100 Slaves 100 Enemies

A RWJF survey summarized in the September 14, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine shows that 62.9 percent of physicians nationwide support proposals to expand health care coverage that include both public and private insurance options—where people under the age of 65 would have the choice of enrolling in a new public health insurance plan (like Medicare) or in private plans. The survey shows that just 27.3 percent of physicians support a new program that does not include a public option and instead provides subsidies for low-income people to purchase private insurance. Only 9.6 percent of doctors nationwide support a system where a Medicare-like public program is created in lieu of any private insurance. A majority of physicians (58%) also support expanding Medicare eligibility to those between the ages of 55 and 64.

via Physician Views on the Public Health Insurance Option and Medicare Expansions – RWJF.

Joe Wilson called the president a liar on national television. Come on, that’s pretty cool. Even though Wilson is the liar, it probably doesn’t hurt to throw out that accusation now and again. “All governments lie,” said I.F. Stone.

And, after he spoke out donations poured into his campaign and his Democratic opponent’s. I think the lesson here is that so little happens on Capitol Hill that anyone can relate to that people are starving for something/someone they can get behind. Politicians could become extremely popular — the whole Democratic Party could become extremely popular, if they all got behind a meaningful change in health care — why? because the majority of people want it.

It seems that a public option would get the ball rolling, wouldn’t it? The for-profit health insurance companies that kick people out of their plans for being sick or having pre-existing conditions wouldn’t stand a chance against a non-profit government plan that aims to provide a service with no strings attached. Sooner or later the insurance companies wouldn’t be making the type of profits they want to make and they’d either get out of business or they’d start to shrink down in size which would probably slowly transform them into humane companies.

Anyway, the reason to hate Joe Wilson is not that he spoke up. The reason to hate him is that he is a political hack for weapons manufacturers and the health care industry:

Wilson was first elected to Congress in 2001, and over the course of his career, his committees have received about $455,800 from political action committees and individual employees within the health sector. The majority of this sum (about $267,900) comes from health professionals, which are Wilson’s No. 1 top industry backer. Individual employees and PACs associated with pharmaceutical manufacturers have contributed $100,650 to his committees over his career.

- Rep. Joe Wilson’s Comments and Connections Still in the Spotlight, OpenSecrets.org, September 14, 2009