The Green Party Wants Universal Health Care Now-

[Rick Rowlands]

We would listen to you if you actually said anything.  Reposts of news articles and platform statements don't count.  In the school system that you are a board member for, what you do here on a daily basis would be considered plagiarism.

[irishbobcat]

Debating neo-cons is like talking to a wall.....

Ricky and Dan only listen to themselves....

[Rick Rowlands]

The hit and run poster strikes again...

[irishbobcat]

Fine,Dan.

[Dan Moadus]

I'm really sorry Dennis, but in spite of your cordial offer, I must continue posting counter arguments to your posts. I believe so strongly that your proposals are wrong for America, that I can not sit back and allow them to go unchallenged. You should also know that my posts are not simply "knee jerk" reactions. I consider all that you say. Unfortunately you don't even try to defend your positions or expound on why you think they are good.

[irishbobcat]

Dan,  Let's just say we agree to disagree and leave it at that.....

[Dan Moadus]

Wouldn't it be better if we had universal health care? Yes, it would.

Spare me your freedom speech, Dan. Freedom comes from opportunity. opportunity comes from prosperity. Only when we
have true prosperity in this country will truely every individual have freedom......

Dennis, I'm afraid you need "more" freedom speeches not less, because it is clear that you just don't understand or value freedom enough. Just consider your last statement. Are you saying that a country must be prosperous first, which brings about opportunity, which in turn results in freedom?  Boy do you ever have it backwards.

[Rick Rowlands]

What???  Opportunity is what CREATES prosperity, not the other way around! It all starts with freedom.  If I am free to capitalize on the opportunities presented before me, I will become prosperous.  If I am not free to capitalize on those opportunities, through excessive regulation, confiscatory taxes or fees, I will not become prosperous. If the regulations, fees, taxes etc. become too great, the hurdle to overcome becomes too high and I will not even make the effort to capitalize on those opportunities. 

Good grief! Its only 8 am and my blood is already boiling from this forum!  I better get off of this computer and go do something constructive!

[irishbobcat]

Wouldn't it be better if we had universal health care? Yes, it would.

Spare me your freedom speech, Dan. Freedom comes from opportunity. opportunity comes from prosperity. Only when we
have true prosperity in this country will truely every individual have freedom......

[Dan Moadus]

Dennis, just saying, "Wouldn't it be nice to have universal health care?" doesn't cut it. Wouldn't it be nice to have a lot of things? I'd like free electricity, free cable TV, or free food. Of course it would be nice if everyone had health care coverage (most people get health care), but who is to pay for it. The argument is, should we force people to pay for someone else's health care insurance or not? You don't have a problem with forcing people to pay, but you might if it was brought down to a more personal level.

What if we surveyed every street to determine who can't pay for their own insurance and assigned people to pay it for them? How would you like to get a letter in the mail from the government saying that some beaurucrat has surveyed your street and determined that you and four of your immediate neighbors are now assigned to pay for Mrs. Jones and her three children's health care? Now maybe you and your neighbors wouldn't mind helping Mrs. Jones, but in a free country, should the government be allowed to order you to do so? That's where the division lies between liberals and conservatives.

There can be little argument that the country was set up with individual freedom more in mind rather than guaranteeing the welfare of every person. I suppose it can be looked at almost as an experiment, because up until that time, men had only the rights that some king, or thug leader felt generous enough to bestow upon them. For the first time in the world's history people fought to free them selves of rulers and established a government that limited the power of government insisting that "all" rights belong to the people, and that we were to be left alone.

It's lasted a couple of hundred years, but because of people like you, we are slowly allowing the precept of freedom first to erode until we will reclaim man's history of serving masters. What a shame that seemingly intelligent people can not see where this path ends.

[irishbobcat]

The bottom line is wouldn't it be nice to have Universal health care?

As far as Ricky's post...funny, if you support universal health care, you are a leftist media ploy and plant....

Ricky's problem is that conservative media can't report America as having the best health care....because we don't....and that's the truth....

unless the conservatives want to print more lies....

[Dan Moadus]

So "Ricky" loses, huh Dennis? The part where you gave an extenive rebuttal to Ricks comments didn't post. Would you mind reposting?

[irishbobcat]

Ho-Hum.....Sorry Ricky, You Lose....NEXT!

[Rick Rowlands]

 Dennis Prager
If You Believe America Has Lousy Health Care, Here's Why

If you believe that Americans have lousy health care, it is probably not because you have experienced inferior heath care. It is probably because you were told America has lousy health care.

Last week, major news media featured these headlines:

Reuters: "U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study"

Los Angeles Times: "U.S. is No. 1 in a key area of healthcare. Guess which one ..."

NPR: "US Spends The Most On Health Care, Yet Gets Least"

The Week: "US health care system: Worst in the world?"

Now let's delve into this widely reported headline as written by Reuters.

For those readers who rely on a headline to get news -- and we all do that sometimes -- the issue is clear: America is rated as having the worst health care "again."

For those who read the first sentence or two, an even more common practice, the Reuters report begins this way: "Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday. The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found."

For those reading further, the claim of the headline and of the first two sentences is reinforced. The third sentence offers commentary on the study by the head of the group that conducted it: "'As an American it just bothers me that with all of our know-how, all of our wealth, that we are not assuring that people who need healthcare can get it,' Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis told reporters ..."

Only later in the report does the discerning reader have a clue as to how agenda-driven this report and this study are. The otherwise unidentified Karen Davis, president of the never-identified Commonwealth Fund, is quoted as saying how important it was that America pass President Obama's health care bill.

Could it be that Ms. Davis and the Commonwealth are leftwing?

They sure are, though Reuters, which is also on the Left, never lets you know.

Here's how the Commonwealth Fund's 2009 Report from the president begins: "The Commonwealth Fund marshaled its resources this year to produce timely and rigorous work that helped lay the groundwork for the historic Affordable Care Act, signed by President Obama in March 2010."

As for Davis, she served as deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Jimmy Carter administration all four years of the Carter presidency. And in 1993, in speaking to new members of Congress, she advocated a single-payer approach to health care.

I could not find any mainstream news report about this story that identified the politics of Karen Davis or the Commonwealth Fund. If they had, the headlines would have looked something like this:

"Liberal think tank, headed by single-payer advocate, ObamaCare activist, and former Carter official, says America has worst health care"

Conversely, imagine if a conservative think tank had released a study showing that, in general, Americans had the best health care in the world. Two questions: Would the media have reported it? And if they did, would they have neglected to report that the think tank was conservative? The answer is no to both.

In microcosm, we have here four major developments of the last 50 years:

1. The Left dominates the news media in America; and around the world, leftwing media are almost the only news media.

2. The media report most news in the light of their Leftwing values (whether consciously or not).

3. Most people understandably believe what they read, watch or listen to.

4. This is a major reason most people on the Left are on the Left. They have been given a lifetime of leftist perceptions of the world (especially when one includes higher education) and therefore regard what they believe about the world as reality rather than as a leftwing perception of reality.

The same thing happened on a far larger scale in 2000 when the world press reported that the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) ranked America 37th in health care behind such countries as Morocco, Costa Rica, Colombia and Greece.

This WHO assessment was reported throughout the world and regularly cited by leftwing critics of American health care. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, no one other than a few conservatives noted that Cuba was ranked 39th, essentially tied with the United States.

Which means that the WHO report is essentially a fraud. Who in his right mind thinks Americans and Cubans have equivalent levels of health care? For that matter, how many world leaders travel to Greece or Morocco instead of to the United States for health care?

The answer is that WHO doesn't assess health care quality; it assesses health care equality, exactly the way any organization on the Left assesses it. And since the world's and America's news media are on the Left, they report a Leftist bogus assessment of American health care as true.

Imagine this headline around the world: "World Health Organization declares America and Cuba tied in health care."

Of course, only Leftists would believe that. But since non-Leftists would realize how absurd the claim was, that is not what anyone was told. Instead, the world and American media all announced "America rated 37th in health care by World Health Organization."

These two reports illustrate why so many people in America and around the world think America's health care is inferior and why they support movement toward nationalized health care.

But these two reports are only one example of the larger problem -- the world thinking is morally confused because it is informed by the morally confused. How else explain, for example, why America, the greatest force for good among nations, is hated, while China, never a force for good, isn't?

The answer is, unfortunately, simple: Garbage in, garbage out.

[irishbobcat]

The Green Party Wants Universal Health Care Now-Ted Strickland Wants to Keep The Status Quo
Greens support single-payer universal health care and preventive care for all.

Greens believe that a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program is the only solution that will control costs, provide high quality care, and cover everyone. We believe that health care is a right, not a privilege.

Our current health care system kills tens of thousands of people each year by excluding them from care, while its exorbitant cost is crippling our economy. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a national health care system.

Under a universal national single-payer health care system, the administrative waste of private insurance corporations would be redirected to patient care. If the U.S. were to shift to a system of universal coverage and a single payer plan, as in Canada, the savings in administrative costs would be more than enough to offset the cost of additional care. Expenses for businesses currently providing coverage would be reduced. State and local governments would pay less because they would receive reimbursement for services provided to the previously uninsured, and because public programs would cease to be the "dumping ground" for high-risk patients and those rejected by HMOs when they become disabled and unemployed.

Most importantly, the people of America will gain the peace of mind in knowing that they have health care they need. No longer will people have to worry about the prospect of financial ruin if they become seriously ill, are laid off their jobs, or are injured in an accident.

Greens want to provide Americans with a wide range of alternative health care services, not just conventional medicine.

Green Solutions

Enact a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health plan that will provide the following with no increase in cost, including:

1. A publicly funded health care insurance program, administered at the state and local levels;

2. Lifetime benefits for everyone;

3. Freedom to choose the type of health care provider, with a wide range of health care choices;

4. Decision-making in the hands of health providers and their patients;

5. Comprehensive benefits, as good or better than existing plans, including dental, vision, mental health care, hospice, long-term care, substance abuse treatment and medication coverage;

6. Participation of all licensed and/or certified health providers, subject to standards of practice in their field;

7. Portability regardless of geographical location or employment;

8. Primary and preventive care as priorities, including wellness education about diet, nutrition and exercise;

9. Greatly reduced paperwork for both patients and providers;

10. Fair and full reimbursement to providers for their services;

11. Preservation of all health care services currently available;

12. Cost controls via streamlined administration, national fee schedules, bulk purchases of drugs and medical equipment, and coordination of capital expenditures. Prices of medications must be publicly negotiated;

13. Hospitals that can afford safe staffing levels for registered nurses;

14. Establishment of national, state, and local Health Policy Boards consisting of health consumers and providers to oversee and evaluate the performance of the system, expand access to care, and determine research priorities; and

15. Establishment of a National Health Trust Fund that would channel all current Federal payments for health care programs directly into the Fund, in addition to employees' health premium payments.

16. Holistic health including naturopathy, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and herbalism.

17. More comprehensive services for those who have special needs: the mentally ill, the handicapped and those who are terminally ill.

18. A better mental health care system that safeguards human dignity, respects individual autonomy, and protects informed consent.