Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, interviews Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, regarding a Robust Public Option:
AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Grijalva, I also want to ask you about Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and his close ties to the healthcare industry. [...]
REP. RAUL GRIJALVA: I think the product that has come out from his committee and himself, I really believe that it has no legitimacy in this debate. It's an insider product. It's there to protect the industry. It is not there to try to look for that middle ground. He is key in holding up deliberations, has been key in trying to work on a consensus, but everything you see in his legislation had to be approved by the industry before it became part of the plan. So I don't think it's legitimate.
[...] I consider Senator Baucus's proposal to be essentially an insider trader move to protect an industry and really doesn't have validity at all, both political validity or content validity.
SurveyUSA conducted a Poll in Mid-August -- prior to Obama's well-received Speech in September -- and they found that across the spectrum of Demographics Groups, a majority of Americans thought it was Extremely Important to have a Choice of a Public Option!
Here is the Question which was asked, in a Survey of 1200 Americans, from all around the Country:
In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance -- extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?
All Groups
Margin of Sampling Error: ± 2.9%
Survey by SurveyUSA
Geography: USA 50 States
Data Collected: 08/19/2009
Release Date: 08/20/2009
Sponsor: MoveOn.org PAC
Doctor Linda Peeno, a renown expert in the field of "Managed Care", explains to Congress the dirty little secrets behind the Business of Health Care Denial:
THE REAL DEATH PANELS: Insurance Companies That Deny Care
In the spring of 1987, as a Physician, I denied a man a necessary operation, that would have saved his life. And thus caused his death. And I'm haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper, on which I have written that deadly word: Denied.
Well, The System's Broken [...] Certainly I don't accept, in the richest county on Earth, that we should have 47 Million people without Health Insurance, and Millions of more people being bankrupted because of a Medical Bill.
[...]
As President of the United States, what I've proposed to do, is to make sure that we got a plan that covers ALL Americans.
[...]
The key to making this happen, is to overcome the resistance we're going to see from Drug Companies, Insurance Companies, HMO's. Over the last 10 years alone, Drug and Insurance Companies spent over $1 Billion, in preventing Health Care Reform from happening. That's going to require then, a mobilization of energy among the American People, to insist on a Congress and a White House, that are actually going to deliver this time.
[...]
When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor; those who are sick do. I've come to call sinners, not people who think they have God's approval."
(emphasis added)
GOP Health Care Obstructionists, are you Listening???
The Pharisees, thought they were doing God's work too.
Imagine their surprise when this upstart Carpenter, from the old neighborhood, dared to stand up to their blatant self-righteousness ... and dish back to them some cold, hard truth ...
Those "death panels" really do exist MediaMatters -- August 20, 2009
To date, the media have debunked the "kill granny" lie more than 40 times. The nonpartisan FactCheck.org says the claim of mandatory counseling on ending seniors' lives is "a misrepresentation." ABC's chief medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, said "the idea about death panels" is "not at all legitimate." PolitiFact.com has called "death panel" claims "a ridiculous falsehood." When the Associated Press conducted a fact check of the bogus charge, it reported, "No 'death panel in health care bill.' "
After former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claimed that "Obama's 'death panel' " could decide the fate of her parents or her son who has Down syndrome, conservative radio host Larry Elder aptly called her comments "over the top." [...]
It seems Sarah's still leading that pied-piper Twitter Parade ...
Since the GOP is fond of saying that "the USA has the Best Health Care System in the World", I decided to do a little Fact Checking. ... And according to the World Health Organization:
Health Performance Rank By Country
United States of America:
Performance: On level of health : 72nd
Performance: Overall health system: 37th
Health expenditure per capita in international $'s
Country Rank: USA: 1st
Well you might not feel so Lucky, after learning how much more of the Insurance Premium tab, you have been picking up, over the last several years.
Health Insurance is a "Benefit" of Employment -- yeah Right!
A Benefit to the Employer, to keep you locked in your lousy Job.
A Benefit to the Insurer, who has a guaranteed source of Income, every time you get a paycheck!
That "Lucky Insurance Policy" has been to costing you more and more, each year, while promising you less and less, in terms of coverage ... this squeeze has been happening for years!
Something is seriously wrong with this Nation's Broken Health Insurance system ...
This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
1.5 million Americans x 60% = 900,000 Americans
that's about 2500 more people per day
... going bankrupt from medical bills
, which were NOT covered by our broken Health Insurance system
WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie.
But the [Insurance] Industry, from the moment that the Industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.
BILL MOYERS: What were they afraid of?
WENDELL POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.
