From his TPM blog, Robert Reich makes the case for funding the proposed health care bill being considered in the House. Mr. Reich says,
But to say out loud, as the House has just done, that those in our society who can most readily afford it should pay for the health insurance of those who cannot is, well, audacious. There's another word for it: fair.
Read the whole post here
He closes with this,
Tax the wealthy to keep everyone healthy. Not even a bad bumper sticker.I believe that we, as a society, have a duty to prevent others from suffering needlessly. This House bill is a step in that direction.
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15 comments:
He is a whack job!
CBO director says we can not afford it! The blue dogs are bailing!
The director of the Congressional Budget Office issued a warning to Democrats Thursday that their health care proposals would raise costs, not lower them.
One day after a Senate panel approved its version of the health care reform plan, the first committee to do so, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf gave a dose of bad medicine to a separate committee.
Asked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whether costs would be lowered -- also known as "bending the curve" -- Elmendorf responded: "The curve is being raised."
Subsidies to help uninsured people would raise federal health care spending, which is already growing at an unsustainable rate, Elmendorf explained at the hearing. The Medicare and Medicaid cuts that lawmakers have offered to pay for the coverage expansion aren't big enough to offset the cost trend, particularly in the long term, he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=8079680&page=1
Yep, I just got done reading pages 15-20 and it sounds pretty clear to me that the only way you can keep your current health care is if you make ZERO changes. You can't add another member, can't modify your coverage, and you will be forced to go with the public "option" if you change jobs or start your own company. So as long as I stay at the same company forever, never have kids, and my employer never decides to switch providers or modify our plans, I'm covered! Gravy!
If this Bill were so great, everyone would want to help pay for it, right? Oh no, we only want it if someone else is going to pay for it. Like Margaret Thatcher said, "Socialism is great until you run out of other peoples' money."
Please explain to me how most industrialized countries provide universal health care to their citizens at lower cost with better outcomes than our system does. We do not have the best health care in the world, we only spend more than everyone else and our outcomes stink.
Bill, please comment on how congress can pass government health care when Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution does not give them the power to do that!!!
The first sentence of Article 1 Sectiopn 8 says, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States"
The last sentence of Article 1 section 8 says, "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof"
This is known as the elastic clause and has a long history of being used to allow other powers than those specifically enumerated in Section 8.
Bill,
Our healthcare is expensive. No question. But care is not better in many other countries. Canada has some of the longest que times in the world to receive preventative care. Americans don't have the patience. Many major surgeries are not covered. Universal health care is a noble goal, but how will you pay for it?
Exactly. Bill chooses to believe in positions that support his argument. I want to see factual documentation that Healthcare is better and more affordable in other industrialized nations. I have not seen one yet. I personally have relatives in two of those countries (England and Germany)and they can't stand their system. Personal word of mouth is more important than political in my mind.
Here is a CNN story about a WHO report that shows the US has lower life expectancy and much higher cost than other countries including Germany and England. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/11/life.expectancy.health.care/#cnnSTCOther2
Yes, we pay the most for our health care but infant mortality is a disgrace and life expectancy is not the highest or even second in the world. Do you want to continue to go broke paying insurance and drug companies? I don't!
Dartmouth Mom. Our infant mortality rate is less than 2 addition deaths per thousand or less than .002%.
That minor difference can be explained by lifestyle choices not our insurance structure. How can you call .002% difference a disgrace?
Same goes for life expectancy, ours is lower because of lifestyle choices and the huge amount of our youth that die in war, car crashes and gang violence. The difference in life expectancy is from within, no because of the quality of care we receive.
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