MoveOn.org Virtual Protest Has Congress Scrambling

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I will spend what little time I have for responding to an ignorant statement. RE: Open Letter to President Obama on Healthcare.
The writer of that piece has stated that if we hand the healthcare industry to Obama that we can "save big like the other nations do". I wonder which nations those are. Please do research before you make decisions. Or, at least listen to more reliable sources for information. Too many people making uninformed, emotional decisions have hurt this country enough already. We in California know plenty about government having their hands in too many things.
Tony,Lee
California

Tony Lee of CA 5:36PM March 15, 2010

Dear Editor:
As we enter what may be the final phase of debate on the Democrats’ health care reform package, here are a few observations.
Most people agree that our health system - cost of care as well as availability and cost of insurance - needs reform. Costs keep spiraling upward, many do not have access to insurance and for those who do, premiums keep rising.
Republicans and Democrats are fundamentally divided over how to address these problems. Republicans believe that unless the underlying cost issue is addressed, we will have accomplished little and spent at least $2.4 trillion over 20 years doing it. In the process, we will have raised taxes and health insurance premiums, forced many into dysfunctional government programs, turned insurance companies into wards of the federal government, and deprived individuals of choice. And health care costs will continue to inflate.
To tamp down cost, Republicans want to empower individuals to make their own decisions about their health care. Some of the steps: tax credits for health insurance and care (or equivalent funds to those who don’t pay taxes), subsidized state high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance at reasonable cost, expansion of health savings accounts, and medical malpractice reform to reduce some unnecessary costs. Individuals - whether in a large corporation or small business, self-employed or unemployed - would have money in their pocket to decide how best to spend their health dollars. Today, consumers of health care are insensitive to cost because someone else pays the bill. Most health care providers and insurers do not compete on the basis of cost.
Democrats believe in a top down approach. In broad terms, the Democrats’ proposals would force everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty (with subsidies for those who cannot afford to buy insurance), the federal government would dictate the terms of the insurance and establish boards to determine what care should be provided, and approximately 15 million more people would be put on the Medicaid rolls, a system that is already failing many people on it.
I urge your readers not to be fooled by the demonization of the insurance industry or the smoke and mirrors of the Congressional budget process in assessing whether the current health care legislation makes any sense for our country - or for the uninsured.
Sincerely yours,
Carlos Zaldivar
San Antonio, TX

Carlos Zaldivar of TX 11:07AM March 10, 2010

As citizens of a great country, we need to stop listening to the oft-repeated and often false statements of talk radio and the uninformed on the subject of healthcare. It is a DISGRACE for the United States to be behind so many other 'civilized' nations in our concern for our own people. We generously help those facing tragedies in other countries but turn a blind eye when Congress nitpicks proposed healthcare legislation to death, leaving our own citizens with no one willing to stand up for them against the moneyed special interests.
If the moral arguments are not persuasive, how about the economic arguments? when are we going to realize that trying to save money by not covering those in our country who need a helping hand only costs us ALL enormously more in the long run? It is false economy to pinch pennies and end up spending billions unnecessarily. When Sen. McConnell publicly states that he will do everything possible to defeat any legislation that may pass without Republican votes, he only demonstrates more fully that these people won't support ANYTHING that might be seen to bring credit to Democrats or to Pres. Obama. What then happens to the Americans who need his support and that of the remaining 534 members of Congress is apparently of no concern to either him or his party.
If Congress dares to show up at the polls in November with nothing to show for even a start on improving health care in this country, they should all be aware that we, who have too long been silent in the face of conservatives' dishonest claims about proposed legislation, will go to the polls in no mood to support those in Congress who have failed to support us.
IF NOT NOW, WHEN???

Diane Eldridge of PA 4:33PM March 04, 2010

Dear President Obama,
It is obvious to me that you are doing the best that anyone could under the difficult obstructive situation our government is in.
Just wanted to share what I heard on TV, sorry didn’t write down details.
A wealthy owner of a huge hotel chain spent $24million on health insurance for all his employees. Then he replaced all health insurance with his own health care clinics for his employees. Now, his cost is only $12million, a saving of 50%.
If there was honesty, unselfishness and courage of all Americans, we can do the same thing, replace all health insurance with a national health care system and save big like most of the other nations do. And, in addition if we could focus on the real root causes of poor health and educate all Americans about PREVENTION, we can really make Americans healthy instead of soo sick and therefore focusing on all the wrong things.
We need to compete in the areas of sound education and PREVENTION not only because other nations are getting ahead of us in these areas, but because it is the sane common sense thing to do for the whole human race if it is not to become extinct.
God Bless America !

Anatol of NJ 10:40AM March 01, 2010

"We are already paying for a universal standard of care but are not getting it because ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE DOLLARS in the health care system goes to the activities of the for-profit insurance system."
"The health care decision-making process in Washington is horribly tainted by the campaign contributions of insurance and pharmaceutical interests. Under the pay-to-play system health care becomes insurance care, the public option shrinks to irrelevance, the choice we are left: What kind of private, for-profit insurance do you want? This is not acceptable. We must respond now, and not settle for a plan which subsidizes insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and sets the stage for the privatization of Medicare. We want Health Care for all the people, Medicare for All..."
- Above quotes from Dennis Kucinich (D) Ohio
Corporate contributions to our elected officials are legally viewed as an expression of free speech, however, they have the same effect as bribes. Legislators who take significant sums of money are then indebted to these special interests and obligated to do their bidding, not unlike a medical mafia. In protecting the free speech rights of corporations, the courts have sacrificed the free speech rights of the American public.
The health care industry is now essentially writing its own legislation and has blocked all efforts to create a competitive environment through a public option or expansion of Medicare. Additionally, it has successfully blocked attempts to revoke its monopoly exemption status. Our so-called Democracy is broken. Corporate interests supersede the public interest and our Democracy is, for all intents and purposes, up for sale to the highest bidder. The intent of our Constitution become irrelevant.
Those in control are not about to allow this loophole in the system to be closed. Unfortunately, until we establish PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS, our elected officials will continue to be vulnerable to and corrupted by corporate money.
Is the Republican party a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry? At least one member of Congress thinks so. See video, "American Health is not a Business Goal", Anthony Weiner (D) NY.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#35573472

Don Allen of NJ 12:02AM March 01, 2010

"Healthcare" or "medical care" or "medicine" or "doctoring" or "healing arts" are collections of knowledge which have been developed over thousands of years, by many cultures. They are an intellectual, cultural, moral and spiritual heritage of our entire species. In this country this heritage is mostly held as tightly as possible by private business people and organizations, including most doctors and medical associations and HMOs and "health" insurance companies. Those private entities have made and are making a huge amount of profit, and are free to actually let their customers stay sick or even die, because they have almost no competition and the laws of this land allow it. [I say "almost" because some of "alternative" medicine seems to work for many health concerns and supports health maintenance and improvement practices, counseling, and education.]
Governments CAN create healthcare systems, which CAN be operated efficiently, diligently, responsibly, compassionately, and which CAN pay doctors and nurses etc. good salaries. It has been and is being done in other countries; and, if I heard correctly, in Hawaii.
Our country still has a bit of frontier mentality, in which getting away with ripping off anyone the corporations can rip off is just ordinary business. If a customer has paid health insurance premiums for a while and the company just says, "no, we won't pay for that treatment, it is not covered in the contract you signed with us" or simply "because we deem that you don't need the treatment" and that customer stays sick or dies, that customer is ripped off, stolen from, cheated. And there is no alternative, no competition.
Medicare for all would be a start at competition.

LeeSea of CA 2:44AM February 27, 2010

Republicans need to be listening to the majority of Americans whose wishes are reflected in the passage of both of the House and Senate bills.
As was seen at the summit, Republicans and Democrats agree on most points. Why are the Republicans still listening to the lunatic fringe in our country that wants to go back in time and can't face the realities of the world as it is.Are they just so filled with hate that they can't see the benefits? Are they fools? Or are they just political animals??
It's really disgusting to see the country being hurt by a few old sourpusses.

Diane Sabado of CA 8:43PM February 26, 2010

My name is Jerushia McDonald-Hylton,I am the Founder of
"Women With A Vision", Also A Radio Host heard live in
Las Vegas and Streamed live from the web.
I am Committed in Standing with Karen and the Move On Family and our President Obama.
AM writing to demand Congress to stand with OUR
President Obama
To pass Real Health Care.
"Women With A Vision" International
Founder
Jerushia McDonald-Hylton

Jerushia McDonald-Hylton of NV 1:28PM February 26, 2010

please pass a health reform bill that will assist all our people.

John G. Miers of MD 10:43AM February 26, 2010

I don't understand this discussion. To me it is not a matter of right or wrong. An elected government has a responsibility to be the guardians of the people. It is their job to see to it that children don't go hungry because their parents have no money to buy food. It is their job to take care of the homeless because corporate greed robbed them of employment. i learned in school that governments were there not to take care of corporations or Wall Street but be t he caretakers of the peoples needs. Some Presidents understood that and brought in unemployment insurance, social security, medicare and medicaid and even disability . Some brought in transportation like Bart and the Long Island Railway so working people could get to work,
We don't need to reward Wall Street or t he Corporations or the Bank and certainly not the Insurance Companies for destroying our economy. We certainly need to give priority to its victims. Beth

Beth Kricker of NC 12:50AM February 26, 2010