Members of Congress supporting Obama’s healthcare reform

by Featheriver

15 comments

1 David E Straw { 07.28.09 at 4:17 am }

Rep. Zack Space, Thank you for not falling in line on this failed national health care mess that Obama is trying to cram down our throughts. Please continue to stand strong for your convictions.

2 Mike McNally { 07.28.09 at 5:33 am }

The “mess” and “failed healthcare” is actually the system that exists right now, a system that does not cover millions of working Americans and children, yet still has costs spiralling out of control, and which is decreasing coverage and increasing costs for those of us lucky enough to have health insurance already. If Zack Space has any courage, he will do one of two things – either support some system of government insurance for working Americans, or actively attack ALL government-provided health insurance. That means MEDICARE. If Republicans actually have the courage of their convictions, stand up right now and ACTIVELY fight to eliminate medicare. Or, are you only against government-provided health insurance when it helps loosely organized working Americans and kids instead of your base constituencies like senior citizens?

3 Featheriver { 07.28.09 at 7:41 am }

If Representative Zack Space persists in opposing healthcare reform he is part of the problem, not the solution.

4 Featheriver { 07.28.09 at 7:42 am }

Thank you Mike for standing up.

5 Daria Novak { 07.28.09 at 7:45 am }

Want to get scared? Read what this disasterous legislation includes:

Pg. 59, Lines 21-24 of House Bill – Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer

Pg. 58 – Govt will have real time access to individuals’ finances, and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg. 22 – Govt will audit books of all companies who self-insure

Pg. 30, Section 123 – a govt committee will decide what treatments/benefits you get

Pg. 42 – the Health Choices Commissionar will choose Your healthcare benefits for you, you have no choice.

Pg. 50, Section 152 – Healthcare will be provided to ALL non US citizens, even illegals

Pg. 124, lines 24-25 – No company can sue the govt for price fixing

Pg. 126, Lines 22-25 – Employers must pay for healthcare for part-time workers AND their families

Pg. 149, Lines 16-24 – ANY emplpoyer with a payroll of $400,000 or more must pay a 8% tax on the payroll if they don’t provide the Public Option.

Pg. 150, Lines 9-13 – If payroll is between $251K and $400K and they employer doesn’t provide the Public Option must pay 2-6% payroll tax

Pg. 170 lines 1-3 – ANY non-resident ALien is exempt from individual taxes that American must pay

Pg 195 – Employees of the HealthCare Admin. (USG) will have access to ALL Americans’ financial and personal records

Pg. 241, Lines 6-8 – All doctors, no matter what their specialty, will be paid the same

Pg. 317-318 -, Lines 1-3, 21-25 – Govt. mandates hospitals can’t expand

Pg. 341, Lines 3-9 – the govt. has the ability to disqualify Medicare Advanced Plans, HMOs etc.

Pg. 354, Section 1177 – says the USG will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people

Pg. 429 -, lines 13-25 – “Advanced care consultation” may include and ORDER for end-of-life plans. AN ORDER FROM THE GOVT!

Pg. 430, lines – 11-15 – the govt. will decide what level of treatment you will have at the end of your life.

This is not what Americans want or need. I hope you’ll join me in this fight at novakforcongress.com I am a conservative Republican running in Connecticut’s 2nd District. We have to stop the insanity in Washington Now.

6 Featheriver { 07.28.09 at 8:12 am }

No Mrs. Novak you are dead wrong about “what Americans want or need.” Americans want healthcare reform. They made that clear in the last Presidential election. They’re making it clear right now. I’m afraid your political party is on the wrong side of the American public.

But thanks for your comment. Free speech still exists in this country.

7 Republicans fighting healthcare reform | Nye - Gateway to Nevada's Rurals { 07.28.09 at 9:05 am }

[...] I posted an item to this blog with the headline Members of Congress supporting Obama’s healthcare reform. It has drawn several comments thus far. One of those comments was from a Daria Novak, who is [...]

8 Alex Wallenwein { 07.28.09 at 9:42 am }

Snip: “Pg. 429 -, lines 13-25 –
“Advanced care consultation” may include and ORDER for end-of-life plans. AN ORDER FROM THE GOVT!”

“Pg. 430, lines – 11-15 – the govt. will decide what level of treatment you will have at the end of your life.”

This government has no legal right to “decide” or “mandate” what level of care any person will recieve, whether they are elderly or not. It has no right to force participation in such (or any other plan) on any individual. There is nothing in the US Constitution that would give it such power – regardless of what you claim Americans “want.” Any politician who supports this bill vilates both the spirit and the letter fo the Constitution – and therefore his oath of office. These people need to be voted out of office at the next election, and so do republicans who supported Bush’s unconstituional policies.
Alex Wallenwein´s last blog ..The One Thing

9 Mike McNally { 07.29.09 at 5:22 am }

Ms. Novak, I notice that you only QUOTE certain sections, so apparently the rest is your interpretation of what the bill means. Bottom line, we have government-run health insurance RIGHT NOW in the form of the V.A. and Medicare, and those insurance providers provide BETTER healthcare at a LOWER price than than the private sector. Moreover, your interpretations of the bill is typically outrageous and misleading, but to comment on a few of your items…

Pg. 59, Lines 21-24 of House Bill – Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer … Govt will have real time access to individuals’ finances, and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!…Govt will audit books of all companies who self-insure

Ridiculous. Any private company that you pay bills to can require direct billing as a condition of service if they so wish, and of course it cuts costs, staffing needs, etc. So efficiency is only good for private industry? And you have a problem with getting a healthcard? Should I give back my social security card too? And the government will audit EVERY company that self-insures? There aren’t enough accountants on the planet. Come on, not even Republicans can be this paranoid.

Pg. 30, Section 123 – a govt committee will decide what treatments/benefits you get

Right now, health insurance companies decide what treatment you can get, and they decline many requests, and that’s for the people who are lucky enough to actually have health insurance.

Pg. 42 – the Health Choices Commissionar will choose Your healthcare benefits for you, you have no choice.

Again, just as now your health insurance provider determines what will and will NOT be paid for

Pg. 50, Section 152 – Healthcare will be provided to ALL non US citizens, even illegals

Again, no different than now. If Republicans want to insert a provision that illegals and people who aren’t working should not receive healthcare in this country, why don’t you stand up and actually DO SOMETHING? Instead, all you do is give lip service to your constituency about how much you hate the illegals – have the courage of your convictions for once.

Pg. 124, lines 24-25 – No company can sue the govt for price fixing

I thought Republicans were against lawyers and lawsuits. Does this mean you are also against tort reform? Or are you only in favor of huge companies being able to file suit against the taxpayers?

Employers must pay for healthcare for part-time workers AND their families…ANY emplpoyer with a payroll of $400,000 or more must pay a 8% tax on the payroll if they don’t provide the Public Option…If payroll is between $251K and $400K and they employer doesn’t provide the Public Option must pay 2-6% payroll tax…

As usual, the cowardly Republican party will never say that they are against anything that helps working Americans, they are just against paying for anything. They want to be FOR Medicare, FOR Social Security, FOR healthcare, but against paying the bills. Like the Bush tax cuts and the 10 years of Republican policies that caused this trillion dollar deficit, Republicans want to let our grandkids pay their bills and blame others for their wild-spending and reckless deregulation.

Pg. 341, Lines 3-9 – the govt. has the ability to disqualify Medicare Advanced Plans, HMOs etc.

They have that right already – so far I don’t see widespread shut-downs of hospitals etc.

Pg. 354, Section 1177 – says the USG will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people

So you’re saying that private insurance companies DON’T keep people out right now because of pre-existing conditions? Or that private insurance companies should be forced to accept everyone? Or that everyone should pay the same rate regardless of pre-existing conditions, habits like smoking or drinking, or family histories of serious (read EXPENSIVE) conditions? I thought that was the free market.

Pg. 430, lines – 11-15 – the govt. will decide what level of treatment you will have at the end of your life.

Are you out of your mind? Again, MEDICARE IS the government, and they make decisions right now about the care that seniors get in end-of-life situations, and most senior citizens think Medicare works very well, and it runs much more CHEAPLY than private health providers. So much for the efficiency of the private sector.

10 Mike McNally { 07.29.09 at 5:29 am }

For the record, I want to add that my Congressman, Jason Altmire and other Blue Dogs, have stated their own concerns about the need to control costs in healthcare and to make sure that the new system is practical and sustainable. That said, given that government-run healthcare in the V.A. and Medicare is already BETTER and CHEAPER than private insurers, it is absolutely essential that the government-option for ordinary working Americans is part of the final solution.

11 Featheriver { 07.29.09 at 9:43 am }

Thank you for your comments Mike. Helps keep things in perspective.

12 Featheriver { 07.29.09 at 9:45 am }

I agree. Though I like the idea of single-payer healthcare. Almost anything will be an improvement. President Obama is speaking in Raleigh, North Carolina as I write this.

13 Paul Urban { 03.22.10 at 11:12 am }

This healthcare bill is better than not having one at all. I’ve read all of the listed concerns page by page that some of you have listed and it doesn’t freighten me, because at the end of the day I know that I will will get some type of care. I’m one of the 40 million Americans without health insurance. I was burned in a housefire recently and the ICU bill for four days was $27,000. I have no insurance to pay the bill. AS far as being denied organ transplants for the elderly with this bill, I wouldn’t get an organ transplant at all because I am uninsured. What the Republicans and public nay-sayers should be doing is ending a trillion dollar war that takes away from healthcare and education. I wonder each day why there isn’t more of a rucus over the war than over healthcare.

14 Featheriver { 03.22.10 at 2:13 pm }

Thank you for your input Paul. I watched C-SPAN, CNN, and MSNBC yesterday (Sunday) while the debates and votes were being taken in the House. I also watched the 7 hour Whitehouse Summit held by President Obama. The division between Republicans and Democrats was clearly visible.

I, too, have thought that if the expense of both Iraq and Afghanistan wasn’t being born by the United States then there should be enough money to use for healthcare and education.

Your predicament arising from the injuries incurred in the fire illustrates part of the healthcare problem. The Republican Party just seems to more concerned about protecting insurance companies than people. They seem to want everything privitized. Thus the shouting about big government takeover, socialization and the like.

But somethings just can’t be privitized because Capitalism is committed to profit and if you can’t afford to pay for healthcare or healthcare insurance what can you do? Not much. Thus the reason that bankruptcies and loss of homes are generated by the inability to pay the huges debts incurred from injuries and other health problems.

My wife and I live on Social Security. Our medical needs are covered through Medicare. Both are socialistic in nature. I’m not hung up on what label is attached to either of those governmental programs. Republicans seem to be.

In the same vein you mention “why there isn’t more of a rucus over the war than over healthcare?” I don’t know. I suspect it is partly due to the way different political ideologies view things. Republicans tend to cite freedom, socialism, taxes, business and money matters a lot.

Democrats seem to focus more on just plain people instead of more materialistic matters.

I was a supporter of single-payer health care in the reform. But maybe some of the punits are right, that the healthcare/insurance reform the House voted on yesterday are right, it isn’t the best it could be but is the best they could do at the moment and that at least it is a step in the right direction. I hope so.

But I fear the United States is more willing to spend billions or trillions on wars than on healthcare and education. At least that is what we’ve done since World War II.
Good luck to you.

15 Featheriver { 04.01.10 at 9:54 pm }

Thanks for sharing that Paul. I’ve wondered the same thing about spending so much on war. I think the Iraq war was a major expensive mistake. I’m not too sure we should continue in Afghanistan either.

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