Howard Dean Blasts Baucus Healthcare Bill

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the healthcare bill the way it stands is an attack against our rites and should be killed all together. all we need is some regulations on insurance companys and help poor people afford ins. We need to stand up for our rights, and fight back against this socialistic leftist government in any legal way we can. We will vote them out and change all this crap they have been passing in 2010 and 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

astroturf of NE 11:39AM December 16, 2009

IF WE ARE TRULLY A REPUBLIC WHERE GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE SHOULD RULE, THIS APPROACH TO HEALTH CARE REFORM SHOULD BE ABANDONNED. INCENTIVES, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD BE KEY. GIVE TAX CREDITS AND INCENTIVES TO HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND INDIVIDUALS AND HOLD THEM TRULLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS. HAVE BIG GOVERNMENT STAY AWAY FROM MEDDLING IN THE PRIVAE SECTOR. SPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE REFORM.
WE SEND PEOPLE TO WASHINGTON TO REPRESENT US NOT TO SPEND TIME HAMMERING OUT BILLS "TO TAKE CARE OF US". A "A REPRESENTATIVE" IS THAT AND NOTHING MORE. YET OUR SO CALLED GROUP OF "REPRESENTATIVES" ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISLE, SEEMS TO ME, ALWAYS END UP PITTING ONE CITIZEN AGAINST ANOTHER FOR THEIR OWN POLITICAL PURPOSES. WHAT REALLY NEEDS REFORM, IS THE WAY WE THE PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED IN WASHINGTON. OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PLEDGED THEIR FORTUNES AND THEIR LIVES TO FORM THIS REPUBLIC. I WOULD LIKE TO SE THE CHARLIE RANGELS, CHRIS DODD'S, NANCY PELOSI'S,HARRY REED'S THE PRESIDENT AND THE CABINET, DO THE SAME.
THOSE WERE TRUE PATRIOTS, GONE NOW, LEAVING US BEREFT AND DEVOID OF SELF RESPECT. IT SEEMS TO ME, THAT EVERYTHING IS BROKEN. SELF INTEREST IS NEVER SACRIFICED FOR THE GOOD OF THE MAJORITY, INSTEAD "LET US RAM THIS BILL DOWN THE THROATS OF THE MAJORITY, WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT" SEEMS TO BE THE WORD AND WHAT WE THE PEOPLE WILL BE FACING.POLITICAL REFORM SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY.

JAMES O. NAZARIO of CO 9:20AM October 23, 2009

More money maniacs from the insurance companies who have bleeded us all dry are still trying to stop normal people from having some desent healthcare. I think the insurance companies should dive big time and expand what we already have. Medicare and medicade because its already government run and it seems that thats going bankrupt, so fix it, let the insurance companies go bankrupt we dont need them anyway. All they care about is money not us.so let them fail and not resue them. I have coverage but hate the crap I have to go through just to use it. I still have to pay out of pocket expenses that I still cant afford.I use doctors on my plan and still have to pay out. Why should I be forced to get insurance and penalized, I never go to the doc anyway. Its a big hassle, bs paper work and it feels like a meat market! Im just sick of this whole mess. Just because the President wants something better for everyone we go through this. No one wants anyone to be equal to eachother

jean hoffman of PA 8:02PM September 22, 2009

We know that legal bribery goes on 24/7/365 on Capitol Hill. We are seeing a transparent struggle between that bribery and the obvious need for the inclusion of a public option for health insurance (as promised) open to anyone who wants to choose it.
The average citizen has been used and abused by Congress and corporate greed for decades, the result being that any attempt to restrain bad behavior by the moneyed class is sliced and diced into irrelevancy resulting in no restraint at all. In the process, our plight becomes worse and worse.
I think, in the end, the only way to achieve positive results is to remove incumbents who willingly ignore the needs of their constituents over and over again in favor of the special interests who can offer a lot more in the way of tangible goodies than we can. The only power we really have is the power of the vote. We hire them and we can fire them.
We will see if any of the Democrats who now have the power to pass a health insurance reform bill that really does reform the medical-industrial complex will risk acting in our interest or not. It is a given that Republicans intend not to.
If not, we need to give them the old pink slip and make sure their replacement gets the pink slip before they qualify for their own taxpayer provided benefits. It is a given that Republican incumbents need to go en masse.
Next step: build a viable third party.

DeLane Sims of TX 12:24PM September 19, 2009

1. As regards a make-believe scheme, the source of funding coming from a middle class is utterly against the commitment of Democratic party.
2. No cost-competitive advantage does not clear the grave concern about the unsustainable cost of overall health care program in the long run.
3. Even with some benefit for primary practitioners, the baseless scheme does not come with fundamental payment reform, or a pay for value reimbursement formula. It means that the insurer-friendly scheme is not cleaning up the concerns over a quality issue and $9trillion of deficit over the next decade.
((Here is some of CBO analysis : While the costs of the financial bailouts and economic stimulus bills are staggering, they are only a fraction of the coming costs from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that each year Medicaid will expand by 7 percent, Medicare by 6 percent, and Social Security by 5 percent. These programs face a 75-year shortfall of $43 trillion--60 times greater than the gross cost of the $700 billion TARP financial bailout)).
4. For Medicare & Medicaid system to survive from the most wasteful structure on earth, enough savings by ways of fundamental changes need to be secured, in return, the savings thereof suffice to meet the goal of well-planned public option.
((Even with far less visits to docs, which average a half or a third of them in any other free states, Americans pay roughly twice as much per person right now)).
5. For the record, prior to nation-wide deployment of reform, The State Of "Yes We Can", Minnesota influenced by Mayo clinic spends "20 percent" less per patient than the national average and 31 percent less than in the highest cost state. It highlights that no substantial tax raise is needed at least for sure.
((The $583 billion of revenue package, and the astronomical savings of public option aside, "20%" of $923.5bn (the combined Medicare and Medicaid cost per year, as of July) is around $184.7bn per year and 1.847trillion over the next decade, and this patient-centered value alone could be sufficient to meet the goal of public option)).
6. In brief, the long-awaited and most hopeful health care plan is to meet these criterias : Affordability, Quality, and A Check function against runaway premiums thereof.
Clearly enough, due largely to its lower overhead cost, purchasing power and fundamental payment reform, the well-planned public option would be an even better candidate than the fabricated scheme by THE INDUSTRY in these aforementioned regards.
Now is the moment to turn page to contemporary energy and financial upgrades glossed over in 8 years.

hsr0601 5:07AM September 19, 2009

TO: Glen-FL; You don't know what you're talking about because if you did you'd understand the economics behind the bailouts, and stop repeating the same deceptive and unconstructive sound bites of other neo-con and republicons about, "the adiministration is bankrupting our future". OH, Pleaze! Your future was Doomed the day Bush took office, and look what he's left us! He took a surplus budget and turned it into 1.5 Trillion deficit, and the worst Billions if not Trillions to stop economy from spiraling downward, and to get the economy going again! (Not all recessions require this large of an injection of cash as does this one). And Doing nothing to the health care system would be irresponsible. That eqates to seeing a train wreck coming and doing nothing to stop it.
The current Health care system is Unsustainable. Medicare and Medicaid costs need to be reined in or it will go bankrupt. And those of us with health care coverage facing increasing costs rising faster than wages, increasing co-pays and deductables, and less benefits to boot! Sounds like a Win-Win for the insurance companies and let's screw the middle class again particularly after (8) years of the last regime. Then, there's those you don't have acess to health care insurance either due to pre-existing conditions, or employers who No longer can afford to offer it because again the insurers continue to raise the cost while decreasing benefits. Another win-win for the insurance companies. Seems to be a pattern here.... insurance companies win and the rest of us Lost. I say, Put a Public Option in the Mix with All the Other choices of insurers, and give the insurance companies a Run for their Money! A Public Option will Force the insurers to become More competitive by offering lower rates to companies with better benefits.
Go Public Option Go!!

teri of WA 8:02PM September 18, 2009

with 40+ billion. For those who don't get what a public option is...it's a NOT FOR PROFIT health care plan insurance...so if you'll have a plan that spends 4% on admin while the for profits spends 20% on admin. Further, if EVERYONE has to participate, then I can quit paying for those who DON'T pay their bill anytime I go to the hospital! What, you really think the hospital is paying $20 for a tiny box of kleenex! They are simply recovering from paying patients for the ones who don't.
Without a public option and left to the oversight of our bought and paid for senate... trust me, Health Insurers and Drug Lords will continue to get the gold while we get the shaft. VOTE NO!

L.C. Wade of OK 2:42PM September 18, 2009

Do you really think a public option would be cheaper? If you do think it would be cheaper why? I don't believe the public option will be more affordable.

domino of CA 12:08PM September 18, 2009

More government does, worse we will be. They already did too much with all the kakfka bailouts. This adminsitration is bankrupting our future. We will soon have a $10 trillion deficit. We will see 20% unemployment with hyper inflation. We will be reduced to a Cuban like socialistic society. Will not be a fun world my friends.

Glenn of FL 11:48AM September 18, 2009

The current bill is a farce and benefits only the insurance industry.It is going to punish individuals for not buying insurance and yet the problem with pre-existing conditions will not be addressed until 2013.If I needed to buy insurance at my age it would cost $740/month. Luckily, I have insurance paid for through my employer, but two of my adult children have none and have pre-existing conditions that make it impossible to get a reasonably priced option. There is no room for profit in healthcare. We need one payer insurance to avoid the abuses that the profit motive encourages.The hope that I felt on the election of President Obama has turned to despair.

Virginia of CA 11:15PM September 17, 2009