Health care: Public clamors for reform, but which kind?

About 18,000 innocent, victimized citizens are mercilessly sentenced to needless, painful deaths annually. Likewise, millions of victims' life savings and homes are swindled by ruthless, amoral soulless profiteers. Death care via claim and pre-existing-condition denials puts politics and obscene profits above health care. This reality is more nefarious than Guantánamo tortures or 9/11.

The drug/health insurance Mafia is responsible for enforcing this ruthless "pay-or-die" blackmail. Naysaying, lobbyist-bribed Republicans and blue dog Democrats are corporate harlots. Media and health corporations spew fear-mongering lies. Really, what's more important than good health unencumbered from financial worries? We're number "last" while the world pities and laughs at us.

No compromise: Congress must allow open Medicare enrollment choice. Funding? Re-tax risky short-term stock transactions/hedge funds, terminate two needless wars, prosecute frauds against our government, liposuction obscene health profits, and penalize offshore, outsourcing corporations.




I applaud President Barack Obama's speech on health care reform. But missing was any mention of our citizens' responsibility to maintain their health. If the president wants to see a reduction in health care costs, he must exert his leadership to get Americans to make lifestyle changes that will keep them out of the medical system. If he could succeed in getting more Americans to exercise regularly, avoid junk food, eat fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, and, according to the latest research, get enough Vitamin D from sunshine, our health care costs would go down dramatically. His leadership in this area is vitally needed.




Have I got this straight? Our president, Barack Hussein Obama, who can't even start a major health care policy speech on time and then yammers on aimlessly for 50 minutes wants the government to play a major role in the delivery of health care in America!?

Let me help him out:
1) Meaningful tort reform;
2) nationwide competition in the health insurance industry; 3) those who have, pony-up for those who have nothing; and
4) exclude illegal aliens from the system. Presto, a 10-page bill even a damn fool White House or congressional Washington insider could read and understand, and better yet, the solution to 98 percent of the existing "problems" with the system.




These days we hear protests, many of them loud and disturbingly hostile, against President Barack Obama's "plans" to create a socialist state, beginning with medical care. At this point, I think we all need to pay attention to the Constitution of the United States.

The preamble lists six objectives of the document, among which is "to promote the general Welfare." The word "welfare" may have various meanings, but basic is that derived from the Old English wel faren: "the condition of being or doing well." The welfare of its people should not be among the least of government's responsibilities.




Barack Obama is a "socialist" because he proposes government solutions for health care! Obama is a fascist, like Hitler, because he proposes death panels to extinguish elderly persons and plans to kill the unborn. President Obama is a political propagandist because he is trying to poison our children's minds with "socialist/fascist" ideas. President Obama is a racist because he is a black man, and is not white. President Obama is not entitled to be president because he is not born an American citizen. Obama is not a patriot, because he plans to take away my guns: More to come next week! The sky is falling!




Your Sept. 7 article "Health care out of reach for many laborers," claims laborers can't get medical care in New Mexico, and if they go to the hospital for treatment, it's "food out of their kids' mouths." That's bunk.

Anyone who shows up at a hospital without medical insurance gets free care. For-profit and not-for-profit hospitals are required by law to provide free medical care regardless of ability to pay. One reason America spends so much on health care is that we provide it free of charge, so people overuse it.

Additionally, under a state program called New Mexico State Coverage Insurance, anyone with reported income below about $40,000 automatically qualifies for free health insurance from Lovelace. All disabled people and people over 65 have Medicare. All poor people have Medicaid. All poor children have SCHIPS. Plus there are countless clinics providing free care.




Again the Obama Administration is backing away from the "public/government option." Ironically that may be a good thing, if the objective is to change its distorted rhetoric, but yet keep the objective that a public option would provide. Is it simply to change the rhetoric? The objective of a public option has been to provide cost competition to for-profit private insurance companies; to provide a nonprofit refuge where lower cost insurance is available. That competition is critical to any health care reform success.

However, if the administration's objective is to compromise the objectives of a public option, that is, the cost reductions resulting from the competition a non-profit public option would provide, then no health care reform bill should be passed. Until there is legislation to take the profit out of basic health care there can be no health care reform in this country.


New Mexico has the second worst rate for health care coverage. Our congressional representatives need to make this their No. 1 priority. Though they give a ''nod'' to supporting the public option, that is not enough. We need to continue to make sure they hear us. I will be joining a grassroots rally today at the Civic Plaza in Albuquerque. It's the best way I know of to express my strong opinion on this matter. Perhaps if our politicians see a large turnout, our efforts will be noticed and they will listen more to their constituents than to their lobbyists. One can hope.




While the Congress and the president haggle over health care reform with issues such as, single-payer, public option, pre-existing conditions, etc., why aren't the media describing more clearly how so many of our elected officials are essentially "bought and paid for?" Sure, some are from conservative states and districts, but some really couldn't care less. Protecting their chance of being re-elected, maintaining their power is far more important to most of them.

When it comes to a real solution to providing health care to all Americans, I keep on reminding myself of what the late-Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynahan once said: "Wouldn't it be easier to just lower the age to qualify for Medicare?"




I have voted for presidents since Harry Truman in 1948, but I have never been so overjoyed at the outcome as I was when Barack Obama won the election. I truly believed in "change we can believe in."

What a naive chump I am. Obama's main platform planks have all fallen apart. We will not be getting out of Iraq; we are escalating the fight in Afghanistan; the U.S. attorney general is doing little or nothing to correct and punish the illegal and unconstitutional acts committed under the Bush regime; the same money men who were largely responsible for the financial crisis we inherited are now in charge of fixing the problem: The list goes on.

Most appalling is that he is apparently knuckling under to the pharma and health insurance bigwigs by not insisting that we have a health bill with a public option as a minimum. We really should be talking about single-payer insurance! No health bill is better than a bad bill! We will never have a better chance for change.