60 thoughts on “Transportation Secretary speaks out on . . . health care reform?”

1. I am not sure why you included that “take over” neo-con slang, but would you rather wait until the government has to bail out the Health insurers again? You do recall you paid out MOST of the Katrina insurance claims? You do recall who goes running to the Federal Government every time a covered disaster has hit an insurance company?
   Insurance companies don’t “insure” anything except that their investors get paid whether or not their policy holders do.

   I would much rather the government waste insurance money on national projects than private insurance companies waste insurance money on their mansions, yachts, private jets, and billions of dollars worth of TV ads telling us how responsible they are with out premiums…

2. “amusing”?? more like nauseating.

3. Yeah, what Charlie said. I agree.

   The government takeover of health care is a bogus, right wing talking point that has no merit in truth.

4. I go with Charlie and Ben on this one. Can’t wait to see the pre-existing ‘clause’ done away with…….

5. Inaction is not an option.

6. “Fiscal conservative” or not, of course the Secretary of Transportation is going to vote for an infrastructure-heavy stimulus bill like Stimulus I. Investing in infrastructure is rarely a bad idea regardless of what side of the aisle you sit on — as any Peoria native will tell you, putting more money in the coffers to fill potholes and resurface streets is badly needed and would be well-spent.

   While it’s a little less clear-cut in this case, I would like to see more interaction within the cabinet departments to cross-promote, so to say. For instance, HUD should be interested in high-speed rail along with the DOT because of the ways that it could help change planning efforts and development patterns in cities near stations. Likewise, the Secretary of Defense should be in favor of better education, creating a new generation of smarter soldiers and officers, expanding existing ROTC and JROTC programs, etc.

   Very rarely do specific issues and projects only fit in one division of government, yet that’s the way the government — both nationally and locally — tends to treat them.

7. There are at least three issues here. First, should government be providing health care coverage at all? Second, assuming the answer to the first question is “yes,” is the current version of the health care bill the best plan for providing health care coverage? Third, and this was the point of my post, what does the Transportation Secretary have to do with health care coverage?

8. CJ, Very little in this bill involves the government providing health care. Government will be providing the means for people to purchase insurance from private companies. I would also say that the government does provide health care now. The Department of Veterans’s Affairs provides health care.

   This bill is not the best we can do, but we have to start somewhere. Teddy Roosevelt is the first President to propose health care more than 100 years ago and we still don’t have a bill. I think this bill must be passed, and it can be tweaked later. Medicare, which is a government system that I have never met a senior citizen that didn’t love, did not happen in one bill. It took many years to get what we have now for Medicare, but it had to start somewhere.

9. As someone who sat through previous “health care” debates, LaHood would certainly have an opinion. As a member of the administration, he is going to state that opinion. He could certainly have declined to make any position statement. I agree with Ben, although not a perfect bill, we have to start somewhere. Even the Constitution had to be amended.

10. 1) No. Doctors (Nurses, etc) and Hospitals (and clinics, etc) should provide health care. Governments should insure everyone has access to that care. Private corporate insurance and heath care providers are incapable of doing that. It would be unprofitable.

    2) No. This is not the best bill. It is impossible in this economic climate to pass anything likely to wrench power from the financial conglomerates of the insurance industry. So… by firing this first shot in the war against the exploitation of the people’s health concerns, this bill will force the insurance companies to negotiate in good faith. (That, by the way, was the purpose of the public option)

    3) He was a Republican Congressman, a PROMINENT Republican Congressman. Does the idea of non-partisan support interest anyone?

11. 1. Healthcare isn’t a right, because of scarcity it can never be. It’s a truth that liberals seem to ignore.

    2. Fantastic, I’m glad we’re mortgaging our future and our children’s future for a bill that is so-so.

    3. You’re joking right?

12. “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness”… sound familiar?

    How can you have ANY of those “unalienable” rights without health?

    Mortgaging our future… that’s hilarious!

    laugh all you want

13. I heard that the district is getting rid of Pre-K.

14. The reality is that although MOST of these children in d150 come in with “early childhood school experiences” they are not showing the level of readiness that I believe d150 thought they would/should have. Short answer: It isn’t working……it’s a free babysitting service. If anyone says differently, I have more than 15 years experience to speak to the contrary. This district needs to focus it’s resources on SCHOOL AGE children…..not children from the womb(leave that to their mothers and fathers). If a child has learning or physical disabilities then they have Easter Seals and MANY other agencies that will work with them, otherwise, parents need to stay home and raise their children themselves or quit complaining about their schools and teachers.

15. Get someone on here that knows and will discuss the data and differences between Tazwell Cty Headstart and PCCEO Headstart. It seems to be working across the river…..

16. el.ed. teacher – I couldn’t agree more. The district is mismanaged and broke to boot. It is insanity to be providing free pre-school when we can’t even provide the basic services.

17. Well charlie, explain to me how a scarce resource like healthcare can be a right??

18. 11bravo: Of course health care is not a right. We have the right to die in a ditch, or to become upper, upper middle income so we can afford minimum health insurance. “Health Care is a Right” is a political slogan designed to sway the masses, as was the lie about “death panels.” The question is whether or not health care reform is a good idea, economically. It is, in the long run.

19. Having a right to something doesn’t mean you also are entitled to an equal sharing of it.

    You have the right to own property but that doesn’t mean everyone is entitled to 100 acres and a mule.

20. “The question is whether or not health care reform is a good idea, economically. It is, in the long run.”

    Of course it would be. The problem is that in the current Senate bill “reform” is a euphemism for welfare. It is being passed of as an economic positive via front-loaded revenues and accounting gimmicks that would make Enron blush. In reality, it’s simply another entitlement program that does absolutely nothing to contain costs and will forever be a net burden on our economy.

    At this point, I’m resigned to it passing but remain hopeful that Congress will soon take up measures that would represent true reform.

21. “how a scarce resource like healthcare”

    What Economics book are you reading? How can health care be scarce when we have more doctors (and other health providers) per person than any other country in the world? We have more and better hospitals? We have more and better research facilities?

    What you mean is that the artificial scarcity created by the business model under which it is run makes health care unavailable to many, thereby increasing the profits per visit to those that can afford the ridiculous rates charged in order to satisfy the insurance companies and stock holders of the health corporations.
    YOU DO REALIZE: the people getting rich off of health care are NOT health care providers. They are bankers and investors.

    It is the bankers and investors that have created this billion dollar campaign to kill health care reform. I am so proud that so many like you have been bamboozled by their scare tactics.
    What was the figure I read the other day… last year health care costs increased by 4% and Insurance costs 45%? Insurance companies posted their highest profits in history last year… (even better than the year Katrina hit New Orleans)

22. Raise your hand if you have ever gone to hospital and been denied health care. You needed to see a doctor and were turned away or prevented from seeing a medical professional.

23. Stephen, not here in Peoria but people in bigger cities like New York and Chicago have been taken to emergency rooms, found no insurance and have been transferred to lower care hospitals, all the while taking time away. I will tell you here I have seen people who have cancer and had their chemo(spelled right?) stopped mid term because the insurance company stopped the treatments. Tell those people to raise their hands.

24. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)[1] is a U.S. Act of Congress passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). It requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare reimbursement provisions. As a result of the act, patients needing emergency treatment can be discharged only under their own informed consent or when their condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment.

    The above is the law- if some person was sent to another facility it was because the care needed was located at a different facility or they consented.

    You don’t walk into an emergency room and demand a heart transplant or radiation therapy.

25. Emtronics I am just confused where the denied treatment situation is happening. You say in your post that they are moved to lower care hospitals, which isnt denied treatment its just not the same quality treatment that you think they should have. You can take on debt to pay for health care treatments you just may never be able to pay it off. Its not denied its just not always available for what someone can pay.

26. “requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare”

    ha ha ha! Stabilize and release.

    Silly you, corporations are not required to obey the law. They are allowed to pay a fine instead of spending their money on treatment. (The fines are ALWAYS less than the treatment costs… it’s GOOD BUSINESS.)

27. So why kcdad would you, of all people, be at all supportive of this bill. Corporations, that you seem to have such an issue with, will be gaining 30 million new customers mandated by the federal government. Those corporations will still have the ability to deny claims and set deductibles just like they are already doing. They cant deny you insurance for pre existing conditions but for everyone already paying for health care there is no benifit. The sliding scale system that would be used to base percentage payment will also increase the amount that the middle class will pay to corporate insurance companies. I guess if someone wanted they could just pay uncle sam the fine every year and still chose to not pay for insurance.

    “The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.” – Tacitus

28. The health care system in this country as it stands now, can not go on. The costs keep rising (39%) for one company and the denial of service because of the ability to pay is also a problem. You can’t get a heart transplant unless you have the money and in other less severe illness’, you can be denied care if your insurance deems it so. Insurance companies make huge record profits. They never ever lose yet in this country, America, the greatest on Earth, thousands and thousands die every year simply because they have no health care. Even rather wealthy people have lost their homes and their wealth simply over an illness. To say we don’t need reform is heartless to say the least and you are being blind to the future of our Country as health care costs are what is breaking this country. It will pass and to those who say it shouldn’t, I hope to God you never suffer an illness where you need prolonged treatments.

29. BTW, walk into a private hospital in a big city needing emergency care and see how fast you are loaded in an ambulance (at your expense) and transferred to a city/county public hospital. Law or no law. As for payment, miss one payment at OSF and watch how the nuns generosity from Jesus go south and you’re connected to the credit department who will garnish your wages unless you cough it up.

30. This bill mandates that you carry insurance. Thats what it does. The federal government will provide you a voucher with tax payer money, so in a way you are paying for it, so that if you are in a lower to middle class income bracket you can buy it. It removes the ability of insurers to deny coverage to pre existing conditions. What it dosnt change is the insurance provider can still chose not to cover a claim, can keep very high deductables and the out of pocket cost to the policy holder will be based on a sliding scale meaning that the more income you make the larger the out of pocket cost. This bill is just going to put more money into the pockets of insurance corporations thanks to the federal government paying premiums and forcing people to buy policies. I wouldnt be against this bill if it was actually about reform.

31. If you can walk into a hospital, you can walk to a public hospital.

32. “If you can walk into a hospital, you can walk to a public hospital.”

    Ahh, there’s the good ol right philosophy I was looking for. And, how about; “If you can’t afford the care, you can just die”?

33. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/a-guide-for-those-traumat_b_507034.html

34. The problem is the Republican “No” that will block anything that directly attacks the insurance industry. So, whether or no this bill is feasible or not, they must pass something. Unlike 1992 when they decided good enough wasn’t good enough and passed nothing, this time (especially after the recent Supreme Court ruling) they must pass something. They can amend it, and change it later. Do I trust them? No. Do I expect them to do it in the future? No. I, for one, will not pay for health insurance. I am forced to have insurance on my car, on my house, my mortgage and whatever else… but if forced to buy life insurance I will cancel all of my insurance policies on everything. I’ll get rid of my car and pay off my house. I refuse to pay any more to a system that’s sole purpose seems to be to be NOT pay claims.

    So, to say I support this bill is disingenuous. I support free health care, free public services… education, legal, etc… and I support the elimination of career politicians, and corporate run hospitals, schools and law firms (for profit).
    Capitalism is an economic system in which natural resources are privately owned. I don’t believe natural resources CAN BE owned. Land, water, air, genes… Jonas Salk (that anti-American commie bastard) refused to patent and sell his polio vaccine… Joe Lewis donated his boxing talent to the US Bond effort during WWII and was fined millions by the IRS because he didn’t pay taxes on the proceeds of his fights, which he never received (like Willie Nelson and his Farm Aid Concerts)…
    Monsanto on the other hand is patenting life itself… certain variants of corn, canola, wheat and other foods are being outright OWNED by American Corporations… (although, of course saying a corporation belongs to a country is just ridiculous… they are their own country.

35. No person who under their own power enters a public hospital ER is refused care. See the EMTALA above. No person who comes in an emergency vehicle is refused care. No person dies because they do not have an insurance plan in an ER. ER’s are not equipted or charged to provide cancer treatment for outpatients.

36. From the article, Emtronics:
    “But there is nothing about the health care reform bill that should be characterized as socialized medicine, which is when the government, rather than private insurers or medical institutions, provides care to its citizens.”
    This common senselessness just makes me crazy.

    WHO provides care to whom? Private Insurers? Since when as an insurance company ever provided you ANYTHING other than a calendar?

    Medical Doctors, Nurses, Therapists, Techs, etc… PEOPLE provide care. People ALWAYS are the ones who provide care. This bill, this crises is not about who will provide care. It is and always has been about WHO will reap the PROFITS from keeping health care “SCARCE”.

37. precinct committeeman:

    “No person who under their own power enters a public hospital ER is refused care.”

    ABSOLUTE BALONEY

    “No person dies because they do not have an insurance plan”

    How stoopid do you think we are? Insurance plans do nothing to insure your health or your life… they are prepaid credit cards… they are “promises” to pay. Promises that do not have to kept. (On the other hand, do you mean that if I get a insurance plan and hang around the ER I will never die.. ETERNAL LIFE!!!!)

38. You know what? We should hire a new superintendent from San Diego to run the health care system, and sell off our VA hospitals to The Charter Hospital Corporation… then everything will be alright… we can bus our patients from hospital to hospital.

39. Charlie needs his meds, so his posts don’t keep us in beds. 3 in a row – oh, the whoa! charlie….Go…..just go.

40. Charlie likes to be selective in his editing and commenting. He does not refute the text he just blows everything into the next world catastrophe.

    He left out ” in the ER” in his critique of the posting

41. So much baloney out there to debunk… so little time

    Come let us reason together…

    WHO benefits from our Insurance Company based health care system? How is Insurance any different from the derivatives that nearly collapsed our financial system? Insurance is buying short on life.

    How much have you spent on insurance for your automobiles over your lifetime? How much have you collected? How much out of pocket and deductibles have you paid? I realize that my anecdotal experiences are not universal facts, but do you really think Insurance Companies provide their coverage with ANY risk to themselves??? Of course not. They are insured against risk themselves with other insurance companies… and ultimately it is the government that covers them as it did in New Orleans after Katrina.

42. “He does not refute the text”

    I need not. The text stands exposed as ridiculous on its own. So no one with insurance dies in an ER? No one dies because they don’t have insurance… they die for other reasons right? Lack of insurance is not a COD. Duh. We get that.

43. Charlie opines:”So no one with insurance dies in an ER?”
    Insurance coverage is not a factor in treatment/care of a person.

44. EXACTLY. People treat and care for people. Insurance is superfluous.

    So why is it that insurance companies run the health care industry?

45. So who stands to gain from a government mandate to buy health insurance from these corporations?

46. I would like to go back to Bravo’s request: Explain to me how a scarce resource like healthcare can be a right?? There aren’t many countries that promise their citizens, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Certainly, before the United States was established there had never been a country that made that promise. I am probably going out on a limb here. From all I know of the Bible, I can’t make a case that God ever promised mankind those three rights. However, I can make a case for believing that the Biblical God does encourage mankind to provide those “inalienable” rights (in His name). At least, that is why I believe that everyone in America should be offered affordable health care–because “life” is not really possible without health care. Take a look at the countries where good health care isn’t even a possibility (without the help of countries like the United States). I don’t know which plan is the best or worst. I just believe that we should strive to find a plan to do the job–and that the politics should be left out of it with everyone working together. All I see are Republican and Democrats weighing the options according to how they can be assured of re-election.

47. This is a message I just received from a couple (my cousins) who own their own business and must buy their own insurance. They both had cancer within in the last few years.
    On the verge of the Heathcare Reform bill vote, we received this letter(yesterday).
    I took a picture of it and one of our first monthly statements in 2005.
    The numbers speak for themselves.
    I am not asking for sympathy, or charity. I’m demonstrating what the insurance companies do to real people, like us.
    Our premiums have increased dramatical since she had her cancer treatments. Then I had cancer, and now every insurance company I call, to try to find a cheaper plan, rejects us. So we are forced to pay $962 a month for insurance that doesn’t kick in till we spend $10,000.00 of our own money.
    I suspect they don’t really want our business. So what are we to do? If we go without, we would lose what little we’ve saved for retirement, then lose the business, then cost the hospital, then bankruptcy. Who wins… the insurance companies.
    I’m sending this to all my friends and family, some of you don’t support Healthcare Reform and some of you do(thank you). I’m not interested in arguments if you don’t see eye to eye with me; the facts are in black and white for me below….just know this is happening to real people. And it’s the insurance companies and Republicans who are doing it.
    Support them or support real people, your choice.

48. Sharon posted: ” And it’s the insurance companies and Republicans who are doing it.
    Support them or support real people, your choice.”

    Someday the people will see these insurance companies and the politicians that support them (rather they are supported by insurance) for what they are. Greedy money grubbing criminals.

49. The vitriol and inuendo continues: Criminals = Republicans. I rest my case

50. Thats touching Sharon, the only thing this bill will do to change that is a company will not be able to not offer them a plan due to the pre existing cancer issue. What it will not do is change a company’s ability to have the same high deductibles and choose to deny claims. The goal of this bill is to insure people who do not already have insurance by offering a voucher program based on income. Meaning that if you dont have insurance you will have to buy it, from the same company your cousins do largely with the same restrictions and deductible issues that already exist. They may be able to find a cheaper policy but the deductible issues they will still at the mercy of the insurer.

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