MoveOn petition for healthcare--Please sign!

[kaygore]

Please in the "comments" box emphasize SINGLE-PAYER national health care!

http://pol.moveon.org/thisyear/index.html

[Cleita]

1. I already did but I can give you a K&R n/t

[biopowertoday]

2. Move on is pushing the Kennedy plan--NOT universal SINGLE-PAYER.

[Vincardog]

3. Move on can push whatever they want. < My comment was we can not afford not to have Universal Single

Payer healthcare

[biopowertoday]

5. I basically said the same. I just hope moveon does not zap those type.

[kaygore]

4. That's why is is important to stress single-payer in the comments

That's also why I have stopped supporting them financially!

[biopowertoday]

6. as I have also. Have you seen this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/politics/20health.html?_r=1&ref=health&pagewanted=print


February 20, 2009
Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.

Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.

.........
The talks, which are taking place behind closed doors, are unusual. Lobbyists for a wide range of interest groups — some of which were involved in defeating national health legislation in 1993-4 — are meeting with the staff of Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in a search for common ground.

.................

While President Obama is not directly represented in the talks, the White House has been kept informed and is encouraging the Senate effort as a way to get the ball rolling on health legislation.

...............

“While there was some diversity of views,” it said, “the sense of the room is that an individual obligation to purchase insurance should be part of reform if that obligation is coupled with effective mechanisms to make coverage meaningful and affordable.”

The ideas discussed include a proposal to penalize people who fail to comply with the “individual obligation” to have insurance.

......................................

The 20 people who regularly attend the meetings on Capitol Hill include lobbyists for AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

[kaygore]

7. But if we have no money, how can we afford this obligation?

At least with car insurance, if you can't afford it, you can sell your car and walk or take public transportation.

[biopowertoday]

8. The health of our nation depends on the health of its people. We

are required to afford it. To me it is as simple as that.