Thread: Obama outlines health care plan for all

I just hope they LISTEN to ALL the PEOPLE and NOT what Obama WANTS to hear. I am not sure if they have done polls on who is for and against this healthcare. I'm sure Jolie has posted them but to many pages to go thru here. I just know that they have shown on our local news how VERY, VERY heated these "town" hall style things are getting. Almost physical.
I TRULY wish this was an area the PEOPLE could vote on! Because IMO the politicians out outdated on what the people really want.

from time.com

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009
Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's 'Deadly Doctor,' Strikes Back
By Michael Scherer / Washington

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the medical ethicist and oncologist who advises President Obama, does not own a television, and if you catch him in a typically energized moment, when his mind speeds even faster than his mouth, he is likely to blurt out something like, "I hate the Internet." So it took him several days in late July to discover he had been singled out by opponents of health-care reform as a "deadly doctor," who, according to an opinion column in the New York Post, wanted to limit medical care for "a grandmother with Parkinson's or a child with cerebral palsy."

"I couldn't believe this was happening to me," says Emanuel, who in addition to spending his career opposing euthanasia and working to increase the quality of care for dying patients is the brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. "It is incredible how much one's reputation can be besmirched and taken out of context."

It would only get worse. Within days, the Post article, with selective and misleading quotes from Emanuel's 200 or so published academic papers, went viral. Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann, a fierce opponent of Obama's reform plans, read large portions of it on the House floor. "Watch out if you are disabled!" she warned. Days later, in an online posting, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin attacked Emanuel's "Orwellian thinking," which she suggested would lead to a "downright evil" system that would employ a "death panel" to decide who gets lifesaving health care. By Aug. 10, hysteria had begun to take over in places. Mike Sola, whose son has cerebral palsy, turned up at a Michigan town-hall meeting to shout out concerns about what he regarded as Obama and Emanuel's plans to deny treatment to their family. Later, in an interview on Fox News, Sola held up the Post article. "Every American needs to read this," he declared.

By this point, Emanuel, who has a sister who suffers from cerebral palsy, had arrived in northern Italy, where he planned to spend a week on vacation, hiking in the Dolomites. Instead, he found himself calling the White House, offering to book a plane home to defend his name. "As an academic, what do you have? You have the quality of your work and the integrity with which you do it," he said by phone from the Italian Alps. "If it requires canceling a week's long vacation, what's the big deal?"

The attacks on Emanuel are a reminder that there is a narrow slice of Americans who not only don't trust government, but also have come to regard it as a dark conspirator in their lives. This peculiar brand of distrust helps create the conditions for fast-moving fear-mongering, especially on complex and emotionally charged topics like the life and death of the elderly and infirm. Prairie fires of that kind are hard to douse when the Administration's own plan for health care remains vague, weeks away from being ready for a public rollout. The health-care bill that recently passed the House does not contain, as some have suggested, any provisions that would deny treatment to the elderly, infirm or disabled like Sola's son. One provision allows doctors to be reimbursed for voluntary discussions of so-called living wills with patients, but does not in any way threaten to deny treatment to dying patients against their will. The legislation anticipates saving hundreds of billions of dollars by reforming the health-care system itself, a process that would try to increase the efficiency of medical care by better connecting payments to health outcomes and discouraging doctors from unnecessary tests and procedures. The Obama Administration hopes that many of these reforms will be made in the coming years by independent panels of scientists, who will be appointed by the President and overseen by Congress.

This is where the criticism of Emanuel enters the picture, since he is just the sort of scientist who might be appointed to one of those panels. For decades, Emanuel has studied the ethics of medical care, especially in situations where a scarcity of resources requires hard decisions to be made. His work sometimes deals with the hardest possible decisions, like how to choose who gets a single kidney if there are three patients in need, or the reasons that doctors order tests with little medical value. Emanuel's reputation ranks him among the top members of his field. He is published often in the best journals; he has been given multiple awards for work to improve end-of-life care. At the White House, he has taken a free-floating role at the Office of Management and Budget, advising on a wide range of health issues.

But in a country where trust is in short supply, Emanuel has become a proxy for all the worst fears of government efforts to rein in costs by denying care. "The fundamental danger is that the American people are being asked to delegate all these life-influencing decisions," explains Betsy McCaughey, the conservative scholar who wrote the New York Post attack on Emanuel. "There is a lack of transparency here."

In her Post article, McCaughey paints the worst possible image of Emanuel, quoting him, for instance, endorsing age discrimination for health-care distribution, without mentioning that he was only addressing extreme cases like organ donation, where there is an absolute scarcity of resources. She quotes him discussing the denial of care for people with dementia without revealing that Emanuel only mentioned dementia in a discussion of theoretical approaches, not an endorsement of a particular policy. She notes that he has criticized medical culture for trying to do everything for a patient, "regardless of the cost or effects on others," without making clear that he was not speaking of lifesaving care but of treatments with little demonstrated value. "No one who has read what I have done for 25 years would come to the conclusions that have been put out there," says Emanuel. "My quotes were just being taken out of context."

For Emanuel, the entire experience has been a painful education in the sometimes brutal ways of politics, something his brother has long endured and dolled out. "I guess I have a better appreciation for what Rahm had to go through for years and years," Emanuel says. But that appreciation does not solve the question raised by the controversy. There is universal understanding that the nation's fiscal course is doomed without major changes to health care, but whom will the American people trust to carry it out?

Emanuel, for his part, plans to continue his work, which is focused on finding the most equitable and ethical way for this reform to be carried out, even if he has opted against returning from the Italian Alps. "I am an Emanuel," he says. "We are pretty thick-skinned. I am not going to change my colors. I am not going to crawl under a rock."

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the medical ethicist and oncologist who advises President Obama,......

.....is the brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Interesting.............

Originally Posted by pepperpot

Interesting.............

That's been public knowledge.

Originally Posted by hesnothere

That's been public knowledge.

Still interesting..........

I just hope they LISTEN to ALL the PEOPLE and NOT what Obama WANTS to hear. I am not sure if they have done polls on who is for and against this healthcare. I'm sure Jolie has posted them but to many pages to go thru here.

: : It was posted in the "Mob" thread ... but an encore just for you .... Go to the Rasmussen link for the breakdown.

The economy, maybe; public support for the Democrats' health care proposal, no. Rasmussen finds support continuing to decline. Currently, 42% approve of the plan while 53% disapprove. Support for the plan has declined eight points since the end of June:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ...lls_to_new_low



The ranks of the un-American continue to grow, apparently.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../08/024247.php

Specter: Health reform critics not representative
Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press Writer
50 mins ago

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Sen. Arlen Specter heard a fresh chorus of taunts Wednesday from opponents of health care reform and said they were "not necessarily representative of America" but should be heard.

Critics lobbed a barrage of now-familiar verbal jabs at the Republican-turned-Democrat during a more-than-90-minute session at a Penn State University conference center. Some opponents said the overhaul that could cost billions of dollars was unwise at a time when the economy was in recession. Others accused Specter of failing to do homework in trying to rush through legislation.

Speaking on CBS' "Early Show" before the meeting, Specter said he was "impressed with the fact that people have been very well prepared." Many have come to meetings with copies of the legislation and have cited specific provisions in their arguments.

In State College, some people read lengthy statements before posing a question. One woman handed Specter a copy of the Constitution. A few questioners praised Specter for facing detractors before relaying their own criticism.

The most vocal of the more 400 attendees jeered Specter. The forum at times turned into a shouting and hissing match between supporters and critics.

"Traditionally people who come to town meetings have objections," Specter said after the event. "They may not be representative of America, but they are significant, and their views have to be taken into account."

Justin Patterson, 28, of Bellefonte was the first of nearly 30 questioners and said members of Congress should experiment themselves with a single-payer option "instead of making us a guinea pig." His comment incited howls.

Specter responded that Congress had bypassed a July deadline set by President Barack Obama, and that lawmakers were using August to hear from constituents. While he favors a single-payer option, Specter said it has little support in Congress.

"No has ever accused me of not doing my homework," he said to a smattering of applause. "I've worked hard ... to consider what you want done and to represent the people of my state."

"Who has Number Two?" Specter then asked abruptly, a signal that he was ready to move to the next question.

The contentious sessions underscore the challenge for Democrats as they try to sway an increasingly skeptical public on costly proposals to revamp the nation's health care system.

Randy Hook, 50, of Hopewell, said he was a U.S. military veteran whose wife had a heart transplant two years ago. He said one of the main problems with health care was "out-of-control lawsuits that not one politician has dared to touch."

"What about the money and speed of all this? If this is for the people, what's the big hurry?" Hook asked.

Specter said Hook, as a veteran, was the beneficiary of the government-run veterans health care system, and that Hook's wife, as a transplant patient, received help from the state government.

"We're slowing down. We're taking our time to do it right," Specter said.

It was the third town hall in two days for Specter, who received similar reactions at his other stops. Specter said he tried to defuse tensions Wednesday with a few jokes, especially after his first stop Tuesday in Lebanon when he said "he did not know what to expect."

Seeing people who had also attended Tuesday's forums, Specter said, "I consider it a compliment that you want to come back."

At one point, he even jokingly booed himself in front of reporters as a way of poking fun at the reaction he has been getting.

Specter, who once finished second in a Washington celebrity stand-up comedy contest, said afterward the change in disposition was intentional.

"I was able to find a few lighter moments ... to ease up on some of the pressure," he said. "I don't want to overdo it. I don't want to make that anything is funny or trivial."

His next town hall is Thursday in Kittanning, outside Pittsburgh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/...re_protests_40

Town hallers scream way to therapy
Erika Lovley
Wed Aug 12, 10:23 am ET

Americans are taking to town hall meetings across the country to vent frustration at the $11 trillion federal deficit, the health care fight and just about anything else that happens to spark their outrage.

Why the vicious tone? Some of the nation’s rowdiest town hallers say it feels therapeutic — and that at least they were accomplishing something. But according to anger management experts, the relief that screaming matches offer is only temporary.

“It’s like taking speed or amphetamine or a big Starbucks. It gives you energy and temporary confidence,” said Compassion Power founder and anger expert Steven Stosney, who points out that primates and human beings, especially men, were designed to roar at the sign of danger. “But it’s meant to warn, threaten and intimidate a saber toothed tiger, not express opinions about health care reform.”

It worked for Michigan salesman Matthew McCormick, who bellowed at Rep. John Dingell during a health care forum in Romulus, Mich., last week. In a video, he yells, “Look at me, John!” as police move to arrest the health care reform opponent.

“There’s some sense of satisfaction, at least he understands how I feel,” McCormick later told POLITICO. “I think Dingell will recognize me when he sees me again. I keep telling people I’m just getting warmed up.”

Americans may need a few rounds of raucous meetings before they can settle into a civilized, calm debate with lawmakers.

“Members ought to go back home, hold as many town hall meetings as you have to, let people get it out of their system,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said on ABC’s “This Week,” noting he once faced a shouting mob of 800 angry machinists. “And by September, we could have a genuine dialogue in this country,”

According to Los Angeles anger management expert Michael Levittan, letting it all out really does help. “You have months and months of built up anger, whether it’s over unemployment or losing homes. If people are getting that out in a verbal way without violence, then it can have a certain amount of mental catharsis.”

But will an August-long scream-a-thon eventually lead to a civilized debate over the Democrats’ health care reform?

Don’t bet on it, experts say. Regular anger outbursts could be habit forming, making it easier for them to feel threatened — or worse: They could start associating feelings of rage with the sight of their elected officials, said Levittan. “They could see the senator, or just hear the word ‘health care,’ and it can become associated with the problem.”

The bad behavior isn’t unique to health care opponents or right-wing activists. Liberal anti-war group Code Pink and animal rights group PETA are both known for their rowdy demonstrations. Code Pink supporters are regularly removed from Capitol Hill for disrupting key congressional hearings, and PETA members have been busted for throwing cans of red paint on fur and leather coat wearers.

But upholding etiquette standards isn’t coming easy for some lawmakers, either.

While shouting matches can regularly erupt during committee hearings and on the chamber floors of Congress, even the most grizzled members aren’t used to being screamed at by a mob of hundreds and some are buckling under the pressure.

Rep. David Scott lost his cool last week at a Georgia doctor who pressed him about a health care issue.

“Not one single one of you had the decency to call my office and set up for a meeting,” he shouted, pointing into the audience. “Do that! You wanna meeting with me on health care, I’ll give you one.”

“I don’t understand this rudeness — what is this?” said Sen. Claire McCaskill yesterday during a meeting in Missouri. “Do you all think you’re persuading people when you shout out like that?”

Lawmakers "want to be as cool, calm and collected as possible,” said Palm Beach-based etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore. “It is socially unacceptable to make people uncomfortable, and it really doesn’t accomplish anything.”

But in the coming weeks, there may be signs of trend reversal. Many grass-roots organizers, including tea party activists across the country are sending out mass e-mails, urging participants to mind their manners inside the meetings, trying to squash the negative media attention.

As the state director of the conservative activist group Americans for Prosperity Maryland, Dave Schwartz sent several emails to members reminding them to when Sen. Ben Cardin came to a Town Hall meeting at Towson University. Some organizers say they soon won’t hesitate to ask a disruptor to leave.

“We’re encouraging all members to ask the tough questions ... but to do it in a polite tone,” Schwartz said. “I can understand the frustration and excitement of getting something off their chests to Congress. But it’s got to be a civil discussion. Otherwise, the point we’re trying to make won’t be the story. Shouting and yelling will be the story.”

Despite Schwartz’s efforts, Cardin shouted over boos and catcalls through much of this week’s meeting.

At some meetings, the shouting has stemmed from other issues. At a recent meeting with Rep. Lloyd Doggett, lack of amplification and combined with the Congressman’s limited schedule erupted already high tensions, said Austin-area Tea Party organizer John Curtis, who didn’t go into the meeting planning to raise his voice.

“People felt like this was their last opportunity to talk to their representative before he votes on health care,” said Curtis. “But shouting at Lloyd on a street corner isn’t necessarily satisfying. At the end of the day, ... I do want to want to hear what his responses are.”

Responses? Please. As the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe said: “Primal scream and shout, let that mother out.”



http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/260...5oYWxsZXJzcw--


: Funny how they never took this view when it was the AcornCrowd doing the protesting ...

They plan on covering the uninsured by making cuts to medicare.
Why would anyone trust the government. Remember medicare is something we pay for all our working lives and now they want to make cuts to medicare and eliminate medicare supplements to cover illegal immigrants. Even if you aren't worried about grandma or your parents remember you will be old one day.

My representative is a coward and plans on only doing a telephone town hall.

I'll work my hardest to help elect the man that is going to run against him in 2010.