I'm ready to get behind O if he's our nom, but I have one VERY serious question first.

His speech tonight said we should hope that "more" people could afford health care. I want a candidate who pushes for ALL of us to have health care.

I love his ability to bring people in. I love his enthusiasm. I love his charisma. I can't fight for him unless I know his healthcare plan is truly progressive.


Obama Nation. Please tell me about your candidates health-care plan.

I didn't catch him saying that he hoped more people could afford health care.

I hope that is a slip of the tongue rather than his overall thought on the matter.

For some of us, it isn't even a matter of affording. It's that with pre-conditions, we are automatically excluded.

I am for Single Pay Universal Health Care.

I want to hear it from his people. If it's good, I'll feel even better about today.

He creates a Health Insurance Exchange watchdog organization that sets a minimum coverage for every policy that is at least as good a the public plan, guarantees every person is accepted at a fair and affordable rate that is not based on health.

He has also said that if he were creating a health system from scratch, he'd prefer single payer but he doesn't think we can get from here to there in one step.

So we'll be funding them instead of healthcare?

and more money than the other plans to make sure there's enough to make it truly affordable.

"I’ll be a President who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American the same way I expanded health care in Illinois – by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done."

Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/01/obama-victory-speech.html

Enjoy!

:hi:

If there's one thing we've learned over the last 7 years it should be that there must be no compromise. These people's idea of compromise is to do it their way. I want a fighting president, not a conciliatory one. Obama scares me.

What outcome? What do you hope to accomplish?

No! The hell with them. I want a fighter who won't be bought.

No? Ooohh, then he's going to have to talk to them, isn't he. Yes he is.

THey need to be legislated AGAINST, not brought in to a consensus. Edwards will support that, Obama is already talking about "working with" the enemy. I want their asses kicked all the way back to the stone age. I do not want them to have a place at the table. I don't want to sully the dog's life by even leeting them have a place in front of the fireplace - they need to be kicked out into the yard where they belong.

It is not going to happen. If insurance companies are part of Edwards' health plan, he has to talk to them or be buried in an avalanche exactly the same way Hillary was.

Obama is going to put it all live on CSpan so when they say their profits go to research, he can point to their huge advertising budget and make them explain. He's the one that's laid out a real strategy to get them into line, not Edwards' red hot rhetoric that means nothing when it's time for action.

Obama has passed important legislation in Illinois and DC. Edwards is the one that got bamboozled by the Bushies.

that's also a very ignorant post.
SnS, I've seen your posts here many times over the years. Some of them I agreed with, some of them I have not.

But this is the most - to be honest - STUPID post I have ever seen you make.

You know better. I suggest you stop for a minute and remember that you are posting on DU.

If I want to lower myself to the level that you hit with this silly post, I only have to say:

No, he doesn't.

A group doesn't have to be specifically outlawed to have their financial support taken away.

and take financial support away? It doesn't even make any sense. If they aren't going to be outlawed, they're going to be talked to. It's common sense.

And don't you even dare admonish me to remember that I'm posting on DU. I don't even know what the hell that means but your post is one of the rudest I've ever seen.

and although I'm not sure I can explain it any simpler, I will try.

First of all, his plan allows for the single-payer system to compete with private insurance. This may seem silly to most Progressives, but it is a "put-up or shut-up" proposition to those on the Right who keep saying "Let the Market Decide". The private insurance companies simply cannot compete with a single-payer system.

So, he doesn't need to talk to them at all. He simply intends to compete with them. When one company undercuts another and puts them out of business, do they have to talk to them? Only if they want to negotiate a buy-out.

And I apologize if you thought my post was rude. But remember that often rudeness is in the eye of the beholder. If I offended you, it may well be because I made a point that you would prefer not to recognize.

Is this the same SandnSea who used to have the SeaHawks as your icon? I disagreed with him on several occasions and agreed with him on others. But I remember him as using somelogic, whether we agreed or not.

As part of their package.

Edwards says he's going to reform insurance laws, require them to accept everybody, increase choices among insurance plans, cut costs for business insurance. That has nothing to do with the Health Care Markets.

Somebody is going to have to introduce his plan. And then it has to get votes in the House and Senate. How is that going to happen without conversation?

It's a pipe dream, completly delusional bullshit that he can just hop into the White House and start ordering everybody around.

Yes I am the sandnsea with the seahawks icon and that why this is another of my always logical posts, whether you agree or not.

Maybe you just needed the right inspiration! ;)

True, as far as "writing new laws" is concerned he does have to depend upon Congress. However, it is a historical precedent that when a President is elected whose same party had a majority in Congress, his policies get passed into law with little or no problem. Hey, Bush didn't get us into the worst deficit in history by himself. But he did it.

And, unlike Cheney's closed-door Energy Task Force, the conversation can be limited so as to exclude the Insurance Companies.

True, it may be difficult. But it can be done. Whether Edwards succeeds or not, I can't predict. But he is the only one who is saying that he is willing to try.

Teddy Roosevelt succeeded. FDR succeeded. Harry Truman succeeded. Edwards may not be any of them, but he is at least willing to try on their shoes when no one else is willing.

Well let's see. Here's Truman discussing something called the Citizens Food Committee. I don't have any idea what it was, it's not important, the point is he talked to business and considered the market. They all did, all the time. They have to. This country has a business base and always will.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12758

It was deliberately set up that way. HOWEVER, the time has come for them to compromise, not us.

Just because he gives them a seat at the table, it doesn't mean he lets them call the shots. Check out what he did in Illinois, I posted one example for you. He has a basic core that he won't budge on, and then considers various opinions on the rest. He brings people to his view and doesn't stop until he does, no matter how long it takes.

The more Republicans and Independents that come over to our side, the more Democrats that will be elected to the Senate. The more Democrats elected to the Senate, the more of our agenda we get passed.

I was taken aback also, because it seemed to indicate that "more" people would be able to afford health insurance...

I looked at the transcript, but if you listen to the actual recording of the speech, it is as HoofHearted described.

He very specifically said he was going to make health care affordable and available to every single American.

His health plan is very easy to read and it's at barackobama.com if you're truly interested.

I watched it twice. I paid close attention and I thought it was a great speech.

Thanks for the link, I am truly interested, I will check it out, but I want words on the ground.

that's all I want.

but those aren't the words he used in the speech...I listened to it twicw because it took me by surprise that he would state it that way...he said more people would be able to afford healthcare, and referred to a woman he had talked with...The transcript is different from what he actually said on that particular point...listen to the video...

I'm not saying he isn't for a form of universal healthcare, but that isn't the impression he gave tonight...

:hi:

I just want healthcare for everybody, real healthcare.

I could be wrong as hell, but it's not personal against Obama, it's just because I know so many people without any insurance at all, and it harmed my own life so much ........ ...... . ............

We're literally dying out here.

I was taken aback also, because it seemed to indicate that "more" people would be able to afford health insurance...

I looked at the transcript, but if you listen to the actual recording of the speech, it is as HoofHearted described.

but I'm not sure??? Don't know what he stands for really in that regard.

Why don't you take it upon yourself to find out the truth? Why do DUers say they're more educated and intelligent, but never bother to go do any reading on their own, just jump at whatever campaign propaganda thats thrown at them.

You want to know? Start reading.

Preach to someone else would ya dad?
You have no clue as to what I've done politically, nor who I am, nor what I'm doing here for that matter.


Barack Obama is a corporatist. He's vague for a reason. What a politician says is as valid as a fart in the wind. And 'The Nation' is about the only thing we can read that would counter the propaganda news. Or didn't you notice? THERE IS NO NEWS ANYMORE!!!

Where have you been on that, and what have you done to improve it? Preach trite smarm at others?

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

It's actually remarkably similar to that of the other two candidates, and after it's fully implemented, no one should be left behind.

Plans and positions during the campaign are just to allow us to judge where he stands.

The House and Senate, assuming that they are solidly Democratic, will put forth a health care plan to a President Obama, if he is elected. It will most likely not be what he is proposing. It could be Clinton's plan, Edwards', or even Kucinich's... most likely having some element of all three and some we haven't thought of yet.

If a President Obama gets that bill, he will probably sign it. So would a President H. Clinton or a President Edwards.

Just because his proposal *now* does not cover everyone, does not mean that a vote for him will exclude Americans from eventual coverage.

I say this as an Edwards supporter.