Health Care Scare: Who's prescribing the stupid pills? Insurance companies, of course
Filed under: Health, Insurance-life, Insurance-health
Angry militias, death threats against our President and his family, swastikas and loaded guns--is this what a debate to fix our broken health care system should look like? Everyone can agree that the system is in crisis, except for the people who profit from it being broken--the insurance companies and the politicians who rake in their generous support. So why all this hostility and public shows of utter stupidity? Who's behind scaring people into thinking health care reform will actually be bad for them, to the point where they believe the ridiculous "death panels" rumor?
Health care reform isn't scary, it's the industries and crooked politicians trying to control the debate and manipulating people's emotions that's terrifying. (Swastikas, really?) I don't know about you, but I'd like everyone to be covered by health insurance, have an affordable deductible, and be able to see the doctor they need, when they need to.
Walletpop Big News, our new weekly filmed radio show, spoke with author Bob Cesca, of the Huffington Post, who's been closely following the bag of tricks unleashed by the insurance industry and their pet politicians. Hear what he and our panel of writers had to say.
Health care reform isn't scary, it's the industries and crooked politicians trying to control the debate and manipulating people's emotions that's terrifying. (Swastikas, really?) I don't know about you, but I'd like everyone to be covered by health insurance, have an affordable deductible, and be able to see the doctor they need, when they need to.
Walletpop Big News, our new weekly filmed radio show, spoke with author Bob Cesca, of the Huffington Post, who's been closely following the bag of tricks unleashed by the insurance industry and their pet politicians. Hear what he and our panel of writers had to say.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-14-2009 @ 4:18PM
Jon said...
Swastikas, laughable how you continue to spread half truths. The swastika that was carried was a swastika with a slash / through it, whole diff meaning to that swastika now huh...by the way, just how many pages of obama care have YOU read exactly? I am less than thrilled at the direction the far left, marxist obama is taking things. I am curious why you appear content with fascism, socialism, let the Govt control everything in our lives. What are you now 30? You have no clue
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8-14-2009 @ 9:16PM
wef said...
I'm sure you understand that the USA is the only country that doesn't provide insurance for its people. Millions die each year because of no insurance or coverage so high they seek help too late. Millions of people each year file for bankruptsy because of cronic illness. You have to remember the key players in healthcare are Insurance Companies and Lawyers. They are the ones in the business purelly for the profit. Docs charge high but be aware, they pay more than $100,000 annually for malpractice insurance or the lawyers would be at their dorr hourly trying t0o trump up some suit.
8-15-2009 @ 7:30AM
brstevens said...
wef: If lawyers are part of the problem, then why is there no provision in the bills being bandied about that includes tort reform? Oh, that's right. Because LAWYERS ARE WRITING the legislation and they're not about to eat their own. That's part of the problem that people are crying foul over, but it seems those who tend to support health care reform as presented just don't seem to (or want to) get it.
8-15-2009 @ 11:57AM
Reality Based said...
Why does anyone care what the lunatic fringe thinks about the Democrat's health care plan? Before the 2008 election we heard all the lies about Obama being a socialist and a terrorist sympathizer. We heard the lies about the health care plan being socialized medicine. After the voters digested the incredible lies from lying right wing scumbags, what happened? Obama was easily elected and the Democrats picked up a bunch of seats in the Senate. You would think that psycho talk from the extremists would stop for a while but one thing I've learned about the anti-American right wing losers is that they have no sense of shame and have no problem recylcing their lies. So now that the debate was won in the voting booths these slimeballs are trying to stop the will of the voters from prevailing. The same liars who have been wrong about everything, from the non-communist threat 60 years ago through the WMDs that anyone with a brain knew weren't there, now expect us to believe the lies that were rejected in November. If they didn't have the media in their hip pocket they would be ignored liked the lying scum they are. The can't govern, the previous 8 years proved that, so they are left to lying and trying to scare people. Now the Democrats have to show that this is a democracy and follow the wishes of the voters, and not allow mob rule
8-14-2009 @ 4:43PM
Kevin said...
Are you kidding me?
So, you're one of the thousands left, who blindly support this rush to collaps our econonmy while at the same time dissolving all of our remaining liberties and freedom.
You understand, this "Bill" has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare. This is a power grab of historical proportion! This is an attempt by the Socialist-Marxist left wing of both houses of Congress and this inept President to finally cross the river and burn the bridge behind them.
Maybe you (everyone) should read this bill. Oh, and the reports that you alledge? Made up and perpetuated by the left wing press., who are now, simply puppets of the State.
Are you kidding me? Hand over my health, income, family and choices to the same government that gave us every other failed social program.
Read it!!!! If you went to a public school and can't, have someone read it to you.
wow
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8-15-2009 @ 12:22AM
christine said...
Don't be such a jerk Kevin, you must have great health care insurance otherwise you might understand why some people actually want health care reform to pass. Wait, let's just leave it the way it is, so millions of people with pre-existing conditions will be denied and millions of people with serious diseases will be dropped and millions of people that might qualify to buy their own insurance still can't get it because they just can't afford it.
8-15-2009 @ 12:01PM
Reality Based said...
Kevin we heard those lies before the election, and guess what buddy? You're an extremist liar and only other extremists are buying what you're selling. You gave it your best shot. told your best lies, but you're a loser. So suck it up now and try to come up with some new lies and new snippets of insanity
8-15-2009 @ 2:37PM
mil said...
get a life
8-14-2009 @ 4:45PM
brstevens said...
When an admitted liberal like Mickey Kaus points out in his blog that Sarah Palin, of all people, had a point about the death panels it turns the whole universe upside down. Oh, and pretty much calls out your ridiculousness (and the NYT's) regarding that ridiculous rumor.
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8-14-2009 @ 4:48PM
brstevens said...
Link got stripped out:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/archive/2009/08/11/are-conservatives-blowing-it-on-health-care.aspx
8-14-2009 @ 9:03PM
FOXYLYNX said...
THERE ARE GOING TO BE A FEW BAD APPLES AT ANY GROUP AFFAIR. HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY WEREN'T PLANTS BY THE LIBS! 97 PER CENT OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE HARD WORKING, HONEST, TAX PAYING CITIZENS. KEEP SPEWING YOUR PROPAGANDA - THE MORE YOU WRITE THE MORE OBAMA'S NUMBERS GO DOWN.
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8-14-2009 @ 9:58PM
Ynot said...
More articles supporting health care reform from people that didn't read the bill themselves. You can call people every name in the book Ms. Chalupa and try to characterize people as unamerican for voicing their concerns, but we will not be intimidated. Health care problems do need to be fixed, but this is far from the best answer. If you believe a bill that is hastenly written and then crammed down our throats is the best answer God help you.
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8-15-2009 @ 7:08AM
Chris said...
If the proposed HEALTH CARE is not good enough for Elected Senators and Congress people, then why would it be OK for us COMMONERS. Are they royal-kings -queens or do they believe that they deserve better than us.......Can ANYONE explain why they are exempted from the Health Care they want for us or maybe we are a bunch a idiots.
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8-15-2009 @ 9:46AM
Millie said...
After 50 years of working hard, sometimes over 45 hours per week, I just retired. I am angry that medicare funding will be largely cut after I paid into it for years. The current HC bill proposes that 12% of the population, the retired, have to absorb 40% of the cuts. The legislation is transfering lack of health care from the uninsured to the retired and elderly who have done our part paying into the system for years.
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8-15-2009 @ 12:14PM
Reality Based said...
Millie, you're listening to too many right wing extremist liars. No bill like that would ever be passed because it would be political suicide and besides that you simply have your facts wrong. The righties have been reduced to lying and scaring folks, don't let them do it to you.
8-15-2009 @ 3:56PM
Roy said...
It's quite evident that the entitlement mentality is alive and well in America today. No American is entitled to anything except the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Half of Americans pay no income taxes. The upper 1% of Americans pay 44% of all income taxes. It is truly sad to see that America has declined so far and so fast. Average Americans now wish to be cared for by their government. Thomas Jefferson observed that a government that could provide everything its citizens wanted, would be big enough to take everything they had. The majority of the posters here clearly belong to the entitlement herd.
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8-15-2009 @ 6:47PM
Reggie Greene The Logistician said...
At this point, although the debate and spin continue, this bill is essentially dead from an emotional and mandate perspective, even if some version gets passed. Whether it ultimately proves to be of any benefit to society, or a detriment, will take years, if not decades, to appreciate.
This bill, and virtually anything that might be done to improve our healthcare system, involves too much complexity with which we are emotionally motivated to deal. In addition, there are too many factions with entrenched economic and/or financial interests to permit it to become a true health initiative.
There's been too much arguing about the details. People can not describe in 2 or 3 sentences the conceptual parameters of the effort and what it is supposed to accomplish. Unfortunately, people can describe how they feel about it in 1 or 2 words, and that's not good. And that's not to mention the elements which have whipped up hysteria by suggesting, with certainty, what will occur once the final product (which does not yet exist) emerges.
If either side of the debate has to work this hard arguing about something which theoretically should improve the lives of the masses of people, there's a big problem.
Even more so than how something is done, people are interested in results, not the details. And once again, as is frequently the case with much of human processing, the facts don't really matter. How people view the world, what they value, and what they want, matters.
And there is nothing collaborative in nature about that. Factor in the strong individualistic American DNA, and this effort is emotionally toast.
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8-16-2009 @ 11:34AM
bub said...
Any one who is for National care is simplely a Freeloader___
that can't stand on there on two feet
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8-16-2009 @ 4:36PM
Roy said...
The US Constitution gives limited powers to our Federal government. Those powers are enumerated, meaning they are "spelled out". No other powers are described or implied, thus the Federal government is forbidden to go there. As citizens, we are both free peoples and responsible for ourselves. We have not given this national government the power to look after us as a "nanny state". Indeed, its only job is to promote the general welfare of society, not the welfare of specific individuals. If I live or die, it isn't the concern of the Federal government. How is one to reconcile a view like that, a view of a conservative that believes in a strict construction of the Constitution with a liberal socialist view that renders our Constitution null and void and meaningless in their utopian view and quest for paradise on earth?
Republicans and Democrats alike have been running our country into the ground and now one administration threatens to bankrupt the country, all in the name of power over the citizenry. If this health care passes, it will be a bitter pill when the masses wake up to discover the true cost of their "free" care. Meanwhile America will become a third world nation and everything that made America great will be gone.
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8-16-2009 @ 8:02PM
Marge Friend said...
Ho and Hum. Will these quarrels between the left and right never cease? The quarrels live on; only the subject changes.When the two major parties get together too much and see things too much alike it's time for the citizens to sit up and take notice. It means that the fox is in the chicken house!~So on with the disagreements!!! But let's remain civil about it
When the two sides of the political parties are too much in agreement it means that the citizens are being taken in. So on with the disagreements! But let's be civil about it!!
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