Politics
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- lowimpakt0
why would I make an insurance company and their shareholders rich with my money, especially when I am healthy, when my money could be used to save other peoples lives and allow people who need help access health care?
- we currently do both here in the us.johndiggity
- not really.. by people i mean as many people as possiblelowimpakt
- BattleAxe0
it really is sad, I keep hearing this rift raft about how Government should stay out of our lives and bla bla bla
seems to me a simple thing People don't trust people ,when people say i don't trust the Government to do this and that, well who is the government, and who put them there .
First the Universal Coverage was thrown out the window, now the Public Option is on life support , and the reform is going to keep the same business model , what they are doing here is making sure the U.S never goes to Universal single payer .. which everyone fears because they don't trust people
- The American people have wised up, and in 2010, congressional heads will roll and many will be voted OUT.********
- .. then we can get back to the business of trusting our politicians.********
- And vote back in the people who gave us the war and the economic collapse? You are so effin dumb.ukit
- the guy is obviously trolling.DrBombay
- The American people have wised up, and in 2010, congressional heads will roll and many will be voted OUT.
- ukit0
Running the insurance business. It don't pay too bad!
United Health Group
CEO: William W McGuire
2005: 124.8 mil
5-year: 342 milForest Labs
CEO: Howard Solomon
2005: 92.1 mil
5-year: 295 milCaremark Rx
CEO: Edwin M Crawford
2005: 77.9 mil
5-year: 93.6 milAbbott Lab
CEO: Miles White
2005: 26.2 mil
5-year: 25.8 milAetna
CEO: John Rowe
2005: 22.1 mil
5-year:57.8 milAmgen
CEO: Kevin Sharer
2005:5.7 mil
5-year:59.5 milBectin-Dickinson
CEO: Edwin Ludwig
2005: 10 mil
5-year:18 milBoston Scientific
CEO:
2005:38.1 mil
5-year:45 milCardinal Health
CEO: James Tobin
2005:1.1 mil
5-year:33.5 milCigna
CEO: H. Edward Hanway
2005:13.3 mil
5-year:62.8 milGenzyme
CEO: Henri Termeer
2005: 19 mil
5-year:60.7 milHumana
CEO: Michael McAllister
2005:2.3 mil
5-year:12.9 milJohnson & Johnson
CEO: William Weldon
2005:6.1 mil
5-year:19.7 milLaboratory Corp America
CEO: Thomas MacMahon
2005:7.9 mil
5-year:41.8 milEli Lilly
CEO: Sidney Taurel
2005:7.2 mil
5-year:37.9 milMcKesson
CEO: John Hammergen
2005: 13.4 mil
5-year:31.2 milMedtronic
CEO: Arthur Collins
2005: 4.7 mil
5-year:39 milMerck Raymond Gilmartin
CEO:
2005: 37.8 mil
5-year:49.6 milPacifiCare Health
CEO: Howard Phanstiel
2005: 3.4 mil
5-year: 8.5 milPfizer
CEO: Henry McKinnell
2005: 14 mil
5-year: 74 milWell Choice
CEO: Michael Stocker
2005: 3.2 mil
5-year: 10.7 milWellPoint
CEO: Larry Glasscock
2005: 23 mil
5-year: 46.8 milWyeth
CEO: Robert Essner
2005:6.5 mil
5-year: 28.9 milTOTAL 2005: 559.8 mil
TOTAL 5-Year: 14.9 billion
- And the Goldman Sachs execs get a $15k government tax subsidy for their plans.
http://trueslant.com…TheBlueOne - Each. But the people struggling? No healthcare for you.TheBlueOne
- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEALTHCARE AND HEALTH INSURANCE!!johndiggity
- Um...I know?ukit
- Yes, and?TheBlueOne
- then why did you lump pharma firms and biotechs in with insurance co's and your talking point is about overpaid insurance exec's?johndiggity
- insurance exec's?johndiggity
- OK, ignore the highly paid pharma execs in the list if it makes you feel better LOLukit
- And the Goldman Sachs execs get a $15k government tax subsidy for their plans.
- TheBlueOne0
You know who was in favor of supporting the poor through taxation?
Thomas Paine.
http://www.thomaspaine.org/Archi…
Hmmm. Even he supports an inheritence tax (you Republican types "rebranded" that as a "Death Tax"..you know like "Death Panels"..you guys sure love to brand things with "death" don't you?)..and wow...a sum to be paid to the elderly...and..and to the infirm and disabled.
Huh. Who knew?
You know, the whole "read the bill" nonsense? How about you morons read some fucking Paine. You American rightwing anti-Obama types like to blather on about the Founders and shit.
Glenn Beck spent an entire show on Paine a few months back, waving his little made in China "Don't Tread On Me" flag on a stick. Might be nice to know what they actually were concerned about. Oh, but look at me being a latte-drinking overeducated pinko who actually reads shit..- For the record, I fucking hate latte. Coffee, black, no sugar, thank you.TheBlueOne
- http://www.youtube.c…BattleAxe
- I like my coffee like my whores, black and bitter. ;)TheBlueOne
- bliznutty0
Here is to all of you who take a CNN headline and do exactly what they want with it. Here's to all of you who take a politician's words seriously (especially a democrat or republican). Here's to all of you who stay divided knowing it says "Divided we fall".
Here's to You! (Brought to you by Dr. Misoi's Ass-Breath Killers)
- TheBlueOne0
I mean if you actually do some reading on the American Founding generation you get the whole breadth of opinions on issues, from Jefferson's Agrarian Gentleman Utopia to Paine's damn near utlitarian socialist democracy to Hamilton's Federalized high finance system. They were all their from the beginning...and they all glossed over Paine's stuff, and Jefferson and Hamilton went at it head to head. On top of it they did everything possible to sweep the biggest issue - slavery - under the rug just to get some sort of temporary consensus. Yeah, like that didn't blow up in our faces.
So all this shit - systemic racism, federalized banking, ongoing revolutionary zeal, athiests, Deists, christians, etc. - were here from the beginning, and still serves as the parameters of much of our political battles. Which always cracks me up when these rightwing morons lay claim to "making it be like the Founders did it" and just cherry picking what they want to support their half-ass arguments. That is some total straight up Nazi bullshit right there (they also claimed to know what being "originally germanic" was all about) FFS, Burr killed Hamilton in a fucking duel over this shit. Which side are you going to take between those two, eh? 'Cause they were both Founders, original signers and all.
Anyway, it just infuriates me when people trot out 1st grade postage stamp level understandings of the origins of their own nation's history and think it justifies some half-ass spoon fed opinion they have.
- ukit0
What makes me LOL the most is this idea that the biggest threat we face is some kind of creeping socialist government about to crush private enterprise.
I mean, ROFL. How out of touch can you be? Do you bother checking to see how our government works?
Let's use a technology industry metaphor. You're creating a startup. You've got a great idea but...you need funding, right? Maybe millions of dollars in funding.
So you get money from people richer then you. Except that in doing so, you are now in some ways acting within the rules they designate.
Maybe they don't control every decision but you sure as hell aren't going to do anything to piss you off. After all, they decide if you get the next round of funding. That's almost exactly the relationship between Congress and big business.
http://www.sunlightfoundation.co…
"The Baucus-headed Finance Committee has been singled out by advocates and news organizations as the toughest obstacle for the President’s health care priorities."
"In 2008, Baucus received $1,148,775 from the health sector and $285,850 from the insurance sector. For his career he has received $2,797,381 from the health sector and $1,170,313 from the insurance sector."
"Grassley is the current ranking member on the full committee and Hatch is the ranking member on the Health subcommittee. Both are also top recipients of money from the health and insurance industries. Over his career, Grassley received $1,876,479 from the health industry and $858,224 from the insurance industry. Hatch, meanwhile, pulled in $2,311,744 from the health industry and $659,307 from the insurance industry over his career."
"The money from the health and insurance industries into Republican committee member campaigns is relatively high. The insurance industry is the top contributor to Sen. Grassley’s campaigns over his career. Pharmaceutical companies are the top contributors to Sen. Hatch’s campaigns. In fact, every Republican committee member has a health or insurance industry as their one or more of their top five career contributors."
That's socialism? Because Fox (the same network that helped convince us to invade Iraq which the oil companies wanted) told you so? If you believe that, you probably also believe New Coke is a ground-breaking, tasty improvement on the original.
- Yup.TheBlueOne
- Nope.********
- There is a large portion of the nation that is mind fuckingly ignorant, holy shit.JonnyPompa
- ukit0
Or - shorter version - tell me the last time the government made a decision that didn't give big business exactly what it wants.
- ukit0
"The organizations represented by these 20 health care lobbyists include some of the biggest opponents to center piece of President Obama’s health care plan: the public option. These include the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, PhRMA, and various pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance companies. The Senate Finance Committee is seen as the biggest obstacle to the public option."
Now I wonder why...
Is it because the public option is going to turn us into a North Korean socialist/ fascist state?
Is it because the public option is gonna kill your grandma?
Or is it, maybe, just maybe, because the public option will cut into the profit margins of these companies and force them to lower their prices?
...
- lazerbass0
bump
- Was that necessary?TheBlueOne
- absolutelylazerbass
- Good enough for me.TheBlueOne
- ********0
You idiots obviously don't understand how the insurance business model/pool works. And since when should American businesses not strive for maximum profits and bonuses?
You're all just sour because you work your asses off and have nothing to show for it. Take a look in the mirror, check yourselves and shut up.
- Your inability to answer any of this shit speaks for itself. Turn off the TV and stop being a sheep.ukit
- AngryHerdharlequino
- BAAAAHukit
- So you enjoy artificially high insurance rates then?DrBombay
- MobOfOne™TheBlueOne
- *looks in mirror
*comfortable bank balance, healthy investment portfolio, 30 hr work weekTheBlueOne - Nah, I'm cool.TheBlueOne
- ukit0
The real innovation we've seen this year, though, isn't having lobbyists write the legislation and cut out the parts they don't like.
The true genius is thanks to a guy named Dick Armey.
Dick Armey was the Republic House Majority Leader. Like a lot of these guys after he retired from politics he cashed in by working with a well-paid law/ lobbying group, DLA Piper. It makes sense, right? You graduate straight from lobbyists telling you how to write the legislation to becoming a lobbyist yourself.
DLA Piper represents, among other things, large portions of the health care and insurance business. Hmm...
In 2004 when Armey became Chairman of something called Freedom Works. Freedom Works is the group responsible for organizing, at a high level, the "tea party" rallies.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6a34f…
"On Friday Mr Armey announced his resignation from DLA Piper, the Washington-based lobbying firm that he has advised since stepping down from Congress in 2002. Both DLA Piper, which has big healthcare clients including Bristol Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical company that opposes elements of Mr Obama’s health reforms, and Mr Armey said he had decided to quit in order to spare the firm any further embarrassment by association with Freedom Works.
“We are sorry to see Dick Armey leave,” said DLA Piper in a statement. “But we appreciate his taking the initiative to clear up confusion concerning Freedom Works, [which is] a separate and distinct entity from DLA Piper.”"
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04…
"Dick Armey, who is ranked as one of DC’s top “hired guns,” is a corporate lobbyist with a history of directing FreedomWorks to support the goals of his lobbying clients. For example:
– Armey’s FreedomWorks is actively organizing against health care reform. Indeed, Armey’s lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, that oppose comparative effectiveness research in the health reform plan because such a program may cut into revenue for branded drugs.
– Armey’s lobbying firm represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. Indeed, FreedomWorks mobilizes its members for deregulated life insurance reform.
– Currently, FreedomWorks is focusing their energy activism on supporting the status quo reliance on fossil fuels. In addition to working for various domestic oil companies with a vested interest in opposing change, Armey’s lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, on energy related issues such as maintaining the U.S.-UAE relationship where “U.S companies have played major roles in the development of UAE energy resources, which represent about 10 percent of global oil reserves.”
– In 2006, Armey’s lobbying firm represented the Senado de Republica (Mexican Senate) on “enhancing U.S.-Mexico relations,” and specifically on immigration policy. Curiously, during the same period, Armey’s Freedom Works stood out as one of the few right wing organizations to boldly support comprehensive immigration reform."
That last part is interesting - unlike their base, these guys support immigration reform. Because it's not ideology, it's the $ they care about.
- ukit0
And if you still don't believe me, here is the Dick Armey Action Kit:
- pascii0
you better get a health care over there ...and we are not known as a socialistic country ; )
- ukit0
And here's what we have to look forward to
"Dick Armey will be a headline speaker at The Taxpayer's March on Washington DC"
- ukit0
You have to wonder if FreedomWorks is behind shit like this...
"A health care protester in New Mexico had been encouraging those following him on Twitter to bring their guns to town hall meetings — and use them if provoked.
"If ACORN/SEIU attends these meetings for disruptive purposes, and you have a license to carry....carry," Scott Oskay wrote in one tweet. In another, he suggested, "Stop being peaceful, and hurt them. Badly."
And then yesterday...
PHOENIX - About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday - the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.
- why doesn't some punch one of these dicks in the face, I'm sure they're to much of a pussy to use a gun in front of cameras.fooler2
- lazerbass0
http://www.democracynow.org/2009…
hey look whats being defended in Afghanistan by Dabomba, CIA funded mass murderers and stuff
- designbot0
I am having deja vu here...
In regards to the recent protests....this is exactly what you guys did when the tea party protests were going on. You pick out the most extreme and moronic examples of the protesters to try and prove your point of how "stupid" the folks are who are participating. Talk about a generalization. You should know amongst these buffoons there are some intelligent and angry Americans who are standing up against something they feel could be detrimental to our country. Disagree with them all you want, but come one....avoid these blanket statements.
Carrying a gun to a protest....okay probably a dumb and careless thing to do, but what is the ratio here? Probably not even 1 to 1,000 people. So please, come off it already.
- DrBombay0
What the fuck do gun rights have to do with Health care? These people are fucking morons.
- hmmm...guns...hospit... go hand in handlazerbass
- ha. point.TheBlueOne