It’s About Life And Death
The current raving going on among politicians seem to be missing the rather important point that access to health care is quite often the difference between life and death.
About 20,000 Americans die every year because they have no access to health care. Almost 100,000 die from medical mistakes. Almost 100,000 die from infections they acquire in our hospitals. Is this “The Best Health Care In The World?”
The political decisions in the US Senate are being made by 6 people from the Finance committee. Who gave them the power to do this? When did the Constitution or the people decide this was a good idea?
I saw this yesterday – Democratic senator: Public health insurance option dead
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Senate negotiator said Sunday that President Obama should drop his push for a government-funded public health insurance option because the Senate will never pass it.
Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said it was futile to continue to “chase that rabbit” due to the lack of 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
If the Senate Majority Leader cannot command that the 60 members of the Democratic Caucus, that were supplied to him by voters, vote for cloture, no matter how they vote on a bill, they need a new leader. If you have 60 members in your caucus, every bill a majority wants in the Senate, should get a vote.
Then the BBC reports this: Obama may soften healthcare plan
President Barack Obama’s administration has signalled that its healthcare reforms may be diluted, amid pressure from opponents.
Mr Obama has been pressing for a government-run scheme to extend healthcare insurance to some 46 million people in the US.
But Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that this had never been Mr Obama’s top priority.
She hinted that he may accept the idea of non-profit insurance co-operatives.
In an interview with CNN, Ms Sebelius said that Mr Obama’s government-run insurance plan – a so-called “public option” – was “not the essential element” of the administration reforms.
This is not reform, this is a plan to provide windfall profits to the insurance gangs. The stupidity of the co-op approach is mind numbing. The auto makers have been huge clients of these gangs and they can’t get competitive rates, so how are these wimpy, newby co-ops supposed to?
Because the UK is thoroughly annoyed with all of the lies about their health system, the BBC published a nice little series of charts about Healthcare around the world to show what a mess the US non-system really is.
Annoyed with all of the complaints about government involvement in health care, Walter Brasch writes at Pacific Views about The Great Government Swine Flu Conspiracy
CDC scientists isolated and developed the seed strain of swine flu. Working furiously to manufacture the vaccine are five major drug companies, which received about $1.8 billion in federal funding to produce the anti-virus. Leading the testing, analyses, and education campaigns about the swine flu, in addition to the CDC, are the U.S. Public Health Service, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Federal Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in addition to the Department of Health and Human Services, which developed the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza protection.
Testing of the vaccines on human subjects is being done at eight major U.S. universities and hospitals, which received federal funding. The federal government is also providing about $260 million in grants to state health departments to give the vaccine at no charge to people who do not have insurance or whose insurance does not cover vaccinations.
In several European countries, which are producing about 70 percent of all vaccines for a worldwide population, most research and production is being funded and carried out by government agencies.
He suggests that opponents of government involvement should refuse to get flu shots. I want to see the hardcore crazies burning their Medicare cards. We need a strong mental health provision in the public plan to see if we can’t make some of these whackos useful, productive citizens. Maybe they could be trained to make potholders; you can’t ever have too many pot holders.
Rook said – No public option, no second term. EBW said – No Single Payer, No Second Term. I’ll see that and raise no HR 676, no more votes for Democrats, at any level.
This issue is not political, it is existential – a matter of life and death.
16 comments
…it really is the dividing line between what Democrats and Republicans look like, isn’t it? Kent Conrad has been explaining the difference perfectly on any media venue that will have him (tonight it was NPR). He says there aren’t the votes to pass a ‘public option’; what he means but doesn’t want to say is there are enough votes to pass that option but not enough to end a filibuster because conservative Democrats won’t support cloture. If Republicans had the kind of Congressional majorities and the presidency that the Democrats now enjoy, we would be looking at the sort of world that would have the Canadian border crossings choked with US citizens fleeing the strange mixture of corporate oligarchy and conservative theocracy that this nation could become…
.-= last blog ..Wherein We Discuss The Wormy Vermin Opposed To Health Care Reform =-.
I expect party line votes on cloture in the Senate. Too often I have watched “Democrats” vote for cloture and then against a bill when it was a bill the Republicans wanted to pass. If they can do it for Republican bills, they can damn sure do it for Democratic bills.
I’m sick of Reid honoring Republican holds and ignoring Democratic holds on bills. I’m sick of these people who say they are Democrats to get seats on certain committees, and then refuse to back any Democratic legislation.
I don’t care if they vote for the legislation, but they should be thrown out of the caucus if they won’t follow the leadership on cloture.
no HR 676, no more votes for Democrats
you got my vote.
.-= last blog ..I’ve always said that Woman’s Best Friend is a Big Black Dog =-.
Reid does need to go. But I shudder at the thought of a Majority Leader Schumer. It just doesn’t look good all around.
.-= last blog ..Stone the Crow =-.
The Senate needs to reforms its rules and its system for selecting leaders. Requiring an IQ test would be a nice start before anyone was accepted as a leader.
There is no more comity in the Senate. That “tradition” was never more than the false Southern variety found in the Florida legislature, where you were “polite” in the chamber before you murdered your opponents [another “tradition”].
It’s time for a new party, because the old parties aren’t worth spit.
Well, I’ve had it with all of them. If the Dems can’t sell this plan there is something very, very wrong with them. It’s supposed to be Obama’s priority, to get a public option, so get out there and promote it. I didn’t see the Bush crowd having any problems promoting a war. Sheesh.
The amount of misinformation out there is staggering. They are losing control. I have some friends who are reasonably intelligent people who are not getting the message of what a public option really means. Just that it’s government and it’s BAD. And that’s because the message is being drowned out by the noise. Now is not the time to be polite… it’s time to shout back or not be heard.
Yes, it’s time for several new parties. These people have lost the script. I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness and I’m tired of it.
.-= last blog ..Backyard Birds =-.
I’m tired of being held hostage by a lunatic fringe on the Right. If elections are going to have meaning, there had better be more than a promise of change. The thing about negotiations is that if only one side is willing to compromise the only possible results are surrender or stalemate. Obama has apparently opted for surrender, which negates what voters thought the election was supposed to be about.
A curse on both their houses.
Obama has apparently opted for surrender,
that’s assuming this isn’t what he had n mind from the beginning. his work on health care and nuclear energy while in the illinois state legislature suggests this is about where he expected to be all along.
.-= last blog ..Woman’s best friend’s best friend =-.
I’m more certain than ever that “surrender” is exactly what he wanted from the beginning. I heard “Reagan” way too often coming from him, to ever really trust him,
reagan, gah! don’t remind me.
ot: your spamcatcher thinks i’m spamming your global warming post.
.-= last blog ..Woman’s best friend’s best friend =-.
OT: Something is getting spammed, in a large way. Sorry about that. You may be using one of the “magic words” that I added to the blacklist, I’ll have to look at that.
it had lots of links. i expect that’s the problem. i’d forgotten about the magic number.
.-= last blog ..Woman’s best friend’s best friend =-.
It seems to be OK with 10 or less, except for Kryten who just gets picked on every so often for no reason I can determine.
there might have been more than 10… i forget now.
.-= last blog ..Fortunately, =-.
Kryten who just gets picked on every so often for no reason I can determine.
Mehhh… It’s just my Karma! 😉 LOL
I’ve been pick on by someone or something since I was a little kid at school. I’m used to it. *sigh*
Errrm… I should point out perhaps that *things* that pick on me generally only get one shot. Sometimes… I can be patient when I choose to be. 😉 😛
As soon as the spam counter goes bad to normal range, I’ll disable it. I have been deluged with the crap lately and have played with all kinds of settings trying to discourage these people, to no avail.
It’s possible that you are being assigned a blacklisted IP number. That has happened to me.