David Gergen | Bio
AC360° Contributor
CNN Senior Political Analyst
In his fiery speech over Labor Day to the AFL-CIO, President Obama signaled that he intends to seize the offensive on health care this Wednesday night as he addresses a joint session of Congress. His supporters believe that it is none too soon and hope that his appearance will be a game-changer.
Obama has shown repeatedly in the past that when a speech really matters, he can sink a three-pointer from 30 feet and he knows it – “I’m LeBron, baby,” he told journalist David Mendell just before he delivered a boffo speech to the 2004 Democratic convention that catapulted him to fame.
Even so, Wednesday night’s health care speech may be one of the toughest he has faced, as he has to overcome at least three major challenges all at once.
First, he has to reverse the tide of public opinion that has turned against the Democrats’ general effort to overhaul health care. While most Americans agree that the system needs to be fixed, poll after poll shows that the country is at best divided on Obamacare as the answer – and some polls show greater numbers oppose than favor. Moreover, many of those who oppose do so passionately – a factor that heavily influences Members of Congress.
The question becomes whether opinion has become so settled that it may be too late for even an Obama to change people’s minds. After President Clinton went before a joint session in 1993 to promote his health care plan, public approval shot upward. But that was because the public was just being introduced to the President’s ideas. Later on, opinion soured and Clinton could never find a way to turn it around. Once public opinion has started to crystallize against a President, it is devilishly hard to change it – just ask George W. Bush about Iraq. We will have to wait and see how hardened opinion is today about health care.
Equally important, the President has appeared on prime time so often that he may not find as attentive an audience as he did in his early, golden months. Nor are television outlets likely to give the speech as much attention. This is Obama’s sixth prime time appearance in 8 months (two speeches, four press conferences), surpassing the records of all other presidents. Even Franklin Roosevelt gave only four fireside chats in his first eight months.
Second, the President must overcome tensions within his own Democratic party. Possibly, he will pick up a few Republican votes for reform in the next few days – everyone is now watching for the outcome of the Senate Finance Committee. But Democrats already know that to win, they cannot count on Republicans, but instead must achieve unity among themselves.
No one knows whether Obama can heal the obvious divisions within his party. Indeed, one of the surprises of this speech is that he is giving it so quickly after Congress returns from recess: most presidents would have spent time quietly working behind the scenes for a week or two, hammering out a deal within their own party, and then with a deal in hand, taken it to the public and sold it hard. That’s a more traditional way to success.
In choosing to speak before a joint session before he has a deal, Obama is running an obvious risk: that Democratic liberals from the House will emerge from the speech insisting they will pass a bill only if it has a public option and Democratic moderates in the Senate will insist they will pass a bill only if the public option is dropped. That will hardly seem like unity.
Third, the President must overcome a tension within the speech itself about his leadership. His AFL-CIO speech shows that his inclination now is to pick up a banner and rally his troops behind a battle cry, “Yes, we can! Yes, we will change health care!” To many of his liberal supporters, that kind of passionate leadership has been sorely missing from the White House in recent months.
But it is hard to give a stem-winder in favor of change, if at the same time, the President is quietly signaling, “But hey guys, we have to be realistic. If we can’t get what we want, let’s be prepared to give things away - starting with a public option.” That is not the stuff of brave, bold leadership of the kind that liberals are demanding.
How will he overcome these three challenges? None of us can be sure, and perhaps the White House is not yet fully sure, either. That’s why so much drama is now building around Wednesday night. Much is resting on the line and he is shooting from over 30 feet.
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I am one with "buyers remorse" and could not be more disappointed in this President. He talks too much, does not listen, makes enemy lists and degrades people with questions. The speech will be another waste of time. What a huge disappointment this man is. Good Grief
The GOP is going to fight everything Obama and the Dems try to do. So many on the right identify as Christians...what would Jesus do? Say "I've got MY insurance so I don't care about YOU." ? We are a great country, but the way we treat the poor ( and working poor ) is a travesty.
Republicans have never gotten out of campaign mode. They are so angry they lost, they are going to finish the job of destroying the country that Bush started. The 24/7 barrage of half-truths, slander and outright lies goes on. I have yet to see a Republican plan for fixing healthcare.
People are afraid of what they don't understand. Americans that are tired of hearing about health care and the public option have only tired of confronting that fear. And most don't want to understand, so they quickly and easily buy into tactics of fear that close the door on the subject. The public option isn't government mandated insurance, just a new company in the market that will keep the other companies honest. If people think President Obama is not being truthful when he speaks then it doesn't really matter what he says. It's a shame that hate and fear seem to be in the driver's seat for America. Who wants to bet that the republican "response"(what a joke to call it that) to a speach that hasn't been given yet is already written. That's our biggest problem, nobody wants to listen. So once again we all suffer and we all blame. Suffer and blame, suffer and blame, suffer and blame, suffer and blame.........this is America. We need to stop stepping on our own feet.
We are turning into the "Uncle Rico" of countries, living today in our past glory and world standing.
Pres. Obama won by only a few percentage points of the popular vote. That he did so on such a wide base for an electoral landslide is both impressive and irrelevant. No one is deluding themselves into thinking half of the US voted for that other guy, they were voting against Obama.
Pres. Obama has some mandate. End the War in Iraq. That was clearly mandate. Raise the prestige of the US on the world stage: mandate.
On healthcare, however, the country is divided. Yes, dems, you won. Reform helthcare. Remember, however, that the country is divided. A 60-40 senate split should mean a reasoned 10-20% shift to the left.
Would any of us stood by if Bush used his win over Gore as a reason to harvest every national forrest and drain Alaska of oil? Would any of us stood by if Bush used his win over Kerry to abolish abortion and put a Christian Conversion class in the public school ciriculums?
Some would have cheered for these.
If 80% of people have health care they like and can afford, if many of the uninsured are guys in their 20's who are willing to take the risk of not having it, is less than 10% of the vote worth changing the entire system?
The president has not explained health care reform to members of the House well enough. I watched two different representatives give their town hall presentations. One said the new bill would not provide coverage for any illegal immigrants. The other said there was no language in the bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting health care. They both can't be right.
What amazes me is the low lying selfishness of people in this country.
During the Bush administration when it was apparent that the Bush administration was lying and decievingto the American people, no one said a peep. Also damn if there were any townhall meetings, Bush for damn sure was not going to do that. I think that some racist are camoflogued, they know that if Obama did fix alot of this countries problems that would mean that enough of the right people are willing to work togethor...a true United States Of America,, we would not want that on the first semi-black American Presidents watch now would we.
Question:
Although most of his speech today (9/8/09) was very encouraging to students saw it, I have only one question:
**Why did all (3) of his example citizens that "overcame" difficulties in their lives were all related to health/health care?
1.) Endured brain cancer since 3 years old
2.) Decided to get a job at the local health center
3.) Going to school to study health
David, the unfair attacks and biased reporting against Hillary Clinton by you and other members of CNN's so-called "best political team on television," irritated me to no end. However, Hillary managed to keep her dignity through it all and, in fact, has emerged far more respected, admired, and significant than any of you hate-Hillary-wind-bags.
With that off my chest, let me say that it will be a mistake for Obama to court conservatives at the expense of his base. The liberal movement will be unforgiving. Bill Clinton moved to the center out of sheer necessity, after the far right Republican's swept into congress. Obama has a Democratic controlled legislative body – at least until 2010. He should grow a set and demand a bill with the public option.
Getting consensus is increasingly more difficult in world where hyped expectations are the norm and compromise is billed by the media as "defeat." Too much has been made of the so-called public option by liberal democrats and conservative republicans alike. Health economists have preached for years that the health care marketplace does not permit consumers to shop for price, quality, and quantities with knowledge about what is available. Instead the doctors of unknown properties typically define what ails the consumer and prescribes treatment. Neither the public option nor the health insurance cooperative will change that reality. Thus, one must look to other means to curb the relentless march of annual health care cost increases. Are such means available? Yes, but nobody will like the strong medicine of standby health care wage and price control authority for the president to exercise when a congressionally-defined annual rate of increase is exceeded in the medical cost component of the consumer price index, adjusted for population growth, Exercise of that authority would enable the president and his advisors to determine which parts of the medical cost component are responsible and to focus on controlling wages and prices in those parts. Thus far, neither the House nor Senate address the matter and the White House is silent. Maybe President Obama should ask for standby wage and price control authority in case the inevitable compromise that will represent the latest version of health care reform fails to bend the projected curse of increasing health care costs.
I personally find the prospect of another Obama speech on health care reform about as appetizing as one more hotdog in an eating contest. I have heard enough generalities and platitudes and his tendency to underestimate the intelligence of his audience is grating. If he wants to hit his three pointer he'll have to tell the truth and hope this country, weary of his crisises and bold emergency spending sprees, will coough it up one more time for him. This is all about him, right?
Obama has not led on anything. He just rubber stamps everything the Dems have come up with. He's spent all his time running all over the country being a celebrity. Talk about overexposure....he really loves attention.
He and the Dems never got their priorities straight. They've already put us in insurmontable debt with questionable spending and now want support for spending a trillion or so more on health care. EVERYONE already knows their taxes are eventually going way up to pay for this spendathon and now they don't want to fund what probably matters the most. The economy would eventually have righted itself .
I wrote in a real leaders name for President, Hillary Clinton. This man is just mushing around up there. What a mess.
I know this sounds a little sadistic, but I kind of hope Obama's plan for health care reform fails so his opposition can reap what they sow. Just wait until you too get laid off, lose your health coverage, get cancer and can't afford treatments out of your own pocket. Who's going to be your savior then? Merck? Wellpoint? Rush Limbaugh? I've recently lost my Medicaid and will likely die a lousy death when my cancer comes back, I just hope I live long enough to see some of those smug loudmouths at the town hall meetings eat some humble pie.
Obama, I voted for you even though I'm really more of a Republican in nature. If this bill for health care goes through because of your doing, I will never EVER support you again. This is the BIGGEST waste of resources and the most obvious neglect of public opinion.
There are other ways to reform health care without government intervention. Why the hurry, especially when something this drastic = will surely impose so much chaos on an already great health care industry? Government has never run a thing efficiently. Social security will be bankrupted in 2017, the post office is closing 700 offices around the country and medicaid and medicare are bankrupted. Pooling plans, reforming torts, pharmecuticals prices, fraud and waste will surely bring down prices and create competition.
Watering down our health system with government intervention and control will surely destroy one of the best things this country has going for itself. I dont believe the Cheshire Cat smile, or the teleprompted speeches written ever so persuasive....If a government cant even vet Czars like most businesses do background checks, no trust of personal health information or decisions should be trusted by the Obama Adm.
David Gergen's use of the term Obamacare indicates where he's coming from. He may be a moderate Republican, but he's still a Republican. I wish he'd written "the Obama Health Plan" or something else, rather than the term thrown around by the far right to portray reform as some sort of "nanny state" issue rather than a reasonable government remedy to a problem that can not be completely solved by the free market.
The USA has got to be the most hypocritical country in the world. We say we stand for this and that....but unless it's someone we like it doesn't matter, if there ideas are right we want them to fail and if they fail then the US fails and some say "So be it", which is a shame. We say we want to clean up our cities and towns and help people get back on there feet, but really we don't. We say we care about someone getting healthcare but when they have no means to get it or can't find a decent job to have stable income to pay for it we say that's there problem and then we drive thru the slums and bad neighborhoods and frown saying I wish these people would go away, but we forget, they are american too but why should I help them? Maybe because someone helped you? So if the public option isn't a good idea then smart people if you have a better idea lets hear it!! Otherwise respect the Position ( President ) and let him try to fix what you people let happen the last 8 years.
im getting sick of the ra ra yes we can b.s, maybe a bit of substance this time? are insurance companies really the ones to blame? i know they cut back coverage and screw people over, but maybe they have no choice? maybe the costs of doing business for them are rising so they can either operate at a loss or jack up rates. if this is the case than a public option will require higher taxes. i dont see any REAL evidence of an insurance price fixing monopoly which everyone seems to believe in.
william drew, wall street could care less where the manufacturing is being done, where corporations are based, or where the engineers are. it makes no difference to the business where their product is built, how their product is built, or who buys it, all that matters to a business is that someone is buying their product somewhere. corporations care more about themselves than the country they are based in because that can change..
WHY this speech and Obamacare will fall FLAT:
Simple logic, Americans agree the ECONOMY is in CRISIS, health care IS NOT. Most Americans are fine with their health care 80% as a matter of fact, hardly the conditions needed for a sweeping overhaul. FIX THE ECONOMY, OBAMA, DON'T ADD TO THE DEBT AND TO THE PROBLEMS. ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IS RUN UP A PRICE TAG, YOU'VE NEVER CREATED PROSPERITY YOUR WHOLE LIFE, SO STOP EXPERIMENTING WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS JUST TO INFLATE YOUR EGO.
Obama and the Democrats have overreached, now they're going to reap the whirlwind.
I'd like to congradulate all of your opinions and facts about universal health care. We're the only developed nation without some means of protecting the mental and physically fraille humans from having health care. The swine flu movement will swarm down upon us in one form or the other if we don't do something to ensure that all americans have health insurance. Moreover, the social security option has been proven to be better than 401k by the 2008 recession of falling stock prices. Thirdly, what happened to that golden rule that you christians claim " Do onto others as you would like done onto you"?
My other point is that we should make a deadline when we begin to cut deficet to introduce universal health care into our budge. In the meanwhile, allow the compromise by the republicans and the whole time the universal public option has been passed to almost force them to the table. Clinton was pushed by special interest like that corruption way your afraid of. The handouts that you mention aren't true when most americans work hard everyday to make a better life. Some have been victimized by racism, sexism, discrimination, socioeconomic divisions, xenophobics, and other such. Before you call me egalatarian, I voted for Mccain for national defense purposes only. Oh, I don't agree with other things by Obama either but this is essential. Look at Johnson, Nixon, Clinton and now Obama for inspiration on fixing this problem. Let's quit being selfish for our own because what affects one of us will affect all of us.
Obama will succeed if he goes after the part of health reform everybody agrees with, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions and dropping people from coverage because they got sick. If he can find a way to cover many more of the uninsured, that will be wonderful too. As long as you get something passed, you can add on to it later. I personally favor and open enrollment rule under which insurance companies have to take new insureds on a first-come first-served basis without regard to age, health, or pre-existing conditions.
The biggest problem is that no one is talking about "health care" reform. It's all "health insurance" reform. Health insurance does not equal health care. Mandating health insurance for all citizens and reforming health insurance is not going to reduce the actual costs of health care. That is where the problem is-the actual costs of health care. Why do health insurance premiums keep rising? Because the cost of health care continues to rise. To address health care reform, it needs to be reform across the board, from torte reform to reform in the pharmacuetical companies, to reform in the medical equipment and supplies industry to health insurance reform. If all we do is shift the cost of health care from one entity to another, without reducing the actual cost of health care, no one is going to be any better off than they are now.
Ooops! Obviously got badly bitten by the typo bug !
How sad that a vocal minority who did not say a word when we spent a trillion or so on a war nobody won and everybody lost is now complaining when we will spend some on keeping our own citizens healthy and cared for. For someone like me who has seen his premiums go from $300 to $1600 in about ten years, I am amazed how even a single person can not see the writing on the wall – all of us will be like the autoworkers – simply priced out of any competitive capability. My only wish is that the Big Pharma is also somehow folded into this coming “correction”. Having (unfortunately) paid nearly $400 per month for a single prescription before patent expiration and $30 for the subsequent generic – I feel violated and robbed knowing that even on that generic they were making a hefty profit! I have made this case over and over to my doctor friends who worry about the upcoming “correction” that even if they make a bit less, their meals, cars and computers will cost equally less. I really don’t know what the fuss is about: If we succeed in lowering our national health costs everybody comes out ahead except for the duffus pundit who has one less topic for his Radio/TV show!
nice picture of obama against an only red and white flag, holding his hand in an ever so closely resembling the nazi salute, and to top it off within the first 3 words of the article...fiery.
How sad that vocal minority who did not say a word when we spent a trillion or so on a war nobody won and everybody lost is now complaing when we will spend on keeping our own citizens healty and carded for. For someone like me who has seen his premiums go from 300 to 1600 in about ten years, I am amazed how even a single person can not see teh writing on the wall – all of us will be like the autoworkers – simply priced out of any compatitive capability. My only wish is that the big pharma was also somehow folded into this coming "correction". having paid nearly $400 per month for a single prescription before patent expiration and $30 for the subsequent generic – I feel violated and robbed knowing that even on that generic they were making a hefty profit. I have made this case over and over to my doctor friends who worry about the upcoming "correction" that even if they make a bit less, their meals, cars and computers will cost equally less. I really don;t knwo what teh fuss is about: If we succeed in lowering our national health costs everybody comes out ahead except for the duffus pundit who has one less topic for his Radio/TV show!
Wow! What a bunch of garbage! Both sides of congress have taken sides, and neither of them seem to be concerned with the general public. Most people (75%) agree that we have a problem, but exactly 10% want to do something about it. The easiest way to win is to sit back and trumpet the fact that Obama is so wrong, while not offering any solution, therefore you cannot be wrong! It's perfect! Obama is trying hard to correct the mistakes of the past, and the mistakes of inaction out of fear, and is being bold and aggressive. Give him a chance! Doing nothing is worse than being wrong, just ask the Bill Clinton who asked us to go get Osama, but cried like a girl when 4 or 5 of us ended up dead. We were then ordered to pull out and stop the action in Somalia. Thank God that we didn't or more rangers and special ops people would've died.
Look, all I can say is I believe in a chance, and until he starts making decisions worse than the previous guy, give him a fair shot. I mean, hell, it's not like we would invade a country for no reason.....ummm...oops, bad example. Quit being wienies for political reasons and try to listen to all sides of any argument. This coming from a Ranger with a lifetime disability because of a bad political move. Shut up and listen, then make your choice!
I have long appreciated your commentaries and inputs over the years. I am an admitted partisan Democrat who relies on you when I get twitchy on various topics. My question to you is do you feel that subtleties of the ways that we communicate about race are being exploited in this debate, to the detriment of what the President and other Democrats are trying to accomplish?
Mike Kowalczyk, San Geronimo, CA
Simply stated, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Let the dividers step aside. Let the hate mongers give way. Let the label makers stand in silence. Allow the work of the people to progress, so we can all move towards that more perfect union. Too much time is being wasted on the generation of fear and hot air. We know that the machinery is broken; we have had a fair and open election to determine the best mechanic for the job. Allow the work to be done already. For those dissenters: do not just dissent, offer your own useful advice. Do not just be a shill for the right or the left. Think for yourself! For those people with ideas, big or small, submit them to your senator or congress person. These are the people that YOU have elected to be YOUR representative. This is how OUR government is supposed to work. This America, the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, (which) shall not perish from the earth."
The country and the American lives are at stake....it is ashamed that they are being equal to a youn man's ego in sport!
How can one believe in any prediction from a President who has failed in every predictions since taking office, has been dishonest in his statements to supporters, and like many Americans i am both weary and wary of this President. On Wednesday, he will fight for his pride before his destruction because he has put his personal pride and ego above the interest of this country and the American people who has trusted him to bring about real change.
Karen is right: "he is a bitter partisan extremist".
I think it was said best in the movie Jerry Maguire "SHOW ME THE MONEY"
That is what I say to every member of the current administration, congress, and the house of representatives. Where is all of the money needed to pay for everything they are trying to do? Better yet, How are the future generations going to pay for everything? Credit only goes so far, then your creditors come calling.
Why is it our government is always trying to write and pass new bills? Why not work on the ones we have?
Whenever the roof on your house is leaking, you don't replace the carpet, you fix the roof!
Speech 113 by Obama on health care cannot possibly be a game changer since audience trends have been on the steady decline. The only chance for a turnaround is if the media falls 100% in line across all medium - TV, radio, print. With Fox, Rush/Sean/Glen, and WSJ among others, this is simply not going to happen. I predict there will be several false polls put out by NYT, NBC, CNN et al. But the overriding passion on the conservative right, and an increasingly educated and Obama-wary independent voter will maintain momentum over a still-arrogant left. My biggest fear is the Trojan Horse, where a handful of RINO's trade dropping the public option for keeping all the rest of the cowpies in a massaged health care bill. God help us . . . .
With all the talk about the health care reform and the public option it seems to me we have overlooked the major component. Who is going to pay the massive start up costs? Who is going to pay to subsidize the people who can’t afford health care and what is the dollar value associated with coughing up healthcare to 30 million uninsured citizens? 30 million more people added to the health care system who currently do not carry insurance. We will pay. The Tax Payers are going to pay. If we believe the wealthy are going to simply take the hit we are letting the politicians pull the wool over our eyes. Any additional taxes the wealthy get hit with will be transferred back to the public in the form of inflation and increased prices on merchandise and services. The government will pay for the public option by the dollars they take from us. I don’t want the government in Health Care because I don’t want another bill from people who can’t balance their own check books let alone institute a massive program which will jack up living costs for the rest of us. We are killing free enterprise in this country. The government will brow beat the wealthy until they leave the country. Major international industry has all but evaporated in America. With the new government tax targets we are now saying its time to punish the medium and small businesses. Why are we voting yes for the government to take more of what belongs to us? Don’t they get enough already?
Democrats have huge majorities in both the House and Senate.
But some morons still find a way to overlook this reality to blame Republicans for the fact the Messiah cannot deliver the magical "reform"...that will cure whatever ails the healthcare system.
So what is it holding back these vast Democrat majorities?
The simple fact is that the particular "reform" proposed thus far is extremely troublesome and unpopular and they rightly fear retribution from their electorates.
And please don't try to rationalize this as fear of the medical or drug lobbies....those have all been bought off and coopted by the administration long ago, even to the point of paying for advertising in support of "reform."
A citizentry that is blind to being regularly screwed by the predatory free market and big corporations along with their elected lackey politicians –Republicans and conservative Democrats–has little hope of understanding where their interests lie.
Other countries have good health care, spend less on health care, and have universal health care, but don't tell that to Americans.
Americans act like their main concern is protecting the profits of insurance companies and the salaries of their executives. No one wants a public option less than insurance company executives. But Americans can't even understand that.
The noise noise noise strategy is working. The Republicans can't govern, but they can create conditions so that no one can..
God forbid the senators have to actually sign their name to something. The main reason why this health care debate is taking so long is because they don't want to do anything controversial that they might regret when they are up for reelection. I thought we elected these people to think larger than their own personal futures into the future of the country? They are not necessarily one and the same.
REAL health care reform has to start with sound diagnosis of the existing problems with the system. You can't do that until you remove external factors, so you can determine what effects they have had. The most critical external distortion is tort law and the number of liability suits that are wrong-headed or result in exorbitant awards. This is not limited to malpractice insurance fees. EVERY component of the health care system is distorted by the problem of liability. That includes every doctor, nurse, technician, pharmaceutical company, equipment manufacturer, material supplier, food vendor ... EVERYONE involved, corporate or individual. It is the root cause of much defensive medicine, too. If we do not start with tort reform, we may well be fixing things that are not in themselves broken, while leaving the most destructive external factor in place to continue its destructive influences.
David Gergen remains my favorite Anderson Cooper 360 blog contributor. Excellent, clear analysis. Sinks another one from 30 feet!
Sorry, those of you who are pretending Canadians are thrilled with their program...they are not. Healthy are fine with it. Not so much those who are sick.
The person who said that Obama should follow the Mass. state program, does not know that the MA state system is failing and the cost has gone beyond anything they can possibly pay. It is another failed system.
Obama pretends that he wants to hear from the Republicans but they just won't help. Another Obama lie.
The Republicans have presented several better plans that the Dems throw out without before listening to them.
Obama only thinks that the Republicans are helping IF they would only JUST SIGN ON to his program without any input.
No!
After the socialist Dems are out of office and the Republican plans can be voted on, then there might be hope for health care reform.
As always it is about our choices. We choose the health care we get. I buy insurance for my family directly from an insurance company because the premiums at my company are higher than what I want to pay. Notice that this is a free choice mad by a free citizen. My plan has a very high deductible, therefore we pretty well pay for our entire medical bills (family of four with one severley allergic child) out of pocket. If a health disaster occurs we will be covered. This is still less expensive than paying premiums for a plan with a full ride. My wife had an outpatient surgery this year and it cost a few thousand dollars. The upshot is that medical care is expensive and somebody has to pay for it.
Now, I could whine and complain about it, but basically its a choice. I choose to pay less for my insurance plan and receive fewer benefits, but I could cut my cable and get a better plan. I choose not to. I could also choose to live in a less expensive house and get a better plan. I choose not to. The reality is that we live in the wealthiest society on earth and even the poorest amongst us have choices. If we're honest with ourselves we know that this is true. I have been dirt poor living in an apartment with plastic furniture and a blow up mattress with my wife and child. But, ultimately it was our choice about how we would live and improve our lives. Now, I have no problem with a safety net, because there are people who go through periods when they truly are down on their luck, but this should not be a permanent situation. That is why most States have Medicaid.
When the average American has two vehicles, cable television, cell phones and internet, can we really say that we cannot afford our own health care. Some people think that it is immoral for a government not to provide health care for everybody. I, on the other hand, think it is about choices. I think it is immoral for a group of people to force others to pay for health care that they could very well pay for themselves. Even worse is that the process lowers the standard of care available to those who would prefer to pay for the medical care they wish to receive. In the end the government can provide all the care we choose to pay for, but we will still all certainly die in the end. Can government protect us from that?
Make your choices now and live with the consequences. In the end, that is what life is all about anyway. For a rich lesson re-read "The Ant and the Grasshopper." Again, I do support a safety net, but that is essentially Medicaid's job already. Does anybody want to be on Medicaid? That is government healthcare in its purest form. That is what we will get with the "Public Option." Obama can talk all he wants, but I want no part of it.
This country lost it's ability for a sensible dialog. Now expecting from the president to overcome all this is just unrealistic. The costs of health care are staggering and the supposed competition between private insurers did nothing to lower the costs. Those who still maintain the going private will do enything are kidding themselves, it would do something by now! My bet is with this partial reform, without public option, the costs will keep rising for 6-10 years or until we all get broke. Get real!
Explaining how 1/3 of your paycheck is involuntarily taken, then given to our establishment's buddies only to eventually cause tax rates to increase back on you is not a hard concept to explain, these kids today don't deserve the amount of government interventionism in the market place that they will encounter once they graduate, parents ought to be discussing the role of government, our constitution, the difference between rights & goods & services, the free market and the monetary mechanics of our society to their children at a young age. Ideas have a nasty habit of spreading rapidly & with today's technology & that most 12 yr olds have cell phones, there's every reason to believe that we will see some amazing circumstances unfold in the years to come & its about time!
Steve G. NO we will pay thru a deduction it will be controlled by the Gov. to mantain lower prices. Public option DOES NOT mean FREE.
You are correct John Taylor it works it is slow due to lack of centers, which on the other hand USA has more than necessary all hospitals are not full.Scott S. That is correct the public option will ensure that all insurances will be affordable, but not free.
Obama will make more promises that he can't or wont keep. He'll try to move us closer to socialism. I hope the American people are smart enough to say no thanks!
My son spent a month in Vancouver, B.C. when he was 22, and fell in with some roving packs of kids on the streets up there, all on the public dole... except "kids" include people in their 30's and 40's evidently. People old enough to know better. I asked my son, "Do they talk about getting off the dole, getting a job, raising a family?" He laughed and said, no, they just talk about staying on the dole as long as possible. France and Germany – same thing. If you try to scale the workers back from 8 weeks of vacation a year to 7, they go out and blockade the streets and threaten to go on strike. The bottom line is, the healthcare system may work in countries such as Canada, but the labor force sure doesn't work. To put it even more succinctly, anyone who wishes the U.S. to be more like Canada is either on drugs or fit to be institutionalized.
Please stop with the Canada comparisons. Canada has 1/10th of our population. How can you think the systems would be comparable?
I am on my third startup company. I've created jobs for hundreds of people. The pressure on business is unbelievable and frankly it is much harder than ever to create jobs. Whether it is intellectual property costs, workman’s comp, health insurance, it is just getting too hard. Things have sure changed and not for the better. I don't believe politicians have the faintest idea on how to create jobs and wealth – especially the Democrats. Well tax all you want and put up all the barriers you want. If things don’t change we are well on our way to becoming a third world country. Just take a drive to some of our rural towns in the west and our inner cities in the east to see.
I think that a few things get lost in the healthcare debate.
First, that there needs to be a means for people who are "uninsurable" due to a pre-existing condition to gain access to health coverage at a reasonable cost regardless of where they work. This should be an obvious point, as people with chronic conditions who are unable to get insurance are often forced to either go bankrupt and/or participate in programs such as medicaid to have their medical needs met.
Second, insurance companies should not be allowed to rescind coverage of (for example) someone's chemotherapy simply because they did not disclose on their application form that they had once been treated for acne. This isn't some alarmist statement, as it actually occured to Robin Beaton, a retired nurse in Texas," was rescinded last year by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Beaton eventually persuaded her congressman, Rep. Joe Barton, to twist Blue Cross' arm, but the delay meant it was five months before she could receive her operation."
Furthermore, perhaps someone should look into all of the money that is spent on pharmaceutical drugs. It has been repeatedly documented that we pay much more for pills than what they do in other countries. This leads me to wonder if we are perhaps subsidizing other nation's cheap drugs (i.e. drug co's can sell a pill that cost them 10 cents to produce for 12 cents to France because they get $1.25 a pill here). It would be very interesting to have an unbiased explaination as to why a company like pfizer can sell the same drug to Canada and the U.S. at such different prices. Now that most drug companies are multinational corporations I don't understand the differences in cost as much as I did when they were independent entities of different nations.
Also, perhaps I am just misinformed, but shouldn't the government be able to run a public option that would not cost the average tax payer money? After all, if the insurance companies who are "for-profit" can make 12 billion dollars in profit, then shouldn't the government be able to structure their plan so that between the premiums, and co-pays they could at least break even?
Health care is projected to cost about 1.6 trillion dollars in ten years. But don't worry about that we will just add it to our 11 trillion dollar debt.
Obama's comment “I’m LeBron, baby” is revealing. If you have noticed, he is prone to say "I this, I that" and shuns "we". Humility is not Obama's strong suit and his lack thereof is a great weakness. It leads him to over estimate his power of persuasion. It is not about the rhetoric. It is about the substance and it there that his health care plan goes wanting. I attended a town hall meeting and there was very little support for the public option. I find the same opinion among my friends across the political spectrum, unless they are well to the left.
I don't want a public option. I have medical insurance that I like. I don't want to be forced to change to the public option aka government insurance that the dems are selling. Besides where are Canadians going to go when they can't get medical are in Canada?