Poll: Public Says Voice Not Heard In Health Debate

[babylonsister]

Poll: Public Says Voice Not Heard In Health Debate
by Julie Rovner
September 30, 2009


Perhaps no other issue Congress deals with touches every American as intimately as health care. Yet a new poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that, so far, the public feels profoundly shut out of the current health overhaul debate.

"Most people don't feel that they personally have a voice in this debate," said Mollyann Brodie, director of public opinion and survey research for the Kaiser Family Foundation. "In fact, 71 percent told us that Congress was paying too little attention to what people like them were saying."

Nancy Turtenwald is one of those people. The tourist from Milwaukee was walking around the sparkling new visitor center at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday. She was quick to agree with poll findings that the lawmakers debating the massive health overhaul bill just a few blocks away weren't much interested in problems like hers.

"I don't think they are people like us, you know?" she said. She thinks Congressional lawmakers know very little about the daily lives of the average American — and the health care costs they face. "How often do they go and buy gas and bread and stuff to see what it's really like for the people like us?"

So who does Turtenwald think Congress is listening to? "Lobbyists, and people who will get them reelected."

more...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113307616

[Captain Hilts]

1. This is HUGE, Babs - THANKS!!!

[annabanana]

2. If everyone on the internet knows this result, eventually the

bobbleheads will be embarassed NOT to know this..

kick kick kick!

[WeCanWorkItOut]

3. Perhaps some listen to the labor unions but ...

unfortunately, the union members aren't so well informed.
Their policy advisors have been pretty consistent
over long decades, about NOT trying to control
health cost inflation. Too deferential to doctors.

Now, perhaps, they're working on a little catch-up.
But as usual, it's in a deferential way.
No understanding that their interests diverge from those
of the Medical-Industrial-University Complex.

[raccoon]

4. Off to Greatest with you! nt

[mmonk]

5. Money causes deafness among politicians.

[LibDemAlways]

6. They might as well fly a pirate flag over the

capitol. All these people are interested in is the loot they can collect from the special interests they serve. Few of them give any thought to the voters, who have become a means to an end. All that crap you learned in school about Democracy and representative government. It's about as true as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

[inna]

12. +1. think Baucus, for example.

words pirate, loot, and... corporate whoredom come to mind.

[msongs]

7. evidently the public is paying attention the Obama/dems corporate welfare health plan nt

[Bluenorthwest]

8. They do not care what we want

They started the process by capitulation disguised as negotiations and that makes them seem both corrupt and stupid.

[Yuugal]

13. spot on

They call it chess, but its really just boot-licking.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

9. k+r

[seafan]

10. Washington is NOT listening to the people, because of the ear plugs and all those nice lobbyists.

Here it is.


Poll: Public Says Voice Not Heard In Health Debate, September 30, 2009








Americans willing to fund healthcare reform: poll, September 30, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans would pay higher taxes to fund healthcare reforms that provide the best quality of care, but only a minority expects Washington to deliver it, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The telephone survey of 3,003 U.S. adults conducted by Thomson Reuters found 63 percent willing to pay for healthcare reform, ...

.....

"But underlying this is a fairly strong belief that people are entitled to the best healthcare," Pickens added. "This is a value statement: that people are entitled not just to good but to the best healthcare. And people are willing to pay for it."

The survey began September 8, the day before Obama sought to jump-start the congressional debate with a prime-time speech to lawmakers. Researchers wound up their polling on September 17. The findings have a 2 percent margin of error.
The survey period also followed a summer of rancorous debate in Washington and angry exchanges between healthcare reform advocates and adversaries at political town hall meetings across the country.

The survey showed that 76 percent of those polled believe Americans deserve the best healthcare. But only 43 percent said they actually receive it.
Readiness to pay for effective reform crossed party lines, with 78 percent of Democrats willing to accept higher taxes, as well as 64 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans.

Michael Moore tells Democrats: 'Find your spine' on health care, September 29, 2009

Moore to Dems: Get on board or "we will work against you", September 29, 2009

Michael Moore Stands Up for Single Payer, Tells Blue Dogs 'We Will Remove You From Office.', September 29, 2009






Sixteen Arrested in NYC as Campaign for Single Payer Begins., September 29, 2009

Sit-in campaign underway. "Patients, not Profit, Medicare for All!"

Sixteen people were arrested this morning at 99 Park Ave in New York City for entering the lobby of the health insurance company Aetna and demanding that Aetna stop denying healthcare approved by doctors. This was the beginning of a campaign in which over 300 people have committed to nonviolently risking arrest. On September 29th in New York City, October 8th in Chicago, and in cities across the country on October 15th, over 100 people who have signed this pledge will put our bodies on the line to challenge the real death panels. Today you can help by letting Aetna know what you think at [phone] or [phone] Toll Free.


LINK

Mad as Hell Doctors caravan to Washington for a Single Payer Plan, September 19, 2009

.....

Washington, DC 9/30-10/1

The Mad As Hell Doctors are trying to establish the white ribbon as the symbol of single payer health care. They ask all supporters to tie a white ribbon on their car antenna or door or some other prominent place where it will be seen. For further information or to participate or to make a donation go to http://www.madashelldoctors.com

Mad As Hell Doctors to Hold Final "White Ribbon Rally" for Single Payer in Washington, D.C. on September 30th, September 28, 2009

Washington, DC (PRWEB) September 28, 2009 --

After three weeks of caravanning across the country on a twenty-six city, single-payer advocacy tour, the Mad As Hell Doctors from Portland, Oregon will hold a final "White Ribbon Rally" in Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette Park from 4-6pm on September 30th.

Dr. Margaret Flowers, one of the "Baucus Eight" arrested in May 2009 for protesting a Senate hearing which excluded single payers advocates from testifying, is helping the Mad As Hell Doctors plan the White Ribbon Rally.
"Single Payer has a lot more friends in Washington than the media likes to portray," says Flowers pointedly. "So I've invited a lot people who would love to the opportunity to demonstrate their support for the movement. People like Rep. John Conyers who cosponsored HR 676, Rep. Eric Massa from New York, Senator Bernie Sanders, Wendell Potter from CMD and others - these are all extremely wise Washington types who understand that single payer in the only honest solution."

Other invited guests include the DC Labor Chorus, songwriter and composer Makuik, the Raging Grannies of Madison and Bob Wickline who will be performing live the original song he composed for the doctors entitled The Mad As Hell Theme Song.

In keeping with the original intention on the tour, the Mad As Hell Doctors will also conduct what they call a Care-A-Van, lead by their logo-wrapped flagship Winnebago affectionately known to their supporters as 'Winnie.' "We really want people to decorate their vehicles with lots of ribbons," says Dr. Joe Eusterman, fellow Mad As Hell Doctor and Winnie's self-appointed captain. "We want people to have fun with it, the way we have. Be safe, but be imaginative. That's how we'll attract attention. And who knows, a few people might even get some of our MAHD t-shirts if they really impress us."

The Care-A-Van will take place on September 30th, the same day as the White Ribbon Rally, starting in Frederick, MD at 9:30 am with a 10:30am stop in Columbia, MD . From Columbia, the long line of ribbon-decorated cars will press on toward Silver Springs Metro Station. In Silver Springs, the Care-A-Van participants will park their cars and take the Metro to McPherson Square in preparation for their March to Lafayette Park at 3:00pm.

"We're calling the DC event a 'White Ribbon Rally' because one purpose is to launch a new national symbol for the Single Payer Movement - the white ribbon," says Dr. Paul Hochfeld, a Mad As Hell Doctor and one of the group's central organizers. "So we're encouraging attendees to make their own white ribbons and find creative ways to wear them, whether as lapel pins or arm bands or whatever. The point is the same as the Care-A-Van - to have fun and bring it with you."

"But the most important reason for the rally is to make good on the promise we announced when the trip began - to put Single Payer back on the table, " Hochfeld remarks ironically, having personally made the choice to place a table on stage during the entire rally.

"Before we left Portland, we requested a meeting with President Obama and he turned us down" Hochfeld continues. "Since then, the White House has received thousands of requests from our supporters asking President Obama to meet with us to discuss single payer. So we're going to have a conference table on stage just in case he's changed his mind. If he wants to join us, he'll be welcome any time."

"We don't imagine he'll show up," says retired radiologist and fellow Mad As Hell Doctor Michael Huntington, "but we still feel strongly that he has an obligation to meet with health care professionals before signing any health care reform legislation. So we'll hold a spot for him at the table and hope for the best. Who knows? He might just surprise us. He's done it before."

MR. PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS: LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE.


SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL.

AND WE ARE WILLING TO PAY HIGHER TAXES TO GET IT.


AND IT CROSSES PARTY LINES.



GOT IT?

[inna]

11. what an excellent post! it definitely deserves its own thread!

:applause:

[yurbud]

14. duh! It's pretty clear that all we can do is PRAY our reps represent us and get the tar & feathers

ready for when they don't.

We shouldn't have to constantly call and write our congressman and senators to get them to do what they said they were going to do when we elected them.

[kenny blankenship]

15. Politics is the art of preventing people from nosing into their own business

Said Mister Valery, roughly.
La politique est l'art d'empêcher des personnes de coller leurs nez dans les choses qui sont correctement leurs affaires.

It seems our Congressmen and Senators are very well read.

[Echo In Light]

16. "Government is the shadow cast by business over society" - John Dewey

[jtrockville]

17. It's clear: WE are not their constituents. Industry is.

[bdamomma]

18. they are totally detached from the people.

they have theirs and the rest of us can go to hell.

[laughingliberal]

19. They have somehow thought the public was being fooled by right wing, corporate propaganda

All the Republicans working against reform and all the vile, blue dog Democrats are spouting crap while they try to sell the public down the river to the for profit industry. I hope they are waking up to the realization that their covers are being pulled. The Blue Dogs who spout these conservative talking points with the flimsy excuse of needing to court moderates and Republicans ought to note that even 48% of Republicans think they are not listening to the people.

No excuses! If they vote against real reform they are just pandering to the industry. They will lose their behinds in a big way come next election.