I read part of Clinton's "My Life" yesterday

[ck4829]

I found Clinton's Health Care plan and how the RW'ers sought to destroy it for political reasons.

There are people dying today because their Health Care providers can refuse to treat them and you can also ask Andy about what a lack of Health Care can do.

We should have started the fight against the Hard Right then, against groups like Americans for Tax Reform and against the people who spread the lies like "Clinton will put you in jail if you get your own health care provider".

My blood is still boiling from reading that.

[journalist3072]

1. Don't forget those awful Harry & Louise ads

The right-wing didn't want all Americans to have health care, and they lied to stop Clinton's plan.

The right wing telling lies....shocking, isn't it? (NOT!)

[KitchenWitch]

3. The anger I have for these wingnuts is absolutely blinding

:banghead:

[journalist3072]

7. I'm with you on that!

I feel that sense of anger too. The right-wing knows they can't win on the issues. When people vote issues, Democrats tend to win. So they have to resort to lying and personal attacks.

Regarding Clinton's health care plan, and what the right-wing did to stop it, I will say that I think Clinton learned one particular lesson from that experience. And that is you don't always have to have a big government overhaul of something, in order to get things done.

Even after his health care plan failed, he signed some really great, smaller health care inititives, such as the law that stopped the practice of "drive-by deliveries."

[KitchenWitch]

2. Have not read Clinton's book

but the feelings you describe remind me of how I felt the first time I read "And the Band Played on". I lost someone very close to me to AIDS (he was 28 when he died) and I will never forgive the Reagan administration's handling of AIDS in the early days.

[trof]

4. This is one book you should definitely HEAR.

Got it from our library and listened to it on a road trip to Boston.
Clinton reads his own book.
Terrific.

[B Calm]

13. Wow, I'll have to get the audio book and listen to at work.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

5. Great book. It shows why the repugs hate him so much.

He is smart, savvy, understands nouns and verbs, complex ideas and can discuss any subject with any person at any time. Big Dog doesn't need to explain the definition of words to his audience.

The health care plan was dead before Hillary was named to oversee it (there was a method to Clinton's madness - Hillary had been working on children's health care issues for over 20 years at the time - she did not get the gig because she was First Lady, she was actually very active on this issue), it was dead before the first meeting, it was not going to be for the simple reason it would have been good for America and not so good for the repug corporate base. Had nothing to do with nationalized health care, a debate over different plans, it was not going to be. Period. Money, money, money. (They also could not allow a Dem victory on any type of social program - they were working like hell to undermine the programs already in place without having another to wreck.)

With the whole bunch of repugs who keep harping on Social Security and whining that the Dems don't have a plan, wonder what kind of plan did the repugs offer instead of "Hillary's" plan? They didn't come up with anything because the last thing they care about is whether a citizen gets sick and gets treatment. They are corporate whores who answer to a "higher" power. Wall Street.

Clinton runs the repugs crazy and if he never did another thing in his life I will always love him for that! He is everything they hate in a political person - smart, compassionate, well read, articulate and a real American.

[Missy M]

6. A Health Care Plan should be one of the top priorities...

in this country RIGHT NOW. Every person in this country should be entitled to the best care possible.

A person in my family had a sudden, unexpected illness and the bills will be reaching over $100,000.00. We have two insurances and will be responsible for $4,000.00. I can't imagine what someone with no health insurance would do and I shudder to think of anyone being left with owing that amount of money, or worse left to die. It is outrageous!!!

[Singleterri]

8. It's illegal to deny health care

If one's life depends on it.

[Missy M]

9. But it is not illegal to send the devastating bills after

giving health care.

[LuPeRcALiO]

10. possibly, but it's not illegal to bankrupt the family that receives it.

What always surprised me is that after Hillarycare got shot down they just dropped the whole issue and moved on to "welfare reform." Cold.

:wtf:

[rasputin1952]

11. Nobody understood the impact of what the lack of Universal HC...

would be.

Far too many people believe that people are 'poor because they want to be,or just plain lazy'. I have fought this fight so often, I am almost able to do it in my sleep.

People w/health insurance today are complaining because their co-payments are too large, or their premiums are too high. These are the same people that have no problem w/individuals dying because they cannot get proper HC. These are the same people who have little problem w/children going to bed seriously hungry, or not being able to get childhood immunizations, (making sure the the burden will be much heavier, as these children get debilitating diseases that are preventable).

I won't fight the whole case here, we all know it too well. But as a member of the HC profession, I see, everyday, people who are on the edge of despair, trying to stay alive, and even baseline healthy...only to succumb to a disease or an injury that was preventable or treatable an an earlier stage.

Millionaires, who have made fortunes off the backs of the very people they deny any dignity or compassion too, are the first to complain....and the dying, far too often, die in silence and pain.

[Lisa]

12. they use it to bully you

As a Canadian, I know people on both sides of the border who've had to cope with serious illnesses. Among my American contacts, even people who are relatively well-off worry about what could happen. I would not be surprised if that kind of stress is actually causing health problems!

If one's employer is the one providing the health care, that can set up a situation where it's hard to complain about mandatory overtime, sexual harassment, or unsafe working conditions. People are scared to quit, or to do anything that could get them fired. I guess the neo-cons like to argue that they don't want to put people's health under the control of bureaucrats -- but they go along with callous, corner-cutting administration as long as profit-making corporations are in charge.

Up here, we're concerned about keeping our jobs too, but we know that even if the worst happens, our public health insurance will cover us. Even if the government in power isn't one we voted for, they still have to do this for us.

[rasputin1952]

14. I believe that Universal Health Care should be a given for all basic

health care needs.

For most of the "vanity" treatments/surgeries, insurance of personal payment would be options. Many elective procedures would be covered by insurance/personal payment as well. If someone wishes a 'facelift', they should pay for it; if someone has CHF, the UHC situation should apply. The wealthy would benefit from UHC as well, but they are just too damn arrogant to figure it out. The idiotic commercials that care out against the Clinton Healthcare Plan, made people think they could not choose the physician they wanted, which was an incredible piece of disinformation. Fear, once again won over against reality. It was such a piece of distortion, that the GOP people stated they didn't read or even scan the plan...they just didn't like it because Hillary was in charge. It was a sad situation.

For all preventative actions, a government should protect it's people and take on that protection with pride. There is a lot more to protecting the population than either militarily or through laws/courts.

Eventually, this nation will have UHC, it is inevitable. But as each day goes by, there will be more in pain/dying/ill from the incredible lack of empathy that some have here.