Okay, here’s, over at DemocraticUnderground.com, one of my favorite web sites, a great post here by berni_mccoy. He says, “If we’re going to name the healthcare bill after Senator Kennedy,” and there’s been a lot of talk about this, I mentioned this yesterday. Why don't we name this, if you’re going to name a healthcare bill, get it out, name it the Ted Kennedy memorial Bill, you know. It’s going to make it a lot harder for particularly some of the Republicans that were actually friends of Ted Kennedy’s to vote against. And there actually are quite a few. Ted Kennedy was one of those guys who was just broadly liked. “But even better,” says berni_mccoy, even better is why not actually introduce the bill that Ted Kennedy himself introduced back in 2007, which was a Medicare for all?
It is what I suggested in an op ed about two weeks ago that went out to our newsletter, to those of you who subscribe to our newsletter, and by the way if you do, if you get our free daily newsletter, you get a copy of all the links. Sue puts it together from our chat room, who also runs our chat room, Sue Nethercott. And you get all the links of all the stories that we talk about every day along with my daily commentary. So, this isn’t so much a plug, just a hey, FYI, because I get a lot of emails from people saying where did that story come from? Hey get the newsletter.
Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago I suggested, why don’t we simply say anybody can buy into Medicare? Now Kennedy actually took it a step farther. He simply said ‘Everybody gets Medicare.’ Period. Medicare for all. In 2007 he proposed this and the added benefit, at least according to berni_mccoy posting over at Democratic Underground, I haven’t confirmed this, but I believe it to be true, because this is not a new law, and because it, it requires funding but it’s not a new law basically. It doesn’t require, it wouldn’t go through the process that could be filibustered. In other words it could be done just by budget reconciliation which only requires 50 votes. So why not simply, if you’re going to have a bill named after senator Kennedy, why don’t we just pull out his bill that he and John Dingle proposed, Dingle in the house, Kennedy in the Senate back 2 years ago, and of course John Conyers variation of it at [HR]676, there’s a bunch of them out there. Bernie Sanders did one in the Senate. Why not just pull out a bill that is healthcare for all?
Well here’s why. The McClatchy Washington Bureau reporting today, "Health care industry contributes heavily to Blue Dogs". And I’ll just share a couple sentences from this and then we’ll pick up your phone calls here.
The first half of this year, 2009, "more than half the $1.1 million in campaign contributions the Democratic Party's Blue Dog Coalition received came from the pharmaceutical, health care and health insurance industries." These guys are raking in the cash. "At the same time, many Blue Dogs were also rubbing shoulders with health care and insurance industry executives and their lobbyists at fundraising breakfasts and cocktail receptions that cost upward of $1,000 a plate... Since 2008, more than half the Blue Dogs have either attended health care industry fundraising receptions or similar functions co-sponsored by lobbyists representing the health care and insurance industries."
For example, in June, as Mike Ross, congressman Mike Ross the Democrat from Arkansas. These are Democrats, the Blue Dog Coalition. The Democrat from Arkansas, "who heads the coalition's task force on health care", the blue dog coalition, "publicly expressed the Blue Dogs' misgivings about" Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reeds efforts and "the Democratic leadership's efforts, the former pharmacy owner", Mike Ross, he used to own a drug store, "was feted at a series of health care industry receptions. Ross has received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from the insurance and health care industries ... according to the Center for Responsive Politics."
A million bucks this guy gets and you wonder why he’s opposed to changing the system. Because the system that can afford to give three quarters of a billion dollars in compensation to their CEO like United Healthcare has done with Steven Helmsley. ¾ of a billion dollars. That’s 700 million dollars. They can take one million of that 700 million just that they’re giving to their CEO and give it to Mike Ross and all of a sudden Mike Ross is dancing like a puppet for them. That’s what’s going on.
House Republicans, by the way, the McClatchy article notes, are actually getting more of the money than the Democrats are. Surprise, surprise. But then of course the Republicans are standing four square against 'socialized medicine, can’t have socialized medicine'. I love this idea of a "1 Million Strong Against our SOCIALIST Fire Departments". That’s what we need. There you go.
Transcribed by Suzanne Roberts, Portland Psychology Clinic.
