This Page Is A
Historical Repository That Documents The Sham That Was Promised
To Us As Health Care Reform. It Should Also Serve
As A Public Embarrassment To The Crooked Assholes Who Destroyed
This For All Of Us, All For The Sake Of Corporate Profit As Well
As Political Bribery.
While this bill is not what was originally
intended, it is a good start to build upon to end the
insurance company exploitation and abuse of client policies.
It will eventually put an end to denial for pre-existing
conditions. There are some positives here, but it is a far cry
from the Conyers-Kucinich plan, HR-676. When we achieve that
plan, only then will America truly have outstanding
health care.
"We the People" Know The Good Few
On Capitol Hill That Fought On Our Behalf. The Rest Of You
Should Be Tried For Treason. Plain And Simple. You Are Either
Political Scum Or Immoral Corporate Sleaze.
Many thanks to those who continue to fight
the good fight for health care reform, particularly Congressman
Dennis Kucinich from Ohio and Congressman John Conyers from
Michigan, to name but a few, who have championed this important
cause for all Americans, Democrat and Republican,
rich and poor.
THE HEALTH (S)CARE DEBATE:
WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW & WHAT YOU NEED TO
KNOW
The Best Public Option: Single Payer
Universal Government Paid Care
Hopefully this explains the necessity of single
payer HR 676 to the FOX news crowd.
NewsFocus:
Congressional Representatives Fighting Against Government Run Health Care
Should Give Up Their Own Government Paid Health
Insurance.
(They Get It For Life)
Boy, these insurance companies really have hearts of gold,
don't they? They finally agree they won't kick out sick kids - "but it'll cost
you." They're going to
milk every last dime out of this until the new law kicks in:
Insurers said they would comply with
regulations the government issues requiring them to cover children with
pre-existing conditions, after a dispute with lawmakers over
interpretation of the new health-care legislation.
The Obama administration has made near-immediate coverage for sick children a
priority in its health-care overhaul. But shortly after the bill's passage last
week, insurers contended that the law didn't
require them to accept sick children until 2014.
... (Read
More)
Obama Signs Historic U.S. Health Care Bill Health-Care Reform Is Now Law
Washington Post (blog) -
Ezra Klein -
032310 The president has signed the bill.
I know this has confused some, but health-care reform is now
law. The Senate's vote on the reconciliation fixes will ...
Health Care Bill Signed by Obama CBS News -
Stephanie Condon -
032310
President Obama today signed his comprehensive health care
overhaul legislation into law, marking the most significant
legislative accomplishment of his ...
Obama Signs Health care Bill Into Law
So why is the GOP bitter? They neutered this bill as much as they could.
About 32 million Americans who don't have health insurance will
get access to coverage when the $940 billion health care plan
takes effect.
What does that mean for
Americans who don't have insurance, or who are in danger of
losing it? A few shared their thoughts with CNN about health
care reform and how it affects them. Then we sought expert
opinions on how reform might really work in their lives. (Read
More)
House Liberals Won't Support Senate Bill: 'That's Their Damn Problem' CrooksandLiars.com, by Susie Madrak
Thursday Jan 21, 2010 3:00pm
Greg Sargent reports that House liberals
are
refusing to support the Senate healthcare reform bill, which sets a
whole new dynamic in play. Good for them! I, for one, am tired of the House
members being treated as minor players in such important legislation:
In a private meeting in the Capitol just now, a dozen or more House liberals
bluntly told Nancy Pelosi that there was no
chance that they would vote to pass the Senate bill in its current form
— making it all but certain that House Dems won’t opt for this approach, a
top House liberal tells me.
Landmark health care overhaul bill heads to Obama's desk CNN -
Alan Silverleib, Ted Barrett -
032210
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
celebrate during Sunday night's health care vote. Washington
(CNN) -- A sweeping bill overhauling the US medical system goes
to President Obama's desk on Monday to ...
Obama lauds House for passing health care
bill Washington Post -
Ben Feller -
032210
AP WASHINGTON -- Capping a long day and a consuming political
journey, President Barack Obama celebrated the passage of health
care legislation with hugs, high fives and an emboldened
attitude. Said the president to the nation, "Tonight, ...
One step remains in Senate; GOP set for
battle to the end Boston Globe -
Lisa Wangsness -
032210
As Democrats celebrated their health care achievement last
night, Republicans countered with a warning: They will fiercely
challenge those parts of the package that must still win
approval in the Senate. GOP leaders are preparing a ...
Alan Grayson On
Health Insurance Care
The Great Public Option Health
Care Rip-Off We Are Being Screwed By Politicians And Wealthy Corporate
Institutions NewsFocus: Congressional Representatives
Fighting Against The Health Care Public Option Should Give Up Their
Government Paid Health Insurance (They Get
It For Life) NewsFocus, by Tim Watts 060609 Americans should be outraged by the fiasco known as
health care reform. First off, the best plan for the people is
hands down HR-676, the Conyers-Kucinich plan. It is the only
not-for-profit health care plan out there. With over 33% of
health care going to the health insurance industry, it is
the one plan capable of single handedly bringing down the
exorbitant price of health care.
What is most galling in this endeavor is the
greed and politicization that has taken over, with no regard for
the initial concept of caring for the people. At this point the
Republican Congress and conservative blue-dog Democrats have
opted to side with the multi-trillion dollar insurance industry,
rather than giving any substantive regard to their constituents.
When you hear Congress members remark that a government backed
public-option would be too attractive and hurt the private
insurance industry, you know their priorities are not in our
best interests to begin with. Most glaring of all, where is any
mention of a single payer government paid for plan? ... (Read
More)
See Who The Insurance
Industry Has Working For Them On Capitol Hill:
It got a brief mention on some of the cable channels, but the only major TV
network that carried live coverage of this healthcare reform rally in D.C.
yesterday was Fox - and then, only to ridicule it:
The reason? AHIP, the health insurance lobbying organization, was meeting in
(where else?) the Ritz-Carlton. A coalition of groups led by unions including
SEIU, AFSCME, UFCW and Health Care for American Now declared the meeting site a
"corporate crime scene" and
attempted to make a citizens' arrest:
In a reverse twist on the old protestors' tactic of getting arrested to make
a point, union leaders and other backers of President Obama's healthcare plan
issued "citizen's arrest" warrants for health insurance executives Tuesday –
accusing them of exploiting consumers. ...
The Plight of Some
In The Insurance Industry To Make A Buck
If this doesn't make you angry, then you're in the
health insurance
industry.
The Health Insurance Racket
This will make you sick, but then the healthcare
industry would only profit.
America Needs The Conyers-Kucinich Bill HR
676 A Not-For-Profit Universal Health Care System That Would Save Trillions In
Under A Decade (Learn What The Insurance Industry Doesn't Want
You To Have)
By Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Our health care system is broken,
and
H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill, is the only
comprehensive solution to the problem. It is also the system
endorsed by more than 14,000 physicians from Physicians for a
National Health Program. Nearly 46 million Americans have no
health care and over 40 million more have only minimal
coverage...
Congressman Kucinich of Ohio On Healthcare In America
HR-676 is the only not-for-profit health care system, saving us trillion$.
Health Care or Insurance
Care? It's Time to Respond!
Kucinich Update!
(9/10/09)
Dear Friends, The President's health care policy speech was brilliant but
when you get into the details another picture emerges.
Unfortunately, at this point, the proposal outlined last night
is the ultimate corporate giveaway. It's not health care, it's
insurance care. As many as thirty million new customers for an
insurance industry which makes money not providing health care.
The only way this country will see true health is by investing
in real health care. That is the essence of HR676, the single
payer bill.
The President opened his speech speaking of how we have solved
the economic crisis - how? By rewarding those who caused the
crash! Is this the way we solve the health care crisis?
Rewarding the insurance companies? Helping insurance and
pharmaceutical stock to soar, propping up markets while skimping
on health care? The very same system which caused the health
care crisis is being rewarded with the guarantee of tens of
millions of new customers mandated - by law - to have health
care. The latest plan rewards the very companies that have
denied treatment, denied care, denied drug coverage while their
profits grow daily.
The only way this country will see true sustainable economic
recovery is through investment in the real economy, priming the
pump through job creation. The only way this country will see
true health is by investing in real health care.
The "public option" has been relegated to insignificance. What
we will now get is yet another "private option", not a public
option, because single-payer is "off the table." We the people
deserve better. We have been faced with general warfare in Iraq
and Afghanistan - multi-trillion dollar bailouts for arms
merchants, $12 trillion in bailouts for Wall Street, bailouts to
coal and nuclear industries, and now proposed huge subsidies for
the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. What's wrong with
this picture? Everything!
(letter from 9/9/09)
Dear Friends,
The health care decision-making process in Washington is
horribly tainted by the campaign contributions of insurance and
pharmaceutical interests. Under the pay-to-play system health
care becomes insurance care, the public option shrinks to
irrelevance, the choice we are left: What kind of private,
for-profit insurance do you want? This is not acceptable. We
must respond now, and not settle for a plan which subsidizes
insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and sets the
stage for the privatization of Medicare. We want Health Care for
all the people, Medicare for All, which is exactly what the bill
John Conyers and I wrote,
HR 676,
accomplishes. And the only way we will achieve it is to organize
and take action in our communities to effect real change at a
state and national level. Let us initiate immediately an action
plan to intervene and provide health care for all:
On-line petition.
Please contact your lists, your family and friends. Please
sign the petition for a single payer system. I will deliver
the petitions directly to your Congressperson.Petition to download,
print and circulate among
friends and neighbors - including an instruction sheet.
A National Health Care for All Conference Call from
Washington, DC, at 10 pm EDT, Thursday, September 10th
at
1-800-230-1096. Join us, so that we can discuss our new
beginning and ways in which we can all help. Pre-registration
is necessary in order to reserve sufficient phone lines.
Please RSVP here.
When you call in and the operator asks, "what conference
call?" tell the operator, "Health Care for All."
I need your help to initiate this action. If you believe, as
I do, that we can and must begin a new long-term state-by-state
grassroots effort to create a single-payer, not-for-profit
health care system,
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Outlines Health Care Reform
Kucinich on
not for profit health care
Kucinich
spells out bill HR 676
An open letter from Congressman Kucinich on
healthcare...
Dear Friends,
In mid-May, in an effort to reach consensus, President
Obama secured a deal with the health insurance companies
to trim 1.5% of their costs each year for ten years saving
a total of $2 trillion dollars, which would be
reprogrammed into healthcare. Just two days after the
announcement at the White House the insurance companies
reneged on the deal which was designed to protect and
increase their revenue at least 35%
The insurance companies reneged on the deal because they
refuse any restraint on increasing premiums, co-pays and
deductibles - core to their profits. No wonder a recent
USA Today poll found that only four percent of Americans
trust insurance companies. This is within the margin of
error, which means it is possible that NO ONE TRUSTS
insurance companies.
Kucinich responds to Obama's health care address Raw Story -
Sep 10, 2009
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) was interviewed by Jack Rice of Talk
Radio/Talk Media News Service. Kucinich, who has been a leading proponent of a
single-payer ...
Health Care Reform on the Homestretch Progressive.org -
Ruth Conniff - 091509
The so-called Kucinich Amendment--HR 676, the "Medicare for All" bill, sponsored
by Representatives Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers, is supposed to come to ...
Senate Health Bill Passes; US Senate Fails Us Miserably CommonDreams.org - 122409
A Big Win For PhRMA, Health Insurance Companies, Obama, Reid, Nelson, Lincoln,
Lieberman; A Big Loss For The American People And the Progressive Movement.
Today’s vote in the Senate to pass their health care reform bill was a big win
for many people. It was a big win for the drug companies, the biologics
industry, the hospital companies, and the for-profit health insurance
corporations. They will all get billions of government dollars piled on to
their ledgers, and and millions of Americans now forced to buy their products.
The vote was also a huge win for the lobbyists who just saw their profits jump
thanks to this great opportunity to show their clients just how powerful their
hold on Washington really is. ...
With The Finish Line In Sight, The House Begins To Negotiate By Susie Madrak Thursday Dec 24, 2009
1:30pm
Now the
final phase begins, where we see what House liberals can achieve within the
confines of a broken system that gives a handful of senators from sparsely
populated states a disproportionate power to shape legislation
...
President Obama: I'm Getting 95% of What I Want on Reform in Health Care Bill
(NewsFocus: But What About Us?! We're Getting Screwed!)
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Heather Friday Dec 25, 2009 4:30pm
As
Steve Benen noted this is a better answer than the "I didn't campaign on the
public option" nonsense which I
thought was silly and insulting. People who've been following the process
understand the difference between what you'd like to get passed and what's
achievable with this Congress. President Obama said he got 95% of the reform he
wanted in the health care bill. Whether you can call this 'reform' or not and
whether he actually got what he wanted as opposed to what he campaigned on is
something all of us will be debating for some time to come. There are some good
things in the bill but I personally don't think they outweigh the bad without
some meaningful
regulation on the insurance companies.
"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange -- a one-stop shopping
marketplace where you can compare the benefits, costs, and track records of a
variety of plans -- including a public option to increase competition and keep
insurance companies honest." - President Obama - Weekly Radio Address - July 17, 2009
Senate Democrats get 60 votes to move healthcare bill along Los Angeles Times -
122109
It's the first of three major hurdles in the Senate en route to an anticipated
vote by Christmas. Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy,
greets Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after the vote. ...
Senate Dems eye finish line for health bill msnbc.com -
122109
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama cheered a crucial health care vote in the
Senate on Monday that put historic legislation well on its way to pre-Christmas
passage and which sharpened already edgy partisan tensions. The
middle-of-the-night vote, ...
Harkin: Public option is not dead Key Dem insists plans for a
public health care system will be 'revisited' NewsFocus: We will believe it when we see
it. Here's a tip: Put up or just shut up!!
Stakeholders in Health Insurance Reform Debate Gave Big to Senators OpenSecrets.org, December 24, 2009 9:30 AM
Senators who opposed the health insurance reform bill passed on
Christmas Eve received an average of nearly 30 percent more political donations
from political action committees and individual employees of health and health
insurance-related groups and companies since 1989, a Center for Responsive
Politics analysis has found.... (Continue)
An ugly finale for health-care reform Washington Post -
Dana Milbank - 122109
Going into Monday morning's crucial Senate vote on health-care legislation,
Republican chances for defeating the bill had come down to a last, macabre hope.
They needed one Democratic senator to die -- or at least become incapacitated.
...
White House as Helpless Victim on Healthcare
InformationClearinghouse.info, by Glenn Greenwald
- Dec 2009 From the start, assuaging the health insurance
and pharmaceutical industries was a central preoccupation of the White House --
hence the deal negotiated in strict secrecy with Pharma to ban bulk price
negotiations and drug reimportation, a blatant violation of both Obama's
campaign positions on those issues and his promise to conduct all negotiations
out in the open (on C-SPAN).
Continue
We Are Being Steered To A Plan Benefiting The
Insurance Industry Why No Mention of HR-676, The Single-Payer Option? (Universal Health Care) NewsFocus, by Tim Watts 100809 With the health care debate raging, the scare tactics have abated for the
most part, however, the disinformation and need for greed have not let up. With
over a trillion dollars per year in health care profits on the line, it is easy
for those that understand what's at stake to realize the impetus for the
deception of the public. Since most Americans fail to read anymore, preferring
to be spoon-fed their news by a lazy, if not overly complicit corporate media,
few understand the ruse being played out in front of them.
First off, HR-676, universal health care for all, is hands down the least costly, yet the best
coverage and health plan for Americans. Every single American would get
coverage, while still being able to see the doctor of your choice. So why argue
about being forced out of your costly private insurance plan for a government
plan when the
bottom line is that you still get to choose your doctor?
Secondly, all other plans still allow the insurance companies
to profit handsomely, raking in over 33% of health insurance premiums for their profit, driving
up the cost of American health care while putting themselves in league with the
excessively lucrative oil companies, all during arguably the worst economic
downturn in this country's history.
Under HR-676, the Conyers-Kucinich plan,
the insurance company profit would not exist, forcing the cost of American
health care down. The reason being, HR-676 is a non-profit plan.
That is the primary reason why the insurance industry has
spent over one-million dollars per day to dupe Americans on health care reform.
Not only have they spent quite handsomely, but they've pulled in all of their
political favors from the politicians beholden to them through millions in
campaign donations. Every politician fighting against health care reform is on
the big money gravy-train from the insurance industry.
The biggest ruse is the public-option. They make it seem as
though they don't want us to have it, in essence out-Freuding many to then
scream and beg for it, so they think they're getting something they shouldn't have.
This is nothing more than psychological warfare. The Republicans and Blue-dogs want
Americans to believe the insurance industry doesn't want it, but truth be told,
even though the public-option may be government regulated to feature a lower
cost, it still delivers 46-million new customers to the insurance industry to
profit from. A huge win for the insurance industry.
Are you starting to get the picture?
The best plan for America is one that emulates the European
health care system, a government provided system that is free for all
Americans. With a single-payer plan, we get the freedom to choose our own
doctor, to visit the hospital of our choice, but with no premiums or co-pays.
Single-payer HR-676 is free health
insurance that will cost less than all other health care plans out there.
Don't be cheated by our bought-and-paid-for politicians, or a
deceptive health insurance industry. There's a reason they've spent
close to $400-million in this fight so far, to fool you so that they can keep their own share of over
one trillion dollars in health insurance profits.
If you're tired of being denied due to pre-existing conditions,
while enduring ever rising insurance rates, don't be a chump and allow yourself
to be spoon-fed a blatant lie. Take the time to look at non-biased sources of
health care info and get the real facts on
universal health care, single-payer HR-676. Hands down, the best plan
for America.
Fight for your right to the health care we all deserve.
Politicians Are Hiding The Best Health
Care Plan From Us All
The health insurance industry doesn't want us to have the best plan. HR 676, 'Universal' Health Care For All Americans!
It's all inclusive, more comprehensive and
cheaper too! The Cost:
Conyers-Kucinich Plan HR-676 $387B | Baucus Plan
$856B
Information On
HR 676 And Its Funding HealthCareNow.org Funding the plan:Maintain current federal and state funding for
existing healthcare programs; employer payroll tax of 4.5%, an employee payroll
tax of 3.3%, in addition to the already existing 1.45% for Medicare; establish a
5% health tax on the top 5% of income earners; 10% tax on top 1% of wage
earners, 1/3rd of 1% stock transaction tax, closing corporate tax loop-holes;
repeal the Bush tax cut for the highest income earners. (The ultra-wealthy would
finally pay part of their debt to society to fund HR 676.)
Keith Olbermann Details The Fraud From The
Insurance Lobby
They claim premiums will rise, but
don't admit that it's they who will
do it,
Dylan Ratigan Goes After The
Insurance Monopoly In America
The insurance industry should not be exempt from the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act.
Bill Moyers Reveals The Dirt Behind The Health Care Deception
This is a crooked alliance and should be prosecuted for the corruption that it
is.
Senator Max Baucus Refuses To Put
The Single Payer Plan On The Table
Baucus used to work for Wellpoint Health Insurance. Get the
picture?
Health Care Is A Civil Right, Declares Congressman Kucinich Huffington Post (blog) -
Sep 28, 2009
Mr. [John] Conyers (D-MI) and I wrote HR 676 and it is an
important vehicle for individuals to organize [around] at a local and state
level. ...
Private lobby dictates terms in health-care reform Examiner.com -
Sep 14, 2009
No surprise then that Evan Bayh has followed his wife's lead by
declaring opposition to single-payer (HR 676) and describing himself as
"agnostic" on the ...
A clean sweep Lawrence Journal World -
Joe Douglas - Sep 14, 2009
HR 676 represents the key to jobs jobs jobs and new
economic growth to the nation. It will make the USA far more attractive to new
industry and hopefully ...
Number of US uninsured
rises to 46.3 million
Poverty rate in US soars 13.2%, number of poor Americans at
39 million
(NewsFocus: So with mandated health insurance for all,
the industry stands to add 46.3 million new customers, making
billions immediately and trillions in the next decade. The
insurance industry is no doubt turning cartwheels of joy. Given
this mandate from Obama, a public option is not going to
hurt these parasites in the least.)
Republicans Working With Lobbyists to Further Weaken Health Care Reform
HuffingtonPost.com - 122609
Liberal bloggers have attacked the health care reform bill now in the
conference committee. The all-but-eliminated-public option, the proposed taxes
on so-called Cadillac health plans won by union workers over years of
difficult labor negotiations, the attack on abortion rights, the lack of
restraints of insurance company fees, the rejection of competition in drug
pricing, all these and many more failings in the bill have been railed against
on this site and others. ...
NewsFocus: Reid and Pelosi aren't for
helping America. They proved that when they categorically stated that
impeachment was off the table. They have given Democrats a bad name. It's time
for a leadership change, now, or a people's march on Washington.
The Battlefield for Health-Care Reform Now Moving To A State Near You
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Susie Madrak Tuesday Dec 29, 2009 4:00pm
Activism and organizing for
healthcare reform on the state level has the potential to be more effective,
because while state legislators are even more easily influenced by campaign
donors, they're also more vulnerable to local pressure. So it's important to
follow the fight in your state, make your position on strong regulation known to
your representatives and lobby friends and family to do the same. ...
Senator Bernie Sanders Says He Won't Vote For Current Senate Health Care Bill
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Logan Murphy Thursday Dec 17, 2009 7:00am
Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders became the first to introduce a
universal health care bill on the floor of the Senate. (see above video) While
he eventually withdrew the bill after Republican delaying tactics, my hat is off
to the Independent Senator from Vermont. He has always stood up for the people
of his state and the country and he has big brass ones!
Now, Bernie has said that he will not vote for the current
bill. More from
The Hill: (Read
More)
Drug-Makers Paying Off Competitors To Keep Cheap Generics Off Market
IntelDaily.com, Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:53:00 +0000
Republicans and their allies in the business community talk a good game about
the virtues of free-market competition. But, as we've seen in the debate over
the public option, that stance often goes out the window when corporate profits
are at stake.
And now we've got another example -- one of the sleaziest and
most blatantly self-serving yet. ...
Responding to news reports of unusually high wholesale
price increases in brand-name prescription drugs, four House
leaders and one senator asked for government reviews of the
pricing practices. ...
Gingrich’s New Contract With America: ‘Our Commitment Should Be
Simple…We’re Repealing’ Health Care
ThinkProgress.org,
By Faiz Shakir 121209
Yesterday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stumped for
Ethan Hastert, the son of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and candidate for
Illinois’ 14th congressional district. Gingrich, of course, was the architect of
the Republicans’ “Contract
with America” in 1994 that helped the GOP regain the majority. Now, Gingrich
is apparently rallying Republicans behind a new “contract” with Americans — a
pledge to take away their health care.
NewsFocus: Americans Are Being Fooled Into Giving Big Insurance
More Money
New CBS/NY Times poll: 65% of Americans want the Public
option
CrooksandLiars.com,
By John Amato Friday Sep 25, 2009 5:00pm A new poll done by
CBS and the NY Times shows that not only do Americans want a public option, they
want it BIG TIME. These are numbers that the White House and Rahm can't
ignore anymore.
65% of Americas do favor a government administered health care plan like
Medicare that would compete with private insurance companies. That's something
the Baucus Dogs and Republicans do not want to see after the mark ups have just
completed. I'm sure they thought the teabaggers spoke for America, but as any
informed person would know, they do not. ... (Read
More)
Single-payer solution Salt Lake Tribune -
Sep 24, 2009
I am a woman in her mid-fifties in good health. Thank goodness,
because I cannot afford to go to the doctor. Three days ago, I received my
quarterly health ...
Nick Kristof: Members of Congress Should 'Go Naked' on Health Insurance CrooksandLiars.com, by Susie Madrak Friday Oct 09, 2009 6:00am
As I
discussed last week, members of Congress not only have great health
insurance, they also have access to the superb on-site Office of the Attending
Physician for themselves and their family for a mere pittance. So of course
they don't understand!
I think Nick Kristof
makes a fine suggestion here and we should ask Congress to do it to show
they're working in good faith:
Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive
health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in
proportion with the American population that is uninsured.
It may be that the lulling effect of having very fine health
insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our
existing insurance system. So what better way to attune our leaders to the
needs of their constituents than to put them in the same position? ...
(Read
More)
Al Franken Calls Out John Thune On Health Care Lies
MN had Wellstone and now we have another great Senator, Al
Franken!
The Best "Public Option" Should Be A Government Paid (Free)
Single Payer Plan For Each And Every American, Universal Health Care. Why Isn't
Congress And The Media Talking About HR 676?
We already pay more than enough in taxes to afford this plan for everyone in
America, but we don't apply our tax dollars wisely. This plan is easily
feasible, if we ask for it.
Read more on this page about Single Payer Plan HR 676, the one they won't
discuss.
Is This Real Reform? The Insurance Companies Got Everything They Wanted CrooksandLiars.com,
by Susie Madrak Monday Oct 26, 2009 11:00am
AHIP's Karen Ignagni Appears on MSNBC
So according to
this L.A. Times article, the health insurance got everything it wanted in
this healthcare "reform" bill - except the death of the public option. So as
relatively small a concession as that is unacceptable to them - which tells you
who really owns this country. (Not us.) All the more reason to push your
congress critter. Call today! ... (Read
More)
Dems Want Some Healthcare Reforms to Kick In Before
Mid-Terms CrooksandLiars.com, by Susie Madrak
Monday Oct 26, 2009 2:00pm
As expected,
Dems are pushing hard for something to show the voters. Too bad they didn't
just drop the Medicare age, but oh well: Democrats are pushing Senate leaders and the White House to
speed up key benefits in the health reform bill
to 2010, eager to give the party something to show taxpayers for their
$900 billion investment in an election year. ... (Read
More)
Taking Away Patients' Rights To Further Enrich Insurance
Companies
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Cliff Schecter Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 3:00pm
What a week. We've already seen Blue Dogs take
women to the back of the bus (or was it the alley?) with
Stupak's impressively Stupid Amendment. Now we're hearing that
those who supposedly worry about "too much spending" when it
comes to health care--you know, the meatloaf-brains who rejected
the public option, which would create competition and actually
bring down costs--are now blathering on about embracing "tort
reform."
Because you'd really
want to take away the rights of victims in a democracy to lower
the health care costs by...wait for it...wait for it... ".5%" (according
to the CBO).
All you really need
to know is that Blue Dogs/GOPers (is there any difference?) are
those in favor of this counterproductive course of action, yet
if you do indeed need more, watch the heart wrenching videos
recounting the tragic results of medical malpractice. To learn
more about the 98,000 lives lost due to medical error each
year--or 268 every day--go
to 98,000 reasons, a website set up by the American
Association for Justice. Once there
send a message to your Senator: Remind them you won't have
your rights further stripped away so they can scarf down more
caviar with their contributors at Big Insurance.
Teaming with the
liberal Brave New Films, a former Blue Cross pitchman is now
pitching against Blue Cross.
Andy Cobb, who
once tried to sell Floridians on a Blue Cross health insurance
plan, says he's fed up with the industry.
"I was a spokesman
for BlueCross and Blueshield of Florida," Cobb says.
"Call me a spokesjerk. People who make money for buying things
you don't need. And we're telling you lies."
"They, by which I
mean I, make money by standing in the way of reform," Cobb
says in the ad, which appears as a spoof of something like a
freecreditreport.com ad. "It's time for change."
... (Read
More)
Stupak Amendment Passes
CrooksandLiars.com, by
Heather Saturday Nov 07, 2009 7:56pm
Well isn't this lovely? 64 Democrats decided to sell out
women's health with this horrid vote.
Final vote tally 240-194 with Shadegg voting present.
Word is it will be stripped out in committee. We'll see.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of
national business groups opposed to President Obama's
health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance
an economic study that could be used to portray the
legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation's
economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a
top Chamber official.
As reported earlier, House
leaders have stripped the Kucinich amendment from the House
health care reform bill. This amendment would help nullify
legal challenges against efforts by individual states to
enact their own single-payer systems. ...
Single-payer stripped from health reforms
RawStory.com, by
John Byrne -
Friday, October 30th, 2009 -- 8:56 am A government-run healthcare program may
become an "option" for those who don't have employer-sponsored
healthcare coverage, but a government-run healthcare system will
not.
House Democratic
leaders quietly stripped a single-payer provision from the House
version of the healthcare overhaul Thursday. The measure would
have allowed states to set up their own state-run healthcare
systems, where local governments would have become de facto
health insurers for residents.
Kucinich: Health reform legislation ‘a bailout for
insurance companies’ CrooksandLiars.com, by
Stephen C. Webster
Saturday,
October 31st, 2009 -- 4:01 pm
According to Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the Democrats'
health reform legislation is basically a sham.
Appearing on MSNBC's The Ed Show on Friday night, the
House's most unabashed progressive condemned Democratic
leadership for removing his amendment that would allow states to
create their own single-payer systems. Then he called the entire
legislative package "a bailout for insurance companies."
Seven members of the Senate Budget Committee threatened
during a Tuesday hearing to withhold their support for
critical legislation to raise the debt ceiling if the bill
calling for the creation of a bipartisan fiscal reform
commission were not attached. Six others had
previously made such threats, bringing the total to 13
senators drawing a hard line on the committee legislation.
We learned yesterday that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has
distributed a three-page memo to his Republican colleagues, reminding them of
various procedural tactics they can utilize to obstruct, delay, and undermine
the debate on health care. Sam Stein called it "the equivalent of an obstruction
manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform."
This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
seized on the document: "The good news is that Senate Republicans finally, at
long last, have put a detailed plan down on paper. The bad news is that it's
not, as we'd hoped, a plan to make health care insurance more affordable; it's
not one to make health insurance companies more accountable; and it's certainly
not a plan to reverse rapidly rising health care costs and draw down our
deficit.
"The Republican plan we've waited weeks and months to see ...
[is] not even about health care at all.
The first and only plan Senate Republicans could be bothered to
write up is an instructional manual on how to bring the Senate to a screeching
halt. We knew that was happening anyway, but they had the audacity to put it in
writing."
Former DNC Chair Howard Dean called on Sen. Joseph
Lieberman (I-Conn)
to resign as chair of Senate
Homeland Security Committee if he can't bring himself to
oppose a Republican filibuster of health care reform
legislation.
Appearing on "The Joe Scarborough Show" on WABC, Dean
stressed that he had no problem with Lieberman opposing the
bill on its philosophical merits, or lack thereof.
But
he insisted that it was irresponsible and unprincipled to not
allow the legislation to come to an up-or-down vote.
"I think that is a very complicated guy," said Dean. "He
does because he says he's a principled guy but there's nothing
principled about holding up a bill...
If he was a
principled guy he'd resign his chairmanship." ...
Billionaires For Wealthcare Crash AHIP Meeting
With Song
These guys are great! A different slant on getting the message out.
'Reform' or Legislative Obscenity?(Must Read) The Baucus Bill 'milestone' obscures the only real solution to the ills of
our current health care system (A single payer plan, universal health care, HR
676)
BradBlog.com, By
Ernest A. Canning on 10/16/2009 10:34AM
As recounted in a
front-page article in The New York Times, on the strength of a
single "yes" from a member of the Party of No, President Barack Obama described
the 14 to 9 Senate Finance Committee vote in favor of the Baucus health care
bill as "a critical milestone," adding, "We are now closer than ever to passing
health care reform."
With all due respect, Mr.
President, it is nothing of the sort. To the contrary, the Senate Finance
Committee has produced nothing less than a legislative obscenity. ... (Read
More)
What If, Instead of Fox, Team Obama Tackled Insurance Profiteers
The Nation,
by John Nichols -
Monday, October 26, 2009
Suppose President Obama and his aides had decided to take on the
worst offender among the big insurance companies this fall. Suppose the White
House had highlighted the failure of the company to provide quality care, the
abuses in which it has engaged and the behind-the-scenes campaigning by a
self-interested corporation to influence the health-care debate in a manner that
helps it while harming Americans. ... (Read
More)
The
public option would effectively be just another insurance plan offered on the
open market. It would likely be administered by a private insurance provider,
charging premiums and co-payments like any other policy. ...
NewsFocus: <sigh> As
suspected. It's not about health care, it's about insurance care.
See the YouTube video farther below: HR 676 Universal Health Care For All Americans Politicians Are Hiding The Best Health Care Plan From Us All.
NewsFocus: What is so wrong about Single Payer Option in the
health reform bill and why are the Republicans fighting so hard to keep it
from us? Two reasons: 1) It will hurt the trillion dollar insurance industry
that lines their Republican pockets. 2) they want to hurt the Democratic party
for the next election in their zeal to get back in office. So, essentially the
GOP is willing to sell us all up the river on health care for money and possible
2010 votes. Republican Senator John Ensign actually admitted that they are afraid the American people
will find a Single Payer or Public Option too attractive. Seriously. They
don't want to let us have either because we might like them too much! Now
there's some twisted political logic for you.
Paying $10 billion a month on wars America hates is good,
but paying money to fix our health care system is bad CrooksandLiars.com, by John Amato Monday
Sep 28, 2009 12:00pm
The media, conservatives and the democratic deficit hawks are telling America
that the cost of reforming America's health care system better not add one red
cent to the deficit. Why doesn't the liberal media explain to America that we
are paying 10 billion dollars a month on two wars that Americans hate?
The appropriated cost is around $10 billion a month, which is
enough to pay for the entire health care plan by itself. But that doesn't
include the future health care costs for injured American soldiers, which is
staggering. Nor the cost to the Iraqis or Afghans, of course. ...
(Read
More)
President Obama strongly supports Public
Option in speech to Minneapolis CrooksandLiars.com, by
John Amato Sunday Sep 13, 2009 11:00am I know there's some debate over
whether the president fully supports the public option and we
know that the gang of six in the House of Lords is trying to
derail it. Fox News is telling us that the public option is dead
and the do-nothing Republicans are calling for it to be gone,
but in a huge speech Saturday that took place to a
fired-up campaign-style crowd in Minnesota, Obama was as
strong on the public option as I've ever heard him. ... (Read
More)
(NewsFocus: But does he
support a plan that is as good or better than HR-676?)
Senator Alan Grayson Talks
About The Republican Health Plan
Fictitious or not on the GOP, it's what the health insurers
want.
Conservatives Spread Fear
Mongering On Health Care
Protecting a trillion dollar market for the rich
insurance tycoons
Insurers Admit That 50,000
Employees Are Lobbying Congress Memo tells employees to keep a low profile
RawStory.com, By
John Byrne
August 24, 2009 A spokesman for America’s Health Insurance
Plans, the industry’s trade group, admitted in an
article published Monday that as many as 50,000 industry
employees are involved in an effort to fight back against
aggressive healthcare reform.
The admission, published in the last sentence
of a Wall Street Journal
article, highlights the stakes of potential healthcare
reform for the private health insurance industry. Insurers
and investors alike are terrified at the prospect of a
so-called “public option,” which would create a
government-run health insurance program to compete with private
insurers. Because the government plan wouldn’t have to earn
a profit, the plan would be able to undercut the premiums of
private firms, pressuring profit margins. ...
Democrats who voted against public option got $19 million from
healthcare firms
RawStory.com, by
Muriel KaneWednesday, September 30th, 2009 --
12:38 pm
Five Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee who
voted on Tuesday to shoot down a proposed public option for the health care
reform bill — a measure which polls show is favored by 81% of Democrats — are
coming under close scrutiny for their ties to the health care industry.
According to
Intershame.com — a site which aims to draw attention to misbehavior — those
five senators have collectively been the recipients of over $19 million in
donations from health care, pharmaceutical, and health insurance companies over
the course of their Congressional careers. ...
Republican Congressman
who shouted 'you lie'
got $240,000 from health industry
RawStory.com, By
Sue Sturgis 091009
Whether because of his outspokenness or in spite of it, Wilson is
a major recipient of contributions from the health care industry. In fact, over
his entire congressional career, health professionals represent Wilson’s top
industry contributors, donating a total of $244,196 to his campaign, according
to the
Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org database. He received another
$86,150 from pharmaceutical companies, $73,050 from insurance companies and
$68,000 from hospitals and nursing homes.
SPIN METER: Once Medicare's foe, GOP now boosts
it The Associated Press -
Beth Fouhy -
070909
NEW YORK - Weren't Republicans against Medicare before they were
for it? It's a question vexing Democrats in the fierce battle
over President Barack Obama's push for a health care overhaul as
the head of the Republican Party has portrayed the GOP as ...
The Health Scare Being
Perpetrated By Those Protecting Big Insurance
The far-right and those bought-off by big
insurance are lying to Americans
Socialism Is Not A Dirty Word! Unless Of Course You Are A Capitalist Trying To Profit From Public Services
A Message To The Non-Thinking Lemmings Of America
NewsFocus, Op/Ed by Tim Watts 090209
Once again the ultra-wealthy have
fooled the mass populace of stupid Americans. In case you don't
know, let me clarify who the stupid ones are. Those are the
people who do not look at both sides of an issue or a story.
Those are the people that stay within the narrow confines of
their warped political paradigm, accepting only information from
those with their same political viewpoint, mouthpieces that are
also ignorant, or else getting kickbacks in profit to keep you
in the dark.
What? Someone would actually
profit by keeping you in the dark?
This can't be true you might say.
What possible scenario would exist where something like this
could occur? Well, first you need to crawl out from the big huge
rock you're hiding under for a moment and then we can try to
think real hard of an example. Let's think together now, real
hard.
Hey! I know, the health care
debate, or as I like to call it, health scare.
Let's see now. Our elected
representatives have written a bill that would reform the health
insurance industry and give us free health care, like
Canada, so that we can live a better life and escape from
exorbitant medical bills that crush families and drive many to
poverty, while others get filthy rich denying us all needed
medical services. ...
(Read More)
1-Percenters (Richest Americans) Launch Attack On Health Care The Rich Well-To-Do
Don't Want The Rest of America To Be Cared For By David Sirota 072409 Here's a truism: The wealthiest 1
percent have never had it so good. According to government
figures, 1-percenters' share of America's total income is the
highest it has been since 1929, and their tax rates are the
lowest they've faced in two decades. Through bonuses, many
1-percenters will profit from the $23 trillion in bailout
largesse the Treasury Department now says could be headed to
financial firms.
Why the Gang of Six Is Deciding Health Care for Three Hundred
Million of Us
InformationClearinghouse.info,
by Robert
Reich 082409
We have a Democratic president in the
White House. Democrats control sixty votes in the Senate, enough
to overcome a filibuster. It is possible to pass health care
legislation through the Senate with 51 votes (that's what George
W. Bush did with his tax cut plan).
Continue
A Very Clever Ruse Against The
Healthcare Opponents
Already duped by the GOP and insurance industry, these healthcare opponents are duped
once again, this time by the
'Wealthcare
for Billionaires.' Brilliant!
BillionairesForWealthcare.com
'Death panels' already in Medicare (But It's Not What You Think)
Kansas City Star -
Aug 24, 2009 The death-panel rhetoric has it all wrong:
government isn't making end-of-life decisions, it's facilitating
discussion between physician and patient. ...
Operation Scare
Grandma On Healthcare
This is so close to what is happening right now. Thank you SNL!.
America's True Journalist Jon Stewart Debates Betsy McCaughey
Stewart Exposes The Lie Being Perpetrated
In The Health (S)care Fiasco
Jon Stewart vs. Betsy McCaughey- Part 1
Jon Stewart vs. Betsy McCaughey- Part 2
If YouTube pulls the
above links, then please view the interviews on the
following
page.
McCaughey's Ideas Called Hyperbolic, Dangerous
By Jon Stewart Huffington Post -
Aug 21, 2009 In addition, she came prepared to do
whatever she could to ingratiate herself with the audience and
with Stewart, plying him with saccharine compliments. ...
Keith Olbermann Special
Comment On Health Care / Public Option
Go Get 'Em Keith! Sick 'Em Boy! Kicking Ass And Naming
Names! :o)
Countdown Special Comment - Part 1
Countdown Special Comment - Part 2
Keith Olbermann Exposes The
Made Up Lie Of 'Death Panels'
Olbermann hits this one on the head.
Ten Things Obama Did Wrong on Health-Care
Reform CrooksandLiars.com, by
Susie Madrak Saturday Aug 08, 2009 4:00pm Helen's right,
damn it. And look at Gibbs' deflection: "We've had a pretty good
week." Sorry, Gibby, health-care reform is slowly slipping away.
Don't just stand there. Here are my thoughts on what the White House
did wrong, in no particular order: (Read
More)
Hardball's Lawrence O'Donnell
Corrects An Ignorant Protester
This woman highlights the ignorant discourse whipped up by the
far-right.
The Truth On Organized Mobs In The Health Care
Debate
And the far-right claims the town hall mobs
aren't organized?
Rachel Maddow On
Orchestrated Town Hall Outrage
Rachel Maddow Exposes
The Vitriol In The Healthcare Debate
Proof That The Animosity Behind The Healthcare Debate Is
Sadly GOP Organized
Rachel Exposes The Fraud
Rachel Uncovers The Organizers
Corporate Thuggery Behind
Health Care Disinformation
Rachel
Exposes The Lie On Death Panels For Old Folks
Rachel Maddow Offers A
Sane Viewpoint In
The Healthcare Debate
The Fight For Health Care In America Global
Research, by Shamus Cooke - June 13,
2009
There’s a jumbled, increasingly hysterical tone
to the health care debate going on in Washington. On each side
of the uproar lie powerful and opposing interests: on one side
the giant corporations who make billions of dollars via the
status quo; and on the other, the majority of working people who
suffer immensely from it.
Creating a health care
“compromise” between these two interests is of course
impossible, but seeing the politicians in Congress attempt one
is at least good entertainment.
And although neither party
within the two-party system represents the interests of working
people, they nonetheless understand the immense importance of
health care for the vast majority of Americans, and the
political/social effects another major letdown will have. They
are thus begrudgingly forced to consider the desires of ordinary
people.
This desire, however, becomes
mutated in Congress, especially after corporate lobbyists finish
tampering with it. Therefore, a nationalized single-payer system
such as Canada and England have — the type most desired by
working people here in the U.S. — is “off the table,” and all
kinds of rotten “compromises” have flooded the debate. ...
(Read
more)
RawStory.com 082209
Insurance rates will rise 94 percent by
2020 if cost-saving reforms to the US health care system aren’t
enacted, a new study from the Commonwealth Institute finds. ..
"At the same time," he continued, "we are deeply concerned by
the apparent failure of the administration to include a single
supporter of HR 676 among the ...
Big Money Is Trying Very Hard To Keep This
From The Public FAIR - Mar
6, 2009
Though more than 60 lawmakers have co-sponsored HR 676, the
single-payer bill in Congress, Obama has not expressed support
for single-payer; both the idea ...
InformationClearinghouse.info, by
Johann Hari
This is the story of one of the great unspoken scandals of our times. Today,
the people across the world who most need life-saving medicine are being
prevented from producing it.
Read More
- Feb
18, 2009
John Conyers has introduced HR 676, which already has garnered
nearly 50 co-sponsors — a bill that restructures our health care
system much like the rest of ...
BlueRidgeNow.com - Feb
25, 2009
To The Editor: HR 676 is on the table, even if Sen. Baucus does
not want it to be. Not only is it on the table, but is the
“only” option to stop the gouging ...
Support HR 676 for health Modesto Bee - Feb
20, 2009
House Resolution 676 makes the playing field of affordable
medical care more level: Each will pay according to his ability.
Our police-fire-mail services ...
3,000 strong show up in support, except for the media.
The Movie That All Of America Needs To
See On Healthcare! This Is The Movie That Health Insurance Companies Don't
Want You To See.
Michael Moore's Award Winning, "SiCKO."
You owe it to yourself and your family to get the
real truth on health care.
Watch the full movie farther below down this page, or click herefor a larger
view.
NOTE: This
movie was free to view on Google
Video for well over a year, but now that the health (s)care debate is
raging, it has recently been pulled by the folks at Google. Gee, I wonder
why?
SiCKO, The Movie
Michael Moore's brilliant health
care
documentary on what it is like to be sick in arguably the
richest nation on earth is a must see for all. You will be
surprised to see how other countries such as Canada, France and
Denmark do things to provide their people with healthcare, a
basic necessity for quality of life. We could easily afford
this.
Health care reform is now a private option: WHICH FOR PROFIT
INSURANCE COMPANY DO YOU WANT? You have to choose. And you
have to pay. If you have a low income, under HR3200
government will subsidize the private insurance companies and
you will still have to pay premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
The Administration plan requires that everyone must have health
insurance, so it is delivering tens of millions of new
"customers" to the insurance companies. Health care? Not
really. Insurance care! Absolutely. Cost controls? No chance.
You will next hear talk about "co-ops." The truth is that
insurance company campaign contributions have co-opted the
public interest. ... (Read
More)
Congressman Kucinich Rips
An Indignant Dr. David Gratzer
The term "dick" comes to mind as Gratzer tries to avoid
answering Kucinich.
Health Insurers Rip Off Consumers For Billion$ Ex-Insider Testifies Before Senate On 'Fear
Tactics'
Washington Post, by
David S. Hilzenrath - Thursday, June 25, 2009
Health insurers have forced consumers to pay
billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers
themselves should have paid, according to a report released
yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. ...
Senate Report: Insurers Charged 'Billions'
to Consumers They Were Supposed to Pay
Crooks and Liars.com, By Susie Madrak Thursday
Jun 25, 2009 3:00pm It's really important to understand
that insurers are not to be trusted, especially now that we know
they've been defrauding us all along. Former CIGNA
communications chief Wendell Potter (watch
the complete video here) testified before the Commerce
Committee yesterday and summed it up: Don't trust the insurance
companies. ...