…the health of this nation is a national concern…

“We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all it’s citizens deserves the help of all the nation.”  — Harry S. Truman

Wichita, Kansas welcomes Dr. Margaret Flowers!

Healthcare mandate was Orrin Hatch’s idea!

Yes, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-sponsored a Republican-backed bill in 1993 that introduced the individual mandate.  The same requirement for everyone to buy insurance that has them screaming today was their own idea in 1993.  They were ‘fer it before they were agin it.’  Two other current senators also co-sponsored the plan: Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.  Read it here.

So, who bought these Senators in the time since?  How much did they cost?  Is this another perfect example of playing politics?

Obama to Bypass Senate with recess appointment

President Obama will bypass Congress and appoint Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a health policy expert, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said Tuesday.

Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said the “recess appointment” was needed to carry out the new health care law. The law calls for huge changes in the two programs, which together insure nearly one-third of all Americans.

Mr. Pfeiffer said the president would appoint Dr. Berwick on Wednesday. Mr. Obama decided to act because “many Republicans in Congress have made it clear in recent weeks that they were going to stall the nomination as long as they could, solely to score political points.”

In April, Mr. Obama nominated Dr. Berwick to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency has been without a permanent administrator since October 2006.  Republicans have used the nomination to revive their arguments against the new health care law, which they see as a potent issue in this fall’s elections.

“Health should be a right for everyone”

“Why do, basically, people with money have good health care and why do people who live on lower salaries not have good health care?”

THE UGLY WART ON THE FACE.

It’s not considered a “beauty mark” like a small mole at the side of the cheek, no, it’s the ugly wart that is plainly on the collective face of the United States that we try to ignore and overlook.

Former President G. W. Bush’s daughter was so moved by what she saw while on trips to Africa.  The lack of medical care for many of the poorer people of the world and her announcement of:

“Health care is a human right.”

She has formed and spearheads a cause to involve younger people into bringing health care to the people.  It is not limited to Africa. There are outreaches in the United States, for now they are focused on Boston Mass.

Boston Mass? Of all the places within the United States. Within Massachusetts one does not even have to drive fifty miles to find poor families and areas where health care is so neglected.  Oh but the counter is that health care is available but the patient may have to travel thirty miles or more and schedule weeks in advance to be seen.  Or they can simply walk into a E. R. to be seen.

I am aware of the cause and movement from watching Fox news Sunday.  There were two points I noticed from the piece.  First, to address Ms. Bush’s statement of “health care is a human right,” they asked, did she truly believe it to be a human right?  What did she think of the Health care reform bill that passed.  Yes, she does believe it to be a human right and she was glad that the health care bill passed.

The other point I noticed is the visuals were all from villages in Africa, only a brief sight of a fly over of Boston harbor was shown.  With the focus of the visuals of Africa villages, it implies that the problem is not close.  It is someone else’s problem not here, some other people and some other country’s concern.  The only mention of the problem here is in one of the oldest and most noticeable cities.  WHERE the Problem can be over looked in the movement and flow of the life there, I.E. can go hidden within the flash and flow.

So the problem with health care within the United States can be masked and corrected with simple and minor cosmetics. Like a wart on the face of the country, small and with a little effort hidden.

On the face of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL!

But the wart is not limited to the face of America when the country is stripped naked.  The warts can be seen, surrounded by the clear and beautiful skin of the nation.  But then we dare not strip the nation, to do so it would become like a wart of her face.  Try as one might, the eye focus on the wart on the face of someone else.  It can cause the viewer to feel rude and even self conscious about noticing.  Give a uncomfortable feeling for doing it, better to ignore it and pretend it is not there.

tosmarttobegop

GOP Losing Another One?

From this article, it sounds like the GOP has picked yet another losing stategy of pushing for repeal of the health care reform bill.  With all the noise coming from the Party of NO, do you think they can survive another losing point like this one?  This group seems determined to bring down Obama.   Perhaps the majority of Americans are getting tired of all their gnashing of teeth when they are yelling NO?

Indypendent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/health-care-repeal-losing_n_595726.html

GOP No-mentum

On Wall Street Reform

“Look, there’s no rush right now. We need to get it right.”
– Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), 4/21/10

“Start over please, Mr. President.”
– Fox News’ Steve Doocy, Karl Rove, 4/19/10

Rather than engage in substantive debate over reform, Republicans decided early on that they would lie about the legislation and slow down its progress. Instead of trying to fix the mess created by their own Party, Republicans are using a rhetorical ploy to confuse the public and kill reform. Over and over again.

Ultimately, Republican efforts to stall, slow, and stop progress on the stimulus and health care reform failed. Hopefully, history repeats itself in the course of Wall Street reform debate.

In case you missed these cartoons

Some of my favorites of the many cartoons health-care reform spawned

Americans’ Health-Care Change of Heart

It didn’t take long for Americans to come around on health-care reform: A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows 49 percent of Americans saying health-care reform is a “good thing,” with only 40 percent saying it is bad. This is a marked reversal from polling from before the legislation was passed and signed, which typically showed the public opposed. Forty-eight percent of respondents also say it’s just a “good first step” that needs to be followed up with more action. Additionally, congressional Republicans rate the lowest out of all the major players: Twenty-six percent said their work was excellent or good, while 34 percent say it was poor; for congressional Democrats, those numbers are 32 and 33 percent; for Barack Obama, they’re 46 and 31 percent.

McCain: ‘There Will Be No Cooperation’

Republicans appear ready to stand by the obstructionist strategy that failed to defeat health-care reform. “There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” McCain said on Monday. “They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.” Senator Judd Gregg, meanwhile, said that the “the institution of Congress has been fundamentally harmed.” Gregg acknowledged, however, that health care could no longer be a winning issue for Republicans by November: “It’s very possible that people will not be as focused on this by next November.”

Read more at THE HILL.

Health-care reform

On the eve of passing a national health-care reform bill, I’ve been thinking about Senator Edward Kennedy.  He would no doubt have helped make the argument that when you get this close, there are some things more important than reelection.  Speaker Pelosi, who often cites Senator Kennedy’s call for comprehensive health care, made that case recently on ABC’s This Week when she said “Why are we here? We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We’re here to do the job for the American people.”

Back in the good old days after the Senate passed its bill and before the Democrats lost their filibuster-resistant majority, negotiators had planned to name the legislation for Ted Kennedy and Michigan Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr., the senior House Democrat who had been advocating universal coverage since he arrived in 1955. That won’t happen; there are just too many other matters to worry about now.

Senator Kennedy’s son, Patrick Kennedy, when asked what his Dad would say: “This was never for him,” he said. “The greatest honor for him would be getting more people covered, any which way or how.”

Bachmann Calls for Civil Disobedience

We haven’t heard from Rep. Michele Bachmann in awhile, but it seems she’s right where we left her: The congresswoman from Minnesota told an audience it doesn’t have to obey the new health-care laws, should they pass. “Mark my words, the American people aren’t gonna take this lying down,” Bachmann said at a rally on Saturday. “We aren’t gonna play their game, we’re not gonna pay their taxes. They want us to pay for this? Because we don’t have to. We don’t have to. We don’t have to follow a bill that isn’t law. That’s not the American way, and that’s not what we’re going to do.” She went on, “This is dictatorial, what they are doing. we are not compelled to follow a non-law just because Obama and Pelosi tells us we have to.”

Maybe WE THE PEOPLE should ask the government NOT to pay this representative’s salary and benefits out of our tax money?  Is there any hope she convinced enough people from Minnesota NOT to fill out their census forms and therefore a representative will be cut from their state?

Read more here.

Damn socialistic commie pinko democrats!

Based on our many discussions about health care reform, I think all who blog here can agree single-payer is the solution, with Medicare for all coming in second.  Those are the solutions if Congress actually addresses the many challenges regarding our country’s health care dilemma.

From there, we diverge.

Simply put, our opinions range from those who want everything currently on the table killed (just about as badly as do the Republicans, albeit for totally different reasons!), to those who hope the first step will be improved (as quickly as possible!), so we’re advocating don’t make perfect the enemy of good (even tho we readily admit there isn’t very much good there).

If a health-care reform bill passes Congress it looks like it will be through reconciliation, although even that method of passage is in question.  Those of us who view this as a first and necessary step see the tweaking beginning immediately.  Some 40 million Americans who currently don’t have any health care coverage will be provided some options with taxpayers footing the bill.  This changes only the fact that taxpayers will be paying for insurance coverage instead of paying for emergency care.  But, maybe those Americans will actually get health care instead of only emergency care.  Still, the big winner is insurance companies who get more people on their rolls.

We continue to hope that some of the regulations, and those to come with the tweaking, will control how badly the insurance companies are allowed to abuse us.

Democrats have made it clear they intend to cover the uninsured before another lifetime or two elapses; the Republicans make it equally clear they do not.  Further, it appears Republicans will regain majorities in upcoming elections, and unless health care is addressed before that happens, we’re stuck with the alternative of nothing.

Nothing shouldn’t be an option!

Reconciliation only for GOP

Thanks to the 2006 and 2008 elections, conservatives no longer control the American government. They do, however, continue to essentially control the American media. As a case in point, you’ve probably heard that part of the Obama administration’s plan to pass health reform is to use the budget reconciliation process. The reason you’ve probably heard is that the press has been obsessed with the topic, repeatedly labeling it a “controversial” move that would “ram” legislation via an end-run around the normal legislative process.”

In fact, though most bills do not go through the reconciliation process—typically because their subject matter makes them ineligible—the process has been invoked frequently since 1980. And the reason it’s remained obscure until 2010 is that until the health-care debate, the press never saw fit to go into conniptions over congressional procedure.

Some of the mainstream media coverage of the reconciliation issue has been bad. Some of it, like this excellent NPR story, has been good.

Continue reading here.

President Obama on the Final March for Reform