Atlantis Online
March 28, 2024, 11:36:40 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: THE SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS IN CUBA
A Report by Andrew Collins
http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/atlantiscuba.htm
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

Health Care Is a Right, Not a Privilege

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Health Care Is a Right, Not a Privilege  (Read 4660 times)
0 Members and 87 Guests are viewing this topic.
Krista Davenport
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 5018



« Reply #75 on: July 23, 2009, 04:35:58 pm »

Oh, bs. The reason for the press conference originally was because he was going to announce a final deal for the health care bill, but the Blue Cross Democrats (all paid for by the insurance companies) backed out of it in the meeting they had on Monday.

So, he couldn't very well cancel the meeting after it was already scheduled.

Our Congress is despicable - they all **** themselves out to whoever produces the most campaign contributions.

Report Spam   Logged
Krista Davenport
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 5018



« Reply #76 on: July 23, 2009, 04:37:35 pm »

United Healthcare up 155% profits in Second Quarter: 
(By Denying Insurance Claims to the sick)

Health Insurance should NOT be a for profit industry.
Report Spam   Logged
Qoais
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 3423



« Reply #77 on: July 23, 2009, 06:26:05 pm »

I agree, the hold up is the lobbying.  The insurance and pharmaceutical industries pay millions to the politicians' poltical campaigns, so consequentially, laws are written for the benefits of big corportations, not the people.

Any complaints about your Canadian system, Qoais?  There is all sorts of misinformation in the U.S. about it here.

The main complaint is poor quality of care.  This is due to the cut backs in Provincial Government tho, as our Premier wanted to spend all the money the province has, and a lot it hasn't, on the stupid 2010 Olympics.  He cut back on the nurses in the hospitals, so hospitals had to close beds, cut down on operations, x-rays, tests, etc. etc.  There are long wait times to get anything done.  If you're told you need an MRI, you have to wait months to get one.  It's paid for, but you wait for it.  Operations are cancelled and you have to re-book and wait in line for months and months. 

British Columbia could not afford to hold the Olympics and the Premier should get a swift kick for being so stupid.  We will be paying for this for years and years and years, when we can't afford to re-vamp some of our dis-used buildings into homes for the homeless.  The irony of it all is, now the scientists are saying we aren't going to have any snow for the event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They're predicting it's going to be so warm, there will be no snow.  Most Americans probably don't realize that British Columbia is unlike any other province in Canada, in that the weather here is much, much more mild than anywhere else in Canada.  IF we get snow in winter, it's at the higher elevations, and if we get it down below, it's only for a few days and it's melted already.  That's why most people from the prairies, retire out here on the coast.  They don't have to shovel rain!!!!
« Last Edit: July 23, 2009, 06:29:21 pm by Qoais » Report Spam   Logged

An open-minded view of the past allows for an unprejudiced glimpse into the future.

Logic rules.

"Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong."
Harconen
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 2568



« Reply #78 on: July 23, 2009, 06:38:30 pm »

Ron is right, why not?

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/22/ron-paul-cut-overseas-spending-to-pay-for-health-care/

http://www.alternet.org/world/97913/the_us_has_761_military_bases_across_the_planet,_and_we_simply_never_talk_about_it/?page=entire
Report Spam   Logged

Ignis Natura Renovandum Integra
Qoais
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 3423



« Reply #79 on: July 24, 2009, 12:08:31 am »

I agree that the military should receive a LOT less funding.  If the US is going around telling everyone else to solve their problems peaceably, they should make themselves an example, a role model.  Besides - the wars of the future will not be obvious blood and guts.  It will all be done on the sly with no tell tale bullet holes or bomb blasts to be seen.  Death will come like a thief in the night.  There are tons of places where money could be saved.  The whole flippin budget needs a complete overhaul.    They sent out a questionairre years ago, here in Canda, with a list of what the government spent money on, and we were asked to do a survey and say where we thought funding should be cut.  We couldn't believe some of the crap they were funding!  It fell on deaf ears anyway.  You're lucky you have a president that can see the needs of the people and knows that it's the people that make the country, not just the rich.    It's true.  Health Care should be a non-profit enterprise.  Then everyone would benefit, especially those that NEED it the most.
Report Spam   Logged

An open-minded view of the past allows for an unprejudiced glimpse into the future.

Logic rules.

"Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong."
Meredith Sierrita
Full Member
***
Posts: 40



« Reply #80 on: July 24, 2009, 11:10:13 am »

Enter Rahmbo
Emanuel Holds 3-Hour Meeting With Blue Dogs... Compliments Critics For "Honesty"


Report Spam   Logged
Meredith Sierrita
Full Member
***
Posts: 40



« Reply #81 on: July 24, 2009, 11:11:19 am »

Rahm Negotiates With Blue Dogs, Says Bill Could Come Next Week
Rachel Weiner
First Posted: 07-24-09 08:59 AM   |   Updated: 07-24-09 09:30 AM

 In an interview with NPR, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said that the House could vote on a health care bill next week, despite disagreements with conservative Democrats.

"I can tell you what I know, which is that the speaker today announced to the caucus that their intention is to go next week, and she is working toward that goal," Emanuel said.

The top Obama staffer met for several hours with Blue Dogs on Thursday in a hastily-called negotiating session. "We don't have an agreement, but we continue to talk and that's a good thing," Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), said after the meeting. White House aides were also optimistic that the talks would result in a floor vote for next week.

Emanuel also said he was pleased by Republicans' vows to obstruct the bill.

Emanuel shrugged off Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) comments Wednesday that health care is Obama's "Waterloo" and remarks Thursday by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) that Republicans are plotting the bill's demise on a "week by week" basis.

"At least they're honest about their motivation. Their view about health care is about defeating President Obama," he said. "Politically, I actually appreciate what they said."


"I'm OK with politics, as you well know," Emanuel elaborated. "They're seeing it in political terms, and they've decided that if they can beat the president on health care reform, they've scored a big political victory. But what they've also guaranteed in policy terms is that you have the status quo. I actually appreciate what Senator DeMint said and Senator Inhofe. I'm different than everybody, I'm not going to criticize them. I compliment them. They're honest."


Report Spam   Logged
Meredith Sierrita
Full Member
***
Posts: 40



« Reply #82 on: July 24, 2009, 11:14:44 am »

Obama Dismisses GOP Senator DeMint's "Waterloo" Warning: "I'm From Chicago. I Don't Break"
President Obama returns to Chicago
Tags:Barack Obama, Health Care Reform, Chicago, DNC Back to top  Listen Print Comment Email Recommend  Subscribe By CAROL E. LEE | 7/23/09 9:30 PM



POLITICO 44

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio - President Obama left the Cleveland area and an afternoon of health care reform events for two Democratic National Committee fundraisers in Chicago, where he struck a defensive and at times defiant tone about his top priority.


After touching down in his home city for the first time in more than five months, Obama first attended a $15,200-a-person dinner at the Lincoln Park home his campaign fundraiser Penny Pritzker, where he took a shot at the media for what he deemed its "lack of sustained focus on the facts" concerning health care reform, which he said "makes it very difficult" for him.


Then he moved on to an event at the Hyatt Regency, where he defiantly told a crowd of about 750 donors, "We are going to pass health care reform in 2009."


And he used the backdrop of the street-fighter politics that define his home city to fire back at his Republican critics — one of whom, Sen. Jim DeMint, he said has told the GOP that defeating health care reform would “break” Obama.


Let me tell you something," Obama said. "I'm from Chicago. I don't break."


Obama tried to put the best face on the setback to his reform plans he was dealt Thursday, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's announcement.

"So even though we still have a few issues to work out, what's remarkable about this point is not how far we have left to go, it's how far we've already come," Obama said.


"I understand how easy it is for folks in Washington to become consumed by the game of politics."


He did his fair share of criticizing Washington and "the status quo" on health care, and declared the country to be "at an unmistakable crossroad."


"There's some in Washington who want us to go down the path that we've already traveled for the last decade or so," Obama said, "the path where we just throw up our hands and say, 'Oh this is just too tough.'"


Earlier Obama worked a room of over 100 people and posed for pictures at Pritzker's home, where guests nibbled on gazpacho shooters and watermelon salad.


He told the donors that opposition to his health care reform bill "gets on my nerves. It frustrates me that we'd even be suggesting the status quo is the best we can do."


He also praised his administration, saying that it had "reset relations not just with Russia" but with the world.


"Anti-Americanism is no longer fashionable," he said.


He made similar statements at the Hyatt fundraiser, where he also credited his administration with being able to "pull the economy back from the brink."


The Hyatt event was billed as a "Welcome Home" reception, where Obama met the coach and quarterback of the Chicago Bears — Lovie Smith and Jay Cutler — as well as retired Chicago Bulls point guard B.J. Armstrong and Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets.


"I'm honored to be a part of the welcoming group to welcome home my favorite son," Smith told the crowd. "I have the audacity of hope that the Chicago Bears will someday be visiting the White House giving the president a Chicago Bears football to toss around on the South Lawn."


Obama was basking in a sports glow after his favorite baseball team pitched a perfect game, and said somebody asked him which was a bigger deal: the White Sox's perfect game or the Dow going over 9,000.


"And I said I promise you, I promise you, a perfect game," Obama said. "That's big."


The president wrapped himself in the hometown welcome. Some of the first words he spoke during remarks at the Hyatt were, "It's good to be home."


"It has now been six months since Michelle and Sasha and Malia and Marian Robinson, my mother-in-law, said goodbye and moved into a nice little spot in Washington, D.C.," Obama said. "And we arrived there at an incredibly difficult moment in this country's history."


At one point in his remarks a woman yelled, "Give 'em hell, Barack."


Obama reiterated his pitch that "health insurance reform" is not just about the uninsured — although he said helping them is "a moral imperative" — but about lowering costs and increasing quality for Americans who have coverage.


The two events are expected to raise as much as $3 million for the DNC.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25368.html#ixzz0MC5jYPHs
Report Spam   Logged
Meredith Sierrita
Full Member
***
Posts: 40



« Reply #83 on: July 24, 2009, 11:20:32 am »

Dems mull skipping panel, bringing healthcare to floor  By Jared Allen 
Posted: 07/23/09 06:24 PM [ET] 
House Democrats, still searching for a way to pass their healthcare bill before August, are considering bypassing the Energy and Commerce committee altogether, where the bill has stalled, and proceeding right to the floor.

“The preferable course would be to go through the committee,” Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) said Thursday night. “But all options will be on the table.”

Larson’s comments came as he and the rest of the Democratic leadership team emerged from a meeting where they hosted Ways and Means Committee and some Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats.

Earlier in the afternoon, leaders met for hours with the group of seven Energy and Commerce Blue Dogs who have vowed to block the bill from passing their committee. Those Blue Dogs still have disagreements over regional Medicare reimbursement disparities and insufficient health care savings.

Leaders, including Larson and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said progress is being made, but have announced only their intention to continue meeting.

The Energy and Commerce Blue Dogs have not said much more.

“We continue to discuss the items that I've talked to all y'all about for two weeks,” said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.). “I like to think we're making progress, and the talks are continuing, and that's a good thing.”

Bypassing Energy and Commerce, which cancelled it’s markup of the healthcare bill on Thursday, would clear one hurdle, but it wouldn’t necessarily solve the Democrat’s vote problem. Hoyer for one has noted since last week that regional concerns about Medicare are not limited to the Blue Dog Coalition.

At the same time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been adamant, even as recently as Thursday morning, that she has the votes to pass the bill on the floor.

Asked about shuffling the healthcare bill right to the floor, Pelosi on Thursday night said: “I don’t want to do that.”

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) was not immediately available for comment on the idea of scratching the rest of his markup.

At least one member of his panel, though, indicated that she believes the markup will proceed.

“We've been asked to clear our calendars for Saturday,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) who joined with six other members of the Committee on Thursday to announce an amendment package they intend to introduce if and when the markup resumes. “I have a busy day in Los Angeles, but I might be spending that busy day in Washington, D.C."
 
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-mull-skipping-panel-bringing-healthcare-to-floor-2009-07-23.html
Report Spam   Logged
Michael Terranova
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 1186



« Reply #84 on: July 24, 2009, 01:14:59 pm »

No health care vote before August break, top Democrat says
Story Highlights
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says no vote before recess

Obama says the spiraling costs of current system would bankrupt the nation

Obama: "Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington"

Some Republicans say they like the current system, but it must be less costly

updated 9:33 p.m. EDT, Thu July 23, 2009Next Article in Politics »

 Read VIDEO
     
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate said Thursday the chamber won't vote on a health care reform bill until after the August recess.



 
Sen. Harry Reid says Congress won't meet President Obama's August deadline.

 1 of 2  The announcement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada goes against President Obama's stated timetable for the House and Senate to turn out bills by the August break.

In response, a senior administration official said Reid's announcement does not change Obama's timetable, with the president still wanting House and Senate votes before the upcoming recess.

"My attitude is I want to get it right, but I also want to get it done promptly," Obama said. "Our target date is to get this done by the fall. That's the bottom line."

Obama's desired schedule already appeared in doubt because of fierce Republican opposition and cost concerns by fiscally conservative Democrats over the $1 trillion package proposed so far.

Reid said leading Democrats and Republicans of the Senate Finance Committee, who are negotiating a compromise plan, have asked for more time to complete their work.

"The decision was made to give them more time," Reid said. "I don't think this is unreasonable. ... "I think that it's better to have a product that is one that's based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than trying to jam something through."

Obama has said his timetable is more a target than a make-or-break deadline, intended to spur Congress into action. He wants a health care reform bill on his desk by the end of the year to both capitalize on momentum of his new administration and avoid the thornier political climate of midterm congressional elections in 2010.  Watch more of Obama's comments on health care reform »

The president took his reform pitch to Ohio on Thursday afternoon, touring the Cleveland Clinic -- a hospital he has repeatedly praised as a model of high-quality, low-cost care -- and hosting a town hall meeting in Shaker Heights.

He repeated criticism of Republican leaders, saying they were trying to delay progress on health care reform. He singled out recent comments by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele that the process was moving too quickly.

Steele, Obama said, is "seeking to stall our efforts" and "recently went so far as to say that health insurance reform was happening 'too soon.' ... I think that's a little odd. We've been talking about health reform since the days of Harry Truman."

Don't Miss
Obama forges ahead with health care push
Obama takes health care push to primetime
Obama concluded that "reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington, but it's not soon enough for the American people."

Bills considered so far by House and Senate committees include Democratic proposals for a government-funded public health insurance option, mandates for people to be insured and employers to provide coverage, and an end to lack of coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

Republicans oppose a government-funded option and any requirement for employers to provide coverage. They also call for limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, which Democrats don't favor, along with a number of provisions contained in the Democratic bills, including increased efficiency in Medicare and Medicaid and a focus on preventive health programs.

On the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated Thursday that she wants the chamber to vote on a bill before the August break, despite remaining differences among House Democrats.

She had a tough meeting with House Democratic leaders Thursday morning, with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina describing it as "one of the most contentious" whip meetings since he assumed the party post.

Also Thursday, representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus, voicing the concerns of Obama's liberal political base, predicted that inaction this year would have dire ramifications on millions of Americans.

Several Black Caucus representatives have insisted the health reform plan as drafted is affordable, drawing a sharp contrast with more fiscally conservative Democrats who have raised cost concerns.

Later, several of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee met with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and committee chairman Henry Waxman of California to try to resolve their differences over the House proposal. The three-hour meeting ended with two of the Blue Dogs -- Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas and Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana -- saying they would continue to seek common ground.

"I'd like to think we're making progress," Ross said. "The talks are continuing and that's a good thing."

Pelosi downplayed talk of a Democratic split, saying she believes the party "will reach consensus" on the issue.

"I am more confident than ever," Pelosi told reporters. "When we work out some of the differences that we have, it will be very apparent to everyone else that the momentum is there. When the bill is ready, we will go to the floor and we will win."

Pelosi also echoed Obama's remarks from a prime-time news conference Wednesday night, in which the president repeatedly emphasized that the spiraling costs of the current system would bankrupt the nation while denying coverage to millions more Americans.

Meanwhile, Clyburn and the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, raised the possibility of Congress continuing to work on health care reform into the August recess.

Clyburn warned that going on break without passing a bill would bring headlines of failure to act.

"It is much better to postpone, if not cancel vacation -- our August break -- and stay here until we get this done," Clyburn said. "This is too important."

Durbin noted there wasn't time before the August 7 recess for the Senate Finance Committee's compromise plan to be debated by the full panel, then blended with a separate Democratic bill from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before going to the full chamber.

"Count the days," he said. "Either we are going to go into overtime, which is always a possibility, or have to face the prospect of doing it after August."

In response, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said he wasn't interested in staying longer to talk only about what he called Democratic plans to take over the health care system.

Instead, Pence said, "we can do some modest changes that will lower the cost of health insurance for families and small businesses, but that's not what they're trying to do here."

Obama and Democratic leaders say the problems are deeper and systemic, with spiraling costs that eventually will bankrupt the country and with more than 12,000 people a day being added to the current figure of 46 million without health insurance.

The Senate Finance Committee talks do not include a government-funded public insurance option favored by Obama and top Democrats, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said Wednesday. Instead, negotiators are looking at setting up health insurance cooperatives that would provide collective policies.

Obama dropped direct mention of that provision from his opening remarks Wednesday night and Thursday. Both times, he later spoke of the benefits of a public option in response to questions, mentioning how it would provide competition to private insurers to drive down prices.


Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said the goal was to bring that competition to the system, regardless of the form or label.

"What we want to do is make sure, whether it's a public option, whether it's a cooperative, whether it's a fallback plan or trigger plan with a public option, we want to make sure that we're going to hold the private sector honest," Carper said. "We're going to make sure that competitive forces work."


CNN's Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this story.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/23/health.care/index.html
Report Spam   Logged
Michael Terranova
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 1186



« Reply #85 on: July 24, 2009, 01:16:59 pm »

Understand what this is all about!  Each month, up to four thousand more people are dropped by their insurance companies for being sick, or their claims are not paid for pre-existing conditions.

Delays only allow the insurance companies to run more ads and try to kill this proposal again and again, as they have done for all the last seventy years, since good old Harry Truman first proposed it.
Report Spam   Logged
Jeanetta Clash
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 2187



« Reply #86 on: July 24, 2009, 04:40:59 pm »



 7.23.2009
The Healthcare Timeout is Fine.
by Nate Silver @ 7:39 PM



To hear the defeatism and paranoia on some liberal blogs this afternoon, the "timeout" that Harry Reid and the Senate called on health care today -- they won't vote on the measure before the August recess -- is just about the stupidest thing since Chris Webber, pictured at left, called a phantom timeout in the 1993 finals, costing his team a technical foul and the Michigan Wolverines the national championship.

It isn't. It is, first of all, inevitable, and second of all, about as likely to do the Democrats some good as some harm, although that may depend on certain exogenous factors that are relatively outside of their control.

Ten days ago, I wrote a piece entitled, "Why Democrats Have No Time to Waste", the thesis of which was basically that Obama's approval ratings were liable to decline over the near-to-medium term and so Democrats had better get busy on health care while they could.

But a couple of things have happened since then.

Firstly, the media environment has become very treacherous. There's been all sorts of piling on, for instance, about last night's satisfactory press conference -- this is almost certainly the most sustained stretch of bad coverage for Obama since back when Jeremiah Wright became a household name after the Ohio primary.

I don't think the media has a liberal bias or a conservative bias so much as it has a bias toward overreacting to short-term trends and a tendency toward groupthink. The fact is that there have been some pretty decent signals on health care. Yes, it has stalled in some committees, but it has advanced in others; yes, the Mayo Clinic expressed their skepticism but also the AMA -- surprisingly -- endorsed it; yes, the CBO's Doug Elmendorf got walked into a somewhat deceptive and undoubtedly damaging line of questioning about the measure's capacities on cost control, but also, the CBO's actual cost estimates have generally been lower than expected and also favorable to particular Democratic priorities like the public option. This all seems pretty par for the course, even if you wouldn't know it from reading Politico or Jake Tapper, who giddily report on each new poll telling us the exact same thing as though there's some sort of actual news value there.

The media likes to talk about "momentum". It usually talks about the momentum in the present tense -- as in, "health care has no momentum". But almost always, those observations are formulated based on events of the past and sloppily extrapolated to imply events of the future, often to embarrassing effect: see also, New Hampshire, the 15-day infatuation with Sarah Palin, the Straight Talk express being left for dead somewhere in the summer of 2007, the overreaction to "Bittergate" and the whole lot, and the naive assumption that Obama's high-60's approval ratings represented a paradigm shift and not a honeymoon period that new Presidents almost always experience.

I also believe that the media can, in the short term, amplify and sometimes even create waves of momentum. But almost always only in the short term. And that is reason #1 why it's not such a bad thing that the Democrats are getting a breather on health care. They're at, what I believe, may be something of a 'trough' or 'bottom' as far as this media-induced momentum goes. By some point in August, the media will at least have tired of the present storyline and may in fact be looking for excuses to declare a shift in momentum and report that some relatively ordinary moment is in fact the "game changer" that the Democrats needed. This is not to say that the real, underlying momentum on health care has especially good -- and the Democrats' selling of the measure certianly hasn't been. But it hasn't been especially poor either . As I've said before, the health care process has played out just about how an intelligent observer might have expected it to beforehand.

The second reason why the delay might be OK for the Democrats is because of the economy. Nobody much seems to have noticed, but the Dow is now over 9,000 and at its highest point of the Obama presidency; the S&P is nearing 1,000 and the NASDAQ has gained almost 55 percent since its bottom and has moved upward on 12 consecutive trading days. There are ample reasons to be skeptical about the rally -- it isn't supported by strong volumes, and it's almost entirely the result of surprisingly solid corporate earnings numbers rather than the sorts of figures that Main Street cares about. But, there are two big dates to watch out for. On July 31, an advance estimate of second quarter GDP growth will be released, and on August 7th, we'll get the monthly report on the unemployment situation. If either of those reports reflect the optimism elicited by the corporate earnings numbers -- in this context, a job loss number under ~250,000 or a 2Q GDP number somewhere close to zero -- there will be a lot of quite optimistic chatter about the end of the recession which might not penetrate to Main Street, but which will at least have some reverberations on Capitol Hill.

A few hours ago, I asked our readers what they expected Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating to be on August 31st, when the Senate's recess will be just about over and the health care sausage-making will begin again. The average guess was 55 percent, which is exactly where it is today (a new low for Obama, we should mention). I should caution that our readers lean probably 2:1 or 3:1 liberal, and so there might be some optimism bias in this unscientific sample. But that strikes me as about the right assessment. Obama's numbers don't have much more room to fall before they hit the 53 percent threshold that actually elected him last November. And I don't think they're liable to go too much below that mark unless something actually and tangibly bad happens -- a bad unemployment report (or a sharp reversal of the market rally), the actual collapse of health care, some bona fide major gaffe, etc. Any of those things, indeed, could happen. But just as likely Obama will benefit from some good economic numbers or simply some reversion to the mean as the media firing squad picks up and plays golf for a month.

The Democrats could find themselves in a better position after the August recess or they could find themselves in a worse one -- how's that for a bold prediction! But liberals' doom-and-gloom, conservatives' glee, and the media's nearsighted reporting are all equally uncalled for.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/07/healthcare-timeout-is-fine.html
Report Spam   Logged
Harconen
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 2568



« Reply #87 on: July 24, 2009, 05:15:23 pm »

I agree that the military should receive a LOT less funding.  If the US is going around telling everyone else to solve their problems peaceably, they should make themselves an example, a role model.  Besides - the wars of the future will not be obvious blood and guts.  It will all be done on the sly with no tell tale bullet holes or bomb blasts to be seen.  Death will come like a thief in the night.  There are tons of places where money could be saved.  The whole flippin budget needs a complete overhaul.    They sent out a questionairre years ago, here in Canda, with a list of what the government spent money on, and we were asked to do a survey and say where we thought funding should be cut.  We couldn't believe some of the crap they were funding!  It fell on deaf ears anyway.  You're lucky you have a president that can see the needs of the people and knows that it's the people that make the country, not just the rich.    It's true.  Health Care should be a non-profit enterprise.  Then everyone would benefit, especially those that NEED it the most.

Great post!

Just emagine 761 Military Bases Across the Planet and no money for Health Care!


Report Spam   Logged

Ignis Natura Renovandum Integra
Qoais
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 3423



« Reply #88 on: July 24, 2009, 09:18:30 pm »

I am totally stunned by the cost per month you people pay for your health care.  For my husband and I, we pay $48.00 each a month, and we pay every 3 months.  It's mandatory here in BC to have the health care and if you can't afford it, they pro-rate you on your income so you can have it anyway.  So - if we couldn't afford the $48.00 each per month, they would look at our income, and we would be charged at a certain per-centage of our income.  If you have super low income, health care is about $15.00/month.  If you're on welfare, you're covered automatically.  I will say this - tons and tons of people are quitting smoking because A) they can't afford it, and B) it cuts way down on health care - or it will in the future - for smoking related diseases.  In some extended coverage plans, like thru work, you get a better rate if you're a non-smoker.
Report Spam   Logged

An open-minded view of the past allows for an unprejudiced glimpse into the future.

Logic rules.

"Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong."
Jeanetta Clash
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 2187



« Reply #89 on: July 24, 2009, 11:37:03 pm »

Qoais,

Can you believe that there are some people here that are so spooked by government health care that they don't even want to change?  The media bashes the idea and gives the Republicans all the air time they want to spread their lies.

Here, health care is linked to your job.  If you are between jobs, they will charge you anywheres from $1,000 dollars a month and upwards, with usually a 20% raise in premium every year.  Most people can't afford it so if they get a major illness like cancer, and they aren't working anywhere, it is basically a death sentence, or a bankruptcy, meaning you lose everything.

Even some people who have insurance have to take $6,000 deductibles just to be able to afford it.

All the politicians are being paid off by the lobbyists for the insurance industry who know that government run health care will ruin their profits, so that's what the delay is all about.

We are the only industrialized country without government run health care!!!  It's pathetic. All these politicians are like prostitutes, and they have government run health care themselves!
« Last Edit: July 24, 2009, 11:38:21 pm by Jeanetta Clash » Report Spam   Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy