I want you to see and hear for yourself the depravity we are facing as the battle for healthcare reform moves into high gear.
Some Republicans who have to face the voters might not feel totally comfortable going on the record with this sort of assault on the American people, but I promise you, they all share this monsterous sentiment.
According to Andy Card, Health care is a want not a need - You can't make this stuff up.
In a comment, kovie, says Card represents what Hannah Arendt referred to as the banality of evil.
For those of us who have fought on behalf of single payer healthcare for many years, the White House healthcare Summit was both a breathtaking and bittersweet moment.
Yes, because of you, and some good folks in the White House, single payer got two seats at the Healthcare Summit table. We made a shitload of calls to the White House, then the next day, we all saw how committed citizen activism can change the course of history. Two fine Americans, Congressman John Conyers and Dr. Oliver Fein, president of Physicians for a National Health Program attended.
Embracing the truth though, requires us to acknowledge that single payer healthcare will not make it through on the first cut.
But do we pack up and go home? Such a decision would allow that sick fuck Andy Card to claim victory. So I say, ain't happening.
I've decided to regroup and battle along side some good organizationsgearing up for for what will become ground zero of healthcare reform. The fight for a stong and authentic public option.
As the United States seems headed into what appears with every passing day to be a depression, if we refuse to budge, if we refuse to wage holy war for a strong and well funded public option, I feel we may well be doing terrible harm to ourselves and our fellow citizens. During these very frightening times, so many are counting on us to help President Obama deliver meaningful reform. The president can't do it alone. He will need the support of every last one of us.
I am the first to acknowledge that a public option is not what we should be fighting for. We should be fighting for single payer. But now, I believe, the battle centers on whether we will even get a robust and well funded public option.
While we wage this new fight, we must continually remind all who listen that there is something still terribly wrong in a country that deprives its citizens of the gold standard, namely a system of privately delivered and publically funded healthcare, which is known as single payer.
The primary reason for this colossal failure is that our system of inefficient private insurance and powerful special interests has taken control of large pieces of our political system, and is in place to generate profits, not be the guardians of our health. Insurance companies spend tens of billions bribing buying politicians, trying to insure the healthy, avoid the sick, and deny payment for claims. Pharmaceutical companies take hundreds of billions of our health care dollars for drugs that cost a small fraction of that sum to produce.
It's all well and good for those of us still clinging to our own junk insurance to draw a line in the sand, and say either we get single payer, or let the whole damn toxic thing just sink. But tens of millions of our fellow citizens are suffering and literally dying at the hands of the Murder By Spreadsheet insurance industry. So we draw our own line in the sand and say, we will not allow a public healthcare option to be sacrificed at the alter of the insurance industry.
And when I hear scum, yes scum, like Andy Card tell us "healthcare is a want not a need", I become like a crazy hornet.
The battle ahead is already raging. The fires are already burning out of control.
Government-Run Plan Could Trip Up Health Overhaul
Giving Americans the option of buying medical coverage through the government -- an idea put forth by President Barack Obama -- is a potential deal breaker for some Republicans and insurance companies whose support would ease the way for a health care overhaul.
The proposal, which Obama advocated in his presidential campaign, would for the first time offer government-sponsored coverage to middle class families, as an alternative to private health plans. By some estimates, it could reduce premiums by 20 percent or more -- making it much more affordable to cover the estimated 48 million people who don't have health coverage.
But insurers fear competition from a government plan could drive them out of business, and Republicans worry it would lead to a government takeover of health care. Liberals, meanwhile, are equally adamant that Americans deserve the choice of government-sponsored health care.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
And then moron zombies like Roy Blunt make lunatic statements like this. Employers across America have already stopped offering health coverage as costs have skyrocketed. This alarming trend is accelerating as the Bush/Blunt financial catastrophe worsens.
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., emphasized that point in the Republican weekly radio address.
''I'm concerned that if the government steps in it will eventually push out the private health care plans millions of Americans enjoy today,'' Blunt said. ''This could cause your employer to simply stop offering coverage, hoping the government will pick up the slack.''
http://www.nytimes.com/...
I've received several emails about the article that follows, most people think it's a good development that these two unions pulled out of this "coalition", it signals that they and we (the American people) won't be marginalized or pushed to the side.
Quite the contrary Ms. Ignagni, we are so ready for a fight. We've been waiting many long years for a rematch, and this time we're going to win. We're going to get a strong public option. Take it to the bank, AHIP.
In Divide Over Health Care Overhaul, 2 Major Unions Withdraw From a Coalition
WASHINGTON — Two labor unions have pulled out of a broad coalition seeking agreement on major changes in the health care system.
. . ."S.E.I.U. and Afscme have left the table," Mr. Adler said Friday in an interview. "They have voluntarily pulled out at this moment. We are trying to keep the lines of communication open."
Mr. Adler, a professional mediator with 30 years of experience, said the coalition had been meeting since September. It tentatively plans to issue recommendations later this month on how to rein in health costs and help achieve the goal of universal coverage. Congress is grappling with the same issues and is struggling to find bipartisan consensus.
Members of the dialogue said they had been unable to reach agreement on proposals for a new public insurance plan or a requirement for employers to contribute to the cost of coverage.
Steven Kreisberg, director of collective bargaining and health care policy at the federation of state, county and municipal employees, said: "I can confirm that we did drop out of the dialogue last week. We are no longer part of the group."
Mr. Kreisberg said his union had withdrawn for "various reasons," which he declined to discuss.
The federation has flooded Congress with petitions supporting affordable health care for all. The petitions say Americans should have "the choice of a public plan, so we’re not left at the mercy of the same private insurance companies that have gotten us into this mess."
In the past, the federation has suggested that a public plan option could "build both public support and the infrastructure for a single-payer system" at some distant point in the future.
Insurance companies and many Republicans resist the idea of a new public plan, saying it would have unfair advantages and could ultimately drive some private insurers from the market.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Some of the most memorable moments of my life were with the heroes at the California Nurses Association. CNA is one of the finest, if not the finest unions in the United States today. CNA has stood up for single payer, like nobody else. And to this very second, CNA continues to fight for single payer, which, need I say again, is the most perfect solution to our monumental national shame.
And I'll leave you with this. We'll never stop coming after those who have destroyed so many American families and precious lives.