NewsRack: newstrust/Health-Care/Single-Payer

Moore: Uninsured Dying Because They 'Hold American Instead of Canadian Passport' - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Moore predicted the Democrats' ObamaCare will pass, "But this bill, as good as many of the thing are in the bill, you know - young people can stay on their parent's insurance until 26, that's a great thing - it's a death sentence for literally tens of thousands of people who are going to get sick, or have been sick, and because of their preexisting conditions." To Moore, the current health care reform proposal does not go nearly far enough. He favors a universal single-payer system that would effectively be a government take-over of one-sixth the economy. " Their only crime - for dying - their only crime that they would have committed was they were a citizen in the United States of America ," Moore said of the uninsured. "If they were a ...

Fight for single-payer healthcare will continue after bill passes, senator says - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

One of the most trusted progressive voices in the senate said Monday evening the effort to improve health care in America will not be over once the Democratic bill passes. In fact, he declared, it's just the beginning. "I believe that at the end of the day, what we need is a Medicare-for-all, single payer system," [...]

Joe Scarborough endorses repealing parts of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. - Think Progres

Zaid Jilani — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, during a discussion on the health care bill currently being considered in Congress, host Joe Scarborough accused progressive contributor Lawrence O’Donnell of being an “avowed socialist, a eurosocialist.” O’Donnell sardonically reminded Scaborough that there is “not a single Republican socialist in the Congress who wants to repeal one sentence of [...]

The Contradictions of Reform Opponents - The Atlantic - Matthew Ygblesias

myglesias — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Rachel Slajda brings us Rep Mike McIntyre (D-NC)’s stated explanation for opposing the health reform bill: “Health care reform is needed, but the bill before us is too expensive, does not adequately address rising medical costs and skyrocketing insurance premiums, and tries to do too much too soon.” What’s disturbing about this is that it’s totally [...]

'Bipartisan Reform Was Achievable' -

mgoozner — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The former top health care aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) makes some cogent points in an op-ed that is must reading in today's New York Times . William F. Pewen notes: Many of the reforms contained in the Democratic bill were originally Republican ideas. For instance, in 2003 the Republican-led Congress enacted legislation calling for end-of-life counseling -- the "death panels" duplicitiously attacked in Republican Town Hall meetings last summer; The Democrats missed a golden opportunity to create a fallback public plan option, which was offered by Sen. Snowe during the "Gang of Six" negotiations; It was a Democratic deal with the pharmaceutical industry that led to the rejection of a plan to allow imported drugs, which could have ...

Pelosi Under Pressure From Progressives on Public Option - Truthout.com

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists that the public option is dead, but progressive organizations are mounting an aggressive campaign to resurrect it as Democratic lawmakers gear up to pass a final health care bill this week via a budgetary process known as reconciliation.

Democracy for America, Credo Action, and the Progressive Campaign Change Committee (PCCC) raised $75,000 for a 60-second spot that will air on MSNBC, CNN and a local station in Pelosi's home district of San Francisco.

Obama calls for action on healthcare: 'We need courage' - LA Times: Top News

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Obama calls for action on healthcare: 'We need courage'

The Crack Cocaine That Is The Nanny State - Red State

() — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Karl Marx famously stated that religion was the “opiate of the masses”. But Marx (unsurprisingly) had it wrong: the government nanny state is the real opiate of the masses. It is injected into our lives by the Leftist drug pushers who wish to control us, hook us on their DC-manufactured “progressivism”, and depend upon them for all of our needs. They know that once we’re hooked, we like it. We may not want to like it, because we know it’s really wrong to have such a dependency upon government. But we can’t help ourselves. There’s all that free stuff, just waiting for us to swallow it and make us feel good. Today, many are rightfully up in arms about the looming disaster that is health care ...

Nancy Pelosi hammers down the coffin lid on the public option - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

DOWNLOADS: (4) PLAYS: (8) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was firm today: A public option will not be included in the reconciliation package. After reminding reporters that she has been for single payer health care since "before most of [them] were born", she explained there would be no public option in the reconciliation bill. Expanding that answer, she pointed the finger at the Senate, saying,"[the Senate] does not have the votes." We can argue about whether the Senate has the votes or not, but as TPM reports , Senate support has diluted as more Senators make qualified commitments. Of those making some sort of commitment, only 24 have actually signed the Bennet letter. The rest have given only qualified nods. But the latest ...

Bill Maher: They Should Have Started With Single Payer on the Health Care Bill - Crooks Liars

Heather — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

DOWNLOADS: (77) PLAYS: (446) Bill Maher feels the same way I do about how the Democrats negotiated on the health care bill. Even if it was not what they ever thought they were going to get in the end, they should have started with single payer and negotiated down from there. Transcript via MSNBC from the March 10th edition of Countdown. O‘DONNELL: We‘re back with Bill Maher here on COUNTDOWN. Bill, after my tickle fight last Friday night, as I always do, I watched your show, and new rules, you turned into a prude, suddenly. You want the president to quit smoking. You became Mayor Bloomberg on Obama. What‘s the quit smoking bit with Obama? MAHER: Well, it was tongue in cheek, Lawrence, as you know. Come on, do I have to ...

The Massa Massacre - The Moderate Voice

JERRY REMMERS, Columnist — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

My friend Maurice asked me today whether I would write a column on Eric J.J. Massa, the Democratic congressman from New York who resigned for … for…for gosh knows how many reasons. “Dunno,” I said. “Why kick a guy when he’s down.” Maurice and I both saw Massa corkscrew himself deeper and deeper in his final television [...]

Why health-care reform gets harder over time - Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

This is a good Slate explainer looking into whether the health-care reforms of the early-20th century actually had a health-care system to reform. The answer, basically, is no, and for reasons I'll explain, that should make us very skeptical of rejecting this latest attempt at reform. In 1870, there were only 112 hospitals in the United States, probably because doctors couldn't do much to help patients other than hacking off limbs or sedating them with morphine. (Morphine was available over the counter until 1914, anyway.) Hospital patients were mostly poor people who couldn't work and had no one to care for them. The wealthy, meanwhile, paid for home-based care. Even amputations were frequently performed in a patient's home. But starting in ...

Maher: Obama’s ‘mistake’ was not telling Republicans to ’suck on it’ - Raw Story

David Edwards and Sahil Kapur — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

On health care, Democrats 'should have started with single payer,' he allegesComedian and political commentator Bill Maher said Wednesday that President Obama's insistence on courting Republican votes on his legislative priorities has weakened his presidency and the outcome of health care reform. "I think the biggest mistake that he has made in his first year was [...]

The state-based single payer strategy - Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

"Quite frankly," Sen. Bernie Sanders said today, "we don't have the votes for single payer." That's not much of a surprise, but Sanders did outline another strategy for single payer that some liberals might want to think about. "Right now," he explained, "we have language in the bill that says that states that want to go forward with single payer can do that." He's talking about the Waiver for State Innovation, which allows states to go their own way if they have a plan that will achieve the goals of the bill at a lower cost. You could imagine a state -- say, California, where the legislature has passed single-payer bills before only to see them vetoed by the governor -- using that provision to implement a single-payer system. Sanders thought ...

Sanders: ‘One year later, the White House gets it’ - Raw Story

Sahil Kapur — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday assailed the White House for purportedly wasting a year vying for Republican votes on health care reform, alleging that the protracted debate weakened the bill and damaged the party’s standing among progressives. “We have wasted month after month negotiating with people who do not support serious reform,” he said at [...]

Kucinich Sides With Insurance Industry, GOP to Oppose “Insurance Industry Giveaway” - The Atlantic - Matthew Ygblesias

myglesias — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

When the original vote was taken, I assumed that from-the-left opponents of the health care bill would be brought around if their vote was needed on final passage. But Dennis Kucinich has made clear that’s not the case, that he wants to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Sarah Palin, John Boehner, and Rush Limbaugh in killing the [...]

Michael Tomasky: Kucinich, raging egomaniac or idiot (probably not the latter) - Guardian: Comment is Free

Michael Tomasky — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Last fall, Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos took the very wrong-headed (to me) position that the House's health bill was so bad people should vote against it. I'm happy to see he's now come around to a more sober view, which can't alas be said of Dennis Kucinich, the left-wing Ohio congressman. He voted against the bill last fall and recently said he'd vote against it again even if he were the deciding vote. Last night on teevee, Markos said that if he helps kill reform, Kucinich should face a primary. HuffPo: In an appearance on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Moulitsas conveyed pointed frustration with the Ohio Democrat's pledge to oppose reform on grounds that it doesn't go far enough. He said Kucinich was practicing a "very ...

Massa then, Massa now - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Jed Lewison — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

As you can see in the video above, it turns out that Eric Massa, the right-wing media's newest darling , hasn't exactly managed to tell a consistent story on health care reform. In just a few months, he's gone from supporting single-payer even if opinion were 80-20 against it to saying he opposes reform because Democrats haven't done enough to forge popular consensus. Yesterday, he said he was being forced out of Congress because he opposed efforts to "ram this [health care reform] down the throats of the American people" when "the entire nation has said let's rewrite the health care bill. Let's find what we can agree on." But last August, speaking at Netroots Nation, Massa said on health care legislation, members of Congress should vote ...

Kucinich's Health Reform Dissents Merit Consideration - Commondreams.org Views

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by John Nichols

Long before Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi began talking up health care reform as a top priority for the Democratic Party, Congress and America, Dennis Kucinich was doing so. Indeed, the former Cleveland mayor, Ohio legislator, two-time presidential candidate and now senior U.S. House members has across the past 35 years been one of the country's steadiest proponents of real reform of our broken health-care system.

So Kucinich's questioning of the reform legislation being advanced by President Obama and House Speaker Pelosi is neither casual nor uninformed.

Nothing from nothing leaves healthcare reform? - Liberal Oasis

Errington Thompson — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The great pianist and songwriter Billy Preston once sang, "nothing from nothing leaves nothing." Although as 15 to 16 months, I've seen the promise of health care reform start with single-payer then morph into some sort of public option which,...

Mike's Blog Roundup - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Brookings Institution : A statement condemning the Cheney/Kristol infamy , signed by Bush White House, DOJ, and Pentagon attorneys. Even Ken Starr signed! TBogg : Who's to blame when situations degenerate? Disgusting things you'd never anticipate Economist's View: : Enough Already: Venting over four decades of right wing activism Blue Heron Blast : Separate but unequal Bildungblog : Senate's shiniest forehead attributed to daily use of Turtle Wax HOLY CRAP : Beck: Nevermind Jesus...Home-schooled ignorance ...Words from a prophet ... Choir Boy Practice ... Republican Jesus...The wretched of the earth... Arrested ...God Blogs ...Scientologists prominently dissed ...The Week In God ...Evil Condoms ... Bad Form ... Amazing Videos ...

The left’s love of single payer is blind - Boston Globe: Opinion

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The left’s love of single payer is blind

Watered-down proposal disappointing - Boston Globe: Opinion

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Watered-down proposal disappointing

Who thinks government can control costs? - Boston Globe: Opinion

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Who thinks government can control costs?

Sarah Palin's Family Went to Canada for Health Care - Little Green Footballs

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Blatant hypocrisy — it’s spelled P-A-L-I-N: Sarah Palin sees eye-to-eye with Albertans in Calgary speech . The vocal opponent of health-care reform in the U.S. steered largely clear of the topic except to reveal a tidbit about her life growing up not far from Whitehorse. "We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," she said. "And I think now, isn’t that ironic?" Good thing the “death panels” didn’t get her; we would have been deprived of Palin’s great wisdom. LGF reader Killgore Trout points out that the wingnut blogs are trying to spin this by saying Canada didn’t switch to single payer health care until 1966 — but ...