On February 24th 2010, 19 representative in the House voted to maintain the antitrust law in favor of health insurance companies in the United States. 19 against 406. Here are their names:
Akin
Boehner
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Buyer
Franks (AZ)
Garrett (NJ)
Jenkins
Jordan (OH)
King (IA)
Lamborn
Linder
Moran (KS)
Paul
Price (GA)
Ryan (WI)
Sensenbrenner
Tiahrt
Westmoreland
I have absolutely nothing else to add, this speaks for itself.
Oh one more thing actually: while people die every month because they are denied coverage, the top 5 health insurances companies in the US made a combined profit of over 12 billion dollars in 2009 only.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Letter I wrote to Olympia Snowe today about health care proposal and reform
I can appreciate what you posted about the fact that you didn't want to support the health reform because the 400+ amendments that were submitted didn't get a chance to be heard. They have to do with issuesas important and meaningful as coverage and preventive care for women, preventive tests etc. We all understand that these are important.
However, I just want to say that as much as every single one of these amendments deserves a chance to be heard, they ultimately are too specific (relatively speaking) compared to the greater issues that the reform is tackling and would resolve if passed.
I am urging all senators to pass this reform now and to find a separate way for the content of these amendments to be considered in a different step so that it doesn't compromise some of the more global aspects we are dealing with. Call them something other then amendments if you have to.
The great issues in the health reform that we should focus on include elimintating the abuse of the private insurances companies, dealing with the fact that the current health system is not financially viable and preventing people from dying. 10s of thousands of americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. We are in the worst social crisis in this country since the 30s. 10s of thousands of americans loose health insurance every day.
They may die if this doesn't pass.
A lot has been compromised to please the republican side already and to take into account budget constraints. The public option was dropped very early on in this debate to disappoint many and the reform went from a version covering 58 million more americans to 31 million. How many more people have to die and how much more has to be compromised in this reform?
However, I just want to say that as much as every single one of these amendments deserves a chance to be heard, they ultimately are too specific (relatively speaking) compared to the greater issues that the reform is tackling and would resolve if passed.
I am urging all senators to pass this reform now and to find a separate way for the content of these amendments to be considered in a different step so that it doesn't compromise some of the more global aspects we are dealing with. Call them something other then amendments if you have to.
The great issues in the health reform that we should focus on include elimintating the abuse of the private insurances companies, dealing with the fact that the current health system is not financially viable and preventing people from dying. 10s of thousands of americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. We are in the worst social crisis in this country since the 30s. 10s of thousands of americans loose health insurance every day.
They may die if this doesn't pass.
A lot has been compromised to please the republican side already and to take into account budget constraints. The public option was dropped very early on in this debate to disappoint many and the reform went from a version covering 58 million more americans to 31 million. How many more people have to die and how much more has to be compromised in this reform?
Monday, February 22, 2010
How many more people must die?
Reconciliation may be the way for this health reform. Democracy is failing us. Tens of thousands of people are dying every year because they don’t have health insurance and our current system is not viable anymore, it’s costing $8000 per person. We simply need to do something yesterday. The reform as it is proposed today already has an obscene amount of compromises for the republican side already but it's never enough.
They say that the reform in the senate was presented on wednesday for a vote the following saturday when there were months prior to that were the debate was open. Opponents didn't debate cause they were too busy playing the media and deploying strategies to make anything democrat look bad.
For the Republicans and the moderate senators, the reform already went from coverage for an additional 58milion to 31 million and the public option was dropped very early on in the debate. There is nothing socialist about the version of this reform whatsoever. It is just a common sense reform.
There were 400+ additional amendments that didn't get considered for this reform in December 2009. They all deserve to be considered, but they need to be handled separately from the reform itself. Give senators opportunities to submit amendments after the reform passes. Call the amendments something else. Whatever it takes. The big principles of this health reform cannot be compromised because of amendments that relatively speaking are pertaining to details. Anything is 'detail' compared to the fact that tens of million people die each year and that citizens of this country get denied health insurance while the top 5 insurance companies have made a profit of 2.2 billion, which is 56% higher in 2009 then 2008. How much abuse will we allow in this country?
They say that the reform in the senate was presented on wednesday for a vote the following saturday when there were months prior to that were the debate was open. Opponents didn't debate cause they were too busy playing the media and deploying strategies to make anything democrat look bad.
For the Republicans and the moderate senators, the reform already went from coverage for an additional 58milion to 31 million and the public option was dropped very early on in the debate. There is nothing socialist about the version of this reform whatsoever. It is just a common sense reform.
There were 400+ additional amendments that didn't get considered for this reform in December 2009. They all deserve to be considered, but they need to be handled separately from the reform itself. Give senators opportunities to submit amendments after the reform passes. Call the amendments something else. Whatever it takes. The big principles of this health reform cannot be compromised because of amendments that relatively speaking are pertaining to details. Anything is 'detail' compared to the fact that tens of million people die each year and that citizens of this country get denied health insurance while the top 5 insurance companies have made a profit of 2.2 billion, which is 56% higher in 2009 then 2008. How much abuse will we allow in this country?
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
the health reform bill and the legislative process
The health reform currently being debated is complicated. You have to follow every little detail to understand the stakes and even then you can easily get confused (which, I suspect, some senators are, especially if they decide to obstruct regardless of the content, and don't read the proposed reform surrendering to partisanship and re-election fever).
So many aspects of the health reform bill are intertwined and the legislative process format to vote a reform in Washington isn't appropriate for the complexity of the issue.
Last December, the version that passed had over 400 amendments proposed in the senate, many of which didn't get considered. You can argue that it is not democratic, but the problem is the urgency of the situation doesn't permit that we consider every single amendment at this time. We can always look at them later and call them 'revisions' on specific aspects, not amendments.
So many aspects of the health reform bill are intertwined and the legislative process format to vote a reform in Washington isn't appropriate for the complexity of the issue.
Last December, the version that passed had over 400 amendments proposed in the senate, many of which didn't get considered. You can argue that it is not democratic, but the problem is the urgency of the situation doesn't permit that we consider every single amendment at this time. We can always look at them later and call them 'revisions' on specific aspects, not amendments.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Bring some cancer patients that are denied coverage and that will die because of it this year to the senate room or to the House if you have to
Here is a letter I sent to the White House and to a number US publications today
in reaction to the obstruction of the health reform by folks that haven't
even read the bill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The health reform currently being debated is complicated. You have to follow every little detail to understand the stakes and even then you can easily get confused (which, I suspect, some senators are, especially if they decide to obstruct regardless of the content, and don't read the proposed reform surrendering to partisanship and re-election fever).
We should focus on only a few very general principles and aspects of the reform, and pass that.
This reform is not about abortion, nor is it about one specific health condition versus another. This reform is about a number of flaws in our current system.
I have asked myself many times which aspects I would “cherry pick” if I could only pick a few that I would like to see fixed. As hard as it is, I have picked only two at this time:
1)the fact that health insurance companies can pick and choose who gets denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions
2)the fact that our system is not financially viable and is deepening our Nation's deficit
Forget everything else. I know it's excruciating. But really. Forget everything else for now and just fix that. These two aspects have nothing to do with partisanship.
If the democrats have failed at one thing: they have failed at communicating very very simply on some aspects. They must “de-complexify” the issues (I know it's not a word), and they must let republican folks know that tens of thousands of people are gonna die because they are denied health insurance and they will continue to die each year if this is not fixed today. Hell, bring some cancer patients to the senate room or to the House that are gonna die this year because they don't have coverage and can't afford it. Make them testify. And then turn around and ask republicans that are more worried about making their political party look good. Bring the mother of a child that is about to die because she and the dad can't pay for coverage. Make her testify and then ask them with a straight face if they think that it is ok for this child to die because Washington is more worried about the politics.
in reaction to the obstruction of the health reform by folks that haven't
even read the bill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The health reform currently being debated is complicated. You have to follow every little detail to understand the stakes and even then you can easily get confused (which, I suspect, some senators are, especially if they decide to obstruct regardless of the content, and don't read the proposed reform surrendering to partisanship and re-election fever).
We should focus on only a few very general principles and aspects of the reform, and pass that.
This reform is not about abortion, nor is it about one specific health condition versus another. This reform is about a number of flaws in our current system.
I have asked myself many times which aspects I would “cherry pick” if I could only pick a few that I would like to see fixed. As hard as it is, I have picked only two at this time:
1)the fact that health insurance companies can pick and choose who gets denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions
2)the fact that our system is not financially viable and is deepening our Nation's deficit
Forget everything else. I know it's excruciating. But really. Forget everything else for now and just fix that. These two aspects have nothing to do with partisanship.
If the democrats have failed at one thing: they have failed at communicating very very simply on some aspects. They must “de-complexify” the issues (I know it's not a word), and they must let republican folks know that tens of thousands of people are gonna die because they are denied health insurance and they will continue to die each year if this is not fixed today. Hell, bring some cancer patients to the senate room or to the House that are gonna die this year because they don't have coverage and can't afford it. Make them testify. And then turn around and ask republicans that are more worried about making their political party look good. Bring the mother of a child that is about to die because she and the dad can't pay for coverage. Make her testify and then ask them with a straight face if they think that it is ok for this child to die because Washington is more worried about the politics.
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