Tag: health care reform

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Single Payer

We’ve all been witness to the heated debate over public or private financing of health care for all Americans. Yesterday, a Federal Appeals court issued the following statement which seems to strike at what many on the right wing call, “ObamaCare.”

“What Congress cannot do under the Commerce Clause is mandate individuals enter into contracts with private insurance companies for the purchase of an expensive product from the time they are born until the time they die.”

That appeal decision could well pave the way to single payer health care which may not have been the original intent of the presiding judge. Everyone gets health care in this country, even if it’s in the emergency room. The media is panning this appellate decision as a blow to the President’s health care plan, but it may in fact have the opposite effect. Time will tell.

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Public Option Dead

Word on the web is that the public option in health care is dead. That’s really too bad because not getting the cost of medical care under control will eventually be the undoing of the United States of America. Corporate news sources which include all the major news outlets were complicit in this debacle as were the insurance companies who own Congress. There used to be a difference between Republicans and Democrats but it’s all one big oligarchic party now and the American people are the losers. Most Americans were actually in favor of a public option, but just like the Iraq War, congress failed to do the will of the people and so bent to their corporate masters. I’m disappointed to say the least. Obama is proving to be no substantive difference from Bush. We heard a lot of talk right after the election, the inauguration and maybe into March, but then it’s been business as usual with the oligarchs running the country. How much longer the middle class can support the wealthy in this country remains to be seen, but my bet is that it won’t be much longer before we crumble from within. We have become exactly like ancient Rome and all the other man-made empires before and since. “We the people, by the people and for the people,” has perished from the earth. Alas, one nation under God is no more, we worship the golden calf.

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Health care reform is good for business

This story comes from a story and video I’ve just seen on one of my favorite blogs. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Senator John Edwards, a woman currently battling cancer really does a great job of debunking some of the myths surrounding the health care debate which have heated up quite a bit this week. Some national Republicans are calling this Waterloo for Obama. Health care critics are always citing phony number and I’ve had a sense of that for sometime, but the statistics shown in this post are remarkable.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg1VSH1_eLo]

A few years ago I was speaking to a technical support representative of a major printer manufacturer. In our conversation I noted that he sounded very Canadian, which in fact he was. I quizzed him about why his company had located their technical support in Alberta. Why Alberta? Why put your technical support people in the middle of the Canadian Rockies. Why such a remote location? His answer was that the company wanted highly skilled English speakers but could not afford health care costs so they moved their operation to Canada. The light came on for me that day. As a business owner and an American citizen who wants to see my country grow and prosper I began to realize the imperative of health care reform. Small business will not be saddled with benefit costs which have been driving many out of the market place. Health care reform is therefore our patriotic duty. Taking advantage of people in the fashion that health care conglomerates have is very un-American not to mention un-holy.

Sadly the American health care system is deadlier than our neighbors to the north. Take a look at some numbers that come from this link.

Circulatory disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 219
  • United States: 265

Child maltreatment deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 0.7
  • United States: 2.2

Digestive disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 17.4
  • United States: 20.5

Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births

  • Canada: 5.08
  • United States: 6.3

Intestinal diseases death rate

  • Canada: 0.3%
  • United States: 7.3%

Proability of not reaching age 60:

  • Canada: 9.5%
  • United States: 12.8%

Respiratory disease child death rate per 100,000

  • Canada: 0.62
  • United States: 40.43

Heart disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 94.9
  • United States: 106.5

HIV deaths per million people:

  • Canada: 47.423
  • United States: 48.
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More health care news

Here’s a story I came upon tonight on Crooks & Liars. It’s a great piece by Bill Moyers which highlights the problem that average Americans have in obtaining health care and the best part is that he shows how a country doctor and our new Surgeon General helps average Americans. This week Republicans and Democrats who are getting money from health care conglomerates are attempting to derail health care reform for ordinary Americans. We need your help in getting out the vote and pressuring Congress to pass health care reform that guarantees affordable and where necessary government subsidized health care for ordinary Americans. Congress get’s free health care but many of those same congressional folks think that you and I don’t deserve the same. Call or write your representative and make your voice heard on this most important issue.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46WUVXCV27U]

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What the American people want…

Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican party seems to think Americans don’t want health care. This video show Steele sidestepping questions. He says here he is not a politician. He’s the chairman of a political organization and we’re supposed to believe he is not a politician. Michael we’re not all looney. You are a politician and a slick talking one too. The American people do want health care reform and you represent a failed policy. For six of eight years Republicans stalled on health care. Now you want us to believe you have some new ideas. Balderdash! Hogwash! You have no idea what reform is. You are a champion of the status quo. You are in the hip pocket of powerful interests who have vested interests in maintaining the status quo. Forty million Americans have no coverage at all, 9 of those 40 million are children. This is an imperative equal to Emancipation Proclamation. Millions of Americans are enslaved by un-restricted insurance conglomerates who ration health care. We have rationed health care now, Michael. We want the freedom to choose. Your status quo and ignorance stand in the way. The real conservative approach is to control insurance companies. It is the insurance companies who favor socialism. They love corporate socialism. They don’t mind handouts for health care as long its their hands that are on the receiving end.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFH390hvKAI]

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No more excuses

This week we’ve seen stalling and grand standing on health care reform by folks who don’t need health insurance because they already have government provided health care. We the people demand change. Those who represent us would have us believe that health care reform is a bad thing. Why then is the rest of the world not moving to the United States because our health care is without peer. Truth be told is that while Americans do have great health care, they do not have great health care coverage. Health Care Reform will be good for all Americans including doctors and nurses. Call your representative now and demand health care reform. It’s a matter of social justice and believe it or not it will actually benefit business both large and small. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just plain lying to you.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FvLjsUOJg]