why i am a deanie

i gave howard a couple of more bucks today, and that is the first reason that i support him. he asked ME for money. if the game is dance with the one that brung you, the band will be playing my song.
and what song is that? single payer health care. the end of privitizing, profitizing, wage squeezing, quality squeezing, sleazy crooked leaches on the national resource that is the american health care system. why? because i need health insurance? no, because the money siphoed off the economy for bloated health insurance and heatlh care conglomerate profiteering puts us at a competitive disadvantage with much of the civilized world. because it allows the tysons and the walmarts to undersell good corporate citizens and union companies by foisting the medical expenses of their employees of on the taxpayers, and on the health care system, and driving hard working families into bankrupcy. because de-linking health car from jobs will unleash a wave of entrepreneurial energy, REAL economimic growth.
but the sweetest tune to me is children. the utter hypocricy of * on this is my #1 issue, it is the issue that crosses all boundaries. a 50% reduction in child abuse under governor dean. can you add that up in terms of money saved, future tax revenue gained, just for each baby given a better, wore peaceful start in life?????
the common good. the common fucking good.
people powered howard.
go doc

http://pinkobuttons.com

Check out http://www.kucinich.us and join us. Want to end the privatizing, the profiteering, support a candidate with a clear, specific campaign: Dean would leave 70,000 troops in Iraq, Dean won't offer UNIVERSAL healthcare, he won't commit to reducing the Denfense budget, he won't respect international worker's rights by cancelling NAFTA and the WTO. These are admissions of his campaign. Click http://www.kucinich.us join us, the former supporters of Dean who realized that we need someone who will stand up to the conglomerates for the working class in this country, we know Bush isn't the problem, it's the corporations! Kucinich will break up the energy, farm, and media monopolies once elected. He will being the procedure of withdrawing from NAFTA/WTO on day one! Join us! Bush isn't the issue! And did I say please mopinko? Please, we need you.

…
For a year now, I have been traveling this country advocating a repeal of Bush's tax cuts so that we can provide universal healthcare and restore fiscal discipline. Many have questioned the political wisdom of challenging the president on politically popular tax cuts.

I believe, however, that given a choice between having health insurance or keeping all of the Bush's tax cuts in place, most Americans will choose health insurance. My plan will cost $88.3 billion -- less than half of the president's tax cut -- with money left over to pay down the deficits run up by this administration.

My plan consists of four major components.

First, and most important, in order to extend health coverage to every uninsured child and young adult up to age 25, we'll redefine and expand two essential federal and state programs -- Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Right now, they only offer coverage to children from lower-income families. Under my plan, we cover all kids and young adults up to age 25 -- middle income as well as lower income. This aspect of my plan will give 11.5 million more kids and young adults access to the healthcare they need.

Second, we'll give a leg up to working families struggling to afford health insurance. Adults earning up to 185% of the poverty level -- $16,613 -- will be eligible for coverage through the already existing Children Health Insurance Program. By doing this, an additional 11.8 million people will have access to the care they need.

Many working families have incomes that put them beyond the help offered by government programs. But this doesn't mean they have viable options for healthcare. We'll establish an affordable health insurance plan people can buy into, providing coverage nearly identical to what members of Congress and federal employees receive.

To cushion the costs, we'll also offer a significant tax credit to those with high premium costs. By offering this help, another 5.5 million adults will have access to care.

Third, we need to recognize that one key to a healthy America is making healthcare affordable to small businesses.We shouldn't turn our back on the employer-based system we have now, but neither should we simply throw money at it. We need to modernize the system so employers will have an option beyond passing rising costs on to workers or bailing out of the system entirely. Fortunately, we have a model of efficient, affordable and user-friendly healthcare coverage: the federal employee health system.

With the plan I've put forth to the American people, we'll organize a system nearly identical to the one federal workers and members of Congress enjoy. And we'll enable all employers with less than 50 workers to join it at rates lower than are currently available to these companies -- provided they insure their work force. I'll also offer employers a deal: The federal government will pick up 70% of COBRA premiums for employees transitioning out of their jobs, but we'll expect employers to pay the cost of extending coverage for an additional two months. These two months are often the difference between workers finding the health coverage they need, or joining the ranks of the uninsured.

Finally, to ensure that the maximum number of American men, women and children have access to healthcare, we must address corporate responsibility. There are many corporations that could provide healthcare to their employees but choose not to. The final element of this plan is a clear, strong message to corporate America that providing health coverage is fundamental to being a good corporate citizen. I look at business tax deductions as part of a compact between American taxpayers and corporate America. We give businesses certain benefits, and expect them to live up to certain responsibilities.
…
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_statement_health

The plan will cost an estimated, "$88.3 billion". This is paid for from some of the money saved by repealing Bush's tax cuts.

The Dean proposal expands Medicaid and CHIP to ages 25 and under. CHIP is expanded to adults earning up to "185% of the poverty level" (currently, $16,613).

For the "capitalist" half of the Dean plan: Folks with high health premium costs recived "a significant tax credit" to cushion the costs. The current "employer-based system" in use now will be modernized by upgrading it to the same healthcare coverage that "federal workers and members of Congress" have available to them.

Small buisnesses of less than 50 workers get lower rates than their larger competitors. Employers pick up the tab for 2 months in between jobs, but the costs of the COBRA premiums for those 2 months are subsidized, at 70%, by the federal government for employers. Corporations will receive "business tax deductions" as an incentive for supplying health care to their employees.

but it is a viable, doable plan.

Child abuse for kids under 4 went down by 64%. And sexual abuse for kids under 7 decreased by a whopping 84%

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_record_health_domesticviolence

Welcome to DU mopinko! :hi:

realize that it would be nearly impossible to get through Congress (remember Hillary's attempt?). Meanwhile, over 40 million Americans would STILL be uninsured. Millions more would be underinsured.

Dean's plan is to expand Medicaid and the FEHBP to include all Americans. They would pay premiums based on income, to a maximum of 7.5% of adjusted gross income. People would be able to opt-out if they wished.

The big benifits are:

1) It doesn't involve creating a new program, just expanding plans that already exist.

2) It will have much less trouble making it through Congress (what Congressman wants to explain why YOU don't deserve the same health plan HE has?).

3) It will get everybody covered quickly.

4) There will no longer be an exclusion for pre-existing conditions. This is a HUGE issue to millions of Americans.

Dean's said that nce everybody is covered, we can look at ways to improve the program, possibly moving to a single-payer system.

Again, I understand that a single-payer plan might be attractive to you, but it's an incredible uphill battle to fight, especially with a Republican-controlled Congress.

it's late, i am tired, i am not always as concise this late. the ins and outs of who exactly pays what and how it would work are not my concern. it's the appeal to truman's promise, and championing an issue that some people view as political suicide. go howard.

and as far as kcuinich- i am very happy to see him in the race. i am happy to see him bringing these issues to the fore. but i do not want to abandon wto and nafta, i want to fix them. i want a world trade system where tarriffs are imposed in order to level the playing field. tax sweat to death. give trade incentives for health care, child care, worker safety, and environmental protection. tax corruption, reward transperacy.
they won't be issuing a magic wand with the oath of office. dennis is too impractical.

They must be cancelled. You have to understand that by cancelling them, we're not saying no to trade with these countries, we're saying trade is negotiable, we're taking control of our trade deals, and we can ensure that the success of our companies is not directly related to the slave labor markets of Southeast Asia. It's not fair. And NAFTE/WTO are fomulas for removing these key international issues from trade deals: environmental and labor standards. Try to insert these ideas into NAFTA/WTO and you may as well cancel them. Ever wonder why so many people protest them?

...and let us not forget the horrible environmental effects of shipping manufacturing to countries with -zero- environmental regulations.

Gephardt's health plan covers EVERYONE and with the system we use now for starters. I don't think single payer will ever pass as a first draft. We must move in that direction slowly. Gephardt is the only one who has championed labor forever. He believes in free trade but wants it done right. He wants an international minimum wage that makes sense everywhere. It won't be the same wage everywhere, but it will protect workers everywhere and thereby protect our workers from lost jobs at the expense of low pay sweatshops elsewhere. Labor has been his forte for a long time. A lot of people don't look at him because they think he can't win, but he has a lot of good plans and experience and he's the guy to watch!

Hillary's "plan" was for "managed competition" between the top five insurance companies in the country, much like Dean's current plan of "expanded" coverage. Also, Dean's plan would STILL leave 10 million people UNINSURED.

Kucinich's plan would ALSO be an expansion of what we currently have-- "Medicare for ALL". It would use the current Medicare infrastructure, which is run much more cheaply than most "private" plans, and would cover EVERYONE, regardless of employment status or ability to pay.

"But Americans don't WANT privately-run healthcare"? I beg to differ:

UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE -- ABC News/Washington Post conducted a poll between Oct. 9 and 13, 2003. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (total sample). Fieldwork by TNS Intersearch. "Which would you prefer: the current health insurance system in the United States, in which most people get their health insurance from private employers, but some people have no insurance, OR, a universal health insurance program, in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that's run by the government and financed by taxpayers?"

All respondents:

Current system: 32%,
Universal program: 62%,
No opinion: 5%



Why set the goal so low when a majority of Americans prefer a TRUE SINGLE-PAYER UNIVERSAL PROGRAM?