Tea Party Team Fights Obama, MoveOn on Health Care

• I'm really surprised to see some of these comments from Floridians. We know first hand what happens when government tries to *help*. Look whats happened with Citizens. Citizens comes in as an "option" for people to get hurricane insurance. One by one, other insurance companies apply to raise rates, and are denied, and then they pull out of the market. After just a few years, many of us who live on the coastline have exactly one choice; citizens. Its precisely what thinking people know will happen with health care. It starts out as a "choice", and shortly thereafter, its the only choice.

• Its gets really tiresome to hear people with no arguments continually use the "bush lied" to escape having to have any ideas whatsoever. Its very convenient to argue for the pillaging of our country by the democrats and never have to understand any of it. Just say "bush lied" and to back into your cave.

• "Four Presidents have now run on this issue and been elected -- the american people statistically want nationalized healthcare." This is the dumbest and most delusional statement I've ever heard. 170 million Americans have health care, most of which is paid for by their employers. There is no case for people who have health care to "want" nationalized care. Nationalized care has failed in every country where its been implemented. Its bankrupting the UK, and Canadians can't see a specialist for months. If so many people are "for" nationalized care, then why is Obama trying so hard to claim that his plain is not a single payer plan? If its so popular, why not just say " we want nationalized health care". The latest stupidity is Obama's claim that we have to spent 1.6 Trillion dollars to save on health care. If you believe that, then you really are the dumbest person on Earth.

• How did I lie? Why don't you explain to us John, how you can keep your healthcare if your employer decided to change or drop your coverage? Fill us in. I'm an employer and my employees coverage is completely at my whim. The world isnt divided into two political parties. The world is divided into people who can fend for themselves, and people who want other people to pay for stuff they can't afford. The problem is that they party thats steals from the rich has a policy that ends up hurting the poor more than it helps them. When you raise taxes on employers, they cut benefits and hours and jobs from the employees. Poor people don't understand such things, which is exactly why they are poor in the first place.

• By the way, to address the lies that Carlos wrote in the comments here... A Republican calling Democrats believers in lies, after THEIR LITTLE BUSH lied us into the Iraq war makes Carlos almost laughable... and almost dangerous. Dividing this world into two political parties is reductionist to the point of absurdity. We are one people. We need to get back to voting for issues, not political parties.

• I get medicaid, and CHOOSE to go to the welfare hospital here in Chicago, Stroger. I shopped around at regular doctors, and found the Doctors at the Pain Clinic at Stroger marvelously ahead of the others, though they are woefully underfunded. When people complain about their Medicaid, they are generally making a complaint about the effects of the program being underfunded. Chicago has had a basically free County Hospital for decades, and thousands owe their lives to the dedicated staffs. The people who are always slamming national health care should come here and see the thousands streaming in there everyday -- most would not be able to afford a doctor without Stroger. This includes a lot of pregnant women, and new mothers, who otherwise, due to economic and educational deficiencies, would not be able to properly take care of their children's health. Four Presidents have now run on this issue and been elected -- the american people statistically want nationalized healthcare. Medicaid saved my life when I broke my back. At the time, I was finishing up a degree and driving cab -- just happened to come during the summer, when my university health benefits were cut off for three months. I am not unique. The selfish folk who would deny the rest of us health care are mostly anti-government who will not admit they can do anything right, though they slavishly follow the armed forces. This debate is about whether you think the poor deserve health care or not. That is the bottom line.

• Why the dummy democrat posters don't "get" is that socialize is a slow creep. They've bought into Obama's lies; just like he wasnt going to raise your "taxes" but he raises the taxes on things you buy instead. Dummycrats are the group who liars target; because they're dumb enough to believe it. Obama says you can "keep your plan if you like it". Except YOU don't decide on your plan; your employer does. So its out of your control. If its cheaper for your employer to force you onto a gov't plan, you have no choice in the matter. Its a big trick. A trick that's only believed by people who don't have the ability to think. And to MJM, the "payment system" IS the problem. The government mandates that doctors and hospitals get paid too little for services, which raises the cost to everyone else. The more government payments, the higher the cost to those paying through non-gov't insurance. Eventually, it leads to rationing. There aren't enough doctors now to service 40 million more people. There will be even fewer competent doctors when a larger portion of them aren't paid enough to make it worth being a doctor. Its the slow creep. Its amazing how people can get tricked over and over and over and still argue in favor of the liars. It really is amazing.

• Conservative hypocracy? Never! Actually, on second thought, I kind of like that. I don't want big government--as in organizing and paying for services for the public in general--but I do want someone else to organize and pay for services for ME.

• The author and "david" are both in need of some correction. The latter misrepresents Medicaid as "government run health care." The former refers to Obama's "plan to move toward nationalized health care." Medicaid is a payment system, not a health care delivery system. Obama has no plan to nationalize health care delivery.

• David; Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, and for the people. All the best and enjoy the punch. Oscar...

• >> What's funny is, last time we talked to her, local tea party organizer Lauren O'Brien was collecting Medicaid. In the words of Stephen Colbert, "reality has a well-known liberal bias".

• someone needs to do some homework before ranting against a proposal they know nothing about, instead of listening to folks with an agenda. there is no proposal for government run health care, not from Obama, not from anyone. The effort is to get everyone insured, so that those with insurance aren't paying for the free care the uninsured get in our emergency rooms every day (your insurance company has to cover the costs the hospitals and docs bear, and they pass it on to you). There may or may not be a federal option (that's an option, not a mandate) for coverage, but that's not even certain. If there is, it would probably look a lot like the federal employee plan, which is provided by existing insurance companies, like Blue Cross.

• Obviously Lauren O'Brien has first hand knowledge of how bad government run health care is. If someone getting the "service" is against its expansion, they you know its a really bad thing. The author needs to educate herself on the subject she's covering. Tea Parties are not a conservative movement. Its about Freedom. Its about not wanting the government to tell us what we can eat, what we can drive, where we can live and everything else. Its about telling the government to stay the hell out of our lives. They're suppose to protect us so we can "pursue happiness" on our own terms. We don't need or want the government to tell us how to live. Take some time to read the Declaration of Independence. Learn about what this country is supposed to be about.

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