The Repub and Blue Dog argument against a public option

[SHRED]

A "public option" would mean that those of us currently not able to access the health care system in this country would have an opportunity to.

The argument from the CONs is that it is "too expensive".
So to simplify this, the CONs are putting a price tag on lives.

All these "pro-life", Blue Dog, Repub goons are is shifty scam artists that are bought and paid for while enjoying tax dollars to pay for their own health insurance.

How anyone could be against our government being willing to step in and offer a plan that is unavailable to millions is stunning.

----

[Fridays Child]

1. Your "price tag on lives" meme needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

Keith, Rachel, Ed, are you paying attention?

[Echo In Light]

2. So what's new? Profits Over People = All American

[Fridays Child]

5. This meme, with the potential to shape how people view the issue, is what's new.

"Profits over People" still outrages dedicated Progressives but, for most folks, it's just backgound noise, at this point.

[Sebastian Doyle]

11. Ed's definitely paying attention

He still mentions it daily on the radio show. I'm actually MSNBC-deprived at present, so I haven't seen his TV show in a while, but I gather from other posts I read here (and elsewhere)that he's still talking about it on TV.

Keith doesn't have a radio show, and Rachel's - if it even exists anymore - is just a replay of the TV show, so I don't know what they're saying (being MSNBC deprived)

[Laelth]

3. Here's the liberal argument against the public option insurance now being peddled.

To the Honorable Members of the Progressive Caucus:

I write to urge you to continue your fight for the interests of working Americans and vote against the above-referenced legislation. Principally, I would ask you to consider that it is unjust and immoral to pay for health care reform with a whopping, new tax on the uninsured that, for most of us, will amount to between 1.5% and 11.5% of our gross income. Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failing health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the answer to homelessness.

In fact, that is insane, and it will create massive resentment that will drive voters away from the Democratic Party.

I know you will continue to support health care reform--so long as all citizens are covered, and no person can be denied access to the public option, paid for by general tax revenues, and requiring no insurance premiums to be paid by participants, i.e. Medicare for all. However, despite the pressure you will undoubtedly receive from the President and the Congressional Leadership, I urge you to vote "NO" on any bill that shifts the burden for health care onto the uninsured.

Honestly, I fear the Blue Dogs and Republicans (while they must openly attack anything the Democrats do) secretly want the House bill (or one like it) to pass. It will greatly enrich their insurance industry buddies just like Romney-care did in Massachusetts.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Wapsie B]

4. Where were these worthless shits the last 8 years

when the costs of war were off the books and Rumsfeld admitted to losing $2-3 Trillion?
Their argument rings hollow with me.

[stuball111]

6. Again...

These "Blue dogs" and other republicans only give half the story. Yes, it will be expensive to start a single payer plan, BUT it will save trillions down the road. So I am willing to pay a few hundred more in taxes for 100% care, hey, I already spent about ten grand in co-pays in the last five years! and thousands more just on the plan! So under the single payer plan, I'd be way ahead of the game in the first couple of years! AND, I would never have to go bankrupt in the event of a major crisis! And not to mention how much it would save at a reduction of about 10% GDP per year! A half truth is nothing but a lie. And a footnote, I saw one Republican on TV screaming in the house that now a public plan would KILL people! How much more insane are they willing to be to protect the insurance companies?

[dhpgetsit]

7. It's just wrong to hold health care hostage.

Imagine a school bully who demands a quarter from every kid who wants to enter the school cafeteria. That's what for profit health care insurance companies are.

[Echo In Light]

8. These are people who make decisions that result in millions dead via war

You honestly think they give a rat's ass over people suffering?

They don't.

[Sebastian Doyle]

12. And their motives in the war are the same as the motives in health care

Yes to corporate profits. Fuck what the American people think.

[Echo In Light]

13. Why should they care when they know the citizenry will passively accept it?

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. Well, that's because they're hopelessly misinformed by the corporate whore media

But I see by your signature that you already know that. :)

[GeorgeGist]

9. Defending the wealthy is too expensive ...

to have healthcare for all.

[liberalhistorian]

10. My own congress critter, the only one for our state,

is a Blue Dog, unfortunately. I can't, however, get a straight answer from her D.C. staff as to what her position on a public option is. I just got off the phone with a D.C. staffer awhile ago and he couldn't tell me what her position was on the current proposed bill or if she were one of the Blue Dogs who were against the public option. My guess is that she's waffling in order to see what the majority of her state thinks instead of having the guts to come out and take a position. She has to walk a tight, fine line given that she represents the entire state and there are a lot of different factions in this state, so I think that's where a lot of her vamping and waffling is coming from. It's understandable in a way; OTOH, she's going to piss off people no matter what stand she takes, so it's very disappointing that she doesn't have the courage to simply take a position and stand up for it. It's disgusting that she doesn't have more of a backbone.

[Wednesdays]

15. K&R

:kick: