Open note to President Obama:

[Brigid]

Dear President Obama,

You say that a public option is "only a means to an end." I have a little news flash for you: Do you really expect profit-driven insurance companies, after decades of literally getting away with murder in the form of denying claims, refusing to cover those with pre-existing conditions, and other dirty tricks, to change their ways? It isn't going to happen. I used to work for one; trust me, I know. Only single-payer will do. Medicare for everyone is the place to start. Medicare is one of the very few parts of our current "system" that actually works. Why make things more complicated than they have to be? I want to support you on this issue, and this was a very heartening speech tonight, but This is what I think, for what it is worth.

Sincerely,

Brigid

[tabatha]

1. Ted Kennedy's letter to Obama

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- Below is the text of the letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy referenced by the President in tonight's address to a joint session of Congress, as released by the White House on Wednesday evening.

"Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.

On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.

You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.

When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.

There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat - that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.

And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.

In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.

So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.

At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.

And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.

With deep respect and abiding affection,

"

[dflprincess]

2. Obama admits that the insurance companies are dishonest

yet he's okay with forcing us to continue supporting them.

What Obama is talking about doesn't guarantee access to health care, it just guarantees that the insurance companies will have access to our wallets.

[robo50]

3. It is obvious that all of the posters on this thread do NOT understand how to

effect change in America, versus how to hit their head on a stone wall.

Those "perfect is the enemy of the good" people, obviously, never, really worked in any major political arena, other than to campaign for Obama, and to work for other causes which never led to real change.

OK! We know it's not perfect, and we know change takes time, we agree on that, but you would put up another thread to prove WHAT? That you know the true bliss of a perfect system?

OKAY, either accept how America changes over time, or move to a nation where the same thing happens there....but they might be a little further along than we are.

Geeze, I am SO SICK of DU posters here posting how pure and holy they are, how compromise is so impure, like drinking sewer water, and how their refusal to accept the realities of 21st century capitalism in the health insurance industry is reason for yet another "instructive" thread from them.

[Brigid]

4. Anything other than single-payer is scattershot.

I think that those who support health care reform in whatever form need to get focused. I believe that getting behind a plan to extend Medicare to all would be the place to start. That is all. Medicare did not come easily the first time around, either.

[tabatha]

5. Posting a copy of Kennedy's letter shows lack of understanding?

It was actually a counter to the OP.

[EndElectoral]

6. Brigid, I worked in insurance too. You're exactly right.

[EndElectoral]

7. Will someone explain how premiums will lower by adding those with pre-exisitng conditions, denials,

if there is no significant public option.

I know insurance companies. They'll just jack up premiums, and if they know people are going to be fined if they don't get insurance they know they've got even more additional profit.

Without a signficant public option, this is a lost cause. Insurance companies will clean up with this.