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Boxer: ‘This is our time’ for health reform
November 20th, 2009, 4:38 pm · 88 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
Sen. Barbara Boxer
On the eve of what will be the most important vote ever on health care reform Sen. Barbara Boxer spent 30 minutes making the Democrats’ case for beginning debate on a far-reaching $848 billion bill.
“What we have before us,’’ said Boxer, D-Calif., is an excellent piece of legislation that will make life better for every single American…
“This is our time. This is our moment. This is the moment for us to come together as a nation,’’ Boxer said.
Throughout today and until tomorrow evening in Washington, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have and will make the case for and against this legislation. Click here to read the text of the Senate bill.
In her half-hour speech, Boxer used case studies of constituents, including Madeline Foote of Costa Mesa, who wrote her a letter asking her to work for health reform.
Boxer said Foote, who is 25, aged out of her health care through her parents and was found it difficult to get her own insurance because of a pre-existing condition that she said amounted to taking a prescription drug. The only policy she was able to get had a $3,000 deductible.
“As a young person working in a restaurant repaying student loans and trying to make it this is a huge financial burden,. I can’t afford insurance that charges so much,’’ Foote wrote. “Now I’m forced to hope that nothing extremely bad befalls me.”
“She’s another one praying not to get sick,’’ Boxer said. “That’s not a health care plan.’’
This is the furthest any major overhaul of the health care system has ever gotten. When President Clinton and then First Lady Hillary Clinton tried to get health reform passed in the mid-1990s, a bill never reached the Senate floor, much less get one passed in the House as was done two weeks ago.
The reason Saturday night’s vote is so important is because unless Majority leader Harry Reid can get 60 senators to agree to bring up his Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the floor, it all ends.
Reid has said he’s cautiously optimistic he’ll have the votes. It seemed today that all might come down Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat who is from a conservative state and facing a tough reelection next year.
The reason Reid needs 60 votes is because under the Senate rules, if senators object to bringing a bill up for consideration, as the GOP has, it takes 60 votes to break such an objection.
If Reid gets his 60 votes, the real debate over changes to the bill, work that will ultimately shape the final Senate measure is not likely to being until after Thanksgiving.
The arguments for and against this bill are starkly partisan and philosophical. Democrats want more government involvement to help get the uninsured coverage. Republicans want to use free market tools to make insurance more affordable.
Democrats say their will has changes such as removing pre-existing condition as an impediment to health insurance, bans on health insurers dropping people who get sick, allowing parents to insure their children under age 26, creating an insurance exchange with a public option for people who have no other way to get insurance and more coverage for preventative care.
But Republicans say Democrats aren’t being straight about the costs. They have been on the Senate floor today saying the ill will cost trillions in the next decade, raise premiums and that the mandates in the bill will lead small businesses to either cut workers or refuse to give raises because it ill mean increased costs. And GOP lawmakers also say that the measure will lead to cuts in services for the nation’s Medicare recipients.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
MARTIN WISCKOL, Politics reporter, 714-285-2867 or mwisckol@ocregister.com twitter.com/MartinWisckol
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REALLY BARBARA???
Last I checked…YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE THIS LOUSY HEALTH CARE PLAN!
The bill says YOU..and just YOU GUYS that voted for it…”MAY” choose the plan. For everyone else it says “SHALL” or we pay a fine and go to JAIL.
The Congress has no business forcing Americans into a health care plan they DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR!
That’s o.k. though…We’ve got someone else in mind for YOUR JOB Barbara…
Lori: you need to go back to school. you are living in a very different reality. The Congress, btw, forces americans to pay for lots of things we don’t want. Get over yourself and calm down.
THIS IS OUR TIME to get RID of this beeeeaaaaaccccchhhhh.
By all means, let’s do nothing about health insurance in America. Let’s stop any attempt to improve our system. Let’s keep health care a privilege of wealth or extreme poverty. Let’s keep premiums, co-pays, and out of pocket expenses so high that they exceed the cost of a mortgage. Let’s keep hearing stories like these that can only happen in America…
Fanny Gonzalez’s husband died in May after a five-month battle with stomach cancer, and now she’s stuck with the bill. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois approved the treatment and then refused to pay, leaving Gonzalez with a $161,601 bill. Blue Cross called the drug used “experimental” for her husband’s type of cancer.
Robert Stecker, of McCook, Neb., is fighting with an insurance company after being blinded by cancer and then left with $70,000 in medical debt. Stecker claims that representatives from World Insurance assured him his radiation treatments would be paid for, but because the process was outpatient, now they are refusing to pay. “This is a shell game and every time we lift up a shell, they move to another spot,” he said.
In 2006, trucker Kenny Whitey fell 18 feet from the roof of his truck and broke almost every bone in his face. His serious head trauma left him unable to walk or talk. He breathes and eats through a tube, and needs nursing care around the clock. But now the company handling his workers’ compensation is going bankrupt and the Whitey family does not know where to turn.
The insurance company has directed Whitey’s attorney to his former employer, but the employer has stated that the medical bills — $47,000 per month — would bankrupt the company. “Basically, this leaves [the family] in the cold,” said the attorney. “Their only recourse at this point for their immediate future is to look for help through public assistance programs.” Unfortunately, because Whitey receives a disability check and his wife works, they likely make too much to qualify for public aid but too little to pay for the care themselves.
——————————————————————-
Let’s keep spending billions of our tax dollars on nation building, while we allow our fellow citizens to suffer at the hands of “for profit” healthcare!
It’s time to stop the madness. It’s time to make a change in how and were we spend our tax dollars. Put Americans first!
Last I checked there is a thing called Bankruptcy which would resolve the financial end of things. I for oe along with millions of other Americans do NOT want government forcing me to have health insurance.
It’s UNAMERICAN!
Since when is a healthy population “un-American”? Ohhh, right when we had slavery! Like the kind where you are forced to stay in a lousy job just because it provides healthcare. Or when you need a second job at Wal-mart because they have a lousy health plan… BTW, Wal-mart management also endorses a government health plan.
I agree with Lori.
I’ll vote for a monkey before I will a BOXER.
At least the monkey will amuse us while he throws S#!& at us.
Good one! However, it totally confused Mr. Woods.
Boxer, you are such a trainwreck, I don’t even know where to begin.
If you are so hot for this healthcare, then YOU get it. Oh, that’s right, you already have a killer deal that NO American could ever obtain.
I’m looking at that mugshot of you, and I’m seeing nothing but imperialistic condescension. Do you and your ilk really think they know best? Really? You can’t even balance the federal budget, yet you think you can handle something like my life.
And if that weren’t bad enough, the govt. has already decided to cut healthcare for women . . . it’s already starting with the curtailing of mammograms and now pap tests . . . what’s next? Annual physicals? This is the kind of “change” your Dear Leader has in mind? I want nothing to do with it.
Single Payer HR 676 S 703
No thank you Eric. This is America, land of the free.
Remember he who pays chooses. We can already see this with employer provided health ins where the employer chooses the plans that are available.
Now govt is getting involved so they want to make choices for us. Most of us really want to be able to make our own health care choices. Some like Edwards even came out and said that if the govt is paying then they should require routine diagnostic testing such as mammograms (of course he has never had one).
So they may start legislating on higher risk behaviors telling people what they have to do or aren’t allowed to do.
The house bill already included a return to that gatekeeper type system (under a different name this time) that was so unpopular that it was done away with. You know the kind where the primary dr had to ok seeing a specialist, but they were under pressure to control costs so there were complaints that they would refuse to refer patients. Who knows how many died because of that.
I know of one family where the woman could not get a referral to a gynecologist. That is until open enrollment and they changed plans. Then she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and later died. That was the big bad ins co. But this time around it will be the big bad more powerful govt and who do you appeal to then?
Would you want that to happen to your mother?
OC4truth,
The example you provided is a poor example of what a public option will have in store for us. As much as it pains me to read about someone getting caught up in red tape, that situation was a clear example of an entity (insurance co.) trying to keep costs down. The government option - any government program really, is not established on profit. It’s principal will always be to serve the public need first - NOT the shareholders.
Referals to specialists in a public system are based on need. Just like a truama center operates. The higher the need (determined by the primary care physician), the faster the access.
Troglodyte. Disgusting waste of space she is.
Won’t be getting my vote.
Don’t fall for it people! If these people can exempt themselves from the plan, then there’s something wrong with it. They saying it’s alright for the American citizen, but not good enough for them.
Boxer is a worthless sack of garbage doing nothing but taking up space. This fool couldn’t pay me to vote for her. I’d be better off if I shot myself in the foot rather than let her do it.
thankyou everyone
pretty much sums up everything for me
really enjoyed the I’ll vote for a monkey before a boxer………….I may steal that one
It is official, our government is corrupt and immoral:
Facts:
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
NO THANK YOU BARBARA , i agree with Lori, I’LL TAKE THE MONKEY.
nbchrystal,
Please identify which of the government programs you highlighted was ever developed to earn a profit, rather than provide a service?
Are you one of those who think the government is a business? My word, the things they don’t teach in school these days.
When I have to line up for heathcare I expect to see Boxes, Pelsoi and Mrs. Obama in line behind me. Oh that right, that will never happen!
I agree with others comments. I DO NOT want any Government telling me what healthplan I should have or what I should pay for it or where to go or when I can have something Doctor orders etc.
This whol;e Healthcare plan in total, should be scrapped. The majority do not want this or Gov’t. in our life this way. And who does B.Boxer think she is telling us that WE want this!! She needs to go back to her doctor..have a brain check first. Don’t want it Boxer and don’t want you either.
Only thing Congress could do: law that Insurance Co.’s cant turn you down for anything. And that yearly price increases can only be a very small limited percent…something on this order. LAW…NOT healthcare plans. Dump it all
Barbara I can’t believe a word you say ,you have already proven to us YOU LIE about everything, I want someone who is on the side of the American citizen instead of you trying to slip it to us
Universal healthcare the solution.
And those who refuse to have it.
Have the right to keep it and be screw by they Masters from the republican party, and the healthcare-Insurance Gansters.
JC, you have an awful lot more faith in the benevolence of govt than most of us do. People talk about how bad ins co’s are, but have you looked at the cuts that Medi-Cal made when things cost too much? Govt will have the same pressures.
the House bill severely cuts Medicare and not just the advantage plans. It restores those gatekeeper like provisions that got thrown out because they kept people from getting to a needed specialist. Well, this puts it back for Medicare.
If a health ins co denies a claim there are regulatory bodies and suing. What do you do when big govt denies a claim or decides that someone is too old to get a certain procedure or whatever?
Read the bills. The senate bill is available here and on fox news website. Glance through it.
Now if they could actually learn to be efficient and get rid of the approx 10% possibly fraudulent claims just think what that would do for Medicare. But they can’t seem to manage that. This will undoubtedly worsen the problem.
Well JC, what are you going to do when you need care but it costs too much per the Gov. The latest is that women don’t need a mammograms until 50. I had cancer at 37 so I guess the gov would have been happy to take my money and would have had no problem letting me die at 37. My insurance covered everything and it cost less than the new healthcare reform will be charging me. Where is the benefit in that???
These democrats like BOXER are in the back pockets of their corporate masters. The corporatocracy WROTE the healthcare reform bill!!! HAH! The politicians like BOXER vote “aye” and take their bribes!!! HAH! This bill will FORCE average citizens to buy a health insurance policy from the corporate pigs or pay THOUSANDS in fines and go to JAIL if they don’t pay the fines!!! That’s worse than what Stalin did to the russian citizens!!! This reform will put $50 BILLION more revenue in the corporatocracy’s pockets!!! And a portion of that will be paid back to BOXER and the dems in form of legal BRIBES!!! HAH! What a SCAM!!! This bill won’t provide care for everybody!!! That’s a LIE!!! Only the poorest of the poor will get covered. The working poor will get screwed. The corporate pigs are the addicts. The dems are their procurers!!! And the poor citizens have to feed them with their drug (money)!!!! hah!
Jc, are you sure it won’t result in a theft of taxpayer dollars? If it is so good, why won’t the legislators be in it. Don’t give me some animals are better than other animals. I don’t buy the argument that since legislators are smarter and making important decisions, they deserve only the best and the rest of us should just work harder.
I downloaded the bill. Fox has it and invites comments so I scanned the table of contents at the beginning and then scanned for what premium rules would be as far as age.
Pg 80-81
Summary. The only thing besides whether individual or family or rating area that can be considered for premium is age or smoker status. No other life style risk factors can be considered. But the ratios for premiums for age can vary by 3/1 and for smokers only 1.5/1. So looks like they will be able to charge a healthy and fit 63 yr old 3 times what they would charge an obese, out of shape 25 or 30 yr old with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. And a smoker only gets charged 1.5 times as much.
So they are protecting unhealthy people at the expense of those who are older and who may be healthier. That means those who make healthy living choices will be forced to subsidize the increased costs due to those who don’t make healthy choices. Bad idea!
Not sure how they currently rate smokers risk factor, but health ins industry should have a pretty good idea of risk factors for that and other risk factors and what they cost in claims.
Its obvious that most of those writing these bills don’t understand the basis for ins. which is risk. Ins covers unknown risk. For known risks they either deny coverage or charge more. Oh, but that it really hard on those with pre-existing conditions. Yes and this includes a high risk pool for that. OK, that sounds something like what we have here for auto ins with a high risk pool for those who can’t get other auto ins.
But this goes way beyond that. When they remove weighing risk except for age or whether a person smokes, that means everyone else pays for the increased risk to the whole pool of subscribers.
When they give something to someone, someone else still has to pay. That can be justified for those with conditions they have no control over. However, it is perverse to remove penalties for life style choices.
You would think that Boxer and Feinstein, both being I think in their upper 60s would be sensitive to these things. But they may not even see those provisions. Oh, and they are likely clueless since they don’t have to face the ins marketplace. And they won’t be forced into these plans that they vote for.
Too bad there isn’t a Federal initiative process where we could get a bill in that would require that congress people certify before voting that they have read the whole thing.
It is ridiculous to ask senators to vote on whether to bring it to the floor so soon after it has been made available. This one is even longer than the house bill at 2047 pages.
I’m sorry about Foote potentially being stuck with a $3k deductible but she does have insurance. While that would be tough to handle, it should be possible in the long run, unless she keeps having that much each year.
But what she doesn’t seem to realize is that she is asking everyone else to help pay for her health ins, many of whom may not be in any better situation.
This bill would cover her, but a healthy older person (presumably pre-Medicare, could be stuck 3 times as much premiums as she has to pay. That could well be more than $3k/yr.
I can’t see how this will be better for those who are not quite old enough for Medicare. They will still be able to charge us way more than younger people even if we are healthy. And the rates likely will even go up for those in that category to help pay for those like Ms Foote who have a pre-existing condition that can’t be taken into account.
I gave up on Boxer years ago as she is a lost cause. With the brainpower of a english muffin, she has been one of the most disappointing senators this state has ever seen and now the nation needs her to make an informed and deliberated decision. Sadly, she just isn’t capable of doing so.
I don’t even try to send emails or communicate with her office. She’s moving to her own beat and good sense and vision aren’t part of the package.
So let’s just acknowledge that Babes isn’t going to muster enough mental horsepower to look at this thing at all. In fact, I’d be surprised if she even read it before beginning the debate or reads it at all.
This is like watching a shorter version of Loretta Sanchez try and sound informed and persuasive.
Please, will someone just tell me where the Ctr-Alt-Del button is for both of them?
The bill is about 2000 pages long. Hardly any senators have even read it. One disturbing element, is that the IRS can take money out of our checking and savings account to pay for the insurance, if you refuse to pay. Why is it, that countries with universal health care, are warning us not to do it?
Excuse me, Les but what countries with universal health care are warning us not to do adopt a system of universal health care? I would like to know. Put up or shut up.
Canada, England and France.
I’m referring to the patients, not the governments. For example, Germany is steering away from universal health care.
the head of Canada Medical Assoicationhas come out and said there system is bankrupt and people are dying because they can’t get care.
Les,
You really should learn how unions and associations bargin for more money. They say outragious things to incite fear… Just like Republicans!
The overwhelming majority of Canadians are very happy with their medical coverage.
Les,
I am a Canadian… Get the healthcare.
Does that change things for you? Didn’t think it would.
DWoods,
I too believe we need healthcare reform. But handing over $50 billion in new revenue to the corporate pigs is not healthcare reform. It’s a return favor to the health insuruers and medical delvery industry from the politicains for the corporate bribes. Have you read the Bill? They are forcing lower middle class and the middle class to purchase a policy from the corporate insurers or pay THOUSANDS in taxes and go to jail if we refuse to pay the fines!!! Come on, DWoods!!! Is that YOUR idea of the reform we need??? It’s blanket coverage via extortion!!
That explains everything!!!
ocobserver,
Your idea of insurance reform is “Let’s do nothing” and “kill it before it gets started”? The 2000 page bill hasn’t even been debated in the Senate yet. It hasn’t gone to commitee yet. Obama has not endorsed it. It’s a concept right now. It looks nothing like the final bill. You should know that.
Boxer has her own congressional insurance and pension. What a corrupt scumbag.
How can a private insurance company compete with the Federal Government, as far as cost? The answer is, it can’t, because the government has unlimited resources, (borrowed money) and no share holders to anwser to. Private insurance companies will be run out of business. That is the ultimate goal
We have a finite number of doctors, nurses and facilities. Adding 50 million customers (patients) to the system will result in rationing. There is no other way to cover them. ( Sorry, you are 80 years old, no hip replacement for you)
Les,
Go to business school and learn how private enterprise can compete with government programs. Blue Cross is a very profitable company in Canada… Stop listening to the right wing propoganda and learn on your own.
How did this old witch get elected in the first place, and now how does she have so much power over our lives? If my wife and daugher want exams twice a year, Boxer and her ilk can’t stope them. The worst thing is we all will be paying more taxes for people who could work and get insurance, but have got comfortable getting welfare and now refuse to work.
BOXER = WORTHLESS LIKE THE REST
Ahhh, CORRECTION Babara….. “This is our time” to kick your rear out of office. Trash the Health Care Plan….. As Confucius once said centuries ago…… “It’s the ECONOMY STUPID!!!!!!” People are out of work. Get them back in the work force, then the health care will be next.
The government can’t even deliver the right amount of H1N1 Swine Flu shots.. and you want them t to handle your surgeries and other health care matters? Sorry, not drinking the KoolAid… this is a bad bad idea.
If Bush had been President and the H1N1 flu shots were delayed like they are now, the shit would have hit the fan. Minorities would have said “we were disenfranchised from our entitled shots”. Obama walks on water, so he gets a pass.
Because he’s doing something other than clearing brush on his ranch and letting his VP run the country.
I will not vote for ANY Democrats this next election. I will vote against every Democrat running for office this next election if the Health Care Bill is rammed through the Senate. Boxer needs to be replaced. What an idiot!
Why change now? YOU never did vote Democrat.
VOTE ‘EM ALL OUT!!!! NO INCUMBENTS!!!!!
” This is our time ” translates to Obama is a one term President and we are going to lose our majority in the mid term elections, so it is now or never.
Why the push for health care reform? The “work” you’ve had done, Ms. Boxer, and will have to have done, won’t be covered.
Show me a 70-something woman, any 70-ish woman, who doesn’t have lines and isn’t sagging at least someplace, and I’ll show you someone who’s had work done that won’t be covered under any government-run health plan.
Congress is stealing $50 BILLION from the little guy through extortion technique and handing the loot to the insurance and medical delivery industries. Naturally BOXER collect a big corporate bribe after she vote “aye”. hah!!! This isn’t healthcare reform. It’s a windfall profits package for the fat corporate pigs!!! Don’t let ‘em fool you!!! You are being SWINDLED once again, America!!!
So the Federal government knows better than you do with the cure for medical care?
Just today Congressman McClintock revealed, on the radio, that the Stimulus Bill from last February, AKA the Obama Stimulus Bill, sent checks to 4000 inmates in Federal prisons to “create and save jobs.”
The White House has (perhaps missing by now) a website called recovery.com. That outlined how many jobs came from the Obama stimulus spending. Unfortunately that included jobs being “created or saved” in the Fifteenth Congressional District of Arizona.
Arizona only has EIGHT Congressional Districts. The website is filled with LIES. And these people will control your health care?
Heaven forbid or I’ll be there soon!
everybody just shut the F up!!!
what is happening right now is the EVERY SINGLE ONE of us are useless in telling what our gov’t can or cannot do. Look at how much debt our nation is in right now. Yet, we continue to spend. Aren’t you people concern at all of how our childrens going to suffer financially?
Yes, Jennie. I agree. Our representative democracy is toast. The majority of americans oppose the senate’s healthcare reform bill. But they are going to shove it down our throats whether we like it or not cuz they know best!!! hah! Just like with the bailouts. Just like with immigration! More of the same!
babs- yer time izzzz up!
We whoheartedly Support Healt Reform…No Job. No Money. No Health Insuarance. No Honey.
A couple of simple things that we should demand from all our legislators which ever party we or they are.
1. They should have to certify that they have read the entire bill before being able to vote about it.
2. Any mandates they write for us, should also apply to them.
Boxer obviously hasn’t read the over 2000 pages of the Reid bill.
“What we have before us,’’ said Boxer, D-Calif., is an excellent piece of legislation that will make life better for every single American…”
Yeah, right like on pg 80 its says the only variables for premium besides whether it is for family or individual and for rating area are age and tobacco use status. for age there can be up to 3/1 ratio for tobacco use, 1.5/1.
so a healthy 64 yr old could be charged 3x what a very unhealthy, obese, with high blood pressure and cholesterol 25 yr old could be charged.
And of course to make up for not charging for other risk factors that are life style related, everybody else will have to pay more–especially those not quite old enough for Medicare.
I suspect that if they all read all of the bill they would find a number of things that each one doesn’t like and doesn’t want in the bill.
And some are saying a less than perfect bill is better than nothing and they could fix it later. Yeah, right. You can bet that if they shove this through that a bunch of them are not going to be in office after the next election.
But maybe, just may be if we all right to our senators demanding those 2 things I mentioned earlier–that they read the bill before voting on it and that any mandates on us also apply to them–they might just start to get the point.
and if they actually read it and if it would apply to them, you can bet they would be more careful with what they are legislating! And that should have bi-partisan support. AFter all if it really is as good as Boxer says it is, then she should have no objection to it applying to her.
OC, having the politicians read this bill will do nothing because of the simple fact they are are corrupt and have been bought off with their lobbying cronies.
What this nation needs is a good old fashion revolution in the streets and to take our dear nation back once and for all
Yeah. Politicians like Newt Gingrich? The guy who goes on national TV to criticize the bill without having read it? Great idea. Is he any better than Boxer?
OC4truth is printing false and misleading information. Page 80 of the Senate Bill is about the cost sharing percentage and mentions nothing about the variables in determining a premium. Read it for yourself:
http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf
People like oc4truth beleve they can print any lie they want and you’ll believe it.
We can kiss or health care goodbye .You can stand in line now with the illegals ! If you think its bad …Just wait .Government is good at is taking what is not theirs and breaking things.Vote out Boxer .
What Boxer needs is to evaluate the costs and be honest about where the funds will come from to pay for her health care. Socialism is not free.Of total additional taxes that will be needed to support the new health care system less than 39% will be used for the health care the rest will paying for shortfalls in other economic interests that have been mismanaged or robbed from the citizens
” government is the negation of liberty.” Lugwig von Mises look him up
Sorry about that….. its Ludwig von Mises. Read him now…………
“I pledge allegiance to the corrupt congress of the United States of America and to the republic for which they stand, one nation under their tyranny, divisible, with their lies and injustice for all.”
you GET it. Those founding fathers knew they set up framework for the ‘ideal’ and America would seek for the rest of her days.
Revolution!
It is time!
It is our duty!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6845443820368294152#
OK Kathy,
Start shooting up your street tomorrow and then come back here and tell us how it went.
Hollow words… They’re very common lately.
Think about it. Do you want obama’s health czar making your health choices? Say No ! To Obama Death Panels !!!!!!!!!!!
I’m tryig to find someone in Washington with the job title “Czar”. No luck so far. I’m also trying to find the phrase “Death Panel” in the legislation. Who told you this stuff? They must be very dumb or just a liar.
DWoods, you’re really in denial, friend. Boxer likes the Senate bill AS IS! In other words, she likes the idea of infusing $50 BILLION in new revenue into the insurance and medical delivery industries while extorting lower middle class and middle class folks into buying insurance policies from the corporate pigs. And if they don’t obey they go to jail!
If they don’t get cloture this thing goes onto being LAW, DWoods!!! I am totally with you that we need HC reform. I’m on YOUR side. In fact, I support single payor like they have in Canada and europe. But you will never see that here, friend, because the politicians REWARD the corrupted corporations in America to get their BRIBES!!!! You’re a smart guy. I know you must understand that!!!
And the Bill says NOTHING about american citizens paying 2x-5x more for AMERICAN MADE pharmaceuticals while we subsidize the rest of the world!!!!! It does NOTHING to stop this!!! It is HIGHWAY robbery, DWoods.
You should at least recognize these FACTS and pull your head from the gopher hole of denial!!! At least be honest. I always had respect for your opinions but when I see you INTENTIONALLY deny these things I even wonder about YOU!!!
Oh, DWoods….a couple other things…..
Have you actually read the senate version of the bill???
No more healthcare tax on those making more than $400k a year. Gone.
And employers no longer are mandated to buy healthcare insurance for their employees (only pay a fee IF the employee has an income low enough to qualify for a subsidy by the gobblement)
YET - the little guy (lower middle class and middle class) STILL is mandated to buy medical insurance from the corporate pigs, otherwise he pays a fine in the $THOUSANDS$ of dollars and if he repeatedly disobeys the gobblements ORDER to buy insurance HE GOES TO JAIL!!!
At least recognize it for what it is, DWoods. An outright attack on lower and middle class america. At least be honest about it.
I am all for single payor healthcare. But this is highway robbery of lower and middle class America!
Ocobserver,
I stated earlier, this is not a final bill. It’s not even half way to being a final bill. There’s a long way to go before this thing starts looking like the final draft that will go to the President. The President hasn’t even commented on the specifics. Yet, people keep calling it Obamacare.
The Senate hasn’t even voted to begin debating this bill. It will look much different once it has a first reading and debate in the Senate begins. You should know that. Stop inferring that we should be gravely concerned over something that isn’t even finished yet. Why are you pointing your finger at specifics that may well never be part of the final draft? Send those concerns to your representative. If they’re valid, they’ll be brought up in the debates - Hint: when opposing something in government, complain to the opposition; they’ll get it addressed much faster than a member of the majority will.
Please stop asking people to read the bill. You obviously haven’t even read this entire article. Here’s what it says: “…the real debate over changes to the bill, work that will ultimately shape the final Senate measure is not likely to being until after Thanksgiving.” Does that not make any sense to you?
DWoods.
Don’t you understand the significance of what happened this evening??? Now congress only needs a majority vote to pass this cr@p bill. They don’t even need the blue dog dems anymore!!! Just 51 votes and it’s over!!!
95% of what you see in the current proposal will stay intact!!! This is a bill to enrich the corporatocracy. What don’t you understand about that?? Are you really than blinded by your partisanship??? Does being a democrat outweigh your loyalty to the little people who are getting raked over the coals here??? To hell with all you partisans, democrats and republicans alike!! You are destroying our nation!!!
Voting to proceed with the current Health Care bill before the Senate is NOT a vote for improved health care. It is a vote to let the government remake 1/6th of the economy, and allow government to regulate every facet of American’s lives.
If you really want to reduce costs and extend health care to more Americans you should throw out the current legislation and start over working with a REAL bi-partisan majority.
If Congress could reduce fraud and attack the question of torte reform first, the American people would have much more confidence and trust in Congress when it comes to addressing the other health related issues.
Kevino,
I like having my right to sue a doctor. Do you think they should be exempt from liable just because they’re physicians? Why should I give that right up? Just to keep the profit margins high for an insurance company?
Looking at Barbara’s picture reminds me there is hell right here on this earth. I do not have to die to get there, I am already there.
No kidding, SDLAD.
She could play the wicked witch of the east and not need any makeup whatsoever.
Man oh man. I bet she is mean too. Those thin lips and nasty eyes say it all!
Sorry! I always get lost in this healthcare reform. Can somebody makes an outline how it will be ? What will change?
Seems like we ought to take some responsibility for our health care. Insurance would be cheaper if we all had to pay more for our care. We would also be better consumers and not run to the doctor for the sniffles. The article tells a story of supposed problems with the current system, there are problems, but government does not need to take over, maybe just provide a stop loss so people are not devastated by an illness.
Boxer is the typical politician that just wants more control to feed her own ego. Time to vote her out and all with her ideas about government.
I am curious, with all the lip service our elected officials give us, and if this program is so great, will they be subjected to it also? Or will they have the best of everything, something all of us simple folk never
FYI Badb..under the bills as written all federal employees, including House members and senators, would be subject to the same rules as everyone else.
Dena, why is it OK to start collecting taxes in 2010 and not have full coverage before 2014? You know the taxes collected will be spent and we will be looking at monstrous deficit when the full benefits kicks-in.
“Rules” or actual health plans Dena?
Why do these people repeatedly use the term healthcare reform? That isn’t what is happening. This is socialized medicine where you do not have a choice…..are you ready to vote all these representatives out? These are supposed to be educated people but they clearly do not understand economics and do not care what you or I think. Our legislators need now professions. Put them at the back of the unemployment line won’t you?