Health Care Reform/Politics (The HOT Topic)-2 Sides to Every Issue-Hit Li$t
There is NO WAY to ignore this subject, it’s plastered all over the TV, all government representors, telephone polls, appears in every Newspaper, all blogs, and most every internet site available. Everyone from Everywhere, has some sort of opinion or something to say to be used as reference. The USA has had many a dilema in our past history, but this is certainly brewing to become #1 on the hit list! We sit in the midst of a “possible” financial crisis recovery, a never before seen swelling deficit, abundant problems with medicare/medicaid, and a Social Security System going broke much faster then anticipated; How can we do Health Care Reform Now??? You betcha, the folks across America are ALL affected whatever the outcome, to be or not to be for or against, the debate is justifiably hot and heavy. Our own concerns from this site, with quoted words have been to strongly suggest a slooooow down of this vehicle to avoid STEAM PRESSED Wrinkles. Honestly, if you can manage to get past the rants and raves with inaccuracy galore (both sides), there seems to be logic a plenty, for the case of reform is needed, but Haste makes Waste (repeator here). That said, here’s brain-drain for weekend reading on this MASSIVE Political ISSUE~To be fair, we shall start with President Obama`and links to articles`
Weekly Address: Myths and Morality in Health Insurance Reform==>”This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what’s best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now.”
Variety of current headlines to read -
UVa provost discusses pros, cons of health care overhaul Aug 23, 2009 Dr. Tim Garson of the University of Virginia
==>The problem is, can we afford to cover everybody?Q. Can we?
A. Everybody seems shocked that the price tag is $1 trillion over 10 years. Well, we have a very similar figure to that in our book from three years ago. That’s not a surprise. If there are 50 million uninsured, and you insure people at only $2,000 per person, that’s $100 billion per year. And a $100 billion times 10 is a $1 trillion. It should not be a shock to everyone that covering the uninsured is expensive.
The interesting debate has been around how much we can save in order to pay that $100 billion. It really seems to me that there is significant waste in the United States’ [health care system] that every one of us at different levels can attack.
White House Reveals Identity of Firm That Sent Unsolicited E-Mails on Health Reform Aug 22, 2009==>The White House revealed to Fox News that it hired a private communications firm to distribute mass e-mails, including unsolicated spam to help sell President Obama’s health care plan
Obama’s healthcare messages are backfiring, strategists say-Aug 22, 2009==>Democratic strategists say the Obama administration’s evolving, abstract arguments for healthcare reform are backfiring and contributing to a decline in public support for the legislation.
The strategists, many of whom saw healthcare reform fail in the Clinton administration, contend that President Obama has advanced too many rationales for his plan, leaving people confused
Hoyer: Public Option May Have to Go==>A day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that health reform won’t get through the House without a public option, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Friday that the public option may have to go in order to get a bill passed. “I’m for a public option but I’m also for passing a bill,” Hoyer told reporters on a conference call
Kennedy, Looking Ahead, Urges that Senate seat be filled quickly-seeks law change for interium post==>Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders to change the succession law to guarantee that Massachusetts will not lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant.
Health care debate: Public Opinion vs. Facts?
Dr. Bruce Hector: Health Care Reform Inching Toward Concensus-Aug 22/23, 2009 (at least here is a look at both sides of this issue calling for concerned interest on the basic facts)
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Weekly Republican Address: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)==>Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), a physician, delivers the Weekly Republican Address on health care. “American’s need patient centered reform, not Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care.”
RECESS RALLY UPDATES -Watch here for updates as they come in
Obama’s Backroom HealthCare Deals Need Explaining-Mish (lots of links in here to other articles) ==>With $900 billion to a $trillion dollars or more at stake, and everyone wanting three shares of the health care pie (while giving up nothing), it should not come as a surprise that
==>Huge Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma
In case you missed it, please read the Huffington Post article .
The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare by John Mackey ==>While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people’s money.” —Margaret Thatcher
Pull the Plug on ObamaCare- It’s the best cure for what ails the Obama presidency
New Splits Emerge in Health-Plan Talks (the gang of six are split-tick tock)
Could A Third Party Candidate Actually Win in 2012?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Famed trend forecaster Gerald Calente is predicting that a third party candidate will be elected President in 2012. (If you don’t know who Calente is, read the postscript below.)
Is he right?
Well, some of the most widely-read liberal writers are saying that progressives are fed up with the Democratic party, and feel that they have been tricked and ripped off by the Democratic leaders.
As Glenn Greenwald writes:
===>>>In a superb post the other day, Digby recounted what fueled the Naderite movement in 2000 and warns, presciently I think, that the willingness of Obama/Emanuel so blatantly to disappoint those to whom they promised so much (especially young and first-time voters who were most vulnerable to Obama’s transformative fairy dust) will lead them either to support a third party or turn off from politics altogether:
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“There’s a Growing Sense Among Progressives [and Conservatives] That They Have Been Punked”
Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times yesterday:
I don’t know if administration officials realize just how much damage they’ve done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I’ve had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they’re really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus — but that’s a distinction lost on most voters.
So there’s a growing sense among progressives that they have, as my colleague Frank Rich suggests, been punked. And that’s why the mixed signals on the public option created such an uproar.
Krugman makes a good point.
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YIKES>>>>>>Millions face shrinking Social Security payments
Aug 23, 8:22 AM ==>The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn’t happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975
==>President Barack Obama has said he would like tackle Social Security next year, after Congress finishes work on health care, climate change and new financial regulations. (Full Plate, yesiree)
Lawmakers are preoccupied by health care, making it difficult to address other tough issues. Advocates for older people hope their efforts will get a boost in October, when the Social Security Administration officially announces that there will not be an increase in benefits next year.
“I think a lot of seniors do not know what’s coming down the pike, and I believe that when they hear that, they’re going to be upset,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is working on a proposal for one-time payments for Social Security recipients.
“It is my view that seniors are going to need help this year, and it would not be acceptable for Congress to simply turn its back,” he said.
- Social Security Administration:
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:
Schumer Says Democrats Consider Bypassing Republicans on Health Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — New York Senator Charles Schumer said President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are considering “alternatives” to a bipartisan health-care bill amid continuing opposition from Republicans.
Schumer, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Obama and Democratic leaders are “bending over backwards” to win Republican support for a bill. “It’s looking less and less likely that certainly the Republican leadership in the House and Senate will want to go for a bipartisan bill,” he said. continue for full
Sen. Lieberman: Postpone Universal Healthcare
Sunday, August 23, 2009 2:18 PM One of the Senate’s most powerful Democrats said Sunday that President Obama should take an “incremental” approach to fixing health care and argued that the country should postpone adding nearly 50 million new patients to the government system until after the recession is over. “There’s no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is health delivery reform and insurance market reforms.” “I think it’s a real mistake to try to jam through the total health insurance reform, healthcare reform plan that the public is either opposed to or of very, very passionate mixed minds about,” he said. “It’s just not good for the system, frankly, it won’t be good for the Obama presidency.” link for full