This morning at 11:00 a.m. ET, President Obama will be at the University of Maryland in College Park to talk about health reform. We expect the President’s remarks to touch on what reform would mean for young people. Watch it on Facebook or at CNN.com and let us know what you think.
Tags: health care, Obama, reform
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Thomas Bates Bio: Thomas is Rock the Vote's Vice President of Civic Engagement. @BatesThomas Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
I’m watching it now — it occurs to me, that although it’s a great speech, it’s the people in the audience that really count. The President doesn’t get a vote in the Senate and he doesn’t have any representatives — but the people in the audience, whether on tv/internet/right here, can make a difference.
You can join or donate to rock the vote, or you could go to healthcareforamericanow.com to sign petitions and find events, or you could just call your senator or representative (google brings up some phone numbers pretty fast) or join facebook.com/publicoption. Obama’s great, far as he goes, but he’s really just one skinny little dude and there are a _lot_ more of us.
All that having been said, I hope he’s running these speeches all week.
Let’s not compare apples to oranges. I saw ABC’s video clip of
“GMA Gets Answers” addressing a health care issue of a teenager
with an eating disorder. The families chosen health care allowed for
$2,000. for mental disorders. Since the eating disorder is labeled as
a mental disorder, which it is,the family is upset with the insurance
company and saying that the insurance co. is forcing them to spend
their daughters college savings for her health care. While this is a
sad situation, it is not the insurance co. that is forcing them to spend
the funds for their daughters care, and it is not private American citizens
responsibility to pay for her care. The family chose this plan with the
$2,000. limit for this disability,even though they probably thought they would
never use it. It is the plan they chose. How about addressing the cause
of the eating disorder? It’s ridiculous to think that this is the most
sensible way to address this problem by forcing the government to
come up with a health care system to cover everyone and every
problem. I don’t want to be forced to pay a portion of this teenagers
$1,000 plus daily fees for the health care they are told is needed.
Not trying to be harsh, but I would rather pay a portion to look into
and resolve the cause of your daughters eating disorder. Thereby
resolving the source of trouble for her and many others before it can
become a health issue. Do you think that it’s possible that instead of
Insurance being the issue in this case, that the media has a great deal
to do with their daughters current condition? For example,
glamorous models everywhere you look on the tv shows, movies,
singers, magazines cover to cover and commercials are all sending a
message to everyone & especially the young, that thin is in and beauty
is one of the most important issues in a human beings life. Paying
for an expensive treatment center may arrest the disease,
but the cause her health problem, will still be there for her as well as
others to deal with again.
Love to hear of someone who has read the bill or at least part of it as it is
over 1000pages in length! Improving health care by making it possible
for all to 1.)receive, 2.)quality, 3.)affordable health care is a great undertaking,
that potentially can be done if the right people are sought and consulted.
Some, including the President, have quoted numbers that have left out simple
common sense truths that may confuse real issues. It’s not only numbers
that would suggest change or reform is needed. Here is an example..
Of those that do not currently have insurance, they still do have access to
emergency health care even if they cannot pay for it. Emergency health care
cannot be denied to simply on the basis that they do not have insurance.
(posted in every hospital emergency room in America)
The fact is, health care like everything else has cost, and those cost must
be paid for. The opportunity in this great country, currently still exist for
Americans to work hard & negotiate or purchase health care. Many choose
however, not to work, or some if they work, decide to purchase other wanted
(not needed) items instead of paying for health care insurance.
This is not the majority, only a foolish minority do this.
Do you really want the burden of being forced to care for those who won’t
even care for themselves?
Then there are those who have real cases of being denied health care for
reasons such as previous conditions, and those who have spent as much as
they can afford for their health care coverage plan to have it end up not being
enough, and also those who have spent large amounts of money on health
services that were less than good, quality health care. These are the issues
that we must continue to try to improve. Not the numbers of people covered
alone. We still have the best health care in the world, people still come here
from other countries in spite of the coverage they have in their own country and
based on those two facts alone, it would be foolish to reform the entire
health care system to model systems in other countries where it is proven
not to work.
In order to truly reform health care to make it better, not just reformed.., mandates
a true,honest look at the real issues as well as the cause for illnesses. (which
we are not even discussing- a whole other topic of why Americans with the best
care in the world, are also some of the most sick?! Maybe the super easy
access to processed foods everywhere has something to do with it)
The current health care bill proposed by the President is like
treating symptoms of disease, trying to make everyone happy and feel better
quickly. Much like taking pain medicine so you do not feel the pain, which can
be addicting and does not treating the cause of the pain.
Even worse than that, at the same time in this plan, the government is
given complete control of an entire nations decisions on how they handle
their own personal health care business. When you read the bill, you will
see many disturbing rules outlined,dictating how health care will be controlled.
Your membership, your qualifications, employers qualifications, insurance
companies qualifications, your private dicisions of treatment while they are
still your decisions.. are regulated as to how,when,where, and with whom
those conversations must be made. (none compliance in any area
would result in ineligibility) It’s possible that you would not receive health
care at all if you cannot properly obey the guidelines laid out, and all will
be left up to the governments appointed secretary for that particular area.
Your personal banking information is a requirement of this bill.
Penalties will be charged for not selecting the government care. Resulting in
higher costs to those small or large companies or even individuals, who
would choose other plans. The President says you may choose to keep
your current health care, well what he is not telling you is that you will
be penalized (punished) if you do. How many companies will continue to
offer the same plan when now they will have a penalty to pay on top of it?
It should be called..”Penalty Option” since in fact that’s what it is.
With the resulting higher use of the governments plan, there will be less
competition. Competition drives quality, therefore less quality.
Do you really want low quality health care?
No, we all want the best. That’s why people from all over the
world come to America for health care. Even if they have health care
in their own country. They still come for two main reasons..
quality and availability. (quality driven by competition, and availability
driven by cost effectiveness)
In some countries, while health care is supposed to be available to all,
the waiting could and in some cases does kill you, and the advancement
of technology in some countries is not available as it is in America.
The President has stated that abortions will not be funded., that is because
technically abortions will not, but health care will. Abortions will not be
categorized as abortions, but simply health care.
So in the current bill, You will be funding any one who chooses to have an
abortion.
Also, illegal immigrants according to the President will not have funded health care.
Representative Wilson pointed out this problem (untruth), that there was no provision or
mechanism in the bill to allow for verification of an applicants legal status.
Afterward, the White House made a clarification, that there will be a provision
for that verification. Thankfully some are reading the bill and speaking out.
It’s too bad that it took an outburst in front of the media however to get the
attention of the President to address this important issue. There should be
serious study of the bill and meaningful debates with concerns from the
public that are not disregarded before any decision to pass a bill.
My biggest concern, not even the cost that we can’t even possibly pay, that
will be handed down to our children (so embarrassing!), is the handing over of
our own rights to the government to make all of these decisions for us, and
allowing them to be in our personal business by accessing our bank accounts.
Do any of you really believe that if you give the government that type of
control that you are still free? If so you have no idea what Freedom even is.
Many are trusting what the President is offering,
with out even looking into the actual bill itself. This is a grave mistake
when citizens give government the control to do whatever they think is best,
essentially w/out having to answer to anyone. The congress & senate must
agree in order to have an up or down vote, but they are doing what much of
the citizens are doing,.. agreeing with the President without even reading
the bill. They are dividing the bill amongst the members to read because
the bill is so lengthy. Excuse me, but that is why they are in office, to protect
the well-fare of the citizens and uphold the constitution! Why is the President
trying to insist that such a large document that would potentially have such
a huge impact on many areas of citizens lives be so quickly rushed through
without proper time to understand what the bill even says.
How can they pass legislation that they have not read?
Weren’t we taught to never sign anything without reading it first, including
the fine print? How much more important for our elected officials to read
documents that will be binding citizens to obey and shaping the
nations economic and health as well? I do not support the government
control in this current health care reform bill. “You do not throw out the
baby with the bathwater”. Our health care is very good in America.
The best in the world! I don’t have all the answers, and neither does the
President or his administration. Listen to your educators in
school about health care issues, or do your own research.
Encourage those who have opted for none essential items in their
lives to be responsible citizens and sacrifice some of those items for
health care instead. Encourage children in school to study math,science,
health and fitness etc. in order to help improve the care we already enjoy,
Let’s not bail out from the hard work needed by demanding or suggesting
government pay for everything. The government is not the solution to
everything, nor should we be looking to them to solve all of our problems.
Government may help find the solutions, but they cannot be the solutions.
America has many untapped resources in it’s population and to try to give a
few elected officials the responsibility of providing for our every need is
simply wrong.
Jee-zus, lady. Switch to decaf.
I did read most of what you wrote, though, even though it doesn’t rightly have anything to do with Obama’s speech and kind of meanders around.
1) Anorexia is, alone and by itself, fatal — an insurance company could consider it an addiction (which it is), a life-threatening condition (which it is), or simply pay for hospitalization according to their own promises about hospital stays. Insurance companies will, though, ALWAYS interpret their own rules in a way that makes them the most money. So if your daughter goes into kidney failure, it’s covered — unless they figure out she’s anorexic, or find another excuse not to pay you, in which case: not covered.
2) You point out that we ALREADY pay for health care for all Americans through the emergency room — then say you don’t want to pay for the health care of others with Medicaid or a subsidized public option. So it would seem that you are in favor of expensive, poor-quality health care for everyone, and against cheaper, higher-quality, more equitable health care for everyone.
3) I quit reading when you started in with the abortion, illegal immigrant, “read the bill” nonsense. These arguments are all signs to me of someone who is thinking with the reptilian part of their brain and not the frontal lobe. How many times do you have to hear that President Bush’s final budget bill was 1,400 pages, and that this is average for large spending bills? (http://www.slate.com/id/2225820/) How big does the punishment for illegals have to be before you’re satisfied? The House bill denies them access — do you want a line in there that gives Minutemen AK-47s to keep illegals out of doctors’ offices? How many AK-47s?
Just admit it — you won’t be satisfied with ANY kind of reform as long as there are liberals involved. The health of the country — the health of your neighbors and your own health — doesn’t matter to you one bit.
Hey Nick,
I appreciate your comments. I apologize if my comments were “meandering”, but I do get passionate about the fact that some are for passing a bill they have not read. Are you happy with the way giving your rights away to the government? It’s too bad you didn’t read all of my comments, you may have appreciated something in the latter portion., or had a suggestion on how we may come to an understanding.
As far as President Bush’s final budget bill
being 1,400 pages in length, and this being the “average” for large spending bills? Does that make it right, because someone else had a large bill or it’s average? As far as the large spending, we’ve done enough of that for the full term! How do you feel about handing down this deficit to your children and grandchildren?
Why do you say “punishment for illegals”? Why should I be satisfied? What do you mean? If I break the law, I must deal with the law. What you may not realize is that paying for illegals currently is a huge part of the currentl problem of care costs. They do receive free medical attention in the emergency rooms, and sometimes get away with purchasing health care without paying other taxes that all “legal” American citzens must pay. They enjoy the freedoms America offers without contributing to our country. Why can’t they come in the front door legally?
Why are you sarcastically speaking of AK-47′s? Just because I don’t want to pay for a lawbreakers health care, doesn’t mean I don’t want them to have health care. They can get become legal first, or go to jail for breaking the law. They get plenty of free health care there. If I were to go to another country, illegally, I would not expect the citizens of that country to pay for my health care! I had to EARN it in my own country.
I don’t mind if liberals are involved in the reform, I think they should read what they are reforming however. My country’s health, my neighbors health, and my own, does on the contrary matter to me very much. But more than our health.. I must admit, Freedom matters to me most. I will not agree with a liberal or a conservative to give up the Freedom that my fellow Americans and founding fathers have and still do fight for. I know we can have reform with out the price tag of Slavery to government. Let’s get reform, not control.
Hi! I’m really surprised that you came back, and I’m glad you did. A lot of my sarcasm comes from the feeling that people come from conservative websites, but don’t read the original post or any of the replies.
Yes, I do believe that a bill that covers 300 Americans should be larger than a paperback novel. It is right that such a complex issue should have a complex bill. I would not want health care reform that was created by a 15 page bill — that would be a bad bill. Every Congress, whether Republican or Democrat, writes large spending bills.
When I say “large spending bill”, I mean large in scope, not large in price tag — all the different options before Congress right now are deficit-neutral. This includes the House bill that creates a public option, which is a cost-saving mechanism (because it competes against private insurance) designed to limit the amount Americans have to pay for health insurance.
I honestly don’t think that you believe that illegal aliens will receive significantly more government health care if this bill passes. The reason that enforcement in the bill isn’t specific is because the federal government already has a wide array of means by which to limit illegal immigrant use of public services, and this bill would likely use those structures.
What I haven’t heard is Republicans or other conservatives pitching in — what would be an appropriate way to keep illegals from using public health care? No supporter of the bill believes that illegals should have access to care, so we’re essentially talking about HOW to keep them from doing it. Let me underline that — Joe Wilson screamed at the President because of A DISAGREEMENT ABOUT HOW TO DO A THING THEY BOTH AGREE ON. (I’m not trying to yell — just wanted that to stand out). Ten minutes of Republican cooperation in Congress could solve this issue.
But we both know that won’t happen. Senate republicans don’t want change, and they don’t want health care reform — they want to make you angry with stories about illegal immigration. They know you’re afraid that your money will be wasted on illegals, and so they use that fear to manipulate you. Think about it — does illegal immigration really have anything to do with health care reform? Shouldn’t there be a separate debate about what to do about illegal immigration? Couldn’t we solve this problem now, and work on that problem next?
I consider your comparison of a government-sponsored health insurance option to slavery to indicate 1) that you have never read about the struggles and suffering of real slaves, and are therefore content to belittle their experience with silly metaphors, and 2) that you are also an opponent of Medicare, which unlike the proposed public option, is real government control of health insurance and which insures 95% of people in the covered age group. That’s fine — a lot of people are opponents of Medicare — but it definitely puts you in the tiny minority of Americans.
How do keep illegals from accessing health care? Simple – make them legal. Brilliant!
“Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don’t simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. “That’s why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.
Mr. Obama added, “If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all.”
What’s the over/under on when RTV starts campaigning on this issue? Is it measured in days or weeks? Why try and enter the country legally when you can just sneak in and wait for Uncle Sugar to give you a free pass?
Shoeless,
I get that you want illegals deported. Your quotes don’t prove anything except that Obama (like Bush, I have to say) is kind of a moderate on immigration reform and that he’s ready to have that discussion when the Congress takes it up.
Nobody in this debate has attempted or suggested making illegal immigrants legal. Your fears that this may one day happen are completely irrelevant to the question at hand.
I invite you to start working for fair, legally enforced, immigration reform. Nobody’s stopping you.
Are you happy? Can we have health care reform now?
My fears are 12mm more people that will wind up getting healthcare on my back. I’d say that makes it totally relevant.
OT: Since Obama seems to have forgotten about closing Gitmo, does that make him more conservative or Bush more moderate?
I’m glad you started using that OT marker — I hope you keep it up.
Straight talk. What enforcement mechanism do you feel would be appropriate to keep illegal immigrants from getting health care under this bill? Name a method that would be sufficient for you, and you and I will both write suggestions to the Senate Finance Committee saying that this would make compromise on the bill easier.
I figure one INS agent in every emergency room ought to do the trick. Think of the money we’d save.
The INS actually doesn’t exist anymore, shoeless. President Bush replaced it with a combination of three government agencies.
Besides, the reform in Congress right now is about health INSURANCE (payment of doctors and hospitals for services received), not health CARE (going to the doctor). The idea is that if we create a system in which all Americans (and here I am talking about American citizens) can afford doctor’s visits, the amount we spend on emergency room entitlements for them will decrease greatly.
Because we do, right now, treat everybody who comes to an emergency room. That’s the system /today/ — and no Democratic plan (HR 3200, Baucus, HELP, etc.) would change that, and the Republican plan (do nothing) wouldn’t change it either. I personally think it would be a bad rule to change, but that’s moot because nobody’s ever suggested changing it.
But I’m trying to work with you. Maybe some kind of Department of Homeland Security access to public option insurance records? Strict identification requirements before public option enrollment? Can you see the difference between shouting “you lie” “illegals suck” and trying to make a positive change?
Shoeless? Hello…? Bipartisan negotiation for the good of the country? Fixing our broken health insurance system?
Anyone? Little…democracy…here?
Hahahahahaha, the comments by Nick are absolutely hilarious. The government already does a good job of keeping illegals from obtaining benefits, therefore we don’t need any verification protocols in this bill? Hahaahahahahahahaha, you have got to be kidding right? The fact that there are over 12 million, yes 12 million, illegals in this country is evidence that the government has almost no interest in enforcing immigration law, yet we are supposed to take the Democrats at their word when they say illegals won’t be covered? Once again, the kind of naivete that could only spring from a “the government is the source of all that is good” mindset.
You go on and on about how a longer bill must be a better one (wow, what unassailable logic that is)yet you are opposed to putting in one or two sentences indicating that individuals must present proof of citizenship before getting something paid for by the American public? Good to see intellectual consistency is not your strong suit. And naturally, as the left is wont to do, they play the race card when individuals object to taxpayer dollars being spent on illegals that are breaking American immigration law.
Anyone who swallows Nick’s nonsense probably shouldn’t visit the following links:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/37180-1.html?type=printer_friendly
http://www.examiner.com/x-9384-Mesa-Independent-Examiner~y2009m8d12-Health-care-reform-to-cover-illegal-immigrants
THe following paragraph from the above link is very revealing:
“This week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) also urged Speaker Pelosi to ensure that illegal aliens are covered by the health care reform bill. (Roll Call, July 24, 2009). According to a CHC member, the organization’s leaders are not asking Speaker Pelosi to ‘specifically spell something out’ in the bill, but instead to seek to ensure that the bill does not actually prohibit illegal aliens from receiving benefits. ‘We’re pushing to include everyone in the health care bill. ‘Everyone’, the CHC member who asked not to be identified said. ‘SOMETIMES IF YOU DON’T SAY SOMETHING, SOMETHING HAPPENS’” (emphasis mine).
Yeah, tell me again how Joe Wilson was lying.
And please, no one is falling for the hilarious attempts at trying to rebrand the issue by calling it “health insurance reform” instead of “health care reform”. Seriously Nick, do you visit the DNC website before you come here so that you will be able to parrot their talking points exactly, or do you just “borrow” them from some left-wing blog.
Those who don’t think the House bill will be a disaster should probably read what the CBO has said about the bill. For those who don’t want to google it, I will graciously provide the links.
The CBO detailing how the Democrat House bill will increase, not decrease, the cost of health care, excuse me insurance (what a joke):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/16/AR2009071602242.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56F6GT20090716
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53521
The CBO detailing how the House bill, and the Kennedy-Dodd bill, will increase the deficit:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124791492292561969.html
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/17/what-cbo-says-about-the-kennedy-dodd-health-bill/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25104.html
As for Joe Wilson, please quit lecturing people about the guy calling people liars when Barack Obama, nearly everyday, says the same thing about those who have legitimate questions about his healthcare plan. Questioning the president doesn’t make one a liar, or a demagogue, nor does it mean you are opposing him purely for political purposes. If Obama doesn’t want to be called a liar, he should stop throwing around the accusation himself.
I didn’t say the government does a ‘good job’, I said that the government has a system to deal with illegals and entitlement programs, any bill that passes is likely to use those programs, and if you want to reform those programs, go right ahead. Nobody’s stopping immigration reform. Nobody’s even /discussing/ immigration reform — you’re using illegal immigration as a scare tactic to stop health insurance reform.
No bill in Congress covers illegals. No bill in Congress covers illegals. We are disagreeing about ENFORCEMENT of HR 3200, which explicitly excludes illegals.
The fact that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wants the bill to cover illegals is their right and a way for them to represent their constituency. That’s normal. Their recommendations were NOT included in the bill. Your suspicion that there is some secret society of people who have agreed in secret not to enforce the provisions of a Congressional bill is, very simply, a wacked-out conspiracy theory. The advantage of that theory is that it gives you, at least to yourself, justification in opposing any reform made by a party that you don’t subscribe to.
And this is the problem with the far right-wing obstruction of health insurance reform. Reformers say that we need to insure more people and bring down costs, and opponents say “death panels!” Reformers say that we are paying too much for too little care, and opponents say “illegals!” Now that we’re on the fourth wave of misinformation — after ‘read the bill,’ ‘this is socialism,’ ‘death panels,’ and now ‘covers illegals’ — it should be clear to people watching that you don’t care if we have reform, you don’t want reform, and you’re willing to say virtually anything to oppose it.
Nick,
Sorry I haven’t been around, I was out of the country on business – earning the daily wage so I can pay for other peoples’ health care and all.
I just love how you think that the CHC looking out for illegals represents their constituency. Do you see the delicious irony in that statement? You equated illegals with their constituency – brilliant! Last time I checked, constituents are voters from a representative’s district. Did I miss something? I know htat RTV and others would love to give illegals the right to vote, but I don’t think it has happened ….yet.
shoeless,
Way to center the discussion (which was health care reform, remember?) on the edges of irrelevance.
CHC’s constituency has citizens and voters in it who would prefer more services be provided to illegal immigrants. This constituency is made up of citizens, and legal voters (about 2/3 of all Spanish-speakers in the US are legal immigrants). They voted for their representatives, and their representatives advance their preferences in Congress. This all seems very sneaky to you, I know, because some of these people are non-white, but it’s the regular work of the Constitution. In any event, none of their recommendations were placed into the bill, a fact that you conveniently overlook.
Why again shouldn’t we have comprehensive health care reform and a strong public option? Would you like to take this opportunity to get shrill about death panels, or claim that there were 2 million protesters in Washington on the 12th?
Perhaps you’d like to make up some new kind of objection. Does the public option spread alien viruses? Does it secretly encourage interracial marriage? Ooo — do the one where it’s a Stalinist plot to seize Ronald Reagan’s corpse.