Why I Loved Obama's Health Care Speech

I loved Pres. Obama's speech. It rallied dispirited Democrats, reassured disenchanted independents and intimidated Republicans. He called a lie a lie, and pledged to call out the right-wing thugs if (well, when) they continue lying.

The President shone a spotlight on the sin of rescission -- the process by which insurance companies protect their profits by dumping customers when they get sick. This outrage has been under-covered by the media, but congressional hearings revealed that just three insurance companies have kicked 20,000 customers off their plans. They included the woman President Obama referred to tonight, whose aggressive breast cancer was denied treatment because she once had acne. The congressional hearings uncovered documents proving that the insurance companies had saved themselves $300 million by kicking those folks off -- and insurance bureaucrats got bonuses and promotions based on who they dumped. This is an outrage. If Sarah Palin wants to see a real-world death panel, she should look no further than the corporate insurance executives whom she and her fellow Republicans so zealously defend.

He made the case for a strong public option -- but did not threaten to veto any bill that doesn't include one. He plainly wants to maintain maximum flexibility to do as much good for as many people as he can. He paid warm tribute to the patron saint of health care, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose departure has left a black hole in the Senate. And he put the lie to the Republican line that somehow the party that created Medicare is out to destroy it, by pointing out that the GOP has a proposal to end Medicare as we know it, and turn it into a voucher program. (For what problem, by the way, are vouchers not the GOP's answer?)

As good as Obama was, the Republicans may have helped him more than he helped himself. Just as Bill Clinton was blessed by cartoon-character enemies like Ken Starr and Henry Hyde, the face of GOP opposition to Obamacare tonight was not the heroic and patriotic John McCain, but rather some Congressclown named Joe Wilson from South Carolina. Between Mr. Wilson calling our President a liar and the rest of the GOP looking like a cast picture of "Grumpy Old Men," the Republicans were a portait of bitter anger that would be unrecognizable to the sunny and optimistic Ronald Reagan. Mr. Wilson has reportedly called White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to apologize. Good thing. But Mr. Wilson's rudeness will taint his party for some time.

The harder work will come not under the kleig lights, but behind the scenes. Pres. Obama will need to twist lots of congressional arms to pass his plan. But tonight he fired a shot across the bow of some of the self-professed fiscal conservatives. He decried how the Bush tax cuts, the Bush war in Iraq and the Bush prescription drug plan helped explode the deficit, squandering the Clinton surplus and plunging us deep in debt. No one who voted for that unholy trinity -- and a whole lot of Blue Dogs did -- can credibly oppose Obama's health reforms on fiscal grounds. Let's hope he drives that point home even more powerfully when he meets with moderate Democrats in private.

 

Comments

[Joe Santa Maria]

To win, you must win the majority. Why was the majority ignored when the presentation of the proposed reform took place. In selling any product, marketers know that it’s important to connect the product to the prospect. There are 270 million prospects that need to be sold on the product. Yet, the presentation on a one trillion dollar sale was pretty simply “We have to do it or we will be screwed later!” Now that may be true but most people are going to need a bit more shmoozing than that on a trillion dollar buy. The presentation went from “WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING” directly to “THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO” in roughly two weeks. Then the message was “Get on board now because we have to pass it by August!” As consumers, the country had not even had a chance to fully understand the product before it was told it was buying it at a trillion dollar price tag. Billy Mays, Rest In Peace.

[Beca]

Joe, you seem to have the misguided notion that the minority of Americans who are too stupid to realize that our health care system is a wreck and must be reformed now is the "majority". You seem to forget that the majority of American voters already voted for the comprehensive health care reform President Obama presented once again during his recent address to Congress. You seem to forget that on November 4th, the Majority of American voters voted for Barack Obama and his then proposed health care reform--pretty much the same proposal he presented to Congress last week. Either you were not paying attention during the election cycle, or you have chosen to dismiss the majority of Americans who voted loud and clear for this health care reform. There has been so much information on "the product" that if you don't get it by now, you are either stupid, don't care to understand, are too close minded to see in front of your nose, or chose to listen to the lies and deceptions from the right wing nuts. Where were you when Bush was plundering our surplus and amassing the largest deficit in our history? Why all of a sudden you are concerned over our deficit? Paying to kill people is OK, but to heal Americans is not?

[Manchesterian]

Oh my word; the Republican Party keep sending their best up to bat! The procession begins with demagogic talk show hosts, an apparently somewhat intellectually unbalanced party chair, the absolute wonder of Ms. Palin and now the impeccably well mannered Joe Wilson.

Each and all combined have excelled at creating the new and fantastic caricature that is now the Republican Party. It is beyond remarkable!

[KelseyTahoma]

Obama left out some major issues in his speech. One of the major issues he forget to discuss is how we are going to pay for everyone to have healthcare. He forgot to mention that we are going to have to pay even higher taxes in order to not change the deficit. Despite this, Obama's plan is well thought out and we would be very fortunate to have it pass. I especially like how insurance companies will not be allowed to dump their customers once they get sick or loose their job. Obama made his case for strong public option and he wants to help the people as much as possible. He just needs to figure out how to do it without destroying our economy with even more taxes.

[Irmanator]

He explained how he is going to pay for it. You either don't listen or choose not to believe him.

"Second, we’ve estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system – a system that is currently full of waste and abuse. Right now, too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care doesn’t make us healthier. That’s not my judgment – it’s the judgment of medical professionals across this country. And this is also true when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid."

[Beca]

Why are some people like you suddenly so concerned over how this health care reform will be paid for, when nobody batted an eyelash when Bush plundered our surplus and got us into the largest deficit in our history by sending us into two unwinable wars of choice? Where were all these sudden "fiscal concervatives" when Bush kept spending and spending on killing and torturing people?
So it's ok to kill our surplus and create an astronomical deficit to kill and torture people, but it is not OK to spend money on making sure that every American has access to quality health care?
There is something very wrong with this picture.
The long term fiscal and health benefits of making sure that every American has access to quality health care far outweigh what might be spent now setting up the system. If set up correctly, we will actually be saving money rather than increasing our overall health care costs.

[Beca]

If people weren't so ignorant and scared of these ridiculous trigger words like "socialism" (which most people don't really know the true definition of it), we would be looking at an even more affordable health care reform, that of universal health care. Under a Universal health care system, instead of paying the high premiums, co-pays and co-insurance payments people now pay--average person spends about $600/month, we would be paying a 3% heatlh tax, which would be about $92/month for the average wage earner for better heatlh care with no additional hidden costs. But many people react to these ridiculous trigger words and act against their best interest.

[kitiarae]

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson wasn’t the first, nor the only republicans to spread a lie in order to rally & anger their base supporters

REPUBLICAN KING OF IOWA:Rep. King issued a press release WITH MISLEADING NUMBERS, AND INFROMATION

LIE HEADLINED: CBO: 5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered under Obamacare.

a. ” King claimed that his press release was base on “what the Congressional Budget Office’s recent analysis of House health care legislation said.

b. King press release said that the 5.6 million would be covered “in large part because the liberal proposal does not include any requirements to verify the citizenship or immigration status of those receiving taxpayer-funded health benefits.


c. King QUOTED THAT “CBO projected that the uninsured would include 14.1 million illegal immigrants in 2019.
H.R. 3200 INCULDES A PROVISION THAT SPECIFIC ALLY SAYS THAT THERE WILL BE NO FEDERAL FUNDS SPENT TO COVER UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRANTS


a. H.R. 3200 SEC 246: NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS


b. Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United Statesc.

No federal subsidies for you if you’re in the country illegally. Besides, illegal immigrants aren’t eligible for federal health programs under current law

This is information that all congress members should be aware of

Who is calling the shots for the repubs I congress; they have proven they are incapable of doing anything other than lying

[gabby2]

The only way to cut costs is to turn health insurance companies and maybe the rest of the healthcare industry into a National PUBLIC UTILITY. Healthcare is as basic as Electricity! We need to control the expectations of Wall Street in this industry because it is a right. One way to do this is via a Public Utility or single payer system.
In capitalism­,executive­s ONLY WORK for publicly held companies; and the nuvo-robber baron mentality needs to go. If executives were the owners of companies, then they would not have put themselves on the line like they have because it would have directly effected their livelyhoods. When has it been a sound business practice to knowingly screw your customers and investors by running a company into the ground by irresponsible practices; and then give yourselves bonuses for poor greed driven performance? How can an executive in the healthcare industry be so egregious as to take a hideously large bonus knowing that, that money could have saved their customer's lives? The healthcare industry's actions are then protected via congress barring or inhibiting their customers the ability to sue them. That bonus, the protections given by congress,and Wall Street's expectations of the healthcare industry can only be called machiavellian! WE are a Democracy first and foremost. Our version of Capitalism is the business mode and when someone says we are a capitalistic democracy they are receiving donations from businesses and misleading you on purpose. Where is Democracy when we need it?

[saveal]

We are a republic, the key to capitalism is competition, having a chose lowers the cost of every thing. even health care, only one source will pretty gurantie you will not have health care.

[jake1492]

"We are a republic" therefore "everything is about competition" is a confused statement. The two do not make sense together.

However, competition is the best way to keep health premiums in line and promote getting the most bang for the buck. That is why the public option is so important. A public utility would not be competitive. All private insurers would not be competitive (because of the oligopolistic nature of that competition as evidenced by decades of experience).

A strong, competent, honest public option is what will work best for the consumer. In the end, that is what should matter to everyone (except of course the insurance companies that are buying the politicians and fomenting the misled outrage on the right).

[Beca]

No country, not even ours, can function or survive with a purely capitalistic economic system. Our country run on a combination or capitalism and socialism (look up the definition, it is not synonimous to communism and not a political but economic system). Public schools, public libraries, public health centers, public parks, public sanitaiton, public safety, public servants, social security, medicare, etc. are all based on a socialist programs. Services that are meant for the public good are all socialist program--except health care in this country. Health care is a service and not a business. The reason why our health care system is such a mess is because it is treated like a business.
There are plenty of business opportunities in the country where people can continue to feed their greed and avarice, health care does not need to be one of them.

[emmacop]

P.S. Did anybody ever actually get a proposed Obama bill to read and discuss?

Or was is just a bunch of hot air?

[cyndeewi]

Just as much hot air as the republicans that did not have anything but cartoon paper.

[Beca]

Obama presented his Health Care reform proposal to the American people during the Presidential elections. It was in his Blueprint for Change documents, and it was pretty comprehensive. If you chose to ignore it then and now, don't complain. Ignorance is self-taught.
What he presented to Congress this past week (and I am sure his office delivered a writen document of his proposal to all members of Congress), is pretty much what he campaigned on--were you not listening? The majority of Ameircan voters were listening and we all already voted for Obama's proposed health care reform on Nov 4th. You and the rest of the repugs try hard to pretend that the Presidential election never happened, or that the majority of Americans aleady spoke loud and clear for a comprehensive health care reform. The hot air is comming from people like you and your gop imbeciles who care nothing about the wellbeing of the American people, or that the majority of American aleady spoke loud and clear.

[olympus6]

Hey Paul,
Tell Mr. Obama not to worry about 2012, it's over. He blew it by not going after the Financial crooks first, which would have brought the whole country behind him. No one believes him any more.

Read Paul Volcker's real reform of Wall Street and other eye-opening stuff on Bloomberg today, or here on HP.

[zkmoore80]

Ummm, the bailout of wall street was a LOAN, not a GIFT! The banks borrowed money from the the government and in some cases is paying as much as 23% in interest. So, in the end, the bailout worked just like a bank does when you finance a house or car.

[ancientmarinader]

It was a great speech. You forget how good he is and then he reminds you.

[mamala4]

So true, so true!

[salh]

Pres. Obama's speech on healthcare was nebulus. No concrete items in the bill. Obama's healthcare will break the back of our economy!!!!

[LetsGoSteve]

Those pesky constitutional amendments #1 free speech. We can’t have Americans voicing opposing views. We must shut down talk radio and the fox channel. And then the right to bear arms is a major obstacle. If it wasn’t for all those pesky guns we could round them up and send them to re-education camps, since they obviously missed the indoctrination they were supposed to receive at our institutions of higher learning.

[fauxmccoy]

please, refresh your understanding as to what a bill is -- this should help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ

what our president presented was his plan as to what he expects to see in a bill that he would sign.
did you also notice that one of the expectations, in fact a requirement, is that the final bill is deficit neutral.

[saveal]

So long as the tax payer payes for it there will be no deficit

[anyman]

We have come to the point where i am getting as scared of the republicans as i am of the taliban . they are carrying guns in public and shouting down any one who tries to speak in a public meeting now they try to shout down the president himself. how long before they start using the guns instead of the bull horns ?
the strained logic of their arguments shows me that they do not have the ability to think rationally or worse they are so cynical that they will use any tactic to win. the implied logic that the ends justify the means is exactly why we need to prosecute the last administration and why the germans did not get away with "i was only following orders" at Neurinberg
the only way to bring costs down is to set reasonable fees for medical procedures pay doctors those rates and let them compete for "customers" this can never happen with insurance paying the bill insurance pays doctor bills and collects it from the insured there is no negotiation just passing of the buck with every one adding on an"expense" laser eye surgery insurance will not pay for it has come down in price dramatically as doctors compete for patients. I for one am most upset with this idea that i will be somehow fined for walking upright with out health insurance . I can take my car off the road it . where do i turn in my body?

[mamala4]

Oh so the wealthy can get the best medical care from the doctors who charge the most and those of us who are not wealthy get sub-par care...don't think so.

[saveal]

You know the old saying you get what you pay for. If its free do you think it will be better.

[CatoTheCensor]

"No one who voted for that unholy trinity -- and a whole lot of Blue Dogs did -- can credibly oppose Obama's health reforms on fiscal grounds."

God, thank you. Yes. I've been shaking my head over that tired, horse$#it talking point for a while now. According to the CTJ's recent study, the Bush tax cuts in particular will have cost us $2.48 trillion in lost revenue from 2001-2010. Two and a half times the highest projected costs of any of the healthcare bills, without offsets. Oh, yeah, and better still, the tax cuts actually *were* deficit budgeted, no offsets, no plan for making them budget neutral. Oh, but wait, it gets even better. 53% of the benefits of those tax cuts accrue to the richest 5% of taxpayers.

By Grabthar's hammer. What a savings.

http://www.ctj.org/pdf/bushtaxcutsvshealthcare.pdf

[saveal]

The American Dream, . People dream of many things in life, which when we work to that end , it becomes a reality, The American way of life, government should not be expected to provide those things we dream of, they should provide the enviorment that our dreams can be achieved in. If we say our neighbor should pay for our health insurance, why should he not also pay for our home our car our education our food. Where will it stop. We the people have taken away the incentive for people to work, we have taught them that if they dont work we will send them a check. We ask the government to do things we personally are responsible for, each person thru charity, has the opportunity to help by his own means. where i live we have a hospital that 90% of care given is charity. no one is turned away. The goernment is corrupt, we cant trust them to do our work for us.

[neckozihp]

Thank you. Well said.

[Irmanator]

The rest of the industrialized world has decided that part of the "environment that our dreams can be achieved in" includes universal health care. Those countries are laughing as the US squanders 5% of its GDP on insurance company shareholders and CEO 8 figure salaries. Those countries are also enjoying a competetive business advantage that causes jobs to leave the US, due to the high cost of health care under the current privatized, poorly regulated system.

[Beca]

First of all, health is not a thing, and certainly not a commodity that only those who have money can have! Health is a basic human right, and not liken health to a house or a car is absolutely preposterous! We are the only developed nation in the world that does not guarantee access to quality health care for all its citizens, why do you think that is?
Corruption comes first from the private sector, they are the ones who hire lobbyists and pay billions to buy our elected officials in order to shape laws and legislation in their favor instead of in the favor of the American citizens. Medicare worked way better before the private insurance insdustry got its greedy little claws on it by getting legisltaiton passed to add them as partners--hence the advent of Medicare plus choice plans which are now called Medicare advantage--where the private insurance industry controls the care of seniors enrolled in their plans through this Medicare advantage program.
Health care is a basic right, a person cannot have happiness, security or life without good health care. Our Constitution guarantees every citizen happiness, security and life--hence in order to fulfill that Constitutional guarantee for all its citizens, our country MUST provide access to quality health care for all its citizens.
Your rationale is just stupid and selfish!

[JJJJ1234]

this may be true but the unkown is how much did it stimulate the economy. most tax cuts in the past even if they mostly benefited the rich resulted in more revenue to the goverment. so the statistic that it cost 2.48 trillion is not necesarily accurate even if it is the truth. The same logic could be applied to Pres Obama saying that we have saved x amount of jobs that would have been lost if his stimulus bill had not been passed. I guess depending on your political views you will say one is correct and the other incorrect.

[Irmanator]

"most tax cuts in the past even if they mostly benefited the rich resulted in more revenue to the goverment"
Proof. Where is your proof.
If what you propose is true, then Bush and Reagan would not have had such enormous defecits and Bush Jr. especially, would not have left this disastrous economy and crippling debt as his legacy.

[Beca]

Well, thanks to the wonderful tax cuts for the wealthy, Bush managed to destroy our surplus and create the largest deficit in U.S. History. But his spending did not end when his term ended, President Obama has been forced to continue to pick up the huge tab for the Iraq and Affghanistan wars, so most of the projected deficit created under the Obama administration will be because he has to pick up the running tab for the wars started by Bush.

[unionave]

The speech was great but he made one mistake when he said the word "immigrant" . The GOP needs an enemy to exist because what they have to offer the public will not want . At this time "immigrant" is on the top of their menu . Some where in their file cabinet is "freedom fries" and a few other phrases they use to get their gang of haters worked up . Immigration is just another of their monkey wrenches used to divert attention from the real issue . Who is going to check on citizenship if a human is ill or harmed ? Will this mean citizenship is required to receive care or is this another way for the insurers not to pay for care after collecting premiums ? Unless we bring back not-for-profit health care all else will be just an exercise in futility !

[anyman]

OH right! we need to keep out all those swiss and swedish guys, no more Norwegians!

out with the german engineers,

immigration has always been a way to add an educated work force ( instant taxpayer) to our society and has been the reason for growth in this country. the word "immigrant" TODAY is a thinly disguised swat at latin americans. ( WHO HAVE THE LOWEST DEFAULT RATE ON HOME LOANS AS A GROUP.)

[saveal]

Anyone That is against immagration is say that nobody should be here, we are all immagrants. Latins as a whole are hard working people whom also have a dream of acheivement. we need them, but they should come legally.

[norman60]

“We did not come to fear the future but to shape it”-President Barack Obama.
Thank you, Sir!

[turkeywrld]

Great article and a fine speech from our Pres... it takes a LONG time to make major political changes and Obama inherited a formidable mess.... I'm glad he brought up the Moral issue of healthcare, which is the core of what it is all about... healthcare should be a very important issue for every thinking citizen.. EVERY other 'democracy' has taxpayer funded healthcare ..which is why most citizens in other democracies are far more relaxed and less fearful than Americans .. bankruptcy due to inability to pay for unplanned illness is not an isssue elsewhere . the big fear here seems to be the cost.. . I have a simple answer:- worried about waste of your tax $$?? ...take the funds for healthcare from the outrageously bloated military budget ...

[saveal]

Human nature is strange, and what's even stranger is the degree it varies from person to person. Imagine if Wal-mart ran an ad saying that they were giving away free TVs, the only requirement was that you didn't already have a TVs, and honest person who had a TV would not go, a dishonest person would either throw out his TVs, or would simply lie . how long do you think the lines would be. They get in the store and find they have to buy a warranty and pay the taxes. Some people never get old enough to understand their is nothing free in life, somebody is always paying the tab.

[yesIcan]

Loved it.. Now it's time to 'git er done :-)

[yesIcan]

Loved it...Now Git 'er done!!!!