It was not surprising to see the Republican side of the joint session of Congress sit in their chairs like scolded school children wearing universally constipated expressions of disdain as President Barack Obama presented a powerful and effective consensus healthcare plan to unite the Democrats.
It was also not surprising to hear a member of the Republican side scream out "lie" during a presidential address, one of the most shameful acts ever witnessed, when Obama slapped down one GOP lie after another that he correctly stated were driven by politics rather than care for the American people.
Obama's healthcare concensus plan is plain and simple. And while the Republicans will not loosen their grips on their "bogus claims," as Obama put it, Obama outlined a vision that can help put to rest the most egregious lies even if Republicans, like GOP spokesman US Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), refuse to let up on the "scary stories."
Obama spelled out in English what Republicans will certainly seek to distort in their familiar language of demagoguery. In the first part, Obama said:
1 - There will be NO CHANGE in job related insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or VA provided health coverage. NO CHANGE "in what you have."
2 - Will prevent the insurance robber barons from continuing to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, (the one proposal that drew Republican support). Obama promised that would be in the bill he signs.
3 - No arbitrary caps on coverage costs for patient care. (That has to hurt the insurance industry right where its cold blooded pulse beats!)
4 - Insurance companies will be required to provide basic coverage for routine examines like breast cancer screenings to prevent breast cancer.
In the second part, Obama said that over the next four years:
1 - an insurance exchange will be created where coops of insurance coverage will be made available to those who lose health insurance when they leave or lose their jobs, or change jobs or are self-insured. It's a brilliant idea as Piers Morgan of America's Got Talent might say.
2 - For those who can't afford even that coverage, tax credits will be made available to help them cover the costs. Government will offer low-cost coverage to the poor, an idea Obama credited to his former presidential rival Sen. John McCain.
3 - Everyone will be required to carry basic health insurance, just as everyone is required to carry auto insurance, a proposal that saves billions in money spent to cover those who think they won't have health problems and then do.
Obama spoke to the "demagoguery" and the "bogus claims" forcefully, adding even more to the constipated Republican expressions int he audience. Obama drove a stake into the vampire heart of the Republican narrative when he stressed:
1 - There will not be any "death panels" as advocated by the disgraced former candidate for vice president Sarah Palin, to kill off senior citizens. "It's a lie plain and simple!"
2 - The Obama healthcare plan WILL NOT cover or apply to anyone who is in this country illegally.
3 - No Federal dollars will fund abortion.
4 - There will be no government takeover of private healthcare, promising that the public will have a "choice." No one will be forced to leave their existing coverage to take the modified public option that Republicans have used as the foundation for their demagoguery against health care reform and the defense of the insurance industry lobby. He called on the stoic Republican audience to stop making their "wild claims about government takeover."
In ending his speech, the 15th Presidential address to a joint session of congresss since 1952 (according to retiring ABC Anchor Chalres Gibson), not one dollar of the "sacred trust" called Medicare will be used to fund the healthcare reforms.
"Don't pay attention to those scary stories that your medicare will be cut ... I will protect medicare."
Obama made some final points addressing the scare tactics that his plan is "socialism" or that this is a "government takeover of healthcare, after paying a powerful tribute to the late Sen Ted Kennedy, paraphrasing Kennedy's powerful repeated public tragedy that many families face: "There is something that will make you better, but I can't afford it."
The President reminded the Republicans -- and it was clear the first part of his speech outlining the consensus health care plan to unite the Democrats and the second part was to slam down the GOP demagoguery -- that Social Security was also denounced as "Socialism" when it was first proposed in the 1930s, and Medicare was also denounced as a government takeover when it was proposed in the 1960s.
The President's speech was so powerful it probably sent many of the nation's health insurance industry robber barons into economic cardiac arrest.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
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1 comment:
When President Obama talked about Senator Ted Kennedy's letter. The quote matched my comments at the beginning of my video. The plan I explain would save the Federal government $900 billion over 9 years. The President said his plan only needs $900 billion over 10 years.
I posted my speech on health care reform funding on 9/5/09. Four days before his speech.
Now on youtube:
"A Citizen's Response to President Barack Obama's Health Care Speech"
http://www.youtube.com/user/greenspaceguy
The government already has the funds to pay for universal health care and to reduce our carbon footprint. Stay tuned for an earth-shaking paradigm shift that could save jobs, universal health care, and the environment. The Information Age finally talks to its older brother, the Industrial Revolution. Interchangeable parts in a virtual world.
For a full transcript visit
http://www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com
The 50 million individuals with no health insurance are not just Americans; they are our relatives, neighbors, and friends. Just as the majority of us have no idea what it is like to live with a deadly disease or injury, we also cannot imagine what our lives would be like if we had to face such suffering and pain with no health insurance. We must stop using our mouths to fight and argue over which souls will be covered; we must put our hearts and minds together and find the funds to pay for their care. That would be the American way.
Mr. President,
In a recent radio address you stated that the only way for us to dig our way out of the rut we are in is through innovation. I wish for you and Congress to consider the following policy change. Anyone that has questions or comments or thinks that this will not work, can leave me a comment at www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot or send me an email at whitecollargreenspaceguy@hotmail.com
The Federal government leases or owns close to ½ billion square feet of office space. Most white collar workers work an eight hour shift each day even though most buildings are open for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm. Overall these expensive facilities sit unused 60 to 70% of the time. By keeping buildings open an additional 4 or 5 hours each day, we could schedule 2 shifts of white collar workers, thus increasing our efficiency by 100% and reducing our carbon footprint by 50%. We could cut the cost of overhead for each employee by 40 to 50%, half as much infrastructure, half as much office space, half as many computers and supplies. With the overhead for each of our 2 million Federal workers approaching $50,000 per year, the potential savings could be $25 to $50 billion per year. By extending this new paradigm to independent contractors and state offices where the Federal government pays the state a percentage of the cost, the savings could be between $50 and $100 billon per year. This could be used as the seed money to help pay the cost of covering the currently uninsured...
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