OntheWilderSide

IW: I found this press release to be too genteel.  The Democrats and Republicans put on a show that they fighting over reform while they were just fighting over how big a gift to give the Drug and Insurance companies.  While Obama pretended to be the feminist that Ms./NOW/NARAL claimed he was by shutting down Stupak, while cutting back room deals to cut the right-to-choose out of private insurance policies.

Now it’s time to work for health care reform — Medicare For All, says Green Party

Green candidates and party leaders said today that the passage of the Democratic health care bill, with its increased financial burdens on millions of Americans, should not slow the movement for Medicare For All (single-payer national health care). Physicians for a National Health Program said in a statement on Monday, “Instead of eliminating the root of the problem — the profit-driven, private health insurance industry — this costly new legislation will enrich and further entrench these firms.  The bill would require millions of Americans to buy private insurers’ defective products, and turn over to them vast amounts of public money.”

Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor of Illinois:

The real story of health care reform over the past year is how the insurance and other health lobbies sent millions of dollars in campaign checks to both Democrats and Republicans to make sure their interests came first.  We’ll get real health care reform when Americans get angry enough to stop voting for Democratic and Republican candidates who are addicted to corporate contributions, and elect Greens, who call health care a basic human right.”  (Visit the web site of the Center for Responsive Politics to learn how much these corporations donate to each Congress member: http://www.opensecrets.org)

Dennis Spisak, Green Party candidate for Governor of Ohio: 

Now that this bill has passed, those of us who support real universal health care must keep up the demand for Medicare For All.  Every American deserves the same high-quality guaranteed health coverage that Congress members enjoy.  We will challenge those who insist that further health care reform is no longer on the table.  The Democratic bill was mainly written to give the appearance of reform.  It forces people to buy insurance or face a tax penalty.  It works like a regressive tax, in which in the uninsured — in the midst of a recession — must pay for insurance they can’t use due to the likely high co-pays and deductibles.  Especially vicious is the amendment prohibiting states from enacting their own single-payer programs.

Jill Stein, physician and Green Party candidate for Governor of Massachusetts:

The position of most Democrats and Republicans on health care is that Americans have no right to medical treatment, but private insurance companies have every right to enrich themselves on our need for health care and to send hundreds of thousands of Americans financial ruin over medical costs.  According to Physicians for a National Health Program‘s critique of the bill, about 23 milion Americans will remain uninsured after nine years, resulting in ‘an estimated 23,000 unnecessary deaths annually and an incalculable toll of suffering‘.  In the media coverage of health care reform, the angle was whether President Obama could prevail against the GOP and uncooperative Democrats.  It was all about personalities and a horse-race competition.  Whether the Democratic legislation — or obstruction of reform by Republicans — actually helps people became a side issue.

Rodger Jennings, Green Party candidate for US Congress in Illinois, District 12:

The winners are the largest for-profit health insurance companies.  Both Democrats and Republicans made the bottom lines of the insurance cartel the top priority, rather than every American’s need for quality medical care.  Private insurance adds cost to health care but provides no value — physicians, nurses, and other professionals do the actual medical work.  The administrative overhead, including CEO bonuses and salaries, of private insurance raises health care costs by up to 31%.  The administrative overhead for Medicare is under 3%.  By eliminating the corporate insurance middle-man, we’d reduce health care spending from over 15% to about 9% and cut the price of coverage and care dramatically, and every American would enjoy guaranteed, quality health care.

Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Election 2010, grassroots democracy, Green Party, health, health care, News Tagged: | candidates, Governor