Dems Consider Skipping Committee, Bringing Health Care To Floor

The Hill:

House Democrats, still searching for a way to pass their healthcare bill before August, are considering bypassing the Energy and Commerce committee altogether, where the bill has stalled, and proceeding right to the floor.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[Koreanovice]

06:44 PM on 07/24/2009

How is it that repubs scream about right-to-life for unborn children and they are the major group to support the death penalty, torture, and vote against health care reform?

[Dial8]

04:42 PM on 07/24/2009

In my opinion one thing that supporters of Public Health Care could be hammering on that they aren't yet is the correlation between "pro-life" and dumping people who can't pay their bills into the street to die.

If the right is so adamantly "pro life" they should be pro ALL life... not just fetuses.

Explain to me how anyone who calls themselves "pro life" but is against Public Healthcare is not a hypocrite?

[chaz]

04:12 PM on 07/24/2009

Do it!

[Bronxdude]

01:02 PM on 07/24/2009

In collusion with health insurance corporations, pharmaceutical manufactures, and physicians who regard healthcare as only a revenue stream, the Reagan deregulated, for-profit medical culture has methodically raped America, while complicit, unscrupulous, and self-serving republicans silenced by special interest and kick-backs acquiesce. Since obstructionistic republicans support the systematic plundering of the middleclass by ruthless corporations like UnitedHealthcare, this is why we need the government between the public and greed-driven, parasitic health insurance providers. Profit at the expense of human suffering is a republican engineered abomination. Forget bipartisanship; true not-for-profit reform will provide affordable and competitive options that include a public offering. Since Georgia is self-insured, state employees have no due process patient protection rights, which means UnitedHealthcare can deny medical care and authorize exorbitant copays and deductibles with no appeal oversight. Real, quality-driven reform will end the monopolistic strangle-hold enjoyed by morally bankrupt health insurance corporations. In Georgia, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare officials colluded with state republicans to eliminate Blue Cross and Blue Shield as a competitor, narrowing the slate of choices to two, with the end result being higher premiums, bigger profit, and reduced benefits. The health insurance industry (and the despicable republicans they bankroll) will not retreat quietly from billions in annual profits! I want the same public option Congress and the military enjoy. When compared to the average American, why do politicians live longer? Answer: universal health insurance. Real choice will end the single profiteer option extorting Americans.

[Bronxdude]

01:01 PM on 07/24/2009

Tort reform is the republican answer to the health insurance crisis undermining America. Incompetent and substandard doctors kill or injury thousands of people everyday, and the republican response to this spiraling epidemic is to place a cap on liability claims, which in their deluded state of reality will reduce healthcare cost by reducing malpractice settlements. Malarkey! Making incompetent doctors unaccountable will not lower healthcare cost, just their malpractice premiums. Like any profession, if greed-driven doctors want lower liability premiums, then they need to police their ranks and drive out those responsible for driving up the cost of malpractice insurance. While doctors will talk amongst themselves about poor quality doctors, they never report them to the Medical Board. Instead, they allow them to quietly relocate to another state, so they can continue practicing dangerous medicine. It’s no surprise why crooked republicans silenced by pay-offs and kickbacks would ruthlessly push reform that punishes the victim and rewards the perpetrator. The military is notorious for commissioning doctors who have had their license revoked or suspended. Unlike civilian doctors, military doctors don’t have to have a license from the state where they practice; instead, they can shop around, conceal their malpractice history, and get licensed in a state with less stringent requirements, since the military does not require their doctors to carry liability insurance, and they can’t be sued for negligence or malpractice. Competition via the public option choice will drive down cost and impede republican profiteering.

[Bronxdude]

01:01 PM on 07/24/2009

If competition is the lynchpin of capitalism, then let the greed-driven health insurance providers compete with the feds for my business. Limiting choice drives costs up, increasing profit for a select few, which is why republicans support the monopolistic advantage health insurance companies enjoy. Since obstructionistic republicans embrace the methodical pilfering of Americans by ruthless corporations like UnitedHealthcare, this is why we need the government between the public and parasitic health insurance providers. Through mendacious scare tactics, republicans distract and whip up baseless fear by cautioning Americans that reform will lead to rationed healthcare, with the end result being that the feds will come between the patient and their doctor. Contrary to specious talking points authored by self-serving republicans long on rhetoric and short on substance, as it stands right now, without true marketplace competition a public option will generate, unregulated health insurance companies dictate not only the cost of my healthcare, but how, when, and where I receive medical care. Republicans are bankrolled and controlled by the same health insurance industry they fought to deregulate, which is why they defend the extortion of the American public by these opportunistic companies. Historically, deregulation inspires corruption, which is the case in Georgia, where the Insurance Commissioner, an elected republican, is under investigation for receiving illegal contributions from the same health insurance providers he is tasked with regulating. The majority of Americans want a public option because the current system is rigged against them.

[Bronxdude]

01:00 PM on 07/24/2009

Senators DeMint and Coburn: The best healthcare system in the world leaves 47 million Americans uninsured to fend for themselves, while generating billions in profit. If you’re fortunate to be a member of Congress, you do in fact have unfettered access to the best healthcare lobbyist can buy. The haves always seem to know what’s best for the have-nots. Several years ago, the republicans pushed through the Prescription Drug Bill at a cost of $900 billion, which benefited the pharmaceutical industry, not the America public. Lobbyists shell-out millions to buy republican votes to support both the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Sell-outs like DeMint and Coburn are breaking the backs of working-class Americans. Their constitutes are big business, not the average American

[Bronxdude]

01:00 PM on 07/24/2009

The average American refuses to accept that the Republican Nation is at war with the working-class, which is why republicans support the status quo and oppose universal healthcare, public education, unions, government oversight, minimum wage hikes, worker rights, access to higher education, middleclass tax relief, and, in general, anything that would jeopardize the continuation of a credit-dependent, unhealthy, downtrodden, underpaid, debt-laden, undereducated and permanent class of laborers. Similar to Jim Crow plantation owners, it’s in the best interest of republicans to keep the working-class hopeless, sick, undereducated and debt-laden, just like exploited sharecroppers. Republicans staunchly supported the bailout of Wall Street to protect their assets, while refusing to bailout out the automobile industry, which is unionized and employs thousands of working-class Americans. The Republican Nation opposes governmental oversight because such provisions would interfere with greed-inspired capitalism; republicans would like to abolish the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior, Education and The Food and Drug Administration, because these agencies protect and advocate for workers. Just like feudal lords and medieval aristocrats, the Republican Nation requires a large, mobile army to protect their assets and financial interests, which is why republicans defend unbridled military spending. According to the CBO, the Iraq War will cost $2.6 trillion over 10 years, while health insurance for all Americans will cost $1.2 trillion over the same period. The spread of capitalism via militarism benefits republicans, while health insurance benefits the working-class, something republicans don’t want.

[snakeman]

12:58 PM on 07/24/2009

It's about time !!!!

[wehrke]

11:54 AM on 07/24/2009

I think this would be a big mistake. You want to cause a political firestorm? Hell nothing would get passed. Remember, this still has to passed in the Senate and then go to committee to work out the differences between the 2 bills before it goes to President.

[pat8942]

09:49 AM on 07/24/2009

Why not just give us the same plan the elected officials get, and if they don't want to do that, then give the elected officials the same plan they want us to have.
If they think it's so great they shouldn't have a problem.

[thefringecenter]

11:28 AM on 07/24/2009

The plan they have is a menu of about a dozen private insurance plans. If you want what they have, the solution is simple. Tell your employer that you don't just want the single plan that they have chosen for you, but a dozen to choose from. The problem is that you want to blame Congress for having choices but you lack the courage to demand the same from your employer.

[LifeIsBrief]

12:59 PM on 07/24/2009

Except that their plan is payed for by the taxpayers.

What about freelancers, self-employed? What about those who's employers don't offer health coverage? Or those who don't have full time work with a large corporation?

I don't want health insurance; I want health care.

President Obama finally admitted what we have known all along:
"I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that unless you have a -- what's called a single-payer system, in which everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual."

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum998.php

[hmldjr]

09:48 AM on 07/24/2009

Take it to the floor!!!!

[BillyPilgram57]

09:35 AM on 07/24/2009

Has anyone else noticed the committee leaders who are holding this up are from states with small populations........................ majority rules??????????

[a6intruder]

10:25 AM on 07/24/2009

Majority DOES rule - but not at the expense of the rights of the minority. Read the WHOLE Constitution, next time.

[windup]

08:44 AM on 07/24/2009

Do it!

[abigail1]

09:02 AM on 07/24/2009

I was just going to say the same thing!

[biabouman41]

08:07 AM on 07/24/2009

And the Senate needs to skip the Finance committee where it has stalled and where it was killed in the Clinton Administration. And where now the Right wingers who pretend that they are Dems rule the day and are obstructing everything, along with the real Republicans.