Health Care Concerns Valid
News-RegisterResidents of northern West Virginia, like most of our fellow Americans, are interested in health care reform. But as U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan learned Friday evening, many of his constituents do not consider the current health care bill in Congress to be true reform.
Mollohan, who represents this area of our state, held a "town hall meeting" Friday at Wheeling Jesuit University. Health care reform was the topic, and Mollohan got more than an earful from those in attendance. We trust that when he returns to Washington, he will represent the interests of those who have concerns about the current proposal.
Those concerns are not knee-jerk, uninformed reactions to the bill - contrary to what the liberal community claims. Objections addressed to Mollohan came from people who have read legislative language that worries them. They came from people whose experience with government gives them little confidence that a virtual federal takeover of the health care system will work for us.
Not all of those at the meeting were critical of the proposal. They believe some reforms are needed in order to ensure that Americans who lack health insurance have access to acceptable care for illnesses and injuries. We believe most critics of the current proposal agree with that goal.
An important distinction needs to be made, however. It is between the goal and the mechanism being suggested to achieve it.
Critics of the proposal worry that the so-called "public option," a gigantic new government health insurance program, will not be effective. They are concerned that it will result in higher costs and less health care quality for many Americans. In effect, they fear that hundreds of millions of us will pay dearly, both financially and through lower quality health care, to provide insurance for others.
In addition, specifics in the current proposal, on issues ranging from abortion to end-of-life care or lack of it, are of concern.
During the past few days, President Barack Obama's administration has issued mixed signals on the "public option." That may be a start toward addressing the many flaws in the current bill - though liberals already have made it clear they intend to fight hard to retain the government insurance program. Obama may be ready to give in to them. Clearly, a major battle over health care reform will take place this fall, when members of Congress return to Washington.
We urge Mollohan, who has heard the concerns of West Virginians, to reflect them in his behavior in regard to the health care bill. Those who voiced criticism at the "town hall meeting" represent a very large number of Mollohan's constituents. We hope the congressman understands that, and serves as our representative in Washington.
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beanranch
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08-20-09 11:05 PM
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God help us. Or we can help ourselves.
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:59 PM
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beanranch-- I agree. The Repubs came to power in 1995 and BLEW IT BIG TIME ! ! They had such opportunities and pi**ED it all away trying to hang "Slick Willie". Then , up to the 2006 elections they tried to out-democrat the democrats. And they screwed that up. You won't get an arguement on that. The country is so polarized now that I don't think there is ANY person alive that can straighten things out, or unite us as Americans. No matter WHO gets WHAT, or WHO LOSES, we are in for serious bad times coming. And I do not see O'Bama as the one to fix it all. JMHO
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 10:55 PM
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Bean, I was thinking more of last years elections. I think both sides have had several "jump the shark" moments since 1992. But your point is duly noted!
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:50 PM
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Can't spell---M I L L I O N S are filing .....
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:47 PM
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Just some numbers. Do what you want with them. But as "truth" said that MILLION were filing bankruptcy!? NOT LIKELY.
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:46 PM
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beanranch--You're welcome. I did a little looking myself, since it is apparent truth will not respond; as I expected. I have numbers from 2 different sources and 2 different years. But I will try to do some extrapolating of the info. First thing I found in a 5-7-07 article on bankruptcy said that 63% of those polled cited over-extension on their creditcards as the foremost reason for filing. 33% cited injury or illness as a reason. Now taking the 07 survey and applying it to 2004 numbers, wihich topped out at 1.6 million filings;528,000 filed bankruptcy due to something related to medical. That could be job loss do to injury or illness or to a reduction of income. Anyway, in a country of over 300 MILLION, the total filings come to .005% of the total Po. of the US. The 538K come out to .00176%. Also, compared to figures from the Centers for Disease Control, the average person has almost the same chance as dying from Cardio-vascular disease as filing bankruptcy.
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beanranch
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08-20-09 10:46 PM
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Expat, by my estimation, it was somewhere in the time period between 1992-1994. Newt's GOP "revolution", the Mellon-Scaife funded Clinton witch hunt (Clinton WAS guilty of many things, just not the things he was accused of), Limbaugh (yes, even back then),etc. And the respectable, conservative Republicans said nothing to distance themselves from the sleaze merchants. Those who lie with dogs...
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beanranch
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08-20-09 10:31 PM
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From one human to another, thank you, reactionary.
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 10:29 PM
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Which makes Truth's statement incorrect as the Republicans obviously "jumped the shark" a while ago!
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 10:27 PM
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The phrase refers to the Happy Days episode when Fonzi jumped a shark cage on water skis (still w/ his leather jacket on). The show went down hill quickly from there and was canceled soon after. Hence the phrase "Jumpng the Shark" refers to a pivotal moment that represents a downturn to a bitter end.
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:25 PM
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beanranch--thanks for your input. I surely hope you do not become another statistic. I've been down the 'hard road' a time or two myself. Came close the last time to losing it all, but managed to wade out of it. Hope you can do the same.
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 10:22 PM
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And now Delay is going on Dancing with the Stars! Just awesome! I'm sure that will help his public persona! (BTW that's sarcasm)
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beanranch
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08-20-09 10:20 PM
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reactionary- I don't know what the bankruptcy statistics are, but I do know that I am extremely close to becoming one. And for the record, I am fully employed and have family "coverage". P.S. I "fact checked" some the health care reform bill's opponents' accusations, and it appears that they are mostly wrong.
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:14 PM
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WVEXPAT--Not sure what "jumping the shark" means. But if you allude to the pompous a s s e s that rule the roost in the W/H, Senate and House not being able to push their OWN agenda off on eachother , I think I know what you mean.
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Graysongs
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08-20-09 10:14 PM
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WVWXPAT - His own party may throw ObaMao under the bus before long. Does Harry Reid have the actual birth certificate?
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Reactionary
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08-20-09 10:12 PM
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Anybody that puts too much faith in a "poll" is an idiot; no matter WHO conducts it! Polls can and are manipulated. And they are tools of manipulation, used by elitist broadcasters and politicians. Why else would they publicise the result unless they were trying to manipulate public opinion? And truth; you never answered my question about where you get your facts. Either they are not facts or you get your information from the Colbert Report; just like NancySI. Either way you are full of B/S.
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 10:11 PM
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Nancy, The point is that the article you cited is itself "misinformation"! The poll indicates that a small % were in anyway swayed by anything that could be classified as "misinformation" by the right! Which effectively makes your post (earlier today) completely irrelevent! One minor correction about the poll. It did say that 23% of respondents viewed Fox News, however there was no breakdown as posted earlier. The "72% of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants" statement was from the Think Progress and MSNBC aricles discussing the actual poll.
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 9:59 PM
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Truth, Why haven't they passed it already? They have the numbers! Not passing Health care, card check or Cap & Trade while dominating the House, Senate and (obviously) White House is truly "jumping the shark"!!!! Now that is truly laughable!
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 9:54 PM
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Nancy, If you read the actual poll it doesn't mention anything about Fox viewers. It was a little unclear in the Think Progress piece. As I mentioned,the poll actually asked if these were "Likely To Happen" or "Unlikely To Happen" not that the bill contained actual provisions for these actions. Maybe you should read the actual poll results.
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TruthSeeker
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08-20-09 9:53 PM
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Y'all just can't face the truth. I'm laughing at you now and will be laughing for a long long time.
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WVEXPAT
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08-20-09 9:48 PM
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The SurveyUSA poll was commissioned by MoveOn dot org! What did you think the results would be? Nice try though!!!
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Graysongs
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08-20-09 9:37 PM
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TruthSeeker - And be voted out of office before the law can even take effect. Works for me!
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NancySI
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08-20-09 9:36 PM
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Tom Delay yesterday, "When I did my town hall meetings, I'll never forget one back in the '80s -- on health care, by the way. They brought in quadriplegics on gurneys and dumped them on the floor in front of my podium." Today we find out he absolutely made this story up, yepper he lied again. Why isnt't this guy in jail yet?
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NancySI
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08-20-09 9:31 PM
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I believe this was the NBC/WALL STREET JOURNAL poll? In our poll 72% of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79% of them say it will lead to a government takeover, 69% think that it will use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75% believe that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly." If you find that hard to believe, you must be a FauxNoise Viewer.
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TruthSeeker
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08-20-09 9:28 PM
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The Democrat will pass a public option health reform bill all by themselves. You loons will just have to face that fact.
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