Oh, for Pete’s sake – the only reason this idealogue is now willing to offer any concessions to the states is because he knows that he has 0% chance of getting re-elected when most Americans hate this irresponsibly burdensome bill. Thank God we’ve got some governors with some gumption willing to fight this financial atrocity of a bill!
I hope you’re right…Problem is, the Repubs might not have anyone that can beat him. Palin? Not a chance. Romney? What’s he gonna run on, “RomneyCare”? Huckabee? Nope. Gingrich? Not by a long shot. Unless they can find someone good, I think Oblammo’s a shoo-in for a second term.
I don’t think either of these gentlemen have the answers. They are the ones who are telling us the whole truth and deciphering all the lies for us that the Progressive Liberals seem to have running out of their mouths like water.
March 1, 2011 at 2:46 pm
karl rove says:
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Actually, a recent University of Maryland poll found that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed people. They also found that the more a person watches Fox News, the more misinformed they are.
But what the hell, watching it still feels good. Gives delusional conspiracy theorists a chance to feel mainstream.
March 1, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Ralph Kramden says:
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Sarah–don’t forget how inexperienced Obama was (and apparently, still is), and he got into the WH…Let’s keep the faith that Obama will be gone in 2012!!! Let’s see how many ‘thumbs down’ I get on this one!!
Ralph: I think Haley Barbour, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty as well as a few others look good. Heck, I even think Chris Christie may run. You’re right that Huckabee, Romney, and Palin are not the right candidates, but the electorate knows this. Mark my words – Obama will NOT be re-elected. He has offended too many people and you know what they say about people who are offended. Everyone I know who voted for him almost without exception realizes he is an amateur and has no clue what he is doing. They will not be voting for him again.
Not if Trump runs. There is a big buzz going around the country about him running, and I swear if The Don has a chance of winning, he’s going to get my vote. Trump has a back bone… Obama wouldn’t know what a back bone was even if one hit him upside his head.
Obama and the Democrats know that if you give someone something for free (Unless you consider our National Debt Free) They will take it, and eventually after using it for a while they will start to call it an “ENTITLEMENT”.
Lets look at the word “entitlement”. Are we really entitled to healthcare, retirement, disability if we are injured. I think not! I think we should change the name to Government Gift, or “General Welfare” since we are using the General Welfare clause of the US Constitution to justify it. News flash for liberals, You are not entitled to my tax money, You did nothing to earn it!
What’s free? You still have to purchase health insurance under Obamacare from a private provider. If you have a low income, then the premium will be subsidized. Suggest you learn the facts without throwing out right wing talking points “you are not entitled to my tax money”. Oh really, try not paying for a couple years.
The whole point is, Fred, why do we HAVE to buy anything??? If we choose not to buy health care, that should be on us! If we get sick, that should be on us, too! No one has the right to tell me what I need or what I can or cannot have…oh wait…that’s right..that’s the Socialist way, isn’t it??
Ralph, Socialism is when the government controls an entire industry as the British gov’t does with it’s health care system. Doctors, hospitals, nurses, premiums, etc. are all owned or set by the gov’t. I don’t recall O’man taking over any health care operations. As long as we support a employer based corporate monopoly of HC we will continue to pay twice as much with poorer results than any other westerm country.
Really? Stick around and see what happens in 2014. You are going to see your paycheck depleted enormously! There is no way that they can carry of this monstrosity that they are calling health care reform without it costing the tax payors more than what they are telling us!
March 1, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Former Status Quo says:
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Fred,
You aren’t entitled to my money. A subsidy takes my higher tax dollars and uses them to a) pay for someone that didn’t pay anything into the system or b) reduce what someone else has to pay. Continuing to raise the taxes and fees on the people that make money to pay for people to remain on welfare is crap. If you want some welfare then show me you are at least willing to go out and work for a living – don’t just show up and expect a check for not doing anything.
Key word is “entitled”, I know I have to pay it, but you shouldnt know you are going to get it. “Get it” and Fred in your example we are talking about subsidized premiums! Why is anyone entitled to recieve their premiums for health insurance paid by someone else?
I agree Sarah- we should dissolve social security, medicare & medicaid. Besides, what are they going to do? Riot? We’ve got great “gun-control” to keep the violence at bay. Not to mention a well funded national security and local police to keep them down!
Ok, you should move to France, sounds like you would do well there.
Yes we should disolve Social security. Keep Medicaid and Medicare but reform the benefits for the old, children and disabled to make the program last.
I am only for programs of the most vulnerable in society. Old, Children and disabled. If you are of the age and your body is able to provide for yourself, then provide for yourself!
The editors of Insurance Journal have fallen into the trap of parroting the press releases they receive from the White House. There is no flexibility in the new-found flexibility Obama is trying to re-invent himself and PPACA as being. Here is your new flexible choice: Do it the Federal Way OR do everything the feds tell you to do by state legislation. This is nothing more than a word game designed to fool the unwary (including Insurance Journal editors)and develop states’ rights’ fig leafs to diffuse state reaction against the federal health care law.
These governors are being led down the primrose path by the Organizer in Chief. He is interested in getting re-elected so he held out a carrot to them. These states obviously don’t have any money to pay the exhorbitant Medicaid bills which absorb more than a third of their revenue. These insurance exchanges that have to be created will also cost money to implement. The end game of this President is to have his system and it will morph into the single payor government program he envisioned. There will be no savings, only more debt on top of the massive debt we already have. The most realistic thing for government to do is to get rid of the waste and fraud of government operations. All the departments duplicate services ad nauseum and government easily costs twice as much and is extravigantly too expensive. Cut it down to half and we won’t notice the difference.
Fred, You need to look up a few facts.
1) Medicaid enrollment 58,106,000. They pay little or nothing.
2) Total medicaid spending 2009 $366,471,017,061.
3) Obamacare will add approximately 30,000,000 people.
4) 6000 x 30,000,000 = 180,000,000,000
5) 546,000,000,000 for Medicaid alone.
Vlad, Guess what? These 30,000,000 are already getting coverage (as limited as it may be) at our expense. O’man is just trying to put in place a middle of the road solution (think Romney care) to bring these people into the system. What’s your fix? And please don’t insult me with “tort reform”. By the way, many of the 30 million will be able to afford to pay their premiums without gov’t help. Frankly, a single payer plan is the utimate and best solution but may take decades to get fully implemented in this country. By the way, about 50% of the US population now get’s it health coverage from the gov’t.: Medicare, Medicaid, VA, etc.
I don’t like socialism. You do.
No such thing as single payer. We all pay. Well actually only the 52% of us that pay income taxes to the federal government.
My answer.
Keep the private system for those of us who pay. The rest can go to a government clinic like a VA. And yes that should includes Medicare.
Free stuff always seems to cost me more and I am tired of it.
If 30 million are going to afford a government run healthcare plan then who subsidizes it? Taxpayers. So when the plans are underfunded, the government will look to taxpayers to make up the short-fall, but at least people have affordable healthcare. We see how well the Medicare, Medicaid programs are working? Florida’s state budget – 25% is Medicaid. 25% of a $70 billion budget is Medicaid. 2011-12 fiscal year a $3.8 to $4.3 billion budget short fall. So lets get more people into a government healthcare plan that the state cannot afford. WI, CA, OH, NY, MA to name a few, all in the same boat.
Ok. So, let’s continue with the practice of uninsured going to Emergency Rooms, especially in the inter-city. That doesn’t cost a thing, right? Why pay into anything when you can go to the ER with no insurance and not be turned away. Sounds like Universal Healthcare Coverage is alive and well and has been for many years. Also, why is it that my company, a private corporation, must pay for my healthcare? Roughly $10,000 in addition to my salary is spent on me and the premiums never seem to go down. The mistake was made in the 50s when corporations started providing health insurance as a lure to employees and the government just sat by and let it happen. Can you image what a coroporation can do with that $10,000 they spend on me and so many others? The Republicans just want this thing to go away. They were dragged kicking and screaming into this debate and still never seem to look at the root causes of this failed system. It’s amazing how little attention was paid to this problem when they were in the majority. Denial is a Republican trait. Just saying no does not cut it any more Senator Hatch.
Ralph, Not me. By 2014 I’ll be covered by that evil gov’t single payer program called Medicare. By the way, thank you for your continues support. Much appreciated.
Wow….so, so many of you have drinken the Kool-Aid…You’ll all be running when the s*** hits the fan, just like the Dem Senators in WI..bunch of pansies, every single one of them.
Stop feeding us liberal tripe. Telling states they can come up with their own plan that is as onerous or more so than the federal plan is “extending an olive branch?” If that’s extending an olive branch, I’m an astronaut.
Fred, what Progressive Liberal think tank do you work for? We know what these guys are up to and it’s no good. Governors who fall for this nonsense are dumber than a door knob. Watch what the Chief Organizer does, not what he says. He has consistently lied about this issue, meanwhile issuing executive orders to implement his agenda. Sebelius and Berwick mean to have an eventual single payer healthcare system in this country unless we the people stop them along with the Republican house and the courts.
Of course Obama is now flexible, he understands Obamacare is a failure! Couple that with the majority of states having a budget deficit and now the states are seriously looking at the Massachusetts model and scratching their heads. If Wisconsin, who has a $3.8 billion budget short-fall and the governor is demonized for making spending cuts, where are the states going to find the money to fund Obamacare, when the fed is also broke?
Obamacare was a failure the minute it passed in the dark of night with all the backroom deals and payoffs for votes. This is the Progressive dream of 100 years to do this and have Universal Healthcare. The problem they now have is that there is no money to fund it. They have around half the states against it, a House that voted to repeal it and an angry electorate that wants it to go away. Obama has a rough road ahead if he thinks this plan will work. They should drop it and tend to getting the budget under control and then craft a new common sense bill that people can go to get coverage.
Seems the Olive branch is the same one people got upset over when Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska inserted a provision in Obamacare to pay for Nebraska’s increase in Medicaid – now it is an Olive branch rather than just a backdoor underhanded deal. Also I didn’t know the Federal Government had any money to pay a state’s extra medicaid bill – silly me I thought it was my money.
The thing the Progressive Liberal crowd doesn’t get is that there is no money at the Federal or State level to implement this travesty. Even in better times, it would have been a stretch since it adds so much to the deficit. Their argument that it will reduce cost over time is a joke. That is not to mention the other bad consequences such as rationed care, doctor shortages, death panels for seniors etc etc. This bill has to be defunded, repealed and replaced, but not until the budget woes are solved.
Mason and Lambert have a lot to learn before they could be considered serious editorialists. “Obama extends an olive branch?” Clearly he is grasping at straws to further his currency for his 2012 run for reelection. I don’t even think he has enough political credits in his own party to secure the nomination. Look out, here comes Hillary ville.
I find it funny how there are so many people here who are so against change to the healthcare system due primarily to partisan politics (how foolish….get over it). No governmnent system (local, state or federal), regardless of what it is, is going to be perfect….never has been and never will…..but no one seems to see or realize that! But what is even more amusing is the fact that I don’t see any large groups of people (dems or reps or whoever) doing anything except complaining, perpetuating predjudice and insulting others over the internet and/or media. WE ARE ON THE SAME TEAM HERE EVERYONE! If we look at what the PEOPLE (not governments) are doing and going through in the middle east to get change right now……we should feel ashamed of ourself. Get off your butts and do something……that is why we are a democracy!
Hey Why. I think we did get off our butts and did something last November. Did you not witness the “shellacking”we gave to the Progressive Socialist crowd who wants to turn this country into a nanny state? The American People awoke from their several decade slumber and saw the light. They didn’t much like what their politicians have been doing to ever expand government and bankrupting the economy. This Healthcare debacle is not the “change” we were looking for. The change we want is to shrink this monstrous, inefficient, intrusive government which is beholden to special interests, unions etc and make it responsive to We the People. The idea is to change it from “business as usual” to “get the fiscal house in order” before we are completely bankrupt. Why do you think there is such a pushback on Obamacare? It is unconstitutional and cannot be funded by the Feds or the States. I am certainly not ashamed to oppose this agenda. The Progressives should be ashamed to try to ram this travesty down our throat. They paid in the last election and will pay dearly in 12.
We did do something about this last November, remember? What do you want us to do other than just vote these crooks out??? Do you suggest uprising in the streets of Washington, DC? And, please don’t categorize me as being on the same team. The ‘other’ team is nothing but Progressive Liberals…we are definately NOT on the same team…
Well Fred’s back. Facts: Top 1% controls 23% of all wealth in US. Bottom 50% controls 1%, nice. 40 million people are outside of our bloated HC system, also, nice. Current personal tax rates are the lowesst they’ve been in 50 years with most of the wealth going to the top 1% not to school teachers and snow plow operators. In FOX world, the gov’t should not address any problem. It should only work to dismantle the current safety net or at least privatize it so more billions can go to Wall Street. Please wake up to what’s going on.
Careful Fred, your Progressive Socialist roots are showing. As long as you want to talk about facts, 70% of taxes paid by top 10%of earners. Bottom 50% pay little or nothing in taxes. You also failed to mention all the other taxes we pay on property, school, sales, estate. You name it and we are taxed on it. School teachers have a sweet deal. Work 9 months for an annual salary, cadillac health insurance, pensions funded. They make more than equivalent private sector who doesn’t enjoy the perks they do. By the way, problems are being addressed as we correspond. The problems are government overreach, out of control spending, waste, fraud. Wisconsin is not the only state that has been under siege. There are a lot of states who are having to go to extroardinary measures to balance their budget due to corruption of public sector unions and politicians.
Don’t forget the fact that a very, very large majority of our kids that are being taught by these teachers who, by the way, are getting their pensions and HC funded by our tax dollars, are still unable to read at their grade’s level..or do math at their grade’s level. How many of these kids can name each State’s Capital? Probably not many. What happened to accountability for teachers? No Child Left Behind was a bad idea, if you ask me.
March 3, 2011 at 9:59 am
Ralph Kramden says:
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SAFETY NET? Really, Fred??? I believe the people HAVE woken up to what’s going on and they are going to vote these crooks out in 2012!
Fred, Sounds to me like you should correct it to read as follows.
Top 1% has created 23% of the wealth. Bottom 50% should have worked harder instead partying all night and had kids without both parents around and got an education which they kept expanding and learning how to invest or create wealth. No this lower 50% looks forward to the paycheck that they can blow on Friday and cannot look past their hands as far as financial planning.
You know I am kind of getting tired of hearing people use the old Poor School teaher thing. Lets look at it. They get paid on average in Wisconsin over 60K a year, They get a pension of around $2500 a month at retirement after 20 years of service. They get 2 months off every summer to travel and approximately 3 weeks off a year for sick/vacation during the school year. Free healthcare with a “Cadilac” plan and they cannot be fired except unless they just completely break the law or something.
I am kind of glad that the economy is where it is because it brings logic, reason and fiscal responsibility back to the fore front again.
Wisconsin has a 3.6 billion deficit! with no way to print money unlike the unions bit*h Obama can, they are facing reason and fiscal responsibility. It is hillarious to listen to them try to explain that they need to keep their “entitlement pensions” and non contributed healthcare cost while the rest of us look for quarters to pay for groceries.
I think the progressives think they are on the verge of creating their socialist/ communist revolution. I believe just the oposite. We are on the verge of eliminating Unions and waste from Government and putting ourselves on a path to fiscal responsibility which is necessary for the continued superior position financially of the United States of Amercia. The land of Oportunity not the land of entitlement! I think the Progressive Socialists under estimate the resolve for personal freedom of the american people as opposed to the lazy desire for collective mediocrity of the Socialists in the Whitehouse and Senate.
Obama extends an Olive branch, then proceeds to beat the hell out of you with it later!
This community organizer has spent too much time hanging out with Union bosses and not enough time with people who do what they say they will do. The only “change” we keep getting is Obama’s mind!
We actually have the best opportunity now to decertify the unions and get them out of the public sector altogether. They shouldn’t have been allowed to bargain for these sweet deals in the first place. Union teachers are sub standard at best. In Wisconsin, the drop out rate is among the highest in the country and these kids cannot read, do math or know much of anything except how to use their iphone. Teachers should be subject to merit pay and have to pass a certification test periodically to keep their job. Perhaps then they will pay more attention and actually teach instead of babysit.
At least with Bush, we knew where he stood and what he stands for!
BRING BUSH BACK!
I am still trying to figure out why the liberals hated him so much! On his watch, He let them spend our way into bankrupcy like they wanted. He allowed Bwarney Fwank and Chris Dudd to make sure all people without a down payment or even a job could get a loan, a liberal idea if I ever heard one. And he allowed the Terrorist to stay in a wonderful place called Gitmo like Obama has.
The Bush mantra was “Compassionate Conservative”. Unfortunately for real Conservatives, that meant he went along with much of the Liberal agenda along with losing his spine along the way and vetoing the huge spending bills of Pelosi/Reid. Much of the financial mess we are in today is because of the out of control spending advocated by both sides in the past 10-12 years. Mr. Reach across the aisle McCain and his buddy Lindsey Graham are also to blame in part. Fannie & Freddie was left to their own devices without proper regulation and Bonnie & Dudd were chiefly responsible for the sub prime meltdown. Haven’t we had great leaders though? Obama is Bush on steroids and he exacerbated the spending spree and is bringing this country to its knees.
Trump is an attention getter. He has threatened to run before. Will he be an Independent or use the Republican Party to be a candidate? If he is an Independent, he will be another Ross Perot who will guarantee Obama’s re-election. As far as his positions, he is a hard nosed businessman and makes more sense than any of the other candidates so far. I do think he would restore a sense of pride in America and deal with the budget crisis better and get the respect of the International community which is sorely lacking with the current pretender in chief.
Oh, for Pete’s sake – the only reason this idealogue is now willing to offer any concessions to the states is because he knows that he has 0% chance of getting re-elected when most Americans hate this irresponsibly burdensome bill. Thank God we’ve got some governors with some gumption willing to fight this financial atrocity of a bill!
I hope you’re right…Problem is, the Repubs might not have anyone that can beat him. Palin? Not a chance. Romney? What’s he gonna run on, “RomneyCare”? Huckabee? Nope. Gingrich? Not by a long shot. Unless they can find someone good, I think Oblammo’s a shoo-in for a second term.
Ralph, unfortunately you are right! None of the GOP candidates are winners.
I like Marco Rubio from Florida, problem is he is too inexperienced to be president and I think we all found out in 2008 what that means.
Where is a Ronald Regan when you need one?
What about Rush, Glen or Sean? They run everything anyway and seem to know the answers to all of our problems.
I don’t think either of these gentlemen have the answers. They are the ones who are telling us the whole truth and deciphering all the lies for us that the Progressive Liberals seem to have running out of their mouths like water.
Actually, a recent University of Maryland poll found that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed people. They also found that the more a person watches Fox News, the more misinformed they are.
But what the hell, watching it still feels good. Gives delusional conspiracy theorists a chance to feel mainstream.
Sarah–don’t forget how inexperienced Obama was (and apparently, still is), and he got into the WH…Let’s keep the faith that Obama will be gone in 2012!!! Let’s see how many ‘thumbs down’ I get on this one!!
Ralph: I think Haley Barbour, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty as well as a few others look good. Heck, I even think Chris Christie may run. You’re right that Huckabee, Romney, and Palin are not the right candidates, but the electorate knows this. Mark my words – Obama will NOT be re-elected. He has offended too many people and you know what they say about people who are offended. Everyone I know who voted for him almost without exception realizes he is an amateur and has no clue what he is doing. They will not be voting for him again.
Not if Trump runs. There is a big buzz going around the country about him running, and I swear if The Don has a chance of winning, he’s going to get my vote. Trump has a back bone… Obama wouldn’t know what a back bone was even if one hit him upside his head.
Nullify!
nullifynow.org
Obama and the Democrats know that if you give someone something for free (Unless you consider our National Debt Free) They will take it, and eventually after using it for a while they will start to call it an “ENTITLEMENT”.
Lets look at the word “entitlement”. Are we really entitled to healthcare, retirement, disability if we are injured. I think not! I think we should change the name to Government Gift, or “General Welfare” since we are using the General Welfare clause of the US Constitution to justify it. News flash for liberals, You are not entitled to my tax money, You did nothing to earn it!
What’s free? You still have to purchase health insurance under Obamacare from a private provider. If you have a low income, then the premium will be subsidized. Suggest you learn the facts without throwing out right wing talking points “you are not entitled to my tax money”. Oh really, try not paying for a couple years.
The whole point is, Fred, why do we HAVE to buy anything??? If we choose not to buy health care, that should be on us! If we get sick, that should be on us, too! No one has the right to tell me what I need or what I can or cannot have…oh wait…that’s right..that’s the Socialist way, isn’t it??
Ralph, Socialism is when the government controls an entire industry as the British gov’t does with it’s health care system. Doctors, hospitals, nurses, premiums, etc. are all owned or set by the gov’t. I don’t recall O’man taking over any health care operations. As long as we support a employer based corporate monopoly of HC we will continue to pay twice as much with poorer results than any other westerm country.
Really? Stick around and see what happens in 2014. You are going to see your paycheck depleted enormously! There is no way that they can carry of this monstrosity that they are calling health care reform without it costing the tax payors more than what they are telling us!
Fred,
You aren’t entitled to my money. A subsidy takes my higher tax dollars and uses them to a) pay for someone that didn’t pay anything into the system or b) reduce what someone else has to pay. Continuing to raise the taxes and fees on the people that make money to pay for people to remain on welfare is crap. If you want some welfare then show me you are at least willing to go out and work for a living – don’t just show up and expect a check for not doing anything.
Key word is “entitled”, I know I have to pay it, but you shouldnt know you are going to get it. “Get it” and Fred in your example we are talking about subsidized premiums! Why is anyone entitled to recieve their premiums for health insurance paid by someone else?
I agree Sarah- we should dissolve social security, medicare & medicaid. Besides, what are they going to do? Riot? We’ve got great “gun-control” to keep the violence at bay. Not to mention a well funded national security and local police to keep them down!
Ok, you should move to France, sounds like you would do well there.
Yes we should disolve Social security. Keep Medicaid and Medicare but reform the benefits for the old, children and disabled to make the program last.
I am only for programs of the most vulnerable in society. Old, Children and disabled. If you are of the age and your body is able to provide for yourself, then provide for yourself!
The editors of Insurance Journal have fallen into the trap of parroting the press releases they receive from the White House. There is no flexibility in the new-found flexibility Obama is trying to re-invent himself and PPACA as being. Here is your new flexible choice: Do it the Federal Way OR do everything the feds tell you to do by state legislation. This is nothing more than a word game designed to fool the unwary (including Insurance Journal editors)and develop states’ rights’ fig leafs to diffuse state reaction against the federal health care law.
These governors are being led down the primrose path by the Organizer in Chief. He is interested in getting re-elected so he held out a carrot to them. These states obviously don’t have any money to pay the exhorbitant Medicaid bills which absorb more than a third of their revenue. These insurance exchanges that have to be created will also cost money to implement. The end game of this President is to have his system and it will morph into the single payor government program he envisioned. There will be no savings, only more debt on top of the massive debt we already have. The most realistic thing for government to do is to get rid of the waste and fraud of government operations. All the departments duplicate services ad nauseum and government easily costs twice as much and is extravigantly too expensive. Cut it down to half and we won’t notice the difference.
Fred, You need to look up a few facts.
1) Medicaid enrollment 58,106,000. They pay little or nothing.
2) Total medicaid spending 2009 $366,471,017,061.
3) Obamacare will add approximately 30,000,000 people.
4) 6000 x 30,000,000 = 180,000,000,000
5) 546,000,000,000 for Medicaid alone.
Where are you going to get the money?
Vlad, Guess what? These 30,000,000 are already getting coverage (as limited as it may be) at our expense. O’man is just trying to put in place a middle of the road solution (think Romney care) to bring these people into the system. What’s your fix? And please don’t insult me with “tort reform”. By the way, many of the 30 million will be able to afford to pay their premiums without gov’t help. Frankly, a single payer plan is the utimate and best solution but may take decades to get fully implemented in this country. By the way, about 50% of the US population now get’s it health coverage from the gov’t.: Medicare, Medicaid, VA, etc.
I don’t like socialism. You do.
No such thing as single payer. We all pay. Well actually only the 52% of us that pay income taxes to the federal government.
My answer.
Keep the private system for those of us who pay. The rest can go to a government clinic like a VA. And yes that should includes Medicare.
Free stuff always seems to cost me more and I am tired of it.
Medicare is NOT free
If 30 million are going to afford a government run healthcare plan then who subsidizes it? Taxpayers. So when the plans are underfunded, the government will look to taxpayers to make up the short-fall, but at least people have affordable healthcare. We see how well the Medicare, Medicaid programs are working? Florida’s state budget – 25% is Medicaid. 25% of a $70 billion budget is Medicaid. 2011-12 fiscal year a $3.8 to $4.3 billion budget short fall. So lets get more people into a government healthcare plan that the state cannot afford. WI, CA, OH, NY, MA to name a few, all in the same boat.
Ok. So, let’s continue with the practice of uninsured going to Emergency Rooms, especially in the inter-city. That doesn’t cost a thing, right? Why pay into anything when you can go to the ER with no insurance and not be turned away. Sounds like Universal Healthcare Coverage is alive and well and has been for many years. Also, why is it that my company, a private corporation, must pay for my healthcare? Roughly $10,000 in addition to my salary is spent on me and the premiums never seem to go down. The mistake was made in the 50s when corporations started providing health insurance as a lure to employees and the government just sat by and let it happen. Can you image what a coroporation can do with that $10,000 they spend on me and so many others? The Republicans just want this thing to go away. They were dragged kicking and screaming into this debate and still never seem to look at the root causes of this failed system. It’s amazing how little attention was paid to this problem when they were in the majority. Denial is a Republican trait. Just saying no does not cut it any more Senator Hatch.
Ralph, Not me. By 2014 I’ll be covered by that evil gov’t single payer program called Medicare. By the way, thank you for your continues support. Much appreciated.
Wow….so, so many of you have drinken the Kool-Aid…You’ll all be running when the s*** hits the fan, just like the Dem Senators in WI..bunch of pansies, every single one of them.
Stop feeding us liberal tripe. Telling states they can come up with their own plan that is as onerous or more so than the federal plan is “extending an olive branch?” If that’s extending an olive branch, I’m an astronaut.
The government doesn’t extend anything unless it is in their own best interest. Period.
Good day to all. Hope no one get’s sick. It’s been fun.
Good riddance!!
Sounds more like a Trojan Horse than an Olive Branch.
Fred, what Progressive Liberal think tank do you work for? We know what these guys are up to and it’s no good. Governors who fall for this nonsense are dumber than a door knob. Watch what the Chief Organizer does, not what he says. He has consistently lied about this issue, meanwhile issuing executive orders to implement his agenda. Sebelius and Berwick mean to have an eventual single payer healthcare system in this country unless we the people stop them along with the Republican house and the courts.
Of course Obama is now flexible, he understands Obamacare is a failure! Couple that with the majority of states having a budget deficit and now the states are seriously looking at the Massachusetts model and scratching their heads. If Wisconsin, who has a $3.8 billion budget short-fall and the governor is demonized for making spending cuts, where are the states going to find the money to fund Obamacare, when the fed is also broke?
Obamacare was a failure the minute it passed in the dark of night with all the backroom deals and payoffs for votes. This is the Progressive dream of 100 years to do this and have Universal Healthcare. The problem they now have is that there is no money to fund it. They have around half the states against it, a House that voted to repeal it and an angry electorate that wants it to go away. Obama has a rough road ahead if he thinks this plan will work. They should drop it and tend to getting the budget under control and then craft a new common sense bill that people can go to get coverage.
Seems the Olive branch is the same one people got upset over when Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska inserted a provision in Obamacare to pay for Nebraska’s increase in Medicaid – now it is an Olive branch rather than just a backdoor underhanded deal. Also I didn’t know the Federal Government had any money to pay a state’s extra medicaid bill – silly me I thought it was my money.
The thing the Progressive Liberal crowd doesn’t get is that there is no money at the Federal or State level to implement this travesty. Even in better times, it would have been a stretch since it adds so much to the deficit. Their argument that it will reduce cost over time is a joke. That is not to mention the other bad consequences such as rationed care, doctor shortages, death panels for seniors etc etc. This bill has to be defunded, repealed and replaced, but not until the budget woes are solved.
Mason and Lambert have a lot to learn before they could be considered serious editorialists. “Obama extends an olive branch?” Clearly he is grasping at straws to further his currency for his 2012 run for reelection. I don’t even think he has enough political credits in his own party to secure the nomination. Look out, here comes Hillary ville.
I find it funny how there are so many people here who are so against change to the healthcare system due primarily to partisan politics (how foolish….get over it). No governmnent system (local, state or federal), regardless of what it is, is going to be perfect….never has been and never will…..but no one seems to see or realize that! But what is even more amusing is the fact that I don’t see any large groups of people (dems or reps or whoever) doing anything except complaining, perpetuating predjudice and insulting others over the internet and/or media. WE ARE ON THE SAME TEAM HERE EVERYONE! If we look at what the PEOPLE (not governments) are doing and going through in the middle east to get change right now……we should feel ashamed of ourself. Get off your butts and do something……that is why we are a democracy!
Hey Why. I think we did get off our butts and did something last November. Did you not witness the “shellacking”we gave to the Progressive Socialist crowd who wants to turn this country into a nanny state? The American People awoke from their several decade slumber and saw the light. They didn’t much like what their politicians have been doing to ever expand government and bankrupting the economy. This Healthcare debacle is not the “change” we were looking for. The change we want is to shrink this monstrous, inefficient, intrusive government which is beholden to special interests, unions etc and make it responsive to We the People. The idea is to change it from “business as usual” to “get the fiscal house in order” before we are completely bankrupt. Why do you think there is such a pushback on Obamacare? It is unconstitutional and cannot be funded by the Feds or the States. I am certainly not ashamed to oppose this agenda. The Progressives should be ashamed to try to ram this travesty down our throat. They paid in the last election and will pay dearly in 12.
We did do something about this last November, remember? What do you want us to do other than just vote these crooks out??? Do you suggest uprising in the streets of Washington, DC? And, please don’t categorize me as being on the same team. The ‘other’ team is nothing but Progressive Liberals…we are definately NOT on the same team…
Well Fred’s back. Facts: Top 1% controls 23% of all wealth in US. Bottom 50% controls 1%, nice. 40 million people are outside of our bloated HC system, also, nice. Current personal tax rates are the lowesst they’ve been in 50 years with most of the wealth going to the top 1% not to school teachers and snow plow operators. In FOX world, the gov’t should not address any problem. It should only work to dismantle the current safety net or at least privatize it so more billions can go to Wall Street. Please wake up to what’s going on.
Careful Fred, your Progressive Socialist roots are showing. As long as you want to talk about facts, 70% of taxes paid by top 10%of earners. Bottom 50% pay little or nothing in taxes. You also failed to mention all the other taxes we pay on property, school, sales, estate. You name it and we are taxed on it. School teachers have a sweet deal. Work 9 months for an annual salary, cadillac health insurance, pensions funded. They make more than equivalent private sector who doesn’t enjoy the perks they do. By the way, problems are being addressed as we correspond. The problems are government overreach, out of control spending, waste, fraud. Wisconsin is not the only state that has been under siege. There are a lot of states who are having to go to extroardinary measures to balance their budget due to corruption of public sector unions and politicians.
Don’t forget the fact that a very, very large majority of our kids that are being taught by these teachers who, by the way, are getting their pensions and HC funded by our tax dollars, are still unable to read at their grade’s level..or do math at their grade’s level. How many of these kids can name each State’s Capital? Probably not many. What happened to accountability for teachers? No Child Left Behind was a bad idea, if you ask me.
SAFETY NET? Really, Fred??? I believe the people HAVE woken up to what’s going on and they are going to vote these crooks out in 2012!
Fred, Sounds to me like you should correct it to read as follows.
Top 1% has created 23% of the wealth. Bottom 50% should have worked harder instead partying all night and had kids without both parents around and got an education which they kept expanding and learning how to invest or create wealth. No this lower 50% looks forward to the paycheck that they can blow on Friday and cannot look past their hands as far as financial planning.
You know I am kind of getting tired of hearing people use the old Poor School teaher thing. Lets look at it. They get paid on average in Wisconsin over 60K a year, They get a pension of around $2500 a month at retirement after 20 years of service. They get 2 months off every summer to travel and approximately 3 weeks off a year for sick/vacation during the school year. Free healthcare with a “Cadilac” plan and they cannot be fired except unless they just completely break the law or something.
I DO NOT FEEL SORRY FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS!
The only thing that Obama backs is Socialism!
I am kind of glad that the economy is where it is because it brings logic, reason and fiscal responsibility back to the fore front again.
Wisconsin has a 3.6 billion deficit! with no way to print money unlike the unions bit*h Obama can, they are facing reason and fiscal responsibility. It is hillarious to listen to them try to explain that they need to keep their “entitlement pensions” and non contributed healthcare cost while the rest of us look for quarters to pay for groceries.
I think the progressives think they are on the verge of creating their socialist/ communist revolution. I believe just the oposite. We are on the verge of eliminating Unions and waste from Government and putting ourselves on a path to fiscal responsibility which is necessary for the continued superior position financially of the United States of Amercia. The land of Oportunity not the land of entitlement! I think the Progressive Socialists under estimate the resolve for personal freedom of the american people as opposed to the lazy desire for collective mediocrity of the Socialists in the Whitehouse and Senate.
Obama extends an Olive branch, then proceeds to beat the hell out of you with it later!
This community organizer has spent too much time hanging out with Union bosses and not enough time with people who do what they say they will do. The only “change” we keep getting is Obama’s mind!
We actually have the best opportunity now to decertify the unions and get them out of the public sector altogether. They shouldn’t have been allowed to bargain for these sweet deals in the first place. Union teachers are sub standard at best. In Wisconsin, the drop out rate is among the highest in the country and these kids cannot read, do math or know much of anything except how to use their iphone. Teachers should be subject to merit pay and have to pass a certification test periodically to keep their job. Perhaps then they will pay more attention and actually teach instead of babysit.
At least with Bush, we knew where he stood and what he stands for!
BRING BUSH BACK!
I am still trying to figure out why the liberals hated him so much! On his watch, He let them spend our way into bankrupcy like they wanted. He allowed Bwarney Fwank and Chris Dudd to make sure all people without a down payment or even a job could get a loan, a liberal idea if I ever heard one. And he allowed the Terrorist to stay in a wonderful place called Gitmo like Obama has.
The Bush mantra was “Compassionate Conservative”. Unfortunately for real Conservatives, that meant he went along with much of the Liberal agenda along with losing his spine along the way and vetoing the huge spending bills of Pelosi/Reid. Much of the financial mess we are in today is because of the out of control spending advocated by both sides in the past 10-12 years. Mr. Reach across the aisle McCain and his buddy Lindsey Graham are also to blame in part. Fannie & Freddie was left to their own devices without proper regulation and Bonnie & Dudd were chiefly responsible for the sub prime meltdown. Haven’t we had great leaders though? Obama is Bush on steroids and he exacerbated the spending spree and is bringing this country to its knees.
Trump is an attention getter. He has threatened to run before. Will he be an Independent or use the Republican Party to be a candidate? If he is an Independent, he will be another Ross Perot who will guarantee Obama’s re-election. As far as his positions, he is a hard nosed businessman and makes more sense than any of the other candidates so far. I do think he would restore a sense of pride in America and deal with the budget crisis better and get the respect of the International community which is sorely lacking with the current pretender in chief.