Obama radio addresss praises Baucus bill: 25 mill uninsured & more profit$ for in$urance indu$try.

[Karmadillo]

http://www.progressive.org/wx101809.html

Obama Could Have Used His Radio Rhetoric for Universal Coverage, Not Baucus Bill
By Matthew Rothschild, October 18, 2009

In his radio address this Saturday, President Obama praised the Baucus bill and used some of his most combative language to date against the insurance industry.

“The insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo,” he said. “They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people.”

But if he was going to take the insurance industry on so aggressively, why didn’t he use his rhetorical skills for a much better bill, like Medicare for All, or Medicare for All Who Want It?

Instead, it appears that he’s behind the Baucus bill, a bill that ironically will corral tens of millions of people into the pens of the private insurance industry. For all its belly-aching, the insurance industry will make more profits than ever before. And we’ll still have 25 million uninsured people in this country a decade from now.

Obama also oddly undersold the moral case for health care reform.

“Passing health insurance reform”—note that he no longer even calls it health care reform—“will make a profound and positive difference in the lives of the American people,” he said. But he didn’t put any flesh on this. He didn’t spell out the “profound and positive difference” in human terms.

more...

[joeycola]

1. Rothschild always speaking for the down and underserved folks.

[joeycola]

2. K and R.

[elocs]

3. Remember the understanding of us mere mortals is limited

since the kung-fu, zen master Obama is playing 3d chess while the others play checkers. All will be just fine.

[sandnsea]

4. Did progressive.org attack the Kennedy bill too?

Most of the left did. Obama fought for the public option all summer long. The "progressives" were fighting him then too. Some of us told you the Kennedy bill was the best you could hope to get. But nooooo. And now that we still have a chance to merge it with the Baucus bill, the "progressives" are still attacking Obama instead of helping to change minds and gather verbal support.

[dmosh42]

5. Any bill w/o a public option or single-payer deserves to lose...

otherwise it is only a windfall for the insurance industry. Funny how "mandatory insurance" was quietly added, like it was written in by the insurance cos. themselves!

[sandnsea]

9. The HELP Bill has a public option

And it was attacked anyway. If everybody had supported it in June, and created a real movement over the summer, we wouldn't be in this mess today.

[laughingliberal]

6. Another day, another email to the White House

Here's my email to the White House today:

With 3 bills voted out of committee in the House of Representatives and 2 voted out in the Senate, I am disturbed to find it seems we are hearing only support for the bill voted out of the Senate Finance committee. I find this the worst of the 5 bills which have come out of committee. It has no public option. While I find the public option in all the bills far too weak to do what we need it to do, it is certainly better to have a public option than to not have one. Another huge concern is an issue I heard Michael Moore bring up in an interview this past week. He stated that the penalty, in the Baucus bill, for private insurance companies who deny people coverage on the basis of preexisting conditions will be $5000 per incident. I have to ask, if you were a private insurance company faced with a cancer or heart disease patient with expensive ongoing treatment, wouldn't it make more sense to pay the $5000 penalty for denying coverage to these patients? Funny, the industry expressing outrage at ineffective fines for Americans who do not buy their overpriced, worthless products is getting off with a fine for breaking what will be the law of $5000. No incentive here, that I can see, to follow the imperative to cover Americans with preexisting conditions.
Last weekend the private insurance industry, through AHIP, gave you the perfect opening to call for stronger protection for the American people. Public sentiment is not with the private insurers. I was very impressed with Speaker Pelosi's statement that she would not force families to negotiate with the private insurance companies. These corporations have done enough to destroy average citizens. The timing to pass legislation that actually controls costs to the citizens could not be better and will never be better in my lifetime or, likely, yours. Not coming out boldly for public option and serious sanctions on private insurers, I can only think, is an indication of the amount of selling out to the insurance cartels. I am alarmed to hear Rahm Emanuel is your point person in the Senate conference to merge the 2 Senate bills. With his history of pandering to the insurance companies and his leaking of offensive statements towards the people who want to see strong public options and the power of private insurers to gouge us limited his presence in the negotiations raises alarm that we will see a big giveaway to the private cartels. I now believe when I see you speak of controlling costs you must be focusing solely on costs to the government and not the consumers. I just watched Valerie Jarret on Meet the Press indicate, again, the public option is not essential. I would ask you to focus on people out here, already struggling, who need their costs of health care to come down. Support for the Senate Finance committees bill is support for private insurance cartels and a hit on American citizens. I would like to hear more support for the House versions and the Senate HELP committee versions with a request to strengthen the public option in those bills.I would like to see the courting of Olympia Snowe come to an end. She was elected by the people of Maine as their Senator and I see no reason why her desires would carry more weight than that position implies. Even the people of her own state, by more than 60% want a public option. It is time to quit acting as if she is the President. I would like to see someone from your administration in the negotiations who is not a hack for industry and an opponent of your supporters. This time will not come again. Please do not sell out to the "any bill for the sake of getting something passed," mentality.

[cliffordu]

7. In politics, like the Mob, you praise someone just before you pull the plastic

bag down over their heads.

Keep watching.

[Better Today]

8. I'm beginning to wonder if Obama and the insurance execs across the board have this whole

shadow boxing thing set up in advance. This way it looks like Obama is fighting for us, when in fact he's giving the insurance industry everything it wants.

Ever since the insurance companies came out with the "report" the day before the vote, something just smells really fishy. If Obama was supporting and raving about the strength of the House Bills or even the HEL(?) bill, but to keep identifying himself with the Buacus bill is really causing me to not trust him, to begin to believe he is playing us all, and to believe he is doing it in cahoots with the insurers.