Grayson introduces Public Option Act - Medicare for anyone

"A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative.”

HOLY CRAP....someone in Congress actually gets it?

the catch of course is the "anyone who can pay for it"

and there you have the real dilemma facing health care reform. With more and more people in this nation getting by on less and less income, you have to figure out how to decide who can pay for what, and the really tough thing to avoid is health care for those who can pay, and the illusion of health care for those who cannot.

I don't think the government can even begin to address that dilemma until they take seriously the need to reign in corporate power and profits, and corporate power and profits is a many faceted beast. As people like Jan Gore have stated, when you are allowing the corporations to poison and sicken the population, what is the point of providing health care reform, other than to create more government spending and more government contracts for the usual suspects?

Grayson for President.

Yes positive news about a Floridian. That's what I'm talking about.

This guy knocks it out of the park. Him and Franken.

Senator Grayson is a courageous man among cowards. His bill makes perfect sense. If we had more Congressmen like him something would get done.

Your Faith in the goverment to care for you is amazing and disturbing.Social security has been raided by the goverment to pay for reelection it is broke and will never recover .Medicare is running at a loss it wil go bankrupt our whole goverment is running at a trillion dollor a year loss it will go bankrupt.This same guy will put forth a bill to sieze everyones 401k's and IRA's to fund the goverments debt and you all will cheer because its only fair to steal other peoples money and use it to make up for your stupidity.
Tampa should eat a hurricain just for electing this bozo

I pray that common sense and goodwill truly does triumph over greed and corruption. Let this pass, we NEED it.

Medicare for all is such a simple and coherent message.

And Republicans couldn't fight against it because that would essentially mean they are against medicare and that would piss off too many voters.

None of us here are paid political consultants earning $200,000....yet all of us figured out that THIS was the concept Obama should have started with over 1 year ago. I just don't understand how a) the Democrats and b) the paid consultants they listen to could be so astonishingly stupid as not not understand that THIS was the answer. How the hell can these people be earning so much money and be so stupid? (I'm looking at you Reid and Pelosi)

Okay, maybe it's not the "answer" because obviously single-payer is the right answer....but it's a legitimate and practical first step to single payer and much easier for everyone to get behind then the current reform bill.

the irony of universal of healthcare is that if we did enact this policy it would cover the insurance workers who lost their jobs as a result. Even if they are broke we as a society would be helping them live better lives.

Socialism is a wacky concept, aint it?

Thank you! That's what I want from MY Congress!

Well golly gomer did someone in congress skip their stupid pill today? Hoorah! For once "insurance," is going to have to show that they provide something of value! Except jobs for people who are good at weird math.

To anyone who says that a public option will cut into the jobs that insurance companies create, I would say that that is a minor cost to the huge benefit that this bill would create when it is passed. So many jobs are cut when new technologies are created to cut down on labor for almost everything that is made; clothes, newspapers, cars, and computers to start off with, but people lose their jobs, find something else and survive. The insurance salespeople will be fine, I'm sure.

Since moving to Orlando, I would have never ever ever imagined that we had a good representative. Thats nuts to me. What a good speaker, and what great points. 'The current death panels are the insurance companies.'

So smart.

since the first day i saw this guy trash talking people i loved him.
please please call your reps! imma draft a letter to mine, call, and e-mail.
i urge everyone who is in favor to do the same!

I hope this passes. I'll be calling and writing to my representatives to make sure it does.

Contact your representative in congress and urge them to pass this.

The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself.

“The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, ‘Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.’ It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote,” Congressman Grayson said.

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I just don't see how the Republicans could successfully "fight" this bill. It's a much better solution that any thing I've seen so far.

If Obama has a brain in his head he'll throw his full support behind this.

Of course the pattern lately has been for Obama to be "hands off" and leave everything to Reid and Pelosi....who have a supernatural talent for fucking things up.

Obama is the superstar. He can sink a 3 pointer from half court 100 percent of the time....so why the fuck does he CONSTANTLY feed the ball to Pelosi and Reid who haven't sunk a basket in 20 years???

Don't sit on the sidelines on this Obama. Support this Act!

This sounds like a very solid plan. If costs are the main concern, I can't think of why anyone wouldn't love this.

Alan Grayson is a democrat.

Shout out to the 8th district of Florida for exercising their right to democracy and proving that ultimately this government is chosen by the people. It is ultimately in the hand of the citizenry to elect more Graysons and Defazios. If your government isn't working for you, maybe it's time to take look around and pay attention to who you are supporting in your local district.

GREAT find. I hope enough people see this and its gets enough attention so that Congress won't be able to just ignore it.

Actually the insurance companies are being a little too hysterical in their opposition to single-payer and even the public option. Unless you ban it all together there will always be a market for insurance top ups, and the private market for health care will also remain unless it is banned, it just won't be as much as a rip off as it is now.

There are private doctors in England, France, Germany and I almost assume in practically all industrialised nations. There is always the debate in these countries on whether Homoeopathy, chiropractics, acupuncture are are really healthcare or not. They exist, they just are paid out of pocket or by insurance depending on the country and the insurer. But it is evidence that the market survives and thrives elsewhere.

It is just a question of whose ox is being gored. Buying health insurance in the states is a suckers game and has been for at least ten years. But the insurers will not go out of business, they will get smaller and they will cease to be the parasites that they are now, and actually start providing a valuable service that people are willing to buy.

So wake up America and join the the rest of the world. And btw it isn't perfect outside either, you still will argue about how much it costs and who should pay, but at least what you buy will be worth the money.

Brilliant, simple and easy for anyone to understand.

It makes perfect sense! No wonder the Democrats decided to embrace it only after they have exhausted all other options.

Sounds like a great idea.

Why has this never been suggested before?

This is exactly what needs to be done! For a couple hundred dollars a month anyone could be in the medicare column. Well a business that provides healthcare insurance as part of a employees benefit package puts at least 500 dollars a month per employee. Just think what a boom this would be for small businesses.

Alan Grayson for president .... end of story.

This bill is so precise and morally correct that it will come under siege immediately by the insurance cabal. it's the only reform that actually is a meaningful reform but since there are no advocates to stuff money into the pockets of the politicians who are required to make this law I don't see it going anywhere.

This is what should have been done in 1st place. Not a year of delays giving them an opportunity to show just how stupid they can be and just to delay the process.
Thousands of pages of dumb ideas put on paper that prove the majority of these so-called reps serve at the pleasure of big pharma & the insurance companies with absolutely no regard for actual health care reform.
Support for the insurance companies escalating profit agenda should be a crime.
The idea that they want to force people to buy insurance (the mandate) or be fined is also criminal. They waste all this time to produce this stinker of a bill and probably won't go into effect for years. All for nothing..

imo
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