Obama Running Scared -- by Helen Thomas

[balantz]

Published on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by the Albany Times Union (New York)
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/23

Obama Running Scared

by Helen Thomas


A universal health care system based on the single-payer model appears to be a bridge too far for President Barack Obama.

A single-payer system, such as Medicare for everyone, would provide health care for all.

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All around the world, governments have long made medical care available for their citizens. Why not us?

Obama clearly has no stomach for the political battle that any single-payer plan would ignite. So he's endorsed a step that would allow the government to provide health insurance coverage -- not health care -- to eligible people. Such government-sponsored health insurance is being considered in Congress as it writes health care reform legislation.

While the public plan option gets full consideration in Congress, the single-payer model has been unwelcome at the White House or on Capitol Hill.

Obama said part of the fierce opposition to health care reform has been fueled "by some interest groups and lobbyists -- opposition that has used fear tactics to paint any effort to achieve reform as an attempt to, yes, socialize medicine."

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Somehow government bailouts have been more palatable for Wall Street plutocrats who happen to be needy.

Obama stressed in a speech to the AMA in Chicago last week that he does not favor socialized medicine.

Some 47 million Americans are uninsured -- many because some employers have dropped coverage in the economic downturn. Others lack insurance because pre-existing illnesses deny them access to private insurance. There also are millions with no way to pay for soaring health insurance payments because they have lost their jobs.

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In his remarks to the AMA, Obama warned against "scare tactics" and "fear mongering" by opponents of the public plan option, which the President said should be available to those who have no health insurance.

Obama rejected the "illegitimate concern that's being put forward by those who are claiming that a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system."

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[villager]

1. apparently we do have to fear fear itself...

especially the fear of long, intense political battles this "changey" administration seems to have....

[masuki bance]

2. Helen tossed under the bus in...3..2..1..

Helen's roses stomped on in ..5..4..3...2...

[jkshaw]

3. If President Obama reads that Helen Thomas

says that he's "running scared," he might suddenly get inspired to prove her wrong and go for single payer. I'd love to see that. He might realize that giving the AMA sweeteners will do no more good than sweeteners did to the Republican obstructionists.

[bemildred]

4. Half the country is ALREADY on medicare, medicaid, and/or uninsured already.

And paying for the other half is bankrupting us and destroying our economy. And our health care sucks. What else do you need to know?

[waiting for hope]

5. Kick for Helen.