeover of our private economy by Obama.

Republicans will prove that is far easier to say no and do nothing than tackle the problem head on and try to resolve….Where are the Republican statesman? There are none….not when they stand idly by and let their most radical constituency carry the argument based false statements and outright lies…It is all politics, pure and simple. Republicans want Obama to fail and then push the healthcare debate into the next election…meanwhile, time is lost, money is lost, and nothing is accomplished..

When are the people in this country going to wake up and realize that the people in Congress and the President work for them. They are supposed to be doing what the majority of the people want, not making decisions based on politics. I am sorry that Ted Kennedy died, but that should NOT be used as a reson to pass healthcare reform. I heard what a congressman from New Jersey said a couple of weeks ago. He said we live in a democracy and it his duty to listen to the people in his district, but in the end he had to make up his mind what HE thought was best for the country. I guess he has lost sight of the fact that we live in a Republic and laws should be enacted by what the majority of the people want. Or have they just decided to scrap the constitution. NEITHER party is looking out the the people.

indy_voter —– Senator Tom Coburn (MD) has his version of a health care initiative that nobody seems to want to hear about. He is one of 2 doctors in the senate and has some good ideas.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.1099:

I think the ‘pary of no’ thing is to the dems as the ‘birthers’ are to the repubs?

jhw,
Private companies could conduct stem cell research under Bush. It just wasn’t funded by the Gov’t. Seriously…and you people call the GOP liars? Wait, no…that’s right…it’s just a half-truth.

OK. Everyone seems to have an opinion on health care and is reporting about the legislation, BUT THIS QUESTION HAS YET TO BE ANSWERED OR BROUGHT UP: Has anyone actually read this rediculous bill and ALL the details or are we all just sitting around waiting for everyone to tell us whats in it(which you will be surprised whats in it, including tax information) and taking their word for it… when that source very likely has not even read it!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?

“I, personally, do not believe the cost of health care is ‘out of control.’ Is it expensive? Yes, but not quite out of control.” – Out of control is a relative term that relates to: 1) The percentage of folk’s income that goes to medical costs which has doubled in the past ten years 2) The percentage of the GDP which has also skyrocketed and 3) How much you personally profit off our despicable current system. In the first case it stinks for you in the second it stinks for the country as a whole and in the third case it stinks for your future peace of mind. Remember: You cant take it with you.

“None of what you stated had any affect on my life. It may have had an effect on some of the bad guys. Did anyone from the government ever contact you? Did it affect any part of your life except on paper?”
lfrichar | Aug 28, 2009 4:23:42 PM
The Constitution has only affected my life on paper. Sorry if I find the government shredding Constitutional protections a direct danger to my way of life. I suppose you think that eliminating the right to bear arms would only impact those people who own guns?

Mark,
I’m not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I do not profit off of our ‘current’ system in any way, shape or form. As a matter of fact, a public option would benefit my family greatly. I, personally, do not believe it is the role of the gov’t to compete with private industry. If you doubt me, I live an hour south of you. We could discuss this over dinner one day or something.

You say we can’t afford to fix health care? How about this: can we afford our health insurance premiums in ten years if we do nothing? Most of the people screaming “kill this bill” don’t know what it’s about and don’t care. Lots of them seem to think that Medicare is not a “public option”. And when did health insurance companies become pure as new fallen snow compared to the dark sinister forces of a democratically elected government? Seriously? My insurance carrier has whole departments dedicated to figuring out how not to pay claims.

“As a matter of fact, a public option would benefit my family greatly. I, personally, do not believe it is the role of the gov’t to compete with private industry” – With a lot of families the issue is not profit, but survival. I worked at several Atlanta area hospitals over the years and I saw folks who were dumped by their private insurance companies when they got a catastrophic illness, but never saw that with Medicare. They were not looking for a square financial deal (although it would have been nice) they were just looking to survive their illness. You probably know as well as I the level of care at Grady for indigents is not nearly as good as Northside private hosptital, but that was their only option. With a public option they would not have to make that choice (PS thanks for the invite, but I am overworked for the near future).

Angie,
I ship via UPS and FedEx, if that answers your question. They are more reliable and actually give you the ability to track the items you ship.
Greybird,
Based on what you are saying, you think everyone should be covered under a gov’t plan?

STDNT DRIVER
Same thing with the Public Option do I want Private Insurance or Public Insurance, Private may be better but Depending on your needs Public may be for you! same thing with the mail and it Forces the Insurance compaines to be Honest

The postal service does no such thing. Did you see FedEx/UPS rates go back down when the price of fuel dropped by $2 a gallon? How much money does the USPS lose every year? Really, since they are a gov’t entity, they should theoretically break even…but they cannot even manage that. Do you have a better example?

“Reform could make it to where people are not dropped from their insurance due to illnesses. That does not require a public option.” – A change in regulations is exactly what the insurance companies want so they can change them back as soon as the political wind blows the other direction. A public option, like Medicare would have a constituency that would keep the insurance lobby from killing it in the future. Why do think the insurance corporations have come out in favor of the regualtion changes but are fighting the our option tooth and nail? As far as Grady being a good truama center: Agreed. But, thats why we need reform, folks without insurance with non-truama illnesses are overtaxing their recources because they have no other place to go but the ER. Right?

that was from wiki…which, I know, isn’t all that reliable…but i’ve got to go. I’ll try to verify that later and update as needed.

“How much money does the USPS lose every year? Really, since they are a gov’t entity, they should theoretically break even…but they cannot even manage that.” – Actually, the USPS breaks even every year becuase they are required by law to. The USPS/FedEx/UPS is a great model. By law the USPS has to be able to deliver to every address in the nation. The Fedex/UPS can pick and choose based on profit. The three work well together because the USPS is guarenteed basic service while folks can always choose to turn to Fedex/UPS for additional services. That model is similar to the public option/private insurance choice that health reform would set up. What do you think?

“Based on the volume of people actually participating in the political process now (see obama campain, tea parties, etc)” – If you are basing it on volume, not numbers, yes I would agree there is a pretty loud minority who are trying to drown out reasonable debate such as that we are engaged in. But recent polls indicate that a slim majority of Americans support reform. Which is actually surprising given the “death panel” nonsense that the media has widely reported. The question is: Do the members of both parties have what it takes to do the right thing? Or will the insurance corporations win out once again? I gotta go, take care my friend.

________________________________________
This was taken from a NY Times article, written on September 30, 1993, by NY Times reporter, Robert Pear: CLINTON’S HEALTH PLAN; A.M.A. Rebels Over Health Plan In Major Challenge to President: “At today’s conference, doctors booed and hissed Donna E. Shalala, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, when she told them of the President’s proposal to limit medical malpractice lawsuits, a proposal the doctors see as inadequate.” Now, these were doctors booing and hissing, not the so-called dummies who show up at today’s town hall meetings. I wonder what the proponents of the current health-care reform bill would be saying if the AMA behaved now as they did in 1993. Not only did the AMA castigate the Clintons, using vicious, personal threats, and outright lies but they were joined by the pharmaceutical/drug industry. Today, both of these organizations support the current bill; having lobbied for its passage. When someone like the pharmaceutical industry pledges $80 billion in support of this bill; you got to wonder what is in this for them as opposed to what is in it for us little folks.

Obamacare is a nightmare that needs to be ended before it tears our country apart and possibly bankrupts it. If you see anger now can you imagine if its passed what will happen as the cutbacks hit medicare, people’s companies begin to drop private insurance, and people begin to be denied life saving care like pacemakers? Obama needs to just stop everything concentrate for the next year on fixing the economy, and getting Americans back to work, and then we can take a look a modest reforms that make sense!

Illegal aliens WILL be covered under HR3200 or any other bill…why…because Obama is going to give Amnesty to ALL illegals before any healh plan is passed ..ergo..all aliens will be covered!!! That is his plan! And ABORTION…that is covered under “Women’s Reproductive Services”! So much for cover ups and lies! This is what this Administration is all about …lies, czars with connections to communism, tax cheats, and criminals! If you don’t believe that this country is in deep trouble with these people you are kidding yourselves! And I thought GW Bush was an idiot but I will take him back any day! And this comes from a long line of DEMS who voted for this radical believeing his CHANGE…cannot tell you how sick we are about what we have done!

Folks should pay taxes based upon the property they control. If the main purpose of the Federal Government is defense then one should pay based upon what they would lose if this country was overtaken in an armed conflict. What do you think?

Under President Obama’s health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to “go home to take pain pills and die” during his last year of life.
“[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don’t have as long to live might want to consider just taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them. “Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it

The Republicans have never really cared about reforming health or truly providing for anyone other than the wealthy. Should I lose my job and be able to obtain or afford insurance because of a pre-existing condition and I become ill, I will be sure the hospital or clinic sends my bills to Barasso.

DK -
Exactly. Although Obama “went” to Harvard, he apparently isn’t even bright/versed enough to understand that tax revenues are not a linear function. As you raise rates, you kill business, thereby forfeiting whatever tax revenue those businesses would have generated. There is a maximization point, rates vs. total revenues generated, and determining that point is the subject of great debate. But Obama isn’t smart enough to know even that, and to suggest that the rates be changed for “fairness”?? You decide where “fairness” is, Dear Leader? Maybe you should try to maximize tax revenue, to pay for all those inefficient, idiotic programs you plan. Fool, and impostor…..

stdntDrvr,
It’s not just about bringing down costs,it is about making sure everyone can get the medical care they need, both in preventative care and emergency.

Does the Public Get the SAME Health Care BENIFITS that Congress Gets OR Not? That Is The Question ???? Anything Less is Discrimination And Should Not Get Passed !!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, that Republican senator is hearing ‘kill the bill’ from the people who have been deceived by lies about the bill. Over and over again many Republican leaders, senators and representatives have spoken untruths as fact to the media. On-air and television ‘entertainers’ have said outright lies about the health reform bill. The health insurance industry has bought and paid for groups and individuals to further this misinformation online.
We need people to be intelligent enough to actually think the situation through. Read some of the bill yourself and compare it to what those pundits said.
Think about the motivations of those who take huge amounts from the insurance industry for their campaigns or advertisements and ask yourself if they can be unbiased in their thinking.
Think about the million+ the insurance industry spent daily to kill health reform and ask yourself if they have your interests at heart or their huge profits.
Read unbiased sources on the internet and the known-to-be unbiased fact check site.
We should be smart enough to see those who lie aren’t trying to do the right thing but to fool us into getting what they want.
We need health care reform, and the public insurance option to truly control the out of control expense of health care in our country.

DK, when you compare the length of the bill, which will affect health care in a country of over 300 million people, to the length of a Harry Potter novel, it doesn’t seem too long, does it? It has to be long to be thorough, as does any legal contract that involves anything expensive.
Read the Bill! It is NOT a healthcare plan at all. It is in FACT a very vague guideline! NOTHING MORE!