We have been trying to advance the government option in bits and pieces since Harry Truman proposed national health insurance in 1948 — 61 years ago. We eventually covered seniors (who would not be covered under private care because they tend to get sick) under Medicare. We then covered the poor (also bad insurance risks) under Medicaid.
We have covered many children under the SCHIP programs. We also cover federal employees, postal workers, members of the armed services, and veterans and their families, Thus somewhere between 1/3 of all US households are already on a government program of some kind. But the “free market” has not found a way to cover nearly 50 million Americans. Why? Because many of them actually need medical care.
I think that every single Republican Senator or Congressman who opposes the public option or Single Payer should be asked to resign from their current federal coverage and seek coverage on the markets they seem to prefer.
Moreover, if Senator McConnell or Ensign, who have been slamming the public option, chooses to resign from their lavish Federal coverage, their personal and committee staffs should also be required to resign. For them to argue that “Americans should rely on private insurance” while they, their families, and everyone who works for them benefits from the exact public option they deplore is pure hypocrisy.
Couldn’t agree more. Here are the nine Senators hypocrites who sent the letter to Obama opposing the public plan option:
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Jim Bunning (R-Ky.)
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
John Ensign (R-Nev.)
Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)
John Cornyn (R-Texas).
And ask people to sign it and send it allong to the wonderful Republican Senators. I would love to hear their reaction to recieving a bucket full. Maybe they would come down from the Tower and see what elitists they really are.
<
p>As Usual Just my opinion
<
p>By the way I will offer to help and offer my email list to send it out as well. Thnak You
<
p>
Terrific idea. I will send it out to my email list too.
Good call. But I would rephrase it in a less partisan way: Why Every Senator or Representative who Opposes the Public Options Should to Resign Their Federal Coverage. That includes any Democrat who oppose it and does not include any Republican who supports it.
<
p>Also, implementation of a “single-payer” system would not really require “starting from scratch.” A large sector of the U.S. population is already on some kind of single-payer system, be it Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, or the VA. If we extended Medicare to the entire population, we would have a single-payer system.
Are all Republicans.
There are still several Democrats who oppose the public option, like Mary Landrieu.