MSNBC Countdown w/ KEITH OLBERMANN - Oct. 8, 2009. Keith updates his call to bring National Association of Free Clinics free clinic fares to the states where Dems are not supporting decent health care reform. Interview with Nicole Lamoureux, executive director of NAFC.
$34,773 in donations from yesterday's announcement by Keith until tonight. 407 people donated.
OLBERMANN: "Whether they claim the free market will suddenly after decades now start providing health care to everyone, or whether they believe the only way to insure universal health care is for the government to provide universal health care,
the goal everyone agrees on IS: universal health care. The current best option under debate is what is called the public option, the government insurance plan run not for profit, but for people, because we can, with rates tied to Medicare's rates so taxpayers get the best deal possible - an alternative to private insurance, not a replacement.
And so, in our fourth story tonight,
I called last night and call again tonight for us, all of us, because we can, to get behind the National Association of Free Clinics, which represents 1200 free clinics around the country and sponsors free health care fairs, like last months in Houston, where 1,500 people lined up before five o'clock in the morning to get free health care, because, they had to. In doing so, we can get us closer to health care for all, but we can also, as I said last night, can support an organization that stages some of these fairs in cities where they can do, not just medical good, humanitaran good, but, as a sidebar, political good for the entire nation.
Specifically, if these fairs were to occur in states represented by those Democratic Senators, like leader Harry Reid, not yet committed to opposing a Republican filibuster of the public option, to insuring that the public option gets an up-or-down vote, so they can see for themselves what is at stake: The faces of Americans, their Americans, their constituents, who need their help.
Reid in Nevada. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor in Arkansas, where most people and four out of five Democrats favor a public option. Max Baucus, the finance chairman in Montana, where 70 percent voted to expand children's health coverage just last year. Ben Nelson in Nebraska, where Republican support for his handling of health care is three times higher than is Democratic support. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, forty-ninth out of a hundred in health care, according to a study that just came out today.Towards this end, I will donate $50,000. 10,000 for each of those states I just mentioned, where the National Association of Free Clinics is able to stage one of its fairs. If we succeed in holding these fairs, however, we may still fail in the political goal. These Democrats may block their own party's up-or-down vote on the public option that the American public favors. If so, we still will have succeeded in our goal, our higher goal, of making health care available to our fellow citizens, if only for a day, because we can.
I'm proud to be joined today by the executive director of the National Association of Free Clinics Nicole Lamoureux.
- snip -
OLBERMANN: You are, in a very literal sense of this term, on the front lines of the health care crisis in this country. I would imagine that at least the Democrats, if not the Republicans, in Washington have been picking your brain about who needs help, what can be done, the best and most economical way of doing it. And yet there's a voice inside my head that's saying 'you know, maybe not.' Which is it?
LAMOUREUX: I think you should go with your voice that says maybe not.
Unfortunately, we keep going to the Hill and we try to talk to the Congress, the House, the Senate, and the President and we just stand firm to say we are here, and we'd like to help the administration and the Congress to discuss the important issues of the population, which, last year was 4 million patients. This year will be 8 million at free clinics. We have a very unique delivery model. For every dollar donated to a free clinic, five dollars in services are given to patients.
- snip -
OLBERMANN: But you, now, as I understand, have committed here to stage at least one of these great health care fairs in one of the states we just mentioned if we can get the resources together to make it happen. What exactly do you need and have you seen any signs of support for these particular ideas so far?
LAMOUREUX: We have seen signs of support.
Just let me tell you that we had 407 people donate for $34,773 already from last night to today. And we are as the National Association of Free Clinics committed to putting on one of these health fairs for this very important issue, as long as we can get some funds and what we need, we'll need a place to hold this, we'll need lab support, we'll need tons and tons of volunteers, doctors, nurses, support staff, in order for us to make sure that the people who are coming get the quality care they need...
OLBERMANN: The big ticket end of this, I would assume, is not doctors, nurses, medical equipment, people are so gracious and generous in these occasions, always, but practical stuff like where you're going to hold it, right? This is about venue, mostly, isn't it?
LAMOUREUX: It is. I think the biggest thing that, if we could get under our belt, would be the location, then we could really move from there. And if we have the location and someone is willing to donate that space to us, then more of the money that is donated can go to the actual delivery of care.
OLBERMANN: So what we need is something in Butte, or we need a nice arena in New Orleans. Or a facility in Vegas that would like to be associated with being, you know, on the right side of this equation...
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