Arlen Specter is against the same healthcare program that saved his life

zulchzulu

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon May-04-09 08:41 AM
Original message

Arlen Specter is against the same healthcare program that saved his life

I'm not sure if this has been fully discussed, but Arlen Specter was adamant about not wanting to have "government-run" healthcare implemented nationally when asked on Meet The Press on May 3.

Video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30546663#30546663

The transcript:

MR. GREGORY: It was reported this week that when you met with the president you said, "I will be a loyal Democrat. I support your agenda." Let me test that on probably one of the most important areas of his agenda, and that's health care. Would you support health care reform that puts up a government-run public plan to complete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company?

SEN. SPECTER: No. And you misquote me, David. I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat. I did not say that. And last week, after I said I was changing parties, I voted against the budget because the budget has a way to pass health care with a 51 votes, which undermines a basic Senate institution to require 60 votes to impose cloture on, on key issues. But I...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30535930/page/3/

What Gregory didn't ask as a follow-up (i.e., didn't do his job) was how Senators (and congress people) are given that is a government-run public plan that gives people like Specter the healthcare coverage he needed to survive his brain cancer bouts!

So is Arlen Specter, as well as all those who ballyhoo against "socialist", "European-style" government-run healthcare against the very coverage they get from our tax dollars?

Are they against the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, which insures millions of federal workers and works? It's socialist, European-style, government-run healthcare, after all... Here is how the coverage is described on the web site:

The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program can help you and your family meet your health care needs. Federal employees, retirees and their survivors enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country. You can choose from among Consumer-Driven and High Deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health savings/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or Fee-for-Service (FFS) plans, and their Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), or Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) if you live (or sometimes if you work) within the area serviced by the plan.

(snip)

Health information technology, based on broadly accepted standards, will allow patients, health care providers and payers (insurance carriers) to share information securely, driving down costs by avoiding duplicate procedures and manual transactions. More importantly, HIT will reduce medical errors; for instance, from misread, handwritten prescriptions and emergency care medical decisions made without complete and accurate information.

Since privacy and security considerations are central to Federal HIT implementation plans, patient records will be protected from inappropriate disclosure.

http://www.opm.gov/INSURE/HEALTH/

I would indeed hope that one of Arlen Specter's new issues he wants to bring up include getting rid of The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program... after all, it's socialist! It saved his life! Maybe that's a bad thing...

I would implore any and all of those Senators and Congress people to join Specter and show us they indeed don't need the coverage and will walk the walk.

I won't hold my breath...