Now Is the Time

Now is the time to let Senators and Congressmen/women know you support and insist upon a public option for your health insurance purchases. It's an "option," remember, and the more options, the better. Everyone is still free to purchase what they like. It only means there'll be a government subsidized option that can be purchased, should insurance companies not offer a plan that meets your needs. (Meaning, insurance companies will experience some pressure to offer plans that do meet your needs.)

Incredibly, Democrats in the Senate are showing some actual backbone, some nerve, some daring, by offering the American public a tiny sliver of something that might one day grow to resemble what they already enjoy, in terms of their health care coverage. That's a monumental shift from anything that's happened before. So, if you agree with the philosophy, please let your feelings be known widely, and loudly. There's no guarantee it'll succeed. And my best guess is that the "courage" being demonstrated on Capitol Hill might not be impervious to puncture. Make sure those on the fence, and those resistant, realize that most Americans want and insist that a public option be included in health care reform.

Your voice needs to be heard. Now is the time. Now. Right... now....

EvanHandler.com

 

 

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Comments

[FunPie]

Need an argument for the public option? Read this:

http://thefunpie.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/the-evil-public-option/

[cgoodie]

A public option offered to a narrow group of people (as in just the uninsured) is destined for failure because it does not spread the risk. I want the administration to take a stand. Take the blue dogs out to the woodshed and knock some sense into them.

[Walter from Canada]

The only time the government option will work for you is when you are healthy.

[mcthfg]

From Canada, huh? So you'd turn down national health care if you were sick or injured?

It seems to me that private insurance only works when you are healthy. If you get sick or injured, you loose everything, despite paying high premiums.

Are you sure you're from Canada? Most Canadians I know are much aren't insurance industry plants.

[cgoodie]

I lived under the Canadian health care system for 12 years and found it very good. I still have many friends in Canada who are also very satisfied with what they have. The people fox news has on are either publicity seekers or just one or two of the few people who feel as they do.

[FerrellGummitt]

All of society has reinforced the lie and when we yank that reality away, those who think they deserve the corner office, the prettiest girl, the biggest house and the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing, will not accept no for an answer — even if that means taking it from others.

[guziemommy]

That's true of a small number of people...but what is more accurate is that most people in this country do not want a hand out. (by the way, did you take the government "hand out" of stimulus money sent to you when Bush was in office? I certainly hope your sincere (?) convictions kept you from doing so!) However, the important fact that most of you so called conservatives do not have the slightest inkling about is that all that may be fair in your eyes, but ONLY if EVERYONE began on a "level playing field". By that, I mean, do not tell someone to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" when you may have had the LUXURY of having at least one, maybe even two, loving, responsible parents to nurture you and keep you safe and inspire you through most or even ANY of your childhood. Good for you if you were lucky enough to get into college, and PAY for it (or have your parents do so) so that you could get a good enough paying job to SURVIVE out there! Now, maybe your parents talked to you about the "bird and bees" and you did not get pregnant or (if your are male) your girlfriend at the moment did not get pregnant and you have not had the extra burden of raising a child as a child yourself (another reason Palin's idiocy harms America...sex ed is a must this century! get real conservatives).

[guziemommy]

(here's a continuation of my previous comment): Do not dare, unless you are without sin, judge anyone else for making any bad decisions in their lives....for, as I have just laid out, we all grew up differently. So, now to the present: everyone is an adult now. To now expect that these same people, who grew up at a total disadvantage compared to say you, or millions of other conservatives out there, will have a fighting chance in hell to live the same healthy, responsible, mentally well life that you may be living right now is pure IGNORANCE. When you can make it so that everyone is given an equal chance at not only survival but thriving in this world from the moments of birth through to their 18th birthdays, THEN you selfish, spoiled, NON-Christian conservatives can even ATTEMPT to give some advice to those citizens who are not as fortunate as you, who do not have the same personality as you, who maybe don't have the same IQ as you (whatever that number may be)...etc. In the future, just make sure you are really comparing apples to apples when deciding who should be doing what and how in this world. Oh, I forgot, conservatives "believe" that God is the only one to judge! Right?!

[WilliamBradford]

Do you have any ideas about how to treat the problem that you highlight - single parenthood and poor parenting in general? Should we just continue to implement spending programs to try to compensate for the irresponsibility of an increasing percentage of our society, or should we talk about how to change our culture before it is too late?

[FerrellGummitt]

Mam: Can I put you down as a Huff Post fan of mine then?

[FerrellGummitt]

Guziemommy: Can I add you as a Huff Post fan of mine then?

[vintagefunk]

Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon is working to ensure that the public option is available to everyone who wants it, no exceptions.

Current proposal in the Senate lets states opt out, and limits the option to people who currently don't have private insurance. Both of these narrow the coverage pool to 5-10% of Americans. So that is not an "option" for 90-95% of the population.

Let's support Senator Wyden in his effort to make the "public" option a true option for everyone.

As the mantra goes, those who like their private insurance should keep it. But those of us who hate it should be given a choice.

Thank you for your postings on health care Mr. Handler. Now go make Charlotte happy in SATC3 ;)

[Awake-and-Sing]

This is what needs to come out of the Conference Committee.

The Senate Bill assuming it passes and the House Bill need to be reconciled.

It would be great if the bills are reconciled with no opt out and with allowing everyone to join if they want, but if the compromise only allows for one, it is better to allow everyone to join if they want. That will make the public option even more attractive so that no state will drop out, just no state has dropped out of Medicare, which also passed with an "opt-out".

I hope the opt-out requires both legislature and governor approval.

[StuManChu]

Problem is, the government option will eventually be forced on those who do not want it.

[mcthfg]

You don't want to be insured?

You must be young and healthy.

I sure hope you turn down Medicare when you're 65.

[vintagefunk]

Stop peddling lies in a serious blog post.

[DallasMike]

According to Reids bill private companies who do not offer their employees health insurance a $400 penalty. Now where is the compitition? Every company in America would opt out for $400 per employee as opposed to the thousands of $s per employee they pay now. If the is a public option the unitended consequenses will be stagering. Why can women tell the Gov't to "leave my body alone" when it comes to abortion but when it comes to health care it is ramed down our throats.

[WilliamBradford]

"The “Me Generation” have stolen every penny from Social Security. We've used that money to make ourselves appear successful and to vote ourselves more things we claimed to be “entitled” to.

When that money ran out, we stole our children’s money, mortgaging their future for our personal comforts. The numbers they now owe are written in trillions.

Now, with no more to steal from our parents or our children, we are demanding deeply discounted health-care services. It’s something, we argue that we’re entitled to.

The problem is that forcing insurance companies to write bad policies – with premiums far less than what they’ll have to dole out for the aging Boomers’ growing medical conditions – is untenable. In fact, it is exactly the same formula these same Leftists used to force banks to make bad loans because they felt that everyone of their generation was “entitled” to own a house.

The Plan: force their grandchildren to pay for services they won’t need for decades, using that money to subsidize the cost of insurance to the aging Boomers. The grandchildren will be paying for their irresponsible grandparents’ while being deprived of the money they would otherwise use to further their education, start a business or make a down payment on their first home.

Make no mistake about it, this generation is a generation of thieves and the people who stole their parents and their children’s money to make their own lives cushier are at it again."

-Evan Sayet

[editorjuno]

I guess the rest of the world is way ahead of us on the thievery bandwagon, eh?

What nonsense -- the only reason SS is jeopardy is repeated raids on its funds for other, often ill-considered (e.g. the Vietnam War) government spending, which is why Al Gore came up with the much-mocked "lock box" analogy. The boomer generation will cost more simply because there are so many more of us, but we also have put in far more than any previous generation -- blame it on all the horny GIs coming home back in '45, but don't vilify us for wanting the same sort of modestly secure retirement that our parents earned. We've paid in all our lives and most of us have never taken a penny from our government or our parents, so you're welcome to keep your self-indulgent guilt trip between yourself and your plump insurance company stock portfolio. If the corporate bandits can't provide coverage at a cost comparable to what's available in the rest of industrialized world, they deserve to go the way of the dodo -- and leave us was a de facto single-payer system we can live with.

[GorBud]

Everybody seems to want this or that. Everybody needs this or that. Everyone clamors that we must cover whatever it is that must be covered. But it seems no one ever wants to pay for all these needs and wants. Leased new cars, big houses, unbelievable excesses of food consumed at home and restaurants, vacations to exotic locals, shop till you drop teenagers, cellphones, video games in every room, kids who don't work, parents that don't care. Anyone expect individual American people to pay for something as important as health insurance should think again. They want someone else to pay, anyone else. My suggestion is if you can't pay you apply to the government and health care is provided through the existing structure of Medicare. If you have the means but don't want to alter your "life style." (see rent controlled East side apt) you are compelled to get private insurance. If you chose no insurance and must get emergency care your billed and sued if you don't pay. I know, I know it is too simple minded, the problem is too complex, and it can only be addressed by "experts" and government officials. After 1,300 pages of impossible to understand language it will be decided that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will pay; they don't vote anyway. Pass the laws now and let the future figure it out. In any event I am, like Whimpy, eating a hamburger today for which I will pay you tomorrow.

[Nelson Montana - Huffpost Blogger]

Most people, understandably, don't understand what the options are.

[billygore2000]

You appear to be a cute guy, and not without a sense of humor, despite a big ego. But why is it a country that started out so well like ours in an imperfect world, with the benefit of so many news sources and so many means of communication, in a democracy, that requires an informed citizenry, has an ignorant population that, as you admit, doesn't understand the options.

[Nelson Montana - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't think the people are at fault. I think it's the fault of the leaders. The program was never made clear and it was compromised from the start. It kept changing and then it was presented in town hall meeting where it became more muddled. Too many questions are still left unanswered. It's more than just being told options are available, or that they were passed. What exactly ARE they? What will it cost? What do I get?

This is a case of the left hand not knowing know what the right hand is doing. Obama should have passed a social service and be done with it. He had the votes. But he hesitated and that's when the mess began. Now, it'll be in the hands of the insurance companies, which is just what the Republicans want because A: they're owned by the insurance companies, and B: it'll be a fiscal nightmare and the Reps will blame the administration. Another loss for the Democrats -- and they deserve it. They blew this big time.

[FerrellGummitt]

So, step aside Grandma, just give me my damn health care?

[billygore2000]

It always comes down to money for conservatives, you posit. So sad.

[FerrellGummitt]

"The conservative economic philosophy is primarily based on the idea that if you cut taxes, you'll raise more in revenue than you lose."

No, actually, the conservative economic philosophy is that what you earn belongs to you and as a fundamental precept of the United States, you should be free to do with it as you see fit. What money is required by the government in order to fulfill its constitutionally enumerated obligations is the extent that money should be taken from those who earn it.

It is not the constitutionally mandated obligation of the federal government to provide health insurance for its citizens, any more than it is the obligation of the government to run an automobile company, decide on the salaries of personnel in private industry, build blueberry research institutes, or add feng shui to the building codes. And yet it does all these things and with money that rightfully belongs to you.

If you wish to help accomplish any of these things, please do so - that is the definition of freedom. Taking my money from me to do these things on penalty of imprisonment if I do not "voluntarily" go along is something else entirely.

[billygore2000]

It always comes down to money for conservatives, you posit. So sad.

[StuManChu]

It comes down to keeping what you earn, and any money paid to the government be used wisely in accordance to the constitution. Seizure of personal assets for programs out of that realm are treasonous.

[StuManChu]

There will be no opting out of government run healthcare.

[billygore2000]

Government-run health care would be an answer to prayer any day of the week for most people and a vast improvement over the mess the private sector, like a Halloween monster, Michael Meyers, say, has "blessed" us with. Oh for the days when hospitals were run by religious orders of Catholic nuns and brothers or Lutheran deaconesses. Social security and medicare are very well run--the problems are the abuse of them

[drricklippin]

Bottom Line

NO NATION THAT PROFESSES TO CALL ITSELF CIVIL AND MORAL SHOULD NOT PROVIDE AT LEAST BASIC HEALTH CARE TO ALL OF ITS CITIZENS

The US is very late coming to this table

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

[billygore2000]

Civil and moral are not the first two words, most days of the week, that would come to mind about the U.S. , should the latter be the nation you had in mind.

[billygore2000]

Where are FDR, Harry Truman, and LBJ when you need them? Bill and Hillary seem rather quiet, too. But maybe, just maybe, there still are true Democrats. It's way past time for this country almost to be as good as Europe in providing for the common good of all its people.

[Pimpinnati]

Well Said, Runkle.