Obama Diagrams Health-Care Strategy From Abroad

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/balance_of_power/2009/07/obama-diagrams-healthcare-stra.html

Obama Diagrams Health-Care Strategy From Abroad

By Adriel Bettelheim | July 10, 2009 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

snip//

"What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums," the president said. "They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their health care. They are going into debt. Some are going into bankruptcy -- small businesses and large businesses that are feeling enormous pressure."

We'd expect more town-hall style meetings like the ones Obama held in Green Bay, Wisc. and Annandale, Va. that personalize failings of the health system and whet appetites for change. Organizing for America, the advocacy group that grew out of Obama's 2008 campaign, is augmenting the big events with door-to-door canvassing across the country, in which volunteers will be promoting the administration's heatlh care priorities. The neighborhood-level activism begins this weekend.

And if Congress thinks it can wrap up work on a messy issue by producing a watered-down compromise by September, think again. Asked whether it's do-or-die by the August recess, Obama responded, "I never believe anything is do-or-die. But I really want to get it done by the August recess."

Obama said he wants to continue to defer to Congress on forging many key aspects of a plan, but indicated he will get more hands-on as the summer progresses. Maybe even heavy-handed, when it comes to reconciling plans from the House and Senate.

"Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month," the president said. "We are having a whole series of constant negotiations. This is not simply a Democratic versus Republican issue. This is a House versus Senate issue. This is different committees that have different priorities. My job is to make sure that I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve."

Obama, normally a non-confrontational type, isn't exactly relishing the fights to come, either. Asked by an Italian reporter whether it's easier to deal with sometimes fractious groups of world leaders or the Congress, the president quickly replied, "It's not even close. I mean, Congress is always tougher."

[Better Believe It]

1. Obama said he wants to defer to Congress = Passing the buck and not leading

[FrenchieCat]

2. You are so fucking full of it!

"My job is to make sure that I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve." - quote from Barack Obama from the article.

[slipslidingaway]

3. P. Obama led by excluding "not for profit "advocates and

including the "for profit" companies at the WH sumit...that set the tone for future discussions.

Conyers wanted to invite Dr. Marcia Angell and Dr. Quentin Young to speak about a single-payer, not for profit system...he was told no.

During the campaign P. Obama made a commitment to bring all sides to the discussion table, although he favored a public option.

But P. Obama called upon Karen Ignagni of AHIP to make a comment, so I would say that he did lead.

:(

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=328837&mesg_id=328837

Imagine if P. Obama had called upon Dr. Maria Angell to speak at the WH summit instead of Karen Ignagni, members of Congress might be pleading for a public option.


Dr. Marcia Angell not invited to attend and therefore not called upon to speak, Conyers asked that two single-payer advocates be invited to attend....Dr. Quentin Young and Dr. Marcia Angell - his request was denied.

[babylonsister]

4. Too bad your facts are skewed.

And as for calling on people you deem appropriate, there were a lot of people there. So sorry you weren't accommodated.
As for single payer, while I think Obama personally wants that, right now that mountain is out of our reach. We'd have to reinvent the entire system, and I don't think we are in any shape to do that now. Nothing is to say it won't eventually happen, but I think a public plan is about all we're going to get, IF WE'RE LUCKY.


http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2009/03/09/dr-oliver-fein-reports-on-the-white-house-health-summit/

Dr. Oliver Fein from PNHP, an advocate of single-payer, was invited and did attend.

[slipslidingaway]

5. Do you not remember the threads here to call the WH to try and

get SP advocates invited?

After calls and threatened protests by doctors, Dr. Fein was invited at the last minute, although he was not called upon to make a comment.

I've posted that PNHP link here several times, but the fact remains that they were excluded from the initial invitations, but the reps for insurance companies were not.

That is a fact, Dr. Fein is not even listed on the WH site in the discussion group that he was allowed to sit in on, and again at the very last minute.


"As for single payer, while I think Obama personally wants that, right now that mountain is out of our reach."


I find that hard to believe, if you want something, excluding people that could support your case is not the best way to achieve that goal.

Neither is referring to people at a town hall meeting "I see we have some little single-payer advocates here" ha-ha

Or telling the AMA that he is not in favor of a "government run health care system" when speaking of single-payer HC.


And what I am saying is that if the goal was a strong public option, then you allow some opponents to the insurance companies in the room, you do not exclude, marginalize and misrepresent them.


Instead we'll allow 400-600 billion per year to go towards profits, administrative costs etc.

4-6 Trillion over the next decade!!!

That could be used for HC.

And we'll partially find this public option with saving from Medicare, but the number of enrollees begins to climb in 2010 from 46 million to 79 million by 2030.

How do we pay increased Medicare costs over the next two decades, while we are using the saving to fund the public option?

Not to confuse he issue too much, but we should not forget the 2.2 Trillion in government obligations owed to SS Trust fund that starts coming due around 2016.

[slipslidingaway]

6. And this is not about me!!! "So sorry you weren't accommodated." n/t

[slipslidingaway]

7. How do we pay for all of this and deliver HC to everyone? nt

[slipslidingaway]

8. Bill Moyers program with Wendell Potter - discrediting SICKO

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/transcript4.html

"WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie. But the industry, from the moment that the industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.

BILL MOYERS: What were they afraid of?

WENDELL POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.

BILL MOYERS: We obtained a copy of the game plan that was adopted by the industry's trade association, AHIP. And it spells out the industry strategies in gold letters. It says, "Highlight horror stories of government-run systems." What was that about?

WENDELL POTTER: The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you're heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern."


From the AHIP plan mentioned above...

"BILL MOYERS: This is fascinating. You know, "Build awareness among centrist Democratic policy organizations--"

WENDELL POTTER: Right.

BILL MOYERS: "--including the Democratic Leadership Council."

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: Then it says, "Message to Democratic insiders. Embracing Moore is one-way ticket back to minority party status."

WENDELL POTTER: Yeah.

BILL MOYERS: Now, that's exactly what they did, didn't they? They--

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: --radicalized Moore, so that his message was discredited because the messenger was seen to be radical."


Guess who was invited to the WH summit and guess who P. Obama called on to make a statement, the association who adopted a game plan to discredit Moore and his movie SICKO.

President Obama calls on Karen Ignagni of AHIP to speak on HC reform
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=328837&mesg_id=328837


And Ron Williams was invited to the HC discussions in Congress as well...

"BILL MOYERS: You wrote a column with the headline, "Obama's false friends of health reform." You use as a prime example a man named Ron Williams, who is at the top of the list of insurance executives in terms of their compensation. We actually saw Ron Williams at President Obama's Town Hall meeting."

[slipslidingaway]

9. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta tried hard to discredit SICKO...

http://www.lifenews.com/nat4890.html

"...Gupta told King that he had not been officially nominated for Surgeon General, but added that he had discussions with top Obama administration officials and was considered Obama's top choice for the position. He had met then-President-elect Obama in Chicago in November to discuss the post.

The CNN medical correspondent is a former special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton and he has taken some pro-abortion positions on selected issues..."