The Fresno Bee editorial board lays out its position on health care reform in today's paper. Check it out by clicking here. Here's part of the editorial:
There's nothing wrong with asking tough questions and being skeptical of the proposal before Congress. But shouting down speakers you don't agree with is not healthy for a political system that already suffers from too much cynicism.
Health care represents one-sixth of our economy and it's unwise to move quickly on solutions without knowing the unintended consequences of the proposal that's more than 1,000 pages long. But that doesn't mean stay with the status quo.
How quick we are to forget: (Or what goes around comes around):
"News outlets focusing on conservatives' incendiary posters outside Tuesday's town hall meeting with President Obama failed to even mention provocative and sometimes violent rhetoric by liberals outside a 2002 appearance by then-President George W. Bush."
"The event in Portland saw demonstrators chanting 'Bush is a terrorist,' and holding expletive-laden signs. One seemed to advocate assassination, reading: 'Bush —— Wanted, Dead or Alive' —— with an X over the word Alive. Although journalists from several national news organizations were traveling with the president and witnessed the displays, they did not report on them."
"By contrast, the media focused extensively on over-the-top signs held by protesters outside President Obama's town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A Washington Post headline read: 'Obama Faces 'Scare Tactics' Head-On' and went into detail about the signs and posters present." Fox News Item 8/12/09
The editorial reminds us that we should be good little boys and girls when we are listening to our government leaders. The mainstream media ignored the peaceful, well-attended tea parties. Why? Because there was no yelling. They were too civil. The mainstream media feeds on heated exchanges and calls these individuals mobs or extremists. The fact of the matter is we are tired of being treated like we are not as smart as some of our arrogant Congressmen and women, we are tired of our phone calls not being answered, of our questions not being answered to our satisfaction, and of getting a "form letter" response from our emails. Is it any wonder there is frustration with our Congress and the president? If you are not a frustrated American on this issue of health care and other issues, then you are not paying attention.
We simply want answers. The Congress has admitted that most of them have not read the bill and yet they are in a hurry to sign it. I say no. I want a complete and thorough explanation of the entire, over 1,000 pages, in layman's language and if there are parts I do not like (I've read some of these), I want to be able to say so and I want to be able to vote on it or at least express my concerns. I want my Congressman to be a good little boy or a good little girl, and listen to me.
There now; I have not yelled, I am not a mobster, I have not threatened anyone and I haven't cursed. Do you think I can get an answer? Hurry, the hairs are getting grayer each day.
With all due respect the President of America seems to set the stage for yelling which in most cases requires all dialog to be carried on in like manner. In addition, this present administration would seem to be hell bent on the government taking over health care which anyone with even the slightest tint of common sense knows is the most wasteful and ill run business systems.
Yes, health care under private enterprise is expensive but I can tell you for sure I will not have my body worked on by "big box store" type employees .
If it takes yelling to turn this around then let's yell.......
Ron
Arlene you said mainstream media avoided the tea parties? Not sure if you consider cable news mainstream, or not, that's debatable as well.
Check out the video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3fvNhdoc0
"America's business is business, her only business" or that the credo of social Darwinism " PROFIT" (so deeply engraved into our national/socio/cultural psyche ) does not help a bit in formulating a health plan for a country of 305 million people. In my opinion, it would be impossible to have any health plan which can prevent or legislate away abuses by a profession that exists for the purpose of trying to heal the sick. No health plan can guarantee that some physicians will not violate their oath , that above all never to do harm. No plan can guarantee the prevention of abuses when dollars are the deciding factor.
....."By the way, some of the existing healthcare programs, some HMOs, trust polcies etc. already have death panels; refusing to finance treatment and dropping patients. Why isn’t Palin worried about ending that as well?" This, the concluding paragraph of KIM TANKSLEY's opinion post reflects stark reality.
One of my daughter's subordinates, a youngish man in his forties just died of that bacterial pneumonia that had been disconcertingly prevalent this 2009 season. John (not his real name) was insured with one of America's largest companies ( known to be equally notorious for having people in their care die because of bad medical judgement) sent the grievously sick man home to bed to rest. John's lungs filled with fluid, and (I don't know how) he wound up in a dialysis unit not connected with his XYZ medical caregiver because they don't have a dialysis facility in that part of the Bay area. John's family told my daughter that the physician at the dialysis facility was shocked that John had been allowed to get to that deathly stage of kidney failure because of doing nothing initially.
We read the reports on a regular basis of that XYZ letting people die or leaving them permanently disabled. But they pay their fines imposed by the government, and then continue acting as a (quasi) death panel. And there are other mega health organizations guilty of similar abuses.
And mind you....socio/political matches are as dangerous to the arsonists than they are to the victim. Keep them in the box.
Rich, that was really rich. I do consider CNN to be a part of the left wing media, not as bad as the regular network stations, but it was obvious to me that the reporter set these guys up. CNN, after all, has very poor ratings in comparison with Fox. The reporter did her own spin when she said those people were anti-government (I find that highly offensive) and then the kicker was when she said they were anti-CNN. That proved she was there to prove just that. She didn't seem interested in what THEY wanted to say. Her statement about the stimulus package was anti-productive to say the least. The stimulus was part of the reason the protestors were there in the first place. They are protesting all the spending and the high taxes that are sure to follow. Nope, that gal was out for ratings and I'm afraid those concerned Chicagoans were duped. The gentleman with the babe was passionate but I wouldn't have called him an extremist or a mobster even though he was in Chicago.
The point in all of this is that there are too many Americans protesting in the streets to be ignored. Some media outlets show them as mobs and extremists instead of what they really are; red-blooded, brave, intelligent, patriotic citizens of America. Paul Revere would be proud of all the hoopla.
"...too many Americans protesting in the streets to be ignored. Some media outlets show them as mobs and extremists instead of what they really are; red-blooded, brave, intelligent, patriotic citizens of America" (Arlene Faul)
Only those who took to the street opposing the war in Iraq, or protesting California Prop 8 are America's anti-social element What this blog is not...an exercise in logic and being politically consequent. hahaha!
I'm just showing you the obvious, they were not "ignored" as you first claimed.
Now you're saying they were "set-up".
Do you believe these tea parties are "set-up" by Fox News, or is it a grassroots movement?
They've been artificially propogated through right-wing media to be out in the streets.
Just one other thing and then I'm gone. I was looking forward to a town meeting that was scheduled at Fresno State with Jim Costa. I was not going to yell or carry a sign and I didn't get an invitation from Fox News to attend. Just wanted my questions answered. He cancelled the night before the scheduled meeting; said it was due to scheduling conflicts. The next day I got an "email alert" from the Obama Camp, asking me to make an "appointment" with my Congressman to discuss my "support" for healthcare reform. There was a direct link to Jim Costa's office so it would be easy for me to make the appointment.
Does that mean that if I wasn't signed up at the Obama Camp and I did not support the reform, I would not be welcome in my Senator's office?
I don't know what it means, but, Arlene Faul, Jim Costa would not be welcome at my dinner table. Not because he is a Democrat, but because (in my personal opinion) he is like a weather vane that turns with the prevailing wind. And his support of the socalled veggie law (way back) could have been his crowning glory.
Isabell, your anecdote about the HMO and it's substandard compassion level, complements the one where a friend of mine was upset about this and that having to do with this healthcare bill... turns out he's got Medicare and BlueShield, has almost no deductibles, great service... at the places he can find that will take both. It seems that Blue Shield as an HMO is so bad on reimbursement and paperwork, that doctors and hospitals are shying away.
After telling me this, he went back to trashing the idea of health care reform. It seems, even though his problems stem from the private insurer, the government can't do anything right.
I believe that many Americans are satisfied at this point to prevent things from getting worse rather than trying to influence a collective body hell bent on appeasing every group that can get identified as a victim in the media. Nothing it seems to me is as important to politicians as appearing to solve contrived issues that simultaneously open up previously unheld control of our diminishing individual freedoms. The whiners and malcontents will eventually allow politicians all the cause they need to turn this system of government into a fantasy of fairness that creaks under the weight of its own hypocricy. What we are seeing in these debate venues is regular middle class people digging in their heals. You can invite all the controlling influences to hog the debate, all you want...I have the privilege to be a member of this mob, they are a family oriented, hard working, faithfully patriotic bunch...underestimate them, but don't complain once they start rolling back the recent past to a more acceptable spot on the timeline.
Well, the young man, now dead, had neither BlueShield nor Medicare. I have Medicare B and a supplementary insurance. Expensive but living up to its promises. If I had that young man's, I too might be dead by now. And I am not one who speaks up frivolously.
Do I realize that millions of Americans are without any medical safety net. Yes I do, but having come from here from a highly developed Western European nation with Socialized Medicine, I prefer to stand silent on President Obama's Healthcare reforms. I cannot change it, and a passport does not make me of American psyche, and I do not want to encourage more of all of the former name- calling that had been reserved for me. hahahah!
And of course all those on the taxpayers' payroll with a healthcare safety net have no reason to complain.
I am disabled I have Medi-cal and Medicare. The Medi-cal is being managed by Healthnet. Medicare pays for 80% of my medical bills. When I say they pay I mean they actually pay. Edhawke is 100% right private insurance will do whatever is most cost effective. If that means not paying then they will do there best not to pay. Dont take my word for it ask your local healthcare providers.
I just refilled all of my medications 3 full months worth. All generic meds which is perfectly fine, share of cost was less than five dollars. Thats three separate medications. I am thankful for the care I get.
I believe that most people in this country know that we need some kind of health care reform, we just differ on how to go about it. I personally would like to keep the government out of it as much as possible. For the record, I've dealt with enough insurance companies in my life that they are not my favorite people. My adult son is a disabled diabetic who is currently receiving Medicare and MediCal. And, because of the diabetes, he has been denied insurance in the past, and at one time, I had to pay for all of his medical care.
What so many people are concerned about is that we have a bill that the democrats tried to push through the Congress in 2 weeks time. We had Congressmen/women who admitted that they haven't read it. One said he wouldn't have understood it if he had. Some people just want the Congress to slow down and give this matter the time and attention it deserves.
Personally, I went to the store today to buy paper and ink and I printed out the 250 page Republican proposal (HR 2520) and I am in the process of printing the Democrats 1017 page proposal (HR 3200). I am going to take my time and go through these two bills and try to understand them as best I can. And I would urge other people to do the same.
Thanks for sharing John.
It's refreshing to hear a real life story of how government does help those who physically and financially need help.
"I am going to take my time and go through these two bills and try to understand them as best I can. And I would urge other people to do the same."
" Beverly; I am glad to see that the blog has not gone to hell in the name-calling basket as of yet. Probably I wouldn't understand most of those healthcare drafts either. But right now I would settle for understanding the arm-twisting, the spreading of panic, the lies and the slanted media reports. News reporting should not be editorializing, and opinions. It should be reporting what is, no more no less. Opinion and consensus making should be done in editorials. Lately, it is no longer clear to me whether I am served cold facts or cooked up opinion. There used to be a clear line of demarcation. The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany may no longer exist, but the agenda of mass brainwashing is alive and well today, and right here.
Is it fact or fiction that the healthcare proposal contains provisions that are tantamount to indifference toward life and limb?
Is it fact or fiction that the quality of healthcare would suffer? All that is fact so far is that millions of American have no healthcare available to them.
And not out of context with the issue, why are we sending our young people to fight and even die on foreign soil to stop the demagogues and hate-mongers while we have the Sarah Palins of our own, who are attempting to scare the people to death, motivated by political chicanery, and little concern for the physiological health of the nation...the people.
To get medical treatment, to get well, to live or to die is of grave concern, but it has been made a political contest of power among the demagogues and megalomaniacs. And since it is possible...we must bring back the politically independent Middleclass, the traditional backbone of America. A handful of superrich and masses of "have-not" is banana republic genre, and not America of WE the PEOPLE. And off my soapbox I go!
Beverly, a well taken post. Many things you mention I agree with. An overwhelming number of Americans know we need health care reform and like you say, how do we go about it? You said you want government to stay out as much as possible but they have to be involved to get reform.
If there is going to be a non-profit insurance provider that offers a "pay-what-you-can-afford" health insurance (health insurance-not health care, so you can still pick your own doctors and treatments) for everyone who doesn't have insurance, which is what I'm advocating, then it has to be government backed, and probably mandatory. The private sector insurance companies are businesses for the highest profit margin possible, which is what we have now.
I think Obama's only mistake in all of this is trying to get this done too fast. He's like a salesman at the door trying to sell you something and you're not sure what it is. Our natural instinct is to shut the door and say no even though we need what he's selling. We just don't know it because of the way it's being pitched. People aren't comfortable with change if they aren't familiar or don't understand...that's just human. He knows though that if he lets up it will die out like so many times before.
I like Obama because he's trying. He's honestly trying to fix so many problems that we have. My dad, a conservative Republican says the same thing. Bless you dad for your open mind, which I hope I have inherited.
Scot, You bring up an aspect of this health care reform issue that has been puzzling me. Perhaps the answer is obvious and I have simply missed it. If so, please forgive my ignorance.
Anyway, you mention "pay-what-you-can-afford health insurance." How would it be determined what a person can afford? And how could it be mandatory? Typically, if a person fails to pay their bill, insurance expires. Can a person be forced to purchase insurance they don't want?
" How would it be determined what a person can afford? And how could it be mandatory? "
The same way they determined how much income tax I can afford. Is income tax mandatory? What a stupid question.
Common....it's not a stupid question. Isabell's close to what I was thinking. A percentage of what one earns. The lower earning brackets would pay 5 or 6% of their income...higher earners would pay a smaller percentage. For example, if someone earned $2,000 a month, 5% would be $100 per month. It would be automatically deducted from your check. If a sole provider, or married couple has a family the percentage is slightly higher. Deductibles, co-pays and medications can all be figured out. Those temporarily not working would still be covered because every American citizen should have the peace of mind of full, choice health care.
Let's just pick an average ballpark figure. If 45 million [currently uninsured] people all paid $200 a month, that's 9 Billion ($9,000,000,000) a month that goes into the kitty.
Mandatory because we can't have some people paying for everyone. If you're working, you're paying into the fund. If you have proof of other insurance that you prefer then fine.
This is just a basic concept. Of course there are variables, but it's not an impossibility. I also think that if we set up a non-profit organization, The National Health Insurance Organization, private insurers will be forced to compete a little more or offer up better incentives, otherwise people will switch.
A doctor friend of mine says there is so much waste that goes on, some patient's fault, some doctor's fault, coupled with unnecessary procedures and tests, it's no wonder the insurance companies charge more and insure fewer. He also says it's ridiculous that some patients go without what they need because of insurance problems.
The bottom line is, I don't think our government (i.e. taxpayers) should have to pay for health care for everyone. I also don't think it's the responsibility of the wealthy to pay for everyone's health care. But we should have a system in which everyone is covered and everyone has the dignity of knowing they are paying what they can for themselves and their family. Other countries have similar systems. Australia for one and France.
France's system.