Sent to whitehouse.gov RE: "health care reform"

[Triana]

Have you asked the American people what they want in the way of health care reform? Or, does their opinion (they who are MOST effected by it) not count?

Why do you bother with it? Why not save your time and taxpayer money and just leave the broken for-profit (by denying payment for care) system in place?

Without a PUBLIC, Medicare for ALL option from which to choose - an option that it has been made clear is NOT even being considered - then we DO NOT HAVE HEALTH CARE REFORM and you are WASTING YOUR TIME AND TAXPAYER MONEY.

We've heard time and time again about "cutting costs, streamlining technology", yada, yada - for TWENTY YEARS we've heard this bunk. EVERY TIME "health care reform" is discussed these same plug nickels are tossed out there to protect the for-profit health care INDUSTRY -- instead of anyone doing anything to PROTECT THE HEALTH OF AMERICANS and to offer THEM CHOICE.

And the bottom line STILL remains:

Americans are collectively VICTIMS of a broken "health care" system that is primarily owned by greedy for-profit insurance companies who make their money by DENYING PAYMENT FOR CARE whilst collecting premiums and nothing about that has changed.

Americans are still collectively VICTIMS of a broken "health care" system in which greedy for-profit insurance conglomerates insert themselves between patients and their doctors, denying payment for care that is desperately needed, and most often NOT provided due to the patient's inability to pay and the insurance company's refusal to pay. Americans will still continue DYING in droves due to this broken system that the US Government REFUSES to change.

Americans are still collectively VICTIMS of a broken "health care" system in which they have NO CHOICE except to either have "health insurance" from one of these greedy corporations - or NOTHING - because a publicly-funded, government-run option that OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED - is STILL not an option for them.

Why DO you bother?

Until and unless the US Government (that means YOU) can get OUT from under the control of the insurance industry and offer Americans REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM - including a public, single-payer government-run option - don't bother.

Yet again today, MORE advocates of a public, Medicare for All, single-payer option were THROWN OUT of the ever-arrogant and insurance- company-pwned Max Baucus's hearings on the matter.

You all up there have made it very clear that you don't CARE WHAT AMERICANS want or need. You only CARE what the insurance companies want or need and you only CARE about protecting and providing for their profits - NOT protecting or providing for the health of American citizens.

It's incredibly blatant and I ask you again: WHY DO YOU BOTHER if you are not going to truly REFORM health care - to make such a transparent pretense of it?

This is not "change we can believe in" - it's the same plug nickel that has been tossed at us for over 20 years and called "health care reform".

PLEASE...

Regards,

[eleny]

1. Did you just get the email from Obama's team on health care, too?

k&r

[Triana]

3. yea...the above letter to whitehouse.gov is my answer

I am NOT buying the plug nickel they're trying to sell us and I was DISGUSTED to get that letter.

[eleny]

8. I was ticked over their subject header!

So I read one sentence and closed it and sort of walked away for a while. I'll be writing a response, too. But I'll do it tomorrow when I'm calmer about the issue.

I like your take on it. Why not leave it alone instead of leading us on. Sad but true.

[Triana]

9. There's no point in them bothering if they're not going to change anything.

Without a public option - there's really no change.

[spag68]

2. Health care

Tonight I got a message from some Obama's .com, flack asking for support of his "three point plan". I replied that I was sorry, but I didn't vote to continue support for corporate rule of health care. Also stop arresting doctors and nurses who support single payer. You do know that single payer is the only way to go, in your heart, I know you do.

[Triana]

4. GOOD - I hope they get a LOT of such responses.

I haven't responded to that disgusting letter yet and when I do it will be with the letter I wrote above.

Not.

Buying.

It.

[dmr]

12. They did from me

This is what I wrote in my haste:

NO! This is where I part ways with the president.

Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

For-Profits will NOT follow through with savings for Americans. Their cuts, if any, will be at the expense of Americans because they will not give up their outlandish profits.

I'm am so disgusted with the whole DC crowd, I want to scream! I watched as Senators laughed while calling for more police to escort doctors and nurses who wanted a seat at the table to discuss 'single-payer'. How un-American.

The issue I've had with Republicans is knowing I could never trust them to look out for the interests of the American people. I've had great hope that CHANGE was going to come to DC under Obama. Well, I guess that is not true. Just like the Republicans, the Democrats are in bed with those with the most money to buy them out, and to hell with us lowly citizens.

Why don't you listen to the people? Oh, yeah, we don't have millions of dollars to pay for DC's perpetual campaigns - you only like us when it's time to vote.

[Triana]

13. EXCELLENT! That's a great response! n/t

[dmr]

15. Their form-letter answer includes a phone number:

If you have specific questions or concerns, you can call Organizing for America toll-free at 1-877-922-4264.

Think I'll give 'em a call in the morning after I call my Congress-critters, again. We all should!

[spag68]

5. Health care

My question is still, why don't we go ask the Swedes or the Finns, or any of those countries that spend less but get more then we do, what they think of our present system?

[Triana]

7. Or the Aussies! n/t

[Robbien]

6. A good letter

Hopefully the site overflows with like minded letters.

[Triana]

10. I hope so too - but Baucus et al would still sit there and say...

"we haven't heard from enough people about it."

Translation: They aren't listening even if they did (and I suspect they are).

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Well I added to your voice, not that I expect them to listen

not anymore.

------------

Why bother with health care reform? We the American People want single payer, not whatever the insurance industry is giving us. We are tired of this health care for profit system that has been in-place for fifty years. It worked at one point, but now it no longer does. Cutting cost is a nice bauble they keep promising, but it is not the real solution.

You know what the real solution is. SINGLE PAYER now. President Truman was right in 1950. Time to do what is right for the American people. Or are we to be ignored again? Is this the change that we cannot really believe in?

Sincerely,

******

[Triana]

14. Yes! Damn straight.

I hope they get a slew of these types of responses.

[clear eye]

16. Um, letterwriting? What we need is a mass march on Washington!

Online petitions and phone calls to Congress just aren't cutting it. And if you belong to an AFL-CIO union, tell the highest official you can reach that simply because Obama cut a deal with the SEIU's head, Andy Stern, not to back single-payer, doesn't mean the AFL-CIO unions need to keep silent on it as well. They've already been shut out of the loop--Stern's been invited to the White House for consultation a dozen times already and gotten his person in as Labor Sec'y, while the AFL-CIO officials were asked once for a signing ceremony. They have nothing left to lose with this President and by continuing to beg around his ankles like a whipped dog, they only further lose his respect. The industries the AFL-CIO have organized desperately need single-payer (witness the demise of Chrysler) to compete w/ those of the other industialized nations that already have a national health care system, not to mention the unions' membership. Unfortunately the AFL-CIO's main office in D.C. doesn't take calls from the public, and they don't answer feedback put on the online form on their political action page. So call the head of your local or whole union if you can find a good phone number, encourage your coworkers to do likewise, and let's swell a march on Washington for single-payer w/ union members!

[Norrin Radd]

17. kr

[clear eye]

18. Let's give them our response on the streets

See my thread on the upcoming National Day of Action for Single Payer Healthcare

[Wednesdays]

19. K&R