Physicians Support the Public Option; Why Does the Senate "Gang of Six" Ignore That?

On Huffington Post, a brief report from their Congressional Blog notes that physicians from all specialities and geographically spread support the public option. 

"We asked them [physicians across all 50 states] how much they would support expanding health insurance to the uninsured through a public option similar to Medicare in combination with private options, through private insurance only, or through a public-only system.

Our findings were extraordinary—an overwhelming majority of physicians supported the public option (63%)."

I'll be delivering a notice to my senator today, along with a lemon, to tell him what I think of Sen. Max Baucus' bill that doesn't even carry the support of the 3 Republican members of his committee and is not well supported by the 2 Democrats on his committee. 

Glenn Greenwald on the Populist "Lie"

Glenn Greenwald provides a compelling argument regarding populist leaders who argue for smaller government while actually helping fuel the division between beltway insiders and outsiders so that the power in DC actually never changes hands. Greenwald argues that it's in the hands of the corporations that benefit from government all while the populist radio personalities and others pretend that middle-class Americans are paying for programs that others (lower-income and other disenfranchised groups) benefit from. 

Greenwald purports that the real beneficiaries are the corporations with ties to the beltway.  Read his column,  then come back and tell us  what you think. 

Obama Must Not Back Down on Health Insurance Reform

Each day there are more articles revealing how some Republican leaders in town hall-style meetings are permitting misinformation, myths, and distortions about the health care reform bill to go unchallenged.  They're even furthering the "untruth" by tacking on additional editorial comments to the questioner's statement and taking the false scenarios even farther.

This is an intentional ploy to derail President Obama and is not about health care reform.  And it could work.  They pretend to discuss compromise but have no interest in forward movement.  These leaders are not serving the American public; they are serving a political party that wants its power back. Some of these leaders on the Senate Finance Committee, part of the "Gang of Six."  that is reviewing the bill for areas where they can compromise.  (See my Aug 29th post on this topic.)  

There are many people who have legitimate concerns about the costs and benefits of the reform bill under discussion.  Democratic and Republican leaders are among those with concerns.  This is not a bad thing.  Disagreement can lead to a better bill that serves us better.  Concern, discussion, and disagreement can lead to compromise.  But as I've discussed before, some of the dissenters are not interested in compromise.

These vocal opponents are interested only in derailing Obama's power.  Health care reform is their weapon. 

My message to the President, and to my legislators, is to stop playing "pretend compromise" and focus on what is best for the American public.  The Public Option is vital to true health care reform.  You knew that going in; now refocus and move forward.

The Democratic Party needs to find those Republican legislators who have the guts to vote on conscience, defying Republican leaders who are using this important bill to derail the President.  If there are areas where compromise makes sense without gutting the bill, then compromise.

Democrats and Republicans who have issues with the bill need to discuss those issues without distortion.  And they all need to tell the American public the truth, pointing out what the lies and distortions are when they surface so Americans can be informed and not lied to; the lies of omission must stop.

But overall, they must listen to the American public.  Our voices have been raised, loudly and clearly.  But it seems as if leaders in both parties are not listening.  Their ears are tuned elsewhere.

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