Washington (CNN) – As 'Code Red Rally' conservatives hit Capitol Hill today in a bid to kill the Democrats' health care reform bill, the same message came from a voice from the other end of the political spectrum: former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.
There have been increasing complaints from liberals in recent days, as what they consider key elements of President Obama's health care reform plan – including a public health insurance option, and a compromise proposal that would allow individuals to buy in to the Medicare system at age 55 – have apparently been jettisoned to win the support of conservative Democrats, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, and moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. Some have said the bill has been so watered-down, it may be time to abandon it entirely.
Dean – a doctor who has long made health care reform a signature issue – told Vermont Public Radio in an interview set to air later Tuesday afternoon that the proposal being weighed by the Senate signaled "the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate."
Dean had said earlier that he would be willing to support a bill without a public option, as long as it included a Medicare buy-in provision. If Democrats remove a Medicare buy-in measure to satisfy Lieberman, the bill isn't worth backing, said Dean – and congressional leaders should start over at square one.
"If Barack Obama's healthcare plan gets changed to exclude a public option like Medicare, then it is not healthcare reform," he said in a post on his Web site. "Legislation rises and falls on whether the American public is allowed to choose a universally available public option or not."
On Tuesday, Dean seemed to suggest the bill had already fallen. "This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate," he said. "Honestly, the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House."
VPR also said the former Vermont governor had suggested it was time to consider employing the controversial budget reconciliation procedure, which would also require a simple majority of 51 votes.
One of the central issues of Dean's presidential run in 2004 was a call for universal health care.
–CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this story
From CNN Politics
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I found myself in the rather embarassing position of agreeing with Howard Dean....never the less........Kill the Bill
By wanting to 'kill' the senate bill, they admit to wanting to 'kill' americans. Which is no surprise to those that are aware of what republicans stand for, killing americans.
As usual Dean gets the facts backwords. It is the democratic plan that will kill the health care in this country. I'm glad I didn't have to use Dean as a dr. since he is pushing this nonsense.
Its time to kill both the Senate and the House bills.
There has to be something done to this sinister Lieberman. They need to get him out of there....he has his head stuck up the Republicans tail/the party of no...This will all come back to bite them.
except obama is a realist, he will be the 1st pres to get a giant bill without reconciliation (a la reagan and bush tax cuts). he will then do the same on climate and so on and so forth and howard the ducks life will be tons better
"I didn't change my mind on the Medicare buy-in," he said Tuesday. But circumstances, he argued, had changed greatly over the past nine years. Among other things, the country now has huge deficits - as opposed to a budget surplus - and Medicare is now on verge of bankruptcy, he said.
--
You mean the deficits he caused by voting for war? So Lieberman has been killing Medicare for 9 years and continues to today
Amen, Brother Dean. We could have been a first world country with single-payer health insurance, like all civilized countries have had for years. We could have been as well insured as our military, the president, and congress.
Unfortunately, our congressmen considers themselves more important than we who elected them. So, we get to pay high premiums to bloated insurance companies who are exempt from anti-trust laws and in it purely for greed. Or else, we get nothing but bankruptcy and an early grave.
Democrats are in control and should not bend over. This bill is just another giveaway to big buisness. if there is no real change I am done with the Democrat party..... bye bye
Dean is merely another ultra liberal out-of-touch with what the Amrican people really want. It's a good thing he is not up for reelection. He would loose, too.
There's money to be made with off of sick and dying Americans.
The wealthy elite, the fat cat insurance corporations, the Wall St Banking financeers, don't care about America and Americans, just let the money roll in, no matter how, no matter who has to die. Plunder and looting of America continues. The American Middle class is going to die a sad and miserable death.
Obama, I voted for you, I expect better from you than this. Howard Dean is right, Howard Dean is the voice of the huddled masses now, not Obama.
INTERUPTION: These are DEMOCRATS calling for Obamessiah's failure on this one...you can continue on with your bickering now....
Dear Harry Reid,
With friends like John Dean – who needs enemies?
Regards,
A Concerned Voter
Obama will make it passed. He just wants to pass something, so he can claim he did some historical change. He is doing everything just for his win in 2012, not for this country's benefit at all.
Finally someone with a backbone!! No public option/No Reform!!!!
I agree with Howard Dean on 2 points. We need health care reform and this bill is not it. It's important enough to go back to square one. But this time, make lowering the cost one of the main objectives. Our economy is on life support and we don't need this working against it.
I'm with Howard Dean on this one! Give us a 5 page document that does simple legislation without fancy wording. Get rid of Insurance companies and their influence. Get rid of this manditory crap that feeds money to the crooks! I won't buy it no matter what you do, Government Hacks! Lieberman and Blue Dogs: REPRESENT THE PEOPLE – NOT YOUR BOTTOM LINES! Go, Howard Dean!
Good kill the bill. In it's rush to pass it, they have tossed out regard for actual reform and costs in the name of a bill. Obama needs it to pass no matter what a piece of crap it is. Shows there is no change. Republicans band together to get things done while a Majority, the Democrats, fight amongst themselves and nothing gets done. Call the republicans the party of no all you want. Apparently they get things done while Pelosi and Reid can't do anything.
What is Obama and Reid doing? We don't want Lieberman's healthcare reform, we want the public option. Please don't abandon us now!
Here are five simple things to try to rein in health care costs, before resorting to a complete takeover by the government: 1) cap medical liability lawsuits, 2) remove the tax benefit for employers providing health insurance, 3) allow interstate purchase of health insurance, 4) allow the re-importation of drugs, and 5) forbid doctors/hospitals from charging lower rates to people with insurance.
So I guess I should be donating my money to Lieberman since he's making all the decision.
I have tremendous respect for Howard Dean and his straight thinking,straight talking way of dealing with this nations problems but I have to admit that when he talks this way, I become scared for the millions of people who have no medical care at all. Layoffs in every phase of our working world have left families with small children nowhere to turn. Don't say "Emergency Room at your local hospital. They are already overflowing and going broke. I don't understand how the opponents { solidly covererd with government money} can care so little about their fellow man {and women and children}. I've never been aware of such cold indifference in our society. This does not bode well for all of us and that does include YOU.
So I guess I should be donating my money to Lieberman since he's making all the decisions. Obama & Reid are such a disappointment!!!
Pass the bill Senator Palpatine gutted.
Then attach a public option rider to every piece of legislation that sends American tax dollars to the middle east.
I'm sure the very principled Senator Palpatine will know which way to vote.
I dont beleive what I just read, Dean standing up to Odumbo.................................................WOW. Kind of makes me wonder what he wants now. Hummmmmm if Dean is telling the truth, God bless him for saving our stupid butt's
If this can help 33 million people without insurance, we should at least have the discussion.
You mean to say Screamin' Howie Dean is still in politics?
I agree with Dean. This is not a Health care reform bill for the people. It's a big time win for the insurance industry.
When will the Democrats be true Democrats and do the will of the people?
Weed out the cross dressing republicans who are posing as democrats.
Get rid of the Scumbags like Lieberman and others who are wasting everybody's time.
Joe, Adolf is looking for you.
Does anyone even listen to this clown anymore ???
Howie, Howie, Howie.....you just don't get it. That loser Obama will do ANYTHING just to get this passed. He has been such a dismal failure at everything that he has tried to do so far that he just needs to get something passed, even if it doesn't look anything like what he initially wanted so that he can claim a victory at something.
Three more years and Obama can get back to organizing playground soccer games or whatever it is that community organizers do.
Counting the members of Congress, the President and the U.S. Supreme court, there are 545 people who control virtually every facet of our lives. And then there is Joe Lieberman. How can this guy wrangle the other members of the Senate so effectively?
The fact that we don't have a clean, workable, effective and inexpensive national health care plan is entirely their fault. They cannot lay the blame at the feet of "the economy", "insurance company lobbyists" or "regulations".
So, my question is this: Why in the hell don't the remaining 300,000,000 of us throw these bums out and find courageous people who'll do the right thing?
It's a simple reality that the collective vision of the President and Congress extend only as far as the next election!
Vote health care in 2009 and will vote your duffs out in 2010.
i agree with him,and then they need to strip joe liberman of his commities.
Vote health care in 2009 and will vote your rumps out in 2010.
It's a sad day for American's that the health care reform bill has been sabotaged singlehandedly by Lieberman. The Republicans are voting "No" because they don't want the Democrats to get credit for reforming Health Care. They want to take back control of the Senate. Lieberman, on the other hand, is vindictive and trying to take down the democrats because Connecticut ousted him from the Democratic Party. The old saying, Keep your Friend close but your enemy closer. Lieberman is trying to stay in the loop posing as a sheep with the democrats but truly is a wolf. He stabs the democrats in the back every chance he gets. It's time for him to be stripped of his chairmanship. And it's time for Reid to push thru the Senate bill with the public option. There is other ways to make this happen! If the democrats do not pass this bill their days as the majority are numbered.
I agree with Howard Dean 120%.
Sinister Lieberman must go!!!
in the state of illinois i cant get help from medicade unless i'm disabled or have kids under 18,all my unemploment goes to rent and thats it.ican't even buy my meds.so this bill doesn't help me at all.
If this goes down again , it will be a NATIONAL DISGRACE..
The Republicans are still destroying this country as they have for the last eight years !
Time to go Reconciliation and jam it down their "Corporate Driven throats.
The Dean Scream against rationale debate before the government expropriates 15% of the US economy. Typical leftist hysteria.
Can't believe I actually agree with this loon. KILL THE BILL. It was horrible to start with, and the more they play with it its just getting worse. I pray they go the nuclear option way!!! The Republicans will have a field day, objecting to everything in it that is not budgetary. Meaning it would look like swiss cheese when they were done with it. Then the loons in the house wouldn't vote for it, since it wouldn't have the public option. After going nuclear, Reid would seal the fates of all Dems next Nov, even more then they are sealed now. Love it, the American working people, win one for a change.
"Code Red Rally" Republicans. "Tea Baggers". We found something that the G NO Pers can do. Come up with slogans. Now if they would only do something, anything, that would improve the lives of the Americans that they are supposed to represent, that would be something. Saying No, No, No, No, and supporting the status quo doesn't get it done.
Calling the President of the United States of America dumb names is so very unpatriotic and extremely rude. Some of you disgust me!
Perhaps Howard Dean is right, but it's a sad, sad day for America if that's true!
2 choices:
Pass what we can, and amend it when it proves inadequate to the goals of reform;
Kill the bill, and wait another 15-20 years, with the costs and unnecessary deaths that will follow, until we have another Congress willing to take the political risks involved in solving the problem.
I hate to say it, but I prefer the first option to the second.
The two biggest pieces of reform required, big pharma and trial lawyers just happen to be the special buds of the Dums. No wonder tort reform and pharma control is missing from this, the Dums are sickening and I am glad they are getting embarrassed by this. NOV 2010, the end.
I want a public option to be included in the health reform legislation that is being discussed in the Senate as do all Americans who care about their fellow citizens. But I am resigned to see a bill that does not include a public option in order to get the other good measures passed into law. Maybe in the next congress conditions will be better for passing a public option than they are now. I am convinced that we need it if not a single payer system.
Obozocare has now morphed into nothing more than a Big Government spending bill without a public option, major cuts in Medicare, reduced patient freedom, no tort reform, no availablity to purchase insurance across State lines, etc. etc.
No GOP input was allowed inside Reid's closed doors and regretably 60 Democrat votes now appear to be bought off via Barry's Chicago strong arming yesterday including Lieberman who caved like a house of cards.
The only true benefactors of Obama's Healthcare reform are liberal beaurocrats that hunger for political power and European-style Socialism.
The good news is that this historic vote will ultimately lead to their demise!
Americans are FED UP with tax and spend politics forced down their throats. THE PEOPLE will be heard and our supposed "Democrat Leaders" will rue the day. This is an absolute truth my friends!
It's a simple matter – which is more important, covering the health of the American people or protecting the profits of huge corporations who hold death over the heads of the population?
Talk about national security. It's embarrassing to be a citizen of a nation that places no value on our well-being. We're just suckers to be used by anyone with enough money to choke the Senate with lobbying.
Strip the Senate of any health coverage at all and let them forage for themselves. Strip them of salaries too until they do the nation's business.
Joe really stuck it to the liberals. It's personal.. not principle.. the Medicare extension was his idea. Joe will not vote for anything liberals like. Period. And if the democrats think that Joe will support them in the climate bill.. they need to remember they also thought he would support his own health care idea. Until the liberals liked it.
Who needs the fed? Put your money where your mouth is. Make this a state issue just as gay marriage is. Work at the state level and accomplish health reform there and sooner or later it will spread. Why do we always want the fed to do what we should be doing at home? They hold our money. Pass health reform at home and grow some backbone and tell the fed 'NO' as a state as far as comig in and takig our tax money and keeping it home for health care within the state. Gosh...restrict their power to take our money and create what we want at home. Gee...what a two hundred plus year old thought that is.
If you've ever worked for an insurance company you will find that doctors know nothing about insurance that's why they hire people to do that job. Doctors and insurance just don't mix.
Wait I thought Obama was all tingly that the bill may be about to pass in the Senate. Does this mean liberals lead by Dean may try to kill it? If that happens will Liberman and Republcans be the bad guys for wanting to kill the bill but Dean and the liberals good guys for wanting to kill the same bill? This is really too funny. Maybe Dean is just screaming out of his pie hole again and like most times, no one is listening.
Please go with reconciliation ... PLEASE.
Please do not toy with me like that!
I was happy to see the public option get dumped. But to think that this bill could actually be killed is even better.
Believe me libs, you are better off without this bill. The public option was never going to be what you thought it was and Medicare was going to be destroyed.
Nooooo! We need reform.
It's all about the bottom line for Republican's: Huge Corporate Profits.
Yes, the bill is absolute detritus now, no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Joe Lieberman should be exiled.
your right obama is a clown, we don't want to hear this idiot anymore. he has no clue what he is doing and everything is in a big hurry. why can't he say i am here for 3 more years, you guy's figure out health care and get back to me.
I agree, it's time to strip Leiberman of anything, then when he waffles he can't be seen as upholding his moral fibre. Time to let him go, be adults and send him to his room without dinner, let him split the GOP vote in the next election and not the Democratic vote.
Lieberman will not be running for reelection. So don't worry about voting against him. He is washed up. He knows it. So he is going to cash in while he has a chance. Make as much as he can from health insurance lobbyists and whoever else can get him to vote their way and in a few more years he will retire a happy man, probably to his true home state of Israel.
Reconciliation Process
Include the public option. include medicare at 55 (Heck, make it 40 just to piss them off). And create a windfall profit tax on insurance companies alone.
We tried working with them, that didn't work, they will NOT let anything pass under a 60 rule. Time for reconciliation process. 51 votes, that's all we need. If they don't like it, they can change it in 2010 IF they have the votes to do it.
Hey, Howard Dean has finally got it right. The healthcare bill is so full of bribes for various senator's to garner their votes that the result is 2000 pages of crap!
I am really disappointed in all the so-called Democrats who have killed the good features of this bill because of pettiness and their own selfish interests. Lieberman disappoints me, but I'm not surprised at his stance because it was mostly Republicans in his state that voted for him in the last election, and he's not a democrat; he's an independent. The progressives in Conn. voted for LaMont. However, I don't think he should be allowed to keep his committee chairmanships. But I don't think people like Ben Nelson should be calling themselves Democrats if they don't support the party's platforms. I don't particularly care for Harry Reid, but I think he's doing the best he can considering the number of Democrats he has to deal with who are Republicans in sheep's clothing. I like the idea of attaching the public option as a rider to bills financing the mess in the Middle East. If it weren't for that mess Bush left us with, we could afford a lot more for our own people.
"So, we get to pay high premiums to bloated insurance companies who are exempt from anti-trust laws and in it purely for greed"
Spoken like someone with no clue. Ins companies are exempt from federal anti-trust laws NOT STATE ANTI-TRUST LAWS. Why? Because every state has a different scope of practice. Insurance companies have to pay the u/c for that state. Ins companies are the most regulated industry out there.
"and in it purely for greed"
Says the guy that wants free health care on someone else’s tax dollar. Insurance companies pay millions of dollars in med bills per year. Someone who pays $2000 in premiums can have a $140000 hospital bill covered at 100% (happened to a friend of mine).
A simple matter? Take other's money to with what you feel is right? I wouldn't call opposition to universal health coverage a protection of insurance companies, I would call it protection of liberty. You feel that the government should take my hard earned money to pay for the health care of those who can and can't afford under the guise of compassion. I feel that compasion is when I willing give my hard earned money to help those less fortunate.
Yours and other liberal's simple solution? Give the federal government the power to force my earnings from my hand. Or, in other words, create a tyranny that simply steals it.
Thank you so much for your compassion.
It should have been killed when they decided they were going to ram anything they wanted down our throats. Health care needs revamping, yes. However, we don't need a government option, or expensive health insurance, or anything else RUN by the government. Police the insurance companies and make some changes.
I am just about sick to death of this country...Everything is about an agenda and it has nothing to do with the welfare of the American people...President Obama has come into office with genuine intent on bringing about real change to a country that in reality is one catastrophe away from being another Soviet Union or, God forbid, another Roman Empire... Yet our congress is so caught up in meeting their own individual agendas that they could care less about you or me...There is nothing United about the State of America except that we have all bought in to what our no good, good for nothing government has been selling us for all of these years, which really amounts to nothing at all...We are willing to spend our tax dollars to go overseas and kill people and have our own people killed, but we're not willing to spend those same dollars in our own country to save people lives?...There's something flawed about this logic...Wake up Americans and understand that we cannot get anything for free!...Get the bill passed people and stop playing the old bs political games that have kept this country from being the great nation that it could be.
Obama can not kill the bill. He has made deals with the insurance industry and the drug industry. They pay the bills. Obama has to give them their rewards regardless.
When you sell your soul to the devil you do not have an option. Now Obama must pay up.
I agree Dr. Dean since there is no public option there will be no reform.
If it is passed as it sits, no one will be happy. The cons will be upset and the progressives will be upset.
If it passes it is a no win for Dems.
Congress should move on to a plan to allow derelict homeowners with past due mortgages the ability to borrow more money that they won't repay to insulate their homes to reduce the utility bills that we subsidize.
It's win-win.
It is sad to see the American political system fail in front of my eyes. It is clear that the will of the American people cannot be done unless we have term limits on Congressional and Senatorial seats. All these clowns care about is their own personal gain and where the most money comes from.
As for the "Birthers" and "Tea Baggers", please actually fact check the emails that you pass back and forth. Keith's reference to "Barry" is another example of false and misleading emails that either twist the facts or run with fictional news stories as the truth, much like their leader Rush ran with a fictional Obama story and then claimed that it didn't matter that it was fictional because he knows Obama thinks it. What pig slop.
Will you on the left please stop saying that Republicans either
a) hate Americans
b) want to kill Americans
You sound so foolish. That is the argument a 5th grader would make. Grow up. There are different visions on how to accomplish fixing the problems to healthcare. That's it. Pretty simple. No, the Republicans don't want Americans to die. No, Lieberman's wife isn't influencing his decisions. No, Republicans aren't in the back pockets of insurance any more than Democrats are (just look at the campaign contributions). Just grow up.
How about this for an idea: Have the insurance options that our wonderful people in Congress have available to all. If you can't afford it and still want insurance, have some program in place that people have to qualify for and subsidize them. It's not that difficult.
I am sick of this whole debate. Pass a bill and change it when there are problems. That is what representative democracy is all about. Stop the hate. The republicans ave totally embarassed themselves and I'm tired of the Obama name calling. Get over it. Give Obama 8 years like bush stole and lets see where the country is in 2016. I am betting on Obama.
OMG! I always thought I would never agree on anything with former Governor Dean. Him, going against President NObama's wishes; that's really precious. And, he happens to be right, too!!!
Go Mr. Dean!
Connecticut can run the Anti-Christ against Lieberman and I would make donations to it's campaign!
But I agree, be done with health reform and just kick down the road, again.
Why lose mid-terms over this current watered down mess.
It is not the governments responsibility to provide health care for you. It is your responsibility. It is your responsibility to take care of your family's health care. If you can't, don't have a family. I shouldn't have to work and pay taxes to pay for you that are too stupid, lazy and whiny to take care of your self. Maybe if you can't afford health care you should cut out the cable or satallite TV, the cell phones, computers , the internet and 52" TV's. If you can't afford insurance and you're on-line I have no sympathy for you. I'm a paramedic and I see these kinds of things everyday. People that complain about how poor they are but have more than I do. Now the dems want to take more of my tax money and give it away. This country was founded on self reliance but now it's all about what can the government do for me. If you want free health care, wealth redistribution and a nanny state, MOVE TO EUROPE!! People who work hard and pay taxes in this country are sick of you and your kind.
I cannot believe that I am agreeing with Howie! When the American People voted for Obama, we voted for change NOT more of the same. Obama ran on a platform of universal access to health care. I am sick and tired of the insurance companies & big business running things in this country. The Democrats should develop some spine & tell Joe Lieberman, the traitor that he is, to go to hell! We expected some form of a public option. If there is no public option, then I would rather see the bill go down in defeat. The president has put this artificial Christmas deadline on the bill. I totally disagree with him on that deadline. If it takes until the new year for a better bill to be created, then so be it! No bill is better than a bad one! If the Feds can't do it, then let's do it on the state level.
Senator Joe Lieberman is a menstral cramp. I heard he walked three miles to vote, but I bet he got a ride home. Talk about trying to create a Lincoln moment! Does he often like to say "no," just because everyone else is saying "yes?" Or perhaps time and again he finds he's the ONLY one in a group holding a particular point of view. Does he thinks this makes him a free thinker? He's a Bush/Cheney butt kisser.
It is time to cut the UMBILICAL CORD between Lie berman
and the Democrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe Lie berman is only looking out for Joe Lie berman and
his wife whose pocket is being filled with $millions from
many many private health care providers!
Something fuzzy about this story it began at the finish line and end there. Doctors without border we need Doctor within our border who will stand up for the American people
I hate to agree with Dean, but... kill the bill. Get a public option or medicare buy in and use reconciliation. Without those, this bill makes it mandatory to have health insurance, but leaves us at the mercy of the insurance companies to raise prices or drop us at will. I don't like this at all.
If you ever work for a Doctor, you'd find out that insurance companies likewise know nothing about medicine.
I agree with Dean. Let the bill die and make sure every uninsured person in the country knows it was the GOP that killed health care reform. Drum that into the heads of every voting American every hour on the hour from now until the mid-term elections.
kill the bill is right, but a 51 vote majority will corrupt America more and will never lead to a consensus it will lead to what the Democrates are trying to get now, the Obama Dictatorship. Americans dont want a dictatorship nor do we want the traitor Obama as our leader.
Kill this lousy bill and start over................with real reform.
Nobody wants the left wing liberals in charge either..
Dean has more sense than I have given him credit. He knows, as does most Americans, that this is a terrible bill. The problem with this, and all future give away bills, is that only 50% of us pay taxes. What are you free loaders going to do when the tax payers become less and less?
I think Democrats should pass this bill and put the public option in a rider to a defense bill. It only costs $3 Billion over 10 years and it can be added later.
without the Public Option or 55 yrs age for buying into Medicare the Health Care Bill would be meaningless for the millions of uninsured Americans.
It seems that those who work for big business & their own welfare have managed to deprive American people of their right – 'universal health care'.
Sen. Joe Lieberman & Co have succeeded in killing the bill as it was meant to be. God help us.
Dean is half right, it is time to kill the Senate bill. But he's half wrong too–resurrecting the House bill is about as imbecilic an idea as the bill itself is.
Only about 40% of American voters want what Congress is trying to saddle us with, and more than a majority actively don't want it.
The American public desperately needs health care reform, health cost reform, insurance reform, and tort reform. But as long as we are represented by a bunch of crooks, frauds, and self-interested scoundrels like LIEberman, and the rest of the GOP clowns on the one side, and weak kneed, weak willed, and lilly livered liberals on the other side, we will continue get screwed. When will the people of this country STOP voting against their own best interests, by electing these buffoons and hoodlums?
Lieberman is an absolute Judas and backstabber. He once supported single payer universal care and now he's become an agent of the vile obstructionist Republicans.
Dean should stick to practicing medicine.....
I'm thoroughly disgusted with incumbant beaurocrats! GOP and Dems alike!
Vote them ALL out! We The People need to take our Country back! Taxation without representation is clearly evident when the majority of Americans are completely opposed to Obummercare. Left,Right and Moderats! Yet, they will pass it only for political gain and capital. Those benefitting the most are Politicians that have clearly exempted themselves entirely. Pitiful pitiful pitiful!!!!!!
This bill if passed will kill americans. More people will be covered and there is no health care. Get it right or don't let it pass.
I understand Dean's perspective, however, at this juncture the focus should be to pass the best possible health care legislation, tackle other very important legislation, and work hard to gain a wider margin majority victory in the next election. Then once this is gained, reintroduce and pass real health care reform that the Goofy Obstructionists Party, traitor Lieberman, gutless "conservative Democrats", and insurance and big pharma lobbyists cannot interfere with.
"It's a simple matter – which is more important, covering the health of the American people or protecting the profits of huge corporations who hold death over the heads of the population? "
What's with the dramatics? Every lib has the insurance companies and the republicans killing people.
Insurance companies like BCBS and UHC cover over 100 million people and pay millions of dollars in med bills per year. They save lives by flipping the bill. They are not perfect, but they do more good than harm. This country needs them to not only pay the bills but they provide thousands of jobs. So knock it off already.
Obama and obamacare are both now failures.
Hillary was right !!
This is simple all right: letting businesses do their business and receive profits, or letting the government decide that people have a right to a material commodity, that must be produced by human effort, and ensuring that they receive it through some sort of socialistic program, however watered down.
To paraphrase Ayn Rand, health care does not occur in nature. Someone must provide it. If people have a RIGHT to it, that means that health care and insurance providers must be enslaved.
There is NO RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE.
i dont believe in politics... this country is runed my corporate america.. people weak up!!1 Obama has no control his just a picture.
Eliminate the federal health plan for senators and congressman, let them fend for themselves as we do in the morass that is our health care system, and you will see health care reform in the blink of an eye.
This bill was decided in backroom deals in typical washington style, Obama promised transparency and that all debate would be on CSPAN.
LISTEN the people DO NOT WANT THIS either on the left, right, or in the middle. Lets start this over with a clear view of what is needed and work our way to a workable no cost solution.
Why is this so over the top and complicated.
TIME to KILL Dean's MOUTH!!!
If you start all over – it will allow the REPUBLI-CAN'Ts more time to spread LIES!!
The bill doesn't need to be killed. Progressives need to calm down. If the bill contains ONE major bit of language, it would be increasing the medical ratio to 85 to 90%. That would, in essence, cap the profits of the insurance companies and bring down costs.
Now, assuming Lieberman actually votes 'yes' (which I highly doubt, regardless of what the bill says), all Harry Reid needs to do is have a robust "Commissioners" amendment in the bill. The commissioners amendment will have provisions in it that would need to be addressed in conference (assuming the House votes 'yes' on the bill when it gets to them).
Once the bill has been passed by both houses, the conference committee would get together to discuss the commissioners amendment. At that point, I believe a simple majority vote is all that's necessary.
The key is TO GET A BILL PASSED, NOT killed.
Don't kill the bill. It needs to pass to move on to the next step.
Unfortunately he's right. Time to pass real reform with a simple majority or move on to other issues.
Howard may be right. Kill the senate bill and fall back to the house bill. That would take away lieberman's ability to hold the country hostage by making them put in what the insurance companies that he represents want.
If you want a bill that is approved by these turkeys you will be sorely disappointed. I strongly urge that any health care bill passed by these hacks include them. They should the same health care benefits that covers the rest of us. After all .. they are "public servants" and should enjoy our liberal benefits.
For the sake of argument, let's just say that we completely rolled over and allowed the Democrats to institute not only public option, but we went completely over to the dark side: single-payer.
Can anybody with a straight face name a country with a population greater than 50 million people that has instituted single-payer in the last 40 years that isn't also experiencing spiralling, out of control health care costs? Please, somebody name ONE country that has done this successfully.
This is pragmatism at work. Pragmatism will never succeed at making everyone happy. This proves majority of democrats are anything but liberal. Poor progressives thrown under the bus by Obama. This is why you should never embrace authoritarianism, be it Left wing or Right wing.
Joe Lieberman is not a man of principle but a man of opportunity. like every politician before him and sadly every politician after. What opportunity do you see Howard Dean?
Vote for the Republicans in 2010 and 2012. Vote the socialist / liberal democrats OUT....NO obamacare, No cap and trade, No more pork bills. Lets get the economy and JOBS for the American People first.
He is right. It is too watered down. Kill the bill.
Republicans have ONE goal, destroy HC reform, at any cost, and preserve the insurance companies and the status quo. They nearly destroyed our country for eight years are so single mindedly focused on winning the next election that they will NEVER do what is right for the country if they have to work with the President. They can't compliment him, approve of a single decision, agree with a single point; they must oppose EVERYTHING, AT ALL TIMES, TO ALL PEOPLE. That is the sorry state we now find ourselves in; asking Washington to work together for the common good when we know they NEVER WILL, in fact they CAN'T.
I like Governor Dean, I read his book and found his points clear and cogent and I have met and spoken to him on the issue of healthcare reform. However, I think that he is misguided and wrong in advising senate Democrats to kill H.R. 3200 the healthcare bill. Despite the fact that this bill is flawed, it conveys a small step in the right direction towards real healthcare reform and that is better than no movement at all in that direction. Thre is alot at stake for all Democratic politicians including President Obama. There is also a lot at stake for all Americans, including me. Governor Dean is no longer an elected official who has the unenviable task of explaining to his constituents the reason for failing to pass healthcare reform legislation. He has the luxury of saying that the bill should be killed. President Obama and Democratic lawmakers have no such luxury and are tasked with burden of being accountable to their constituents. Failure to pass healthcare reform is not an option that any one can afford.
gutless,,,,,,,your right gov dean .... the democrats are gutless ,,,get rid of all those so called democrats there just useless ,,, pitiful....
I agree. This bill is a big Christmas present for the for-profit insurance companies and CEOs.
It's time for single-payer. Remove the profit from health insurance and finally kick those blood-sucking insurance leeches to the curb.
I don't understand why 57% of Americans is enough to elect a President but 57 senators isn't enough to get a job done. Enough, already.
Let's put a clear choice before the people:
1) Single payer, not for profit, like Medicare
2) Public buy-in and subsidies for poverty level citizens into Congress's health plan
3) business as usual
I bet single-payer wins by 57%, minimum.
I'm with Howard Dean; he should have been our President but our citizens are too stupid and are led by the MSM to reject anyone with common sense–there was no "scream" in Iowa in 2004.
I have no respect for Howard Dean, But Kill this debacle to save America. It will ruin health care and break the nation.
I don't think it's time to kill the Healthcare Bill.
I DO think it's time for voters to ban in front of Joe Lieberman's home and driveway and let everyone who enters know that they are entering the home of a Pariah and self-absorbed Snake.
I DO think if voters travel to Washington and get in Lieberman's face and his wife's face and confronts him at every turn – Lieberman will begin feel the fear of betraying the people of Connecticut and the people of this country!
Unfortunately, it now seems that the Democrats in the Senate plan to give in to the likes of Joe Lieberman and get rid of any type of public option in the health care reform bill including the Medicare expansion option so they can say they’ve passed a healthcare reform bill this year. After many decades and various attempts to pass healthcare reform is this the best we can do? Definitely not. We need to demand that our elected officials keep the public option in the bill. It’s not right to rush this through for political expediency. We’ve suffered and waited long enough for this momentous opportunity, and we refuse to waste it. A few more weeks to get it right is worth it. The “something is better than nothing” philosophy is not change I can believe in. As it stands, this is not compromise, it’s acquiescence.
what a smart man
Good-bye Dean. NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU SAY ANYMORE>
Cut aid to Israel and put the money toward health and jobs for Americans. It's our tax money.
Howard Dean is saying that if the health care lacks a public option or extended medicare then it is not really going to help the people who need and it might as well be scrapped. However, that is EXACTLY what the Republicans want. Remember when they said this would be Pres. Obama's Waterloo. They don't care at all about what is best for the people, they just want President Obama's plan to fail. That is very sad and greedy. Sen. Lieberman is just acting like their lap dog now and doing their dirty work. Don't forget who he campaigned for in the last election- John McCain. How is it right that one man can derail a plan that hundreds of other politicians support and millions of people want? The Democrats should just ignore the few spoilers and go the reconciliation route.
I say the Dems in Conn. vote Joe out. He has made trouble for the Dems over the past tow elections and has stood against everything Obama does. "Tell Joe, he must go!"
There are 47,000,000 people without any healthcare at all. 44,000 of whom die annually. I am beginning to believe that my fellow progressives are more obsessed with toppling the health insurance industry than insuring their fellow citizens. The bill requires them to spend 90% on actual healthcare rather than the 80+ % currently allocated to healthcare! That inaddition to preventing denial for pre-existing conditions, portability, elimination of gender based premiums, elimination of lifetime caps sounds like progress to me. Perfect? No. Progress yes. We progressives must not denyour fellow citzens access to healthcare. We may not get this chance for another 60 years.
Right Doc – kill the bill!
I think its time to kill the bill! Let's not follow the UK and othe European countries. I guess wants its killed 0bama can give him self
Each one of the Republican Senators, Representatives, and Joe Lieberman, who scream "No Socialist Healthcare" are all so happy to use their own Healthcare. By definition their Healthcare is nothing but pure, 100% Socialism (Government funded by transfer of other's money). They want to deny all Americans the great solution that they themselves enjoy. Healthcare ONLY works if it is Socialised (see the rest of the Developed world), and that is the reason why they themselves use it. Hypocrites!
I think its time to kill the bill! Let's not follow the UK and othe European countries. I guess wants its killed 0bama can give himself a A- instead of a B+. That's what happens when we elect a sweet talker who didn't accomplish anything in his life!
"Three more years and Obama can get back to organizing playground soccer games or whatever it is that community organizers do."
You would know what they do if you ever got off your butt to serve the country like Obama did.
I don't think Medicare should be lowered. 8% of they USA is in the age group of 55 – 64. Medicare funds are already tapped. The only way it will work is an overall tax increase in the Social Security Tax we already pay. Is this what you want? We are 1.4 Trillion Dollars... That's $1,400,000,000,000.00 in debt. Our total public debt is.... are you ready for this... $12,071,280,871,918.40... That's 12 trillion... 71 billion... 280 million... 871 thousand... 918 dollars... and don't forget the 40 cents. That turns into about $30,000.00 for every man, woman, and child in the USA right now. This bill needs to go away.. We, as a nation can't afford it... Most of us don't want it... And, in the long run I think this will do more harm than good.