Countdown: Bernie Sanders- Let's Pass Sen. Kennedy's Bill From the Health Committee
By Heather Thursday Aug 27, 2009 1:00pm
Bernie Sanders says "enough is enough", let's get Sen. Kennedy's bill from the Health Committee passed. As Keith and Bernie note during the segment, here is some of what Senator Kennedy is hopefully remembered for.
Olbermann: Meals on Wheels, AIDS research, other medical research, cancer research, nutrition programs for pregnant women and children, expanded uninsurance to the unemployed, occupational safety regulations. That's just the first few items on the list of things brought to this nation by Senator Kennedy. It is so long it is hard to imagine that there is an America living today whose body, literally body, is not in better shape than it would have been were not for this man. Correct?
Sanders: That is exactly right. I mean among so many other things, pushing Medicare, pushing Medicaid, pushing children's health insurance for eighteen million Americans today who have access to primary health care through community health centers. That program was developed by Senator Ted Kennedy.
Bernie goes on to explain that Kennedy felt that all Americans should have health care as a right of citizenship and how woefully behind we are with other industrialized nations with what we spend on health care compared to our health care outcomes.
As Bernie notes, what came out of the Health Committee was actually a decent piece of legislation and it would be nice to see the Democrats get on board with it and at least not filibuster the legislation if they could manage to get Kennedy's bill rather than the mess that's coming out of the Finance Committee on to the Senate floor for a vote.
Personally I'd like to see them force any of them to do an actual filibuster if they don't want to see some real reform get through. Make them go stand up on the Senate floor and defend the insurance industry profits until they're blue in the face if that's the line in the sand these guys want to draw. And let them break out the cots and diapers while they're at it.
I'm glad to see Bernie as usual being one of the ones speaking up about real reform means. We could use a whole lot more like him. Unfortunately I get to pick from the choice between right wing crazy and Republican-lite where I'm from.
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Pass HR 676 instead.
This is now the problem with the democrats. There are no more Kennedys' to fight for the American citizens..
Now what you have are democrats with one hand behind the back taken money from the Global Empire whores , and the other hand ready to sign the legislation they demand...
I like Bernie Sanders, generally speaking.
Adopt HR 676, put Kennedy's name on it (it is not far from his 1971 proposal, after all) and pass it.
Sadly today, the Democrats sound very much like Richard Nixon from 1971. That is how far they have fallen.
Here is another take:
Trudy Lieberman at Columbia Journalism Review here
He's a another good man. I used to work for Jeffords and spent time with the staff from both Bernie and Pat's offices to better work with all of our constituents. I remember about Bernie that he would personally do extensive research before every meeting to be informed about whatever he was speaking or listening about. He's the kind of Senator they should all aspire to be.
That's probably why he has an "I" after his name.
You have so very good persons with a D after their name ,, Kucinich and Howard Dean are two of them.
Trouble is the democrat leaders , the news media censored them , their bills and statement most of the time..
A good start would be to "vote out " the Blue dogs and take a good look at the so-called centrists.. Reid has accomplish nothing seen he have been in charge of the senate.. Pelosi and her Impeachment off the table has help Bush destroy this nation..
But before everyone jumps on the democrats for this total destruction to our democracy , constitution , economy and country ,,,,, lets look exactly who is responsible for all this BS..
Any person elected after Bush will most likely be a one term president because there is no way in h.ll they can correct the criminal actions which has transferred our economy , jobs and democracy to the Global Empires and Foreign nations.
American bitch about China having our jobs , but has anyone ever taken a close look at other countries like Britain.... The prescription companies (6 or 8 out of ten ,,, The oil they control and deals with Alaska , the other contracts which the government has given to them).
One thing about it whenever Bush gets in hands on anything , he destroys it...
Trouble with Obama and the democrats they are running down the same trail which Bush cleared for them..
I agree.
Going off topic for a moment and please forgive me, but tonight beck is saying that the president is setting up a civilian national security force. He has two whack jobs on to support his theory. This is getting beyond crazy and beck is turning up the heat for a bunch of people who are already scared to fu*king death thanks to his bullshit.
Someone will kill in his name. I'm holding my breath just waiting for it to happen and can't believe he isn't being reigned in by his handlers. Can't they see that that is the logical outcome to all this? They rile up the sheep with lies about healthcare, concentration camps, faux "armies" and tell them to hold onto and in fact buy more guns. Isn't it obvious what's going to happen? I just hope he and his ilk will be held accountable when the dust has cleared.
They couldn't beat Obama at the polls and it isn't likely Obama will have an affair with an intern. It seems like they have settled on assassination.
Eric Holder. Being personally unprepared = potential victim. It is not an unreasonable comparison to equate the civil unrest that would follow the translation into violence of any of these right wing ranters, to a natural calamity (earthquake, tsunami, eruption or storm) on the scale that we have not seen in our history.
The corporate fascist power players already have this figured out. If one of these Beck stooges shoots-up innocent people and it somehow gets to court, they will send the fat tubby moron adrift in a Fox life raft.
And good luck trying to convict Glenny or any of the "big boys" of any wrong-doing, especially with their army of Ivy league lawyers.
Finally, as far as Beck goes, there are plenty of drooling wingnut batshit crazies to take his place after the sacrifice - if it even comes to that highly unlikely conclusion.
If there were a national security force, wouldn't they have eliminated a threat like Beck long ago? Seriously, a broken bedroom window at 3:00 am, the squealing of tires in the darkness - and GB is never heard of again. Or they could have done the same to the two whack jobs before Beck even got a sniff at the story.
It didn't happen. I'd call that proof positive that the so-called security force doesn't exist.
Canadians pay 10 % of their GDP and everybody is covered.
We (US) pay 15 % (And Growing) and it is a SHAME.
These are FACTS presented by Canadian Doctors:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com...
Thank you Bernie!
..both in Canada and in the US. One doc reported that in the US he wasted 40% of his time on whether insurance companies would cover a procedure and still needed a staff of five to deal with billing issues. In Canada he spent the whole day treating patients, and only needed one person - a receptionist who filled out the OHIP forms (for the Ontario government) when she was in between phone calls and greeting clinic patients.
That's not the half of it. If the doctor needed 5 people to interface with the insurance companies, the companies themselves must have needed 5 more.
Maybe you should keep the system you have, or unemployment could go through the roof. /snark
Doctor's administrative costs - solely to deal with insurance companies - are estimated at $31 billion annually.
But republicans have no such tender feelings about Mr Kennedy. Greed kicks in at the republican camp and it I've got mine fuck you!
republicanism is a mental illness!
I always enjoy reading your last line.
I feel it is something that cannot be stated enough!
republicanism is a mental illness! Proven fact.
I really want to see the Dems call their bluff at some point and force an actual filibuster. If they really want this to fail, make them work for it and show their true colors.
The public option is a crock unless it is government run. look at Massachussetts and see how poorly a 'public' option can become and how onerous a poorly planned 'public option' can really be. the insurance company stooges, disguised as elected reps, are all planning for a way for the insurance companies to be paid directly paid by the government, rather than healthcare providers. the (R)epuK.K.Kes want it, but they want the (R)emocrats to write it and pass it.
The (R)ahmocrat Blue Dogs are the worst of the lot because they were elected to be Democrats but selected by (R)ahm emmanuel to be totally Corporatist. the fact that some of them are Confederates has been a bit of a problem.
In all of what has been going on, however, the MSM has been on a concerted campaign to create confusion, disagreement and negativity with respect to any progressive ideas, especially since healthcare is 1/6 of the american economy. It's not just the pundits or Fox. I have yet to see a show where they point out that the Reps have total healthcare for life once elected, yet so many want the remaining population to get nearly nothing and to pay dearly.
Funny how the NEVER bring that up; with it being so obvious and all!
I always ask wingnuts why "you don't see Bush calling one of his HMO buddies when he needs health care (to see if his rectal brain exam is covered); do you? And Dick the fascist just loves his government health care. He doesn't look to see if his health account has enough cash for an operation. Nope, him and George and all the repigs and bluedogs would go down fighting if you tried to take away their "socialized medicine," and replace it with some shitty private HMO.
They wingnuts sit their looking stunned. I guess it never dawned on them, and thanks to our MSM it never will.
Let's just call it that, shall we?
Can someone help me out with the following scenario?
me: i think it is only right that everyone should be able to have health insurance in the country.
republican: how will you pay for it?
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