Pat Oliphant for March 28, 2012

The “fab five” are at it again?

Can you force folks to buy a product? Yes you can. Auto insurance has made insurance companies rich beyond compare. Why are Rethuglicans so against making healthcare insurance companies rich?

I’d much rather have a physician I hire as opposed to some quack that can ONLY get a paycheck through government subsidies/largesse. MY choice NOT anyone else’s.In my perfect world, all Liberals should be required to live in their own utopian section of the country. Let the rest of us pay our own way and see who survives WITHOUT government “nanny state” support or the support of the non-utopian, tax paying workers of the world. I doubt the Liberals will last long before they come a-begging at the Conservatives’ back door since they can’t even feed themselves which is, to a degree, happening today. Classic Marxian “from, to” philosophy. If you don’t know what that means LOOK IT UP!!!

Obama isn’t as much of a warmonger as his predecessor was, and degrees do matter.Otherwise I agree with you, even though I think the healthcare bill was compromised into something maybe worse than useless. I live in Germany now, where health insurance is required, but paid for by the government for people who can’t afford it. System works pretty well and going to the doctor (or hospital) isn’t as expensive as in the U.S. But the Insurance-Doctor-Health industry doesn’t have the monopoly power to set their own prices like they do in the U.S. and ordinary people seem to understand the logic behind it all, unlike Bill Ewing who wants to live in his “perfect world”.

Lets see – so the business owners in an exclusive neighborhood of the area in which I live don’t buy health insurance because they prefer to go to the emergency room (“we pay taxes for it”) and refuse to pay the bills that follow (“it’s our tax money that runs the place”) cause MY insurance rate to increase because they are deadbeats. That sounds real 1% to me. They don’t have to buy insurance because we 99%’ers got them covered. Is this a great country or what – if you are in the 1% :-(

It’s sad that so many citizens have been bamboozled by the cynical campaign against a preliminary reform plan that can be achieved now. Thoughtful people realize that a wide-ranging national health care program will be in place eventually, that catastrophe is coming otherwise. Disease is not sinful. Epidemics and plagues affect the just and the unjust alike.

And you know, any future plan will almost certainly contain most of the things that are presently resisted. Why don’t we just do it all now? Fine-tune it over the course of years instead of in a national emergency?

But good show, GOP – like a proud cat you’ve carried it in your mouth in from the field (having worried it for amusement) and laid it on the doorstep of the Supreme Court.

This might be the unvoiced plan of attack for many politicians opposing national health insurance (taken from secret files, so shhhhhhhhhhh):

“When the idea of national health insurance comes around (some of my wealthiest patrons are health care providers, for chrissake ) I will loudly proclaim it Socialism (never mind that my patrons maintain their power through socialist-like actions). I will say that it would be too complicated to manage. I will try to turn a healthy mistrust of government into a fear that government help for anyone but my favored group is un-American.

“I will play on peoples’ fears of the unknown and make it sound unsuitable; and, by distorting logic, make it look frightening, especially if it isn’t to my benefit. If national health insurance works well in other countries, I will say that there are long lines and doctors are picked for you (laughing up my sleeve, knowing that it’s like that now, anyway — except for me and my cohorts). I will insinuate that cheaper drugs would be inferior and dangerous.

“I will have to skillfully use misdirection to have people avoid seeing the obvious falseness to many of my arguments; and to have people trust not what they see but what I tell them to see. Going on television with my opinions will do wonders for my ego.

“And since sound bites are so effective, if I can come up with cute phrases — most desirably with alliteration or sing-song rhythm or yahoo-populist style — I can make my own point stick in peoples’ minds first and make my opponents’ points sound ridiculous. (I’m so proud of the term ‘Obamacare’!)

“Decisive first strikes obliterate my adversaries. By then the shallowness of my logic would not be a worry. I would have already claimed the moral high ground. (The war analogies are suitable — this is a battle for my estate and prestige.)

“And if all else fails – the Supreme Court! Carefully selected and coddled through the years, the elites’ secret weapon of mass distraction. Bu-wha- hahahaha.”

^ I may be half-heartedly voting for Obama in November, but the immense satisfaction of voting against the GOP nominee will more than compensate for it. Besides, it’s my patriotic duty to help keep Republicans out of the White House.

Is the poor sad liberal feeling picked on just because, just maybe, a bit of freedom is retained for a while longer?

Pretty funny that Bill Ewing thinks that the red states are a utopia of freedom. Aren’t they the ones sucking up tax revenue from the blue states because they don’t believe in paying their own way? Typical lack of critical thinking from cons.

thank god i’m retired military. navy medical types tend to be passionate dedicated professionals, in spite of the hideous pay. or, they’re worthless quacks that couldn’t get a job “outside” anywhere. really easy to pick ’em out, and all you gotta do is go to the patient affairs office, and get a new m.d., if so. noone wants another congressional investigation here (NMC Portsmouth) like the last one.

When the members of Congress give up their lifetime health benefits and pensions ad join the rest of who pay their way then I’ll see the day when we have universal coverage for all.

Health care costs more than plutonium for the following reasons:Greedy doctorsGreedy hospitalsGreedy insurance companiesGreedy drug companiesGreedy malpractice lawyersStupid malpractice jurorsStupid patientsStupid people in generalSolve THESE minor problems, and health care reform will take care of itself!

Some people are accustomed to living in smelly garbage pits and holding their noses isn’t necessary any more. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t stink!

Anyone who actually has a clue about what the ACA does, knows that it doesn’t force you to go to any particular doctor, nor does it force you to use a government insurance plan. The private sector is expected to provide most of the insurance and the coverage. That’s because the ACA was originally a REPUBLICAN health care reform plan, individual mandate and all.Now that it has become a law passed under a Democrat President, they can’t stand it.

You say, “If you do not have a car why should you be forced to buy Car Insurance?” Then if you don’t have a body, you should not be required to have health insurance. I’d go with that.

Thank you. “Supreme Snort” – I like that. Reminds me of the character, “Senator Snort” in “Grin and Bear It.” But as we know, the Honorable Justices will always make a well-considered decision according to The Constitution — just as they did in Dred Scott v. Sanford and Buck v. Bell.

I wonder if universal health care would have been written into our constitution if the nature of illness and disease had been better understood at the time. I think complete health care should be a basic human right and provided by any enlightened nation.

But he wouldn’t have lied to the country about Iraq and moved us into an illegal war that cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. and that my friend, would have made a huge difference in where we are today. He also wouldn’t have deregulated the banking industry

@emptc12Actually, my post was a “quote” from a fictional character of mine, called Professor Feather T. Barnswallow (and I freely admit I swiped that name from the name of a one-man band I happened to see in the Ozarks years ago……), who I use when I want to get all “Poor Richards Almanac.” So I originally posted this same thing on a forum about three years ago. NOW to the chase (as we say in NON-Hollywood…) I’ve always admired your reasoned logic, emptc12, and I know we’re both firm Seuss fans. And you’re right about most of what you said. (ALTHOUGH I should point out that one of the oldest of all proverbs is “Only a fool puts his physician in his will”……) Also, I strongly defend the difference between the concepts of “greed” and “rational self-interest” AND I strongly defend the difference between what is “good” and what is “popular.” And to end this, I somehow or other see the Supreme Court THESE days in these treacherous modern times, as somehow akin to the weird magicians in Dr. Seuss’s classic “Bartholomew and the Oobleck”……

I just love the way oil companies, timber companies (and communities), and insurance companies always whine about “government”, then spend millions on lobbyists, to obtain BILLIONS in profits, from “the government”.

So Tig, if Gov. Haslam imposed the Massachusetts Plan (aka Romneycare) on the citizens of Tennessee you’d be okay with it? Make sure you call your state legislators and tell them so!

which nutjob ya voting for? The one who wants all sex to be procreative? Or the one who doesn’t know what he wants?

The justices are fallible. One of the justices should have to quit his post for un-ethical conduct.Not sure who should decide these things, but the are quite well off. They don’t care that many people just die for lack of care, and more uninsured people rack up huge bills that a little bit of insurance coverage wouldn’t hurt.That’s one of the reasons insurance companies are charging so much. Also how can for-profit corporations be expected to cost less than medicare and other long standing plans?

No, not unless you back it up with specifics. What do you mean by timely? Last year I was booked for an MRI and it did take a while, but in hindsight it really didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already, and maybe it was a waste of a test. If you need an MRI right away, you can get it right away. I don’t claim that the Canadian system is perfect — there are always trade-offs. Here everyone is covered; sometimes you do have to wait, but you know that you’ll get treatment. In the US there are people who need tests and treatment who never get it at all. That’s a long time to wait.

“Really? Obama wants to go to War with Iran to keep Iran from making Nukes”No, it doesn’t seem that he does. He is trying other ways to prevent it. Whether he manages to resist pressure to do so, remains to be seen. It is a fact that he voted against the invasion of Iraq.