The absurd Republican reaction to Obamacare being upheld
By louisehartmann
The Supreme Court’s health care ruling on Thursday protected hundreds of millions of Americans from being denied health insurance for pre-existing conditions, kept millions of young people insured under their parents healthcare plans, and will eventually lead to coverage of more than 30 million Americans who previously did not have access to health insurance. But if you asked Republicans about the ruling, they’d say it’s a sign of the apocalypse.
The reactions from Republicans to Obamacare being upheld are telling. Republican Congressman Mike Pence compared the ruling to 9/11. The former Spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, Mike Davis, argued that an armed revolution might now be justified. And Conservative radio hosts Michael Savage and Bryan Fischer attacked Chief Justice John Roberts, suggesting this his decision may have been influenced by epilepsy medication – a story that was also picked up on the Drudge Report.
The point is, Obamacare will save the lives of millions of Americans – and if Republicans think that’s as bad for the nation as 9/11 or a sign that an armed revolution is necessary, then there’s something very rotten in today’s Conservative movement. It’s clear today’s Conservatives have been taken over by a strain of Ayn Rand psychopathy.
Comments
#2
Agreed Hard work - Turn out is KEY Obama haters Fox fans will be out in full force This election is crucial I do not think they can repeal it after Supreme Court said IT stands . GOP Baggers will try evry scheme dirty trick to make Obama lose In my 68 yrs I never saw anything like this .I am a recovering GOP voter GOP of old NO longer exists replaced by greedy devious liars and crooks
#3
When the republicans finish with their hissy-fit, maybe the two or three sane ones will realize that justice Roberts is actually looking out for their interests by keeping the door open to future "government mandates" which the republicans will try to impose if they ever get into power. Count on their brand of "mandates" to be much more egregious than anything we have seen yet.
#4
These right wing Confederate leftovers from the nineteenth century can call for another civil war all they want, only they might just find themselves in prison instead.
#5
PULEEEZ!!! THom... can you just be objective, without interjecting a slur against Ayn Rand, the originator of "being objective" (which you obviously are not), and just express your opinion???
Ayn Rand has nothing to do with this (she is dead you know) and you are very intelligent but so narrow minded... BTW how are those robot pigeons from the planet Xeno that you insist are "watching us."
Can you seperate your brilliant intelligent views of the political/social situation today in this country today from your wierd fantacies about Ayn Rand and Pigeons?
Think about it, "objectively." (If you can.)
#6
I'm thrilled....But, I listened to your show today....Thom and everything you said made sense (but, then you always do). The Dems need to get out there and start/keep talking about the benefits of Obamacare, because the GOP talking heads will continue to talk their trash, make their absurd hate speeches, so on and so forth.....and the little sheep will continue reading the same playbook, because that way they don't have to use their brain. I can tell you that between your show, and Mike (filling in for Ed), you guys made my round trip to Portland....go by very fast. I want to thank you , for you are the voice of reason. You're a class act, Mr. Thom Hartmann, and very much appreciated. Keep up the great work, keep talking....and slowly but surely some of the people will cross over to our side...........My best to you and Louise, and glad she is doing better.
#7
Thom,
of course Roberts voted for-it was, from inception, a repubLIEcon program, designed just as was bushdrug benefit to $ub$idi$e insurance-pharmaceutical companies-let's all be totally honest, and view whom bushbama placed upon his committee-which is how bushbama has gotten what he wants politically-stack committees. He froze out anyone who would speak for "public option", let alone single-payer. As we know (my wife is nurse in Berlin, Germany) U.S. healthPROFIT is 85% more expensive (while rated as worse) than German healthcare. There was NEVER any discussion of how these other systems do better...telling, again. As we know from expose' by bushbama grassroots organizer 2008, grassroots were thrown under the bus as soon as election was over. We also know from Wikileaks (official U.S. cables) bushbama had deal with bushcheney to NOT do accountability for war crimes (they are now convicted war criminals) for Iraq LIES..nor has bushbama held accountable Wall $treet. Totally ridiculous..meanwhile bushbama sets up to deconstruct Social Security to pay for Wall $treet crimes-fraud, which he has NOT exposed to TRUTH..nor has he ended bushcheney tax cuts-conducting "quantitative easing"=stimulus, which just as repubLIEcon "austerity" means U.S. taxpayers pay for Wall $treet $600 trillion derivatives monopoly-collusion-paper debt corruption....
#8
I tend to agree. While it does do some good things, it is a giveaway to the insurance industry like Medicare Part D is a giveaway to the drug industry. Also, it doesn't adequately address premium costs and covered benefits.
#9
Obama care compared to 911. You know there are more folks in this nation on both sides of the isle who doubt the official explanation of 911. There are more credible skeptics and more respected doubters than supporters of the commission report. Former high ranking officers form each major branches of the miitary, former decorated fighter pilots. Airline pilots, first responders, family surviivors mainstream entertainers, national security FBI and CIA members, and the ranks are growing exponentially.
#10
Thom--You're sounding like a shill for Obama and the Dems. I haven't heard you lately since I'm in L.A. so I hope you're still willing to criticize Obama--even if we support him over Romney. Obamacare does some good things but it is a conservative, Repub idea with the mandate originated by The Heritage Foundation. It does not adequately address the two most important factors in buying insurance--premium costs and benefits. It also does nothing to control actual healthcare costs. It is a giveaway to the insurance industry like Medicare Part D is a giveaway to the drug companies.
We don't know if all the predictions that are being made will come true. We can support it but should continually point out its flaws and advocate Medicare for All. I also have a problem with the individual mandate.
Roberts' decision was a political one. He wants to avoid his court looking like it's political. I believe he wanted to uphold it for the above reason and since it is beneficial to the insurance companies but didn't want justify the use of the commerce clause. His tax argument is flimsy, at best and can lead to unintended consequences since it is supposedly "taxing" someone for not doing something. Just because SCOTUS calls it a tax doesn't mean it is a tax.
#11
As a cancer patient, I breathed a sigh of relief and was, frankly, surprised with the law being upheld, especially from this Corporate Court. The second greatest worry of the cancer patient, after the worry your cancer will come back, is coverage for the future--the pre-existing condition thing or being kicked off or denied coverage.
I hope people wake up to the fact that the conservatives (and their lapdogs the rethuglicans) are interested ONLY in securing a lock on power and making the American people beholden to corporations and the wealthy. To destroy the education system. To dumb down the population so that we'll accept whatever they deem fit to pay, which would be NOTHING if they had their way. The elderly should wake up to the fact that rethuglicans are coming after their social security and medicare.
I just want to shake every person I hear talk lies and trash about the Affordable Healthcare Act. Get the truth out there--how this will impact the lives of every day people.
#12
This is a sad day for America when Republicans resort only to lies instead of showing they care for true American values which include honesty, justice, integrity, and honor. They have embarrassed themselves and proved to those who watch them carefully that they are fully in the pocket of their corporate masters. They seem to want to take away the vote from everyone who disagrees with them. This is a very sad day especially their act against Eric Holder who is a very honorable man.
#13
The real issue will be the Constant fights to improve the Plan. if we don't get a majority in the House/Senate/Courts, this will go on for years. They will need to tweek it - however, big the pkg is now, it is not in its final form...a living document. We need to remove obstacles - the New Right - who are working for the Health Industry, Pharmaceuticals, Insurance Companies, Medical Assoc, etc.. We need to get corporations out of our gov't!!! I am overjoyed that we got this through the Courts!! And, yes, I'm afraid of how the New Right can abuse the "mandate" position - if they win.
#14
sir,
Read Paul Thompson's, "The Terror Timeline"...Thompson is who "families of 911 victims" used info, to initiate phoney 911 commission in the first place-Thompson met with families, and with Kissinger (I have the video), asked questions, whereby Kissinger immediately left the room, didn't answer, and refused to chair commission. There is not one bit of testimony from 911 commission in the book on 911 commission-too many lies were told to record them...(I have video of some of that, as well)
But if you really, really want to chase 911 (beyond Building 7 and Pentagon video-tell all), google up "Buzzy Krongard", and read for a week...you won't believe it...
#15
sir,
no offense (and I voted for Obama-before he became bushbama-I am the "professional left") but you should derive more information on the state's attorneys general sell-out of Wall $treet foreclosure fraud...and Holder's role, along with bushbama's...and read this on international healthcare rankings:
http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-health-insurance-around-the-world...
#16
"Ayn Rand had nothing to do with this??"..
..read...inform yourself-Milton Friedman, "Chicago Boys", Greenspan=all Ayn Rand devotees-the entire Wall $treet economic disaster rests at the feet of false "free market should regulate itself" LIES. How is it "free market" when Wall $treet, through "high frequency trading"=front running (illegal) and unequal access to markets, let alone split between financial sector and markets, are perpetrated?
Do you realize 2001, "derivatives" valued under $2 trillion, but by 2007, $600 trillion? ALL related to false "free market should regulate itself" deregulatory legislation..of Wall $treet-6 banks of whom own 95% of "derivatives", 80% of which kept in London=financial center of world..
Do you realize 2001, financial sector amounted to 19% of U.S. economy, but today=41%? (paper debt) google up William K Black, who did investigation-prosecution (over 1000 went to jail) of S & L scandal, or his University of Missouri associate Michael Hudson and listen-read-learn..Hudson-"Debt Deflation In America", for only one example...here's documentation:
http://cje.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/4/563.full
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/derivatives-the-quadrillion-...
#17
I'm all for the part of the bill that keeps Insurance companies from turning you away because of preexisting conditions. But that part will eventually disappear or be watered down very soon.
The part that will stay... is forcing everyone to shell out lots of money for the insurance premiums. And insurance premiums, contrary to what we've been led to believe, will go sky high. That's what happens when you have a monopoly...and in this case we will have no "free market" competition when the government strong-arm enforcers cram this thing down our throats. The insurance companies will be able to charge us whatever they want...and believe me...they will!
There is no part of the bill that keeps these insurance companies from charging whatever premiums they want. And someone... say with cancer or some other terrible disease... could be told "Your disease is very expensive... and since we cannot turn you down...we will accept you but be prepared to pay a lot of money in premiums....and too bad...but since the government has mandated that you have insurance, and since all the other insurance companies have the same inflated prices, you will just have to give me all your money! Maybe you can sell your house?" "Maybe you can sell your kids?" "Got a spare kidney you want to sell?"
There could have been a public option to keep these insurance companies in check...the government providing a real competition alternative. But, of course, Obama and his co-conspirators gave that idea up right off the bat. The administrative costs of Medicare (single or low double digits) compared to the private insurance company (double digit...overly paid CEOs and other execs and stockholders).. are much, much lower.
By the way, 911 was an inside job! And if you're dumb enough to believe otherwise, you're dumb enough to believe that the right-wing Roberts, miraculously, letting this bill pass was not a smoke and mirrors trick. While the people keep their eyes on one hand..the other hand works its magic....in this case evil magic.
#18
Thom -- To say that Robert's vote was due to epilepsy medications is patently ridiculous & frankly discriminatory -- epileptics do not need any more discrimination than they are already subject to -- which, believe me, can be considerable. My late husband was epileptic for about 40 years due to a fall on the ice in December 1965, when he cracked his head on a sidewalk. He always had trouble holding a job after that, until we just decided it might be better to just tell prospective employers that he was epileptic. That made matters even worse, because he was not then hired. So, if Roberts is epileptic & heads the Supremes despite this disability, more power to him -- however his medications do not cause him to be more reasonable or unreasonable than his natural inclinations would dictate -- trust me.
#19
"The real losers in the latest Supreme Court decision, however, are the people of the United States. Not those who will be required to go out and buy some over-priced, minimal coverage, rip-off insurance plan offered by the private insurance industry, or to pay a “tax” to the IRS for not doing so, but everyone.
This is because the Affordable Health Care Act is not affordable. It does little or nothing to control health care costs, which are destined to continue to gobble up an ever increasing amount of the total US Gross Domestic Product as well as of corporate profits and families’ incomes.
The new federal version of Romneycare simply prolongs the day when the US finally does what it should have done decades ago, should have done during the first Clinton administration, and should have done at the start of the Obama administration: namely expanding Medicare to cover all Americans.
Instead of going for this option when he had broad and enthusiastic support as the newly elected president, Obama deliberately shut out all discussion of the Canadian-style approach to national health coverage — a national program of government insurance for all, with doctors’ rates and hospital charges negotiated by the government — and instead devised a scheme that leaves the whole payment system in the hands of the private insurance industry, and effectively lets doctors and hospitals charge what they can get away with.
Obama did this because he was a huge recipient of money from all sectors of the health care industry — the insurance companies, the hospital companies, the American Medical Association, the big pharmaceutical firms, and the medical supply firms.
ObamaRomneyCare is at its core an enrichment scheme for nearly all elements of the Medical Industrial Complex, with the possible exception of the lowly family practice physician, nurses, and hospital workers….."
#20
Do you have any documented facts for this assertion? Because I'm not certain that the "lowly family practice physician, nurses & hospital workers are being left out of your so-called "enrichment" scheme. And, if the health care top dpgs are indeed being enriched at our expense, what do you propose doing about it?
#21
Great blog, Thom!
#22
ObamaRomneyCare is a Trojan Horse sent by the Capitalist Thugs to make us all wish we were dead. All your money...or your life? For some, maybe...for others, it's all your money..then your life..because you won't be able to afford to keep on living anyway after your life savings are slowly sucked out of your bank accounts. You'll be so poor you won't want to live anyway.
The trick is for the people to be made to believe that the Conservatives hated the bill (remember, it was a conservative idea before it was adopted by Obama) and the Progressives loved the bill.
And, of course, the Dems and Repubs are in competition for votes but they, bottom line, are controlled by the super elite capitalists. The trick is to fool the people and distract them with this faux democracy. Some Liberals or Progressives can't stop grinning ear-to-ear thinking they won. It would truly be fantastic if that was the case. But I think there are a lot of myopic and overly impressionable liberals who will eventually realize that they have been had.
The one thing the ruling elite don't want to happen is for an all-out revolution...where the ruling elite get all their means of production, property, and bank vault contents confiscated by the people...or worse. And so the Republicans, who want to win but still must kowtow to their ruling elite puppet-masters, play this role, which suits their nature anyway, of selfish and vile creatures. This drives most people into the Democrat camp believing that these politicians are their only choice. Of course, they are being deceived into justifying a crooked and rigged system that has as it's true purpose the enslaving of the masses. And, this pandering of false hope keeps the people from acting in the only manner that will elicit a real change in their favor.
#23
I don't begrudge the "lowly family practice physician, nurses & hospital workers". They are all trying to make a living and doing what they have chosen to do and are very valuable to us all. The people that need to be blamed are the people who are highly (perhaps read "overly") paid with obscene salaries and bonuses (CEOs and other top execs)...or the Wall Street gambler who is driving up costs and prices. Do you know the real reason why we have to pay nearly $5.00 (more or less) for a gallon of gas? Wall Street! The same goes for everything else.
There is only one reason why "hospitals charge $29.00 for an $.80 box of tissues" (as mentioned on tonight's Bill Maher Show) is because they can get away with it. You can try to make me sound like I am attacking the "lowly family practice physician, nurses & hospital workers" (not my words anyway..that was from the article I quoted) but they are not the ones who are participating in a widespread SF Bay Area medical scam consisting of wealthy doctors who have invested in this company that rips off the insurance companies and the people who have to pay the increased premiums as a result of it. These participating doctors refer their patients to out of network doctors, also part of the scam, who charge 10 times the usual cost of performing the procedures and bill the insurance companies. It is not the "family practice physician, nurses & hospital workers" who have bilked the government (our taxes) through Medicare scams. It was rich criminal doctors.
Another part of the reason why hospital costs are so high is because of the expensive real-estate and equipment they must buy. And behind every piece of equipment or other supplies is another over-compensated CEO and other top execs and wealthy stock-holders. Our whole system is top heavy with a minority of fat-cat criminals who wheedled their way into those cushy positions and is teetering on the verge of collapse. And collapse can only result in total resignation of the masses into cowering servitude or they can rise up and rebel against their oppressors. It has happened before and it will happen again. I mean if people finally realize that they are backed into a corner and will die anyway, if they don't stand up and defend themselves, then we may have a chance of changing things that will benefit the masses rather than a few lucky, selfish, and megalomaniacal ones.
#24
I live in Canada as a duel citizen. I am amazed at the crap I hear from Michigan rightwingers. You would think that the commie hoards have landed and are taking over the US. I have never heard so much clap trap in my life. The US has a great medical system provided you are in the top 2%. My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Dec/11, the surgeons removed a 13cm cyst Feb/12 and has been declared cancer free. Cost to me $0. Health panels, NO, choice of doctor, YES, age, sex,race has nothing to do with health services. The sicker people go to the head of the line. Is it perfect, NO, would I change it, NO. Is it expensive, YES. Mind you, we don't spend half of every tax dollar on the military. Canadians don't believe in "every man for themselves" more like "1 for all and all for 1."
#25
You Koch-Teapublicans have destroyed the GRAND OLD PARTY and the founders are turning over in their graves at what you have done to the USA. You continue to say the word Constutition, but haven't read it, or don't understand what you read? The affordable health care will and can be the right thing for our future generations, but only if the right gets off their ass's and does something for the USA instead of against the USA.
You have been paid to say NO, NO,NO, TO THE USA, AND IT IS ABOUT TIME YOU SAID NO TO THE KOCH BOYS. You continue to rant about giving more tax breaks to the wealthy/corporations, and can not see that the real problem is GHW Bush's greatest service country in the world. His service country only produces minimum wage part time jobs, and those that work them are all at the poverty level or below and that has deminished the middle class tax base. You do not want Capitalism regulated, but twice now unregulated Capitalism turned into GREED and once sent the USA into a great depression, and the next time sent the USA into a great ressesion.
Are you KTP folks just to dam dumb to see the picture, or do you just want to destroy the USA/WORLD? Take a lesson from FDR, who said to his congress, "CAPITALISM IS THE GREATEST TOOL IN THE WORLD, BUT LEFT UN-REGULATED IT WILL DESTROY THE WORLD." Yes his congress did put regulations in the books and from 1937 to 2001 the USA was the biggest and best country in the world. Then the Supreme Court gave the Presidents Job to GW Bush and the first thing he did was to de-regulate everything and walla he put us into the greatest ressesion.
It is time for the Koch-Teapublican Party and those that drink their cool-aid to wake up and join the rest of the citizens of the crippled USA and rebuild what we once had. hankk MI
#26
Shining written by: Jef
My soul exploded into a thousand strands of lighted love, and that love surrounded those who were there
My heart had broken open and left me to expand past my body infusing those lucky enough to witness
My love had included, accepted, and actively sought out the person asking for it to come forth
Bathing her in a bright glowing light which expanded into the bride and groom, then into everyone else
My thoughts had not done this, my head was not involved, yet my body knew what had happened and why
Love, pure love glowing, flowing outward was what occurred that day when my soul exploded into the sky
The sound of love crafted deep within the request I had received was the reason for this openness
The light of being alive, the light of acceptance, the light of my soul shone through and has never stopped shining
Today, still today I have not sought to turn off this newly infused perception of selflessness
Today, still today I love all life I see, I love you all, though I have never met you, never talked to you
The love I feel is not made of words; it is not made of concepts drafted on a screen or written with a pen
It is not based on some religionist dogma, it is not based on profit for greed, it is passion without bounds
It is the reason we are alive, it is based in selflessness, and it is founded on truth that love is alive and glows
Love is not a passing phase, love is not just for someday or someone or some way
Love is within your grasp and I ask you to feel it growing, glowing, consuming, overtaking all your senses
Reach out right now with your love, close your eyes and feel your soul, stop your thoughts which detract
Reach out and accept what I say without the words which you have been forced to believe in
Reach out and see that what I am saying is more than words, more than just an act seeking your votes
Your soul is exploding into a thousand strands of lighted love and that love is surrounding those next to you
Your heart can be broken open and expanding right now, see a glow, embrace it warmly, let go and shine
My love now includes everyone, love has accepted you today, and it has brought you here so you can seek it
Don’t let your thoughts slow it down, don’t allow your head to stop it, your body knows this to be true
Love, pure love flowing outward is what is occurring here today, let your soul explode, be enveloped, it is free
The sound of love is crafted deep within seeking the request that I ask for it to open, open your soul now
I seek not your wealth, I seek not your faith, I seek your understanding of what love is and can be, selflessness
Let your soul shine, let your defenses go, embrace life of all kinds and love that life in a unconditional flow
Today is the day of your redemption; today you are offered another chance, let your soul shine and glow
Today the season of love is starting again, today you could finally see, today you can let go and be freed
Our love can calm the stormiest seas; our love can brighten the world, just let it shine and explode for all to see
#27
RomneyCare is a baby step thats better than the current system. As a type 1 diabetic, I stand to directly benefit from this.
The theater around RomneyCare is something else. America has been dividing into factions at an increasing rate. Does anyone see compromise in the future? I see a literal blood bath as nearly inevitable.
I for one intend to stay out of it, and enjoy the show as long as I can. We're all bozos on this bus.
#28
I like the idea of having the actual providers compete for business on price and quality. I also understand that insurance companies can be helpful in handling underwriting and risk managment and other useful steps in the process. But we need to eliminate the practice of selling people insurance with the intention of collecting maximum premium revenue and spending the least possible amount on patient care. We should consider mutual insurance companies for health insurance if we can't get to universal care or medicare for everyone yet.
#29
Just wait till you get the increases in your premiums you get charged by the insurance companies. I think this is something a lot of people are not realizing...that the premiums you will be forced to pay can, and will, increase to match your individual cost to them. They are not going to lose money on this deal they created to get us all trapped in a must-pay-or-else system. They can't turn you down for a preexisting condition (...yet... and that could change) but they sure can raise your individual premiums. They can sure charge you an amount based on your preexisting conditions...and there is nothing to keep them from deciding later, even if you don't have a preexisting condition, to increase your premiums because you came down with a condition. You think that everyone will pay the same amount? There are no checks or laws with teeth that will keep the individuals from being charged crushing premium payments which can spike upon the whim of the insurance companies. And there are no provisions to keep these corporate criminals in check. Most people will be forced to choose the cheapest policies with the highest deductibles and co-payments and many people still won't be able to afford the inflated prices the insurance companies will demand.
Oh, and there might be "an appearance of competition" but it is not reality. Reality is that the industry has a monopoly (like..too big to fail) which can set prices overall. Do you really think that if there is real competition that our country would be in the sad shape it is in today? They don't even want us to compete among ourselves in getting a job...they ship all our jobs overseas to exploit cheap labor. They kill competition. It's a lie!
Too big to fail needs to be shattered into little pieces so that the mega-industries, that buy off the government, are kept in check. We are inundated with loads of marketing clap-trap and engineered beliefs that we have Democracy and a competing free market that has to provide a quality product and the lowest prices. But it is all crap. In fact, I'd call it Crapitalism. And all the Crapitalists want you, the sucker, to believe in all these things that are all, in actuality, ripping us apart and draining the little that is left for us all to survive. Just keep waving your little flags and voting for your favorite useful idiots in the two-party system. They have you right where they want you!
I wonder how VA or Medicare will be affected by all of this...I am not very hopeful that they will still be around very much longer.
#30
There are some diseases that could be, and should be, made easier and cheaper to obtain medications for without a doctor's prescription. The medications or devices that now require a doctor's prescription, if made cheaply available as over-the-counter would do a lot to help bring these diseases down to a manageable level and people wouldn't have to fear not having a doctor or insurance. High blood pressure and diabetes, asthma, and other chronic diseases could all be drastically reduced and kept in check by over-the-counter drugs.
The medical establishment is always trying to sell us on the validity of risks associated with say...getting a flu shot. Some people have complications...very few...and the doctors say "we have to weigh the possible benefits against the unlikely negative effects that a few people might suffer". There is certainly risk in everything we do and taking some of these over-the-counter drugs are no exception. But, some of the leading chronic diseases, like asthma, high blood pressure, and diabetes, if caught and treated early enough would help in preventing more terrible conditions.
Many people, who cannot afford medical insurance, a doctor, or many of the medicines that can only be gotten by prescription are just plain not receiving these medications. The important thing here is "not receiving the medications" not "not seeing a doctor )or making some insurance company CEO filthy rich)".
The majority of people who are now not receiving medications are getting sicker by the day and may die sooner than they might have. And many people, buying otc meds...who can read, can be warned (if not in small print and in language simple enough to understand) what other meds they should not take in conjunction with the meds they buy at the drug store.
I think the insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and medical industry use the excuse that it is better to err on the side of the patient spending a lot of money on their services (doctors fees, scads of lab tests, etc) so that not one individual is at risk...on the one hand...but on the other they argue that "well, you'd better all get your flu shots despite the fact that some might die from them".
When was the last time they were concerned about you getting an insurance-covered lab test to ensure that you won't have an adverse reaction to a flu shot? It is all money vs. risk. Just like the exploding gas tanks in some cars a bunch of years ago...Money vs. risk..if the cost of law suits is so minimal compared to the profits they stand to make then they take the risk..and a few people die.
Lots of people know they have high blood pressure or even suspect they may have diabetes, or on the verge of getting diabetes, and there is no over the counter drugs for these diseases available anywhere in US drug stores.
I noticed that in Mexico they do sell lots of various medications over the counter without prescriptions. Yes, the US is way down on many lists in the "civilized world" and these corporate criminals and their puppet politicians should be ashamed of themselves.
#31
Folks take the time to check out Romneycare, and you will find out that most everyone in Mass. love it. It started out costing lots of money, but ask the new Governor and he will tell you that today it costs only 2% of their budget.The same thing will happen with our new AFFORDABLE CARE ACT. A vote for R will take us backwards, while a vote for D will continue the USA going forward. On entitlements that the Koch-Teapublicans want to eliminate, congress has the biggest. They make their own pay, healthcare,and retirements and are ripping off the tax payers. We need an amendment to our constutition, that we the people will vote on congress's entitlements. First and foremost, all active and retired congressman and woman, will go on the affordable care act like the rest of us. Second their wages shall be reduced and limited to $100,000.00 per year, Third no one shall have a retirement with less than 12 years service, and then they get one third of their pay as their pension. Government entitlements must be revised, they are unaffordable and out of control. They will not get a raise until Social Security has it's 2.4 trillion dollars in IOU's put back into a locked box, and medicare made secure once and for all. We the people pay/paid for our S.S.& mecicare fix it then keep your dirty hands off of it. Also only one retirement paid, no matter how many Government jobs you have had, no more double and tripple dipping, for your local government jobs to the USA government jobs. It shall be one third of the top paid job that they have had. Why should their benefits be any better than the average person's.
#32
Good God, just because ObamaCare is now the law of the land, it's just the beginning of something great! Now is the time to enlighten the many who hate it, but know nothing about it. Many of the ObamaCare haters will be getting those insurance checks in the mail and have no idea why!
Actually, Obama is a failure at communicating on a basic level. He needs charts and a "student teacher" on the road with him! This is the time to explain that rates have been going up in a major way but not for much longer. The "adult version" of ObamaCare doesn't kick in until 2014.
As with MA, everyone was insured FIRST. Then they worked on cost containment. Now it's working and it will always be a work in progress. The same goes with our nation. Here in CA, we missed universal health care by a few votes - democrats who made money from big pharma! The rats. I'm working my butt of getting Dan Lungren out of the house and Ami Bera in. Ami wants to take ObamaCare even further. He will in CA.
Each progressive state will do what's best for them. Each Republican state will need protests, and people dying needlessly from lack of medical care before Mr. Rich Governor caves in.
Anyway, stop griping, whining, bitching, moaning and groaning. ObamaCare made it into law. We have to work to keep it there by electing Obama back into office. We must put the pressure on the Republicans, obtuse as they are. Why not send them to the south side of Chicago for the summer and give them food stamps, medicaid, and low income housing? Sneak in some cameras and we'll have a reality show no one would miss!
#33
What Hath Roberts Wrought?By George Lakoff, Elisabeth Wehling, Common Dreams03 July 12
emocrats all over America are claiming victory in the Chief Justice Roberts' vote to uphold the constitutionality of the President's Health Care Law. Conservatives all over America are campaigning all the harder for a president and a congress that will overthrow the law in the future. Chief Justice John Roberts is a conservative, and a very smart, forward-looking one at that. (Photo: Chuck Kennedy/KRT)
Thomas Friedman in his New York Times column praises Roberts to skies for putting the country ahead of ideology. Others have seen Roberts as saving “his court” from the appearance of ideological control.
But Roberts is a conservative, and a very smart, forward-looking one at that. What Roberts accomplished on one issue was to enshrine two conservative ideologies - without the Democrats even noticing while they were cheering. He did this by using the Court's ability to turn metaphors into law. He accomplished this with two votes.
First he was the swing vote that imposed the idea that Health Care Is A Product and set the stage for a possible general principle: The Interstate Commerce Clause governs the buying and selling of products and the government cannot force anyone to people to buy a product (real or metaphorical).
Second, Roberts was the swing vote on the ruling that saved the Affordable Health Care Act by creating a precedent for another metaphorical legal principle: A fee or payment imposed by the government is a tax.
In short, in his votes on one single issue, Roberts single-handedly extended the power of the Court to turn metaphor into law in two conservative directions.
Many important laws, especially in the area of environmental protection, use the interstate commerce clause. The Court in this session held that the EPA cannot keep a property owner from developing, and hence destroying, a wetland on their property. Will the general principle that comes out of the latest Supreme Court decisions be seen to be that the Commerce Clause cannot be used to preserve the environment but only to govern commercial transactions? The Endangered Species Act is based on the Commerce Clause. Will the above principle be used to kill the Endangered Species Act?
Given the conservatives' success in rousing public ire against taxes, will all fees and other government payments be argued to be taxes that should be minimized, eliminated, or not even proposed?
Roberts is no fool. In one stroke, he both protected the Court from charges of ideology and became categorized as a “moderate,” while enshrining two metaphor-based legal principles that can be used to promote and implement conservative policy in the future, with devastating broad effects.
We are as happy as other Democrats that the Affordable Care Act has mostly been declared constitutional. But we caution Democrats throughout the country to keep an eye out for conservative uses of the two metaphors that played the central role in the latest Supreme Court rulings - and for ways to keep them from being extended to impose conservative beliefs and doctrines
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
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Now that Obamacare has been declared a go the right has immediately reenergized the far right that was planning to stay away from the polls on election or vote for Ron Paul rather than Mitt Romney. They are now going to turn out to beat Obama and get Obamacare repealed. TODAY IS THE TIME FOR DEMOCRATS TO STOP CONGRATULATING THEMSELVES ON A GREAT VICTORY and remember the battle is just beginning. Democrats MUST hold the WhiteHouse and need to begin seriously working to retake the house and increase senate margin. These Republicans know how to use everything-including defeats- to keep the issues away from the important issues such as increased poverty, lack of financial regulations and the insane results of Citizens United on our election process. STOP SMILING AND PATTING EACH OTHER ON THE BACK and GET TO WORK winning the upcoming election door to door,community meetings, local call in shows and face to face discussions about which direction this country is moving and where the people actually want this nation to be.