This is not hard to see unless you are really squeezing your eyes shut and screaming "I can't hear you".
Obama himself has said it doesn't cover everyone. But he actually claimed in last weeks debate that it was because they wouldn't pay for it, or claimed it was too much for them to afford.
But I was actually shocked when he later stated if they used Emergency Rooms for health care, because they don't have insurance, he would fine them. The same people he said were too poor to buy his insurance?
Now, why does a diarist turn personal and bring in emotions and feelings when experts are discussing issues and policy? [I used to have great respect forPaul Krugman, but I can't figure out what his agenda is. Why does he hate Obama so much?] This is not a prom where someone is choosing which one will be more lively. Can we please stick with the issues?
Now you can readPaul Krugman's article all by yourself. You don't need me to creatively try to distort any realities of the facts he clearly points out. But the other perfect indication that Obama will not be providing Universal Health Care, not based on the specifics of his proposal that IS NOT UNIVERSAL, and not that he started his campaign not really wanting to offer a Universal Health Care at all, by all early campaigning and lack of a program showed.
Obama joined in pledging support for universal care but said he had not concluded how much additional revenue it might take. "I will do whatever it takes," he said.
A member of the audiencechallenged him by saying she had gone to his campaign Web site and could not find any serious discussion about how he would expand coverage. Obama said his campaign is just eight weeks old and that he is still in the process of developing a plan of his own.
But he suggested that plans are less important than the political skills required to force a national consensus. "Everybody's going to have some good ideas," he said. "The question is, are we able to bring a majority of people together around the need to solve the problem now?"
(I remember that Forum, he was very sarcastic and demeaning to the young girl who brought that up.
He then went on to New Hampshire to have his own Forum to see what he might propose. Actually hoping if it was Universal, it was for emergency care only, not for health maintenance. It did not go as he was hoping.
After some very brief remarks about his quest for the presidency, Obama took charge of the forum in a professorial style, almost as if he were conducting a seminar law class at the University of Chicago.
He opened the forum itself with some comments about his principles of health care. Other than a general comment about his commitment to universal health care and a few examples of how money might be saved in current medical practices (flu shots for the elderly, electronic recordkeeping, etc.), he did not seem to offer any principles that could serve as guidelines in developing a health care plan.
He concluded those opening comments by expressing a willingness to listen to all ideas, regardless of their ideological background. He then asked the participants to "tell their stories" about their experiences with the current health care system. This call for personal stories would be the predominant theme for the next two hours or so.
Not too surprisingly, virtually all of the ensuing stories consisted of complaints about the current health care system. The most frequent theme that arose in those various tales was the severe problems caused by the denial of insurance coverage or the absence of any affordable insurance plans. Unemployment problems and preexisting medical conditions were the two variables mentioned most often as the causes of non-coverage. All of the individuals telling these stories pleaded for a universal, single-payer insurance system.
However, many other complaints and criticisms were offered. Lack of portable insurance plans, escalating medical costs, overemphasis on technological tests, limited access to patients for their medical records, over attention given to corporate lobbyists, and so forth—those shortcomings and others were all voiced in personal accounts.
At various points in the discussion, Obama asked if there were anyone in the audience who was happy with a private health care plan, presumably to introduce some balance in the proceedings. But few participants took the bait.
Two personal accounts of the horrible consequences of losing a good employer-based plan were offered in response. Towards the end, one young man professed that he was quite happy with his current company plan and that he would not want to lose it in a change to a universal system. Otherwise, this audience was clearly not interested in discussing the merits of current private plans.
Probably the most dramatic moment in the discussion arose when Obama decided to be a "devil’s advocate" for a few moments and raised the issue of possible rationing of medical services if a universal, single-payer insurance system were installed. At least it was the most dramatic moment for me, as that question keeps arising in my mind, thanks to my training in economics. If we do not provide medical services according to income distribution and market pricing, then how do we decide to allocate those services?
Two participants responded passionately that rationing already exists in the current system and that there is nothing inherently fair about it. Their comments provided a good opportunity for Obama to turn away from the story-telling approach temporarily and to talk about his beliefs on how a health care system ought to be managed.
However, he segued instead to a series of somewhat disconnected questions about what features we would like to see in a new health care system.
Therein lies my discomfort with this event: Obama’s continuous segues away from the issues raised by various individuals. More often than not, he responded to a story with a little story or example of his own. He also tended to cue in on what he apparently perceived to be the backgrounds of the story tellers.
...But, that he is telling you, not just by playing the Republican smear handbook of 1993 the last time we tried to get Universal Health Care by Hillary Clinton, is that he is telling you with his attack mailing, he is opposed to a Universal Health Care-by his very attack.
And for some who are actuallly trying to complain that Ms. Clinton is actually trying to make sure every single American has Healh Care, like it's a bad thing, and it may be an automatic enrollment. That IS what Universal Health Care is. And if you actually think mandating democratic government programs is bad, then you may want to move to another country that doesn't practice these principles with a Federal Tax, Social Security and Medicaid as an automatic enrollment for living in the United States of America.