Universal Health Care for America

[Guest Yawn]

These bills are more or less identical to Romneycare, the healthcare reforms Mitt Romney brought in in Mass, mandate and all. So, if the GOP nominates Romney to run against Obama in 2012 it'll be fun watching him badmouthing his own health care reforms.

[Guest John]

I mostly follow the consumer electronic industry, in which prices drop substantially with technological advances. I find it interesting that the cost of health care never seems to become more affordable no matter how much advances take place. Why is that?

[Guest Liberal in CT]

These bills are more or less identical to Romneycare, the healthcare reforms Mitt Romney brought in in Mass, mandate and all. So, if the GOP nominates Romney to run against Obama in 2012 it'll be fun watching him badmouthing his own health care reforms.

 

Mass. healthcare is totally different in what the President wants. That is why the Republicans and Democrats don't talk about it.

[Guest LAW]

97.4% of Massachusetts Residents Now Insured!

 

Health Care Reform has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

 

Our uninsured rate is now a remarkable 2.6%, according to a Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy study conducted by the Urban Institute.

 

The U.S. Census has determined that we have the lowest rate of uninsured residents in the nation.

 

Government, employers, health care providers and citizens have all had a role in achieving this success. Congratulations, Massachusetts!

 

https://www.mahealthconnector.org/portal/site/connector/menuitem.d7b34e88a23468a2dbef6f47d7468a0c?fiShown=default

[Guest Allister]

These bills are more or less identical to Romneycare, the healthcare reforms Mitt Romney brought in in Mass, mandate and all. So, if the GOP nominates Romney to run against Obama in 2012 it'll be fun watching him badmouthing his own health care reforms.

 

This was supposed to be a model for healthcare. Well the model is a disaster. When Romneycare became law, Massachusetts health care spending increased by nearly 30 percent. Meanwhile, insurance premiums increased by 8-10 percent per year, nearly double the national average. So that is why I am focusing on a tea party candidate.

[Guest Kalahari]

I think that the problem is stubbornness on both sides, the "Stupaks" and the liberals. However, I think that Stupaks' position is supported by the great majority of Americans. Regardless how we feel about abortion per se, the majority of Americans DON'T WANT THEIR TAX DOLLARS TO PAY FOR ABORTIONS, plain and simple.

 

Any anti-choice side deal to accommodate Representative Stupak would mean eliminating all private insurance coverage of abortion, and the Nelson provision would also end coverage for millions of women. Are we going to be forced to go back into a black market system.

[Guest ALWAYSRED]

Mark Steyn is right on the mark. Of course once the left loses control, we will not let them gain it back.

 

Obamacare represents the government annexation of “one-sixth of the U.S. economy” — i.e., the equivalent of the entire British or French economy, or the entire Indian economy twice over. Nobody has ever attempted this level of centralized planning for an advanced society of 300 million people. Even the control-freaks of the European Union have never tried to impose a unitary “comprehensive” health-care system from Galway to Greece. The Soviet Union did, of course, and we know how that worked out.

 

http://article.nationalreview.com/427119/its-about-government-not-health-care/mark-steyn?page=1

[Guest Sharon]

Any anti-choice side deal to accommodate Representative Stupak would mean eliminating all private insurance coverage of abortion, and the Nelson provision would also end coverage for millions of women. Are we going to be forced to go back into a black market system.

 

The issue around abortion for some is a question of women's rights. I can understand that. To other's it is the taking of a human life. Can you understand that?

[Guest Kalahari]

Rev. Kenneth Samuel, of People For Foundation's African American Ministers Leadership Council for a womens right to choose.

 

[Guest Widow's Son]

Where did this so-called Reverend get his education to preach? A woman should have the right to choose abortion if she thinks the child will be born into slavery? I do not find anything like this in the Bible. Does this so-called Reverend realize that there are many people that would love to adopt, but cannot due to a shortage of babies.

[Guest Human]

My God!!!! Nothing Has changed in politics "NOTHING". Abortions are going to continue regardless whether they are federally funded or not. Then came that Thomson story "Even though Hillary went to Brazil and Argentina".

 

Shaking head here "Nothing has changed in politics, Nothing".

 

I don't think that this will have any impact but I do agree with the Obamas Administration that kids SHOULD buy health insurance.

 

The exemptions’ that Obama gave to the unions, and government workers MUST GO.

This is a good a place as any to begin being honest with each other.

 

Now do I think that your group is going to take that out, among other provisions? NOPE!!!!!

But we HAVE TO START BEING HONEST WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

 

Your numbers are wrong, it's 46 million, not 44 million.

For the simple reason that we NEED Illegal Immigration to offset the Baby Boomers retiring.

 

Because since we have had abortion on demand, and no one has really wanted to fix the REAL problems of this country, We are ALL forced to play a very Sadistic game of politics.

 

The American People deserve the truth. Do I honestly think that this post will have an impact on this and future Issues? I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW.

 

 

 

 

 

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Which is more important? 44,000 people that die every year without healthcare or the 1.3 million babies that are aborted?

[Luke_Wilbur]

I am not following you. Who is Thompson? I know Hillary is Pro-Choice.

 

I just looked it up and forty five thousand people die each year due to the lack of health insurance.

 

http://www.cbsnews.c...in5318652.shtml

 

Forty six million people are without health insurance.

 

http://www.cbpp.org/...?fa=view&id=628

 

Can we all link our sources when we state facts. I know I forget sometimes, but it makes it easier for clarification. Thanks.

 

I am actually for most of Healthcare. I do not think any group should get preferential treatment. So on that point I am with you.

 

Sorry, but I will keep on fighting any abortion legislation. I am Catholic and abortion is against my religious belief. Although, I do believe that a woman does have a right to choose. I am just not trying to fund her mistake.

 

Can you explain what you mean by illegal immigration? My family came through Ellis Island.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Luke_Wilbur

[Guest August]

I cannot wait until this issue is over. I have had enough of the negative horse crap flying around.

[Guest Bluntman]

Can you smell what Barack is cooking?

 

 

[Guest 420]

Sell me some of the medical Mary Jane. I don't care if the government is my dealer as long as the the weed is good. Use my money on paying our debt and for health care. New York was once called New Amsterdam. Let's change the name back and start livin...

[Guest greenzen]

To set the record straight, I stand firm in my previous statement. At my church that is just common knowledge. In Section 1303, the bill allows tax credit subsidies for plans that include abortion and leaves an abortion surcharge in place. It then maintains the proposal to create a multi-state plan that includes abortion in Sec. 1334. Lastly, the Obama proposal would increase the Senate bill funding from $7 billion to $11 billion for community health centers in Sec. 10503 without any abortion funding restrictions. If the administration followed the Hyde Amendment we would not be in this mess. Although, I would rather entice Union workers and Federal workers into a health care plan than illegal aliens. For anyone that wants to fact check my statements go this link and put on your reading glasses.

 

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3590:

[Guest greenzen]

Sell me some of the medical Mary Jane. I don't care if the government is my dealer as long as the the weed is good. Use my money on paying our debt and for health care. New York was once called New Amsterdam. Let's change the name back and start livin...

 

I don't think we can smoke our way out of this mess. It actually may become another obstacle.

 

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-19678-Cannabis-Revolution-Examiner~y2009m10d10-Is-Medical-Marijuana-an-obstacle-to-healthcare-reform-Conant-v-Walters

[Guest Francis]

The Missouri State House has passed House Joint Resolution 48 (HJR48). The legislation, known as the "Missouri Health Care Freedom Act" seeks to make public policy for the state that every person within the state of Missouri is and shall be free to choose or decline to choose any mode of securing health care services without penalty or threat of penalty by the federal government of the United States of America.

 

http://www.house.mo.gov

 

The Virginia Legislature is about to pass the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act. The bill states that no law shall restrict an individual's right and power to choose private health care systems or private plans. The measure states that no law will infringe on an individual's right to pay for lawful medical services. The bill further states that no law shall impose a penalty, tax, or fine upon an individual who declines to contract for health care coverage or to participate in a health care system or plan, except as required by a court in a judicial dispute to which the individual is a named party.

 

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB10

 

Once these bills are law, look for other states to follow suit.

[Guest MARCH4LIFE]

# At conception: the moment your egg is fertilized by a sperm it contains the plans for every detail of the baby’s development; including the sex of the baby, hair and eye color, personality and body type.

 

# 3 weeks: The heart begins to beat.

 

# 4 weeks: The brain, spinal cord and nervous system develop.

 

# 5 weeks: Arms with hands, fingers, legs with feet, toes and eyes can be seen.

 

# 6 weeks: Brain waves can be detected.

 

# 7 weeks: Facial features are visible, including mouth and tongue. Eyelids are forming. The developing life is about 1 inch long.

 

# 8 weeks: Every organ is now present. Movement such as swimming in the amniotic sac is going on.

 

# Feet at 11 weeks 9 weeks: Hands bend, fingerprints and fingernails are forming, bones are hardening. Male and female organs appear.

 

# 10 weeks: The fetus is sensitive to touch, squints, swallows, frowns and sucks its thumb. Tiny teeth are forming in the gums. The fetus is now 2.5 inches in length. All that is left is for the fetus to grow bigger.

[Guest LAW]

The last few days have brought even more evidence that the health care status quo is working out great for the insurance companies – at the same time as it continues to fail American families and businesses. No wonder the insurance companies are spending millions and millions of dollars to block reform.

 

On Wednesday, a leading insurance broker laid out in clear terms what many Americans could already guess: the insurers’ monopoly is so strong that they can continue to jack up rates as much as they like – even if it means losing customers – and their profits will continue to soar under the status quo.

 

Speaking about the lack of competition – a key target of reform – broker Steve Lewis told investors on a conference call organized by Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs:

 

“Not only is price competition down from year ago (when we had characterized last year’s price competition as being down from the prior year), but trend or (healthcare) inflation is also up and appears to be rising. The incumbent carriers seem more willing than ever to walk away from existing business resulting in some carrier changes…”

 

What does it mean when the insurance companies “walk away?” It means more and more American families forced to choose between the mortgage and health care bills. It means being hospital visit away from certain bankruptcy. And for Mr. Lewis’s clients – business owners – it means not being able to do the right thing for their employees.

 

Asked about the rate increases we’ve all been hearing so much about, Lewis said:

 

“I’d say we settled in a range, on our book of business, from a 5 percent reduction to a 50 percent increase. But generally speaking, we were in the low- to mid-teens, and this is where the real challenges begin.”

 

Lewis then went on to answer questions about what reform would mean for the scores of businesses across the country who are being priced out of insurance because of lack of competition among carriers. He found that employers agree with the goals and urgency of health insurance reform:

 

“I think most people would acknowledge that there’s a need for healthcare reform, employers continue to be very frustrated. So when they look at what the Obama administration and the Democratic Majority state as their goals to increase access and lower cost and rail at what may be termed oligopolistic behavior of carriers in certain markets, I think employers really buy into that message and have much of that frustration and anger at our lack of solutions.”

 

Lewis’s conference call followed on the heels of another eyebrow-raising analysis from Wall Street (PDF).

 

You remember Wellpoint, the massive insurance company behind the 39-percent rate increases in California. Well, according to a recent study by Wall Street investment bank Cowen & Co. finds that “Wellpoint would be a primary beneficiary” if reform fails.

 

The Washington Post explains that Wellpoint’s business model is focused on the individual and small-group market where most of the egregious rate-hikes and abuses take place. So enacting reform – with its protections against unreasonable rate increases and guarantees that more of your money will go toward care, not profits – would mean that Wellpoint and others like it would have to change their ways. Which, of course, is what reform is all about.

 

It’s time to get this done.

[JT Allen]

I don't think we can smoke our way out of this mess. It actually may become another obstacle.

 

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-19678-Cannabis-Revolution-Examiner~y2009m10d10-Is-Medical-Marijuana-an-obstacle-to-healthcare-reform-Conant-v-Walters

 

Contrary to the quote by Kelly McParland of the National Post, there are not "30 million Californians able to get their baggies filled on the corner" because medical marijuana is legal in California. She is confusing "legal medical marijuana" with "legal marijuana."

There are not 30 million marijuana smokers in California any more than there are 550,000 marijuana smokers in DC.

McParland's is a short-sighted, BS stance and for that matter, why not just leave it to the states' to decide it they want to legalize medical marijuana? So far it has worked out pretty well from all the reports I've read to date.

In Breckenridge, CO, medical marijuana was legalized Jan. 1, 2010 and to make a long story short: NO prescription from an MD, NO marijuana from a dispensary, period, bottom-line, end of story (I witnessed it first-hand).

[Guest Soldier of God]

I am asking all Catholics, Christian, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentacostal, Methodist, Episcopal, Church Latter Day Saints, Jewish, Islamic, Native American, Hindu, Buddist to focus and stop this legislation from happening for our Lord's mercy on us all.

[Guest Chaplain Gordon James Klin]

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) rebuked President Obama over abortion at the "health" care summit last Thursday, saying "for 30 years we’ve had a law that says there will be no taxpayer funding of abortion. This bill, that we have before us, for the first time in 30 years allows for the taxpayer funding of abortions." Obama's new version 2.0 actually increases abortion funding above and beyond the massive increase already in Harry Reid's Senate version of the bill. Boehner also issued a written request to include Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) in the discussions, but Obama refused to include Stupak, or even speak to him since September, as punishment for how Stupak led a House amendment last fall that would have significantly reduced Obama's abortion funding. Obama bristled that he and Boehner/Stupak "profoundly disagree" about whether tax-dollars should fund child-killing.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Tuesday that the abortion dispute cannot be resolved in the companion bill Democrats plan to use to settle the main differences between the House and Senate. In other words, she plans to ram the massive Harry Reid Senate amended version of H.R. 3590 (which already passed with 60 votes) through the House without any changes, then use "reconciliation" in a later companion bill to amend minor budgetary items, leaving the vast Senate abortion funding untouched, bypassing Stupak's amendment by arm-twisting moderate Democrats to first pass Reid's plan as-is.

 

But Obama thinks even more abortion funds are needed. The National Right To Life Committee revealed Obama's hidden "reconciliation" abortion fund-increase in their analysis of the new White House proposal, which will become Pelosi's companion bill: "None of President Obama's proposed changes diminish any of the sweeping pro-abortion problems in the Senate bill. And he actually proposes to increase the funds that would be available to directly subsidize abortion procedures [with $11 Billion for Community Health Centers like Planned Parenthood] and to subsidize private health insurance that covers abortion (through the premium- subsidy tax credits program)."

 

Boehner, Stupak, NRLC, and babies need help. Our petitions can change history...

[Guest GOP Leader]

"The American people have heard all this rhetoric from the President before, and they continue to say loudly and clearly they do not want a massive government takeover of health care.

 

"President Obama's latest health care sales pitch is, just like all the others were, heavy on snake oil and light on the harsh reality Americans would face under his plan: higher taxes, reduced Medicare benefits, and lost jobs. It's now up to the President's fellow Democrats to choose between siding with their constituents and joining his crusade for a government takeover of health care.

 

"If President Obama really wants to get a good sense of how his health care plan is playing in the country, he should look no further than the dozens of states – including Pennsylvania and New Jersey – where lawmakers are considering measures to opt out of his burdensome health care mandates. One such bill was recently passed by the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate and is expected to become law this week. This state revolt against a government takeover of health care is steadily gaining momentum as President Obama and Washington Democrats continue to ignore the will of the American people.

 

"It is not too late to scrap this job-killing monstrosity and start over with a clean sheet of paper and a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses. Republicans have offered a plan to lower premiums by up to 10 percent, which is exactly what the American people want."

 

NOTE: Visit the GOP State Solutions project to learn more about the growing state revolt against a government takeover of health care. Launched last year by Leader Boehner and Reps. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI), the GOP State Solutions Project is an initiative aimed at highlighting solutions put forth by reform-minded governors and state officials outside the Beltway.

 

http://states.gopleader.gov/

[Guest Chaplain Gordon James Klin]

Despite Scott Brown's (R-MA) victory as Senator-elect from Massachusetts, leading Democrats were quick to dismiss the voice of the people and promised to push ahead by funding abortion with our tax dollars. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who forced her pro-abortion funding scheme with Senator Ben-Nelson (D-NE) into H.R. 3590, defended her own victory over pro-life advocates, stating "it’s only an ‘accounting procedure’ that will do nothing to restrict [abortion] coverage." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi likewise thumbed her nose at the voters' strong anti-Obamacare rebuke in Massachusetts. "Let’s remove all doubt," Pelosi told reporters in San Francisco the week of Brown's election. "We will have health care – one way or another. Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happen[ed] in Massachusetts, just the question about how we would proceed," Pelosi added. "But it doesn’t mean we won’t have a health care bill." Make no mistake, pro-abortion forces still control Congress, the Senate, and the White House, and vow to aggressively ram their "tax-and-kill" agenda against the voters will.

 

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) caved in to pressure from the White House, and broke his pledge to "draw a line in the sand" against abortion funding, by instead reaching a compromise with pro-abortion Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to fund some elective abortions with our tax-dollars. According to the Washington Post, Nelson bargained for extra Medicaid money for Nebraskans, and an accounting-scheme that citizens choosing the abortion option in their subsidized "health" care plans must write separate checks for abortion co-pays. Senator Boxer admits not getting the total abortion funding she wanted, but Boxer claimed victory over the more conservative Stupak-Pitts version of the house bill that would prohibit tax-funding for all abortions except life of the mother, or familial or forced impregnation.