DISQUS

AMERICAblog: Senate GOP health bill moves forward

  • peep24 · 5 months ago
    So pissed off. Fuck the blue dogs, fuck Max Baucus, and for that matter fuck Rahm. "Rahmbo" has been trying to nix the public option from the get-go. The only thing that's going to get this thing passed is people marching in the streets--in large numbers. I hope the fiery campaign Obama makes a comeback today in VA. We need him.
  • Gridlock · 5 months ago
    The fiery campaign Obama is just a facade, a prop.. the real corporatist Obama is behind the curtain patting Rahm on the back.
  • bjohnson · 5 months ago
    Nice mouth ! The "fiery" campaign Obama? That's his problem, that's all his is - a campaigner. He's not a leader and that's why there is not going to be a health bill. He has thrown it all on the congress with no direction or ideas and they are sick of it. I hope he does go into campaign mode, he'll sink even further in the polls. All campaigning is telling people what they want to hear with vague plans and empty promises.
  • Griffon · 5 months ago
    They are not afraid of their constituents.

    They depend on a compliant media to inject enough confusion and propaganda to give themselves rhetorical cover.

    This government isn't afraid of its' people. That needs to change before single-payer becomes a reality. The fact that their confident arrogance allows them to brazenly suggest preventative detention, cavalierly bungle basic bookkeeping for billions in bailout funds, and ignore the campaign issues that won them the election says they are not concerned over a tired and divided citizenry.

    We are responsible for the failure of this opportunity by tolerating the continued abuse at the hands of our pwned 'reprehentatives.'

    "You need only look into a mirror."
  • tlsintx · 5 months ago
    it is so difficult to make ourselves heard, over the clamor of lobbyists..

    I AM tired.
  • mikeyDe · 5 months ago
    Although I support the idea that the health care and insurance industries have corrupted the debate and that stupid Americans respond stupidly to stupid ads coming out of their stupid boxes, it never answered the question of why the public option cannot be passed. This morning NPR supplied the answer in an interview from Bristol VA/TN. An unemployed, uninsured diner patron opposes Obama's health plan: it will help blacks more than whites. Is this the real reason the public option has become the third rail?
  • munjoyfan · 5 months ago
    Yeah, like all big issues it gets down to voter self interest, and that's when the special interests move in for the kill. They play individuals like fiddles with TV ads targeted at those mean self interests. And they turn people off, and then they get to do what they want and declare great victory.
    This is the big difference between contemporary American public policy, and the great achievements of the FDR and LBJ eras, as well as of Europe. We have total abandoned the social contract. It's all about ME.....
  • DCinDC · 5 months ago
    1st off the Public Option is the one thing the insurance industry does not want in the bill. The public option will make the insurance industry have to lower their premiums. Right now the insurance industry is the only game in town. They charge you or your company as much as they would like. Where does the consumer go, to the next company that works actually coordinates activities together with all other companies to control the market, good luck!? We can make the government open their books, justify their actions, we cannot make the private insurance companies explain their profits no matter how ineffective their actions are toward the US overall health care situation.

    So then the health care companies divide the uninsured up into segments and have them convinced only the other segments but not their segment of the population will benefit. The people do not research the messenger they just believe the message no matter how false the delivery god is. People then vote against their own self-interests. I hate to say it but it is mostly us white people who seem to never catch on that we are being played as the fools.
  • tlsintx · 5 months ago
    what a load of crap.

    "Instead, the committee would create coverage cooperatives modeled after rural electricity providers."

    i can tell you, those rural electricity co-ops are crooked as they come...talk about your price gouging...
  • Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 5 months ago
    I would love to see the amounts of obscene cash that are going to our Senators and Congressmen right now via the insurance lobby from Blue Cross, Aetna, United Health, et alia. A full breakdown by company and by politician.
  • munjoyfan · 5 months ago
    Try OpenSecrets.org. The site is a little hard to use, but I was able to see how much companies like Aetna have given to Senator Susan Collins. It's a great resource. You can see that Max Baucus is a good negotiator--he set a high price from the health industry for his leadership, and they rewarded him handsomely.
  • HelenRainier · 5 months ago
    Overall, it tops $1 million per DAY!
  • munjoyfan · 5 months ago
    Check this out! Finally, we the consumers have access to data we can use to make some noise and force real change in the system--every state has a public data registry with information about the cost of procedure.
    It's really shocking--an insured person is charged anywhere from $700 to $1700 for an MRI on a knee, at hospitals about 50 miles apart, while an UNINSURED person is charged anywhere from $1000 to $2300 FOR THE SAME MRI.
    Your state should have a public data base like this! Send this to your Senator or Blue Dog Democrat and raise hell!

    Unfortunately, only a few procedures are listed, and I have no idea how much the three retinal exams I have had this summer cost. I have insurance though, so each one cost me $10.

    http://www.healthweb.maine.gov/claims/healthcos...
  • munjoyfan · 5 months ago
    Sorry to be commenting on my own post, but those who would be satisfied with just covering the uninsured need to realize that your INSURED costs will now have to increase if the hospitals can no longer soak the uninsured. We can be pretty confident that hospital management isn't going to take 20% pay cuts in order to do a good thing for humanity.......
  • Mike_in_the_Tundra · 5 months ago
    If the uninsured cannot pay the bill, the loss to the hospitals will be passed on to the insured and the uninsured who are able to pay.
  • bjohnson · 5 months ago
    I like the idea of providing incentives to employers to provide health insurance to their workers. This is especially true of small businesses. If a person owns a company with say 10 workers, why not let the owner deduct a percentage of the money they spend on providing health care from the owners personal income tax?
  • Proudliberal · 5 months ago
    That's fine. I doubt that's what the final Senate bill will be. Let alone the version that is going to be rehashed in Senate House conference committtee. This is good in a sense that it is getting out of the Finance committee; now responsible politicians can make changes to it.
  • JeepTreats · 5 months ago
    Any many many changes need to be made to that bill.
  • Maryindependent · 4 months ago
    Responsible politicians - now there's an oxymoron. They are supposed to be responsible to us, but where do you find those representatives?
  • lilliannerose · 5 months ago
    And to think these whores are being bought off for mere pennies on the dollars to be reaped. More of the same ole, same ole.

    I am an American I exist to feed the corporate pigs at their trough.
  • pollguru · 5 months ago
    I really hope we get a healthcare plan, but what do you guys think about this reason healthcare is so expensive in this country?
    http://www.governmentalityblog.com/my_weblog/20...
  • HelenRainier · 5 months ago
    This is certainly a contributing factor; however there is a conglomeration of things that are at play here:

    1. Excessively high salaries and persk for top level CEOs.
    2. Excessively high bonuses for top level CEOs.
    3. Advertising costs.
    4. Massive amounts spent on lobbying costs. More than $1 million spent per day is a lot of money. What could be done with that money if not spent on a daily basis for lobbying?

    I'm sure there are many others that aren't listed here, but this is a start.
  • pollguru · 5 months ago
    Those are definitely reasons.
  • DanF · 5 months ago
    Agree with everything you said except that Baucus wasn't "rolled" by the GOP. He rolled over quite willingly for Insurance companies all on his own. Bipartisanship was simply the excuse.
  • tim · 5 months ago
    It's a real shame, such hope, such potential but the health care bill is really, well it's nothing. Nothing, there is nothing to be proud of. Big pharma is paid off, the medical establishment is paid off and on and on....this bill is simply theft from the treasury given to big business. Americans do not live in a republic, by all definitions you live in a fascist corporate state. Unbelievable. The weird thing is you're all letting it happen. I don't get it? Yes we can? No...clearly you can not.
  • BH · 5 months ago
    Here's the kicker: the Baucus/GOP-neutered bill will receive ZERO GOP votes. They keep pulling this compromise BS, and then they don't vote for it anyway. How can the Dems be so stupid?
  • Rufus · 5 months ago
    It's easy to roll Baucus because he's been paid off.