Obama Flips: Now Aiming For Universal Healthcare Coverage

The American Prospect:

I've now been able to confirm with multiple senior administration sources that the health care proposal in Obama's budget will have a mandate. Sort of.

Here's how it will work, according to the officials I've spoken to. The budget's health care section is not a detailed plan.

Read the whole story: The American Prospect

Comments

[Pleneras]

Flip, flip, flip. Who cares if he decided this is the best healthcare plan for a growing country? Who cares if the facts show healthcare as a private business is a ticket to death? We need UNIVERSAL Healthcare and no other system works well on behalf of the people. A sick country is a weak country and a weak country is a dying country. Universal healthcare is a great thing when the taxpayers money is used versus wasting 10 times the cost like the republicans have done in war, private contracting etc.

[digitalprophet]

+1

It really is as simple as diverting the money the average person pays for benefits out of their paychecks to just being tax money coming out to get BETTER benefits(free anything) when you have to get treated.

[Sneaky]

So, I assume the quality of healthcare in our northerly neighbors and cousins across the pond is better than our own?

[Tulka2]

When i heard Obama say the health care debate will not be "put off another year", i sighed and said, "....but it looks like health care will be put off for another speech".

I trust and pray Obama will use his skills and the bully pulpit to educate us about our health care in other countries. What i read in Huff Post comments makes me know most of us are really ignorant on this subject. Big Pharma and the Medical Industrial Complex have really done a good job of keeping us ignorant.

[RTIII]

Don't forget the role of the non-Media.­..
.

[Sneaky]

Based on that linked article's description, isn't this like HIllary's plan? The one he fought against? Often?

[newmexicogold]

Hillary's was a bit farther to the left. Obama was in the center and moved left towards Max Baucus.

[Sneaky]

Somehow I'm not comforted. Heh.

[victoria38]

One final, final note..it's been fun pulling the tail of the donkey tonite. don't take anything personal. We just have big differences on how peoples' lives should be left alone and not regulated every waking moment, from cradle to grave, by Big Brother. See you tomorrow..

[newmexicogold]

Remember that when you vote a platform that contains abortion, gay rights, and immigration reform. If the government has no business in telling people how to live their lives - that means all area's of an individual's life.

[RTIII]

You can be sure that your message is completely lost on Victoria..­.
.

[miltonista]

newmexi... there is nothing an elected republican can do to limit abortion..­. this is a matter that should've been voted on by the states... and not decided in the supcourt. And looking at the polling numbers... no one would outlaw abortion in this country, no matter how vocal the pro-lifers are.

I would argue a large (quiet) constituency of republicans are pro-choice­... but they aren't vocal about it... just rather each individual make this choice on their own.

to keep bringing up abortion is a canard.

[victoria38]

One final comment...­if the gov't gets involved in Universal health care...the costs simply will NOT go down...the bureacracy would be insurmount­able...the waste/corr­uption/cro­nyism will be tremendous­...

Name ANY program taken over by ANY gov't entity(local, state, or federal) and show me where service has improved and costs have been reduced...­name one, just ONE..

[newmexicogold]

Health insurance is not health care. Health insurance allows access to private healthcare.

[victoria38]

So the gov't will pay for my health ins and not tell me which doctor to see, and which hospital to go to??

I'm in !!

[miltonista]

well put...

Progressives, it's worth looking into the historical track record of government inserting itself into the private market... whether that be with the health care industry or the steel industry. Over many decades, governments around the world have tried to do this with abysmal results... nationalizing and socializing industries is fraught with the problems victoria38 described.­.. and that includes the "wonderful" canadian & european systems.

Please, as humans... let's learn from humanity's mistakes in the past, so that we don't repeat them. Central planning and socialized medicine should be well on it's way to the history books... not into legislatio­n...

good night, and good luck.

[newmexicogold]

The free market isn't.

[RTIII]

Here's one: The costs of bridges.

Yes, a hundred years ago you might have had to pay a small fortune to cross this great nation. But, due to the public administration of roads and bridges we today can travel all of these United States (except for a few _incredibly_ regressive toll roads) free of charge coast to coast. (Note that the toll roads are, invariably, at the costs of users and an anathema to reasonable management­.)

There's one.

There are MANY more.
.

[miltonista]

you don't think the private sector can build bridges?
you don't think the private sector can plan cities?

i find it amusing that people think only government can do these things...

the private sector can do them at much lower cost... faster... more efficientl­y... which by no coincidence would reduce carbon emissions.­..

there's one reason to save the environment.

There are MANY more.

[ModeratePoliticalJunkie]

Whatever the approach there must be provisions for 'personal responsibility'. Yes we need Universal Healthcare but we also need health-conscious citizens who help to keep healthcare costs low by TAKING GOOD CARE OF THEMSELVES.

[teacheng]

We certainly need to work on the prevention end - I mean, how much money could be saved if everyone had a gym membership? Or perhaps there was a tax on fast food... :)

[victoria38]

Why not throw in a personal trainer?..­.do you not get it? someone has to pay for this..Is a tax on everything the only thing you libs advocate..­??

If someone wants to eat big macs all day long,. that's their right..and that's EXACTLY why I shouldn't pay for their healthcare­...

[mynameismimi]

I wish I could afford a gym membership. The generally poor condition of most of us and our children is a lot more complicated. We have advertisers hawking soda, sugary cereals and all manner of fatty fast foods on the idiot box, and parents who are too lazy to limit the time their kids are spending in front of it. We have kids who are developing all kinds of useless thumb skills and no interpersonal ones as they spend hours playing games and texting each other instead of actually playing with each other, and parents who are too lazy to limit the amount of time their kids can have with their precious toys. We have millions of school-age kids without insurance that covers dental work, and alot of them are in so much pain that they can't concentrate. We have neighborhoods that are too dangerous for the kids to play in because we insist on keeping marijuana illegal and allowing the drug gangs to terrorize our citizens. I am a public health nurse and I see this same old mess decade after decade - in my 32 years out here, we have gone from bad to worse in terms of our collective well-being.

[GeorgeKaplan]

I don't see that happing...

[newmexicogold]

Baucus-Kennedy White Paper

http://finance.senate.gov/healthreform2009/finalwhitepaper.pdf

[SurferKit]

I was wondering if anyone would post the link.

Thanks.

[victoria38]

Wonder if Teddy would go for having someone tell him which doctor to see...

[newmexicogold]

Your reading comprehension is non-existent.

[miltonista]

hehe... you're good

click *i'm a fan*

[FreedomAgain]

When you believe there is value in all human life, you believe in universal healthcare for all.

[miltonista]

When you believe there is value in all human life, you will protect the rights of the individual­... and put universal healthcare into the recycle bin.

[newmexicogold]

Transfering wealth to the wealthy is working so well, doncha think?

[mynameismimi]

A simple truth. To Miltonista and others: Universal health care will not interfere with your right to "buy up" with regard to your own care. It means that the millions of underserved Americans of all ages, especially the "working poor" who have nothing - I'll say it again, nothing - in terms of health insurance, will be able to get help when they need it.

[newmexicogold]

Universal health insurance cuts into the profit margin - plain and simple.

[miltonista]

but if you have that system, you'll be incentivizing the wrong way... which will destroy advancements in technology and cost reduction.­.. once the government is a player in the health care market, it will distort how the market responds to it... for example medicare and medicaid are distorting our current system... and they're unsustainable. the unfunded liabilities already are in the tens of trillions.­.. we can't keep doing this.

get the government out of health care and you'll see costs go down and quality go up... this has happened in EVERY industry that was kept free of government intervention. If you care about humanity in the long run, you will not want to go down the path of single payer.

[mynameismimi]

We did take a giant governmental step back, in the eighties when we allowed the insurance industry the right to dictate the care that we could receive - "managed care", DRG's, HMO's - all the result of that decision. And the quality of care we receive is horrid, just horrid, compared to just prior. I don't trust the health insurance industry to take care of anything but itself.

[MIVOTE]

Sounds good to me, either way!

[joyf1]

I don't care what we end up, call it single-payer, universal, or whatever. I can't continue to pay $1343 a month for insurance. (not a cadillac plan either) I can't shop around so don't suggest that since my husband has cancer, advanced. We're stuck.

[Sweetbay]

Nobody who is suffering with illness should have to also worry that they can't afford to get the medical help they need when they most need it.

All the best to you and your family. Here's hoping that congress will get this bill passed quickly so that you will see some relief soon.

[pewty]

joyf1...I will pray for your family.

[eXcommunicate]

Universal coverage paid for through a progressive tax is the only one that will work and truly drive down costs! It works in Canada and France. Doctors, Hospitals, and Clinics can remain private!Oh, and ban or severely limit those damned prescription medication TV commercials. Big Pharma should be marketing to doctors, not patients.

[meede]

I agree. When I lived in Canada, my healthcare cost me $900 for the year. It covered drs., specialists, hospital stays (4 people per room) and emergency, surgery. You could get additional coverage if your employer had it available. Gave you semi-private hospital (2 people per room), most dental up to $1,500 per yr., most prescriptions. Seniors over 65 got their prespriptions. You also get homecare if needed (nurse visits, caregiver relief). Nobody looses their home over unpaid medical bills or need to declare bankruptcy. Many prescriptions in Canada cost less than U.S. Total different ballgame than U.S. I get 2 months coverage here for what I paid a year there and no battles to see if covered. No having to research and sign up with whoever. I want it!! I want it!!

[victoria38]

Seems you left out something.­..like waiting periods.. chk out this linkl.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123413701032661445.html

[miltonista]

yeah, which is why tens of thousands of canadians come to america for their health care... it's cheaper for the government because they simply cap their health care budget... which means they need to ration care for their citizens.

utopia or folly?

[newmexicogold]

Cite your source?

[papapj]

..One more step towards civilization, America...­...

[miltonista]

socialized medicine..­. one giant leap backward for humanity, with a 3 month waiting list and rationed MRI scans.

[newmexicogold]

Your paranoia is showing. This a health insurance bill.

[cobobs]

What we fail to follow is that the health care dollar right now is rationed to favor those who work in particular situations or are wealthy. Good luck to those without the right employment or who are not poor enough or old enough to be covered by government programs. This is scary. You must be one of the lucky or healthy ones who does not appreciate that precarious position.

[sixx]

Good.

[ENOUGH1]

On the news tonight I just heard about a 410 billion dollar spending bill in congress. It has over 9,000 earmarks included:
1,049 million for Mormon Crickets
1 million for water waste management in North Pole Alaska
200,000 for tattoo removal in Los Angeles
443,000 beaver management and control in Mississippi

Enough is enough. I have been listening to governors, congressmen, senators whinning for days about President Obama's bill and they are trying to pull something like this. These people are out of control.

I hope President Obama calls them on the mat for this kind of behavior. They have not learned a thing. I think we will have to boot them out in the next election. I'm talking about all these idiots who are trying to run our country into the ground.

I sure did not hear McCain complain about any of these earmarks the other day when he was questioning President Obama about the helicopter.

Were is the outcry for this kind of behavior.

I've had enough.

[newmexicogold]

1% of the budget is earmarks. If they go to a Republican district, is that ok? We just lived through 10% earmarks for 8 years. This is a reduction, and therefore a good start.

[marinade]

People like Jindal, who are okay with the waste in Iraq but are outraged about money that goes to Americans, are the ones we need to worry about.

[PhilipTaylor]

Calling this a FLIP is Silly! He said as much all during the campaign and implied it recently.

What is so hard to understand about covering all Americans including the 40+Million not now covered!

If anything this is a clarification! Clearly not a FLIP!

Lets leave the Flips to McFlipFlop!

[newmexicogold]

Note - the source of the headline, not HP.