"We need to see around the corners."
This line in the debate last night by Barack Obama said it all.
We need to look to the future. The damage done over the last 8 years has been unimaginable for our people, our economy and our international position.
And the future in America is health care as a right and universal coverage.
John McCain will make the problem worse.20 million lose coverage under McCain
And a new Obama ad attacking McCain's plan.Taketh
Obama is the future. This defines Barack Obama. Not the past. He learns from the past. Not the present. He appreciates how every day people are living now and cares about them and their future. But ultimately, he is using this information on both the past and the present to look forward and shape the future.
Barack Obama said it all tonight in order to clearly contrast his candidacy to John McCain's. And boy is McCain trying to fight it, being all Mavericky and all.
Obama represents the future.
McCain represents the past.
It really is that simple. And we are so tired of the last 8 years. And in this election, we are offered the opportunity for a really smart, caring, charismatic, truly extraordinary young man, Barack Obama.
Obama knocked health care out of the park. He did a great job explaining the limitations of McCain's plan and the advantages of his.
McCain taxes health benefits including retiree health benefits. How is that gonna fly in Florida?
McCain will cut Medicare and Medicaid by $1.3 trillion over ten years - gosh how is that gonna go over in Florida?
McCain will allow insurance companies to set up in states with the weakest regulation and sell their bare bones policies to any one naive enough to beleive that their policy will actually pay for thier care when they need it.
McCain wants to deregulate the health insurance industry, just like we did with the banking industry, and we all see how well that is going. Insurance companies will make even more money off the American people and leave those with poor health, who need health care the most, without access and no guarantees of coverage?.
McCain's ideas about deregulation, letting the market work, letting insurance companies compete -- these are OLD ideas that the Bush Administration has been pushing for the last 8 years. They don't work in health care These ideas go right up there with privatizing social security.
McCain's plan is to privatize all of health care. He said health care is a personal RESPONSIBILITY.
Everywhere else in the world it is a RIGHT.
Obama said HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT!
A right. YES. This is what the single payer crowd had been waiting for. Health care is a right. That has been my tag line since the first time I started blogging on this site.
HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT!
A right means the the government has responsibility (not the individual) in seeing to it that you are secure -- in this case that you have access to affordable, comprehensive, high quality health insurance.
UNIVERSAL COVERAGE IS THE FUTURE.
The right to health care and universal coverage in the US will not look like it does in other countries.
Under an Obama Administration, It is likely that business will still contribute a significant share even if many of them no longer administer health benefits.
It is likely that people will have to help pay for premiums out of pocket and pay for a portion of their costs -- but only what they can afford relative to their incomes.
It is likely that Medicare and Medicaid will be expanded to more people.
And it is likely that the US will pool risk to save real dollars through a national exchange where those without government or employer coverage will have real choices of private plans or a new public plan that operates like traditional Medicare with direct premium subsidies to individuals and families based on their income.
The clip of the health care discussion in the debate comes around 6:58 plus or minus 5 minutes