by Mark Silva
"I am not the first president to take up this cause,'' President Barack Obama plans to tell Congress and the nation this evening in his push for health-care reform, "but I am determined to be the last.
"It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way,'' the president plans to say, according to excerpts of the 8 pm EDT speech prepared for a joint session of Congress that will be televised nationally and released by the White House.
"Our collective failure to meet this challenge - year after year, decade after decade - has led us to a breaking point,'' he plans to say. " Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can't get insurance on the job.
"Others are self-employed, and can't afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer,'' he will say. "Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover...
"During that time, we have seen Washington at its best and its worst,'' Obama will say. "We have seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform.
"Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work, and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week,'' he will say. "That has never happened before.
"Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors' groups and even drug companies - many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.
"But what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government,'' the Democrat will say. "Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics.
"Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.
"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action,'' he will say. "Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.
"The plan I'm announcing tonight would meet three basic goals:
"It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don't. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.
"It's a plan that asks everyone to take responsibility for meeting this challenge - not just government and insurance companies, but employers and individuals. And it's a plan that incorporates ideas from senators and congressmen, from Democrats and Republicans - and yes, from some of my opponents in both the primary and general election.
"Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan:
"First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.
"What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
"As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.
"And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies - because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.
"That's what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan - more security and stability.
"Now, if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage. We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange - a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices.
" Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It's how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it's time to give every American the same opportunity that we've given ourselves.
"This is the plan I'm proposing. It's a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight - Democrats and Republicans. And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open.
"But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it.
"I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.
"Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.
"That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans counting on us to succeed - the ones who suffer silently, and the ones who shared their stories with us at town hall meetings, in emails, and in letters.''
Comments
> 44,230 more people are losing health coverage each week.
> 191,670 more people are losing health coverage each month.
> 2.3 million more people are losing health coverage each year
Republicans know that a successful health care reform that achieves universal coverage will bury them electorally for a generation, that's what has them Foaming at the Mouth (see the nutjob above), they could care less if people die because they can't afford healthcare.
Health Insurers and their Lobbyists and Big Pharma know that a powerful public option and a Medicare bargaining for prices will kick them off the gravy train permanently. Republicans and Big Insurance Company propagandists know their scare tactics aren't nearly as scary as reality is for the large majority of Americans.
Posted by: Republicans hate blue collar workers | September 9, 2009 7:11 PM
We all remember the commercials that were made by Republicans and their pals at the Big Insurance Industry to trick Americans into thinking that health care reform would hurt average working families. We now see what has happened to the health-care system. CEOs rake in the big bucks from the huge profits they take in as health-insurance costs have skyrocketed.
FierceHealthcare reports the following top 10 CEO salaries for 2008:
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* Ron Williams - Aetna - Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway - CIGNA - Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly - WellPoint - Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf - Coventry Health Care - Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff - Centene - Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson - AMERIGROUP - Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister - Humana - Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert - Health Net - Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch - Universal American - Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley - UnitedHealth Group - Total Compensation: $3,241,042.
My rates go up and coverage goes down every time I turn around. And then they just decide not to cover certain medications without an explanation. Even scumbag criminals are resurfacing, like Big Healthcare Insurance Lobbyists like Rick Scott, to try and con America for a second time.
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http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/dont-let-third-way-ben-nelsons-or-repub
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Posted by: John A | September 9, 2009 7:13 PM
Republican Congressman who oppose universal health insurance should immediately relinquish their federal health insurance. After all, these members of Congress have long enjoyed taxpayer-subsidized health insurance, a privilege that they apparently believe tens of millions of working, uninsured Americans and their families don't deserve.
If Republicans don't think being uninsured is a big deal, then they should go right ahead and try it out. And if they really believe a public plan is such a bad option, maybe they can persuade their parents to give up Medicare too.
Posted by: MingTheMerciless | September 9, 2009 7:15 PM
America does have some of the best health care in the world....if you can afford it! Which is why when you Republicans bring up people in other countries who come here for our "superior" health care, they fail to mention one very important thing - those people can afford it!
According to the Republican deather nutjobs, if Stephen Hawking had been born and raised in the UK, he would have been euthanized, the victim of Britain's National Health Service which would have deemed his life "worthless" because of his handicaps.
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http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/stephen-hawking-proud-american.html
There was only one problem with that Republican deather theory: Hawking was born and raised in the UK. Indeed, he is now fighting back, crediting NHS with saving his life.
"I owe my life to the NHS': Stephen Hawking tells US to stop attacking health service
Professor Stephen Hawking has defended the NHS after its severe criticism during the American political debate over health care reforms.
The physicist spoke up for the NHS after the Republican Right in America claimed it was 'evil' and 'Orwellian' in a direct attack on President Barack Obama's plans to overhaul health care in the U.S.
Critics of the president have said his plans would introduce a 'socialist' system like Britain's.
Prof Hawking, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, said: 'I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS.
'I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205953/NHS-branded-evil-Orwellian-high-level-US-politicians.html#ixzz0OGqrl0GM
I don't know what's more impressive about the Republican deathers? The fact that they are willing to peddle such easily disprovable garbage with a straight face, or that they have managed to convince a few Democrats that they are worthy negotiating partners?
Posted by: I'mAnemicRoyalty | September 9, 2009 7:19 PM
Americans Can't Trust Republicans With Medicare
You want a simple message to counter dishonest Republican fear mongering on healthcare? How's this, Republicans want to do away with Medicare. They've always wanted to take it away, and if they get half a chance in the future they'll get rid of it then. It's not hard to find examples of them saying so in their own words since Medicare started.
Saint Ronny Raygun in the 60s: "if you don’t [stop Medicare] ... you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free."
Republican Bob Dole openly bragged in 1996 that he was one of 12 House members who voted against creating Medicare. "I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare ..."
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http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/07/29/medicare-44/
GOPer nutjob/ "guru" Newt Gingrich said of Medicare, "We don't get rid of it in round one because we don't think that's politically smart, we don't think that's the right way to go through a transition, but we believe it's going to wither on the vine." He then went on to propose cutting Medicare by 14% and forcing millions of senior citizens to seek out private HMOs or go without, all to help make sure Medicare would 'wither on the vine.' And it continues right into present day.
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http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/16/us/gop-s-plan-to-cut-medicare-faces-a-veto-clinton-promises.html?sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all
Roy Blunt: "You could certainly argue that government should have never have gotten in the health care business, and that might have been the best argument of all, to figure out how people could have had more access to a competitive marketplace."
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http://www.firedupmissouri.com/content/radical-roy-blunt-it-would-have-been-best-if-medicare-and-medicaid-never-existed
Former Republican House Majority Leader the Dick Armey reaffirmed this week on MtP that he thinks Medicare is "tryanny" and if that's not worrisome enough, he wants to "phase out" social security too.
Republicans want to do away with Medicare because they're against government healthcare, always have been, always will be. That's a core plank in GOP ideology, they hold it as dear and precious as some holy theology. Just yesterday, when asked about government healthcare, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said the "government is a predator, not a competitor" and went on to note he wouldn't vote for any healthcare reform bill as a matter of conservative principle, even if it has everything he wants in it. So when a Republican talks about "reform," says we must "get the government out of healthcare," pitches convoluted tax schemes and private accounts for the affluent, or spits out terms like "socialized medicine," like a dog whistle they all mean the same thing: getting rid of Medicare.
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http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/sen-grassley-on-health-care-the-government-is-a-predator.php?ref=fpblg
Forget about grandma being unplugged, grandma won't be able to afford being seen, much less be able to pay for hospital admission. Grandma is on her own. All so that conservative zillionaires and their Republican congressional lackeys can save an extra 0.0145 of their gross, bloated paycheck, the same flat rate we all invest to keep millions of senior citizens alive and healthy today.
Posted by: Darksyde | September 9, 2009 7:22 PM
Boils down to "Push Socialism".
Posted by: Inky | September 9, 2009 8:09 PM
101,000 Americans die UNNECESSARILY each year because of lack of access to basic medical care that they would get in most other industrialized nations.
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http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/In-the-Literature/2008/Jan/Measuring-the-Health-of-Nations--Updating-an-Earlier-Analysis.aspx
I keep asking my "Canada bashing" kool-aid drinking Wingnut friends to find me just ONE comprehensive poll in Canada showing that Canadians would swap their health care system, warts and all, for ours...Haven't seen any yet.
And believe me, if there were any polls favorable to the Republican cause of denying healthcare to everyone, the Republican minions would be linking to them all day long. Instead, all they have is a handfull of anecdotes that they get from Druggy Rush and that clown Glenn Beck etc.
Posted by: Planet Wingnuttia | September 9, 2009 8:21 PM
Electrifying
Magniloquent
Inspirational
The greatest political figure of our lifetime.
Posted by: ornery | September 9, 2009 9:06 PM
Wow...the Democrat blogging and posting hacks are right on top of this. So predictable. It might have worked in the general election but people won't be swayed by hogging the Internet bandwidth to try and "portray" your message and demonize Republicans. I bet my comment doens't even get posted.
Posted by: Eric Raber | September 9, 2009 9:08 PM
Our health care system is disintegrating. Today, 46 million people have no health insurance and even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. At a time when 60 million people, including many with insurance, do not have access to a medical home, more than 18,000 Americans die every year from preventable illnesses because they do not get to the doctor when they should. This is six times the number who died at the tragedy of 9/11 - but this occurs every year.
In the midst of this horrendous lack of coverage, the U.S. spends far more per capita on health care than any other nation - and health care costs continue to soar. At $2.4 trillion dollars, and 18 percent of our GDP, the skyrocketing cost of health care in this country is unsustainable both from a personal and macro-economic perspective.
It always makes me laugh when I hear people say they want to preserve "insurance choice" in this country. What choice do you have when you work and are nominally "insured," but your insurance coverage doesn't pay for anything you need? Are you then going to have the ability to run out and purchase extra coverage on the wages you make? Well, I guess you have the "choice" to rob a bank or maybe win the lottery to pay for it, but that's about it.
Republicans and their rich oligarchy supporters (Healthcare CEO's and Lobbyists) will do anything to kill a good healthcare bill because they know people will like it and when that happens their electoral goose will be cooked for generations - if it's not already.
Posted by: clifford | September 9, 2009 9:10 PM
Toad!
Posted by: bill r. | September 9, 2009 9:11 PM
I keep wonerding when a wingnut is going to offer a comprehensive plan since they oppose so much of what Obama proposes. All wingnuts ever do is cry "socialism". I'm not a big fan of much of Obama's plan. But at least he has one. The only thing I ever hear from wingnuts is tort reform. That's a good idea, but only a small part of the problem. The other major problem is the lies that wingnuts tell each other to inspire fear. There are no death panels. Private insurers will still be in business- but more cheaply if they want to stay in business. I am one of the uninsured. I worked for over thirty years. I was rarely sick or made a claim. Now that I am unemployed and uninsured, will the private insurers help me for all the money they have taken from me and my employers over the year. Don't tell me I did not pay for it- my employers gave it to insurers rather than pay me a higher salary. They simply got a lower rate than I could have on my own. Presently I need medical care and cannot get it. The wingnuts say we have such a great system. Not to me- I can't get it, like millions of other Americans. Many are not illegal immigrants- another lie wingnuts tell themselves. So give is your ideas, wingnuts- if you have any.
Posted by: Disgusted | September 9, 2009 9:15 PM
I think the President's speech was a good one, and I think that we, as a country, should move forward on this legislation.
Posted by: pau1ke11y | September 9, 2009 9:23 PM
Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here.
Posted by: James T. Kirk | September 9, 2009 9:29 PM
" Disgusted": Republican's have offered multiple variations on health care plans that do not require government control of the health care system, but do address the two major problems: uninsurability and the inability of some to afford the insurance.
Frankly, if you are unaware of that you have paid too little attention to be take seriously.
Rick
Posted by: Rick Caird | September 10, 2009 11:09 AM
"Toad!
Posted by: bill r. | September 9, 2009 9:11 PM"
Ah yes! Ginger Baker's long drum solo on Wheels of Fire?
Posted by: C.Morris✧ | September 10, 2009 8:56 PM