Health Care Reform Related Program Activities

Posted by on . 16 comments.

Awesome:

“I have not said that I was a single payer supporter.”

– President Obama, at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this afternoon.

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan.”

– Obama, at a Senate campaign rally in 2003.

Related: Are there any Obama supporters at all who believe that health care reform is going to be anything other than a total failure?

Comments

  1. jay noose says:
    August 12, 2009 at 2:50 am

    Another issue if you work or God forbid own a private insurance company and you treat your customers badly, then people have an option to take their business elsewhere.People should keep in mind that a capital market itself is self cleaning, a social market is not.If it is health care now, is your business next.The markets are closing down because the free markets are literally closing down.If the Americans don’t skip their favorite tv.. programs and get off their couch America is doomed.

    I am an American who lives in Denmark.There are some issues such as; their tax structure functions,the banks are nationalized,the system struggles to be average with just 6 million people,and the rich are moving to private health care.A lot of other issues such as employment,national debt,growth,and just basic stability should be in place,before this is considered.
    If an administration cannot create 20,000,000 jobs how can they care for 40,000,000 people

  2. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 5:49 am

    people have an option to take their business elsewhere

    in theory, yes. in practice, most insurers have a near-monopoly in their markets.

    People should keep in mind that a capital market itself is self cleaning, a social market is not.

    ah, a free market fetishist.

    If an administration cannot create 20,000,000 jobs how can they care for 40,000,000 people

    that might be the stupidest fucking thing i have ever read.

  3. sarabeth says:
    August 12, 2009 at 6:13 am

    Matt, will you at least skip your favorite TV program to save America?

  4. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 6:17 am

    no, but i will watch True Blood standing up if that helps.

  5. sarabeth says:
    August 12, 2009 at 6:55 am

    No dice. He said “skip their favorite tv.. programs and get off their couch”, not “or”.

  6. Daniel says:
    August 12, 2009 at 7:07 am

    Americans are dumb.

  7. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 7:21 am

    in the spirit of our fine president and the example he is setting, i was meeting him halfway.

  8. Hannah Stevens says:
    August 12, 2009 at 7:29 am

    I agree Americans are dumb. I think what is fueling this protest against this health care reform is a protest against Obama. These people in the deep south hate him; racist, probably. Rush has said that Obama will fail and these people are going to make sure that he does. No matter that they need the health care more than most in the country. And to be anti socialist, this country was built on co-operation between government and capitalism. The feds built roads and Ford sold cars is but one example. Yes, these people are stupid.

  9. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 7:46 am

    hannah, i’m going to assume that you support obama. why did you comment on this post yet not address the point of it?

    i’m not sure i hate obama, but i certainly dislike him. i also think he will fail. does this make me stupid?

  10. Isaac Waterman says:
    August 12, 2009 at 7:58 am

    Watching the debates about health care on television confirms my view, that the opponents of reforming the health care system are either stupid, ignorant, misinformed or brainwashed by the present leaders of the current health system.
    62 Years of my 67 years I lived in Europe and Israel and experienced a health system, which is 1000 times better than the system in the United States. Better care for a 50 % lower price ticket.
    First of all the government should send people to these countries and study their system and bring back the things they like about it. Second the government should get rid as quick as possible of the crooks and fraudsters in the present system, who steal about $ 1.3 billion a year from the insured and uninsured people. This would already reduce the health costs with 50%.
    Competition is necessary between the health insurance companies. Now they have a monopoly position and they can ask any price they want.
    It is not about a socialist system, but about a government who has to protect all his citizens from a fraudulent system, which has been build up in the last 40 years. Every citizen in the USA should be able to get a health insurance according to his pocket and not to the pockets of the health insurance companies.
    Obama finally wants to bring changes to this system and now suddenly the crooks and fraudsters wake up to protest these changes.
    People wake up. Get the insurance you deserve and not what the present insurance companies offer you.
    This has nothing to do with any political system. This is about honesty and not about greed.

  11. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 8:26 am

    Second the government should get rid as quick as possible of the crooks and fraudsters in the present system, who steal about $ 1.3 billion a year from the insured and uninsured people. This would already reduce the health costs with 50%.

    you think health care costs in this country are $2.6 billion/year? because that’s what you are saying with that statement.

    Obama finally wants to bring changes to this system and now suddenly the crooks and fraudsters wake up to protest these changes.

    that’s really debatable, don’t you think.

    you also have not addressed the main question.

  12. Dave says:
    August 12, 2009 at 9:04 am

    Healthcare is the one issue that will bring out even the quietest of the silent majority. Anytime we start fiddling with how healthcare should be organized and managed, it has to be a nationally discussed set of options that are clear to everyone because it involves everyone. It is clear that everyone believes that reform is needed in the healthcare industry with both the insurance policies/coverage and costs as well as the healthcare delivery systems in the hospitals and clinics. The role of our governments (both State and Federal) needs to be defined and clarified as we work through how the reform of the industry is accomplished. Most of us do not want the federal government running the healthcare insurance or delivery system because we know that it will go downhill if that happens. The federal government has shown over and over again that it is a huge bureacracy and it cannot cost effectively run any form of product or service business in a competitive manner (look at the postal service, Social Security, Medicare, etc). It just doesn’t work and will dig the deficit and potential bankruptcy of America hole even deeper. The idea of a government monopoly of our healthcare system with no competition (which is what will happen no matter what Obama is claiming) is not an effective concept over the long term. We need competition to keep everyone on their toes and to keep the technology and forward thinking medical care concepts stimulated. There is a key role for the federal government, and that is providing oversight and regulation to keep the playing field level and honest, and to stimulate using tax incentives, etc. investment by private industry in new medical equipment and drugs that help treat our people. Most Americans are reasonably satisfied with their current insurance companies and do not see any value added by having the government take over the insurance business, which will happen by the government driving out private companies over time using the subsidy concept and taxpayer money. We do not want to start down that path. Ask your Congressman what he/she wants? I bet that they do not want to sign up for the government program, and will make sure that whatever happens that their current program will not be affected. All of this is being driven primarily by liberals who want to bring the 46 million people that either do not want, or are illegals, or really do have a financial problem, some form of healthcare insurance. That situation can be addressed as a separate program without changing the current system for the other 260 million Americans. And, I do not buy into the data that the healthcare in this country is worse then Cuba, etc. That is a liberal myth being used to promote their nationalization program. When you really get down to what matters the most, like the training of the doctors, the advanced medical equipment and technology, the new drugs being developed, the new medical procedures being developed and utilized, the whole transplant arena, the cancer treatments being developed and implemented, this country is the standout leader in healthcare and is where everyone in the world comes to in the end. You know that is true, don’t you?

  13. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 10:01 am

    claptrap. totally unresponsive. wrong.

  14. Brenda says:
    August 12, 2009 at 11:08 am

    I don’t understand all the hoop-la around providing health care to all US citizens? You pay more per capita than we do in Canada and you still have millions of Americans who have no health coverage! Who says everyone is entitled to the most up-to-date tests? When you have people talking about taking the elderly with Alzheimers out into the street and shooting them, What kind of people are you guys? If you can afford big health insurance premiums that make the doctors and the insurance companies rich and able to pay big fees to lobby congressman, why can you not provide basic health care to the working poor who are trying to raise their kids in a loving home and don’t want to become homeless because they have a child sick with cancer? If you can afford your private insurance, good on you! The carriers all have a limit as to what they will cover, whether or not it is private insurance plan or a public one. I am nearly in tears when I see that young productive adults with cancer are denied further chemotherapy treatments because they have lost their jobs and also their insurance. Also, it comes to a point that some surgeons try to keep life at all costs, There is a time when you must say, enough already. Health care is rationed in whatever system you are talking about. If you have lots of money you can buy anything. BUT you should still have a means of providing a basic care for everyone!
    We have a premier in BC who thinks he wants the American system and is doing his best to bring down our universal system. I’m so happy that I don’t have to decide to give up my home in order to have treatment for a cancer that can be cured with simple chemotherapy!

  15. Isaac Waterman says:
    August 12, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Hi Matt,
    You wrote”you think health care costs in this country are $2.6 billion/year? because that’s what you are saying with that statement.” I did not say that, but it was said on all main TV channels last night.
    And what is according to you the main question?

    Isaac

  16. matt says:
    August 12, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    I did not say that, but it was said on all main TV channels last night.

    i beg to differ.

    your words:

    Second the government should get rid as quick as possible of the crooks and fraudsters in the present system, who steal about $ 1.3 billion a year from the insured and uninsured people. This would already reduce the health costs with 50%.

    saying that cutting 1.3b will reduce health care costs 50% implies that total health care costs are 2.6b.

    And what is according to you the main question?

    according to me, it’s the question contained in the post to which you are commenting.

    from our comment policy (http://www.1115.org/comment-policy/)

    If you followed a link here from AOL, CNN or other traditional media site, be advised that this isn’t a venue to discuss what was published on the linking site, but what is written here. If this confuses you, DO NOT COMMENT HERE until you understand the difference.