Think AIG bonuses are bad? Wait 'til we grant Insurance Corps a govt mandated monopoly w NO PUBLIC..

[Faryn Balyncd]

...OPTION.





Think the idea of PRIVATIZING MEDICARE, and giving health insurance corporations a government mandated monopoly is just a pipe dream that could never come about (much less under a Democratic administration and Congress)?

That only a corporate lobbyist could devise the most monstrous piece of corporate welfare ever envisioned?

Howard Dean is trying to wake us up to the fact that the elimination of public options in our health care system is a real possibility.

Though Dr. Dean is too polite to mention names, at least one "White House adviser", who has the president's ear, is peddling a plan that actually would PRIVATIZE MEDICARE, eliminate public options, give corporate interests a government mandated monopoly , and doom the eventual adoption of a truly efficient health care reform (Single Payer).

But we have a choice:


If we preserve the public option by allowing younger Americans to choose to opt in to Medicare, we will be moving positively toward true health care reform.





VIDEO


Dr. Dean's plan would be voluntary, readily accepted, would avoid sudden economic disruptions, and would be our most flexible & most affordable option.

It would both provide immediate benefit, and in the long run enhance the possibility of a Single Payer system. This is in sharp contrast to the long term effects of a plan that eliminates public options.

Massive corporate welfare (in the form of mandated, totally PRIVATIZED, monopoly given to insurance corporations (which is the essence of the Emanuel/Fuchs "Healthcare Access" voucher plan), is what we absolutely CANNOT afford!

:kick:




(((If we think think AIG bonuses were over the top, what will we reap if we grant Insurance Corporations a government mandated monopoly with NO PUBLIC OPTION?

. . . When we gave away the house to the banking/mortgage industry in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services "Modernization" Act of 1999, did corporate America then act more responsibly?)))





:kick:

[Hello_Kitty]

1. This is why I do NOT support mandated insurance unless it's a public program

[lsewpershad]

2. No to privatization

I hope these priks are not asking to see millions of us in the streets?

[inna]

3. awesome post and a critically important point! rec #6! nt

[bvar22]

4. This issue MUST be a line in the sand.

Without the public Non-Profit Option, there is NO reform.

Our reps must be made to understand this.

K&R

[chill_wind]

5. K & R n/t

[madfloridian]

6. Most definitely recommended.

I remember Dean said that we could not let the insurance companies control the health issue. Looks like they are trying.

[lonestarnot]

7. K and big fucking R!

[Faryn Balyncd]

8. If we give insurance corporation a mandated monopoly, WHAT DO YOU THINK we'll face within 10 years?

In 1999, when Glass-Steagall was repealed in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services "Modernization" Act of 1999, Sen. Byron Dorgan, one of the 7 Democratic Senators to vote no, had this to say:

“I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010. I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8297223&mesg_id=8297223

If we allow our representatives to cave in to corporate pressure and pass a healthcare "reform" which mandates purchase of private insurance WITH NO PUBLIC OPTIONS, WHAT DO YOU THINK we will be facing in 10 years?

[Fumesucker]

9. I'd be willing to wager that's what we are going to end up with..

Mandated insurance..

http://mediamatters.org/items/200709200005

According to a September 18 Associated Press article, Clinton said in an interview with the AP: "At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed" for people who do not purchase health insurance as required by her plan. Clinton added, "We're providing incentives and tax credits which we think will be very attractive to the vast majority of Americans." The article also stated that Clinton "said she could envision a day when 'you have to show proof to your employer that you're insured as a part of the job interview -- like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,' but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress."

I wonder if politicians will have to show proof of insurance before they run for elective office?

[mike_c]

10. the greedy rat bastards and their political lap dogs will not stop...

...until they've drained every dime possible from Americans.

[Kurovski]

11. K&R. (nt)