Offc of HOMELAND SECURITY..an. budget $52B.. Bush ordered it and *a year later* it was up & running.

[Shagbark Hickory]

The largest government reorganization in American history and the 3rd largest cabinet department was ordered by former president Bush a month after the 9/11 attacks.

With 208,000 employees and an annual budget of $52 Billion, with a B, the office of homeland security was established only 13 months later when it was signed into law by the homeland security act of 2002.

Why can't our President do the same with healthcare.
More people are dying each year due to the HEALTH CRISIS than have died in 9/11.

We need a government agency to oversee health insurance regulation and another government agency to provide health insurance. How can conservatives claim this is some rapid expansion of government when their hero, GW Bush, created the office of homeland security?

Can anyone explain that to me?

And why is it going to take 3 years to implement a government-operated insurance company? It's not like the insurance company would incorporate 22 other agencies like OHS does.

I'm thrilled healthcare was tackled so soon in his presidency, but president O needs to put his foot down, publicly insist on a public option and bring it to market in a year.

That's all.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Where there's a will, there's a way

It's amazing how much can get done when people really put their efforts into it. And when you really WANT something, you make every effort to achieve it.

I just haven't seen all that much effort coming from this administration.

Sorry if that offends some, but that's the way I see it



TG

[ixion]

2. It's simple: The dems capitulated to Bush all the time

so there was nothing to hold them back. As a result, we have the hyper-fascist DHS and TSA.

Great!! :sarcasm:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. We finally located the other two branches of government.

Slows things down a bit.

[KG]

4. because, amongst the powers that be, single payer is not an urgent issue

and too many americans still cling to the myth that private insurance has their best interests at heart.

[SoCalDem]

6. Stockholm Syndrome Insurance Co, at your service

:rofl::puke:

[quiet.american]

5. The prez has publicly insisted on public option - it's on whitehouse.gov

(Your first sentence actually gives the answer to your question -- Bush et al. exploited 9/11 for all it was worth -- the world saw it as a tragedy -- the GOP saw it as a gift that would keep on giving to provide cover for whatever they wanted to do).

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health-care/plan

The Obama Plan: Stability & Security For All Americans

Excerpt:

Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. The President believes this option will promote competition, hold insurance companies accountable and assure affordable choices. It is completely voluntary. The President believes the public option must operate like any private insurance company –it must be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects

Obama doesn't have to be reminded about the urgency of people needing healthcare -- that's why he has driven this effort right out of the gate in the first year of his presidency. He has also said many times that those who critically need access to this reform will have access to it immediately after the bill is signed, so they will not have to wait until it's all up and running.

[ellenfl]

7. he only has to remember his mother's experience, and i'm sure he does. eom

[Shagbark Hickory]

8. Posting it on a website isn't enough. He needs to be out there Like Tony Wiener insisting upon it.

[quiet.american]

9. Obama has stated at rallies and in interviews many times, his support for the public option.

*And* he put it in black-and-white on the WH website.

The public option remains alive and well and will be included in the final bill he signs.

This would not have happened if Obama had not committed to it.

[Jim Lane]

10. DHS was essentially just a reorganization

The basic idea was to give the impression of decisive action, but the heart of the establishment of the new Cabinet department was simply to take existing agencies and place them under the DHS. It's not as if we had to begin operating a Coast Guard or a Secret Service from scratch. Health care will be different if it's set up as a new "public option" that must start from scratch in making deals with providers and signing up beneficiaries.

Of course, the "Medicare Part E" alternative could be implemented much more readily through existing structures.

[Shagbark Hickory]

11. Was that $52b a year already there then?

[Jim Lane]

12. Most or all of it was, yes.

I'm not familiar enough with the details to guarantee that every penny was there before, but consider that the "new" DHS incorporated several pre-existing agencies, all of which, of course, had budgets before 9/11: the Immigration and Naturalization Service (renamed and reorganized under DHS), the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, FEMA, the Federal Protective Service (security for all federal buildings), etc. (My information about specific agencies comes from .)

Of course, they didn't just have budgets. They were fully staffed, had issued extensive regulations where appropriate, and had made mistakes and, one hopes, learned from them. Shuffling them into the DHS was no big deal. (It probably did just about nothing to improve our security, but that's another issue.) Changing the stationery was a lot easier than the task of ramping up a public option.

Picture it: "OK, Mr. Hickory, you're the new (and first) head of the Office of Public Option Health Care. You have no employees, no office space, no deals with health care providers, no members of the public who've signed up, and no detailed regulations governing your activities. Here's a few billion for your first year's budget. Go for it." That's a far cry from the situation that faced the head of FEMA when it was moved into DHS.