2008-10-07T17:46:10Z opencongress.org tag:opencongress.org,2007:/bill/comments/42344 2008-10-07T17:46:10Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-10-07:/comment/47152 bvryan9 I liked reading some of the articles on the Health Care Reform site: The Private Insurance industry is about profit, not patients (or better yet "health") Why would they want us to be healthy? They can't make any money if we're healthy? They even charge for their "staying healthy clinics". They have us coming and going. On the PNHP, Sara Robinson wrote about the Canadian Health System Myths, she said "Maintaining health is not an individual responsibility, but a collective one. Since none of us controls "fate", the least we can do is be there for each other as our numbers come up." 2008-09-27T16:06:10Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-09-27:/comment/42236 Anonymous Someday,sometime, and surley at the end of your life, medical attention will be needed. If there is one thing our government might do for its citizens, that would be to provide access to a medical system to live a healthy productive life. The citizens of America have become so self-centered that even human life is becoming a actuarial commodity, no longer something sacred. I believe Jesus did much healing and never sent a bill. Single payer is and will be a reality in this country as a grass roots effort by the citizenry that gets less and less and less for their tax dollars. I don't know anyone who is worth 63 million dollars per year to head any company. Lets get with it and ask for what we citizens already pay for. 2008-09-06T18:49:45Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-09-06:/comment/38597 Anonymous It is nearly a Nazi state that we live in now under the Shrub Crime Family. They put inept people in charge of government agencies and proclaim to the people, "You See, Government is broken, we need the private companies to run things." Then the private firms move in and make all the rules and take all the money. It makes more sense to me to adopt a European system like in France and England where they make it work. 2008-08-29T19:57:13Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-08-29:/comment/38304 Anonymous The countries with UHC and the satisfaction the people have with UHC, has a directly related to how much that country spends on UHC. With this bill, America would be spending 5 times as much as any other country with UHC. This is per person. Now spending 5 times as much, doesn't mean much if we don't do it correctly. UHC will need to monitored closely. We'll need to look at all the problems that may arise and have a reasonable solution ready the moment they do. Erica Abbott Moms for Universal Health Care URL: http://www.cafemom.com/group/MomsforUniversalHealthCare 2008-02-12T21:07:12Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-02-12:/comment/797 Anonymous I have written my Representative and my two Congresspersons and have yet to hear back from any of them. I truly believe that Congress does not have the best interests of this country at heart, but instead treasures their kickbacks and campaign contributions above and beyond any of us. Good luck in trying to get ANYTHING done. Esp. when we have an illegal, deceptive Administration as the Bush Administration in power. 2008-01-22T13:37:44Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-01-22:/comment/356 WWWoDEMOCRATZoORG Hello Have you had enough of petitions, rallies, and protests that have not worked? The Republican party and their conservative members appears insulated from the public and unresponsive to the public. However their contributors do not appear insulated from the public and can collapse under pressure to a withering telephone campaign threatening mass boycotts of their products until they get their friends at the GOP to do what we want. Would you and your organization consider joining these telephone campaigns and spreading the word to your membership, and fellow progressive groups in your newsletter? I have created these campaigns to peacefully take back America. After you have made these phone calls please send me email to info@democratz.org with the subject CALLED. I plan to bring this message to as many Democratic Clubs around the United States of America as I can. Thank you. http://www.democratz.org Get as many people to make these 3 phone calls. Call GOP contributor and war contractor General Electric Corporation at 800 386 1215 or 203 373 2211 and tell the person who answers, that you want the GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to get Bush to end the war in Iraq and then Bush resign with Cheney and until that happens you will not buy any GE products and that you will tell your friends about this. Call GOP contributor Rite Aid Corporation at 1-800-325-3737 and tell the person to get the CEO to get the congress to enact HR 676 Single payer universal health care and repeal Medicare Part D and place the drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80% of drugs with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and remove the means test for Medicare Part B and until that happens, you won't buy ANYTHING from Rite Aid Pharmacies and that you will tell your friends about this. Call GOP contributor Wendy's restaurants at 614 764-3553 and Tell the person in public relations that you want their CEO to get the congress to help enact a $10/HR MIN. WAGE into law and until this happens you will not go to a Wendy's Restaurant and that you will tell your friends about this. I set up a progressives forum for progressives and liberals only. Get as many progressives and liberals to join as you can. http://progressives.aceboard.com I do not seek donations. You can use the board for free. 2008-07-24T06:20:48Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-24:/comment/35965 AisA The basic principle of a moral government is to protect the rights of the individual and to ban the initiation of physical force from human relationships. Basically, this was the foundation of America by our Founding Fathers. To paraphrase from the Declaration of Independence, that all individuals are endowed with the right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. This Bill, HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act would OUTLAW private for profit health care, which means a doctor will be forbidden from opening a private practice, as he would be outlawed from doing so and a patient seeking to hire this doctor's skills would be outlawed. This Bill represents a total inversion of a moral governmnet where the individual cannot act except by permission of the government. THIS Bill IS EVIL because it deprives the individual his liberty and right to think and to act on his own best judgment. This Bill is a LOADED and COCKED GUN aimed at every American whether he is a health-care provider or health-care receiver. This is National Socialism come home to roost by leftist intellectuals and their followers. Is this what you want? A dictatortial government telling you what you can and cannot do? Do you want to sacrifice your very life for a Nazi America? Do you want to suffer slavery and death or to be free to live and pursue your happiness? It is lassiez-faire Capitalism, that promotes life. It is Socialism that promotes death. There is no alternative. It is either one or the other. See history's most cogent examples of such recent destructive socialistic policies, i.e., Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Communist China, Communist Cuba, Cambodia. There is no viable alternative. Tell all your government representatives to VOTE NO to this sacrilege, this sacrifice of your life for others and their lives for yours in the name of altruism. 2008-07-22T23:45:48Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-22:/comment/35735 Anonymous Wait wait wait... are you saying that the brave folks who work in the medical insurance industry will not be allowed to compete with the government? And that the government will subsume the role that private medical insurers used to fulfill? This bill will, in effect, destroy the medical insurance industry. This is not acceptable. If the government passes this bill, I hope that people realize what a sham it is and overthrow the government, using continuously escalated methods until the government restores privileges or it is destroyed. 2008-07-22T23:47:05Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-22:/comment/35736 Anonymous Ooops, I meant rights. Since IT IS OUR RIGHT TO MAKE ECONOMIC CHOICES OF OUR OWN, INCLUDING BUYING AND SELLING MEDICAL INSURANCE!!!!! 2008-02-05T18:04:41Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-02-05:/comment/636 firewalker50 I just spoke with my representative's staffer that handles health care issues. After a 20 minute talk, she has said she will put the bill in front of him again. He supports health care for everyone, but feels the bill needs changes. I told her that the bill will go through a process of changes, but his "intent" to support a health care bill is as important as any changes that are made. The congressman in my district is Charlie Gonzales. Let's see how successful this hone call was. 2008-07-02T14:08:02Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-02:/comment/31704 ericj To twonursesus: It is indeed tragic that 18,000 Americans die every year because they do not have health insurance. However, enacting a mandated, government-driven national health care program is not the answer. I agree with you that the insurance and drug companies are definitely profiting from the situation. But has it occurred to the supporters of this bill that the reason they are profiting is precisely *because* the industry is already so heavily regulated. If regulation was released and insurance companies were forced to actually compete against each other, you would see prices fall dramatically. Furthermore, a study was done both in England and in the United States, asking a sample of the population how happy they were with their health care. England, where health care is socialized, had overall a poor response. The United States similarly had a poor response when asked the same question. Guess what country had the most positive response when asked about their health care? Singapore, where the country strongly encourages health savings accounts and catastrophic insurance. If you don't use the money saved for your health care issues, it gets inherited to your next-of-kin. And, each person gets to individually choose what level of insurance they want, buy how large their HSA is. The specifics of the study along with why "keyhole economics" is the right answer to this question can be found in the book "The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford. Individuals in the health care industry can probably well relate with the idea of "keyhole surgery", as outlined here: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2005/11/keyhole_surgery.html . Monopolies force down skill and force up price. The government is the ultimate monopoly. Don't cover up the problem with an even larger problem. 2008-06-04T03:06:08Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-04:/comment/19395 twonursesus -- Over 18,000 Americans die every year simply because they do not have health insurance. This is equivalent to a 747 jet crashing every week of the year killing all on board. -- More than half of all bankruptcies were related to medical expenses -- and 75% of these people had insurance at the time that they got sick. -- 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and 40% of those who are insured are inadequately insured. -- 65% of Americans agree that the U.S. should adopt a universal health insurance program similar to Medicare that covers everyone. -- 59% of physicians in the U.S. now support government legislation to establish a national health insurance. -- The U.S. ranks last in preventable death rates among 19 industrialized countries, resulting in about 101,000 excess deaths a year. -- Americans spend more for health care than any other country in the world, yet we rank 37th in health (just under Costa Rica). These facts cannot be ignored any longer. Profits are at the heart of the current American health care system, and we cannot fix the system without fixing the heart. Bandaids like mandates and tax incentives do not address the real issue. We need to get the profits out of health care and the only way to do that is to totally change the system -- which is what HR 676 proposes. Most people are not afraid of the term "Medicare" but they are terrified of "socialized medicine." Those who profit from the current system (i.e. the insurance and drug companies)at the expense of those who suffer under it (i.e. the 18,000 who die each year and the 47 million uninsured) play on this fear. We need to educate people that HR 676 is "Improved and Expanded Medicare for All," not an evil system that will take away our choices or ration our care. (Our current profit driven system, on the other hand, does just that.) Be rational. Be persistent. Keep talking to Congress, sign online petitions, and educate your community. Join with organizations that support HR 676 (like Healthcare Now, Physicians for a National Health Program, or the National Nurses Organizing Committee.) Find out exactly what people object to in the bill, and let Representative Conyers know. Our current profit driven system is simply not sustainable. We must keep working for change.