Obama: 'Time to deliver' on health care

[Old Coot]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said "it's time to deliver" on his health care agenda, using his weekly radio and Internet address to focus on his domestic priority even while traveling overseas.

His remarks airing Saturday were timed to gatherings in living rooms and coffee shops around the country by tens of thousands of people to discuss health care. The weekend events, organized by his campaign, were intended to try to build a groundswell of support for congressional action.

"If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy," Obama said.

"Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve — it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer," said the president, who attended D-Day ceremonies in France on Saturday.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090606/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_health_overhaul

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I wonder what kind of monstrosity of health care "reform" we will actually get. The Republicans are still adamantly opposed to any kind of public option. I suspect whatever we end up with will be greatly watered down and will not benefit most Americans. Call me pessimistic. (Or am I realistic?)

[Cleita]

1. We are going to get something similar to Medicare Part D, the prescription

drug benefit. I think we are going to have to hit the pavement with demonstrations over and over again until we get what we need. I really hate this rush to health care legislation especially since the doctors and patients are being shut out and excluded from the process.

[DJ13]

2. I think he just wants to hurry up and get a pro-insurance bill passed

Before the public has the opportunity to tell Congress they dont want it.

[lokichogio]

3. It ain't broken

The U.S. Healthcare system as a whole is not broken, so why is the gov. trying to "fix" it? Our gov., though well meaning, does not do one thing better and more cost effective than the private sector. It'll cost 3-6x more in the long run and we'll be worse off than when we started. Sure there are problems. Fix those. Don't revamp an entire industry because a few things need tweaked.

your mileage may vary...

Do you pay enough taxes? Vote here. www.adailypoll.com

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. Gee. I wonder who YOU work for.

You can't get any mileage at all with four flat tires... :shrug:

[uppityperson]

8. Did you se his other poll "Should President Obama continue to apologize for America while on foreign

Should President Obama continue to apologize for America while on foreign soil?

* No, he should stop immediately. It shows weakness. (91.0%, 169 Votes)
* Yes, it shows humility. (4.0%, 7 Votes)
* Yes, every chance he gets. (3.0%, 5 Votes)
* No, he should apologize on American soil. (3.0%, 5 Votes)



Gee, what a fine addition to DU, helping to keep us something.

[Robbien]

5. When having a medical problem lands many Americans in bankruptcy court

it means the system is broken.

What rock have you've been hiding under?

[Old Coot]

6. Many people with health insurance can't afford health care due to high deductibles.

Millions have no health care insurance.

Oh, our "system" is broken.

[uppityperson]

7. Search is instructive on you. Welcome to DU, I hope you learn something here. nt

[uppityperson]

9. Thank you Mods!

[AndyA]

10. Wrong.

Our gov., though well meaning, does not do one thing better and more cost effective than the private sector.

How about Iraq? The private sector in Iraq cost American taxpayers much more than if the government had provided those same services. How many companies have made a fortune off this war while providing substandard services?

Halliburton/KBR (killing our troops!)
Blackwater

Those are just two, there are many, many more no-bid private sector contractors who have charged much more than it would have cost had the government provided those services itself.

Your statement is WRONG.

[uppityperson]

11. Libraries, fire departments, roads also. That poster is TS'd, by the way.

[MannyGoldstein]

15. Evidence Says Otherwise

1. US medical outcomes are the very worst of all industrialized countries. US life expectancy and infant mortality is about the same as Cuba's!!!
2. US medical care is the most expensive in the world, per person, by far.

Somehow, every other industrialized country in the world is able to provide better health care, for all citizens, at a far lower cost. What is it about Americans that makes us uniquely unable to do what *every* other industrialized country can do?

[groundloop]

16. Dude, what have you been smoking?

Our gov., though well meaning, does not do one thing better and more cost effective than the private sector.

My wife lost all hearing in one ear and I've been fighting our wonderful private healthcare system for over six months now because our insurer doesn't want to pay for a procedure that can restore her hearing. MEDICARE happens to cover that procedure, but our insurance company is using a loophole in the wording of our policy to not pay. What's just as bad is that, while yes there's a process in place to appeal these decisions, the judge of each phase of the appeal is the insurance company. They've been wasting as much time as possible throughout the process, and only after we jump through all of their hoops can we then have a review by an independent expert AT OUR COST - approximately $5000.

It ain't broken my ass. Get a grip.

[scentopine]

17. lol - almost perfect republican/centrist talking points.

I will assume "does not do one thing better and .... than the private industry" was not a sarcastic joke along the lines of Sean Hannity. If so, I fell for it. Anyway, the system is utterly and most completely broken in ways so numerous you can't enumerate them all in a simple blog post. Much like the moral and ethical center of wall street is broken health care is is too.

Try running a small business with a family? Can you afford 1400/month coverage (assuming that they don't have any preconditions)? How about your employees? Coming to work sick, stressing everyone out, it is a nightmare. If you have a serious health issue, you will be ruined. It is holding back innovation and mobility and progress of entrepreneurs. People are clamoring for safety in dead end public sector jobs or selling out to mega corporations because they'll be ruined if they get seriously sick.

There is much to be gained by the forces who want to keep things as they are. Much like the expert money managers on wall street who weaseled their way to grab your retirement money and treasury while making most people poor, our expert health care providers are literally making wall street rich while keeping people sick.

Free market health care is sort of like free market justice. It serves only the wealthy at the detriment of the nation's overall health and well being. A healthy nation is a strong competitive nation. It needs national focus. Private industry has shown they cannot be trusted with this task.

5 second list of things gov. did/does better than private industry off top of head

Ready?..... go!
Rural Electrification Act
Water, Sewer General Sanitation Services
Law Enforcement
Police
Justice Dept
Fire Rescue
Local, State and Federal Government
Bank regulation
Insurance regulation
Environmental regulation
Aviation System
Social security
Defense
Manhattan Project
Arts Funding
Space Agency
Conrail
Public transportation
Public education (K-12 and state universities included)
Pollution control
Research and Development Funding
ARPANET
Park Systems
Particle Accelerators

5 seconds are up! Dang could have listed so much more...

(not all of these are as good as they should/could of been, but they work fairly smoothly when corporations don't pay off corrupt politicians)

[jwirr]

12. He needs to consider that if he gets a bad plan passed now it will

go into effect in plenty of time for his supporters to test it out. If there is no true public option the plan will fail before he even gets his first term finished. If that happens most of us will consider it a failure to deliver by both him and the congress.

Both big pharma and the insurance companies are banking on such a failure to protect their interests.

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. Hurry and get er done

before the Single Payer advocate groups grow too large to be ignored.

[quidam56]

14. We must have health care reform this year,

in East Tennessee and southwest Virginia clearly PROFIT CARE is more important than PATIENT CARE. It's a shame our health care system has gone the way of wall street. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62