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Right uses distraction to gum up government works

Another of the anti-Obama forces’ delaying distractions falls short. Their approach to President Obama’s speech to students was just another distraction from actually doing anything positive.
Even those on the far right had to agree that the education speech was OK. When will we learn to ignore the negative comments of the likes of Newt [Gingrich] or the governor of Florida about a speech they condemned and then had to approve after seeing the written speech. This is the typical “shoot first, think later” approach that they have used to distract the public from the real issues the country is facing.
    This is the same tactic they used when President and Mrs. Clinton tried for health care reform in the early 1990s. Delay and distract so the status quo stays in place and their cronies in the health insurance business keep making money while providing fewer and fewer services.

    JOHN BUCKLEY
    Troy

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00708&AppName=1

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Conservatives should play fair on health care debate

    Do some Americans actually believe that a government-administered health care plan would be more bureaucratic and deny more needed treatments, as claimed by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, than the present private insurance plans that impose multitudes of rules on all health providers and denies thousands of claims every day?
    Can some Americans actually believe, as Sarah Palin claims, that a public health care option would involve death squads that would deny health care to the elderly because they're old and not as productive as they once were; that they would "pull the plug on Grandma," as Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, states?
    We live in the United States of America, folks, in 2009; not in Nazi Germany in 1940. We do not allow people to die because they're old. Do you believe in America?
    As for those lawmakers who apparently don't know that America doesn't kill its elderly, stop making all those ridiculous claims regarding a public option. You're the ones who are writing the health care legislation in the first place.
    Do your job and shut your mouth! Spend less time spinning lies and more time on the job of producing a quality health care program that will cover all Americans at an affordable price.

    TERRY A. AMRHEIN
    Burnt Hills

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00707&AppName=1

Well Terry,  if you read the bill it would run the Health-Care system with a limited amount of money and a limited number of doctors and more people to treat. That would almost promise to limit the number of people who would get treated due to lack of doctors, because of financial restrictions there wouldn't be enough money to pay for everyone's treatments so some may have to wait too long for treatment and die as a result. Yes this is America and we want to make sure it stays just the way it is with freedom for all and not controlled by an ever greedy and power hungry government.

Alot of the folks that dont go to the doctor---dont want to either.......are they going to 'compel' EVERYONE to show at their MD's
every year and force flu vaccines etc????----because in medicine that is 'healthcare'......'healthcare' to an individual is very personal
and is a person's responsibility, ie: diet, exercise etc......yeah, education through medicine tells no one anything, unless they
choose to research it themselves.......

there is no 'preventative medicine'.....there is medical treatment.......personal healthcare IS preventative medicine......

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Senate health plan unveiled Baucus pushes ahead without GOP support
BY DAVID ESPO The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — His calls for compromise rebuffed by Republicans, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee unveiled sweeping legislation Wednesday to remake the nation’s costly health care system largely along the lines outlined by President Barack Obama.
    Sen. Max Baucus’ proposal, months in the making, drew quick criticism from liberals who said his vision was too cramped and from Republicans who deemed it overly expansive. Yet whatever its fate, its mere release marked a critical turning point in Congress’ long and tumultuous debate over Obama’s top domestic priority.
    The Finance Committee is to meet next week to vote on the plan, and after combining it with another panel’s bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to begin debate on the Senate floor late this month or early in October. Across the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been waiting to see Baucus’ health care prescription before advancing companion legislation toward a vote by the House.
    “We cannot let this opportunity pass,” Baucus, D-Mont., said as he outlined an $856 billion plan designed to protect millions who have unreliable insurance or no coverage at all, at the same time restraining the explosive growth of medical costs.
    Congressional budget experts estimated the proposal would reduce the ranks of the uninsured by 29 million over a decade. They also predicted the plan would trim federal deficits by $49 billion over the same period and suggested savings in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars might result for the decade that follows.
    Many of the bill’s major provisions would be delayed until 2013, after the ....................>>>>........................>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....1&Continuation=1

Never let a good crisis go untaxed.

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No wonder insurers don’t want public option

    Health care reform is once again at the forefront of our nation’s business.
    No one can deny that health care reform is long overdue, except the insurance companies, the conservatives and the Republican Party. After all, under the present system their pockets have been lined with gold. They have a lot to lose and they are terrified that reform, with the “public option” included, will become law. Their biggest fear is that the public option will work and they will be forced to offer higher quality insurance at more reasonable prices. For years they have had it their way, raising premiums while providing less coverage.
    Medicare shows us that there is indeed another option. After all, Medicare has been more cost-efficient while receiving higher satisfaction ratings than private insurance companies.
    Private health insurance has reached a point of legalized corruption. Now, under this president, we finally have the opportunity to put an end to this corruption and have an option of private insurance or a government program. We have been held hostage by private insurance for way too long. The time to act is now.
Health care reform without the public option will be no reform at all.

CHET VANBUMBLE
Scotia

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00704&AppName=1

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Extending Medicare to all is simple way to reform health care
BY GEORGE S. McGOVERN The Washington Post

    For many years, a handful of American political leaders — including the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and now President Obama — have been trying to gain passage of comprehensive health care for all Americans. As far back as President Truman, they have urged Congress to act on this national need. In a presentation before a joint session of Congress last week, Obama offered his view of the best way forward.
    But what seems missing in the current battle is a single proposal that everyone can understand and that does not lend itself to demagoguery. If we want comprehensive health care for all our citizens, we can achieve it with a single sentence: Congress hereby extends Medicare to all Americans. ............>>>>.............>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03501&AppName=1

Obama has been on a whirl wind health care campaign this weekend. AGAIN!
The guy is the best 'campaigner' ever! He campaigned for almost 2 years BEFORE the election and he just keeps on-a-goin'! Kinda like a timex, huh?

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Look what just eight months have brought

    In just the last eight months, we have seen: bailouts to banks, with the fund used as “golden parachutes” for executives; huge stimulus payoffs to special-interest groups with political ties; the nationalization of two of the three largest automakers and the forced closing of hundreds of privately owned dealerships; a national debt now expected to reach $8 trillion to $9 trillion in 10 years; cap-and-trade legislation, a scam intended to produce a huge revenue stream; citizens who express their opinions at town hall meetings called “thugs,” “fascists” and “racists” by their own elected representatives; Congressmen and Cabinet members ignoring federal tax laws while ordinary citizens are held accountable by the IRS; the appointment of individuals of questionable character as Cabinet-level advisers or “czars.”
    The current debate raging throughout the country is not just about health care, it’s about power, money, control and the dismantling of America as we know it.

    CHARLES MAETTA
    Ballston Spa

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00704&AppName=1

That just about says it all.

UH...... Yup it does!

Budget chief contradicts Obama on Medicare costs
By ERICA WERNER (AP) – 14 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Congress' chief budget officer is contradicting President Barack Obama's oft-stated claim that seniors wouldn't see their Medicare benefits cut under a health care overhaul.

The head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, told senators Tuesday that seniors in Medicare's managed care plans would see reduced benefits under a bill in the Finance Committee.

The bill would cut payments to the Medicare Advantage plans by more than $100 billion over 10 years.

Elmendorf said the changes would reduce the extra benefits that would be made available to beneficiaries.

Critics say the plans are overpaid, while supporters say they work well.

Obama says cuts to Medicare providers won't reduce seniors' benefits.

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Health reform critics have selfish motives

    Are Americans protesting for health insurance for profit while millions of sick children go untreated? How far do we have to tolerate the exploitation of the less fortunate to remain loyal to our capitalistic economic system?
    Our president has called for a universal health care system for all citizens, especially the millions of neglected children, and has promoted a bipartisan approach with four distinct committees composed of members from both parties to come up with a plan.
    He has expressed the principles of a system that he feels is best, but has remained open to any workable plan that Congress can agree upon. Political opponents have united under the subterfuge of government intervention in our free market system to present charges that are unfounded to defeat any change that the contributors to their campaign funds would be against.
    It isn’t a violation of conservatism that they are interested in, it’s the protection of their lucrative careers that they want to preserve. Most of these career politicians are the elected officials who worked hand in hand with the Wall Street exploiters that have just bankrupted our precious economy.
    When will elected officials perform the duties they take an oath to perform? “Serve the welfare of the nation and its people.” As long as public officials have the choice to make decisions for the welfare of the citizens in our nation, or the welfare of their lucrative political careers, the majority will choose the latter nine times out of 10.
    There are many problems to solve, but perhaps one of the most pressing problems of the moment is a health care program that all can afford. Our capitalist economy, when regulated to curb exploitation, serves us well and it will not be destroyed by providing universal health care, at least for the children.
    Perhaps if the generous health care program given to congressmen and women (without any cost to these elected officials) were taken away, a whole new perspective on this issue might take place.

    GENE WHITNEY
    Niskayuna

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00905&AppName=1

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