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One pundit is calling president Obama's prime-time press conference tonight "high stakes." Another says Obama will "lay it all on the line." And Politico is warning that the administration is risking an Obama overdose.
It's an awful lot of focus for what amounts to just one more press conference — Obama's fourth since taking office. But the context is significant. The president's latest approval rating show a recognizable dip — The Washington Post calls it "solid but slipping" — and the president himself has called the overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system his top legislative priority. If a defeat of some kind of overhaul would be Obama's Waterloo, what would you call it if a bill passed?
At the same time, the president has gotten flak from some elements on the left for not moving fast enough on gay issues, and for ratcheting up the war in Afghanistan. And all of this is on top of ongoing attacks from the right.
How important, for you, is the passage of healthcare legislation as a marker of Obama's poltical power? What about cap and trade? What else are you looking at?
Whether you voted for or against him, what's your appraisal of Obama's performance so far? If you're less impressed with Obama than when he was elected, what changed?
Is the honeymoon over?
GUESTS:
- Darrell West: Vice President and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution
- John McCormack: Political reporter for the Weekly Standard
Tagged as: health · obama · president
Photo credit: White House photo by Pete Souza
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"...Even the NPR coverage this morning is not accurate- ...In an era when news reporting has become the quick sound bite, it is incrediably important to be able to hear from the President himself, without editing. ..."
Let's constantly remind ourselves that early in the Bush/Cheney administration, they and their Conservative Republican run Congress purged NPR, National Public Radio, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CPB, of centrist moderates and installed Conservatives in the leadership and managerial positions. Remember the purge of Bob Edwards? So the coverage is now always carefully crafted and slanted toward the right, and undercuts the moderate centrist message of Obama and the Democratic party.
Notice how they use the right-wing propaganda technique of calling Democrats the "left"? Morning Edition hosts, All Things Considered hosts, and Neil Conan all use that right wing technique. But the only real leftist left that I know of is Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self acknowledged Socialist. Out here in in reality Sanders is still the left, Conservative Republicans are the new extreme radical right, and the old normal moderate Republicans and the Democrats are still the centrist moderates.
Obama ought to take a look at NPR and the CPB and change the leadership back to the moderate center, because they are currently reshaping and undercutting his message by the way they pick and choose their sound bites, to his and our American Peoples detriment.
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"And isn't wonderful to listen to an articulate, intelligent President?"
Yes! This rational logical President is very refreshing.
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no the honey moon is not over. This president continues to impress and amaze. He is a true leader and not a politican. His concerns are about the people and the nation. He will bring about changes that will make this country a much better nation which cares about its citizens, rather than a nation which cares about those few with power and money. He is a rarity in leadership and we are lucky to have him.
I support him in his attempts to change health care. It is what President Clinton wanted to do - and it is, without a doubt, a needed change not only to provide health care to those who need it and cannot afford it - but also to reign in out of control health care costs from which insurance companies appear to reap the financial benefits. I have no fear of a new health care program. But I do know that health insurance carriers do not want change.
People are afraid of government taking charge of healthcare - but yet now we have insurance carriers taking care of our health care - and many people end up not able to access health care. And when people are not able to access health care they do not get health care until it is at a critical stage resulting in emergency medical care. This only escalates health care costs creating higher costs than if care had been provided when neeeded. The system we have now is out of control financially & not providing health care to all those who need it. I would rather have a new health care program than what we currently have.
Yes, this is an important issue for Obama. It was for Clinton. If Obama is not able to pass new health care reform, I would view everyone who did not support his attempt for change as an enemy of the common good of the peoople, as someone vested in their own political agenda, and not concerned about the health and financial concern of our country. We need a health care system that everyone can afford.
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NPR has indeed slipped far to the right ... like the radical right wing can't be satisfied with their total control of MSM. I often become queezy listening to right wing hacks like McCormack. His command of the talking points was somewhat weak although he certainly repeated the standard Rovian talking point lies often enough.
I found it ironic that he actually mentioned the Mayo Clinic in expounding on the superiority of the US health care system. He quickly added, practically under his breath that he "knew they were a non-profit clinic." Please.
The first caller's typical nightmare situation illustrated a core truth the GOP doesn't have an answer for ... insurers already ration health care with the goal of denying treatment to increase their profits.
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Honeymoon not over! I voted for him and I am so glad to hear a president speak intelligently. These are tough times, I see (and experience) it daily. Drug and insurance companies need to be brought into line with reality. We have heard more from Obama - smart, realistic, progressive - than we ever heard from George.
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I didn't vote for Obama, but after he was elected I was hopeful he would fulfill the promise of bringing the country together. Unfortunately he has proven to be more devicive than President Bush. I have never seen the country in such a short time become so separated. You have states that are passing legislation to protect their state's rights and state even talking about secession.
Obama has not helped by ramming through legislation without even the pretext of getting Republican support. The legislation is poorly thought out and and even worse, poorly administrative. An example is the stimulus bill. It is five months after the bill was passed and less than 10% has been spent with absolutely no impact on creating jobs. A tax cut for everyone would have put money in the hands of everyone that could have helped stimulate the economy.
Unfortunately, Obama has not learned that poorly crafted legislation will hurt us all. The cap and trade and the various health proposals will not do what they are intended to fix. They are government takeovers that will ruin any chance for permanent recovery without improving the environment, making energy self sufficient or improving our healthcare.
Mr. Obama's is a very likeable personality and that is why is popularity is so high. His policies are so extreme and is putting this country into position where we will no longer be a leader. His visits around the world have been apology tours that show us to be weak when we have been the only country that has offered help whenever a world crisis has occurred. Mr. Obama is weaking our defense, but cutting the defense budget, threatening to prosecute the attorney's who defended enhanced interrogation and having Mirandizing combatants in Afghanistan. How are we going to get the confidence back from the CIA whose intelligence kept us safe after 911. His policies do not make us energy self sufficient only force us into smaller cars as our jobs will be shifted overseas.
I am less than impressed his accomplishments and would like to see this madness stopped.
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The legislation is poorly thought out...
Yes, it is. It should be an all out socialized system. Profit has no place in health care. It continues to amaze me that people buy the opposition line that the current system provides choice, efficiency, and does not get between you and your doctor.
A tax cut for everyone would have put money in the hands of everyone that could have helped stimulate the economy.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 had $237B in tax cuts for individuals. Next?
They are government takeovers that will ruin any chance for permanent recovery without improving the environment, making energy self sufficient or improving our healthcare.
Government takeovers of failing banks is the only way to get us out of the current situation. The problem is, we deregulated banks (poorly crafted legislation designed to hurt us all) and allowed them to become way too large. It was pretty much universally agreed (by anyone that actually knew what was going on and not the talking heads) that the government would have to soften the fall of the banks and then replace the regulations that should have prevented the problem in the first place.
I have already given my position on government health care.
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His visits around the world have been apology tours
Good for him. 100,000 civilian deaths in a war based on lies deserves way more than an apology. If only Obama had pushed for war crimes prosecutions of the Bush administration.
...that show us to be weak when we have been the only country that has offered help whenever a world crisis has occurred.
The countries that have helped us in Iraq and Afghanistan would take exception to that.
Mr. Obama is weaking our defense, but cutting the defense budget, threatening to prosecute the attorney's who defended enhanced interrogation and having Mirandizing combatants in Afghanistan.
Ok, the F-22 program. 187 planes at $137B each with an initial development cost of $65B. The plane has never gone into combat because it is unreliable.
The DoD has far more money than it needs.
Enhanced interrogation? For all of Cheney's complaining, he has never shown that torture actually works. All research on the subject shows that torture never works. Let alone the fact that it is TORTURE.
How are we going to get the confidence back from the CIA...
Who cares about the confidence of the CIA? Their ego, along with the egos of the FBI, NSA, and the hundred other intelligence organizations allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place.
Personally, I feel that the CIA can go to hell. After reading documents the CIA themselves declassified under the name "Family Jewels," I hope you would agree. The CIA essentially causes most of the problems they are called on to fix. It has been said before, but I will say it again: bin Laden was trained by the CIA.
...whose intelligence kept us safe after 9/11.
What intelligence? The intelligence about Iraq?
His policies do not make us energy self sufficient only force us into smaller cars as our jobs will be shifted overseas.
We should not be energy independent, but that is another discussion. Smaller cars? So what? Jobs going overseas? Is that why Toyota employees Americans to build their cars here?
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Policy is tough to write, let alone implement. At least Obama reads and writes! With this skill-set, at least we have a fighting change to bring about a positive change.
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Surely they jest.
The Democrats over the past three decades have moved so far to the right in their rush to join the Republicans that they make Barry Goldwater look like a liberal.
Meanwhile, faced with mild mannered, centrist, compromiser, the Republicans sit on their hands while issuing from the mouth are the usual baseless slanders and re-writing of history.
After the disastrous Bush administration, you would think they would develop a tiny bit of remorse.
By the way, I am not a Democrat. I am a conservative abandoned by the ever more right-wing populist Republican party - a party that throws the word "conservative" around in contexts that have made the word meaningless.
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I think that there was no Honey Moon, anyway.
He is trying to accomplish things much too fast, and that if he does not put on the brakes a bit, he will make for himself a legacy worse than Jimmy Carter’s!!
He needs to quit cramming legislation down the throats of the American people, and take things a little slower, with more input from ALL Americans.
It’s now to the point that I cannot even stand to hear his voice, and when a “sound bite” of him appears in a newscast, I change the station!!
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He is the first president we have had in long time who is articulate. The president I couldn't stand was Bush II. I literally hated his voice. Obama is an intelligent man who is trying very hard to change the system for the better and no president in my recent memory has been such a good activist for the average person. There is a rush because average people need health insurance. This should have been accomplised year ago and would have been were it not for the Republicans!
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Obama will be recognized by history as one of our great presidents. It is evident that he has extended his hand to the Republicans, but that they continue to be truculent. They have no ideas but those that led us to an economic mess. Their only recourse is to prevaricate, create fear. They do not want him or our country to succeed. Why then should their views be represented?
Obama is following through with his promises. It is true that he has not accomplished everything, but hey, he has 3.5 years left (I am hoping that his tenure will be extended for an additional 4 years beyond that). Those of us who voted for hime have to realize that he is very good, but even he cannot "jump tall buildings with a single bound or is faster than a speeding bullet." He does, however, represent "Truth, Justice, and the American Way". Yep, watching TV in the 50s can confer benefits.
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On the health care reform issue I am very concerned that we uninsured average working (if not working poor) Americans are being sold out to the insurance companies. I am hearing heavy promotion of the "Healthy Americans Act." What this includes, as also mentioned in Obama's speech yesterday, is that "all Americans are going to be required to buy health insurance."
I have contacted my Congressional representatives about this but they have not deigned to reply.
We cannot afford individual health insurance NOW. In my age group for example the cheapest individual plan I can buy costs more than my rent and grocery budget combined. Are we to assume homelessness in the interest of not violating a new law that says we 'have to' buy insurance?
And if there is a public option, all that will mean is that though possibly affordable, good luck trying to find a doctor who wil accept such a patient covered by "public option plan" - older patients NOW struggle terribly to find doctors who will accept Medicare/Medicaid.
I am deeply disappointed in and feel betrayed by Obama and the Democratic party for in essence becoming shills for big insurance. Insurance companies see 50 million new insurance customers and clearly their lobby is far more powerful than anything that our current Administration can withstand.
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I share this concern. Anyone who studies the issue will see plainly that single payer systems deliver a higher level public health for a dramatically lower percentage of GDP.
Real reform, no tinkering is required to fix our healthcare system.
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Obama has the hardest job on Earth. I admire him for taking a swing at it. I would vote for him again provided their isn't someone better.
There never was a honeymoon except as described by the media. The complexity of the tasks that confront America are daunting. I don't think there is a leader, Obama included, who can herd, motivate or lead our Congress to do right and hard things.
Obama can't make the rich voluntarily reverse the wealth re-distribution that has occurred over the last four decades. Why would I expect our long-term mess to be fixed in the first 150 days of a rookie politician's regime?
Obama isn't helping himself by having so many press conferences in which he fails to answer questions with a coherent plan. He can't express a meaninful plan when he doesn't have the support of those who are truly "in charge".
Good luck, Obamerica.
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No, I do not think Obamamania is over. Far from it. He is the first president in many years that I can listen to and not be ashamed of what impression he is having on the rest of the world. He is trying very hard to get this country on track with all kinds of issues, healthcare, education, environment, and the economy etc. These issues have been ignored for far too long. We must take action to resolve these issues that have been swept under the carpet. People are fearful of change even though they probably voted for a president who advocated change. I think we should concentrate on working together to resolve the problems we have instead of blaming each other and pointing fingers. The healthcare issue is of vital concern to everyone. Let's move forward.
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With some trepidation, I voted for Obama.
It is hard not to sympathize with a President who inherited the financial, foreign policy and moral disasters of the awful Bush presidency.
Nevertheless, it is tragic that Obama missed a rare opportunity to break up the big banks, that he is satisfied to tinker with a health care system that requires a major overhaul, that he has failed to prosecute the traitors who undermined our constitution, surveilled American citizens, and tortured the innocent as well as the guilty, that he has failed to bring an agenda of genuine, deep and structural change.
It is too early to write Obama off. Let us all hope that he grows into the job.
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Are we talking about healthcare or insurance? It is time to separate the issue of insurance and healthcare. The distinction will enable a conversation that is clear and concise and move us forward.
Lets take the profit out of insurance and apply it toward healthcare.
Insurance companies are rationing care now. And they certainly can deny service.
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Mr. Obama was elected for the wrong reasons, but fortunately he has some of the goods to back it up. I have a love-hate relationship with him. On one hand, I admire his thoughtfulness when he speaks and sometimes what seems to be his honesty. On the other hand, I am terribly unhappy with his slow-pace on gay rights, or lack of movement at all. Even before he was elected I was dissatisfied with his health plan, it seems he has changed direction and it will hopefully be a bit more socialized.
His Pace: There is nothing wrong with a fast pace, what is there to wait for? What does that even mean? Sorry slow down, don't try to do too much. Oh no! We wouldn't want things to change in America.
One thing I truly despise: the Obama fan club. Another thing I am so repulsed by that I could hyperventilate: people who think Mrs. Obama is fashionable. For the record Mrs. Obama is not fashionable, she has little style, she is average at best.
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i just want to say, think about it. we have public school, free! so why is this socialist? we need this healthcare change like none other. look at other countries in europe and asia. people have healthcare. when i was living as a foreigner in Taiwan, even, i, as foreigner, get basic healthcare. i pay monthly fee of 30 USD approx and my hospital stay with operation for 1 week costed me out of pocket 600USD! what does this mean about our system???
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Whether one is satisfied with President Obama's performance so far depends on your expectations. If you voted for him expecting a complete ban on old growth logging, nationalization of health care, and withdrawal of all forces from Iraq and the Middle East, you're disappointed. If you voted for "anybody but Bush" and measure success by that extremely low bar, Obama is a gift from heaven simply because he can express a complex idea in understandable English. I am very pleased with his performance so far because more than anything I was hoping for a true leader; someone who would help us as a nation face and deal with the myriad complex, urgent and important problems we have neglected for far too long, with health care being a great example; who could help us overcome fear through understanding of these difficult issues; who is a realist who understands that effective politics, especially national politics, is the art of compromise; and who can appeal to the common interests of the majority of Americans rather than letting the extreme views on any side of an issue control the agenda. I think he is doing all of these things. Sure, he's not perfect, but he is far, far better than his predecessor in motivating problem-solving. As a very average middle class American just trying to support my family, I'm grateful to have him as my leader.
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HOW TO PAY FOR IT.
Who cares? Who is paying for it now? Are we not getting care? Are we (generally) letting people die without care? We are already paying for it, in one way or another, right now. So this is really a non-issue. There is money to make sure Americans have access to the fundamental necessity of health-care and if there isn't then we better find it---because, if we can't accomplished this, then we are useless.
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rationed health care: we already have it, except the insurance companies are doing the rationing. I have absolutely no control over what they decide to do. *If* the government rationed as badly as the insurance companies do today, at least I can vote to change the government. And don't talk about how market forces will allow us choices to command insurance companies to do the right thing. The only thing that market forces drive is profit and profit for insurance companies is staked in denying coverage or reducing coverage. The government goal is better health care for all Americans and efficiency so that dollars go farther...but it is not on a simple profit motive.
government control: why is this touted as a bad thing? Again, to the extent that government will control how I get health care, at least I can play some part in making sure it is done correctly. Insurance companies, not health care providers and certainly not patients control health care today.
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Well said, Byroncaloz!
Insurance companies might behave themselves under "regulated capitalism." Certainly not in the robber-baron economic climate brought about by the last few decades of increasingly laissez-faire capitalism. Market forces are not anyone's "friend."
Healthcare is being rationed by the health insurance companies more comprehensively and more finally (the final part equalling death to many patients) than the US government could possibly do. These companies even try to rob the doctors, at times delaying payments so long and denying claims so effectively that for example cancer care centers are now demanding cash deposits up front from even insured patients (See recent AARP magazine article re same).
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No one denies there is a problem with the status quo. What is up for debate is whether or not the solutions on the table will solve the problem.
If the proferred solution will not solve the problem, then the insistence that the solution must be done just for the sake of doing something is baseless.ObamaLogic: Something must be done. This is something. This must be done.
You cannot have a solution that works if you have mis-identified the problem. Any solution based on the wrong premise is doomed to fail. Any solution based on a system which is demonstrably failing is doomed to suffer the exact same fate.
Obama is proposing a plan identical to France's system. But France's system is failing just like ours is. So how is that any kind of solution?The guest's on the show who suggested ways that costs would be controlled is wrong. Very wrong. France tried them five years ago.
Read these two links to see for yourselves:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0520/p06s01-woeu.html
"The minister unveiled his plans Monday, estimating that the nation could save $18 billion a year: Reforms included computerizing patient records, encouraging patients to visit their family doctors before going to expensive specialists, boosting the use of cheaper generic drugs, and making patients pay a nominal $1.19 charge for each visit to a doctor."
Doesn't that sound EXACTLY like what Obama is saying?
That was from 2004. Fast forward three years: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_28/b4042070.htm
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Like every other nation, France is wrestling with runaway health-care inflation. That has led to some hefty tax hikes, and France is now considering U.S.-style health-maintenance organization tactics to rein in costs"
France's reforms failed and now they are looking at modeling themselves after us! -
I don't want my health care to go through a for profit insurance company. Certainly not my basic health care. The system we have now is insane and annoying
What fascinates me is that all the horrible possibilities that are being waved around are problems we have right now, except that it is somehow BAD when it is done by the govenment and GOOD (or at least OK) when it is done by an insurance company.
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Many if not most insurance companies try to claim high moral ground by asserting they are "non profit." All that means is that they don't show a profit to be taxed and are under scrutiny by a different section of the IRS. "Non-profit" insurance companies pay exorbitant salaries to their administrators while continuing to deny coverage, cancel coverage, raise premiums and "adjust" claims. In the nineties, Blue Cross Blue Shield in at least two states was found by the government to actually be behaving as a for-profit corporation despite its claims to being "nonprofit." Just because this analysis isn't currently being pursued in the courts doesn't mean it's not going on still.
Health care decisions should not be based on either/or: "will it make us any money or cost us any money."
It's only "good" or "ok" when done by an insurance company in the eyes of the lobbyists who have somehow convinced many of our representatives as well as the public throug the media that their way is "best." And the "dark side" is sometimes really, really seductive.
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Here's the thing. Everyone thinks the "problem" is that we have uninsured Americans.
Uninsured Americans are not the problem, they are a SYMPTOM of the problem.
In a predominantly private insurance system, rising costs have the result of pricing out lower incomes. And as costs continue to rise, you price out higher and higher incomes over time. And so you end up with more and more uninsured.
In systems that are predominantly public health care systems, the SYMPTOM of rising costs is the rationing of health care services. And as costs continue to rise, you get less and less service. That is what France and every other public plan country is doing. And that is the road Obama is attempting to lead us down. He is trading one symptom for another.
What is the common factor between every nation that is facing bankcruptcy?
Rising costs.
Some say, "Yeah, but at least those other guys have lower rising health costs!"
The reason that the predominantly public plan systems are lower in per capita spending is because they ration their health care in order to keep those rising costs down. If they provided the exact same level of care that a predominantly private health care system like the United States does, they would have the same per capita spending.
Obama stated quite clearly last night that he intends to ration health care.And he played the class warfare card. "Now, you know, there have been reports just over the last couple of days of insurance companies making record profits, right now."
It does not matter what medical system your country has, they are all facing rising costs, even the ones that don't have private insurance companies with "excess profits" or "record profits".
The "record profits" rhetoric is one that takes advantage of people's ignorance on many levels.The real PROBLEM is longer and longer life expectancy. Longer and longer periods of idleness living off the government treasury.
That's the problem. That's what needs to be addressed.
The "solution" on the table isn't even in the same universe as the problem.The real solution is to raise the retirement age.
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Around 1900 it was considered immoral to profit from healthcare.
Now Conservative Republicans consider it immoral to not take profits from the disease, sickness, suffering, and dying of the American People.
The possibility of profit trumps Conservative Republican morality once again.
Conditional morality is a very weird concept, isn't it?
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I wish you would ask your conservative to call my health insurance plan provider and tell them that there is currently NO rationing. I would really like help paying for preventive care, eye care and dental care and I would really like to be able to afford the necessary health care that is beyond my reach because deductables and other expenses that I am required to bear are too high.
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You don't know what rationing is until you see the kind of rationing that comes with public health care systems.
You think Medicare doesn't ration health care?
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Funny thing about Medicare... People like it.
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President Obama said this: "Right now, doctors, a lot of times, are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking and -- and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat, or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, 'You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out.'"
He couldn't be more wrong, and demonstrated he has never taken his kids to the doctor himself.
It is nearly impossible to convince a pediatrician to take your kid's tonsils out these days. Just ask any parent whose child has chronic ear aches, colds, and flus. Also, the doctor who decides your kid's tonsils need to come out is not the same doctor who would do the surgery.
There are plenty of anecdotes from all systems of health care that show the effects of government bureacrats or private insurers making health care decisions. It just demonstrates that we would be trading one symptom for another.
Let me show you what government rationed health care does.
The primary method of detecting breast cancer in Britain (socialized medical system) is with x-rays while in the United States the use of MRIs is increasing. We are also seeing a movement toward PEPs. So while the US is seeing higher and higher breast cancer survival rates, Britian's breast cancer survival rate has not improved since the 1970s.
That's what government rationed health care does.Don't trade one set of problems for another. You are just changing the head on the puppet.
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So what is your solution? Beside the alleged retirement age issue.
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Funny you should mention cancer screening.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/health/17screening.html?_r=2&scp=5&sq=cancer&st=cse
For all of the women breast cancer detection may have been responsible for saving, how much did it really cost us and how much did it really benefit us?
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His example may have been off base.
However, I write software for the medical industry.
If insurance companies decide they are going to reimburse for something, we have customers asking for features to support that test the very next day.
Reimbursement is a huge motivator, not to everyone, but it drives everything overall. On average, you can guarantee that, if a doctor can be reimbursed for something, he/she will do it.
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I think the honeymoon isn't over. But I am greatly dissapointed in the efforts Obama has put forth to keep teacher's educating our children. We are spending more and more money on "the war on terror" to blow innocent people up with drones and we can't afford to keep class sizes down. Thats Bush League.
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Your conservative is so full of it about tort reform. Studies show that less than 10 percent of victims of malpractice ever even file a claim.
Every American deserves adequate health care; over 50 million of us don't have it. According to the Institute of Medicine, aproximately 18,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health care. According to the Harvard School of Medicine, over $225 BILLION dollars are wasted in administrative costs and inflated profits. Health care premiums have more than doubled in the last 10 years and health insurance company profits have risen 423% during that time.
If the Harvard study is correct, we could pay the entire $1 Trillion cost of reform with 4 years of the waste they have identified. And guess where that money goes .. to drug and insurance companies.
We are already paying more for health care than ANY other country in the world and yet, out of the 30 most advanced countries, we come in 28th out of 30 for quality of health care. Interestingly, almost all the others have - guess what - single payer health care. But there are more than 1,100 health care insurance companies in this country and they have more money for campaign contributions than voters do, so no one is talking about single payer, even though you don't hear people in Europe complaining about their health care the way Americans are complaining about ours. Do you?
A public option is far from perfect but it is at least a step in the right direction. Advocating the current system with its obscene profits and incredible waste, rather than to try to acheive somthing which provides more equitable treatment to ordinary citizens is just waht I expect from conservatives.
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BTW, I don't care if the President's popularity is slipping over this and I hope he doesn't either. Government should NOT be a short term popularity contest.
We elect our public officials to do the things we NEED even if they are hard, not to pander to our every whim or mood.
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I strongly supported President Obama, and continue to do so, though I am extremely disappointed with his actions, or lack thereof, in a number of areas, notably, not moving on prosecutions for war crimes of previous administration personnel, escalating the war in Afghanistan, lack of movement on Gay Rights.
That said, we barely ended eight years of the worst presidency we have ever had, with both the economy and our foreign policies in utter shambles.
Obama was elected with a broad and substantial mandate. ...and what do the Republicans do? Become the party of 'NO.' They are more interested in blocking everything they can block, regardless of what lies and deceptions it takes, simply for political coup points, rather than productively participating. The fearmongering in which they continue to engage is irresponsible, not in the best interests of the country, and will do NOTHING to help end the hopeless boondoggle that is now the health 'system,' if it can accurately be called that.
The president very clearly described last night that if we do nothing, our healthcare costs will continue to escalate exponentially, continuing to rise beyond increasing numbers of peoples' abilities to afford care. This would dramatically worsen the federal deficit. We dare not do nothing.
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Why does one of your guests keep saying that currently your care is in the hands of you and your doctor? When the reality is that your care is in the hands of your insurer 1st then your doctor and you. The insurers already ration care.
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I agree that we do not so much need health care reform as we need health insurance reform.
I saw Dr. Denis Cortese interviewed (head of Mayo Clinic), and he stated that you can't fix a system that isn't actually a system. We never designed a rational health care system in the first place; we just have a hodge-podge of things. We need to sit down and decide what we want to build. This is the same thing that Dr. Kitzhaber has been saying.
I am listening now to the gentleman from the Brookings Institute. Yes, people are happy with their Medicare coverage--and they almost all have a private supplemental policy. I am distressed that he can be so disingenuous about this. For the record, the VA does not offer comprehensive care--only care for service-covered disabilities. For all the much-vaunted Federal programs, there are holes in those systems, and we need to look at them before we just jump.
As for his statement that "every time you go to the doctor you have to fill out paperwork," yes--you do. And that is because of Federal mandates like HIPAA and the newly-enacted Red Flag laws. And "every time you go to the doctor you get a test." Really? Seriously? Because actually, I don't think so. But I don't think some Magic New System is going to change everything overnight. Luke T is right. People are living longer, and that is part of the problem. However, I do think that there is immense waste in the middle management of insurance, and that is an issue as well.
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The Big Lie from Obama last night: "I'm not going to sign a bill that, for example, adds to our deficit."
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Your evidence?
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I watched Obama's speech last night and I totally support his ideas for reform. I have good insurance through my employer but I work for a small business and I know how much the total premiums are. The total premiums for myself, my wife and son are close to $20,000 per year. I only pay 20% but if I lose my job I can not afford health care. To put it in perspective, the mortgage including taxes and insurance on my SE Portland home is only $12,000 per year.
Health care is currently rationed by insurers for profit. The opposition guest today is infuriating. All he has is misinformation and propoganda.
We must reform health care now!!
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Unfortunately the conversation is skewed.
There is a difference between “Health Care” and Insurance:
I have heard the rhetoric that the “government is taking over health care.” However, their main attack is against a public INSURANCE option.
I have never had a choice on Insurance.:
In my employer provided health care at a business of 10 people there was no choice in provider, as a State employee in Eugene there is no choice. Even in Portland there is Keiser or BCBS for state employees and the state is moving to self-insured.
I pay over $12,000 per year to an Insurance company:
My health insurance premium is over $1,000 per month, a line item printed on my paycheck every month! I am tired of people talking about how Employer pays for health care. Ever dollar in premium paid is on behalf of the individual, and the month after I am no longer employed I will have no health care; all the money paid into my insurance will become profit for a private company and I will ultimately—either through indigence, or Medicare—will be on a socialized insurance, when I need it the most.
As with most things my government does they have privatized the profits, and socialized the cost!
S-Eugene
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I have to disagree with you. If you read the details in some of the proposed reform bills--and the devil is in the details--you will see that not only do the reform efforts change insurance, thsy will change how care is delivered as well. And not all of them do so for the better. It will affect how you interact with your provider, and in one of the bills, it appears that your provider could be a PA or NP. It is not at all clear that you will be allowed free choice.
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Intransition:
It is just your kind of double speaking that I abhor! What exactly are you disagreeing with--these vague references to to details you imply you have read--since I did not state a preference for any plan.
I stated that
- 1) I pay $12,000 per year for health coverage while I am the healthiest I will ever be and use the least amount of healthcare;
- 2) When I do become unemployed either by losing my job, becoming too sick to work, or by retirement the Insurance company will LOCK in all those profits they make off of me and I will move to a SOCIAL health care plan;
- 2a) BTW: Assuming 30 years of work at the current rate and 6.5% return that is about $1.1Million http://www.planningtips.com/cgi-bin/savings.pl and my BCBS policy is capped at $2Million so how much do they make off every person who makes it to retirement... for that matter how much do they make off the wife who after 20 years of working and in perfect health is diagnosed with late stage terminal breast cancer and dies 2 months later?;
- 3) I have never chosen my heath insurance provider! PERIOD! Have you, or did you have the illusion of choice: to choose between the HMO plan and the BCBS plan; or perhaps between the 80/20 plan and the 70/30 plan from the same company. SO WHAT INSURANCE CHOICE are they trying to preserve? I have always been able to choose my doctor... that is as long as they are in plan or it is a "60/40" split on an approved amount... Oh and the insurance company gets to decide what is covered;
- 4) Finally I noticed that as with the TARP--and the blue tarps covering roofs in New Orleans Louisiana--, federal drug research, federal education research and grants, bank bailouts, auto bailouts, wars in oil nations, etc., and healthcare my government socializes all the costs and all the losses, and somehow transfers all the profits--and a large chunk of debt--to private for profit corporations who are well connected usually with former Chief Officers of said mega-lo-corp in the government and administration.
- And a final statement:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
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If competition and market forces are so important in relation to health care then why is our system such a mess?
We have needed reform for a long time and each time reform has been attempted it has been delayed and pushed down the line because of special interests.
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I am incensed that this health care reform will do very little to solve the problem. Mainly that healthcare should not be a for profit system. Profits are made by denying claims, refusing treatments and dropping the previously insured for a variety of previously existing conditions and my favorite "a slight height/weight variation." As an otherwise healthy twenty something who is overweight, I was denied the ability to purchase health insurance. We as a country need to wake up and realize that health care (if you're lucky enough to have it) is highly rationed, inefficent and despite the best efforts of many healthcare providers failing americans. I support President Obama's recognition that the for profit health insurance companies are not serving the needs of his constituents. Too many of us are uninsured, underinsured, or unable to get treatment because it is currently rationed by our insurance providers. Too many of us work at jobs we don't like (if we're lucky to have jobs at all) so we can have insurance at all. I think the time for a nationalized health care plan has come, and it saddens me greatly that we are policy leaders can't even provide this modest, limited reform. Howard Dean's interview in esquire magazine articulates why our for profit health insurance model doesn't work.
<a href=http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/howard-dean-interview-health-care-070709>www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/howard-dean-interview-health-care-070709</a>
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Sorry, I was not clear. I am not opposed to for profit health care. I am opposed to a for profit middle man that functions as a gatekeeper.
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Healthcare is rationed now by companies who want to make, and are making, the Maximum Profit. They will not allow anything to come between them and their 30% profit margin. It is "blood money" in the truest sense when we decide not to insure our poorest citizens and leave out many of the children who are necessary to our future. A government plan could potentially be much less expensive because it could be truly "non-profit." The moral issues speak for themselves!
Deborah Dombrowski, Portland
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Your conservative speaker is way off base with what is really going on in America. Anyone who thinks that private healthcare plans are in it for the good of the patient is delusional. Private healthcare plans are profit driven, and often the only oversight comes from within their own organizations. And anyone who works in banking knows that the number one cause of personal bankruptcy comes from catastrophic healthcare costs, usually due to limited or loss of insurance. Pretending that the availability of healthcare plan "choices" is a defensible argument means nothing to the person who cannot afford any plan whatsoever. It just proves that those who are using this argument are insulated, privileged and out of touch.
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Totally agree.
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I couldn't agree more, Oregon Thinker. Although I supported Obama and my Democratic Party representatives I now believe they are "insulated, privileged and out of touch." While I enjoy Obama's anecdotes about the "letters he reads every day" from Americans with health/health insurance difficulties, when I line up those anecdotes with what he actually seems to have in mind for healthcare reform, there is a pretty large disconnect.
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Admittedly I haven't been able to listen to the entire show, but my two cents are as follows:
The notion that health care will suddenly be taken away from those who are privately insured is a fallacy. The guest who suggested that health care should be between a patient and her doctor perpetuates this false understanding of what a public option will offer.
As a part time employee and full time student my health care options are extremely limited.
In addition, and related to this issue, I am sorely disappointed on Obama's lack of gay rights progress. As we know during his campaign he promised that he would take away Don't Ask Don't Tell which has yet to happen.
Furthermore, if he would repeal the Denfense of Marriage Act I would have access to health care that is not an option for me right now. My partner and I are registered domestic partners in Oregon, but unfortunately I don't have access to her health insurance because any benefits would be taxed as income which is something we simply cannot afford.
Thank you,
Alexis, Portland
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Oh, that scary word "rationing." OOOOH! We already have two forms of rationing: if you have healthcare through an HMO, then you need to go through your primary care "gatekeeper" in order to see a specialist. You can't have an expensive "me too"drug if a generic works just as well.
The second form of rationing is less benign: if you are unemployed, or have a low-wage job, you don't get any health care at all. So, if you have a completely controlable condition, such as high blood pressure, or you get cancer, you can die. Why is this form of rationing considered less scary and terrible than the first form, which is the sort of "rationing" that would likely take place with health reform?
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As a parent of small children, I have been appalled by the number of my parent friends who, because of their income or preexisting conditions, have been denied coverage AND cannot afford insurance for themselves and their young children. Especially, one family in particular, with whom both of their young children have very serious and life threatening allergies and have been denied private health care, which is all they would be eligible for anyway because of their income level and employment situation.
I'd say that it is a good indicator that our health care system is broken when our young children cannot receive the health care they need. I am tired of hearing people say that the government involvement in this issue is not the answer, especially when no one else seems to be spearheading action solutions to this issue.
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I think President Obama is doing a fine job, especially considering the mess he inherited. His plans for health care reform is long past due. I currently have health insurance, but see health care as an important national issue. It is shameful that a country as wealthy as ours offers no health care for its citizens.
I believe the public option is especially important, since that is key to bring some competition to the health insurance industry. As it stands now the insurance companies have an enormous amount of control over everything, from prices to what is covered. Having a public option would reign the industry in. They may be the only industry with record profits in this workd-wide economic downturn.
Opponents claim it will limit choices, but my full-coverage insurance also limits choices, as do all plans. Also that they don't want to pay for other people's health care, but we are already doing that through higher health care and insurance costs. This reform will prevent more people from losing their homes due to health care costs, and help the economy recover.
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If his popularity is slipping it's because of media coverage like this. Give him time.
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I am 41, I was diagnosed with extremly high cholesterol when I was 26. I have no health insurance because I am self employed and cannot afford it. I cannot afford my medication or to see a doctor to have my condition monitored. My father had triple bypass surgery at 65. Heart disease runs in my family. How am I better off with the current system we have?
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The Insurance companies and HMOS are like a Malignant Cancer on our American Body Politic, they divert the essential lifeblood of healthcare money to themselves and away from where it is needed for the healthcare and maintenance of our Body Politic, and they are killing off Small Businesses, American People, and our National Competitiveness, with their Uncompromising and Unregulated Greed.
Good parents limit their three year old childrens' access to the cookie jar and we adults in America ought to limit our Insurance companies access to our healthcare dollars, by giving them a time-out.
Rich people will always be able to buy whatever healthcare they want over and above what a basic single payer system provides, and they are welcome to that, but they need to allow the lower classes to have basic non-profit healthcare.
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President Obama has fulfilled my main objective for him. America is now more respected in the rest of the world than it has been for the previous 6 years.
No one can quickly solve domestic problems such as health care, unemployment and the economy. The wars will also be hard to end quickly. These issues will take time and bipartisan consensus.
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Can you please list your guests and their affiliations in the show description?
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If we stopped spending money on Iraq, that would not have any effect whatsoever on health care spending.
If I am deficit spending, I am not "saving money" when I stop spending more than I have.
Also, let's pretend we are spending $100 billion a year on Iraq. Are we going to pretend that we would have spent $100 billion a year on Iraq forever and calculate that as "savings" that go toward paying for public health care?
Whatever public plan we have, it is going to be a permanent cost every year FOREVER. So talking about any savings from ending the war in Iraq as a means to pay for it is simply ludicrous.
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Who is to say any perceived decline in Mr. Obama's popularity has to do with anything substantive? How long is anyone ever popular for? You can only sustain excessive popularity for so long, before the principle of marginal utility begins to balance things.
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In spite of the well established fact that our current health care situation in America is a disaster, voices representing the interests of the health insurance industry are doing their best to mislead and scare people out of meaningful reform.
Who stands to lose from real reform? The health care industry. A public option would force them to compete with health care plans that do not seek profit on the backs of sick people.
Anne in Portland
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President Obama has only been in office seven months. In my opinion he has accomplished or set in motion an amazing amount of work directed towards the most acute needs of our country in spite of the unmitigated disaster he inherited from eight years of Bush politics.
He is brave enough to tackle the most complicated and urgent problem our society faces right now-healthcare. He is doing it in a thoughtful and collaborative manner. Shame on the Republicans who would rather use the problem as a way to "kill" him politically than pitch in and work an issue that everybody agrees needs to be solved and that needs the collective wisdom and good will of all of us.
Is Obama perfect? No. But he is working as hard as he can to do the right things and we should all help him!
Thank you for the opportunit to "say" my piece!
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Critics of Obama have been waiting, with fangs drooling, for their moment to attack. They see the health care battle as their opportunity, and they are gaining confidence. Prepare to see more viscious attacks as this battle develops.
Anne in Portland
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The three most important issues for me are: mitigating climate change, upholding the constitution and health insurance reform.
I would give Obama a B on the first and last issue and an F on upholding the Constitution. We need to give detainees a fair trial or release them in order to say we have a democratic republic; we need to prosecute anyone who has been violating our laws and treaties. If we cannot do this, we are being our own enemies.
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Obama's numbers are dropping because the sticker shock of the Obama Adminstration is beginning to set in. Even Colin Powell was shocked at the price.
He has delayed releasing the mid year budget figures until after Congress recesses in August. That is because we will find out his deficit is TRIPLE the previous record, and possible quadruple the record.
And that is not even counting the addition to the deficit any public health care plan will bring.
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Oh, yes Colin Powell is the ultimate gauge! Too bad he didn't have more foresight when he hooked up with Mr. Bush. That sure ended in tears...
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"Obama's numbers are dropping because the sticker shock of the Obama Adminstration is beginning to set in."
Yes! It is absolutely schocking how far Conservative Republicans have driven us into debt and what it is costing to invest our way out.
Conservative Republicans have done to us what the Soviet Union tried to do for decades but failed to do, devastatingly wrecked our economy and brought it nearly to a complete halt. And even Osama Bin Laden did not hurt us as bad as Conservative Republicans have.
With friends like Republicans who needs enemies?
The US has foreign enemies but it also looks like we have to fight an enemy from within, and that is Conservative Republicans. I hope that moderate centrist Republicans can soon take back their once great Party from the radical right.
Conservative Republicans want this to be our national "Waterloo", and we have to save our Nation from them and their defeatist attitudes. (Wiki up the Battle of Waterloo, if you want to know what Conservative Republicans shamefully wish to do to our Nation)
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Obama can't fix this country this year, or in four years, or in 8 years. The beaurocratic, economic and social systems in place have been established over a long period of time. I voted for Obama because of his diplomatic skill, and my hope that he will begin to create the dialogue and inspire and support policy that questions, analyzes and reorganizes our goverment to provide people with the equality that we set out for 250 years ago. The movement has begun....
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I supported Hillary Clinton for President because I think having a better health care delivery system is the most important current need in our country. I am supportive of President Obama because he says improving health care delivery is important. Unfortunately he has to deal with the entrenched lobbyists for the for-profit health care industry. Historically hospitals were set up as charitable operations, typically by the churches. No longer can charities operate hospitals, but delivery of health care ought not to be subjugated to the demand for profits for investors and the highly paid administrators. Absolutely the government must assume responsibility for providing health care, and the "free market" should not be permitted to profit from denying care or coverage to sick people. I sincerely hope Pres Obama (and his advisors) will not buckle to the pressure from the lobbyists for the for-profit health care industry.
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"Obama can't fix this country this year, or in four years, or in 8 years."
Finally, some reason! Obama, unlike our last president will most likely not use his power to get his way. He can affect the change but ultimately he is not the one who has to get the bill passed through legislation. Of course he will be blamed, SOP. Health care reform has been avoided for far too many years in this country. Bravo to Obama for actually making it a priority and pushing for real change. At least he's not sitting on his hands and just giving us all lip service. Inevitably there will be people unhappy no matter what the outcome is. That's all part of politics and government.
As far as the gay issues go or any other, give it time. While it should be a high priority there are many others that command his attention. The man has been in office only 6 months! You can't clean up the trainwreck this country has become that fast.
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I have been so involved in the health care reform issue that it just hit me - assuming that all americans will have insurance, is the health care infrastructure able to serve them? Are there enough providers of health care out there and how long is the wait to see them --what are the implications for the services of clinics healthcare providers and hospitals when more people are able to use the services??
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Dingdingding!
There won't be, no. And there is certainly going to be a problem if payments are cut. I understand that the system needs to be paid for, but hospitals are in danger of closing now. Providers need to be able to keep their doors open without cutting down the time they spend with you to, what, three minutes??
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I think doctors and clinics/hospitals will pick and choose who they will or won't treat based upon the type of insurance the patient has if under the proposed plan the patient has chosen out of a pool a particular plan including a "public option." It is already difficult for seniors and disabled to access healthcare practitioners who will accept Medicare/Medicaid. I think providers will continue to look at how much they are likely to get before taking on a new patient.
In that regard I don't think the the health care infrastructure will serve them. Able to, yes. Willing to, seldom.
If a concession from the hospitals on cost containment really did happen all it will mean is more of the same spreading of costs onto those who have the money to pay more, more, more, and so the upward spiral continues.
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Obama has chosen to address very hard problems early in his term and spend a lot of his reservoir of political capital to try and change some of the things that are hurting the US.
Conservative Republicans make huge profits from the things that hurt the US and so they want Obama and the US to continue on the path of failure that Bush/Cheney, Sen Lindsey Graham, and all the rest of the Conservative Republican Congress has sent us down.
I want Obama to do well in his fights, even though I voted for Rep Dennis Kucinich.
It took a while for Conservative Republicans to wreck the world economy and it will take Obama and the Democrats to a while to fix it.
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I commend Emily and the TOL staff for another great discussion. This is tantamount right now as is the first president ever to have the guts to take on such important issues with such expediency.
President Obama is making a concerted effort to make necessary changes for the first time in our history and. The [other side] would rather we do nothing to improve? They do not acknowledge that the last regime of 8 years offered nothing to improve this broken system, instead to allow the corporate factions to control and waste billions in hidden costs as they have done for years. There is a divisionism of partisan or religious belief that should not pervade in political and business issues where all citizens should be equal when questions are of life and health.
Conversely, I never hear anyone say: I am nearly retirement age now forced at 55 to take early retirement pensions due to lack of employment in my home town of Portland. My company terminated thousands of employees and I lost my 20 year job 9 years ago and the 100% health insurance coverage I had automatically free for all those years, which I hardly ever used. I have had no health insurance for over 9 years now. I exerted a daily philosophy of proper diet and exercise; took careful care of myself; I am fortunate to have remained in nearly the identical physical condition for life. Now at retirement after contributing for most of life to our systems, taxes, community service volunteer work, etc., as many elderly people find in America, we are forgotten by the general system. Will the records show this? Should there not be a merit system that rewards those of use who hardly ever used or spent any of our allotted health insurance?
There seems to be no accountability for this. Where is the technology? The law? The respect for those of us now in our elderly years that have paid into a system for the better part of our lives which we hardly used that now ignores us when we should be first to have medical help, when and if needed in our aging years?
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The republicans have chosen their role; the Obama blockade. Their political strategy is abundantly clear. They are basing their political future on the ability to prevent the success of any policy Obama is attaching his name to. It says volumes about their intention and charactor when you consider the commercial and industrial company that they keep, spending millions and millions lobbying against his progressive policy. They have resolved to slander, disrupt, confuse and bicker rather than discuss, problem solve and compromise, all in the interest of maintaining the Bush-reinforced status quo. How sad....
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Those of you who are so pro-Democrat (and I am no Republican) should be aware of this as you ponder health reform: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR2009072003363.html?wpisrc=newsletter
There are excesses on both sides. It's very hard to see clearly and believe anyone at this point.
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"excesses on both sides"
absolutely. However, to take a course of action with the intention of undermining credibility in order to make oneself (or one party) look better is an ineffective way of serving the American people. Smearing the motives of one group without making a sincere attempt at negotiating and compromising is destructive and dysfunctional.
and democrats didn't smear the republicans, they did it to themselves with the bs of Cheney and bush.
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No way is Obama going to loose my support. I am not as stupid as those who want me to believe that the President is responsible for the mess in Washington.
Check out all the Estate sales in the Sunday Oregonian classified ads. Those people are not dead yet. They trusted thier Insurance Company and are now beyond being profitable. They have liens on all the property and no health Insurance. Think that you will live to continue to be a profit. Why not call an assited living facility and find out the annual cost. Then call your Insurance agent and ask them to clarify how much care you are going to get. Believe me you will be appaulled at what you have been paying for. I have seen millonares brought to ruin with a health crisis. Elderly people who had everything taken by the Drs., hospitals and Insurance copanies do nothing. No longer Covered. Do your research. Talk to a nurse or someone who knows. Call a disability worker. Don't be stupid and fearful. It is all a bunch of bull, because they are afraid we don't need the mafia anymore. We don't!!!! This country is going to change no matter how much money is thrown at old ideas and self intrested few. It is going take a while for everyone to get it.
Oh and I did not loose my job last year because of the President!!! I am going back to school and getting unemployment at the same time because of the President. I am getting my nursing license to work in a long term care facility. Might see you there someday. I hope that you plan well and by then we are all single payer so that you will not loose everything before I see you. I hope by then we will all have helth care that can never be cancelled because we are no longer a profit.
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There might be different reactions with Obama performance appraisal, maybe some are fully satisfied with his performance while some don’t. Obama became controversial as he pushes for the health care reform. Millions of Americans aren't insured, partly due to the high cost of premiums, and end up resorting to payday loans to finance emergency and routine medical expenses. With health-care reform issues taking the political center stage, is this not a good time to step back and assess the problem from a more basic point of view? The proponents need to asses if the people can afford for its implementation. Health care costs in the United States exceed those of any other nation.
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But maybe even more puzzling, Louis Vuitton why can't I stop myself from buying that lip balm or that checkstand magazine that I really only want to read Gucci Outlet one article in? I'm on a budget, I don't need this stuff.
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Comments are now closed.
Is the honeymoon over? No, absolutely not. I am exceedingly grateful to the President for presenting his thinking to us directly. Even the NPR coverage this morning is not accurate--the President's thought is not to tax people making over 1 million dollars. It is an idea out there in the Senate finance committee but it not the idea he cited as his.
Also, about Cambridge police story--because the reporting on NPR omitted his first comments on the story-- the reporting gives the impression that his remarks were more inflamatory than they actually were.
In an era when news reporting has become the quick sound bite, it is incrediably important to be able to hear from the President himself, without editing. And isn't wonderful to listen to an articulate, intelligent President?