Thrill
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Sat Oct-17-09 07:35 AM
Original message |
Obama Threatens Insurers’ Anti-Trust Exemption |
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Obama Threatens Insurers’ Anti-Trust Exemption By PETER BAKER Published: October 17, 2009 WASHINGTON — President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.
In unusually harsh terms, Mr. Obama cast insurance companies as obstacles to change interested only in preserving their own “profits and bonuses” and willing to “bend the truth or break it” to stop his drive to remake the nation’s health care system. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address to push back against industry assertions that legislation will drive up premiums.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”
Rather than trying to curb costs and help patients, he said the industry is busy “figuring out how to avoid covering people. And they’re earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exemption from our anti-trust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.”
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vaberella
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Sat Oct-17-09 08:21 AM
Response to Original message |
1. And DU was trying to lead me to believe Obama is not working hard enough. |
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Thanks Thrill. Great article. :kick: & Rec.
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Dr Fate
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Sat Oct-17-09 02:53 PM
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7. It will only be fair to say that if he fails to get a robust public option. |
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If we do not get a robust PO, then they will have been right, with or without this speech.
I like this particular approach of taking on insurance directly, so things do seem to be looking up...
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Occam Bandage
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Sat Oct-17-09 07:03 PM
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11. That's a metric of success, not of effort. nt |
Dr Fate
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Sat Oct-17-09 07:42 PM
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12. If there is no success, then it means the effort failed. |
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Edited on Sat Oct-17-09 07:42 PM by Dr Fate
Semantics might save the day on a message board, but it wont save us in the midterms.
If he fails, then it means he did not do enough, period.
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tekisui
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Sat Oct-17-09 08:47 AM
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Kdillard
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Sat Oct-17-09 09:08 AM
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3. Good. The President is smacking them hard and hopefully this will give them a |
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case of sit down and shut up.
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randr
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Sat Oct-17-09 09:28 AM
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4. The treat to eliminate the anti trust exemption is bullshit |
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The exemption needs to be repealed no matter what!
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pansypoo53219
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Sat Oct-17-09 10:02 AM
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tho, threatening them 1st is nice.
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Vidar
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Sat Oct-17-09 02:36 PM
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depakid
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Sat Oct-17-09 03:01 PM
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8. Take some advice from Nike: |
Cha
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Sat Oct-17-09 03:06 PM
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9. "..Willing to Break the truth!" |
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Edited on Sat Oct-17-09 03:07 PM by Cha
"‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”
No.. corporatewhores, Not This Time.
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TomCADem
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Sat Oct-17-09 06:42 PM
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Sun May 05th 2024, 04:27 PM
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