By Shailagh Murray -- The Washington Post
November 11, 2009
Former president Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats on Tuesday to resolve their differences with a health-care bill and pass an overhaul as soon as possible. Summoning the lessons of his own history with health-care reform, Clinton warned, "The worst thing to do is nothing."
Clinton noted the grim consequences of the failed reform effort 15 years ago, when he was in office: Democrats lost control of Congress in that year's midterm elections, health-care costs skyrocketed, and the rate of Americans without insurance continued to rise. This time, the former president admonished, senators should compromise for the sake of a deal.
"It's not important to be perfect here. It's important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling," Clinton told reporters after the meeting. "There will be amendments to this effort, whatever they pass, next year and the year after and the year after, and there should be. It's a big, complicated, organic thing. But the worst thing to do is nothing."
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22 comments:
Tell Clinton to go ask Howard Dean why democrats won't do tort reform to lower health care costs. Howard can explain it in a way that libs can understand.
HEY JACKASS!!! I am so sick of you repukes bitching about tort reform! They did a study & found out that just like 99% of all other repukes ideas that it would lower costs by LESS THEN 1% BUT AS USUAL IT WOULD GREATLY HELP MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE COMPANIES! WOW WHAT A FREAKIN SUPRISE!!! THE PROBLEM WITH YOU REPUKE IDIOTS IS THAT YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO ACTUALLY GO TO AND READ OTHER NEWS SITES BESIDES FAUX NEWS!!! DO NOT EVEN MENTION BUYING INSURANCE ACROSS STATE LINE BECAUSE JUST LIKE TORT REFORM IT WILL DO NOTHING FOR THE CONSUMER IT WILL ONLY HELP THE INSURANCE COMPANIES BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO OPERATE OUT OF STATES WITH THE MOST LAX REGULATIONS & CONSUMER PROTECTIONS, MOST LIKELY A FEW SOUTHERN STATES!!! WOW WHAT ANOTHER SURPRISE!!! READ BETWEEN THE LINES U MORON! EVERYTHING THE GOP DOES IS FOR MONEY FOR THEIR CURRENT CORPORATE DONORS & TO "COURT" NEW ONES! THEY COULD GIVE A RAT'S ASS ABOUT "REGULAR" PEOPLE, REPUKES OR NOT, THEY JUST DO NOT CARE! HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR U GUYS TO WAKE UP?!?!? ALL THE THINGS THEY SAY WILL HELP CREATE JOBS RIGHT NOW LIKE THEIR GOOD OLD TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH, WAS ALREADY DONE, REMEMBER THE PAST 8 YEARS WITH BUSH IN OFFICE?!?! WHAT DID ALL THOSE SUPPOSED GREAT REPUBLICAN IDEAS DO??? HMMMMMM? OH YEAH I REMEMBER NOW, IT CAUSED A RECESSION ALMOST A DEPRESSION AND NOT JUST FOR AMERICA, THOSE GREAT OLD REPUKE IDEAS DIDN'T JUST SCREW OVER AMERICA THEY MANAGED TO TAKE A MASSIVE DUMP ON THE ENTIRE FREAKIN WORLD!!! THOSE REPUBLICAN IDEAS WERE SO BAD THAT THEY CAUSED THE ENTIRE WORLD TO GO INTO A RECESSION AND YET THE REPUKES SEEM TO HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN ABOUT BUSH AND HOW HE DID ALL THEIR IDEAS AND EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN'T WORK AND CAUSED THE MESS THAT WE ARE STILL IN & RECOVERING FROM NOW ALL THE REPUKES CARE ABOUT IS GETTING THEMSELVES AND THEIR RICH BUDDIES A HUGE TAX BREAK NO MATTER WHAT IT WILL CAUSE! THE MIDDLE & LOWER CLASSES ARE THE ONES THAT DESERVE & NEED A TAX BREAK WHILE THE RICH NEED TO BE TAXED MORE THEN THEY WERE BEFORE bUSH'S TAX CUT. hOW i SEE IT IS IF YOU MAKE MORE YOU PAY MORE & IF YOU MAKE LESS YOU PAY LESS JUST LIKE WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING YOU PAY MORE TAXES ON SOMETHING THAT IS $200 THEN SOMETHING THAT IS $5 AND THAT IS HOW OUR SYSTEM SHOULD BE! iF THE RICH DON'T LIKE IT THEN THEY CAN LEAVE SINCE THEY CAN AFFORD TO & IT SHOULDN'T AFFECT THEM THAT MUCH SINCE THEY HIDE MOST OF THEIR MONEY OVERSEAS SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO PAY TAXES ON IT!!!
mAdam you’re so silly I don't know where to start. But here goes:
"They did a study & found out that just like 99% of all other repukes ideas that it would lower costs by LESS THEN 1%"
Doctors E&O insurance costs would plummet thereby lowering costs for all. Lawyers fees would plummet. Huge part of health care virtually eliminated. Oh yeah...Howard Dean can't let that happen. Where is this study mAdam? I'd like to see it. I bet a lib conducted it. Why not save money anyway, even if it was your silly assumption of 1%. I know, I know. You want a socialist government.
"IT WILL ONLY HELP THE INSURANCE COMPANIES BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO OPERATE OUT OF STATES WITH THE MOST LAX REGULATIONS & CONSUMER PROTECTIONS, MOST LIKELY A FEW SOUTHERN STATES"
Are you that stupid that you can't think of making it mandatory for companies to be available in all 50 states? There are 1300 of them. 1300 in all 50 states would drop prices across the board. I guess you couldn't think of that on your own. LOL. You dumb fucking idiot!! YOU REALLY COULDN’T THINK OF THAT BY YOURSELF??? You should see a doctor about your lack of intelligent thought. You have just proved that you couldn’t HAVE A SMART IDEA EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR IT!! YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE DEAF AND MUTE IF IT WASN’T FOR DEMOCRAT TALKING POINTS!!
"CREATE JOBS RIGHT NOW LIKE THEIR GOOD OLD TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH"
Guess what fool? The Bush tax cuts, yes the tax cuts for 'the rich', will sunset come Jan 1st. Everyone's taxes, including the middle class and poor, will go up because it is a payroll tax! So much for the dems “tax cuts for the rich”. Why do you think Pelosi was trying to justify sunsetting it?
"iF THE RICH DON'T LIKE IT THEN THEY CAN LEAVE SINCE THEY CAN AFFORD"
Who will you mooch off of if the rich leave? You hate the rich but you love all the money that is taken from them!! The great plan of Obama to redistribute the wealth will implode without them!! Think real hard about this mAdam and it might become a little clearer to you.
I will say that if you tried the “I’m a dumb ass bitch” role, you did it. I totally got the feeling that you were crying when you wrote that crap. Good job!!
Dam mAdam!! This was an easy one. Look up some more talking points so I CAN BURY YOUR DUMB ASS AGAIN!!!
Let's not talk about the Bush economy until we see the wonderful effects of the Obama Administration and the printing of money that we can't back. Just wait for that to catch up with us. It's been done before in other countries and it never ends well! Read your history!!!!
You're right Casey. It's sad that my son (not sure if you have any)is at risk of not being able to buy a home when interest rates skyrocket as they did when Carter was president. Remember Carter? The absolute worse president we've ever had. Though, Obama is giving him a run for his money.
That's just my oldest. Who knows what will happen to my 2 youngest if we continue this road.
Carter was the worst President and I can't believe that they keep trotting him out to get his opinions on things like foreign policy! Who cares what he thinks? He's a damned anti-semite as well as a royal asshole!
I remember the Carter days oh so well. God, those were miserable days, but I don't think that even HE printed money, did he?
Yes, I have 1 son and 2 daughters and I worry all of the time about their future.
Obama may surpass Carter as the biggest mistake in presidential history. The money printing will catch up to us. Simple economics.
But these guys don't actually read history, so they can't see when it repeats itself!
Casey, even GM is about to start repaying its bailout money to the taxpayers. Retail sales and other aspects of our economy keep improving.
So, I don't think you need to worry so much about your children's future.
Our economy was dead in the water when Obama took office. Thanks to Obama's stimulus packages, our economy is now well on the road to recovery.
Obama needs to do more to bring down unemployment, but that's his current focus, and he will accomplish that, too.
Carter was a terrible president. I agree with you. His one accomplishment -- which was major -- was to help broker a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which has lasted all these years and is still strong and vital.
His most brainless folly was to abandon the Shah of Iran and allow the insane mullahs to take over Iran. We should call it Carter's Folly. That disastrous decision is one for which we are all paying -- today, more than ever.
Obama is a Realist -- not a starry-eyed Dreamer like Carter. Obama's decisions, believe it or not, will probably strengthen this country and help us win the War On Terror.
CJP
Our economy was dead in the water when Obama took office. Thanks to Obama's stimulus packages, our economy is now well on the road to recovery. CPJ
Oh you are too funny! Yes we have such a robust economy! Unemployment over 10% and no relief in sight. CJP loves and is ok when Obama misleads us. lol.
Obama misled us about the new jobs BUT GOT BUSTED!!! lol
He had to slash his "job number" by 60,000. haha. CJP mindlessly will ignore this because his god Obama will not acknowledge it. It's just not in CJP's talking points. Then he says republicans are brainwashed!! I just laugh at him so much. Read this CJP and keep believing what the democrats tell you. lol
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/abc-news-exclusive-obama-administration-slashed-60000-jobs/story?id=9095621
Tell me, please, someone how the Hell we will have a "robust economy" when we have a 12 Trillion dollar debt? When we print money that is worthless? When people are still loosing their homes? When unemployment is over 10% and no end is in sight?
When instead of balancing the budget, you just raise the caps?
Gotta hand it to ya' CJP, you have an awful lot of blind faith in this guy. I haven't seen the "magic" yet that you all seem to see. Clinton understood economics, I really don't believe that Obama does.
Casey, every month, the figures on the economy keep improving. Retail sales are going up, GM is repaying some of its loans, major banks are repaying their loans, etc.
We were on the brink of a monster Depression when Obama took office. Considering where we were ten months ago, we're doing much better today. The 50% rise in the stock market reflects that improvement.
We still need to bring down unemployment and start paying down the deficits. But --- first things first. The first priority was to keep the economy afloat, and that is being accomplished.
CJP said...
Casey, every month, the figures on the economy keep improving. Retail sales are going up, GM is repaying some of its loans
What you choose to ignore is that they are giving the government some money at the cost of losing over 2 billion. What you choose to ignore is that GM could have went chapter 11 and renigotiate it's contracts with companies. No need to lend them money (other than get your hooks into them), no 2 billion dollar loss.
You choose to ignore that the bank loans that are being paid back are from banks that didn't want the money in the first place. You choose to ignore the government was forcing banks to take loans using the money that we work hard for.
Because you libs choose to ignore the facts you end up doing every ass-backwards.
Right, and GM has not yet paid a penny of that money back, but "has plans to"
GM went bnakrupt anyway, so what was accomplished? Losses were still posted this quarter, however not as bad as they thought that they would be. In part due to "cash for clunkers" but that program costs us, and it is now over.
Freddie Mac just lost another 60 Billion dollars (govt agency---Barney Frank needs to go away)
The sky is not blue just because the govt says it is. We have not seen consistant, sustained improvement yet. The unemployment rate still climbs...
CJP, I don't agree with you, but you seem like a nice guy. however, I don't think that you are seeing things quite as they really are. I think that you are following the "party line" so to speak.
The stats about the "recovering economy" are premature at best, and very much manufactured and flawed. For example:
When I heard the the stimulus money created X amount of jobs in Arizona's 9th congretional district, it was scary to see that put out there, since there IS no 9th congretional district in Arizona. So many "mistakes" have been discovered in these statistics that it is hard to put alot of faith in them at this time. The jobless rate again climbed in October. Now there are roughly 16 million Americans out of work.
Athough I didn't vote for Obama, I sincerely hoped that he would turn out to be a good choice because I do love this country, but so far I have seen poor choices (as in Czars) The broken promises, (as in the whole lobbyist and transparency issues) the perilously slow decision making (as in Afganistan)---even the way that Britian has been treated. An Ipod for the Queen of England! The deep bowing to the Emperor of Japan, Saudi Arabia; he practically High 5'ed Chavez! If these gaffes are the result of poor advisors in these matters, it again, shows poor choices and inexperience. (c'mon---even I wouldn't approve the gift of an IPOD for the Queen of England---and I bet you wouldn't either!)If you think that these are small matters in the eyes of the rest of the world, you are dead wrong.
This administration is filled with tax cheats, Marxists, (in addition to being a Marxist Van Jones was a felon---most felons can't even get a job at the local convenience store, let alone a high level job with the administration of the US presidency!)The stimulus package was so filled with pork that it was unbelievable (millions to airports that no on ever uses, tunnels for turtles, shit like that)The jobs created were minimal and short term. This is what people are so upset about!!! And there is so much more. Cap & Trade, the healthcare bill, mounting debt, printing of money, government take over of private industries, it goes on and on.
(cont)
It is time to be honest with ourselves. The picture is far from rosey, and unfortunately these policies will have far reaching reprecussions. Listen to the economists--not just the administration. (we have to spend to get out of debt? Really? That gem came out of the mouth of Joe Biden! How does that make any sense?) The teaparty goers are not a bunch of right wing "nutjobs". These are people that are tired of the BS that is going on. If Bush was doing this crap, they'd be in the streets as well! It isn't a Republican/Democrat thing, (Bush spent too much, too. Alot of his policies sucked as well.) It is a policy thing. People feel that they are not being listened to---by either side. People are frustrated. Yes, even people that voted for Obama. Remember, I live in Michigan, but I hear the discontent and anger. They feel that this is not the "change" that they voted for! I hear it everywhere that I go, and we all know that Michigan strongly supported Obama.
This is what I see. I am not a Republican, I am a reformed Liberal Democrat. I am a Libertarian. I am not crazy, stupid or uneducated. I don't belong to any fringe groups or even the NRA! I am a Catholic, but I do not thump my Bible or own a gun. I am a single parent that has worked very hard all of my life, who is currently unemployed because of corporate greed and stupid government policies that destroyed the housing industry. (yes, the government policies had a BIG hand in this mess! Pressure was put on companies to make loans to people that could not afford it. I am an underwriter and saw all of this, saw that the REFI boom was what was feeding the economy, saw the programs, knew that this disaster was coming)
The sad thing is, you have Barney Frank out there STILL saying that the guidelines need to be relaxed for the lower income! Yikes!
So, I have said my piece, and I thank you for the opportunity to do so on your Blog. I am not going to try to debate you anymore, (well...maybe not)but I ask you to do a couple of things: Please try to see the other side. Don't believe all that you hear coming from ANY administration. It has gotten to the point where BOTH parties are generally pretty corupt and out of touch. Don't assume that all government employees are honest and selfless, or that all corporations are run by greedy bastards. There are good and bad in both sectors. More regulations have not and will not cure this. Remember that Communism was a Utopian goal that fell in part due to corruption, greed and absense of the free market. (read "Cafe Europa")
Give Fox a chance, read everything, not just written by people that agree with you, as I am not afraid to listen to both sides.
Nice Casey!!
Thank you, HOTR, but I doubt that I will get a response from CJP. The thought of actually READING something that offers another point of view is not something that he is willing to do.
He is doing exactly what he accuses "cons" of doing....only listening to one side. Well, what is good for "us" should apply to you as well, CJP
Casey, I'm sorry to hear that you lost your job after so many years. I hope you find another good job soon.
But that's another reason why you should be supporting health care reform.
So many people, like you, have lost their jobs and, with that, they have also lost their health care coverage. At that point, a major medical problem could cause financial disaster and bankruptcy for them and their families, as it has done for so many people.
It's hard for me to understand how someone in your position could not be strongly in favor of universal health insurance.
Who are you trying to protect -- the insurance companies which preserve their profits by dropping people, or by removing covered medical treatments, or by eliminating coverage for pre-existing conditions, etc.? The wealthiest Americans can afford whatever they want, including the finest of medical coverage and services.
But what about the vast majority of people -- like yourself? Universal health care would cover you and protect you against potential financial ruin.
It would also allow hospital emergency rooms to be paid for treating many people who are now uncovered, and are now sticking the hospitals with their bills.
Obama and the Democrats are trying to create Universal Health coverage. Their plan may not be perfect, but it would overcome many of the problems that exist today.
CJP
OMG, CJP! I knew that if you were to comment at all, that a comment about healthcare would be that one that you would make. :)
I am not for healthcare right now because we cannot afford it. I will not be in favor of something that will deepen this already out of control national debt. We are 12Trillion dollars in debt!!! I will not put my own selfish needs before the good of this country and bankrupt my children and grandchildren. Period.
There is no such thing as a government program that is "defecit neutral" Never has been and never will be. (we just bailed out the US Post Office with Billions of more dollars)Another government entitity that is supposed to be self sustaining.
Thanks CJP for the nice comment on my job loss. Just goes to show that I was right about you being a nice guy---no matter how WRONG I think you are about so many things! LOL
Casey, the trillions of dollars of debt that Bush created were (a) to reduce income and estate taxes on America's wealthiest families; (b) to mislead us into a War in Iraq -- and move us away from Afghanistan and the real war on Al Quaida; and (c) to deregulate our banks and financial system into irresponsibility and free-fall.
The debt Obama has created has been to save our banks and financial institutions, and now he is trying to help working people with health
care, housing and jobs.
By the time Obama finishes his first term, he will probably have righted the economy to the point where we are running surpluses (as we did under our last Democratic president, Clinton), the national debt is being repaid, and you won't have to worry about saddling your children or grandchildren with enormous future debt.
(Unless the Republicans gain power again, and re-bankrupt the country, turning surpluses into deficits, as they did as soon as they took office in 2001).
CJP: Our deficit was huge under Bush---and I hated him for that, but the debt has gone up by approx 2 Trillion more dollars since he left office.
The deregulation of the banks was started under Clinton. The pressures on the banks to make stupid loans to poor people started under Clinton and continued and expanded under Bush.
Still with the sucessful stimulus package? The administration is the only one that believes that the stimulas has worked. The banks should have been left alone and let fail. Listen to a few econimists that don't work in this administration---monitizing the debt is not a good idea.
Even China is saying that we can't afford this healthcare package right now!
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