Tonight is the night, ladies and gentlemen. For one night only (well, a day and a night, but who’s that picky), you’ll be able to get all the Obama you can handle…and then some!
Tonight, the President will be on ABC to have a “conversation” on health care and his plan for reform. What will be missing is any meaningful dialog from the other side. ABC claims that they’ll have the opposition present during the question and answer period, which may indeed be right. However, it’s the President who’ll have the final word on everything.
What will happen tonight is a Presidential slam dunk. He’ll lay out his health care plan and the American people will probably think “maybe it’s not so bad.” Why? Because there’s no one to answer back with the pitfalls of the plan. The Republican wanted to, but were shut down by ABC. They apparently were willing to buy time to put their response out there for the American people. It seems ABC said no to that too.
So feel free to watch the President’s speech tonight. By all means, listen to the question and answer period. Make notes and bring them here tomorrow. I’m asking for all sides to come together here on SWGA Politics and let’s have some real dialog. Let’s actually talk about what all is going on, and what all could go wrong.
Those who post on here aren’t exactly “progressive” in our ideologies. Jeff and I are liberal only in the sense of being classically liberal, much like Thomas Jefferson. Bill is most definitely a conservative. However, I believe I speak for everyone here when I say that we will welcome an open and honest dialog about the problems of our current health care system and what can best be done about it.
Unlike ABC, we’re actually going to encourage opposition and maybe we can have the “conversation” that the President says he wants to happen.
I wonder will the network allow for a conservative altnernative.
So far, the answer seems to be no. ABC is running the show, and the only place that non-favorable voices seem possible is in the audience asking questions. However, that still gives the President the final word. These probably aren’t policy experts, but regular joes who have some questions. These are folks who will most likely either not be allowed to rebut the President, or will be unable to.
Either way, this just doesn’t sound kosher to me.
ABC News has officially destroyed any credibility that it ever had. The lack of balance is alarming.
[...] a platform for a President without real, substantive debate regarding the policy is a subject for elsewhere. However, the policy itself needs some serious [...]
I watch the Obama ABC thing last night and I think it outlined in elementary terms for public consumption the basic issues in the debate. The placed audience members had questions that pointed out problems with the congressional Democrat plan and the White House plan. I came away more critical of the congress plan than before. President Obama knows that the price tag is too high but some of the interest groups against Democrat proposals are being cute the numbers.
The example of the 105 year old lady with the pacemaker was interesting. At the end of the day, I am leery of new taxes to insure everyone but I know that coverage for everyone could ultimately reduce cost.
Health care policy is not my thing but I like the debate about moving away from the fee for service method—it’s like doctors wanting to continue to see you for the billables. This is overly simplistic what happens with a car warranty if an owner pays a flat yearly rate to service the car. Is there a nation that does the same thing with health coverage? Whatever happens, reform must have teeth to force people to become insured or suffer the consequence; and it is a shame that the working poor is currently less covered than people who never work.
Back to the car insurance model, maybe we need a required minimum health coverage— Justin Chase. What if government coverage took care of senior citizens and youth until say 20 years old (a few years to get it together) and the skinniest plan was the basic option. It is silly to think for one second that people with money won’t be able to purchase better coverage. The size of government is ballooning but the “just trust the private sector” argument when out the window with Wall Street and the automakers.
Can you believe the stat that 50% of health care cost goes to 5% of people. This is going to boil down to an ethics debate—pay Blue Cross and Phoebe or pay Kimbell-Stern or Meadows.
The problem with moving away from a fee for service method is that it could lead to doctors doing the minimum, which isn’t good for patient health. An individual getting paid for each service means that they’re motivated by profit for performing the necessary work. Without that, doctors may being to rationalize not performing tests with things like “well…it’s probably not time for that yet,” only it may be to late before they do.
Honestly, I think malpractice tort reform might actually accomplish what people are wanting…lower health care costs. A lot of the over-testing currently is because of doctors being terrified of being sued for malpractice because they didn’t do something. So now, the exhaust the battery of tests they can possibly perform, probably just to cover their butts in court should they end up there. Then they can say “I ran every test imaginable…” and hedge their bets.
Of course, health insurance companies really dropped the ball too. No one likes excessive testing, but patients are confined to approved providers or else they have to pay more out of pocket, so the market isn’t allowed to work to curb this. If insurance companies paid equally to all providers, then people could change to any doctor they want and not have to pay out as much as they currently do. Soon, the doctors with the excessive testing gene will either learn to adjust their practice, or else they would be very, very bored since all the patients will have left.
Now, should the government get involved in that last option? I don’t think so. I think insurance companies should put that one on themselves and really get something done.
Tom and Slyram those are really good points, I wish our elected officials had as much common sense as you and Slyram!
Elect me and Slyram to Congress and WATCH OUT!
I would love to! I’ve known Slyram for more years than I want to admit to. Though we have had many differences on which candidate we would support we always want the same thing…what is best for the country. The older we get, the closer we are on what our wish list is!
Tom I would love to see you in Congress!
Yeah, but Congress wouldn’t