Anne what you talking about is so scary. It's one thing to talk about someone you read about but to bump into a real person who is currently having these difficulties. (sigh)
The way you have been treated by Washington's Basic Health Plan is unacceptable.

Anne, what you've been through is ridiculous, at the expense of your very own life. "life wasn't worth saving" That is a heart-wrenching message. No such channel as DIY surgery.

In reading the BO code words about a universal system, cutting off selected benefits to people over a certain age and making less medical care available to people who do not meet certain criteria as determined by "the suits" (non-physicians) is just simply establishing priorities.

The woman who asked about her very spry active 105 year old mother and whether her mom would be eligible for full benefits was told that "spry" was not going to be a determining factor. That you have to draw the line somewhere.... Didn't anyone catch that on TV?

From what I am gathering, the very rich and certain entitlement groups may benefit from this as-yet-finalized plan. But the middle class will be paying through the nose and be taxed in many hidden ways so that most people will have some kind of coverage. The bulk of American businesses will suffer. The middle class will suffer.

But hey. My young unemployed nephew with the 2 unemployed girlfriends and their seven young kids, will get good healthcare and their regular monthly checks. And when my stroked out brother reaches a certain age, he'll be cut off and allowed to have a "death with dignity." Yeah, I got it BO.

And now you are changing your fancy talk to "I would PREFER that the middle class not have to be taxed on their health care benefits." How different that tune was BEFORE the election.

I see where yesterday Obama held a staged town hall meeting with pre-scripted questions about HIS version of the health care reform which is being pushed down our throats. Even the very liberal journalist Helen Thomas expressed her anger about this to BO's Press Secretary. (Even those who asked the "tough questions" at the fake town hall assembly had been pre-selected and affiliated with Democratic organizations) Pay special attention to the exact quotes of Helen Thomas and Press Sec. Gibbs below, (and then later with Reid) which imo says it all about what is really going on in this country regarding lack of transparency. The liberals will talk about Bush's town hall meetings, but it was nothing compared to what you are hearing now and every day. Why, even the far left liberals like Helen Thomas are complaining!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama

Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Penny Starr and Fred Lucas

(CNSNews.com) - Following a testy exchange during Wednesday’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press.

“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.

“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”

Thomas said she was especially concerned about the arrangement between the Obama Administration and a writer from the liberal Huffington Post Web site. The writer was invited by the White House to President Obama’s press conference last week on the understanding that he would ask Obama a question about Iran from among questions that had been sent to him by people in Iran.

“When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said.

“I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.”

During today’s briefing, Thomas interrupted a back-and-forth between Gibbs and Chip Reid, the White House correspondent for CBS News, when Reid was questioning Gibbs about who was going to decide what questions would be asked of President Obama in a townhall meeting that was scheduled to take place in Annandale, Va., today.

Gibbs then had an exchange involving Reid and Thomas that went as follows:

Gibbs: “… But, again, let's--How about we do this? I promise we will interrupt the AP's tradition of asking the first question. I will let you [Chip Reid] ask me a question tomorrow as to whether you thought the questions at the town hall meeting that the President conducted in Annandale—“

Chip Reid: “I'm perfectly happy to—”

Helen Thomas: “That's not his point. The point is the control--”

Reid: “Exactly.”

Thomas: “We have never had that in the White House. And we have had some, but not-- This White House.”

Gibbs: “Yes, I was going to say, I'll let you amend her question.”

Thomas: “I'm amazed. I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and—”

Gibbs: “Helen, you haven't even heard the questions.”

Reid: “It doesn't matter. It's the process.”

Thomas: “You have left open—”

Reid: “Even if there's a tough question, it's a question coming from somebody who was invited or was screened, or the question was screened.”

Thomas: “It's shocking. It's really shocking.”

Gibbs: “Chip, let's have this discussion at the conclusion of the town hall meeting. How about that?”

Reid: “Okay.”

Gibbs: “I think—“

Thomas: “No, no, no, we're having it now--”

Gibbs: “Well, I'd be happy to have it now.”

Thomas: “It's a pattern.”

Gibbs: “Which question did you object to at the town hall meeting, Helen?”

Thomas: “It's a pattern. It isn't the question—”

Gibbs: “What's a pattern?”

Thomas: “It's a pattern of controlling the press.”

Gibbs: “How so? Is there any evidence currently going on that I'm controlling the press--poorly, I might add.”

Thomas: “Your formal engagements are pre-packaged.”

Gibbs: “How so?”

Reid: “Well, and controlling the public—”

Thomas: “How so? By calling reporters the night before to tell them they're going to be called on. That is shocking.”

Gibbs: “We had this discussion ad nauseam and—”

Thomas: “Of course you would, because you don't have any answers.”

Gibbs: “Well, because I didn't know you were going to ask a question, Helen.
Go ahead.”

Thomas: “Well, you should have.”

Reporter: Thank you for your support.

Gibbs: “That's good. Have you e-mailed your question today?”

Thomas: “I don't have to e-mail it. I can tell you right now what I want to ask.”

Gibbs: “I don't doubt that at all, Helen. I don't doubt that at all.”

Thomas, 89, has covered the White House during every presidency since John F. Kennedy’s.


http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=50445

I love Helen Thomas, isn't she great? She was the lone voice of sanity in the press corps during the Bush regime, and now that Obama is in, she's not going to put her teeth away.
She's relentlessly honest, and demands the truth. Once upon a time, she wasn't so unique. We need a lot more journalists like her.

Sound strange, to "fine" /penalize a person. Better approach would be to have time deadline when a person must enroll in publicly funded medicare program, whatever it maybe in future.

In Canada, just because an adult person is Canadian doesn't mean we automatically get public medical insurance. We individually must go through an application process where all the necessary info. is collected about oneself. And everytime a person moves to different province, the Canadian must reapply to the current home provincial ministry of health. But it's not a big deal if one is a Canadian resident and taxpayer.

I would like to point out that I would rather have a provincial or federal government body with legitimate reasons to have my personal information in order to qualify for any govn't programs, instead of any other non-government organization. There are far stricter controls and due diligence procedures that they adhere to. In each provincial govn't ministry, there are paid staff whose job is exclusively devoted privacy and access to information issues for information collected and kept by the government.

Since the program has not been passed yet I take anything I read in the newspaper with a grain of salt. Scare tactics are being used so much against the current administration that it's just rediculous what's printed before the facts are truly known. And it amazes me how much people are willing to believe because a newspaper or opposition network says so. Sheesh.

Saw a bumper sticker today that read:

It you think Health Care is expensive now, wait until its FREE!!!

I've got a dozen or so of these but the Obama'ites wouldn't like them one bit so, I haven't posted then here, YET anyway!

I'm sorry chatty, I've spent considerable effort as a Canadian to briefly explain in my different responses on this topic thread what it IS like in the Canadian health care system.

Our health care is not free, I pay for it directly as I explained near the beginning of this thread ..and it is paid for via our annual taxes. Additional services are extra billed to patient. Right now, I am unemployed but I need to use the health care system to have blood work tests done, see dermatologist. Does that make me, as a Canadian, a freeloader, a sucker of my own system? Please think carefully, chatty. Is this what some AMericans think of their own unemployed Americans using the U.S. medicare?? I find that deeply troubling. A country's assset begins..with its people and they must be healthy in order to contribute to society and economy.

Canadian medical insurance/medicare system was started up in the 1960's.

Remember, Canada does not drain its national budget in billions of dollars on war effort in other countries. Seriously, our money (in my humble opinion) is better served to other priority items.