Opposition to health reform a tangled web of vested interests »
Posted By Progressive 3 months, 2 weeks ago in Political NewsThe opposition to health reform is a tangled web of vested interests with major financial stakes in maintaining the status quo, no matter how broken it is. That’s one main reason America is the only developed nation in the world that doesn’t provide healthcare to its citizens.
Rick Scott, president of Conservatives for Patients Rights, is flooding the airwaves and funding disruptions of congressional town halls, warning about “government run” healthcare.
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Progressive
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing. -- Oscar Wilde
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deathray3 months, 2 weeks ago
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great post, p.
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here's rachel maddow's take on the aforementioned web:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/-
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Endoscopy3 months, 1 week ago
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The liberals just love to pass on all of the lies about why people are upset. They have to make things up in order to deamonize these people. Many of whom are Democrats like those at the invitation only Tampa Town hall meeting.
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Just keep on believing it and you can justify your rants that conservatives are evil like you have been saying for years. Why do you ignore what liberals did for years. People like code pink that you applaud. If your side does it then it is great. If your side gets blasted then it is the evil Republicans even though a lot of Democrats are involved. -
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tdrdemo3 months, 1 week ago
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We stand With Governor Palin on Obama's health care bill.
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With Obama's health care bill, the federal government is the HMO and it is perfectly clear from the sources Governor Palin referenced: These pages prove this plan discriminates against the elderly, the disabled and the very young, based on their relative worth to society. Palin is trying to educate the American People, Congress is trying to snowball us all into passing this bill. Washington is just telling Amercians what they want to hear not the facts, Please do the research and find the truth!!
Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMO's, etc.
Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (health care by phone)
Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time. [sounds like a new kind of death tax to me]
Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include ORDER for end-of-life plans. An order from the GOVERNMENT.
Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
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Newperson3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Opponents keep citing the CBO's estimate that reform may cost $1.6 trillion. Yet, we’ve spent six trillion dollars bailing out financial institutions, and one trillion on Iraq only to discover that there were no WMDs and al Qaeda is actually in Afghanistan.
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So if we Stop the war now we could stell have enough money to cover a healthcare plan and have money to buy some bullet proof vest for supporters of the bill. -
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Progressive3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Birther "crazies" are fueling ugly confrontations at town hall meetings about health care reform, complains Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. “The birthers are a perfect slice of people who have lost their rationality" whose "obsession is hurting the Democratic process," he said on Hardball yesterday. "They're "absolutely nuts," he added.
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“I’ve never seen ugliness and rage like this in all my years in office,” said the two-term governor who once also served as mayor of Philadelphia. Rendell appealed to “the vast majority of Americans who are still good, honest, decent people to step up and say no to these crazies.”
http://www.newser.com/story/66711/absolutely-nuts-...-
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MeaJen303 months, 2 weeks ago
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It seems to me that good, honest, decent people are stepping up and saying no to the crazies in Washington. Maybe instead of party politics, they should actually find out what their constituents want. Maybe instead of labelling people who disagree with them as crazy, they should find out what their constituents think and vote according to that rather than party lines. And this goes for both parties!
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Endoscopy3 months, 1 week ago
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Is that the best you can do? Almost all people are satisfied with their insurance but nut obs like you ignore that fact. To nut jobs like you any profit is obscene. To nut jobs like you any CEO of a company making a large salary is obscene but you ignore what movie stars and athletes make.
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You are the obscene one for having that attitude.
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bigG3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Great post - it puts in all in perspective regarding the health(don't)care insurance companies.
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FTA:
"Opponents of health reform claim that by preserving our private-only insurance system, they’re looking out for us, the consumer.
Is that why over the past five years, health insurance premiums have risen 5.5 times faster on average than inflation? Or why, according to a report released this year by the Senate Commerce Committee, “Consumers have paid billions that their insurance companies should have paid”? "
These companies are into making money and to hell with your health. My premiums tripled over six years while inflation was almost non-existent. At least I can afford it as I make a good deal of money, but I feel for those who can't and are struggling to make ends meet.
If I keep on saying it enough maybe even the dunderheads will get it eventually: It's about the money and who gets it and nothing else.
If you want to keep paying these exorbitant insurance premiums go ahead and rail against reform. You night get lucky and get something back. Don't hold your breath though. It'll be unhealthy. -
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Mikunited3 months, 2 weeks ago
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I'm a Brit living in London and the adverts the Republicans have put out on TV,to scare people away from health reform are full of lies.The parts to do with the UK's NHS is total crap.My partner had breast cancer,the NHS was excellent.She was treated immediately she was diagnosed,well that week.Since then the NHS has improved,as has all the other European universal healthcare systems.
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We pay less than you do and live longer,as do Canadians,Scandinavians,French,Germans,Australians and all other developed nations with universal medical care.We may pay higher taxes,but it pays for a healthcare system that looks after us from cradle to grave.I'm not being a nationalist,the UK has some really crap things about it and the USA has some magnificent things,it can and should boast about.Please hassle your senator to vote for Obamas reforms.Then when they are passed,keep hassling until you have "socialized medicine".Don't let the GOP scare you off,it's not a "Soviet one size fits all"system.The fact that 15% of all Americans have none, or very small amount of health care,is a blot on the American landscape.Health isn't about shareholders and premiums,but "one should pay according to ones means and be treated according to ones needs".That might sound a little like socialism,but it works very well indeed---just ask a Canadian!!-
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Progressive3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Your countryman, Stephen Hawking, concurs:
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http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/08/12/stephen-... -
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Mikunited3 months, 1 week ago
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Thanks Progressive, Stephen Hawkins is right.Plus you get treated pretty much the same if you are famous or not!!Of course those with mega-bucks, can get good treatment anywhere,including private provision in the UK.For the vast mass of people we have the NHS,I hope Obama manages to get his bill through the senate,then goes a few steps further until America has a similar system!!
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Progressive3 months, 2 weeks ago
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At a townhall meeting this morning, Arlen Specter was careful to avoid the criticisms some fellow Democrats have leveled at health-care protesters, that they are pawns of special interest groups who organize them by the busload, mobs whipped up by conservative talk radio...
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http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/2009081... -
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Progressive3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Grassley: Government Plan Threatens to ‘Pull the Plug on Grandma’--
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http://washingtonindependent.com/54853/grassley-go... -
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Progressive3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Hartford Ordered to Refund $48 Million After Too Much Profit:
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103=aO... -
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icono13 months, 2 weeks ago
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An interesting read with good points about what we, as a society, expect from medical care often does not line up with the reality of 'intelligent and to the point' medical care;
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/why-he... -
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calitennflo3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Vested interests?
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vested-fixed and absolute and without contingency; "a vested right"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Congress better take a look at themselves in the mirror, and treat everyone in a respectful manner. The powers of government are vested with all the people...and money has no place in a discussion about health.
The correct medial medical remedy is always the free one. -
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DarkWizard3 months, 1 week ago
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Here's an excerpt from the article that has some facts which counter the notion that the health care industry has already rigged the game to their favor:
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"The health care industry is spending $1.4 million dollars per day to lobby against reform, and spent $126 million on lobbying in the first quarter, leading all other groups. Three of every four major health firms hire at least one lobbyist who previously worked for a congressman; 49 of the 136 lobbyists employed by PhRMA are former congressional staffers who retain cozy Hill relationships."
For the naysayers, who will being commenting and negging here soon, I just want to point out that your continuing lies and writing in all caps has no bearing on reality. Health care IS going to be reformed!-
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Natureboy3 months, 1 week ago
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Here's an excerpt from the article that has some facts which counter the notion that the health care industry has already rigged the game to their favor:
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"The health care industry is spending $1.4 million dollars per day to lobby against reform, and spent $126 million on lobbying in the first quarter, leading all other groups. Three of every four major health firms hire at least one lobbyist who previously worked for a congressman; 49 of the 136 lobbyists employed by PhRMA are former congressional staffers who retain cozy Hill relationships."
Good grief, that proves nothing. They may be spending that much to lobby, but the assumption that they are lobbying against reform is just an assumption. When you base your assumptions on your conclusions, wiz, that's called circular reasoning.
When Billy Tauzin cuts a deal with Obama to preserve big pharma profits, is that lobbying against reform? Sounds to me like it is coopting reform, which is also what the insurers are doing. They defeat reform, and they keep the status quo, Reform prevails, and it is reform on their terms. They don't have a downside.
But we do.
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Natureboy3 months, 1 week ago
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The converse is also true - support of healthcare reform is a tangled web of vested interests. Start with Senator Baucus, who has received nearly four million dollars during his career from the health insurance lobby and the medical lobby. Trace it out from there. How many tangled strands of this web lead right to Baucus? How do you think this has affected the direction of the so-called "reform."
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Billy Tauzin is a big, fat spider in this tangled web. Watch him scuttle in and out of the White House, cutting deals with Obama to protect the profits of big pharma.
Obama himself is sitting in the middle of this web. He's been visited by loads of Insurance executives and medical lobbyists - but he won't release the White House visitor logs showing who they are, how often they visit or why. Why do you suppose that is? -
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kobzikov3 months, 1 week ago
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I think the name of the game is misdirection.
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While those who support and are actively pushing for real healthcare reform are preoccupied with ranters and ravers at town halls, the HMO sponsored politicians and their lobbyist friends will decide what the final bill will look like.
And even if some kind of public option survives the process it will not provide sufficient coverage to pose serious competition to private sector.-
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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You're absolutely right, though I would argue that the goal should be to achieve a public/private partnership rather than "serious competition to the private sector."
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In a capitalist system such as ours, the government should regulate but not compete with private enterprise.
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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Richard Lynn "Rick" Scott is an American entrepreneur, former hospital executive, and founder of Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR). An attorney by trade, in 2009 he founded CPR, a group opposed to President Barack Obama's stated health-care policy goals.
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Scott founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation in 1987 and later merged Columbia/HCA along with the brother of Senator Bill Frist, Columbia HCA Chairman Thomas J. Frist in 1989, but was ousted by the company's board of directors in 1997 in the midst of the nation's biggest health care fraud scandal in which the company ultimately plead guilty to the nation's then largest Medicaid and Medicare fraud and paid a record fine of $1.7 Billion dollars. In 2001, Scott co-founded the Solantic Corporation, which operates walk-in medical care centers. He also owns Continental Structural Plastics, North America's largest industrial composites molder.
http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-lynn-scott -
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tdrdemo3 months, 1 week ago
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I seem to find that many forget the last couple of years of Bush’s second term the Democrats were running Congress. Now with Obama/Pelosi/Reid the spending has quadrupled!! Easy to blame Bush or Republicans. We currently have a war in Afghanistan no one seems to mention and a President that seems not to deal with Korea. Bush the “war monger” kept this nation safe! Is there a slight possibility the Democrats set Bush up to fail to get their man in? We have them leading our Nation, they set this nation up to fail, and you voted for it!! Congress will go to any measure to get this bill passed and silence the Voice of Americans!! Pelosi called Americans that protest this healthcare bill Radical's, Nazi’s and just Un-American!
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Most Americans have simple questions like:
Where’s the money going to come from?
Will Americans be forced to pay for this forced health care or suffer a penalty?
Why do you want a public option?
Is healthcare going to be rationed?
Why is government taking over our lives?
What about the government heath care programs already failing?
Why is government forcing us to provide care for illegal aliens?
Will we have to wait longer for care?
Why do all of the democratic congressmen and senators seem to have the same rehearsed answers? Is this how Pelosi ordered and commanded Congress to respond to the American People in her mandatory meeting?
The tide is turning the people of this country are experiencing an awakening, time to get representation of and for the people in Washington!!-
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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"Pelosi called Americans that protest this healthcare bill Radical's, Nazi’s and just Un-American!"
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Actually, Pelosi merely said it was un-American to suppress debate...and the rest of your rant seems to be right off of Rush's rightwing radio as well.
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yram3 months, 1 week ago
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I am a retiree who receives social security and who feels lucky to have Medicare. Medicare is a single payer government run system that works well but has been manipulated by some dishonest providers (what hasn't, including private insurance). The reforms are designed to attack and end abuses. Meanwhile Congress has a very similar health plan--works great--they would not like to be without it--When Medicare was first proposed who do you think opposed it? Yeah a whole buch of R's--it was the end of the world--the sky was falling---eventually even the smug "I've got mine" folks will be priced out of the health system and it will be interesting to see them bootstrap their way out of that predicament. Retired people screaming about socialized medicine--quite bizarre--it is what they have right now!!!
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tdrdemo3 months, 1 week ago
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Instead of concerning ourselves with the past, let’s examine the present - tax cheat as Treasurer, Senators who lack integrity and morality, Speaker's of the House's that portray educated and concerned Americans as "Nazi‘s" "Radicals" Un-American" "mongers"
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because we do not go along with their agenda! They FORGET THEY ARE THERE for THE PEOPLE NOT to accomplish THEIR OWN personal agendas!!
I am not a left wing or a right wing, a Democrat or Republican, I am an American Citizen, and I have no confidence in this Congress. I have more faith in the Hard working Americans that keep this nation and provide for it! It is time our pockets were lined! You appear to say, we need "someone to think for us" or "our actions are caused by another!!"
May I inform you; I am of sound mind and have rights of expression to which all human beings are respectfully entitled to! CLEAN HOUSE AMERICA! WE NEED EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE, GOVERNMENT NOT GOVERNMENT CONTROL! -
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Klarissa3 months, 1 week ago
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www.cpusa.org/article/articleprint/969/
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The Service Employees (SEIU), the largest union in the Change to Win federation, voted at their June 2–4 convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to spend $85 million for the fall campaign to elect Obama and a bigger Democratic majority in Congress.
An additional $55 million will be spent for a legislative campaign to push for creation of a “universal, comprehensive and affordable national health care plan,” according to a union statement issued after the convention.
In a unique move, SEIU voted to spend $10 million to mount campaigns against legislators on any level who go back on promises they have made to the labor movement."
[What do you think the "campaigns" will be?] -
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Georgia503 months, 1 week ago
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"America is the only developed nation in the world that doesn’t provide healthcare to its citizens."
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So...where're the piles of bodies? How can Canadians posssibly make a living by coordinating health care for Canadians...IN THE U.S. ???
We're not opposed to health care reform. We're opposed to the Democratic lies that serve to commandeer 1/6th of the US economy and turn it into a political redoubt.
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