It is a shame that some Americans are so gullible, to the outlandish propaganda and lies spat in the newspapers, television and radio about Obama?s health care agenda. They have demonized the British, Canadian and other worthy plans. Hidden under a sub-rosa undercover, these radical entities are determined to keep the special interest organizations in absolute power. Comprising of the money-draining profitable insurance companies and their rich stockholders. They don't want any changes to the broken system of medical care, because it will hurt the status quo. I was born in England, in the county of Sussex and until the inception of the European Union and the European Parliament dictating to Britain. That they must accept millions of foreign workers, the nations medical system was exemplary. I never had to wonder if I would have to file bankruptcy, to pay my medical bills, or listen to the incessant ring of debt collectors on the phone.
On several occasions I ended up in the cottage hospital and their was never a cost applied to it, never a ream of paperwork. No doctor, no hospital or specialist ask me for my Social Security number, drivers license or if I was covered by a predatory for-profit insurer. Today the British Isles is being submerged under a barrage of legal and illegal immigrants, who have never paid into the system, have caused some rationing. Prior to the importation of foreign labor my trips to doctor, to hospital, the eye or a dentist was paid from my taxation. Unless we pass a national health care agenda, Americans will never know what it's like to breeze through their lives, without worrying about paying for health care? Tell your Senators and Congressman you want an alternative to the--GET RICH-- insurance companies, before a Universal health care is killed. 202-224-312 REMEMBER THE INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS DON'T WANT THEIR PIECE OF THE $$$TRILLION$$$ DOLLAR PIE DISTURBED. EVEN SOME POLITICIANS HAVE THEIR DIRTY FINGERS IN THE PIE?
AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE, A GOVERNMENT SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM WILL ASSIST IN REVITALIZING THE WILTING US ECONOMY.
The health care debate has become an argument, not between Democrats and Republicans, but between Democrats and institutional Washington, where cynicism and conflict rule.
The final offer from the right seems to be a Cato Institute plan that would require everyone buy health insurance but offer “health status insurance” on that insurance for those who fear their policies might be cancelled. (And insurance on that health status insurance? And insurance on that insurance?)
The Cato plan is seen as proof Republicans are not seriously engaged in the debate.
Democrats have rolled out two of the three bills they must propose before serious negotiations can start.
- The House bill includes a “public option,” allowing people to buy government insurance comparable to Medicare, and was seen as revenue neutral by the Congressional Budget Office.
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee plan was slammed by the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO criticism drew massive headlines.
This despite the fact that, under Senate rules, only the Budget Committee can deal with changes in the tax laws and that committee, under Sen. Max Baucus, has not yet reported a bill.
The criticism, and the headlines, are a grand kabuki hiding the real action in the Budget Committee.
While liberals fear a bipartisan “gang of six,” including Maine’s moderate Republicans, is trying to scuttle the bill, at least one of them, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon (above, from his Web site), is actually working to save the bill with a proposal he calls the Free Choice Act.
The idea is that the uninsured, small businesses and the self-employed be offered a “health exchange,” a choice of plans to buy, but those who don’t like any get a voucher, covering two-thirds the cost of the lowest-cost plan available.
People will use the voucher, and their own cash, in the market. The market pressure from this process would be on the side of controlling costs, and gradually everyone would be allowed to buy care under the exchange.
There are similarities between this and a plan put forward by lobbyist Bob Laszewski, which reformers have praised. A key difference is it relies on market pressures, not tax mandates, to force costs down.
Everyone knows how to push down costs — preventive care and best practices. The question has always been how to get those ideas into the market, and whether that’s possible without a single-payer system, for which there is only limited support.
Once Wyden gets the Gang of Six on board with a version of his idea the Budget Committee will release its bill The Gang wants assurances that, if government is to offer a public option, there is real pressure on the system to adopt these cost-saving techniques.
Once Washington is assured that the health care cost curve can be driven down toward what other countries pay, the kabuki will end and a final bill will move.
