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Shh, Anthony Weiner -- The Moderates Might Hear You
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
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Republicans say Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) let the cat out of the bag on the Senate health care reform compromise today. After the ardent public option supporter extolled the virtues of the Senate compromise plan that expands Medicare coverage, Republicans seized on his comments as evidence that the plan was a backdoor to government-run, single-payer coverage.
Weiner told the New York Daily News that the Medicare buy-in plan under discussion in the Senate "would perhaps get us on the path to a single payer model."
"[T]his is one idea I like a lot," he told the paper.
Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and John McCain (R-AZ) seized on Weiner's comments when they stopped by the Senate press gallery to talk Medicare with reporters this evening. They clearly enjoyed attacking the fragile Democratic compromise with the words of one of the party's own.
Thune said that quote was all he needed to hear about the plan. He told reporters that the "goal" of people like Weiner was a single, government-run plan for all Americans. Citing the quote, he said the Medicare buy-in plan "appeared to be another step in that direction."
McCain said that, over time, the plan would make health insurance companies "competitive with the federal government." That's the goal of progressives, McCain said, and "that's why Weiner said what he said."
McCain, Thune and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) also said hospital groups were opposed to the plan because expanding Medicare, which the trio said pays about 80% of health costs, would mean hospitals would lose money with every new Medicare patient they see. The net effect, they said, could be the shuttering of existing hospitals and slow the growth of new ones.
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Walter Mitty
December 9, 2009 7:53 PM
What an epic fool. Maybe he wants to sabotage it - I hope that is the case, otherwise he is ridiculously stupid.
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Viva!America!
December 9, 2009 8:09 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
No he wants to take credit for it. He also mentioned to the paper that it was something he brought up earlier this year. So he's reminding people that he thought of this long before.
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Beetlejuice
December 9, 2009 10:25 PM in reply to Viva!America!
Exactly...it's was his position at the beginning of the debate and that gives him every right to crow. If the republicans keep it up, there'll be more than Grayson telling them to STFU.
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hollywood
December 9, 2009 8:47 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
Oh so now liberals cannot even TALK about what might be good for average people without setting off the corporate whores who now decide who lives and who dies? Every civilized country on Earth already recognizes that every citizen has a RIGHT TO LIFE but in backward dumbfuck America you cannot even talk about it anymore ........ this country is so pathetic.
The goal with conservatives is never to provide healthcare to anyone but themselves and to maximize profits to the holy god almighty corporations.
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Viva!America!
December 9, 2009 8:52 PM in reply to hollywood
simmer down, mitty is not the enemy.
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Walter Mitty
December 9, 2009 9:21 PM in reply to hollywood
He's just giving the GOP talking points. It's one thing for the GOP to say "It puts America on the path to single payer", however it's a whole other to say "Even Democratic Rep. Weiner admits that this compromise would [perhaps] get us on the path to a single payer model".
If you like the bill, say nothing and hope it gets out of the Senate. Saying what he did will just make it harder to get out of the Senate - if not kill it's chances.
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hollywood
December 9, 2009 9:51 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
Umm ..... like no one ever used the "leads to socialism" argument before Weiner spoke up??
For Rethuglicans EVERYTHING leads to socialism.
The fact is that citizens in Canada LOVE their single payer healthcare! Americans would love it too if they had it or understood it but instead of educating the morons we always have to hush up and try not to piss them off by discussing facts and common sense. Silence in the face of stupidity has never worked and it will never work.
MEDICARE FOR EVERYONE! MEDICARE PART E!
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Walter Mitty
December 9, 2009 10:01 PM in reply to hollywood
But it's the GOP boogeyman, and now with a ready quote attributed to Rep. Wiener.
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hollywood
December 9, 2009 10:25 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
The GOP fears plain talk from liberals like Allan Greyson. They squeal like pigs with faux outrage and Dems back down every time. The way to actually make progress and educate people is to call their bullshit BULLSHIT and not let the lies go unanswered. The truth will set you free. The truth will set us all free.
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brewmn61
December 10, 2009 12:01 PM in reply to hollywood
In this whole debate, I'm just amazed by the arguments Democrats have left on the table (e.g., Number 1: every other advanced country gets the same results for half the cost through some form of government provided/subsidized/regulated health care). I'm really tired of trying to avoid scaring the teabaggers and avoiding trying to sell the merits of a greater government role in our healthcare.
Single payer would be an unmitigated good for upwards of 80% of Americans over the medium-to-long-term (you might start taking home more money, instead of paying more for your eomployer-provided health insurance, for starters).
Why we are running scared from a debate on these issues remains a mystery.
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Beetlejuice
December 9, 2009 10:36 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
On the other hand, it gets the word out on the street the single payer option is not only alive...it's very close to becoming reality. Remember, many people were disappointed when the public option was substituted for single payer because everyone one in Congress said it wasn't doable. You don't think that if republicans try and kill it now when it may come to fruition it won't create a tsunami wave large enough to drown them, especially with a mid-term election next year? I don't think the republicans have a big enough board to surf that wave of anger.
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wbgonne
December 10, 2009 7:49 AM in reply to hollywood
Amen.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
December 10, 2009 7:53 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
"Giving the GOP talking points" is never a reason to do or not do anything. It is a variation on the same old Democratic abuse victim mythology that it is within our power to make the party of pychosis not be abusive.
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DownriverDem
December 10, 2009 9:21 AM in reply to hollywood
Exactly. Folks here need to take a deep breath. We want everything to happen instantly. It's doesn't work that way in government.
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DownriverDem
December 10, 2009 9:19 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
Do you honestly think the Repubs wouldn't have thought of it themselves? Come on. Let's look at the good parts of the bill that will make major changes.
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The Decider
December 10, 2009 10:32 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
I love it when liberals talk! The only thing better is when they keep quiet! Heh, heh!
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BDIWW
December 9, 2009 8:03 PM
The entire Medicare only pays 80% argument is a straw man. Yes, they pay 80%, but that is pretty much the highest that any "insurance" company pays. Most Dr's would rather accept Medicare than any HMO.
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NYCBlaine
December 9, 2009 9:10 PM in reply to BDIWW
Hmm, but the AMA opposes the Medicare buy-in proposal.
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Beetlejuice
December 10, 2009 2:55 AM in reply to BDIWW
I had a very good dentist under one plan, but when the company switched plans, he refused to accept them because they paid far too less than the local average charges for service. I was stuck with their "preferred providers" and they we satisfactory, but lack the finesse and didn't give that extra service my original dentist worked so hard to provide.
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sunnysteve
December 9, 2009 8:47 PM
Republicans, led by John McCain, oppose Medicare! Republicans want Medicare premiums raised to level of private insurance! At least 25 per cent increase wanted by hospital groups! Pass it on!
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ericf
December 10, 2009 1:17 AM
If it was a few of us negotiating with a few of them, it could be kept secret that the left likes it. As it is, the right was bound to figure it out when they remembered so many of us asking why Congress didn't just extend medicare to everyone, and single-payer advocates talking about an incremental approach where medicare is extended to younger and younger people. So fine, now they know liberals like the extension and think it's better than a weak public option. Given how even conservatives like Medicare, I doubt they can really stop it at this point. Besides we can always point out that extensions below 55 aren't automatic. Congress will have to act to do that, though I suppose they realize they won't be able to stop it.
A Medicare extension instead of a "public option": skin me, but don't throw me in the briar patch!
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shooter242
December 10, 2009 8:06 AM
Nine hospitals closed in NJ alone over the last two years. You can assume there wasn't enough demand for their services, or that they didn't make enough money to stay in business. Take a guess which that might be.
Keep up the good work.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
December 10, 2009 9:08 AM in reply to shooter242
Well, first, without a citation to a source, why should we believe any statistic that comes from our resident representative from the Republican alternate reality?
And second, hospitals close all the time for a lot of reasons. Just for example, sometimes they close because they're obsolete and decrepit and even dangerous. Sometimes changes in where people live result in a hospital with a lot of empty beds because they're too damn far from the sick people. Sometimes whole states lose population over time due to things like, oh, industrial decline and outsourcing, resulting in excess hospital beds. And, sometimes gigantic hospital corporations buy small hospitals specifically for the purpose of shutting them down and getting rid of the competition. There are a lot of possible reasons why hospitals might have closed in a given state over a given time period, more than just the one dictated by your ideology.
But, hey, why bother gathering any actual facts about whether there were specific reasons why they shut down when your ideology can provide all the answers you'll ever need? Indeed, what's the point of even having an ideology if you still have to gather actual facts and do actual thinking?
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DickTater
December 10, 2009 10:07 AM in reply to shooter242
You sure seem to have trouble with rational thinking. Those hospitals, if they truly closed, were closed during the highest heydays hospitals have ever known. Costs have soared, profits have soared, no reform has yet been enacted, insurance industry is shedding everyone who is not 25 and perfectly healthy, Big Pharma is upping their prices by 30% ahead of feared reforms, and corporations are buying and selling YOUR health like a commodity at the meat market. AND, during this heyday in the health industry, these hospitals close, and YOU blame it on non-existent Lefty Regulation? C'mon Man
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agio
December 10, 2009 8:20 AM
Thune and McCain are poster boys for today's Republican party.
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pirate jenny
December 10, 2009 8:39 AM
oh no! now the republicans will oppose health care reform!
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Flori-DUH
December 10, 2009 8:53 AM
Its not perfect, but it seems like it can be built upon by more Democrats or other progressives (not health industry corporate whores) elected in the future. Not thrilled with all of what we have heard thus far, but, it seems like it can be tweaked and improved over time so that we head toward single-payer.
That my frieds (eeks, channeling John McCain), works for me.
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Flori-DUH
December 10, 2009 8:55 AM in reply to Flori-DUH
Somehow it posted as "frieds" not "friends" as typed. Oh well, I guess you understand the intent.
Also, if this passes, I might be able to see my Russian doctor from my porch (guess who might say that). And she might be right. I hear that there were many Russian jews who emigrated decades ago, and that many of their children are doctors and lawyers (whoda thunk?).
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wellstone
December 10, 2009 10:26 AM
This is total bullshit. God bless Congressman Wiener for saying what he stands for, and what ALL Progressives stand for.
The Rethuglycans have no problem whatsoever telling us they do not want ANY reform at all, except for destroying Medicare, taking away the rights of medical malpractice victims to sue for damages, and giving even more power to the Healthcare cartel.
Yet we're supposed to be afraid of standing up and saying what we believe? Unreal.
Democrats RESPECT, APPRECIATE, and RE-ELECT folks like Weiner and Grayson. We should be shunning folks like Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson and Kent Conrad, who have ceased to be true Democrats.
The GOP has no problem lying about us while they kick us in the gonads. Why should we be so afraid to call them out and hit them hard as obstructionists, liars, and thugs?
We learn this in kindergarten: The only way to make a big bully stop talking about and picking on you is to hit him hard on the nose, and keep hitting as many times as it takes to send him running home to mama. Giving him your cookies and making nice only makes them bully you more. One bloody nose, and you will not be bullied again, and the other bullies will know to leave you alone.
Alan Grayson knows this, too. That is why he is feared and reviled by the Right, and why he is getting millions in contributions from people like me, who appreciate fearless, aggressive, pugnacious Democrats in Washington, punching those bullies for us.
We will pay to keep them there.
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Indie Pro
December 10, 2009 10:37 AM in reply to wellstone
Right On!
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The Decider
December 10, 2009 10:38 AM in reply to wellstone
We don't want to be bullies. Really we don't! But you liberals cave in so easy that it just brings it out in us. Iraq, WMD, Gitmo, wiretapping, getting rid of that nasty old 4th Amendment...you caved on every one and haven't changed my administrations position of much of anything even though you have a bigger majority than we ever did. You won't investigate anything much less prosecute. And let's not even get into the fact that your spokesman name is Wiener. Heh, heh!
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Indie Pro
December 10, 2009 10:36 AM
He should take this opportunity to explain his position, instead of cowering
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blue8505
December 10, 2009 3:09 PM
Anthony Weiner is a guy that needs to get punched in the face many times over. This new plan will expand Medicare. A program that is going bankrupt and underpays hospitals. Do you really think hospitals eat the money from medicare, no, they pass it on to the patient. Thus higher medical costs equaling higher insurance premiums. Libs always have these great plans to help everyone but they always leave out how we are going to pay for it. Is there one economist or business major in the Democratic party at all?
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