Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold issued a statement today in support of the public option as a part of any health care reform package:
Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
In Support of a Public Health Insurance Option“A public option is a fundamental part of ensuring health care reform brings about real change. Opposing the public plan is an endorsement of the status quo in this country that has left tens of millions of Americans uninsured or underinsured and put massive burdens on employers. I have heard too many horror stories from my constituents about how the so-called competitive marketplace has denied them coverage from the outset, offered a benefit plan that covers everything but what they need or failed them some other way. A strong public option would ensure competition in the industry to provide the best, most affordable insurance for Americans and bring down the skyrocketing health care costs that are the biggest contributor to our long-term budget deficits. I am not interested in passing health care reform in name only. Without a public option, I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”
I agree wholeheartedly, and as a constituent of Sen. Feingold’s, I’m incredibly happy to have him on my team!
We cannot let this opportunity slip through our fingers because of the insurance lobbies’ scare tactics and disruptive campaigns. I have private health insurance and pay astronomical premiums, which I can afford, for minimal coverage. The health care status quo in this country is a travesty, an embarrassment and an obscenity. We need to have viable market competition to keep unregulated insurance and big pharma in line. AND we need insurance reform, like, yesterday!
I agree. 8 years at my job I have seen my insurance cover less and cost more each year… How can this be? There is a problem.
shawn, therein lies the real problem with our current health care system: the cost of insurance has continued to skyrocket, while the quality of coverage we’re provided with continues to decline.
Thank you very much, Sen. Feingold, for working so hard on behalf of Wisconsinites and all Americans who need health insurance.
We appreciate your leadership!
Thanks so much for posting this, Zach! I’d have missed it otherwise. 🙂
Feingold now needs to insure that all Senators vote to end the filibuster and vote up or down on a final bill that includes a public option.
If that doesn’t work I hope everyone, including our politicians, adopt Rep. Ryan’s draconian health care privatization plan so real reform is finally demanded, even by sheeple Republican protesters. Apparently, we’re not feeling enough pain yet.
not interested in passing health care reform in name only
Thank God for clarity and rightness. I wish my own senators would be so directly in support. Health care is a major plank of the Democratic platform. Could blue dogs just get that part right if they want to be in the majority party??
There is an epidemic of Profiles in Cowardice in Washington, DC,especially among democrats. Thank you Russ for showing the courage to speak up for that which you believe and for what is good for Americans not just insurance companies.
Sen. Feingold, do you agree with my thought that if the Bills were written in more clear and concise language, there would be less negative interpretation?
I love the idea of a public option, but I love the idea of some reform vs. no reform at all.
Surely you must realize that without a public option, this will be, in the Senator’s words, “…health care reform in name only.”, and, what is worse, it will allow the fat cat heads of the insurance companies keep on with business as usual.
Harry from LA, I like the idea of some health care reform too, especially versus no reform at all, but I’m worried that we’re only going to get one bite at the apple, and so we might as well take as big a bite as possible.
It seems to me that some Democrats were content to start from a position of weakness and continue to cave once a little bit of pressure was applied.
I work for a good Employer which makes a significant contribution to my healthcare insurance costs. Each year my Employer is required to pay more for my coverage which requires me to pay more. I realize if healthcare insurance in the United States remains status quo without a public option (competition) my Employer will be put in a position of decreasing their contribution or I am asked to pay a larger percent of the insurance premium. Thank you Senator Feingold for your position on a public option.
As a psychologist and a consumer of health care, I see the present system as a wasteful, inequitable and overly costly monstrosity. I strongly support Sen. Feingold’s support of the public option as an integral part of any health care bill that is worth its salt.
Thank you, Senator Feingold! I hope you are gathering other like-minds in the Senate to form a Democratic group that refuses to sign inadequate health care reform, as the House has done.
We need you there fighting.
Lisa Plymate, MD
Washington State Director, Doctors for America
Without Public Option I will not have health insurance. It is what it is. I don’t HAVE a doctor at all. I have not seen a doctor for general care, check ups of any kind for 13 years. I think it is almost laughable when I see adds on TV that say to tell or ask your doctor this or that. What doctor? I know that if I get cancer or anything.. I’m dead, that’s it. As an artist, I can only hope that I stay well, if we are not going to have Public Option. It isn’t like I am going to quit doing art so I can go work for WallMart or some place so I can get insurance. Art is who I am and all I know to do. Three years ago I fell down a full flight of stairs. I have “permanent” nerve damage in my artist’s right hand because I did not have the money, nor health insurance, to get proper help or care. That is the reason I KNOW that if I get cancer… I am dead. I paint and sculpt anyway though, it is who I am, as I wrote. It is also a sign to anyone who doubts my personal efforts toward doing what I can to make a living, that I work regardless, despite the pain. I am not lazy. I feel let down and pretty sad about it all. I can’t understand what people who are against it, think people like me are supposed to do. I make too much for welfare and too little to buy insurance for myself. I’m disappointed in Democrats in general. At least there are a few, like you, who seems to care about people… like me.
Kathy, I am a musician and instrument maker in exactly the same position. You say, “I can’t understand what people who are against it, think people like me are supposed to do.” I can’t either, but I suspect that either they think we really don’t exist, or really don’t matter, or that we are lazy or a bunch of liars. I keep writing emails to the White House and the Democratic party, of which I am a long-time member, telling them that anything other than a public, universal plan (Health Care plan, not INSURANCE plan) is no change and no reform at all. As far as I am concern, the public, universal way is the only way to go.
Kathy,
You state:
“I can’t understand what people who are against it, think people like me are supposed to do.”
You also state:
“… I am dead.”
That’s what they think!
Why else would they show up at town hall meetings toting thier side arms and assualt rifles?
There is another reply to this thread somewhere within the messages. The one from Felix, telling me to get a job. Its interesting that some people don’t consider any of the arts as a job. I guess maybe because it is ‘more’ than a job, something nebulous and difficult for the left brain thinkers to wrap their minds around. I can’t ‘not’ do art, it is a simple as that. The other day I sold a painting for $1,200. and a couple weeks ago a giclee for $350., I also sold some prints and cards. I do the whole merchandising thing, giving a certain amount of time in that effort and consideration for profits. It isn’t that I get up in the morning, decide to paint or sculpt with a sense of “play”. I am driven and so I consider the avenues of selling what I make a must in order to be ‘seen’ and ‘heard’, giving my own talents respect. Without any art at all, what would life be like? No creativity to view in museums or even books. Yet, I understand that people might think me as lazy, who only wants a hand out. The only thing I can say to that is that they are wrong. I only want a “reasonable” price for something that has gotten out of hand and way too expensive for most artists, and that is health insurance.
Kathy,
I recently read a quotation (sorry, don’t remember who said it) which stated that all progress made toward a more civilized society begins with the Arts. I believe that. Thank you for your contribution.
As for healthcare, I, too couldn’t afford health insurance for several years until I was old enough for medicare. I’d love to see everyone have some version of this well-run government program. I’ve had only positive experiences with the medicare ‘bureacracy’.
Thank you senator Feingold. I love this guy and I am not from Wisconsin He is the epitome of integrity and intelligence. I hope he runs for President in 2016.
“I hope he runs for President in 2016.”
You and me both, maria.
Keep Fighting Sen Feingold!
I am not interested in passing health care reform in name only.
What safeguards will be employed to ensure govt will not supplant private ensurers, thus landing us in the ‘never-never land’ of socialized medicine?
Let everyone that wants to get into medicare. Who cares what happens to private insurance companies that cost 30% over the care of the health care charges. I for one would like to see them have to compete for real.
Richard, tell me what’s wrong with “socialized” medicine. After all, it seems to be working in countries like Britain, Switzerland, France, etc., all of which have a higher quality of service and populations that are generally healthier than ours.
To Col Richard Ippolito,
Sir, I suspect that the “Col” title you signed means you are an officer in the Armed Forces.
Do you skip the health care that the government GIVES you to go to a private Doctor and pay for it yourself?
I bet not.
And guess What?
The health care you receive in the Armed Forces IS socialized medicine.
Every tax payer helps you with your health care expenses. As far as I suspect, if you go to the Armed Service Doctors you don’t pay a “red penny” for health care.
Now if you are really a “Col”, maybe you are smart enough to see the out right hypocrisy of someone receiving free healthcare complaining about the people who pay for your free health care trying to get a little less expensive health care for themselves.
Have you ever actually used “socialized” medicine or was yours an “everybody knows that…..” response? I have been a patient of so-called “socialized” medicine when working in Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. The care was uniformly excellent, cheerful, prompt, and free or very inexpensive. I always saw a “real” doctor. When I was employed in Texas my so-called health care, which was valid only in my local area, cost over $4,000/year. During the first two years I never saw a doctor, just medical assistants. Were I living in the USA today, medical insurance with all its deductibles, co-pays, geographical, and other restrictions would cost me well over $1,000 a month, increasing every year.
Senator,
Thank you for being so brave to move this public option process forward. I am 100% in favor of this as I’ve been a victim of our current system. I just want the politicians in DC to move forward. I also want to let those being combative at town hall meetings that they are infringing on my constitutional rights to learn, share, and give my thoughts. They are idiots!
Thank you, Senator Feingold, for standing up for the millions of Americans who cannot afford the high cost of insurance premiums, deductibles, and copays. I dread the possibility of succumbing to a serious injury or illness, as I cannot afford health insurance, even though I am working at both full-time and part-time jobs. ALL Americans deserve access to quality healthcare. Healthcare is a basic human right, and it’s time for us to stop treating it like a privilege.
Thank you Senator Russ, I am a lifelong supporter in Wisconsin and am glad to see such support for a public option to help ALL Americans.
I hope Senator Kohl will join you in this effort.