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Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/15/2009 4:00:04 PM   
Esinn


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I am glad.  It is about time Obama stands up to the bullshit.  He had one of his workers send me an email, I wonder how he got mine.

George Bush lied Jr
Didn't Bill Clinton Get a Blow Job
George Bush Sr Lied
Didn't that Regan fellow lie a little too?  No wait he did not remember.  Ollie North did it anyhow.

You know all politicians lie - that I am aware of.  The only real option we have is if we supported them or not is to review the policy they present us with and hope it is not a lie.  In the letter Obama sent me(check out the website too) honestly the health care plan looks great.
Dear Friend,
(The whitehouse says I am a friend)
This is probably one of the longest emails I’ve ever sent, but it could be the most important.

Across the country we are seeing vigorous debate about health insurance reform. Unfortunately, some of the old tactics we know so well are back — even the viral emails that fly unchecked and under the radar, spreading all sorts of lies and distortions.

As President Obama said at the town hall in New Hampshire, “where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed.”

So let’s start a chain email of our own. At the end of my email, you’ll find a lot of information about health insurance reform, distilled into 8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage, 8 common myths about reform and 8 reasons we need health insurance reform now.

Right now, someone you know probably has a question about reform that could be answered by what’s below. So what are you waiting for? Forward this email.

Thanks,
David

David Axelrod
Senior Adviser to the President

P.S. We launched www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck this week to knock down the rumors and lies that are floating around the internet. You can find the information below, and much more, there. For example, we've just added a video of Nancy-Ann DeParle from our Health Reform Office tackling a viral email head on. Check it out:



8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage
  • Ends Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
  • Ends Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
  • Ends Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
  • Ends Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
  • Ends Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
  • Ends Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
  • Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
  • Guarantees Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick. Learn more and get details: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/

    8 common myths about health insurance reform
  • Reform will stop "rationing" - not increase it: It’s a myth that reform will mean a "government takeover" of health care or lead to "rationing." To the contrary, reform will forbid many forms of rationing that are currently being used by insurance companies.
  • We can’t afford reform: It's the status quo we can't afford. It’s a myth that reform will bust the budget. To the contrary, the President has identified ways to pay for the vast majority of the up-front costs by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse within existing government health programs; ending big subsidies to insurance companies; and increasing efficiency with such steps as coordinating care and streamlining paperwork. In the long term, reform can help bring down costs that will otherwise lead to a fiscal crisis.
  • Reform would encourage "euthanasia": It does not. It’s a malicious myth that reform would encourage or even require euthanasia for seniors. For seniors who want to consult with their family and physicians about end-of life decisions, reform will help to cover these voluntary, private consultations for those who want help with these personal and difficult family decisions.
  • Vets' health care is safe and sound: It’s a myth that health insurance reform will affect veterans' access to the care they get now. To the contrary, the President's budget significantly expands coverage under the VA, extending care to 500,000 more veterans who were previously excluded. The VA Healthcare system will continue to be available for all eligible veterans.
  • Reform will benefit small business - not burden it: It’s a myth that health insurance reform will hurt small businesses. To the contrary, reform will ease the burdens on small businesses, provide tax credits to help them pay for employee coverage and help level the playing field with big firms who pay much less to cover their employees on average.
  • Your Medicare is safe, and stronger with reform: It’s myth that Health Insurance Reform would be financed by cutting Medicare benefits. To the contrary, reform will improve the long-term financial health of Medicare, ensure better coordination, eliminate waste and unnecessary subsidies to insurance companies, and help to close the Medicare "doughnut" hole to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.
  • You can keep your own insurance: It’s myth that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan or force you to change doctors. To the contrary, reform will expand your choices, not eliminate them.
  • No, government will not do anything with your bank account: It is an absurd myth that government will be in charge of your bank accounts.  Health insurance reform will simplify administration, making it easier and more convenient for you to pay bills in a method that you choose.  Just like paying a phone bill or a utility bill, you can pay by traditional check, or by a direct electronic payment. And forms will be standardized so they will be easier to understand. The choice is up to you – and the same rules of privacy will apply as they do for all other electronic payments that people make. Learn more and get details:
    http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck
    http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck/faq

    8 Reasons We Need Health Insurance Reform Now
  • Coverage Denied to Millions: A recent national survey estimated that 12.6 million non-elderly adults – 36 percent of those who tried to purchase health insurance directly from an insurance company in the individual insurance market – were in fact discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition in the previous three years or dropped from coverage when they became seriously ill. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/denied_coverage/index.html
  • Less Care for More Costs: With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job.  Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html
  • Roadblocks to Care for Women: Women’s reproductive health requires more regular contact with health care providers, including yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care. Women are also more likely to report fair or poor health than men (9.5% versus 9.0%). While rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are similar to men, women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches and are more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain. These chronic conditions often require regular and frequent treatment and follow-up care. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/women/index.html
  • Hard Times in the Heartland: Throughout rural America, there are nearly 50 million people who face challenges in accessing health care. The past several decades have consistently shown higher rates of poverty, mortality, uninsurance, and limited access to a primary health care provider in rural areas. With the recent economic downturn, there is potential for an increase in many of the health disparities and access concerns that are already elevated in rural communities. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hardtimes
  • Small Businesses Struggle to Provide Health Coverage: Nearly one-third of the uninsured – 13 million people – are employees of firms with less than 100 workers. From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of non-elderly Americans covered by employer-based health insurance fell from 66% to 61%. Much of this decline stems from small business. The percentage of small businesses offering coverage dropped from 68% to 59%, while large firms held stable at 99%. About a third of such workers in firms with fewer than 50 employees obtain insurance through a spouse. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/helpbottomline
  • The Tragedies are Personal: Half of all personal bankruptcies are at least partly the result of medical expenses. The typical elderly couple may have to save nearly $300,000 to pay for health costs not covered by Medicare alone. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction
  • Diminishing Access to Care: From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of non-elderly Americans covered by employer-based health insurance fell from 66% to 61%. An estimated 87 million people - one in every three Americans under the age of 65 - were uninsured at some point in 2007 and 2008. More than 80% of the uninsured are in working families. Learn more: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction/diminishing/index.html
  • The Trends are Troubling: Without reform, health care costs will continue to skyrocket unabated, putting unbearable strain on families, businesses, and state and federal government budgets. Perhaps the most visible sign of the need for health care reform is the 46 million Americans currently without health insurance - projections suggest that this number will rise to about 72 million in 2040 in the absence of reform. Learn more: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/assets/documents/CEA_Health_Care_Report.pdf

    [Mod Note:  image removed]



    < Message edited by ModeratorEleven -- 8/15/2009 5:10:15 PM >


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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/15/2009 6:24:20 PM   
    thishereboi


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    No thank god, I get enough spam.

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/15/2009 11:45:51 PM   
    Esinn


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    This was the best spam I have received in a long time.

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 1:02:59 AM   
    Brain


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    I think it's a great e-mail and I think he wants to keep all his campaign promises.

    The e-mail covers all the important points, it addresses all the misrepresentations and presents real facts. I am going to be very pleased at the end of the year when a health care bill is approved. I also hope it includes a single payer option because it gives the government leverage to keep costs down.

    Listen to Dennis Kucinich,

    Dennis Kucinich-HealthCare briefing in Washington, DC
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWXRwrYa4oU

    Get Started on 1payer.net
    http://www.1payer.net/

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 3:16:59 AM   
    Brain


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    Multiple Republican Leaders Voted In 2003 For Measure Similar To Current �Government Euthanasia� Bill
    The Plum LineGreg Sargent's blog

    GOP officials John Boehner, Thaddeus McCotter, Johnny Isakson, and Chuck Grassley all voted in 2003 for a measure very similar to the one in the current House health care bill they now suggest in various ways could lead to government-encouraged euthanasia.

    As Time’s Amy Sullivan reported late last night, Grassley voted for the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, which — ready? — provided coverage for “counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning.”

    The only difference between the 2003 bill and the House Dem one that’s inspired the “euthanasia” talk, Sullivan reports, is that the earlier one “applied only to terminally ill patients.”

    Let’s go back and check the roll call on that 2003 vote to see who else voted for it. Turns out Boehner, McCotter and Isakson all did, too.

    Boehner and McCotter, as you know, have said that Medicare coverage of end of life consultations could lead to “government encouraged euthanasia.” While Isakson supports end of life counseling generally, he opposes the House bill because it allows “government to incentivize doctors by offering them money to conduct end-of-life counseling.”

    Grassley said people are “right to fear” that government could “decide when to pull the plug on grandma.”

    Fun postscript: GOP Rep. John Mica of Florida voted for the 2003 bill — and last week he denounced the current House measure for creating Medicare-funded “death counselors.”
    ***************************************

    Update: Edited to fix a quote from Isakson’s office.
    Update II: Boehner’s office responds that the comparison is �idiotic.”


    http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/multiple-republican-leaders-voted-in-2003-for-measure-they-now-decry-as-government-euthanasia/


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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 4:52:11 AM   
    Louve00


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    I think he's starting to defend all the negativity aimed at his efforts.

    Good for him.

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 5:56:58 AM   
    servantforuse


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    Only one problem. The democrats in both the senate and house don't like the bill either. It won't be passed anytime soon, if ever. They can't answer the most important question. How do we pay for it ?? 

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 10:39:34 AM   
    Brain


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    Single-payer option will give the government leverage to bring costs down and pay for it but of course you don’t support that because you are interested in protecting corporate profits and your talk about concern for the deficit is disingenuous.

    I posted the link with Dennis Kucinich explaining it but of course you ignored it.

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 11:09:49 AM   
    MarsBonfire


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    Servant... it's not about "paying for it"... this healcare reform is being proposed in order to cut a projected $73 trillion (with a "t") healthcare debt down by a hoped for $17 trillion over the next 10 years. (source: Meet the Press 8/16/09 )

    You guys STILL haven't actually looked at this issue at all, have you?  

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 11:27:39 AM   
    Brain


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    It’s better than nothing at all but he still sold out,
    single-payer option was the best way to keep costs down.

    White House appears ready to drop 'public option'
    By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott,
    49 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Bowing to Republican pressure, President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is
    ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new
    U.S. health care system.

    Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise
    with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan.

    Such a concession would likely enrage his liberal supporters but could deliver Obama a much-needed win on a top domestic
    priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.

    Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when
    they returned to their districts for an August recess.

    Obama had sought the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured,
    but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has Republicans unified in opposition.

    Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government alternative to private health insurance is
    "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul.

    The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

    "I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," Sebelius said.

    "That's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and
    trust them to do the right thing."

    Obama's top spokesman refused to say a public option was a make-or-break choice for the administration.

    "What I am saying is the bottom line for this for the president is, what we have to have is choice and competition in the
    insurance market," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

    On Saturday, Obama himself appeared to hedge his bets.

    "All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety
    of health care reform," Obama said in Grand Junction, Colo. "This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

    Lawmakers have discussed the co-op model for months although the Democratic leadership and the White House
    have said they prefer a government-run option.

    Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate's budget committee, has pushed the co-op alternative.
    He called the argument for a government-run public plan little more than a "wasted effort." He added there are enough
    votes in the Senate for a cooperative plan.

    "It's not government-run and government-controlled," he said. "It's membership-run and membership-controlled.
    But it does provide a nonprofit competitor for the for-profit insurance companies, and that's why it has appeal on both sides."

    As proposed by Conrad, the co-ops would receive federal startup money, but then would operate
    independently of the government. They would have to maintain the same financial reserves that private companies
    are required to keep to handle unexpectedly high claims.

    Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Obama's team is making a political calculation and embracing the co-op alternative as
    "a step away from the government takeover of the health care system" that the GOP has pummeled.

    "I don't know if it will do everything people want, but we ought to look at it. I think it's a far cry from the original proposals," he said.

    Republicans say a public option would have unfair advantages that would drive private insurers out of business. Critics say co-ops
    would not be genuine public options for health insurance.

    Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said it would be difficult to pass any legislation through the Democratic-controlled
    Congress without the promised public plan.


    "We'll have the same number of people uninsured," she said. "If the insurance companies wanted to insure these people now,
    they'd be insured."



    Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said the Democrats' option would force individuals from their private plans to a government-run plan,
    a claim that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office supports.

    "There is a way to get folks insured without having the government option," he said.
    Obama, writing an opinion piece in Sunday's New York Times, said political maneuvers should be excluded from the debate.

    "In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain," he wrote.
    "But for all the scare tactics out there, what's truly scary — truly risky — is the prospect of doing nothing."

    Congress' proposals, however, seemed likely to strike end-of-life counseling sessions. Former Alaska Gov.
    Sarah Palin has called the session "death panels," a label that has drawn rebuke from her fellow Republicans
    as well as Democrats.

    Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, declined to criticize Palin's comments and said Obama wants to create a government-run panel to
    advise what types of care would be available to citizens.

    "In all honesty, I don't want a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats setting health care for my aged citizens in Utah,"
    Hatch said.

    Sebelius said the end-of-life proposal was likely to be dropped from the final bill.
    "We wanted to make sure doctors were reimbursed for that very important consultation if family members chose to make it,
    and instead it's been turned into this scare tactic and probably will be off the table," she said.

    Sebelius spoke on CNN's "State of the Union" and ABC's "This Week." Gibbs appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation."
    Conrad and Shelby appeared on "Fox News Sunday." Johnson and Price spoke with "State of the Union." Hatch
    was interviewed on "This Week."

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul;_ylt=AiCBd4UwAcFkt7TBClMO6cus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM1Z3NnaTR0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODE2L3VzX2hlYWx0aF9jYXJlX292ZXJoYXVsBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMwRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDZnVsbG5ic3BzdG9y

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 12:12:28 PM   
    Brain


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    Gates Foundation Sells Off Most Health-Care, Pharmaceutical Holdings - WSJ.com

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sold off almost all of its pharmaceutical, biotechnology and health-care investments in the quarter ended June 30.

    The Seattle-based charity endowment, set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife, sold its total holding of 2.5 million shares in health-care giant Johnson & Johnson in the quarter, according to the filing.

    The foundation also sold millions of shares in major drug makers, including 14.9 million shares in Schering-Plough Corp., almost 1 million shares in Eli Lilly & Co., 8.1 million shares in Merck & Co. and 3.7 million shares in Wyeth, over the same time period. The foundation no longer holds shares in any of those companies.

    Among the other health and life sciences-related investments the foundation liquidated are Allos Therapeutics Inc., InterMune Inc., Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    The only life science-related holding the foundation retains is a 3 million-share stake in Seattle Genetics Inc.

    Read Full Story
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125029373754433433.html

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 12:59:39 PM   
    Brain


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    In America, Crazy Is a Preexisting Condition

    Birthers, Town Hall Hecklers and the Return of Right-Wing Rage. Why it blossoms when liberals are in power. And how elites coax it along.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081401495.html?sid=ST2009081402964

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 1:10:49 PM   
    Brain


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    What happens when private insurance companies cover only healthy people? - BloggingStocks

    The federal government and state governments incur higher health care costs per person -- and are less-efficient than the private health insurance companies: the reason those private companies are efficient is that they excluded those who would make them less-efficient in the first place: the less-healthy.

    http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/08/14/what-happens-when-private-insurance-companies-cover-only-healthy/

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 1:20:43 PM   
    rulemylife


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    quote:

    ORIGINAL: servantforuse

    Only one problem. The democrats in both the senate and house don't like the bill either. It won't be passed anytime soon, if ever. They can't answer the most important question. How do we pay for it ?? 


    How did we pay for the Iraq War, which annually cost more?

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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 5:12:21 PM   
    Brain


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    The real death panels are operating now | MailTribune.com

    When Republican politicians and right-wing talking heads bemoan the fictitious "death panels" that they claim would arise from health-care reform, they are concealing a sinister reality from their followers. The ugly fact is that every year we fail to reform the existing system, that failure condemns tens of thousands of people to die — either because they have no insurance or because their insurance companies deny coverage or benefits when they become ill.

    The best estimate of the annual death toll among Americans of working age due to lack of insurance or under-insurance is at least 20,000, according to studies conducted over the past decade by medical researchers, and is almost certainly rising as more and more people lose their coverage as costs continue to go up.

    Read Full Story at mailtribune

    http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090815/OPINION/908150306/-1/NEWSMAP




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    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 6:07:21 PM   
    Brain


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    A Public Option Isn’t a Curse, or a Cure
    By RICHARD THALER
    Published: August 15, 2009

    WE clearly don’t need any more distractions from the two main issues of health care reform: how to deal with our large uninsured population and how to make the entire system more cost effective. So, for now, let’s ignore the shouted rhetoric about whether “death panels” want to kill off Grandma or whether President Obama wants to turn the country into a socialist state.

    But even if we discard these absurdities, and tune out the raucous scenes at town-hall meetings, one big distraction remains: the question of whether a “public option” should be part of the health care solution. To me, the issue is a red herring, and is getting in the way of genuine reform.

    In debating the public option — that is, an insurance option run by the government — the politicians themselves are making exaggerated claims about its pros and cons. We hear from the right that an insurance plan run by the government will drive all private-sector insurers out of business and be the first step toward socialism, if not communism. The left claims that only a public option can give evil insurers the competition they need to create much-needed reform.

    To evaluate these contentions, we need to know some details about how a public option would work in practice. And those details have been missing.

    For example, President Obama has said that the public plan would be required to break even financially, but Congress hasn’t decided how to make that happen. (Of course, the poor may have to have their health insurance subsidized, but those subsidies could go to both public and privately operated insurance companies.) Nailing down this detail is crucial. If the public option does not have to break even — if, in fact, it is to receive government subsidies — then it is correct to worry that it would destroy competition, not foster it. If the public plan runs a deficit, who will fix it? If it is Congress, we have to worry that what should be economic decisions will turn into political battles.

    A second detail is whether the government will grant the public plan the power to impose special deals with suppliers like hospitals and drug companies — a move that would dampen, not enhance, competition with the private sector.
    But let’s assume that the public option does have to break even and can’t make any special deals. What should we expect to happen?

    Here is a thought experiment: Can you think of a domain where a government-run business competes successfully with private-sector companies? In a town hall meeting last week, President Obama mentioned one such example: the market for overnight shipments. This market now has two main private suppliers, FedEx and UPS, and one public one, the United States Postal Service. When you have to send something overnight, which one do you use? Most shippers choose one of the private companies. (Indeed, even the idea that we need a government-run postal service is doubtful. Sweden has successfully privatized its postal service. Sweden! And the European Union will open mail service to competition in 2011.)

    The Postal Service offers another instructive lesson. When it periodically starts running deficits (as it is now) and proposes cost-saving measures like eliminating Saturday delivery or closing tiny post offices, Congress often intervenes under pressure from predictable interest groups like bulk mailers, the 600,000 postal employees, and the users of those tiny offices.

    More generally, it is hard to find examples where government-run businesses compete with private companies and win. One reason is that governments are not very good at innovation. As the great 19th-century economist Alfred Marshall wrote, “A government could print a good edition of Shakespeare’s works, but it could not get them written.”

    But what about the often-stated fact that Medicare has much lower operating costs than private insurance companies? Won’t this allow the public option to compete successfully? As Victor Fuchs, the dean of American health economists, recently argued in The New England Journal of Medicine, this is not an apt comparison because the new public plan would have marketing and other administrative costs that don’t apply to Medicare with its captive market.

    ALL of this leads me to conclude that if we impose sensible rules on the public option, it will neither save nor destroy the health care system because it will simply not get much market share. And if we do not impose those rules, the public option will hurt rather than help.

    So here’s some free advice to members of Congress: While you are enjoying your August recess and town hall meetings, instead of arguing about whether to have a public option, argue about the ground rules.

    To the Republicans, I say this: If you can get real assurances that the public option has to break even, and that it will get no special deals from suppliers, let the Democrats have it but ask for concessions on tort reform in return. (That could actually save some money.) The resulting public plan will be too small to notice.

    To the Democrats, I say this: If you want competition in health care, you won’t get it if the public option can make deals its competitors can’t. So either give the Republicans hard assurances that the public option would have to break even and not get special treatment, or, better yet, just give it up to ensure that some useful health care reform is passed. A public option is neither necessary nor sufficient for achieving the real goals of reform, and those goals are too important to risk losing the war.

    Richard H. Thaler is a professor of economics and behavioral science at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/business/economy/16view.html?_r=5&th&emc=th

    (in reply to Brain)
    Profile   Post #: 16
    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 7:48:15 PM   
    Arpig


    Posts: 9930
    Joined: 1/3/2006
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    quote:

    Only one problem. The democrats in both the senate and house don't like the bill either. It won't be passed anytime soon, if ever. They can't answer the most important question. How do we pay for it ??
    Who cares. The bills before Congress will do nothing to solve the problems facing the US as far as health care is concerned. It fails to address the one issue that needs addressing. It is window dressing, nothing more

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    (in reply to servantforuse)
    Profile   Post #: 17
    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/16/2009 10:50:22 PM   
    Brain


    Posts: 3792
    Joined: 2/14/2007
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    Op-Ed: Why We Need Health Care Reform - Barack Obama
    The President's OpEd in the NYT's

    Read full story
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16obama.html?_r=5

    Op-Ed Contributor
    Why We Need Health Care Reform
    By BARACK OBAMA
    Published: August 15, 2009

    OUR nation is now engaged in a great debate about the future of health care in America. And over the past few weeks, much of the media attention has been focused on the loudest voices. What we haven’t heard are the voices of the millions upon millions of Americans who quietly struggle every day with a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for them.

    These are people like Lori Hitchcock, whom I met in New Hampshire last week. Lori is currently self-employed and trying to start a business, but because she has hepatitis C, she cannot find an insurance company that will cover her. Another woman testified that an insurance company would not cover illnesses related to her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. A man lost his health coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because the insurance company discovered that he had gallstones, which he hadn’t known about when he applied for his policy. Because his treatment was delayed, he died.

    I hear more and more stories like these every single day, and it is why we are acting so urgently to pass health-insurance reform this year. I don’t have to explain to the nearly 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance how important this is. But it’s just as important for Americans who do have health insurance.

    There are four main ways the reform we’re proposing will provide more stability and security to every American.

    First, if you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of high-quality, affordable coverage for yourself and your family — coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job.

    Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits.

    Third, by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies. This will not only help provide today’s seniors with the benefits they’ve been promised; it will also ensure the long-term health of Medicare for tomorrow’s seniors. And our reforms will also reduce the amount our seniors pay for their prescription drugs.

    Lastly, reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable. A 2007 national survey actually shows that insurance companies discriminated against more than 12 million Americans in the previous three years because they had a pre-existing illness or condition. The companies either refused to cover the person, refused to cover a specific illness or condition or charged a higher premium.

    We will put an end to these practices. Our reform will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of your medical history. Nor will they be allowed to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. And we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. No one in America should go broke because they get sick.

    Most important, we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups, preventive care and screening tests like mammograms and colonoscopies. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end. It makes sense, it saves lives and it can also save money.

    This is what reform is about. If you don’t have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform. If you have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company or government bureaucrat gets between you and the care you need. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. I don’t believe anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions but you and your doctor — not government bureaucrats, not insurance companies.

    The long and vigorous debate about health care that’s been taking place over the past few months is a good thing. It’s what America’s all about.

    (Page 2 of 2)

    But let’s make sure that we talk with one another, and not over one another. We are bound to disagree, but let’s disagree over issues that are real, and not wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that anyone has actually proposed. This is a complicated and critical issue, and it deserves a serious debate.

    Despite what we’ve seen on television, I believe that serious debate is taking place at kitchen tables all across America. In the past few years, I’ve received countless letters and questions about health care. Some people are in favor of reform, and others have concerns. But almost everyone understands that something must be done. Almost everyone knows that we must start holding insurance companies accountable and give Americans a greater sense of stability and security when it comes to their health care.

    I am confident that when all is said and done, we can forge the consensus we need to achieve this goal. We are already closer to achieving health-insurance reform than we have ever been. We have the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association on board, because our nation’s nurses and doctors know firsthand how badly we need reform. We have broad agreement in Congress on about 80 percent of what we’re trying to do. And we have an agreement from the drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The AARP supports this policy, and agrees with us that reform must happen this year.

    In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain. But for all the scare tactics out there, what’s truly scary — truly risky — is the prospect of doing nothing. If we maintain the status quo, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Premiums will continue to skyrocket. Our deficit will continue to grow. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against sick people.

    That is not a future I want for my children, or for yours. And that is not a future I want for the United States of America.

    In the end, this isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives and livelihoods. This is about people’s businesses. This is about America’s future, and whether we will be able to look back years from now and say that this was the moment when we made the changes we needed, and gave our children a better life. I believe we can, and I believe we will.


    (in reply to Arpig)
    Profile   Post #: 18
    RE: Did Obama Get Your Email Too? - 8/17/2009 12:23:39 AM   
    Brain


    Posts: 3792
    Joined: 2/14/2007
    Status: offline
    Obama foes turn to ’60s radical for tactical tips

    Opponents of Barack Obama’s healthcare proposals are using the tactics of Saul Alinksy, the legendary leftwing activist who helped inspire the US president when he was a young community organiser, says Dick Armey, head of Freedom Works, a group fighting against universal healthcare.

    Mr Armey, who was the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives for most of the 1990s, said his group, which is behind many of the “tea party” protests that have disrupted town-hall meetings in the past two weeks, draws consciously on the forms of agitation pioneered by Mr Alinsky.

    Mr Obama, who worked as a community organizer among unemployed steel workers on Chicago’s South Side in the late 1980s, was heavily influenced by Mr Alinsky, who inspired a generation of radicals in the 1960s. Mr Alinsky believed that packing public meetings with highly vocal activists would sway their outcomes and give people a taste of the power they could exercise when they showed up in numbers.

    “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” said Mr Armey, who was one of the leaders of the “Contract with America” Republican landslide in 1994.

    “What I think of Alinsky is that he was very good at what he did but what he did was not good,” Mr Armey said. “We don’t organise people to turn up at these town-hall meetings – we don’t provide buses to get them there. But we tell them about the meetings and we suggest good questions they could ask.”

    Mr Armey, whose group works closely with the Tea Party Patriots and other conservative organisations round the country, said he thought the anti-reform protests against Mr Obama’s healthcare proposals exceeded the temperature during the August 1994 congressional recess when the Clinton administration’s healthcare plans were shot to pieces.

    On Friday Mr Armey announced his resignation from DLA Piper, the Washington-based lobbying firm that he has advised since stepping down from Congress in 2002. Both DLA Piper, which has big healthcare clients including Bristol Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical company that opposes elements of Mr Obama’s health reforms, and Mr Armey said he had decided to quit in order to spare the firm any further embarrassment by association with Freedom Works.

    “We are sorry to see Dick Armey leave,” said DLA Piper in a statement. “But we appreciate his taking the initiative to clear up confusion concerning Freedom Works, [which is] a separate and distinct entity from DLA Piper.”

    Mr Armey, 69, predicted that the “grassroots” backlash against what he called Mr Obama’s “hostile government takeover of a sixth of the US economy” would cause the reform to fail spectacularly. But he predicted that supporters of reform would attempt to win over the “bed-wetters caucus” – a group of wavering lawmakers who spanned both parties, he said – with a fear campaign in the autumn.

    “In September or October there will be a hyped up outbreak of the swine flu which they’ll say is as bad as the bubonic plague to scare the bed-wetters to vote for healthcare reform,” said Mr Armey. “That is the only way they can push something on to the American people that the American people don’t want.”

    Democrats have portrayed groups such as Freedom Works as demagogues out to disrupt town-hall meetings rather than enter into civil debate. Mr Armey said he doubted members of Freedom Works attended meetings to shout down people with whom they disagreed. “I know people have been doing that but that is not the tactics we recommend,” he said.


    Read full story at FT.com
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a6a34fa8-8a85-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fa6a34fa8-8a85-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&_i_referer=&nclick_check=1

    (in reply to Brain)
    Profile   Post #: 19
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