waxing blogosophical
In advance of the Health Care Summit tomorrow held at The Blair House, the NRCC launched this ad. I give them points for creativity. But, with “teabaggers” and now this quote, “They’re going to ram it down our throats,” I just can’t help but feel that a bunch of horny Republicans need to get laid and relax a little.
Man, this guy makes a lot of sense. The Dems are idiots for losing the public option.
Via Boing Boing:
Four graphs created by the International Federation of Health Plans that compare how much US residents and people in other countries pay for health care. As Jay Livingston of the Montclair SocioBlog says, “Our Lipitor must be four to ten times a good as the Lipitor that Canadians take.”
This may be the best news I’ve heard in weeks.
This is Senator Kennedy’s last address to the nation at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Undergoing brain surgery only weeks before, he defied odds to attend the Convention to deliver a speech in which he endorsed Obama and passed the torch of liberalism. Considered by many to be his farewell speech:
Kennedy on universal health care coverage:
via Fog City Journal’s article The Obstacles to Real Health Care Reform:
Private Insurers and Big PhRMA
Here’s what healthcare reform without the public option would amount to:
Under the reforms, all Americans would be required to have or get health insurance. Most businesses (except for the very small ones) would be required to provide health insurance to their employees. Suddenly, the insurance companies have about 40 million new customers. Sure, they will now have restrictions on recision and other such horrible practices. BUT, they will still only be competing with each other, and will be able to charge just about whatever price they want for health insurance. 40 million new customers get added to the currently system where corporate greed prevails. With no government-run not-for-profit option, 40 million new customers will be handed to the corrupt insurance companies that now dominate our healthcare system. Big time FAIL.
There’s talk of a procedural motion that would let the Democrats to go-it-alone on health care and require only 50 votes in the Senate to pass health care with a public option. The issue here is that the Dems don’t have 60 votes for cloture in the Senate on a plan with the public option. This “nuclear option” (a term I don’t like), would only require 50 votes in the Senate which is what the Dems have (discounting the Blue Dogs and most Republicans).
One of Anderson Cooper’s correspondents points it out clearly: If Obama passes health care without the public option, it will be disastrous for the party in 2012. The progressives will have lost their fervent support (maybe they already have) and the Independents will see an incumbent who wasn’t able to deliver on the promises he made. Watch the clip. It’s long, but good.
