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We’re at a critical juncture in the debate about health care.

Well-financed mercenaries defending the status quo have launched a blitzkrieg of public disinformation in an attempt to derail reform. They claim that our health care system is the best in the world, and it is, if you are rich.

Our real challenge is providing affordable health care to all Americans.

The country has moved to another point in time. More and more people are ready for this kind of reform. Polls from Quinnipiac, CBS/New York Times and NBC all show overwhelming support for a public health-care option.

According to a study by the American Medical Association, health insurance is already a near monopoly in most markets, and "health insurers are posting historically high profit margins, while patient health-insurance premiums continue to rise without an expansion of benefits."

America's health-care system can be compared to the Titanic. The third-class passengers (the poor) on the lower decks have already drowned. The second-class passengers (the middle class) are getting wet as the water rises. The first-class passengers (the rich) are dry and happy on the upper deck, unaware the ship is sinking.

The current system is economically unsustainable. Despite having the most expensive health care system in the world, we’re not necessarily healthier for it.

Nearly a third of the children in this country are either overweight or obese, and a third will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime. Those numbers are unacceptable.

No system is going to be perfect. There are going to be tough choices that have to be made.

 

[meme]

yeah, make a stand to allow your GOVERNMENT to tell you what you can eat, how much you should weigh, hell, maybe they'll get into how much sex you should have...then and only then will you be lucky enough to get some of the healthcare they are giving out, and all the citizens in Us will be FORCED to pay for...

go get er dun..

 

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Health-insurance premiums are increasing at a rate four times that of wages, and private insurance for a family of four now averages over $12,000 a year.

More than 14,000 Americans lose health-care coverage every day.

Whereas 63 percent of workers used to be covered by employer-provided health care, the number has dropped to 56 percent and is falling fast.

62 percent of bankruptcies in our country are related to health-care costs, an increase of 50 percent from 2001 to 2007. Most families affected were middle-class homeowners with good-paying jobs and private health insurance coverage but were still overwhelmed by medical expenses.

25 percent of people put off or fail to get vital health care when they need it due to cost.

Families who planned well and thought they were covered by employer-provided or self-paid private insurance find themselves dumped by insurers after they become ill.

In California, the state has sued numerous large insurers for unfair denial of coverage, and millions of Americans are rejected for coverage due to previously existing conditions.

These are people ages 55 to 65 who have worked hard all of their lives and find themselves out of work. They lose employer-provided insurance, can't get Medicare until they are 65, can't afford COBRA on unemployment benefits and, tragically, learn that age is treated as a pre-existing condition by private insurers who will soak them on premiums or refuse to cover them at all. Many face losing their homes and retirement benefits in order to pay medical bills.

You and the health care fat cats deny these facts and claim that most Americans don't want reform. They're being paid to lie. What's your excuse?

Societal issues such as obesity, smoking and overuse of emergency rooms are issues that also cannot be left to fester. But lobbyists for the health insurance, durable medical equipment and prescription drug industries and others who reap huge profits from the existing mess are spending millions of dollars each day in a well-financed attempt to steamroll Congress into maintaining the status quo.

 

[christiefan915]

yeah, make a stand to allow your GOVERNMENT to tell you what you can eat, how much you should weigh, hell, maybe they'll get into how much sex you should have...then and only then will you be lucky enough to get some of the healthcare they are giving out, and all the citizens in Us will be FORCED to pay for...

go get er dun..

It's the radical righties who focus on sex, dearie. Have you forgotten santorum's "man on dog" comment?

I will be flabbergasted, astounded and shocked if I have to pay more for gov't. healthcare than I now pay, even with participating in an employer health plan.

 

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Democrats pushed major health-care legislation through two House committees and one Senate panel this week, but we cannot be complacent. The mercenary forces opposing health care for all Americans are well-financed and willing to lie and use scare tactics in their attempt to protect the status quo.

Make no mistake, if we step back from this challenge at this moment, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits.