elp37's Comments (28)

“looks like you are too - if this is how you get you kicks”

“Don't worry - you will. This was only proposed on Saturday - I know. They don't have details and if anyone tries to say they do they're wrong. The idea is being floated to see how people respond. Biggest concern is that opponents will see that it's well liked and will fight it. Their aim is to make dems turn in a bill that's a failure. My aim is to get something Real that can be expanded - out of Congress. Once the mechanism is in place, HHS can tweak it anyway they want. Reps biggest fear.”

“wow I'm amazed - thought this was the most serious issue of our time - only to find I'm in a chat room
reality is painful”

“yo - it's like any policy. You put away for later (65) but suddenly you think - hey maybe I would like a little of that now - so you can buy it. You still should expect it to be free after 65. It's just like air miles.

And sure it should be 0 - and family members should be on the same policy. But that's one reason we're not getting anything done. Because you want it all and now - and that doesn't work.”

“People - The Public Option has been dead for weeks. This proposal is a good thing.

Expansion of MedicARE - Good. Expansion of MedicAID - Bad.
I'm pleased as punch - but not holding my breath.

The (original) Public Option already exists - it's called Medicare. All they have to do is rewrite the regs to allow those who can't buy private health ins. buy Medicare.

Let them begin with 55- 65. That's good. You have to start somewhere. There's no new overhead, no new layers of administration - each sucking the life and funding out of the system. And if some turkey starts crying slippery slope - if you give them this they'll want more - we can just respond,

"hey I thought you were worried we were going to cut MedicARE? We're not cutting it - we're expanding it. We might even save it. Be Happy!"

The problem is, we want it all and we want it now. Just remember how long it took to get tobacco companies to divest in tobacco. They need time to go away. And they never will completely. But that's ok. It's called freedom of choice.

No one in Congress is going to eliminate private insurance in one blow - No One. So why do some still demand single payer? Allow the private health insurance industry time to realize: they aren't going to make the killing they thought they would - they're not going to get Congress to privatize Medicare - and let”

“Not only have the Democrats in the house, not held up the bill, they've thrown everything in the Republicans wanted.

The scariest so far - because no one has been talking about it - that about half of those the house bill extends coverage to (20,000,000) will be forced into Medicaid. That's right Medicaid - Not Medicare. And Medicaid has forced enrollment. Read the bill. The language says Mandatory Enrollment for all eligible.

Thus if you don't make more than 150% of the poverty rate - more than $25,000 per person - theoretically you can be auto-assigned a medicaid managed care plan and doctor : ) yippee

You know Medicaid is run by the private insurance industry - they are paid per person by the state for each enrollee. This was a gift to AHIP - and you won't hear one Republican complain.

Medicare - for - all (who choose it) is the only possible way to go. THe public option is an extension of Medicare. It is a single payer system. And it does have a chance at getting through both houses - still.

I agree with someone below about the Matthews/Steele interview - sarcasm? maybe - giving-in? probably not. Chris, is a gullible guy. He is often easily swayed - and then somehow over night seems to right himself.

Still, I did write him yesterday to say he'd not been prepared for Steele.”

“He announced on his website whitehouse.gov that he SOLD out - the day they changed the name from Health CARE Reform to Health Insurance Reform.”

“Hear Hear - I blasted the White House the day they changed the title on their website - From Health Care Reform to Health Insurance Reform.

But Medicare doesn't micromanage care. They don't create a panel of approved providers. They pay for ancillary treatments and have a whole division for alternative medical modalities. Of course what gets approved is still in-part being decided by bureaucrats - and you might want to consider - alternative risk groups.

Or come to Scotland, where every pence you spend is taxed (VAT), but then all care (Anthroposophic, Naturopathic, Tibetan...) is paid for, covered. And the myth that you can't get it.. :D that's to keep the hordes from crossing the bridge to get it. I waited for 2 years to get surgery approved in NY - 2 weeks in Edinburgh (for the same). And 3 yrs hence Blue Cross and HHS are still billing me for the botched job - while they're trying to repair it for nothing here.”

“Look at history - SS, Medicare, CHIP - all started for the few and had to be changed to include more. What do you think the Insurance companies and their gofers (the Republican and Moderate Dems in Congress) what do you think they are terrified of? Why would they be fighting their hearts out for a few uninsured. If we get a public option - even a weak one (But Not Medicaid!!!) the rates will improve and the eligibility will open up.”

“The health insurance industry has no shame - they are in the business for one purpose: to be the middleman, to shave off a bit of every dime spent on medicine. And with the babyboom hitting 65 they are hellbent on getting the profits to be made on Medicare.

Medicare has been doing the exact same job - Administering Health Care Payments - since 1964. They don't have to advertise, Lobby, pay executive packages, bonuses, own golden towers in the sky. All Medicare has to do is employ a lot of people to stuff envelops to pay the bills.

If you can't figure out where the savings are going to come from, where the waste fraud and abuse already comes from, why Medicare (NOT Medicaid) for all uninsured is the obvious solution.... there is no hope. And don't forget - the recipient still pays premiums. Only they get something in return.

I worked for the NYC and one of the slimiest health insurance companies out there - during the Clinton/Vladik operation. They gave private health insurance companies the gift of Mandatory enrollment of Medicaid recipients. And in return the country got fleeced.

I'd rather go to prison than be forced to pay for private health insurance from companies that have been screwing us for decades and are the major reason why the system broke. How anyone could still be negotiating with them is beyond me. They have no shame.

In Short: No Public (Medicare-like) Option - No Mandatory Enrollment.”

“Agreed - He's in a tricky position. So let him play bad cop - and Reid take the credit. Just get it done. Someone asked what we'd get with a public option? That's easy (so long as they don't switch plan and try to force the uninsured into Medicaid):

A. You get access to doctors accepting Medicare. Across the country. No riders, no preexisting conditions, no caps, no "Sorry Even though we said we going to cover that, we've decided no to."

B. Health Insurance plans TODAY - Right Now - do not have providers to absorb the uninsured. Because they don't reimburse. Go to any worthy medical institution and ask which HI plans they accept. The good ones do NOT accept HI plans that don't reimburse.

C. Clinton privatized Medicaid in the 90ies - gave it to the States to contract it out to PRIVATE HI plans. It was supposed to encourage competition and lower costs. But the plans saw it as an opportunity to get billion dollar government contracts - without having to do a thing. They set up panels of providers that didn't exist, they enrolled everyone getting Medicaid - some without their knowledge. And the result was a threefold increase in cost - and a 10 fold increase in profit.”

“Signs need to read:

NO PUBLIC OPTION
NO MANDATORY BUY-IN

We should not be forced to buy health insurance from the same companies which have taken our money for years and denied us coverage, unless there is a public option. Freedom of Choice.”

“yo hold up there Monica, my pockets are empty”

“the story was old on june 6th - the day after it was sealed - but no one seems to get that
there's no choice here - there's no maybe
but it sure gives everyone a feeling of "participation"”

“Oh Please!!! this was a done deal June 5 2008 - between 9 and 10 pm - period. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. Heaven help me I wish I were.”

“What is all the hype - what's all the fuss about?

Isn't it public knowledge that Hillary got the Secretary of State deal on June 5th 2008 at Diane Feinstein's - the secret meeting? We know she got something - we know she came out of that meeting smiling like a Cheshire cat. We know she wouldn't have thrown her support behind Obama if she didn't get what she wanted - and we know that she didn't give a hoot when Obama selected Biden as VP.

If Hillary had not been satisfied at that June evening meeting, she would have been the ultimate spoiler; would have gone to work for McCain. Just ask Diane Feinstein if it isn't true. She knows.

So Obama has clay feet - but can you blame him? What would you have done on that fateful day, had Clinton said to you, "Barack, give me Secretary of State or you'll never see the inside of 1600."? Hmmn?”

“If poor Joe - Sam - whoever, hadn't had that little devilish desire to get on TV, by making up some bongo story and posing a false question to Obama - I mean he had to invent himself to make his point, that Obama would be bad for America - well if he hadn't told those little white lies, Obama wouldn't have had anything to say to the fellow, except vote for me, you'll be much better off with my tax plan.

Oh, but Joe lied, and McCain got wind of it. And he ate up the story too - and poor John McCain went out of his way to center his final chance - his one last shot - to take back the reigns of victory from Barack in the 11th hour - completely unaware that ole Joe was a cardboard hypothetical - a gotcha question gone terribly wrong.

McCain vetted Joe and Joe's argument as thoroughly as he vetting his running mate. Poor guy keeps putting his foot in it. The risks of being a maverick ~ I guess.

On the positive side ~ If McCain loses he can blame Joe.”

“Could someone tally how many talk show hosts at fox are fallen "public servants", criminals or or otherwise folks who've been disgraced?

Isn't Miller joining the ranks of Rove and North? Who else I'm curious.”

“She keeps asking, "if you will? if you will?" Why on earth doesn't anyone tell her - no thanks, I will not, Nancy. Nuntaha"

I'm so very tired of this feeling that I'm Anti-American, not pro-American if I vote for Obama. I've been so very disheartened for sooo long - figuring that most of "America" wouldn't even allow Barack to get this far.

I'm still quaking in my boots. Still need to be convinced.

If he wins and makes it to the inauguration then and only then will my faith in America be restored. I long to be pro-American. But I'm ashamed of a country that spouts racism and bigotry and can't admit that this man is unique and by all accounts (thinking men and women of both parties) a once in a life time presidential candidate.”

“Is the implication that anyone who supports Barack Obama Un-American? Would that mean that most Americans are Un-American? Is it not Un-American to deny people the right to choose? Is it not unpatriotic to slander and lie about a freely elected official. Aren't we to interpret that most Americans are not American or should not have a voice? Why do we keep taking this trash?”

“Alaska is a much better idea - and he can take his best buddy who molests children. Alaska would be a perfect haven for the 2. Oh please please go.”

“I agree - stay awake, be vigilant - until election day. Cockiness will be the downfall. Have you heard about Acorn and voter fraud? You know where it matters? In crucial battle ground states. The RNC is preparing the way to reject hundreds of thousands of votes - Ohio, Fla, New Mexico, Colorado.

Undecideds are a ruse - fake. I think one should assume that all undecideds at this point will vote Rep. ALL and go from there. It does not matter how many millions vote for Obama across the country - it didn't help Gore. It only matters who carries the fragile states that have less that a 5% LEAD (maybe 8%) for Obama.

Factor in all those who are not ready to vote for a man of color and you've lost any lead you thought you had. Any - I'm really worried.”

“Go - Yale!!!
you know most presidents since 1897 have gone to college - all but Truman I think.

But, I'm glad to see we're going backwards! Glad to see someone is endorsing the dumbing down of America! The aim of all thinking monarchs.

Did you know George W Bush went to Yale and Harvard? Clinton and George H only went to Yale, as did Ford and Taft. Kennedy went Harvard - the Roosevelts (both), Hayes, and both Adamses. Total 7. Yale drew only 5. And William & Mary was popular in the beginning with the first George W and 3 others.

I'm still proud to say mother graduated Yale in 1941. Because she was a woman. Go Yale!”

“yesss - how slow I am - always a day late and a dollar short - Disney movies...”

“Those observed to be Gobsmacked are:
(in order of least to most)
3. John McCain
2. David Brooks
1. Patrick J Buchanan

Please help complete the list. I am limited to the disinterested BBC or ITV3. And don't get really good views of US news.”