Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies

[liskddksil]

John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change the current system of healthcare in America.

Nataline Sarkysian died last night at UCLA Medical Center after complications arose from a bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia. Her insurance provider, CIGNA Healthcare, first denied the potentially lifesaving transplant, but relented after a loud public protest and outrage. By that time, though, Sarkysian passed away before the procedure could be performed.

"Are you telling me that we're gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?" asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. "We're gonna take their power away and we're not gonna have this kind of problem again."

Edwards also told the audience of about a hundred people at the Score Pavillion in Nevada, Iowa, that it will take a fighter (i.e. him) - and not a negotiator (ii.e. Obama) - to take on large insurance companies like CIGNA.

"Anybody who thinks that we don't have a fight in front of us is living in Never-Never Land," he said.
_______________________

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/21/politics/fromtheroad/entry3641451.shtml

[sueh]

1. This is exactly what we need. Go, John!!

[Armstead]

2. The people have the law on our side

I agree with Edwards.

Too often we treat corporations as if they are above the law, and the only way to get them to behave is to beg and bargain away our rights and interests.

The fact is that corporations have to obey the law, just as citizens do. That should be the starting point for any negotiations. We're not asking them for favors.

AND when we don't have the law on our side, we need someone who is willing to lead by making laws that enforce common decency and fair play.

If we the people get some goddamn principles and courage again, there is no reason we have to go begging to the big corporations.

[surfermaw]

45. Is there any one here that remembers GWB lie when ask about drugs

A young woman ask him why drug companies charged so much, Bush said because it cost so much for research, the lying fool, our own goverment pays some of the cost and many foundations, do some of the research and pay for much of the research

[asdjrocky]

3. Fight the Power! n/t

[saracat]

4. Anyone who can't see that this is "the " issue is just out of it! Go John!

[havocmom]

Anybody who will work their arse off to get the bean-counters out as the deciders of care

is way ahead of the pack in my book.

Had to threaten to call some reporter pals and set up a tent/camp-stove and move into my HMO's lobby to prevent permanent loss of the use of my right hand while they hemmed and hawed about paying to remove a tumor 6 doctors told them HAD TO COME OUT. I'm all for standing up for what is right against the greedy middle men of medical care.

Young people paying with their lives so the CEOs can tout a bigger and better bottom line to major stockholders is NOT how medical care should be paid for. Letting them get away with dragging their feet until the permission for needed care is a moot point = letting them get by with negligent endangerment and/or wrongful death.

Fight them. And let the other heinous giant corporations using the average American as grease for their money making machine know there is a new order coming. The Republic WILL BE restored and PEOPLE will be the deciders of laws, policies, and values.

[balantz]

5. WE have a fighter here

[havocmom]

6. But, he spends too much on haircuts! Waa waa, And he has lots of money...

which he earned by fighting AND WINNING against some monster big corporations. :D

Beating them at their own games and still ready to take on more.... yeah, that's a fighter we need in our corner!

Edited to ad: Somebody, slip my email addy to the lovely and incredible Mrs. Edwards. I wanna sign up for the team.

[liskddksil]

8. Its such as bad thing

That he paid a deserved salary to a barber to come in the middle of the night to give him a haircut. LOL.

[Hieronymus]

9. Damn right .. not many take the barber into consideration. Ever wonder

what Hillary pays for a cut, color, highlights, and styling?

[havocmom]

11. Now, now, careful or you'll be accused of being a misogynist

;)

[havocmom]

10. Yeah! Who does he think he is, paying decent money for good services

by skilled professionals who took YEARS to learn their crafts?

Hell, he could'a hired a hundred illegal and desperate workers for that kinda dough, and abused them besides. But he didn't. He paid a fair price for a skilled, specialized service.

Bet he doesn't try to scrimp on paying the woman who hems his pants either. (A personal pet peeve of mine)

[pauldg0]

25. I think the same way...............

.............we all can have the last laugh...it's looking good for John!!!!

EDWARDS 98

[polichick]

7. I really wish that it WAS possible to sit down with big business...

...and have them agree to do what's best for America. Maybe that happened once upon a time (don't know), but it's not going to happen now that they are so entrenched and used to running things. Fighting isn't an option ~ it's the only way out.

[OzarkDem]

15. Some will do it, but not insurance companies

Edwards is smart enough to know who will negotiate and who won't. Not all business are bad.

[polichick]

16. "Big business" won't do it, whether it's insurance, pharmaceuticals or oil...

I agree, there's nothing wrong with business in general. Good ol' American ingenuity serves us well ~ think what could be unleashed if the big guys didn't try to squash real advances, say, in green technology!

[Two Americas]

36. not bad people

The people running and working for corporations are not all bad people, they are trapped in a system, just as we all are, that puts profits before people. They must answer only to shareholders - they have no choice. They have no personal liability - that is the nature of corporations. It is a set up that brings out the worst in people, and it would be simple to rectify. It will not be easy, because there are malefactors hiding behind the corporate shield and they will fight hard against the people to protect their own power and wealth. But we should not be ruled by those few.

Business and ingenuity and entrepreneurship would not be harmed by reigning in corporations; they would be strengthened. We could abolish all corporations without harming business in the least. A corporation is merely a legal fiction - a government granted privilege to do business without personal liability, yet have that business enjoy the same rights as human beings. That is morally wrong. It is not anti-business to be anti-corporation.

[polichick]

40. True, I know some who work for huge corps and are the best people in the world...

They're usually frustrated beyond words by the throwback policies of their companies.

And then there are some companies (though obviously much smaller than major corps) that are truly inspiring ~ Patagonia is one that comes to mind.

There's a lot that could by done with tax incentives etc. to grow ethical businesses and curb the influence that big business has on poltics ~ I'm actually thrilled that Gore is working with investors of green technology.

[sendero]

53. Well said...

... I agree with you 100%. It's not the players, it's the game. The incentives are always to do the "wrong" thing.

Corporations are like sharks, not evil, just doing what they were created to do.

Welcome to DU.

[Two Americas]

22. The resolute enemy within our gates

Philadelphia is a good city in which to write American history. This is fitting ground on which to reaffirm the faith of our fathers; to pledge ourselves to restore to the people a wider freedom; to give to 1936 as the founders gave to 1776—an American way of life.

That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from some restraining power. In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy—from the eighteenth century royalists who held special privileges from the crown. It was to perpetuate their privilege that they governed without the consent of the governed; that they denied the right of free assembly and free speech; that they restricted the worship of God; that they put the average man's property and the average man's life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power; that they regimented the people.

And so it was to win freedom from the tyranny of political autocracy that the American Revolution was fought. That victory gave the business of governing into the hands of the average man, who won the right with his neighbors to make and order his own destiny through his own Government. Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

Since that struggle, however, man's inventive genius released new forces in our land which reordered the lives of our people.. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution—all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a new problem for those who sought to remain free.

For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital—all undreamed of by the fathers—the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service.

There was no place among this royalty for our many thousands of small business men and merchants who sought to make a worthy use of the American system of initiative and profit. They were no more free than the worker or the farmer. Even honest and progressive-minded men of wealth, aware of their obligation to their generation, could never know just where they fitted into this dynastic scheme of things.

It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over Government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.

The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor—these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship. The savings of the average family, the capital of the small business man, the investments set aside for old age—other people's money—these were tools which the new economic royalty used to dig itself in.

Those who tilled the soil no longer reaped the rewards which were their right. The small measure of their gains was decreed by men in distant cities.

Throughout the Nation, opportunity was limited by monopoly. Individual initiative was crushed in the cogs of a great machine. The field open for free business was more and more restricted. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.

An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men." Liberty requires opportunity to make a living—a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.

For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor—other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.

Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of Government. The collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people's mandate to end it. Under that mandate it is being ended.

The royalists of the economic order have conceded that political freedom was the business of the Government, but they have maintained that economic slavery was nobody's business. They granted that the Government could protect the citizen in his right to vote, but they denied that the Government could do anything to protect the citizen in his right to work and his right to live.

Today we stand committed to the proposition that freedom is no half-and-half affair. If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

The brave and clear platform adopted by this Convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that Government in a modern civilization has certain inescapable obligations to its citizens, among which are protection of the family and the home, the establishment of a democracy of opportunity, and aid to those overtaken by disaster.

But the resolute enemy within our gates is ever ready to beat down our words unless in greater courage we will fight for them.

For more than three years we have fought for them. This Convention, in every word and deed, has pledged that that fight will go on.

The defeats and victories of these years have given to us as a people a new understanding of our Government and of ourselves. Never since the early days of the New England town meeting have the affairs of Government been so widely discussed and so clearly appreciated. It has been brought home to us that the only effective guide for the safety of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle.

We do not see faith, hope and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a Nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.

Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.

Hope — renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.

Charity — in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

We seek not merely to make Government a mechanical implement, but to give it the vibrant personal character that is the very embodiment of human charity.

We are poor indeed if this Nation cannot afford to lift from every recess of American life the dread fear of the unemployed that they are not needed in the world. We cannot afford to accumulate a deficit in the books of human fortitude.

In the place of the palace of privilege we seek to build a temple out of faith and hope and charity.


Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency, Philadelphia, Pa.
excerpt
June 27th, 1936

[polichick]

24. So here we stand again...

"But the resolute enemy within our gates is ever ready to beat down our words unless in greater courage we will fight for them."

THANKS!

[xxqqqzme]

58. day-yam that is so mighty fancy speechifying!

Doesn't it give you goose bunps to read those words? Isn't it wonderful to see 'faith' used to affirm and not hijacked by some rong-wing fundie to divide.

[stray cat]

12. He fought like this as a lawyer against corporations

[Two Americas]

13. jumping in here

After months of lurking I have decided to sign up today for two reasons. First,to thank bobbolink for courageously speaking out for the poor, the homeless, the suffering, month after month, often alone and in the face of intense hostility. The power of one lone voice to give us hope and to inspire us should not ne underestimated. Thank you bobbolink. You speak for millions who otherwise go unheard. Secondly to say that after hearing John and Elizabeth Edwards speak last night I am supporting the Edwards campaign.

I stand with the people first, before I stand with a candidate. I judge a candidate by the following that he or she generates, what they inspire in people to a large extent. I have been following the Edwards supporters here over the last few weeks and reading every post. I have been watching for the usual arrogance, the put-downs, and the unfair and malicious attacks on the other candidates and their supporters, all of which are all to common during primary season. I am not seeing that from the Edwards supporters. I stand with you. I support you, the people here who are supporting the Edwards candidacy.

I was able to see Edwards speak last night on television with a group of people and was surprised by the reaction the others had to him. The people I was with are deeply discouraged and cynical about politics to the extent that they avoid discussing them. Sadly, this very common today. Yet they hung on every word that Elizabeth and Edwards said, and talked politics enthusiastically for two hours afterward. Being close to politics one gets accustomed to being around people who are interested in politics, and it is easy to forget that most people in the country have long since tuned politics out and are fed up and disgusted with the whole mess. To watch non-political people suddenly have such intense interest was like watching people come back from the dead. I feel as though I have been dragging people to politics for years and years, with little success, and I hadn't experienced being swept along by the enthusiasm of everyday people since the campaign of Robert Kennedy. This is remarkable, and I have to believe that millions of everyday people can be brought back to politics by this campaign.

I don't look to a politician to be perfect, I don't look to get what I want, I don't look to "win" for myself. I want the people to win. Otherwise, why care about politics? If Edwards stands for the people, I will stand with Edwards. If Edwards listens to the people, I will listen to Edwards. If Edwards fights for the people, I will fight for Edwards - with eyes open, no rose-colored glasses on, no hero worship of the man, but in the hope that together we can fight and win a better future for all of the people.

I have been active in Democratic party politics for about 40 years, as well as in the civil rights movement, union organizing and campaign work for RFK, Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kucinich, David Bonier and my own congressman John Conyers and many others.

I have a lot more to say about my observations from last night, but this is getting long for a first post. I had hoped to post in the Edwards group, but I see that this privilege is reserved for donors. Being out of work and staying with friends temporarily, I am a little tight on funds, but as soon as I can scrape a few extra dollars together I will join the Edwards supporters there.

[Armstead]

14. Great Post

I agree with it wholeheartedly.

You should make it a seperate thread.

[Two Americas]

17. thanks

Thanks armstead. As a new member I don't think I can start new threads, but your kind words are much appreciated.

[Armstead]

19. I'll post it for you if you want

It's good enough that more people should see it.

Let me know and I'll do it.

[Two Americas]

23. thanks again

That would be great.

[asdjrocky]

32. I'm very happy to see you here,

Love what you wrote.

[Two Americas]

43. thanks

I have admired your passion and sincerity, and that you have taken the high road in your candidate advocacy. Well done.

[asdjrocky]

44. Okay....

Enough with patting each other on the back, we got work to do. It's good to have someone with you talent on our side.

[polichick]

18. So glad you jumped in!

After watching all of the campaigns closely for months, I've just recently come to the conclusion that Edwards is the one most prepared and willing to return this country (and this party) to the people.

Welcome! :)

[K Gardner]

21. Excellent post and welcome to DU !

[Lochloosa]

29. You may post wherever you like now Two Americas

Merry Christmas and may next year be brighter.

Oh, and welcome to DU.:toast:

[Two Americas]

48. thanks so much

I didn't expect that, and I appreciate it very much. I hope I can pass your generosity along to others very soon.

[Lochloosa]

49. Pay it forward. What a great concept.

Your welcome.

[pamela]

35. Welcome to DU!

:hi: Great post!

[Sylvia Christopher]

55. PREMEDIATED MURDER DUE TO BEING GRAVELY ILL

PREMEDITATED MURDER DUE TO BEING GRAVELY ILL!  
They are going to hide behind the fact that this young girl
was gravely ill and didn’t have a chance and hope you forget
about all the people they do this to everyday who had chances
and are dead because the insurance company canceled them when
they got sick.   My name is Sylvia Christopher and I live in
Los Angeles.  When I was diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer
on my face, my insurance company (not Cigna) began to pretend
they were not receiving my premium checks and this started a
series of phone calls with them.  They were surgery sweet and
kept telling me not to worry.  But I was worried the 3 checks
I sent to them were not cashed and when I asked them if I
could pay over the phone or with a credit card, they told me
that they could not accept payment without a voucher or over
the phone.  I had no vouchers because I sent them  in with my
payments.  But I was worried. I had skin cancer and my
payments were not reaching the  insurance company despite
being sent in their envelopes.  The checks never came back to
me and yet they were not reaching them according to the
representative.  I called one last time and was reassured that
another bill was being sent out.  I received a cancellation
notice.  Not only did I have skin cancer that was growing but
I had to find out what to do.  I researched and found Tim
Weston in Pasadena, CA and Appeals and Grievances Dept in Van
Nuys, Ca.  Both did all they could but the  health insurance
company lied and said they never received any payments.  You
can imagine what it is like to have a disease and want comfort
and treatment and your well known, major health insurance
giant turns out to be a group of thugs.   The surgery was done
by County. WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS DON’T BE SWAYED BY THEIR
CURRENT CRAP THAT THIS WAS A HOPELESS CASE. THAT IS NOT THEIR
DECISION. THEY KNOW NOTHING. AND DON’T LET THEM MAKE YOU THINK
THAT THAT MATTERS TO THEM. THEY DENY COVERAGE TO PEOPLE WHO
HAVE AN EXCELLENT CHANCE. LET’S DO SOMETHING. MARCH, PROTEST,
BUT DON’T GIVE UP. COME ON, THESE ARE THUGS WE’RE TALKING
ABOUT.

[Catchawave]

56. Welcome to DU Two Americas !

And congratulations on your "star" :toast:

Please stop by the John Edwards Forum whenever you get the chance, we'd love to have you !

[Omaha Steve]

63. Republicans are scared of this Edwards guy

He has learned from his mistakes. He knows our party and can lead us out of the wilderness.

[frogmarch]

20. Great OP, great thread! k&r nt

[msongs]

26. nancy, barack and hillary won't like that much nt

[2rth2pwr]

27. Hey, maybe he could get a lucrative consulting job with those

insurance companies so he can learn about the uninsured.

[Veritas et Ratio]

28. Disgust

Although a daily reader and almost never poster here at DU, as a teacher of Nataline's last year, I feel like I have to speak out here. It absolutely disgusts me to see ANY politician (right or wrong) use her as a prop in a campaign. I have nothing else to say.

[zalinda]

30. So, are you saying that no one should speak out

about it? We aren't hearing about it on the news. How is anyone to prevent another death that is preventable if no one speaks of it. This is not an Edwards ploy, he has fought for people who have had problems with insurance companies before, he made a career out of it. He has not mentioned one name of any of his clients. Recently though, one has come forward and gave a speech for Edwards. He is angry that Nataline was treated so poorly, and doesn't ever want to see that happen again. Do you know for a fact that he didn't get permission to use her name? Do you know if maybe her parents and the Edwards campaign have been in contact and they gave him permission. This is a man who lost his own teenage son, I don't think he would do anything that would hurt another parent in their time of grief.

zalinda

[jenmito]

33. It's on the news nonstop. He's using it like he owns it. He's a lawyer, used to trying to tug at

people's heartstrings. I think he's a phony.

[Two Americas]

41. good

Glad to see a politican bothering to tug at our heart strings. They need tugging.

I don't hold it against a person that they are an attorney.

Phony is as phony does. You can't fake what I saw Edwards do with the people in the audience after his speech.

[liskddksil]

57. It was the insurance company that murdered her and countless others

because of their insatiable lust for profit. Its about time somone with a national platform stood up to these thugs.

[jenmito]

31. Edwards is an opportunist...

He's slick. He says whatever people want to hear. He was a fighter for the Iraq war, too. Remember? He was a co-sponsor. He chose to NOT take matching funds. Remember?

[Two Americas]

38. So was RFK

I remember being deeply skeptical about RFK when he first started running. McCarthy had blazed the trail, and then RFK jumped in, and there was much criticize about his past. I did not think that he was sincere. Many of us saw him as an opportunist, and we did not trust his new rhetoric and we thought that he was merely saying what people wanted to hear.

Then he came to Detroit, and I had the opportunity to meet him. He made an unscheduled trip to 12th street, and when we got word we raced over there. The scene we saw is one that I will never forget. The street, that just a year previous was the scene of terrible violence, was packed with thousands of people. RFK waded into the crowd, meeting and speaking with everyday people, shaking hands. Something was happening there that cannot be faked. I didn't believe in RFK - but the poorest, most down-trodden people in Detroit believed. I stand with them.

I saw the same thing last night with John Edwards as he mingled and talked with people after his speech. I don't expect that to convince anyone, and it cannot be proved, of course. The reaction of the other people I was with is what changed my mind. Who cares what I like? I am one person, one vote. I care about what is best for all. I care about those who are suffering, those who are ill, those who are forgotten, those who are out in the cold or left behind. Edwards is talking to and about the forgotten people. I stand with them. If and as Edwards stands with them, I stand with him.

[jenmito]

39. Regardless of RFK, Edwards is still a phony...

He is suddenly SOOOOO against things he was for a while ago. Do you think he would've been so outspoken against the war he co-sponsored if it wasn't popular to be against it now? Do you believe he was involved in a hedge fund to LEARN about them? Do you believe he took matching funds for MORAL reasons? I just don't trust him.

[Two Americas]

46. I understand

I understand jenmito. Time will tell. You may be right, and if you prove to be I will be the first to condemn the man.

I don't think that a politican responding to what is popular is a bad thing. They are representatives of the popular will.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

I don't expect you to think that he is sincere merely because I feel that he is. Nor should you expect anyone else to think that he is a phony merely because you feel that he is a phony.

Let's talk about the people, not about the personalities. Let's talk about what we can do together, not about which politician is our favorite.

While there is certainly a danger in being misled by a politician, there is a much greater danger in being so cynical, so caught up in our own personal preferences and opinions, that we fail to take advantage of an opportunity to help millions of people. Even if Edwards does not mean what he says, there is power and value in what he is saying, and we can use that if we so choose to do so. The more he keeps saying what he is saying, the higher the burden on him will be to come through for the people. That is a good spot for us to have a politician in.

[K Gardner]

51. Very beautifully and reasonably said. I admire your ability to respond so

tactfully in the face of the typical climate around here. Here's to hoping it will rub off :-)

Good to have you here !

[Dawgs]

42. Agree. Edwards says a lot of things.

And, it seems like he's fooled many into believing his talk will turn into actions.

[Two Americas]

47. doing his job

"Saying a lot of things" is the job description.

The actual work will be done by all of us. What we need is a president using the bully pulpit - Democrats have been weak at that - to set the course, to define the terms of the debate, to identify the shared goals, to back us up and to speak for those without a voice. Speaking is powerful. The Republicans know that and use it to great effect. Bush says that up is down and half the country believes him and that affects and influences their behavior.

If the people - all of us - act on the words Edwards is saying, his words will have done the job. But first the things that need to be said must be said.

If we lived in or desired to live a dictatorship, then it would be appropriate to demand and expect unilateral presidential action. I am not looking for a savior, a corporate CEO, a glamorous celebrity, nor a hero. The everyday common people are my heroes.

We don't need a politician to do anything for us. We need a politician who will not frustrate and persecute us, a president who will not do the bidding of the wealthy and the powerful at our expense.

It isn't really about Edwards, or any politician. It is about us. Standing with a candidate is the start of the battle, not the end.

[Vinca]

34. I have one question for John: How?

Unless you go to single payer, universal coverage as proposed by Kucinich, you are faced with negotiating with insurance companies. Given the greed and obscene amount of profit involved, I doubt any of them will make an appointment at the White House to tell President Edwards about their new, affordable-to-everyone-without-fear-of-denying-claims policies. Edwards needs to endorse the Kucinich plan. If he does, he'll be the nominee.

[zalinda]

37. Edwards plan has for profit and public

insurance plans. The choice is left up to the person. The public one will be like what the government employees get, I think (I don't know the particulars of their plan). With the public and private companies going head to head, who do you think will win? This is the only way to get to single payer. The Kucinich plan would be "swift boated" as socialized medicine, and could sink our candidate. This is the only logical way to go.

zalinda

[2hip]

52. Absolutely agree!

With the public and private companies competing against one another, he allows for the Repub meme of "Free Market" forces to be put into play while simultaneously setting the stage for the public companies to choke themselves into oblivion. Very shrewd and astute strategery, imho.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

60. Will there be mandatory payments?

What if people can't pay the premiums? What then? Do they throw people in jail for not having health insurance or something?

[ellisonz]

64. I believe the proposal is fines...

[Ewellian]

67. Federal government employees

have a choice of health plans provided by private insurance companies. I have two relatives who work for the federal government. One chose a Blue Cross ppo plan and the other chose coverage under a regional hmo.

[trashcanistanista]

50. I'm glad he is bringing this issue up.

He is absolutely right! I hope people listen.

[AzDar]

54. K & R...

[tomreedtoon]

59. I am glad Edwards jumped so quickly on this.

And now, it's up to the other candidates to react. I know the Republicans won't. How about Clinton? Or Obama? Would they even send a Hallmark card to the family?

I don't have a voice in the primary since I live in Florida, and we don't have a Democratic Party in Florida, but I hope to vote for Edwards in the general election.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

61. Let me quote Mickey Leland, by way of Molly Ivins:

This is not the exact wording, it's a paraphrase except for the last line, which is a direct quote:

In the late 1960s, Mickey Leland was in the Texas Legislature, before he won Barbara Jordan's Congressional seat. He had introduced a bill to provide cheap prescription drugs to low income senior citizens. He was a pharmacist who graduated from Texas Southern University.

Well, the legislators with seniority quashed his bill, thanks to the drug company lobbyists who bought and paid for the legislators.

Mickey could not believe that the government would not help old people buy their lifesaving drugs.

He saw a group of drug company lobbyists standing around in the State Capitol having a bull session.


He went up to them and said, "YOU ARE EVIL MOTHERFUCKERS".



To quote Molly, "They just about shit their pants."


That's what corporations are. Edwards is right.

[Ichingcarpenter]

62. The FEDs are now saying that talking about 'work'

Is not 'work' related.
Why isn't this story on the front page?
Feds: Employers allowed to block e-mails related to labor union activity

Employers have the right to bar employees from sending union-related
E-mails using company servers, the New York Times reports.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Feds_Employers_allowed_to_block_emails_1222.html

I am old enough now,
that I can see when an animal wants to leave a turd
but as we know these guys, they don't leave anything
that is organic or natural
which does anything for the environment,
except leave, a toxic dump for humanity and the planet to clean up.


That is why crossing the aisle
is not an option to this bitch
who doesn't want to
marry a wife beater again.

The male and female energies are out of balance now,
the Yin and the Yang of our beliefs.

The planet can see this, but unfortunately Americans can't.

It is not a question of electing a male or female,
a black or white, a hispanic or a religious nut.

The question is, whose turds leaves the least negative impact on humanity
and this planet, so our 'posterity' doesn't have to take care of it?

[Froward69]

65. So Edwards is just now catching on?

Biden knew this last August... and said so
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA8HC_IBhcc&mode=related&search

[IndyOp]

66. We are going to have to pry open their hands and grab the power from them!

Edwards camp - if you are reading... You need a kinesthetic, a visual, and an auditory metaphor for this fight against corporations. I think Obama's message of "we must stand" is weaker than "fight" -- but Obama's message of stand is a solid kinesthetic metaphor, I think maybe better than fight.