April 5, 1993 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FChristopher-Hitchens%2Fe%2FB000APSKR0%3Fqid%3D1278211708%26sr%3D1-2-ent&tag=doc06-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325
Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/christopher-hitchens-on-first-100-days.html
The Clinton health care plan was a 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton and closely associated with the chair of the task force devising the plan, First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Bill Clinton had campaigned heavily on health care in the 1992 U.S. presidential election. The task force was created in January 1993, but its own processes were somewhat controversial and drew litigation. Its goal was to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans, which was to be a cornerstone of the administration’s first-term agenda. A major health care speech was delivered by President Clinton to the U.S. Congress in September 1993. The core element of the proposed plan was an enforced mandate for employers to provide health insurance coverage to all of their employees through competitive but closely-regulated health maintenance organizations.
Opposition to the plan was heavy from conservatives, libertarians, and the health insurance industry. The industry produced a much-talked-about television ad, “Harry and Louise”, in an effort to rally public support against the plan. Democrats, instead of uniting behind the President’s original proposal, offered a number of competing plans of their own. By September 1994, the final compromise Democratic bill was declared dead by Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell. Opponents of the plan continued to deride it in future years as “HillaryCare.”
Before President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, the United States was the only wealthy, industrialized nation that did not provide some form of universal health care, other than Medicare. Although the United States has never had a universal health care system, it does have certain publicly funded health care programs that help to provide for the elderly and disabled (via Medicare), military service families, veterans (via the Veterans Health Administration), and some of the poor (via Medicaid), and children via S-CHIP. Additionally, federal law guarantees public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Bill Clinton had campaigned heavily on health care in the 1992 election. The 1993 Clinton health care plan is sometimes called “HillaryCare” by opponents.
Hart declined to run for re-election to the Senate, leaving office when his second term expired with the intent of running for president again. In January 1987, he was the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in the 1988 election.
Hart officially declared his candidacy on April 13, 1987. Rumors began circulating nearly immediately that Hart was having an extramarital affair. In an interview that appeared in the New York Times on May 3, 1987, Hart responded to the rumors by daring the press corps: “Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’ll be very bored.” The Miami Herald had been investigating Hart’s alleged womanizing for weeks before the “dare” appeared in the New York Times. Two reporters from the Miami Herald had staked out his residence and observed a young woman leaving Hart’s Washington, D.C., townhouse on the evening of May 2. The Herald published the story on May 3, the same day Hart’s dare appeared in print, and the scandal spread rapidly through the national media. Hart and his allies attacked the Herald for rushing the story into print, claiming that it had unfairly judged the situation without finding out the facts. Hart said that the reporters had not watched both entrances to his home and could not have seen when the young woman entered and left the building. The Miami Herald reporter had flown to Washington, D.C. on the same flight as the woman, identified as Donna Rice. Hart was overwhelmed with questions regarding his views on marital infidelity. His wife, Lee, supported his position that the relationship with the young woman was innocent. A poll of voters in New Hampshire for the New Hampshire Primary showed that Hart’s support had dropped in half, from 32% to 17%, placing him suddenly ten points behind Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
A healthcare solution for America as explained by L. Monty Slim’s corporate advisor and pet Monkey in support of the Republican platform’s political vision explained in first hand, real personal story…think.
On 9.12.2009, we went to Washington DC to document the Tea Party protests against, well, a lot of things, including health insurance reform, the IRS, abortion, global warming, and our “socialist/communist/fascist/Nazi/Muslim” president, Barack Obama. Some of them called for a return to McCarthyism, while others called for Glenn Beck to run for office–indeed, it seemed the only thing that everyone agreed on was Fox News.
VIEW OUR INTERVIEW B-ROLL HERE:
This NEW LEFT MEDIA film was produced and edited by Chase Whiteside (interviewer) and Erick Stoll (camera operator).
A NOTE ON CZARS:
Some users have pointed out that White House “Czars” existed long before Ronald Reagan. As it turns out, Donald Nelson, appointed under FDR as a “Wartime Production Czar”, was the first. The Republican Gov. of Colorado, John A. Love, was later appointed under Nixon as an “Energy Czar”. We appreciate this correction, though such an oversight does not dilute our point. The current outcry against Czars is merely alarmist propaganda perpetuated by Glenn Beck and the rest of the right-wing media.
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YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
You can make a difference in the health care debate without leaving your bedroom. So stop typing that narcissistic Facebook status, pause your Mafia Wars game, and actually do something in reality to advance the cause you support on Facebook by calling your representative. This is so easy. Many people are timid about making phone calls, but a phone call to your representative now could save you a series of phone calls to an uncooperative insurance company in the future. Too lazy to look up your representative’s number? This website makes it even easier–it will find the number, call it for you, and then call your cell phone to connect you. Tell your representative’s office that you support comprehensive health care reform, and urge them to support the public option.
http://tools.advomatic.com/8/hcn
“We can do this. At this point, all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical-industrial complex, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies.”
– Paul Krugman, The Swiss Menace
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These are President Obama’s prepared remarks:
That is why I’ve said that even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort.
This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive. And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
So let me be clear: if we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate we’re having right now.
I realize that with all the charges and criticisms being thrown around in Washington, many Americans may be wondering, “What’s in this for me? How does my family stand to benefit from health insurance reform?”
Tonight I want to answer those questions. Because even though Congress is still working through a few key issues, we already have agreement on the following areas:
If you already have health insurance, the reform we’re proposing will provide you with more security and more stability. It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you’re happy with it. It will prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. It will give you the security of knowing that if you lose your job, move, or change your job, you will still be able to have coverage. It will limit the amount your insurance company can force you to …
Many Partnership members have already realized that the Bright Choices™ program is the best option to buy health insurance and other benefits. Bright Choices makes it easier than ever to select the mix of benefits thats exactly right for you and your employees. In 2010, the program has been enhanced with more options to control benefits costs and give participants greater value for the benefits they want.
Check out www.thepartnership.org/insurance for more details and to sign up for benefits today.
This video was produced by Partnership new member Bean Media Productions
www.beanmediaproductions.com
“The Colbert Report” this week found something a little ghoulish about the resurrection of the public option just in time for Halloween, though, as I argue in this video, the public option may be necessary to kill the real monster threatening the United States: rising health care costs.
The short clip from “The Colbert Report” I use in this video comes from a segment broadcast on Comedy Central on October 29, 2009, currently available in full at http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/253997/october-29-2009/threatdown—halloween-edition
The image of the bar graph comparing US health care spending to the spending in the other 29 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a public domain image available at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/International_Comparison_-_Healthcare_spending_as_%25_GDP.png
The original source of that graph (along with a lot of other great information) is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/CEA_Health_Care_Report.pdf
The images from the 2004 article in Health Affairs titled “How Does The Quality Of Care Compare In Five Countries?” come from the document available online at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/23/3/89
At a press briefing, Fox News’ Major Garrett gets Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to admit that the President “misspoke” when commenting about AARP’s endorsing his health care reform plan.
Health Care Costs Continue to Double and Tripple every 10 years since 1950! #1 Cause of Bankrupcy in US and 75% have full coverage Medical Insurance! Every dime spent, death rates increase. Mass-Global Genocide – Human Sacrifice in America – Shocking but True! Destruction like a FLOOD! No more distraction & manipulation. Greatest destruction – WAR – ever! The Greatest Mass Murder Plot In History Is Now Revealed!
April 5, 1993 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FChristopher-Hitchens%2Fe%2FB000APSKR0%3Fqid%3D1278211708%26sr%3D1-2-ent&tag=doc06-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325
A healthcare solution for America as explained by L. Monty Slim’s corporate advisor and pet Monkey in support of the Republican platform’s political vision explained in first hand, real personal story…think.
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These are President Obama’s prepared remarks:
Bright Choices are Paying Off in 2010!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 
At a press briefing, Fox News’ Major Garrett gets Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to admit that the President “misspoke” when commenting about AARP’s endorsing his health care reform plan.
Health Care Costs Continue to Double and Tripple every 10 years since 1950! #1 Cause of Bankrupcy in US and 75% have full coverage Medical Insurance! Every dime spent, death rates increase. Mass-Global Genocide – Human Sacrifice in America – Shocking but True! Destruction like a FLOOD! No more distraction & manipulation. Greatest destruction – WAR – ever! The Greatest Mass Murder Plot In History Is Now Revealed!