Pres. Obama, please visit with the uninsured--on a televised primetime townhall...

[thotzRthingz]

What could the obstructionists do to counter, in response? Would they have their own townhall with the FOR-PROFITS telling us how great America is?

[ejpoeta]

1. how about people who are or were insured and then had something happen.

i think people aren't paying attention to THOSE people... because most people have insurance... maybe if they heard from others who have insurance or had insurance and then something happened... like cancer, or an accident... and they found out their insurance wasn't there.

[thotzRthingz]

3. this is true...

and it was not my intention to ignore those who are currently insured... MANY of them will find themselves uninsured, count on it! President Obama recently said that there are some 14,000 Americans that lose their health insurance EVERY DAY... and it is a FACT (not a myth). But many do not think it will happen to them (living in denial, I reckon).

By town-hall-in' a good cross-section of the already uninsured... we focus upon, and are certain to hear from, those who LOST their insurance because:

* their insurance company canceled them, when they began to eat into PROFITS (by becoming sick, injured, etc.)

* their insurance rates simply got to be unaffordable (again, for the sake of the FOR-PROFITS)

* their employer raised rates, transferred more/all costs to them, or DROPPED coverage (again, this goes to the sake of the FOR-PROFITS)

These examples do not include those who simply could never qualify to be insured (i.e., due to pre-exisiting conditions). The problem is, most people I know who are AGAINST healthcare reform... attribute "being uninsured" to one of two major causes:

* those people DO NOT want insurance

* those people are ILLEGALS and do not want to be "tracked" in anyone's database

[thotzRthingz]

6. also, to your point...

Many who "THINK" they are insured, simply are NOT ... and there's no way for them to KNOW otherwise. I offer the following as evidence, from someone who knows of where he speaks:

Testimony of Wendell Potter Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation



"... the number of uninsured people has increased as more have fallen victim to deceptive marketing practices and bought what essentially is fake insurance. The industry is insistent on being able to retain so-called "benefit design flexibility" so they can continue to market these kinds of often worthless policies ..."



source: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/PotterTestimon...

[thotzRthingz]

8. the FOR-PROFITS know this, many "supposed insured" DO NOT...

Investigation Reveals Majority of Insurers Underpaying Claims

When American consumers purchase most products and services, they know up-front what the cost will be; clothing has price tags, grocery stores have shelf tags, and restaurant menus display their prices. But when it comes to health-care costs, consumers are left in the dark, unsure of how much their physician charges for services rendered and not knowing how much of those fees their insurance provider, if they have insurance at all, will cover. So how does a consumer know if they are getting the proper reimbursement?

The bottom line is: THEY DON’T, and a report out of U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee shows that this lack of transparency has forced Americans to pay billions of dollars for medical bills that should have been covered by their insurance. “People don’t know what they’re buying, what they’re getting, why they’re getting underpaid, why they’re being forced to pay more of the difference,” Senator Rockefeller said as he opened a hearing on underpayments to consumers on Wednesday.

source: http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/investigation-r...

[Captain Hilts]

2. GREAT idea! We're not illegal immigrants, lazy or cheap. We're unemployed or self-employed. nt

[1]

4. how about leaving televised primetime out of it...

enough with the primetime.

[lunatica]

5. My cynical self says he and his people have thought of it

After all they're professional politicians, and you don't get all the way to the Pinnacle of Politics by believing in the blather of the campaign rhetoric you used to sell yourself. That persona you see on the campaign trail is enacting the best and most pleasing behavior of the first date in order to eventually win you over. One might even invent a persona for such an occasion, and it happens a lot. Especially not if you and your staff are from Chicago. I would sooner believe they have all eventualities covered, discussed, refined or dismissed depending on political expediency and political chess. A true politicians brain is wired in the most circuitous way.

All politicians play chess. Especially in Washington DC. The ones who don't aren't there.

If we can think up political strategy rest assured that they do it 24/7. Their brains are hard wired that way. Anyone who doesn't understand that on a fundamental level doesn't understand the political game.

I'm jaded I know. I admit it openly.

If they don't do something like this chances are it's because they've dismissed it for what they think is a better strategy which may or may not be in our best interest.

[OHdem10]

7. When Times are Difficult and Tough for many many people and

they fear losing their own job and therefore their own health care,
it becomes difficult to "sell" them on something for others. Human
Nature is human nature. People are more willing to give when times
are good.

Here is one lesson our party must learn. You cannot sell anything
with a one or two time answerr or presentation.

Stop and think: All those TV appearances by Obama. What time of
day were they? In middle of day. Who was watching TV and How
Many.

Think about it this way. Today is Sunday. Cash for Klunkers has
been going for sometime now and is over tomorrow pm. Dealerships
say they have had people show up today because they JUST NOW heard
about it.

My point is how many Americans know anything about the HCR except
from GOP ????

Democrats have the practice of saying something once and being
under the false impression that everyone hears it. Why do you
think GOP had their members on TV 24/7 for the past months.
They know thins have to be repeated over and over and over
until every last American at some point turns on the Tv.

[RumCurrency]

9. Lets discuss the real issues

Most of the "obstructionists" are older people with Medicare, who don't want to lose their benefits. I don't blame them for being scared, because the old are last in line in a socialist medical system. In fairness, they have been paying taxes for it and probably have paid their fair share, but the Medicare system itself is currently in the hole many billions... and they really aren't what's wrong with the system, but a symptom of a much greater disease.

What I see as the problem with health care is the guild system that we have for doctors, insurance companies, drug companies, and lawyers. Free markets do not exist in any of these industries. You cannot call something a free market when there is a financial barrier to entry into the profession (much of our economy is now guild-based. Universities have been given monopoly control over higher education, and have been highly subsidized and sponsored by the government... their overpriced degrees have become a requirement for entry into the guilds). It is a requirement to pay through the nose to become a doctor. There are no doctor apprenticeships since this would allow too many competent people into the field and wages would have to fall. Government adds to more monopoly pricing power through licensing requirements and anti-competitive patent laws (for drug companies specifically). Doctors and lawyers have formed guilds since they existed to extract as much money from the public as possible (even though they are not on the same side, they both are monopolist groups who gouge the public), labor unions and all other labor monopolists try to do the same thing. All of these groups are protected and in some cases supported by the government.

It really is a racket. You have the lawyers who are allowed to sue doctors for inevitable mistakes that occur. This raises the doctor's insurance costs which they pass on to consumers (granted, the lawyers are very clever at following the money... they would not be going after the doctors if doctors weren't monopolists who receive huge salaries). Insurance companies are obviously huge beneficiaries because the cost of service has become so great that no one can afford any procedure without insurance. This reliance on insurance is ridiculously inefficient and just adds to the costs as they are in actuality a useless middle man. Insurance companies do not lower prices at all, they just add to the overall costs, while distributing risk to individuals who are never going to need the insurance. And since everyone has insurance, no one cares about the price of service. This virtually eliminates price competition and adds to the monopolists' pricing power.

Since people have decided the insurance companies are just huge scam artists (they are but, they have to be to pay the monopolists), and they'd rather just die or remain sick than deal with this ludicrous health care system.... Now the government has decided they want to force everyone to pay health insurance no matter how big a ripoff it is!!! Of course the government was the one who essentially granted all of these monopolies. They have not allowed a free market to exist in health care for many, many decades, and costs have skyrocketed during this period. Costs wont go down under any government-run system. The government are incompetent managers in case no one has noticed. You'll just see higher taxes, lower quality, longer waiting times, more businesses shutting down for good and a permanent underclass of unemployed people who will at least have access sub-par medical care (same as every other third-world country).

So now everyone says what is your solution then? As if the government is the only ones who can solve a problem. Government is the cause of problems, never the solution. The only solution is freedom. Economic freedom is just as important of social freedom. We the people are what makes the economy work, not the government. Figure it out. The government produces no goods and very few services... even those services they do provide could be done by entrepreneurs for a much lower cost to society. It is the human condition to want to work to improve our own lives and those around us. We also know how to refuse patronage to those who scam and don't earn their keep. Government gets in the way of this natural human society, and they have all but destroyed freedom of individuals to make their own decisions in this country, as we continue to diverge from what made us great.