President Obama's ability to shape the debate on health care appears to be eroding as opponents aggressively portray the effort as a government-takeover that could limit Americans' ability to chose their doctor and course of treatment, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.Go to: http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
Americans are concerned that overhauling the health care system would reduce the quality of their care, increase their out-of-pocket health costs and tax bills and limit their options in choosing doctors, treatment and tests, the poll found.
My gut reaction? My deep down gut reaction? Don't believe a damn thing Republicans say these days. They are masters at running propaganda wars and telling lies so often that they (the lies) begin to sound like facts. They (the Republicans) would make Herr Hitler proud.
Dammit, America, you voted for change. Now you're jumping ship because you're afraid of it? And you haven't bothered to check fact from fiction? I could simply say you deserve what you get but that's too easy.
Actually I'm pretty damn mad at the stupid Republicans who are hell-bent on making sure the country doesn't move forward an inch. I'm equally mad at the American people for blindly falling for the voodoo that Republicans are inventing right and left. And I'm really, really mad because all of you are messing up my health care.
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist... but it's really easy to draw lines (and not just from Point Corporate to Point Republican but also from Point Corporate to Point Blue Dog and Point Senate Dem) through dollar signs to see where the opposition to health care comes from. The insurance business fears a change in the status quo because they would have to find a business plan that requires them to put some effort in.
ReplyDeleteRight now everyone either gets their insurance from their employer, pays through the nose from it, or goes without. In the first two scenarios, the insurance companies are soaking someone.
I imagine the insurance companies have as big a lobby as the NRA. I wrote a column about them and their practices several years ago. They are as deceitful as the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteInterestinly, I can't complain about my secondary insurance coverage. It is with a nationally known PPO and covers mostly meds. I had to carry it with me when I retired. The premiums are reasonable considering the cost of things these days and one premium payment more than covers the cost of my meds, one of which costs over $400 a month. I think the HMOs are the ones that need to be brought into check.
Some HMOs aren't pad either. Kaiser Permanente, as I have noted in comments on Liberal Values, is great. But their business model is totally different from that practiced by most.
ReplyDeleteOf course, good and bad corporations are equally resistant to change. Good corporations are making money off the incompetence and corruption of the bad, while the bad require the status quo to survive. That's why you rarely see even the best corporations break ranks from the pack on political issues that affect our economy in some way.