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Accountability
It's been a big week for healthcare reform. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced the merged Senate bill will include the choice of a public option when it comes to the floor of the Senate for a full vote.
Once on the floor of the Senate, we'll push for Senators to pass amendments that will make a public option stronger and more robust. We'll try to expand the choice to every American, not just those who don't have insurance or states that don't Opt-Out. And we have to block amendments intended to kill a public option like Sen. Olympia Snowe's Trigger Trap.
But make no mistake about it, the fact that the merged Senate bill has a public option is a huge victory for progressives. It's a huge victory for you. We just scored a fourth quarter touchdown in the Superbowl and now it's up to us to make sure Democrats deliver the win.
That doesn't mean winning will be easy. It only takes one Senator of the 60 Senator Democratic Caucus to support a Republican filibuster to block the bill. It would be unprecedented. It would be a nuclear bomb on the President's top priority. And, some Senators are already threatening to do it.
Tell the Senate Democratic Caucus it is time for accountability. If ANY member of the 60 Member Caucus joins a Republican filibuster of healthcare reform with a public option, the Caucus must immediately strip that Senator of all Committee Chairmanships.
SIGN THE OPEN LETTER RIGHT NOW.
There's been a lot to celebrate this week, but we aren't done. We haven't won yet.
We will not stop until the President has signed the bill.
Greetings from the Prince of Darkness! The click on feature in the post by David Reed will not work unless Democrats bring a permission slip from their parents stating that they are mature enough to see the information!!!!!!
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Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote a letter to California's Congressional leaders today about health care reform. Most of it is a long extended whine about the feds not offering enough money to states to provide for health care, since Arnold believes California should not be spending much money to help people get health care. But there's also an interesting proposal from our governor about the public option. Basically, he wants to use the "opt-out" as an opportunity for California to design its own public option, one that would benefit fewer people than the federal option: read more: http://www.calitics.com/diary/10360/the-arnold-option |
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10618234/1/evan-bayh-hypocrisy-on-the-public-option.html
Evan Bayh: Hypocrisy on the Public Option
WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- Evan Bayh, the junior senator from Indiana, is in the middle of a heated debate in the Senate on whether a public option should be included as part of President Obama's health care reforms. An organizer of a group of so-called Senate Blue Dog Democrats, to date, Bayh's been a staunch opponent of any changes to the status quo in this debate.
He's worried aloud that any public option would be a nod to socialism and counter to his principles as a fiscal conservative. When pressed on the issue, he's said he's simply a vessel reflecting the views of his Indiana constituents. Yet Bayh, who until very late in the campaign last year was considered a top contender to be Obama's vice president, is at best naive and disingenuous, and at worst supremely hypocritical in pushing his views as those of his voters.
His wife, Susan Bayh, sits on the board of WellPoint(WLP Quote) in her hometown of Indianapolis. Over the last six years, Susan Bayh has received at least $2 million in compensation from WellPoint alone for serving on its board.
She joined Anthem Insurance (the precursor organization to WellPoint) in 1998, when she was 38 years old and a midlevel attorney working for Eli Lilly (LLY Quote). Her work experience prior to her stint at Lilly was five years as a junior law professor at Butler University in Indianapolis. Her work background at the time she was appointed to the Anthem board would have been surprising, given that she had no insurance experience and was relatively young and inexperienced to serve as a director on a multibillion-dollar board.
However, Susan Bayh had one competitive advantage that made her stand out as attractive to Anthem: She was married to Evan Bayh -- former governor of Indiana who, in 1998, was elected to the U.S. Senate.
- Jane Hamsher: House Health Care Bill: A Death Sentence For My Fellow Breast Cancer Survivors
By Susan Rowe on Oct 29, 2009 10:20 PM EDTRead more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/house-health-care-bill-a_b_338762.html
Trick or Treat for Healthcare Events
FRIDAY, OCT. 30
DC : Russell Senate Office Bldg, Constitution & Delaware at 3:00 pm
Baltimore, MD: 1629 Thames St. at 2:30 pm
Raleigh, NC: 310 New Bern Ave @ 1:30 pm
Palo Alto, CA: 698 Emerson St, Palo Alto at 2:00 pm
Biologic medicines, including many treatments for cancer, are extremely expensive. Big Pharma is trying to use healthcare reform to keep it that way.
Join the fight for affordable medicines. http://www.affordablemedsnow.org/
Myla Reson: Why does Jane Harman support this de facto Death Sentence for Breast Cancer Survivors?
At last night's heath care forum in Venice, CA, Harman's District Director defended Harman's YES vote on the Eshoo-Barton amendment.
Ask Harman's District Director Mike Divirgilio why Harman supports the Eshoo-Barton amendment. 310.643.3636
Insurance Information
We're here to help
Handling insurance matters can be difficult on your own. That's where Herceptin Access Solutions(TM) help. Although you are not required to use this free information resource, you may find it reassuring to know that Herceptin Access Solutions is here for you if you need help with your insurance matters.
What is Herceptin Access Solutions?
Herceptin Access Solutions, sponsored by Genentech, Inc., is a free resource that can provide patients and their healthcare providers with helpful insurance reimbursement information regarding Herceptin(R)
Herceptin Access Solutions reimbursement specialists can offer you assistance with:
- Investigating your Herceptin insurance coverage benefits
- Assessing whether prior authorization, from your insurance, is needed for your
- Herceptin therapy
- Appealing denied Herceptin claims
- Providing patient assistance resources
You can access more information about Herceptin Access Solutions on the internet at www.HerceptinAccessSolutions.com, or speak to a Herceptin Access
Solutions reimbursement specialist at:
Toll-free: 1-888-249-4918 (6 AM to 5 PM Pacific time Monday-Friday)
What if I don't have insurance?
Not all Herceptin (trastuzumab) patients have complete medical coverage, so we've provided some alternative resources.
Please note: This page contains the Web address to a number of other organizations that may offer useful information. We suggest visiting those sites directly to obtain information on specific details of coverage, and educational and financial support services for Herceptin. Unless otherwise indicated, Genentech, Inc. is not a partner or affiliated with any company listed. The availability of insurance coverage and financial assistance varies from company to company, plan to plan, and state to state. Genentech, Inc. does not imply or guarantee that your insurance company nor any other company will provide coverage or assistance for Herceptin. Genentech, Inc. is not responsible for any decisions of partial or noncoverage of Herceptin.
Genentech® Access to Care Foundation
Although Genentech's products are covered by most government and private insurance, Genentech has established the Genentech Access to Care Foundation for its marketed products.We are committed to eligible patients having access to all of our drugs for approved indications. For eligible patients who are treated in the United States, Genentech will provide product to those who cannot afford to pay because we believe it is the right thing to do.
http://www.herceptin.com/breast-cancer-resources/insurance.jsp
- Jane Hamsher: Anna Eshoo's PhRMA Boondoggle: The Devil Is In Her Details
By Susan Rowe on Nov 2, 2009 9:59 PM ESTAnna Eshoo's PhRMA Boondoggle: The Devil Is In Her Details
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/anna-eshoos-phrma-boondog_b_342622.html
Medical Students for affordable medicine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP55UaUHv9w
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/10/25/top_stories/doc4ae4b76d07e16766677720.txt
Gardasil Researcher Drops A Bombshell
Harper: Controversal Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates
By Susan Brinkmann, For The Bulletin
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.
Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4. Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.
“I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.
Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of HPV infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.
She went on to surprise the audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is already so low that “even if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the US.”
There will be no decrease in cervical cancer until at least 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, and even then, the decrease will be minimal.
Apparently, conventional treatment and preventative measures are already cutting the cervical cancer rate by four percent a year. At this rate, in 60 years, there will be a 91.4 percent decline just with current treatment. Even if 70 percent of women get the shot and required boosters over the same time period, which is highly unlikely, Harper says Gardasil still could not claim to do as much as traditional care is already doing.
Dr. Harper, who also serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization, further undercut the case for mass vaccination by saying that “four out of five women with cervical cancer are in developing countries.”
Ms. Robinson said she could not help but wonder, “If this is the case, then why vaccinate at all? But from the murmurs of the doctors in the audience, it was apparent that the same thought was occurring to them.”
However, at this point, Dr. Harper dropped an even bigger bombshell on the audience when she announced that, “There have been no efficacy trials in girls under 15 years.”
Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, studied only a small group of girls under 16 who had been vaccinated, but did not follow them long enough to conclude sufficient presence of effective HPV antibodies.
This is not the first time Dr. Harper revealed the fact that Merck never tested Gardasil for safety in young girls. During a 2007 interview with KPC News.com, she said giving the vaccine to girls as young as 11 years-old “is a great big public health experiment.”
At the time, which was at the height of Merck’s controversial drive to have the vaccine mandated in schools, Dr. Harper remained steadfastly opposed to the idea and said she had been trying for months to convince major television and print media about her concerns, “but no one will print it.”
“It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11 to 12 year old girls,” she said at the time. “There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue.”
When asked why she was speaking out, she said: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.”
Since the drug’s introduction in 2006, the public has been learning many of these facts the hard way. To date, 15,037 girls have officially reported adverse side effects from Gardasil to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). These adverse reactions include Guilliane Barre, lupus, seizures, paralysis, blood clots, brain inflammation and many others. The CDC acknowledges that there have been 44 reported deaths.
Dr. Harper also participated in the research on Glaxo-Smith-Kline’s version of the drug, Cervarix, currently in use in the UK but not yet approved here. Since the government began administering the vaccine to school-aged girls last year, more than 2,000 patients reported some kind of adverse reaction including nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, convulsions, seizures and hyperventilation. Several reported multiple reactions, with 4,602 suspected side-effects recorded in total. The most tragic case involved a 14 year-old girl who dropped dead in the corridor of her school an hour after receiving the vaccination.
The outspoken researcher also weighed in last month on a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that raised questions about the safety of the vaccine, saying bluntly: "The rate of serious adverse events is greater than the incidence rate of cervical cancer."
Ms. Robinson said she respects Dr. Harper’s candor. “I think she’s a scientist, a researcher, and she’s genuine enough a scientist to be open about the risks. I respect that in her.”
However, she failed to make the case for Gardasil. “For me, it was hard to resist the conclusion that Gardasil does almost nothing for the health of American women.”
- Health Access is the worst healthcare insurance reform organization to ever happen in California.
By Susan Rowe on Oct 30, 2009 12:49 AM EDTTo Health Access...
You don't speak of the California Democratic Party.
More Health Access nonsense below
Do you need help paying a hospital bill? http://www.hospitalbillhelp.org
Health Access is the leading voice for health care consumers in California. NOT
Common Cau$e of California needs to be reformed too. We could do better without Common Cau$e of california. Some wonk$ just don't deserve to be in politics any more.
- Pelosi must include the Kucinich and Weiner Amendments...CALL TODAY!!!
By Susan Rowe on Oct 30, 2009 10:18 AM EDTPlease call Speaker Pelosi's DC office at 202-225-4965 today!
Demand that she live up to her agreement to include the Kucinich Amendment in the final legislation and schedule a vote for the Weiner Amendment.
It is urgent that we act quickly on this.
IF YOU AGREE MAKE THIS YOUR FACEBOOK MESSAGE FOR TODAY!
In Solidarity,
Charles Showalter
We want to hear your thoughs call 412 829-7100 12-1 eastern time!
- Please, please call and make this message go viral. Our Union brothers and Sisters need our help!!
By Susan Rowe on Oct 30, 2009 10:25 AM EDTPublic Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) http://www.peer.org/index.php
For months, the Obama administration has resisted any attempts to resolve whistleblower cases. The reason is that no one is authorized to make decisions about cases both new and old - some arising under Bush and some as late as last week.
Consequently, litigation against whistleblowers has been proceeding for months on auto-pilot, due to the Obama administration's hands-off posture. At least the Bush administration had in place people who, almost from day one, could and did resolve claims, whether early or on the courthouse steps. By contrast, as we approach the anniversary of the 2008 election, we are still in transition mode.
Take, for example, Teresa Chambers, the former U.S. Park Police Chief whose honesty was praised by then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Right now, besides a Federal Circuit appeal, Teresa Chambers is in the middle of a federal district court trial in which Obama Justice Department attorneys are trying to defend the illegal shredding by Bush appointees of exonerating documents from her personnel file. How much sense does that make?con't...
Meanwhile, new whistleblower retaliation cases are cropping up daily, usually engineered by holdover managers counting on White House inattention. Look at Robert McCarthy, the Chief Counsel of the International Boundary & Water Commission, who was recently fired by a holdover presidential pleasure appointee of the Bush administration who is still in place.
In that obscure agency, the White House has taken the trouble to officially designate an acting Commissioner but left the Bush Commissioner in place -- and he has hired, at taxpayer expense, one of the nation's largest anti-union law firms to conduct a scorched earth campaign against a whistleblower. Go figure.
President Obama once famously promised to make federal service "cool again". The first step is to stop persecuting people of courage and honor them instead. With only a fraction of the effort needed to adopt new laws or regulations, the Obama administration could do far more to change agency culture and climate by simply restoring some heroes to their rightful places.Sincerely,
Jeff Ruch
Executive Director
www.seiu.org
SEIU is doing some great work to help get President Obama's health care legislation passed through Congress and the Senate.
Unfortunately, SEIU is having a lot of internal problems these days. It’s better for political parties to build solidarity with their local and state central labor council's leadership.
Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard TrumkaSF Labor Council Backs UNITE HERE Local 2, Rejects SEIU’s Threats
In a further sign of SEIU’s growing estrangement from the labor movement, the San Francisco Labor Council has rejected SEIU’s threat to withdraw 40% of its Council funding unless UNITE HERE Local 2 drops its support for NUHW’s decertification campaign against SEIU’s home health care workers. At an August 21 Executive Board meeting, representatives of several unions took turns castigating SEIU-UHW Trustee Dave Regan for threatening the Council’s funding, while praising Local 2’s historic commitment to worker rights. Although Regan had threatened the “immediate withdrawal” of SEIU’s $17,000 monthly Council contribution during an August 15 meeting with Local 2 officials, he now denied that SEIU had decided to withdraw funding. Instead, he said that he had requested to meet with Local 2 to see how SEIU-UHW could help UNITE HERE in its contract fight against San Francisco’s hotels. Most striking about the meeting was the widespread criticism of SEIU’s bullying tactics, and the strong defense of Local 2’s efforts to help NUHW decertify SEIU’s local home health care workers.
As the epicenter of labor’s internal wars shifts to San Francisco, SEIU now finds itself in deep trouble with the powerful San Francisco Labor Council. Labor officials were angered by SEIU’s threat to withdraw its Council funding, and did not respond well to what Teachers Union President Dennis Kelly described as “the two faced-ness of (Dave) Regan’s presentation and by the threats and bullying.”
Council Defends Local 2, NUHW
The Council was brought into the SEIU-UNITE HERE fight after Dave Regan told Local 2 officials that SEIU was withdrawing its monthly per capita contributions “effective immediately” in retaliation for Council President Mike Casey’s support for NUHW’s campaign to decertify SEIU’s local home health care workers. Although Regan denied at the Council meeting that any decision to withdraw funds had been made, I confirmed with Local 2’s Northern California Organizing Director Tho Do that her notes of the Regan meeting confirmed that he said SEIU’s dues would be withdrawn “effective immediately.”
Not wanting to have his individual union’s decisions negatively impact the Council, Casey began the August 22 meeting by offering his resignation as President. It was unanimously refused, with much of the Council irate over SEIU’s tactics. John Ulrich, of United Food and Commercial Workers 101, told the Council, “for SEIU to continue to try and extort CLC’s (Central Labor Councils) over issues is terrible.” Ulrich stated that he “belongs to four Labor Councils, and SEIU has pulled this kind of threat in three of those councils many times over the years over different issues.”
Casey made it clear that he felt that NUHW “is the true voice of homecare workers in California,” and that “it was Sal Rosselli, former UHW staff and the union’s rank-and-file leadership, not SEIU, who did the work on behalf of homecare workers in San Francisco.” In an ominous sign for SEIU’s relationship to the broader labor movement, nobody criticized Local 2’s support of NUHW’s de-certification. Nor did any dispute Casey’s crediting Rosselli’s team for the gains of the home health care workers who will soon be choosing between SEIU and NUHW as their representative.
Council Initiates Solidarity Pledge
In order to protect its finances, the Labor Council has initiated a “Solidarity Pledge” whereby unions are being asked to agree to provide additional funding so that if SEIU leaves there will not be a shortfall. Plumbers chief Larry Mazzola, who announced at the end of the August 22 meeting that his union would “step up” to fill any funding gap, kicked off this strategy.
According to Labor Council Vice-President Conny Ford, since Mazzola got the ball rolling the solidarity pledges are “going great.” Ford told me that in response to her single e-mail message about the pledge, “people are either signing up or saying that they are awaiting ratification of the proposed dues increase from their executive boards.” Ford said she had not heard from a single union that they did not want to pledge higher dues to protect the Council from SEIU’s withdrawal.
In addition, Local 2’s support among other unions continues to grow. IBEW 1245 Business Manager Tom Dalzell is providing Local 2 with two fulltime organizers to help on its contract fight, and is also providing the services of longtime former SEIU organizing strategist Fred Ross, Jr., who now works for IBEW.
Growing Labor Unity – Outside SEIU
As the AFL-CIO convention opens on September 13, the union unity exhibited at the San Francisco Labor Council over the dispute between SEIU and UNITE HERE could well emerge at the national level. SEIU’s former Change to Win partners at UNITE HERE and the Laborers Union are negotiating to rejoin the AFL-CIO, and the UFCW – whose San Francisco representatives strongly backed Local 2 against SEIU — may not be far behind.
Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently gave an interview in the Las Vegas Sun in which he vowed to move labor in a different direction than that promoted by SEIU President Andy Stern. Trumka noted “the difference between me and (Stern) is that he believes you can look at that system and play within that box by accommodating employers. I believe that the system has to be changed because it’s designed for employers to win and workers, every time, to lose.”
Whereas Dave Regan told the Labor Council that this “tag line” about SEIU and “top down unionism and corporate unionism” hasn’t “been his experience,” most labor leaders are not happy over SEIU’s vaunted “partnerships” with Wal-Mart, Big Pharma and other corporate interests. Trumka and international union presidents are increasingly joining UNITE HERE and NUHW’s critique of SEIU’s approach, which could soon result in a labor movement with nearly all unions on one page and SEIU on another.
Randy Shaw is the author of Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century
There several unions in California who have been working for years on healthcare reform. CNA/NNOC's work was highlighted in the film SiCKO. CSEA's work is well respected. California is a single payer state. Single payer has passed twice in CA but Schwarzenneggar keeps vetoing it. Aronld is such a Bush Republican. Support for single payer is in the California Democratic Party platform.
Many of our elected representatives within the Democratic Party are no longer following in the time-honored footsteps laid down by the founding fathers of our great Nation. More importantly, we as democrats see our elected representatives within the Democratic Party abandoning the values and principles as set forth within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
Nonetheless, this is only the beginning of our problems as Democrats, for the current Democratic Party leadership is tainted by corruption and being taken over by Socialists. These Socialists are clearly a threat to everything we hold sacred in America, and they are gaining evermore control over our Democratic Party, our Nation, and the American people.
Despite this, we as Democrats can restore control of the Democratic Party back to the party members. All we need to do is cut off donations to the local, state, and national headquarters of the Democratic Party, and to make sure the donations are made directly to patriotic and honorable Democratic Party candidates that are not corrupt and/or Socialist.
So please help spread the message to everyone of our fellow Democrats. Also, don't forget to contact and request the Unions and other outside contributors to follow our lead as patriotic Americans.
Thank you, and God Bless America.
Website: http://www.democraticreformparty.com
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Local country parties make their own decisions and raise their own funds. They don't receive funding from their state or national parties. They can't, it's against the law. If you give money to your local party it helps local candidates and stays local. By law the state and national parties can't tell the local parties what to do. In most cases county and state parties have no input as who a national candidate will be. Those decisions are made by the leadership inside the DGA, DCCC, DSCC and the DNC. If you give money to any of these the funds go to the hired DC non-elected wonks who make the decisions. The DNC is not longer using the 50 state strategy so they could really care less the about the state and local elected parties' grassroots. The DC wonks are top down controllers and are not interested in growing the state and local parties' base. The OFA wonks are not hired by their state or local parties in most cases they are not even doing outreach to the local party's leadership. OFA has it's own agenda there is nobody running that organization who is elected. It's a self appointed PAC being ran of the DNC by DC wonks.
Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments
Reporting from Washington - <!-- P2P_LIVE_EDIT "content_item_dateline_preview" END --><!-- P2P_LIVE_EDIT "content_item_body_preview" START -->Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.
The provision was inserted by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) with the support of Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry and the late Edward M. Kennedy, both of Massachusetts, home to the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist.
The measure would put Christian Science prayer treatments -- which substitute for or supplement medical treatments -- on the same footing as clinical medicine. While not mentioning the church by name, it would prohibit discrimination against "religious and spiritual healthcare."read more: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-health-religion3-2009nov03,0,6879249,full.story
Christians to Get Their Own Exclusive Prison? Loopholes for Religious People Keep Growing
At first glance, I thought this story was good news: Oklahoma is going to build a Christian prison! About time, I thought, I can think of a few Christians who deserve a few years for faith-abuse. But no…it's a prison to be administered by Christians to give Christian criminals special privileges. Not quite as appropriate, but more in line with what we've gotten used to from our dominant faith tradition.
We're getting more of the same from Congress, too. Religion is being given permission to intrude on science once again, with the sanctimonious Orrin Hatch (abetted by a pair of Democrats, Kerry and Kennedy) sponsoring a provision in the mangled health care football to allow prayer to count as medicine. It's specifically a sop to Christian Science, that nonsensical superstition that believes that medicine is a betrayal of faith and that wants to charge sick people money to pray over them…and also get reimbursement from the government. Let the Christian Scientists get a foot in the door and official recognition of mumbling to Jesus as a billable service, and you know the Scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses and Amish and Mormons and, of course, the Catholics will be surging through to take advantage of the opportunities. ...read more
The Next Phase of Healthcare Apartheid
In Washington, "healthcare reform" has degenerated into a sick joke.
At this point, only spinners who've succumbed to their own vertigo could use the word "robust" to describe the public option in the healthcare bill that the House Democratic leadership has sent to the floor.
"A main argument was that a public plan would save people money," the New York Times has noted. But the insurance industry -- claiming to want a level playing field -- has gotten the Obama administration to bulldoze the plan. "After House Democratic leaders unveiled their health care bill [on October 29], the Congressional Budget Office said the public plan would cost more than private plans and only 6 million people would sign up."
At its best, "the public option" was a weak remedy for the disastrous ailments of the healthcare system in the United States. But whatever virtues the public option may have offered were stripped from the bill en route to the House floor.
What remains is a Rube Goldberg contraption that will launch this country into a new phase of healthcare apartheid.
People who scrape together enough money to buy health insurance will discover that they're riding in the back of the nation's healthcare bus.
read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/05
- Harry Reid: Health Care Bill May Not Be Finished This Year
By Susan Rowe on Nov 5, 2009 10:29 PM ESTHarry Reid: Health Care Bill May Not Be Finished This Year
WASHINGTON — In a blow to the White House, the Senate's top Democrat signaled Tuesday that Congress may fail to meet a year-end deadline for passing health care legislation, leaving the measure's fate to the uncertainties of the 2010 election season.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spoke as Democratic officials said it could be December before Senate debate begins in earnest on the issue atop President Barack Obama's domestic agenda, months after senior lawmakers and the White House had hoped. The drive to pass legislation has been plagued for months by divisions within the party's rank and file.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/03/harry-reid-health-care-bi_n_344222.html&cp
www.seiu.org
SEIU is doing great work to help get President Obama's health care plan passed through the Senate
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Videos of some of the 64 House Healthcare Heroes standing strong for a public health insurance option
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
Congressman Lloyd Dogget
Congressman Keith Ellison
Congressman Bob Filner
Congressman Phil Hare
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey
Congresswoman Maxine Waters
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- Latest Health Care Bill News!!!
By David Reed on Oct 29, 2009 4:16 PM EDTClick here to be completely informed: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul