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.”
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen: Get a job. Lots of people have to do things they’d rather not in order to provide for their well being. If you want health insurance, get a job. It’s not my responsibility to pay for your healthcare.
Felix: My son has a job and goes to college. His employer doesn’t offer him health insurance because he doesn’t work enough hours (part-time) and there is no public coverage, since he makes more than the maximum allowable to qualify. It’s easy for people who “have theirs” to say, “just get a job”. The reality is much more complicated and harsh.
“Felix”, I hardly think it was necessary for you to personally attack me. I only offered a bit of my history, as an example of so many other Americans, who feel frustrated. Everyone has more to their lives than what might fit into a single paragraph. FYI~ not that it IS any of your business, I DO have a second job, besides making my living by being a “self employed” artist. I pay taxes too “Felix”. I am perfectly willing to “pay” for “reasonably” priced health insurance, which is what a public option plan would allow for.
Felix, what about all those folks who have jobs that don’t offer health insurance? Should they just suck it up and deal with it, or do you have some idea on what they can do to get health insurance?
Next time you see a picture you like or hear music that moves you, sir, remember that someone worked very hard to create that art. Art is not a job? You try to do it!
Also, do you realize that there is a huge number of people who are self-employed and are not artists, since you think we are so expendable? What should the gas station owner/operator do if he can’t afford health care, get a job? Take a look around you at all the small businesses. I have news for you. Many of the owners who don’t provide health care coverage for their employees also can’t afford it for themselves.
By the way, why is it any less your responsibility to pay for Kathy’s health care than it is to help pay for road building and maintenance, or for trash collection, or for public schools? How about the military? Why not have everybody simply hire his own bodyguard?
In a free and democratic society, people look out for one another and for the common good.
I have been following the Kathy Ostman-Magnusen, Leonard Lopatin, and Felix thread.
Felix, It sounds like you have health care adequate for you. I complement you on that because I know from my experience even with insurance health care is rediculously expensive. Just getting a job is no solution.
My son just needed several dental procedures, relatively routine for a person his age. We pay for Dental Insurance and health insurance. With only a few visits to the Dental office we had exhausted his benefits and had to pay the balance ourselves. I calculated the amount of time he spent in the Dental Chair after insurance ran out and the rate the Dentist charged us after insurance payments is approximately $1,100.00 per hour. Yes, ONE THOUSAND-ONE HUNDRED dollars per hour and about 2/3 of the time was with a dental assistant not the Dentist himself. Remember that these charges are AFTER partial payments by the insurance company to the Dentist.
Without a single payer public option covering all people, we are at the mercy of an industry perfectly happy to GAUGE people when they are most vulnerable.
Thank you, Senator, for standing up for meaningful health care reform. It’s too bad that the Obama administration didn’t push for a single payer system from the beginning. Taking single payer off the table from the start put Democrats in a difficult negotiating position. The the line is drawn and I am afraid we will end up with “reform” that only makes the insurance industry richer. Any reform that requires insurance and does not include a public option will only make things worse. Co-ops have been tried and have failed, they are just a placebo intended to give the illusion of reform. We have only three choices: single payer, public option, or nothing at all.
Healthcare reform with a Public option is the ONLY OPTION. Lets not back down, Go for the FeinGold. Democrats swept Congress for a reason, to get stuff done. If they don’t do the right thing now they will be removed from office.
Thank you Senator Feingold. As a self-employed businessman with catastrophic insurance, I feel that health-care reform is necessary to wrest control of costs and alleviate the fear that a health issue will force one into bankruptcy and finacial ruin.
If we lose this battle, the vocal minority will claim that they defeated it by being organized, obnoxious and anti-democratic. We can’t let them steer this reform effort or it will never happen. Please keep up the fight for the majority of citizens that know this is the right move for our country!
Your position on health care makes me wanr to go back to Wisconsin where I was born.
Hear! Hear! Thanks so much Senator. This is the issue that separates legitimate representatives from those who’ve been bought.
Are the Congress people and moralist pundits railing about Obamunnism going to refuse medicare and social security? Because, well, if not, then aren’t they just liars, trying to deny the rest of us what they want for themselves, and still on my dime? Come on, all of you right folks! Sign a public pledge now, refusing government care when you hit 65. Its plainly the only morally defensible thing to do!
Thank you Senator for simplifying the issues! It is an uphill battle – I appreciate your support for public option.
As a retired small business owner I can tell you that if the government paid for healthcare in a single-payer system and the only thing small businessmen had to pay was their fair share of taxes, it would help them grow their businesses faster. They’d be able to invest more in growing their businesses and creating more jobs, instead of paying that money to greedy insurance companies so that the insurance company bosses can get multi-million dollar bonuses. Our healthcare is ranked as 37th in the world; France’s system is ranked as the best healthcare in the world. Let’s play copycat. Let us have the same single-payer government system that all our elected officials have. I won’t care if you call it “socialized medicine”.
I’m not a constituent but I have government-run health care, from my 22 years of active duty service. I don’t wait in long lines, I have my own doctor, I was recently in for a procedure and there was no rationing of care. In short, I love my government-run plan.
I’m with Senator Feingold on this, without real competition, there is no reform. All too soon, private heath care insurance premiums will be out of reach for most Americans. Rising costs and shrinking coverage DEMAND a public option that puts competition in the market.
The health insurance industry has lined its pockets on claim denials for far too long. It’s time for the Democrats in Congress to stand up and make the public option a priority. Republicans only want to derail reform for political gain. Get it done WITHOUT them!!! They won’t vote for anything the Dems come up with regardless.
60% of bankruptcies are medical bankruptcies. Nearly 80% of those have medical coverage from the traditional insurance companies that left them hanging. We already pay more than any other country for health issues and get less. We are not even in the top ten health care countries in the world despite all the money we spend. Canada enjoys longer lives and lower infant mortality rates than we do. I don’t know about you but I would like to live longer. We can’t afford not to get health care reform passed. We need a public option. The only reason not to have a public option is greed and lack of compassion. In this great country of ours people are treated like dogs if they can’t shell out a fist full of cash for everything. We need to start acting like human beings and have a little compassion. The people demand a public health care system.
Hang in there! You have the right position, that is the correct one. Without a public option or a one payer system there will be no reform. It is a moral issue.
Health Reform without a Public Option will continue to allow Insurance Executives to remain as the sole arbitrator to decide whose claims are covered !
Thank you and keep up the fight for real reform.
Senator Feingold, you are in the right. Thank you for fighting for what is just, moral and ehticaland for your effort in bringing the old properous America from the past back again. It is unfortunate that those who are of the “greed” mindset” do not “get it”, but they have caused and will continue to cause the demise of this country with their ignorant thoughts and actions. America needs a strong public option in healthcare. Ideally, a national healthcare system would be the best for all. This does not take away from anyone, but helps those in need and this is simply what a person of good character and morals would choose. Anyone who would want others to do without is not of good character, but cruel, selfish and ethically, morally, and spiritually bankrupt.
Thank God a Democrat with a spine and he is my Senator. We need this so badly. The only way to control insurance costs is with a public option. Insurance companies are making huge profits by gouging the American people. It is a disgrace that everyone in our country does not have health insurance. We should be ashamed. Thank you. Russ
I’m a self-employed attorney who has represented primarily low-income people in bankruptcy and family law (mainly) for the last 28 years. I have never had insurance through my own “job” although I’ve also worked for other attorneys (lots of small firms are like that). I’m on COBRA now, but once the subsidy ends in January, I can choose to pay $1300 and the copays for another 25 months or pay $1700 per month for Dean HMO (if they’ll take me…I’m over 50 and have glaucoma). Either way I will have to choose between health insurance and college for the kids. If I choose insurance it will consume 25-30% of my income (and with all the bankruptcies I’m doing all right) even though I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. One of the support staff at my business has lots of health problems and that drives all our premiums up..and my clients are struggling with insurance claim denials and loss of insurance when they lose their jobs (and of course the foreclosures are through the roof). WE NEED a public option at minimum and ONLY a single payer system will cover everyone. Medicare for seniors didn’t lead to socialism and neither will medicare for the rest of us.
Patricia,
As a lawyer, how to you feel about the outrageous malpractice insurance rates that doctors have to pay, due to multi-million dollar settlements that lawyers sometimes get for clients? Don’t get me wrong, I believe people have a right to protection from bad care, but often they get settlements simply from complications that can’t be predicted. Perfect outcomes are simply not what happens in all cases. Anyway, I work in healthcare, and I am not a doctor, but I see many unnecessary expensive tests that are ordered by doctors to “cover their butts”, and protect them from malpractice suits. These unnecessary tests and procedures play a major part in the rising costs of healthcare. I am for at least a public option–a single payer system would be better, but no one in the administration or legislature has ever even brought up the idea of tort reform as a way of controlling costs. What do you think?
Karen Stoll:
Your claim to control costs by Tort reform is unsupported by fact. The claim of Tort reform lowering medical costs is a straw dog propagated by wealthy interests to avoid responsibility for their incompetence.
Tell me the total amount for last year of all medical malpractice awards, the total amount of all malpractice insurance premiums, the total amount of malpractice lawyers fees, the total amount of fees for Doctors, ambulances, hospitals, pharmacies, rehabilitation providers, travel expenses for families, funeral costs, insurance co-pays and medical insurance premiums associated with all malpractice suits filed, and the total amount of all health care costs for all consumers in the US. Until we have these facts, an intelligent analysis of the cost to the average consumer for malpractice suits is impossible.
On the other hand: Approximately two weeks ago, United Health Care (a health insurance provider) reported an increase in their profits from 2008 until 2009 of 155%. This is not revenue; it is their profit margin. How can they possibly increase profits this much in one year when we have seen how bad the over all economy has been for everyone else?
Limiting Tort awards will only increase the profits of the insurance companies and the health care providers. Have you ever been given a reduced price from a hospital, or a Doctor or an insurance company? I daresay that you have NEVER seen a reduction in cost volunteered by any of these providers. Can anyone in this forum say that their insurance company or their Doctor, or their hospital called them or wrote them saying, “Hey, we are making too much money, here’s some back?”
And once again the driving cause of higher costs associated with malpractice suits is not the awards themselves; it is the malpractice insurance premiums passed on to all Doctors due to the incompetence of some Doctors. Limiting the awards available to a family that has suffered irreparable harm from an incompetent health provider does nothing to solve costs and issues an “all-e, all-e in free” card to the insurance companies and incompetent health providers.
A number of years ago a friend of mine worked in a hospital as an Operating Room Technician. My friend told me about a particular surgeon who showed up to operate under the influence of alcohol. Another Doctor in the hospital performed his operation for him. I asked my friend if it was reported to the AMA. My friend replied that the inebriated Doctor’s reputation was widespread in the hospital community but no reports were ever made to the AMA and that this situation was not the first, that it was (pardon the pun) standard operating procedure and would not be the last time this happened. Doctors are an exclusive club of arrogant profiteers daily exercising the power of life and death over us commoners. Remember Doctors get to bury their mistakes!
I am not saying that people that are harmed by incompetent doctors should be compensated, or that the malpractice awards are what raises the costs of medical care. What I’m saying is that the perceived threat of a malpractice suit being brought against them changes the way doctors practice medicine. Doctors, especially those who work in ERs, have to see more patients than they should every day. It is easier and quicker for them to order unnecessary expensive tests, than to take ten minutes talking to the patient and trying to figure out what is really wrong with them. For example, a mother brings her toddler in to the ER after they fall and hit their head. Instead of talking to the mother, and assessing that the toddler is alert, responsive, not throwing up, not continually crying, not lethargic, they order a CT of the child’s head to make sure they don’t have a concussion or bleed. So they spent a thousand dollars to determine that the child has a “boo-boo”. Another example, my husband was hit on the head by a falling 2×4 at work. It knocked him over and he broke his toe. The day after it happened, when his toe wasn’t getting better, he went to the ER to get an x-ray. After telling the story to the nurse practitioner about the 2×4 hitting him on the head, she wanted to order a head CT. This was more than 24 hours after it happened and he had no problems with his head, he had a broken toe. He had to refuse the test in order for her not to order it. More common sense by doctors and patients would go a long way towards cutting costs in healthcare. And I think that anyone who works around an emergency room would be able to tell you that these types of things happen multiple times every day.
Sorry for the typo in the first sentence. I meant to say that
I am not saying that people that are harmed by incompetent doctors shouldn’t be compensated,
Thank you Sen. Feingold. for your stand, and shame on the in name only Democrat Sen. who are not in agreement with you, but are more interested in lining their own pockets by supporting insurance companies. Although you do not represent me, and I’m lucky .that those who do in my state can be counted on to support the option
Senator Feingold,
Wish we had one like you in my state. Thank God for your voice of sanity and for your courage to do what’s right.
But may I offer this input, from someone in a conservative area: I believe most American’s primary fear about health reform is that it will increase the deficit and/or require a tax increase to pay for it.
I don’t hear politicians talking about the numbers. We want to be for reform, we just need to see the balance sheet. This seems a relatively simple request.
I’ve read CNN Money’s excellent story on “Healthcare’s Big Money Wasters.” According to them, there is 1.2 TRILLION in waste we could trim. How much of that is realistically achievable, and will that amount then cover the 46 million or so uninsured?
Maybe it’s time for someone to go old-school, and get on TV with some Ross Perot-style charts and graphs. Make it simple.
In addition, I believe the Dems are framing the issues wrong. Talking about healthcare as a “moral obligation” will NOT sway the average American. Maybe it should, but it won’t. Instead, show people how taxpayers are ALREADY paying for the uninsured through ER care and county hospitals. Again, put it on paper. Would it cost less to subsidize care for the uninsured, than to have them walk on their hospital bill, or get free care at a county hospital? Show us.
Realize these are not criticisms of you, but points I hope you’ll share with your colleagues. I know that you’re fighting the most powerful lobbies in the nation on this, so I wish you all the best.
Judi, you bring up a great point about how the debate on health care reform should be framed. Most folks don’t seem to realize we’re already footing the bill for the uninsured who utilize the ER as their primary care in the knowledge that they can’t be refused service at the ER.
It’s unfortunate most Democrats seem to be unwilling to talk about health care reform as a dollars and cents issue that won’t hurt folks – but may actually help them in the long run.
WANTED: More politicians who tell the truth! BRAVO! Why would 47,000,000 people without health care be a partisan issue? Only in the, I’ve Got Mine, USA!