Wed, 06/17/2009 - 1:53pm — Sarah
And Obama Should Shoot For That.
He said, "I would spend a little time trying to get to 60, then I would go for 51 votes."
Now is the time, he says, for real reform to help the people and the nation not just financially but because the situation in place is a catastrophe. He also advocated single-payer as the most sensible solution. He told bloggers at his office in the NYC federal building that when he and Hillary made the effort to change the health care system during his first term, he felt his options were limited. Now, he says, those limits don't apply.
"If you had an employer mandate, then you could leave the small businesses out or come up with enough revenues to subsidize the smaller employers — and since we couldn’t raise taxes, having an employer mandate guaranteed that the National Federation of Independent Businesses would join with the insurance companies," he said. "Now they don’t have to have an employer mandate, because they can offer buy-ins. I hope they won’t give up on this public option."
»
- Sarah's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Front page
Comments
God, I love Bill.
Of course Bill wanted health reform through reconciliation back when he was Pres., but the weak kneed Congress wouldn't give it to him. Now we have a Pres. who doesn't even want it through reconciliation. LOL. Where have all the leaders gone? This is why I think it is so effing funny that so many on the Left have taken up the fight for the public option. They themselves have allowed the debate to be narrowed that much, when clearly, with the shift in public opinion since the '90's, and the huge majorities in Congress, we should be pushing Medicare for All, or like, at least a Medicare buy-in as the only reform on the table. How about that? Buy into Medicare or stick with what you got. How long do you think it would take before every American enrolled? I'd wager not long at all. I'd remind the Obamaphiles that Hillary said if the Dem's held just 55 seat in the Senate, she'd have Medicare for All on the table. By the by, Bill suggested allowing folks 55 and older to buy-in to Medicare every year of his Presidency after health reform failed, but HE'S the best Republican President we've ever had (at least according to Digby). Unbelievable.
Medicare for All is Civil Rights
I called the DNC today, spoke to very sympathetic man-Lorenzo
He said we should call our own reps, but must try to swamp Pelosi and Reid with calls, that it can make a difference.
Speaker Pelosi -- 202 225-0100
Leader Reid ---- 202 224-5556
He said the DNC has no influence over what's happening, and I said I was just trying to do some one-stop calling, hoping that comments would be passed on to whomever they might affect, that I'd called my reps and the WH.
I stressed that I was deeply disappointed in how this was being managed, that it looked like Dems, both the prez and reps, were kowtowing to Big Insurers and other coporate types. That I wasn't sure the public could tolerate another diappointment on healthcare, hopes were so high and the needs so desperate.
Was the Dem Party losing its brand identity as the party which sided with the people? If it did lose that, and the "reform" was more helpful to corporate profits that to people's health, would the party survive? Etc.
Persson taking call seemed genuinely concerned and also patient.
DNC , DC -- 202 863-8000
It's Time to March for Our Human Rights and Civil Rights
It's Time to March for Our Human Rights and Civil Rights -- A Message from One of the Baucus 13
From Jerry Call, one of those arrested by Sen. Baucus
It's time for LOCAL civil disobedience!!! It is time for Nation-Wide Civil Disobedience Action.
Time is very SHORT! The token representation and the conduct of the public hearings held last week only confirm that Congress has already made up their mind and that single payer will not be given due consideration.
Therefore, now is the time to tell our local congressional representatives that we DEMAND that THEY publicly request the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to "score" Single Payer and establish its impact before any legislation on healthcare reform is submitted to the floors of Congress. Senator Kennedy's plan has already been scored and found to cost an additional $1 Trillion over ten years.
Please add information here to organize a Civil Disobedience Action at the nearest office or public event of your congressional representatives: http://www.1payer.net/action-alerts/349-... The phone numbers and fax numbers of congressional representatives are here: http://www.1payer.net/action-alerts/cont...
and here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Also, please copy this post to all your lists of single payer supporters to recruit more volunteers.
Jerry
Baucus 13
Jerry Call ***40 Days - Best chance to get Single Payer***
Co-Founder Midcoast Health Care Reform/Maine Healthcare Reform
www.MidcoastHealthCareReform.org
----------
Here’s the original post http://www.1payer.net/action-alerts/349-...
Only a single-payer approach to healthcare reform will end the inhumanity of our failed healthcare insurance system, where profits are more important than patients’ health, and where people die because of it.
Our fight for equal access to healthcare for all is about democracy, human rights, civil rights, and basic human decency.