Give us healthcare and give it to us within one year from tonight.

[Stinky The Clown]

This is not a pipe dream. It is absolutely possible. Only Dennis Kucinich campaigned for it, but I have to think that none of our candidates oppose universal, single payer for any better reason than politics.

So here's the deal.

When we have the White House and even bigger majorities of both houses of Congress, pass a bill that enables every American to go and get any medical need met and have that cost borne by the rest of the country.

Universal Single Payer Health Care ...... NOW.

Now let's look at the universally perceived roadblock ...... "No one (spelled R-e-p-u-b-i-c-a-n) wants more taxes to pay for another entitlement program."

Bullshit!

I promise you this. If we get it in the first six months of the next administration's tenure, within two years only real dead enders will remain in any way opposed to it. By the time of the next presidential campaign, it will be hailed as a salvatory measure and the party and persons who brought it to us revered as national heroes.

NO ONE will be opposed to living a better life, with a major worry gone. NO ONE .... except the real dead enders. And those dead enders will be all that is left of the Repubican party.

Bet on it.

I KNOW I'm right.

[Selatius]

1. I support single-payer universal health care, but we need to see how many votes there are.

We can't predict how many seats there will be until after November. Even then, we don't know if all the Democrats will display any party discipline. Likely, right wing Democrats will vote against single-payer on principle.

[dysfunctional press]

2. the insurance lobby has VERY deep pockets...

and a lot of congressmen are already contained therein.

[But....]

3. This is worth fighting for!

we shouldn't settle for less.

[warren pease]

7. Some other deep pockets...

This election cycle, from Jan. 07 through March 08, Obama has taken about $7 million in "donations" from the for-profit medical industry:

HMOs and other professionals claims deniers: $427K

Health professionals (industry associations like the AMA, along with individual practitioners): $4 million

Hospitals and nursing homes: $1.1 million

Insurance (no breakout by type of insurance) $947K (of which medical insurance is an unknown percentage)

Pharmaceuticals and health products: $696K

Source: opensecrets.org


So there's about seven million reasons why we're not likely to get single-payer, universal-access, affordable quality health care -- kinda like every other industrialized country on the planet already has, along with many more that aren't even close to being industrialized, like Costa Rica and Cuba.

Thing is, I'm really starting to like Obama, but it's good to understand who's paying the freight and what kinds of strings are attached to all those millions. As is the custom, the people who are funding his campaign expect something besides than good government in return.

He seems like a pretty decent guy and christ knows he's a gifted orator and an exceptionally bright man -- not that the jerkoff in chief sets much of a standard for either. But even without that negative reference, Obama stands far above anybody I can think of since maybe Kennedy, and Obama's voice is considerably better than was JFK's.

However, in most cases, it's all window dressing, just part of the show. The bribocracy keeps chugging away, as corporate honchos and old money elites continue to make zillions by screwing the peasantry at every possible opportunity.

They're immune from scrutiny, much less prosecution for racketeering, because they've spread tons of money around very wisely. And, as intended, it's produced selective blindness in a complicit and thoroughly bought congress, as well as a regulatory oversight system that does everything in its power to abolish or privatize itself.

Fucking amazing.


wp

[Stinky The Clown]

8. The insurance industry stands to lose the most

Tough shit for them

Next is big pharma ...... ditto.

[annabanana]

10. There are a LOT of health professionals on board with single payer.

AND businesss would LOVE to get this paperwork beast off their backs..

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Obama used the word "universal"

in his speech tonight

[Solon]

5. What he needs to do is have is policy match his rhetoric...

right now it doesn't, and I doubt, without some strong pressure, that it will match it anytime soon.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. That's what political activism is about .......

[annabanana]

9. The American people are SOLID behind this change...

Pressure can be brought to bear..

[Breeze54]

11. The country needs to adopt MA Health Care Plan... it works! n/t

;)

[wovenpaint]

12. Does it, really?

It forces residents to obtain/buy health INSURANCE-it's not universal health CARE. The plans available vary by cost, so care is still "tiered".
IMHO, further funding of health insurance companies that still control the what, where, how and when of one's health care is not my idea of progress.

Universal. Health. Care. for all of us...it can work, too!

:hi: (just saw the wink in your text portion)