Natoma is precisely the reason why we need a Single Payer System in the US. Now THAT would be a government takeover of Health Care and it would be about time.
Medicare for all, Jake Tapper.
Posted by: Norg | March 16, 2010, 9:29 am 9:29 am
The current bill will be a disaster. To pass it, would accomplish nothing.
To genuinely do anything about health care, there must be universal National health Care, which Obama isn’t willing to do, because it will kill the profits in the health care industry……and ultimately, he isn’t willing to do that, no matter how many speeches he gives, about reducing costs, because taking the profiteering out of health care, is the ONLY way to reduce health care costs.
Does that make him a lier? in my book, it does.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | March 16, 2010, 10:04 am 10:04 am
Norg, I agree that we may eventually need single payer, and we will definitely need to press for further improvements to this legislation. However, I also agree with the president that if we don’t start now the problem will continue, and things will continue to get worse and worse. The Commonwealth Fund blog has a good piece up showing the costs of having failed to implement the plans proposed by Nixon, Carter, and Clinton, and how much better off we’d be now if we’d had the courage to act then.
From a political standpoint, Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann make a great point at TNR:
“…the surest path to political debacle for Democrats is to fail to enact health reform, and the best way to avoid a rout in November is to show that the party in charge can actually govern. The reconciliation process is entirely appropriate for amending the Senate-passed bill; in any case, the public will judge the Democrats on the basis of the results, not the inside-baseball process. In fact, the Democrats most reluctant to support health reform–those from more conservative, Republican-leaning districts and states–are the ones most likely to lose in November if health reform is defeated.
The obvious first antecedent to examine is 1994. Democrats went into the midterm elections after a presidential contest in which they grasped the full reins of power in Washington for the first time in a dozen years. Early momentum disappeared when first President Bill Clinton’s modest stimulus proposal went down in the Senate and then his deficit-reduction package staggered to the finish line after eight long months and without a single Republican vote in either house. It looked more like a setback than a victory. This was followed the next year by a lengthy struggle to enact sweeping health care reform that ended in a complete collapse, without even a vote on the Clinton plan. A shocking loss in the House on a crime bill, though ultimately reversed, reinforced the image of a president and party that could not govern competently.
What followed was a disastrous midterm for Democrats—losses of 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate.”
that’s what the Republican right and their tea party astroturfers (with their RNC provided signage and buttons) is banking on. Enough of the scorched earth and the fake threats about what will happen to the Democrats if they DO take this giant first step.
I’d prefer breaking up the two party system, but that isn’t what we’re going to see this fall. We’re going to see candidates who embrace crazy ginned up rhetoric and some real goofballs on the Right, paying conservatism lip service and exploiting fear. Enough. Onward.
Push your reps to PASS health care reform.
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 10:05 am 10:05 am
Freebies for everyone. Just pick the money off that money tree outside your window. Or you can get real and figure out that the president isn’t telling you how he plans to pay for it. Hang onto your wallet. That is if you still have a job after this settles in.
Posted by: Jeff | March 16, 2010, 10:09 am 10:09 am
Interesting report called The Cost of Uncompensated Care by the Urban Institute dealing with an important aspect of health care reform:
“In this report the authors estimate that under the health reform bill passed by the Senate, the cost of uncompensated care will fall from $62.1 billion in 2009 to $46.6 billion in 2019. If no health reform is enacted, they project that uncompensated care would rise to between $107 and $141 billion in 2019. Over the six-year period of proposed health reform legislation, 2014–2019, the costs of uncompensated care without health reform would be between $560 and $700 billion. With reform, the cost would be $330 billion under the Senate bill and provide substantive savings to each level of government.” (from the abstract available at Urban Institute’s web site)
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 10:41 am 10:41 am
“More of Our Interview with President Obama” – ABC News
Oh My Gosh, there’s sequel? !
I’ll respectfully pass.
I couldn’t get through the original show.
If someone isn’t going to speak the truth then I’m not interested in listening.
Posted by: Noz | March 16, 2010, 10:46 am 10:46 am
In regards to some of the health care myths and disinformation Obama mentions in the interview, at the Health Affairs blog, Steve Findlay and Lynn Quincy have a nice post up called “A Consumer Advocacy Group Refutes The Anti-Health Reform Myths” which nicely debunks some of the persistent (and persistenly inaccurate) Republican and tea party lies, distortions and half-truths. The close with:
“We hear all the time from consumers who experience firsthand the shortcomings of our current system. Tell the million or more people who have lost their jobs and health insurance in the last year that we need to go slow on health care. Or the hundreds of thousands of people with individual coverage who will see their premiums jump 15 percent to 40 percent this year. Or small businesses that face having to drop their employees’ coverage due to similar rate increases. Or state Medicaid directors who strain to improve that safety net program under tight budgets.
Failure to enact reform this year poses a very high risk of a long-term stall for the comprehensive and integrated reform we need. That’s a political problem, yes. But far more important, it’s a human problem. Not enacting reform now would mean that more Americans would go without the insurance and care they need, and pay more for both than they should. It’s irresponsible to let this fester any longer.”
So true.
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 11:00 am 11:00 am
US soldiers serving during the Viet Nam War had a saying for this kind of stuff. “It don’t mean nothing.” It was their way of coping with the madness of poor leadership.
Posted by: independent | March 16, 2010, 11:04 am 11:04 am
This is just more of the extremeist left wing at ABC trying to spread Obamas lies and corruption
The Ohio woman was NOT going to lose her home. she qualified for aid. the hospital was working with her to make sure she got care..THIS was NOT reported by Jakie Tapper or mentioned by snakeoil salesman Obama
Diane Sawyer stated in an interview ” NO one knows my poltics”.. Oh yes we do Diane
Team Obama:Culture of corruption: terrorist huggers, dropping the investigation of their friends at ACORN, dropping their charges of voter intimidation against the black panther party, StoneWalling Congress… Offering job to an opponent not to run against Specter..ABC SLIENT
Obama VS America
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 11:14 am 11:14 am
As we speak:::::::::::::Thousands of activists rally on Capitol Hill to protest the Democrats’ push to pass a health care reform bill and demand meetings with members of Congress
AGAIN ABC SILENT
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 11:18 am 11:18 am
Are Stimulus dollars being used to buy off democrats for their votes??????
Obama VS America
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
My brother’s dentures just fell out of my mouth.I need Helpff Care.
Wouldn’t this have been the perfect time to ask Obama about the federal crime that was committed by someone in the WH–when Joe Sestak was offered a job to step out of the race against Specter?
I guess the MSM will be all over this crime AFTER health care is passed.
Why don’t you do your job MSM instead of being Obama’s doormat?
why doesn’t Obama just use executive orders to enact Obamacare. He has a mandate for change and the PEOPLE elected him. The reactionaries in the Senate and House should be ignored. Their votes mean nothing. They, like the Supreme Court, are just reactionary elements preventing change in a feable attempt to preserve the racist, classist, and sexist imperialist-capitalist eurocentric hegemony.
Posted by: Ed | March 16, 2010, 12:21 pm 12:21 pm
The brains in the White House have projected that unemployment rates will remain high for an extended period of time.
BHO needs to explain how OCare mandates, fees, taxes will help keep jobs.
Nancy said OCare will create 400,000 new jobs immediately. What are Nancy and Barry smoking?
Obama appears to be terrified to hold another press conference after his huge blunder about the Cambridge cops.
He’s a gifted teleprompter reader.
But that’s about it.
Sorry Jake, but I can’t stomach looking at Obama or listening to him anymore.
All polticians lie at some point, but Obama conned millions into believing he was different. He lied on the grandest scale of all.
And he keeps on lying.
Too bad obama never has to look America in the eye and talk about his backdoor deal with Big Pharma and the insurance industry.
He chose them over the people.
With the shady deals Obama made, drugs prices cannot be negotiated, and the big corps are guaranteed 30 million new customers.
Obama will sign a HC Bill with all of the other kickbacks intact.
All he cares about is his legacy.
Posted by: larry | March 16, 2010, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
Too bad obama never has to look America in the eye and talk about his backdoor deal with Big Pharma and the insurance industry.
He chose them over the people.
With the shady deals Obama made, drugs prices cannot be negotiated, and the big corps are guaranteed 30 million new customers.
Obama will sign a HC Bill with all of the other kickbacks intact.
All he cares about is his legacy.
Posted by: larry | March 16, 2010, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
Steve Benen at Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog makes an on-point observation in his post called “DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE RHETORIC”
“Republican rhetoric sounds increasingly panicky. Given how awful the reform bill is supposed to be, and how much Americans are supposed to hate it, the GOP ought to be feeling a whole lot better right now.
Indeed, if they were so convinced that Dems are on “a suicide run,” Republicans should probably want to give the party a hand — the GOP should be inviting up-or-down votes in both chambers, with no filibusters or delaying tactics. If your rivals are drowning, why not throw them an anvil, right?
The truth, in all likelihood, is that “the intensity of desperation” is growing because Republicans fear that the country might actually like the Democratic proposal. Remember the Bill Kristol memo to the GOP during the last health care fight 16 years ago — the merit of the reform proposal and its ability to improve the lives of Americans was deemed largely irrelevant; what mattered were the political consequences. A successful reform effort, Kristol said at the time, would position Democrats as the “protector of middle-class interests,” a fate the GOP could not allow.”
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 1:49 pm 1:49 pm
Even the DEMs have a brain.
For the life of me, I can’t imagine what they are thinking in supporting Obama in this socialized Health Care fiasco.
Posted by: Steve Mead | March 16, 2010, 5:29 pm 5:29 pm
Hey, Jake…he is getting his “straight up and down” vote…….only he is getting it Pontius Pelosi style. He is one of them, and they are all nuts!!!!
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Natoma is precisely the reason why we need a Single Payer System in the US. Now THAT would be a government takeover of Health Care and it would be about time.
Medicare for all, Jake Tapper.
Posted by: Norg | March 16, 2010, 9:29 am 9:29 am
The current bill will be a disaster. To pass it, would accomplish nothing.
To genuinely do anything about health care, there must be universal National health Care, which Obama isn’t willing to do, because it will kill the profits in the health care industry……and ultimately, he isn’t willing to do that, no matter how many speeches he gives, about reducing costs, because taking the profiteering out of health care, is the ONLY way to reduce health care costs.
Does that make him a lier? in my book, it does.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | March 16, 2010, 10:04 am 10:04 am
Norg, I agree that we may eventually need single payer, and we will definitely need to press for further improvements to this legislation. However, I also agree with the president that if we don’t start now the problem will continue, and things will continue to get worse and worse. The Commonwealth Fund blog has a good piece up showing the costs of having failed to implement the plans proposed by Nixon, Carter, and Clinton, and how much better off we’d be now if we’d had the courage to act then.
From a political standpoint, Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann make a great point at TNR:
“…the surest path to political debacle for Democrats is to fail to enact health reform, and the best way to avoid a rout in November is to show that the party in charge can actually govern. The reconciliation process is entirely appropriate for amending the Senate-passed bill; in any case, the public will judge the Democrats on the basis of the results, not the inside-baseball process. In fact, the Democrats most reluctant to support health reform–those from more conservative, Republican-leaning districts and states–are the ones most likely to lose in November if health reform is defeated.
The obvious first antecedent to examine is 1994. Democrats went into the midterm elections after a presidential contest in which they grasped the full reins of power in Washington for the first time in a dozen years. Early momentum disappeared when first President Bill Clinton’s modest stimulus proposal went down in the Senate and then his deficit-reduction package staggered to the finish line after eight long months and without a single Republican vote in either house. It looked more like a setback than a victory. This was followed the next year by a lengthy struggle to enact sweeping health care reform that ended in a complete collapse, without even a vote on the Clinton plan. A shocking loss in the House on a crime bill, though ultimately reversed, reinforced the image of a president and party that could not govern competently.
What followed was a disastrous midterm for Democrats—losses of 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate.”
that’s what the Republican right and their tea party astroturfers (with their RNC provided signage and buttons) is banking on. Enough of the scorched earth and the fake threats about what will happen to the Democrats if they DO take this giant first step.
I’d prefer breaking up the two party system, but that isn’t what we’re going to see this fall. We’re going to see candidates who embrace crazy ginned up rhetoric and some real goofballs on the Right, paying conservatism lip service and exploiting fear. Enough. Onward.
Push your reps to PASS health care reform.
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 10:05 am 10:05 am
Freebies for everyone. Just pick the money off that money tree outside your window. Or you can get real and figure out that the president isn’t telling you how he plans to pay for it. Hang onto your wallet. That is if you still have a job after this settles in.
Posted by: Jeff | March 16, 2010, 10:09 am 10:09 am
Interesting report called The Cost of Uncompensated Care by the Urban Institute dealing with an important aspect of health care reform:
“In this report the authors estimate that under the health reform bill passed by the Senate, the cost of uncompensated care will fall from $62.1 billion in 2009 to $46.6 billion in 2019. If no health reform is enacted, they project that uncompensated care would rise to between $107 and $141 billion in 2019. Over the six-year period of proposed health reform legislation, 2014–2019, the costs of uncompensated care without health reform would be between $560 and $700 billion. With reform, the cost would be $330 billion under the Senate bill and provide substantive savings to each level of government.” (from the abstract available at Urban Institute’s web site)
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 10:41 am 10:41 am
“More of Our Interview with President Obama” – ABC News
Oh My Gosh, there’s sequel? !
I’ll respectfully pass.
I couldn’t get through the original show.
If someone isn’t going to speak the truth then I’m not interested in listening.
Posted by: Noz | March 16, 2010, 10:46 am 10:46 am
In regards to some of the health care myths and disinformation Obama mentions in the interview, at the Health Affairs blog, Steve Findlay and Lynn Quincy have a nice post up called “A Consumer Advocacy Group Refutes The Anti-Health Reform Myths” which nicely debunks some of the persistent (and persistenly inaccurate) Republican and tea party lies, distortions and half-truths. The close with:
“We hear all the time from consumers who experience firsthand the shortcomings of our current system. Tell the million or more people who have lost their jobs and health insurance in the last year that we need to go slow on health care. Or the hundreds of thousands of people with individual coverage who will see their premiums jump 15 percent to 40 percent this year. Or small businesses that face having to drop their employees’ coverage due to similar rate increases. Or state Medicaid directors who strain to improve that safety net program under tight budgets.
Failure to enact reform this year poses a very high risk of a long-term stall for the comprehensive and integrated reform we need. That’s a political problem, yes. But far more important, it’s a human problem. Not enacting reform now would mean that more Americans would go without the insurance and care they need, and pay more for both than they should. It’s irresponsible to let this fester any longer.”
So true.
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 11:00 am 11:00 am
US soldiers serving during the Viet Nam War had a saying for this kind of stuff. “It don’t mean nothing.” It was their way of coping with the madness of poor leadership.
Posted by: independent | March 16, 2010, 11:04 am 11:04 am
This is just more of the extremeist left wing at ABC trying to spread Obamas lies and corruption
The Ohio woman was NOT going to lose her home. she qualified for aid. the hospital was working with her to make sure she got care..THIS was NOT reported by Jakie Tapper or mentioned by snakeoil salesman Obama
Diane Sawyer stated in an interview ” NO one knows my poltics”.. Oh yes we do Diane
Team Obama:Culture of corruption: terrorist huggers, dropping the investigation of their friends at ACORN, dropping their charges of voter intimidation against the black panther party, StoneWalling Congress… Offering job to an opponent not to run against Specter..ABC SLIENT
Obama VS America
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 11:14 am 11:14 am
As we speak:::::::::::::Thousands of activists rally on Capitol Hill to protest the Democrats’ push to pass a health care reform bill and demand meetings with members of Congress
AGAIN ABC SILENT
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 11:18 am 11:18 am
Are Stimulus dollars being used to buy off democrats for their votes??????
Obama VS America
Posted by: another crisis-another photo op | March 16, 2010, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
My brother’s dentures just fell out of my mouth.I need Helpff Care.
Posted by: bobmac | March 16, 2010, 12:15 pm 12:15 pm
Wouldn’t this have been the perfect time to ask Obama about the federal crime that was committed by someone in the WH–when Joe Sestak was offered a job to step out of the race against Specter?
I guess the MSM will be all over this crime AFTER health care is passed.
Why don’t you do your job MSM instead of being Obama’s doormat?
Posted by: mick | March 16, 2010, 12:21 pm 12:21 pm
why doesn’t Obama just use executive orders to enact Obamacare. He has a mandate for change and the PEOPLE elected him. The reactionaries in the Senate and House should be ignored. Their votes mean nothing. They, like the Supreme Court, are just reactionary elements preventing change in a feable attempt to preserve the racist, classist, and sexist imperialist-capitalist eurocentric hegemony.
Posted by: Ed | March 16, 2010, 12:21 pm 12:21 pm
The brains in the White House have projected that unemployment rates will remain high for an extended period of time.
BHO needs to explain how OCare mandates, fees, taxes will help keep jobs.
Nancy said OCare will create 400,000 new jobs immediately. What are Nancy and Barry smoking?
Posted by: ollie | March 16, 2010, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
Obama appears to be terrified to hold another press conference after his huge blunder about the Cambridge cops.
He’s a gifted teleprompter reader.
But that’s about it.
Posted by: phillip | March 16, 2010, 12:46 pm 12:46 pm
Sorry Jake, but I can’t stomach looking at Obama or listening to him anymore.
All polticians lie at some point, but Obama conned millions into believing he was different. He lied on the grandest scale of all.
And he keeps on lying.
Posted by: hank | March 16, 2010, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
Too bad obama never has to look America in the eye and talk about his backdoor deal with Big Pharma and the insurance industry.
He chose them over the people.
With the shady deals Obama made, drugs prices cannot be negotiated, and the big corps are guaranteed 30 million new customers.
Obama will sign a HC Bill with all of the other kickbacks intact.
All he cares about is his legacy.
Posted by: larry | March 16, 2010, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
Too bad obama never has to look America in the eye and talk about his backdoor deal with Big Pharma and the insurance industry.
He chose them over the people.
With the shady deals Obama made, drugs prices cannot be negotiated, and the big corps are guaranteed 30 million new customers.
Obama will sign a HC Bill with all of the other kickbacks intact.
All he cares about is his legacy.
Posted by: larry | March 16, 2010, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
Steve Benen at Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog makes an on-point observation in his post called “DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE RHETORIC”
“Republican rhetoric sounds increasingly panicky. Given how awful the reform bill is supposed to be, and how much Americans are supposed to hate it, the GOP ought to be feeling a whole lot better right now.
Indeed, if they were so convinced that Dems are on “a suicide run,” Republicans should probably want to give the party a hand — the GOP should be inviting up-or-down votes in both chambers, with no filibusters or delaying tactics. If your rivals are drowning, why not throw them an anvil, right?
The truth, in all likelihood, is that “the intensity of desperation” is growing because Republicans fear that the country might actually like the Democratic proposal. Remember the Bill Kristol memo to the GOP during the last health care fight 16 years ago — the merit of the reform proposal and its ability to improve the lives of Americans was deemed largely irrelevant; what mattered were the political consequences. A successful reform effort, Kristol said at the time, would position Democrats as the “protector of middle-class interests,” a fate the GOP could not allow.”
Posted by: progressive mama | March 16, 2010, 1:49 pm 1:49 pm
Even the DEMs have a brain.
For the life of me, I can’t imagine what they are thinking in supporting Obama in this socialized Health Care fiasco.
Posted by: Steve Mead | March 16, 2010, 5:29 pm 5:29 pm
Hey, Jake…he is getting his “straight up and down” vote…….only he is getting it Pontius Pelosi style. He is one of them, and they are all nuts!!!!
Posted by: justj joey | March 17, 2010, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
if your more interview with OBAMA then definitely u asked for HEALTH CARE BILL……….
Posted by: Ilan Ben Menachem | March 18, 2010, 4:49 am 4:49 am