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Universal Health Care – Obama, Show Me the CRED! March 5, 2008

Posted by canuckgal in Politics.
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If You Support Hillary, You Need to Pick Up on This!

Think Outside the States..

I have waxed on about this in an earlier post here and commented on other blogs on the same subject (here & here)

I wonder why Hillary’s Campaign isn’t driving home the essential differences between her health care plan and Obama’s? The differences ARE significant and will affect Americans whether they see it now or not.

The rest of the developed world “gets” what Hillary has long understood. Obama doesn’t. His arguments are fallacious, his plan is vague and simplistic, and his draconian selective mandating of coverage for children unfairly discriminates against parents, single-income families, and especially single parents – the VAST MAJORITY OF WHICH ARE WOMEN.

Some of the differences I’m talking about:

  • Universal Health Care vs. Access to Affordable Health Care – Hillary’s plan embraces and puts into place a workable, detailed plan with shared responsibilities to implement universal care. Obama’s plan promises access to (affordable) care, yet he doesn’t define “affordable”, and doesn’t take responsibility for ensuring affordability. Don’t Americans already have access to health care?
  • Experience vs. Rhetoric – some may ostracize Hillary for her earlier forays into promoting universal health care, but she has learned from the experience. EXPERIENCE! Hillary HAS it in spades! (Not to mention the credibility factor – her long-held, solid commitment to making this happen is not in dispute). And she has put forth a plan – the only plan – that has a chance to succeed. Obama – clearly doesn’t understand what universal health care is, uses rhetoric and misleading words that play to the emotion of Americans instead of facts and experience. What has Obama done in the past to promote REAL universal care? Where is his credibility?
  • Shared Responsibilities vs. No Responsibilities – Hillary’s plan commits to a system of SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES, which is the only way universal care can succeed. Obama’s plan promises a lot, but doesn’t clarify who will be responsible for what. Except when it comes to children. Obama’s fallacious promotion of selective mandating – coverage for children – WILL result in an unfair financial burden on parents, single-income families, single parents, ergo, WOMEN (the VAST MAJORITY of SINGLE PARENTS are WOMEN).

The Obvious Factor..

(emphasis mine)

I can’t believe Democrats are giving up the possibility of universal health care for the entire country by supporting Obama. As a Canadian ex-pat (who enjoyed many years of socialized medicine which was NOT a disaster for the country as someone stated above), I have never underestimated the ignorance (literal sense of word) of the American people. They are like sheep who flock to the flavor-of-the-month … and that appears to be Barack Obama, a man with a limited track record, and absolutely no experience in the arena of international politics. He is simply feeding the American people a “wind-bag” full of promises for change. If elected, I don’t believe he will be more effective than Hillary in implementing the “changes” he is promising since it is the very nature of the political system in this country that prevents timely and substantial transformation. And at least Hillary made reference to that FACT in one of her campaign commercials. She truly is the only candidate who can hit-the-ground-running from the get-go, while Obama plays catch-up and ultimately realizes he cannot effect the kind of change he is promising the American people.

Typically you can’t get a job in this country without experience, but evidently you can become the President of the United States. Hmmmm…

[862] Posted by: Houston — 25 February 2008 10:20 pm
(retrieved 2008-03-04 from: http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/26/america/26clinton.php?d=1)

More..

(emphasis mine)

“They Just Don’t Get It” (Comments)

Rick & Sydney – March 1, 2008

Wow. Good on you. It’s amazing what they (in the US) don’t grasp. Just years ago we heard W telling them universal health care was tried out in Europe and Canada and – haha – it didn’t work. They just don’t get it, they still don’t get it today, and that @#$%% Obama is trying to pull the wool over their eyes again just like W did.The only plan Obama has – and it’s a good plan – is how to get bloody elected. He doesn’t really have any plans after that. You may have no idea how nervous that charlatan makes us. Then again maybe you do.Keep up the good work. It’s probable we all realise what a huge turn a HRC victory in November can make for everyone on this planet. So please keep it up and thanks for what you’ve already done.

Questions..

On such a critical issue as health care, why would Democrats even consider electing someone who so obviously doesn’t have a clue on the subject? Obama doesn’t even grasp the concept of what universal health care is and why it is so important!

When I heard him debating, stating that his plan “won’t force individuals to buy coverage if they don’t need it”, I LAUGHED! Until I realized it wasn’t a joke. Then I was stunned. Flabbergasted. What a phenomenally stupid and ignorant rationale for not implementing mandated coverage for all. People don’t NEED coverage UNTIL THEY ARE INJURED OR BECOME ILL!!

So who pays for the healthy, “I-don’t-need-health-care” individual who – in a split second – becomes a quadriplegic in an unfortunate but irreversible accident? Who pays for the “I-don’t-need-health-care” individual who is normally healthy as a horse, but after a sudden blinding headache discovers he or she has a tumour that requires immediate surgery – who pays then? There are so many scenarios, but what Obama fundamentally doesn’t get is that everyone “needs” health care. Everyone needs to share responsibility – at ALL levels of society – government, businesses, individuals, etc. in order for universal health care to occur. And this includes Obama.

By selectively mandating coverage for children, Obama is unfairly forcing the financial responsibility of health coverage onto a population that Hillary’s plan clearly supports – parents. Selective mandating is illogical – is it only children that use the services of the health care system? Is it only children who get sick or injured?

How can it be that Obama believes there are some adults who “don’t need” health coverage and uses this argument to support his reasons for NOT mandating coverage? Does this mean that he believes that ALL children are unhealthy or ill? Does it not follow that there are also healthy children who “don’t need” health coverage? Obviously, children cannot pay for coverage themselves, but I’m sure that in America as in Canada, parents are fiscally responsible for their children.

What will happen to the money $$$$$ that the parents of healthy children who “don’t need” health care invest into coverage if the child never “needs” it?

**Who will enforce financial fairness of mandated child coverage in the instance of divorce or absentee parents??All Obama is doing by selectively mandating coverage for children is ensuring accountability for the cost of health care from part of the population.**

He promises an end to discriminatory practices by insurance companies while implementing a different kind of discrimination, one that will trickle down and harm the most vulnerable population – single parents.

His plan doesn’t answer the most critical questions about affordability – what will happen to those who cannot “afford” coverage and do not qualify for Medicaid or his vaguely-defined Federal Subsidies (are these a one-time subsidy? Are they refundable? How quick will the application process be? Will the application process be guaranteed to be fair?).

That Hillary Clinton is being criticized for her assertion that she will enforce mandated coverage is confusing. Confusing because – like the taxes we pay to live in freedom and plenty – a mandate is useless without “legs”. Unlike Obama’s plan, Hillary’s has a structure in place – shared responsibilities – mutual responsibility and accountability.
That means that it isn’t just about what YOU are responsible for – Hillary has to hold up her end of the deal, the insurance company, the employer, the individual – ditto.
The self-centered, ignorant fear of mandated coverage is hard to understand when it is so clear that Hillary’s plan is the only one that sets out the framework within which a mandate will be fair and successful.
Why DOESN’T America have universal health coverage??? America certainly has the population and more than enough money to put truly affordable coverage in place.
Canada – whose entire population is about the same as in the state of California – has long been successful in truly affordable, universal health coverage. No plan is perfect, and we have our problems, but the benefit of Hillary’s experience is that she can build on the pros and cons of every other developed country that has universal health care.
In Canada, we do not need to worry when we are bleeding on the street – if we cannot afford to pay for the cost of our treatment and recovery:

So sad you have to laugh. February 18, 2008

Filed under: funny, health, health care, health insurance — Natalie @ 12:36 am
Tags: , , ,

My sister works at an RV Park on a busy street.

The other night, from her office window she sees a pedestrian get hit by a car. She calls 911.

She rushes out to the man, who is bleeding profusely from the face (!), and tells him that everything will be all right, an ambulance is on its way…

The man says, “GREAT – I don’t have HEALTH INSURANCE.”

Why do we live in a country where we even have to think about something like money when we’re, well, bleeding from the face, for example?

Apparently he survived the crash but whether he survived the bills is unknown.

–Natalie

More Questions:

Maybe Americans have been paying insane prices for coverage for so long that they can’t comprehend what “affordable” really means. Maybe they are so used to worrying about the cost of an injury and wasting time debating if they really “need” care instead of simply focusing on the healing. Maybe by delaying in getting help, they get more critically ill, and cost the system more or hinder their chances for full recovery.
But what I really want to know is – why isn’t anyone questioning how Obama will enforce his selective coverage of children? His plan will force parents (or parent) to buy coverage upon birth – does this mean parents will have to prove coverage before taking their child home from the hospital??As if birth wasn’t stressful enough..
This is a prime example of the vagueness of Obama’s plan – the full plan simply states that “Obama will ensure that all children are covered” without providing any details about how that enforcement will be enacted. In the FAQ part of his plan, Obama hints that parents “may” need to provide verification of child coverage for things like Daycare or school.
How can Obama criticize Hillary for suggesting wage garnishment to enforce the mandate, while avoiding mentioning what he will do to enforce his mandate on parents – how WILL Obama enforce mandatory coverage for children? Oh, that’s right, it’s not clear. The details are vague. But he PROMISES!!
Also, where is Obama’s experience researching, implementing, and promoting UNIVERSAL health care??
As much as folks criticize Hillary’s earlier forays into health care and subsequent failures, I can’t help but to think of the famous quote by JFK, who discussed how the word “crisis” when written in Chinese represented both danger and opportunity. How presidential of Hillary to turn an earlier crisis into a very potential success. Hillary knows what is involved in implementing and sustaining such a plan. Obama does not.
Obama does not understand universal health care, much less how to implement it, and does not feel there is a need for it – as his rhetoric, er.. “reasoning” and proposed plan clearly indicate.
Obama’s plan will only promote and perpetuate health care as a privilege. He does not have the experience or the required knowledge on the subject – he cannot put into place universal coverage when he does not understand what universal coverage is and why it is so critical to the success of the United States.

“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is
composed of two characters–one represents danger,
and the other represents opportunity.”

~ JFK

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