Obama Preparing For Major Push On Health Care Legislation

New York Times:

After months of insisting he would leave the details to Congress, President Obama has concluded that he must exert greater control over the health care debate and is preparing an intense push for legislation that will include speeches, town-hall-style meetings and much deeper engagement with lawmakers, senior White House officials say.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Brute]

Single-payer Health Care

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11570.html

“But Robertson-Holmes is Canadian, and her state-provided health care gave her a wait time of four months to see a neurologist and six months to see an endocrinologist. Unable to get an expedited appointment, and with her eyesight worsening, Robertson-Holmes called the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and went in for tests and a diagnosis within a week.”

“Those misconceptions, according to Robertson-Holmes, include a belief that the system is free, when in fact Canadians are taxed to support it, and that there is timely access to care when, in her experience, accessing any part of the Canadian health care system resembles waiting for treatment in an American emergency room. And in Canada, she said, there’s no choice but to wait, because it’s illegal to seek private care.”

“Dogs in Canada can have hip replacement surgery in weeks,” Browning told an audience of about 100 at the Shwayder Theater. “That’s because it’s a free enterprise system.” But things are much different for the dogs' owners. They must rely on a government­-controlle­d medical system that can delay surgeries for new hips or cancer treatments for years, Browning said.

[CherokeeGirl]

http://www.singlepayeraction.org/

EVERYBODY IN, NOBODY OUT

[CherokeeGirl]

BRUTE is TROLLING for the HEALTHCARE CORPORATIONS, you may want to ignore his posts.

[CherokeeGirl]

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? A plane? No!

It's PRESIDENT OBAMA TO THE RESCUE!!!!!

[Brute]

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8271

“For example, he frequently refers to the 47 million Americans without health insurance, but fails to point out that most are uninsured for only brief periods, or that millions are eligible for programs like Medicaid but fail to apply.”

“And when you compare the outcome for specific diseases, like cancer or heart disease, the United States clearly outperforms the rest of the world. When former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi needed heart surgery last year, he didn't go to an Italian hospital or to France, Canada or Cuba. He came to the Cleveland Clinic.”

“Yet nearly 800,000 Canadians aren't so lucky. The Canadian Supreme Court has pointed out that many Canadians waiting for treatment suffer chronic pain and, "Patients die while on the waiting list."
“also slides over the facts when he implies that the French system is "free." It's funded through a 13.55 percent payroll tax, a 5.25 percent income tax and other taxes on tobacco, alcohol and drug-company revenues. And the system is still running a $15.6 billion deficit.”

[marinade]

Maybe the President is afraid that if he doesn't get involved, DFA and Howard Dean will steal his thunder.

[Jeany]

Remember, no matter how profitable a corporation becomes, it is never enough. As long as the insurers and providers are mostly for-profit corporations, the cost containment will never come. If the MARKET COULD DELIVER, it would have done so already. So a new generation of regulation, the hated bogeyman, will, as we've seen with the financial industry, simply inspire the next wave of clever evasion.

We've piddled long enough, waiting for the market to deliver the promised savings. I'm sorry "free market" purists po op their pants with the idea of such an efficient producer of profits being relegated to cover luxury and vanity medicine, but that's exactly what has to happen if the juice is ever going to come back to the American economy.

We can't afford to let the Mammonists maintain control of health care.

[CherokeeGirl]

fanned and co-signed :) pure logic and reason will save the day.

[Brute]

French health service on verge of collapse, says commission

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/24/france.jonhenley

[vanmungo]

Seriously, Brute--you came up with an article on French health care from FIVE years ago, cobbled together by politicians on the French right, and projecting results out FIFTEEN YEARS? Yikes!

Here's the skinny, Brute:

No one in France dies or suffers because he/she cannot afford health insurance. EVERYONE is covered, ALWAYS, with no premiums or deductibles, at a minimum of 70 percent and up to 100 percent, depending on the severity of the illness.

Now, let's see--maybe I can dig up an article from TEN years ago on the state of Twitter--wait: Twitter didn't exist five years ago.

See--we could play this inane game all night!

[Brute]

A&E patients left in ambulances for up to FIVE hours 'so trusts can meet government targets'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-515332/A-E-patients-left-ambulances-FIVE-hours-trusts-meet-government-targets.html

[Brute]

British Health Service Doctors Accused of Involuntary Euthanasia

http://www.nrlc.org/news/2000/NRL06/england.html

[vanmungo]

That's right, Brute--why aren't you indignant about the 20,000 people who die in THIS country every year because they cannot afford medical treatment?

EVERYONE in all the countries you mention--England, Canada, France--is guaranteed low- or no-cost treatment for life. EVERYONE.

In contrast, we have America's barbaric pay-or-die system.

But that's the American way--FREED­OM--you're free to suffer and die if you can't pony up the cash. And our system costs TWICE what theirs does per capita! What a deal!

GOD BLESS AMERICA, BRUTE

[Brute]

Does EVERYONE pay taxes to support healthcare in England, France and Canada?

EVERYONE is covered under the US health care system. It is illegal to be denied medical assistance in the United States.

Oh, and where in the Constitution does it say that money must be confiscated from you to pay for my medical care?

By the way, when Ted Kennedy, Hero of the Left and champion of socialized medicine, was diagnosed with cancer, did he hop on a jet to Canada, France or England? No, he is being treated in the United States which has the best health care system in the world.

[Brute]

British Socialized Dental Care

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1169764/NHS-scandal-I-dentist--Now-aged-21-Ive-teeth-removed.html

[vanmungo]

Hey, Brute--did you know that the Daily Mail is a right-wing scandal sheet pretty much on a par with the New York Post or Fox News Channel?

Don't you read any credible news sources? Just far-right-wing propaganda?

[freshnotbitter]

There are some dems out there who are joining with repubs to have a massachussetts type insurance system where everybody is mandated to have insurance and you have to buy it from private insurance companies (because Romeny, a repub, was governor when they passed the plan).

Why don't they just collect premiums for a public option the way they collect social security? I don't hear anybody complain about social security, do you?

Imagine if Congress were to say, as they almost did under Bush family dynasty, that all people must have social security and they have to buy it from private companies in form of annuities. So you would go to Bernie Madoff or Jim Cramer on CNBC and buy your social security annuity...­.......... retirement? I don't think so.

Insist on a public option and when they say they don't have the money just say you agree to pay 15 per cent of your income as a premium because you understand that health care is about 15 per cent of national income and it can be collected as easily as we collect social security(and paid out almost as easily as well although I admit that will be a larger project).

[freshnotbitter]

They say that our health care industry total is about seventeen per cent of gross national product. So why don't we have a public government insurance option that charges people fifteen per cent of their income on their tax return and let everybody else who prefers private insurance to just stick with their plan?

I was just reading a bloomberg article that said dems in congress are setting up bills that "mandate" all employers provide health care insurance but how are we going to enforce that and what will the plans look like and why are we burdening a lot of ma and pa candy stores with alot of paperwork. They say that individuals will be "mandated" to have insurance but if you can "prove" that you can't afford it they will give you "subsidies". Can you imagine the bureaucratic boondoggle? Everyone will have their personal rep in government working on their case figuring out what they can afford!!!!!

Pls, dems, don't prove that you are incompetent,ivory tower pointy headed fools who can't park your bicycle straight. Just tie it all to the IRS Form 1040 that everybody files and anybody without a private policy simply pays fifteen per cent of his income and finished. That collects the money automatically, you do away with medicaid, people pay in proportion to what they can afford automatically without bureaucrats scratching a whole in their head figuring out the value of your car, etc. like they do now with medicaid.

[slaxx]

in order to bring down the cost of health care, everyone has to be covered. we're paying through the nose through high premiums and taxes for the uninsured and those on medicaid. everyone should be covered and everyone should pay into it.

a GAO study showed that the savings alone from not having all these different companies with their lobbyists and the excessive administrative costs is enough to cover all of the uninsured.

[Brute]

The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care

http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html

[vanmungo]

"Brute" cites an article from a right-wing propaganda organ endorsed by none other than George Will?

This article is chockablock with falsehoods and distortions.

For the TRUTH about Canadian health care from a CREDIBLE source (not a right-wing rag), please see this piece from today's Denver Post:

"Debunking Myths About Canadian Health Care"--the right-wing myths purveyed by Brute and his propaganda sheets!:

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12523427

[lessbs]

The ugly truth about US health care - ranked 37th in the world.

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

[swift goat pet for truth]

Even so, the Canadian System is less bad than our current one.

And why would anyone opt for the Canadian system when one could pick the French one?

[NYCGringo]

Why is it always about the Canadian system? Why not the French or the Japanese..­.there are other very workable systems out there. Just because you've found one that you can point to as not working as well as it should, doesn't mean that there aren't others that work extremely well, and better than our own.

[Servility]

There is no perfect system.

[vanmungo]

The Canadian system is just fine. The article posted above attacking Canadian health care comes from a biased, conservative publication that has little journalistic credibility.

For a serious analysis of Canadian health care from a reputable source--The Denver Post--see this op-ed piece from today's edition--"Debunking Myths About Canadian Health Care":

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12523427

[vanmungo]

The article recommended by Brute is a tissue of distortions and falsehoods published by a far-right-wing propaganda sheet recommended by . . . George Will!

For a serious analysis of the Canadian Health Care system from a creditable source--the Denver Post, on of this country's finest newspapers--see today's op-ed piece, "Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths":

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12523427