Let's set the record straight on Kennedy's wishes, in his own words.

[Avalux]

Here:

"also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything that I can to achieve access to healthcare for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life." (from his letter to the Pope)

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYtMmw9OVk

Got it GOPers? Got it Corporate Dems? Got it Corporate Media?

Ted Kennedy wanted every single person in this country to have health care. He believed it to be a right, not a privilege and worked tirelessly for it for 40 years. I don't know how much clearer his words can be.

So STOP using Teddy's name, his cause and talk of compromise to kill a public plan and further your own political agendas.

PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FOR ALL AMERICANS!

[babylonsister]

1. "Public, government-run health care was key to ...both of Kennedy’s final health care initiatives"

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/what-would-kennedy-want-government-run-health-care-key-to-both-of-his-final-efforts/

What Would Kennedy Want? Government-Run Health Care Key To Both Of His Final Efforts


Now that some pundits have already started to suggest that Ted Kennedy would have ditched a public option in order to secure a compromise on health care reform, perhaps this is worth keeping in mind:

Public, government-run health care was key to not one, but both of Kennedy’s final health care initiatives.

One of these, of course, has already gotten lots of attention: The version of health care reform that emerged this spring from Kennedy’s Senate health and labor committee, which contained a public option.

But there’s another, oft-overlooked initiative Kennedy championed that makes the point even more strongly. I’m talking about the Medicare for All bill, which was wholly Kennedy’s baby.

Kennedy introduced Medicare for All in 2005 and 2007 and it never got voted out of committee. According to the Commonwealth Fund, a respected health care policy group, it was a “universal public insurance program” that would offer compulsory “Medicare type benefits” from cradle to grave. Public, government-run health care.

“It would have functioned similar to the way Medicare functions now,” Sarah Collins, a vice president at Commonwealth, told our reporter, Amanda Erickson. “It would have been basically a public health option, a single payer proposal.”

Ron Pollack, the head of Families USA (which favors a public plan), argues Kennedy’s embrace of Medicare for All confirms he would want a public option. Kennedy’s initiative, Pollack says, was government-run “single payer” health care — universal public health care.

With the “what would Kennedy want” storyline really about to gain steam, seems like Kennedy’s Medicare for All should be a big part of the discussion.

[Avalux]

2. Good article, thank you.

I am also hoping his family speaks out about what Teddy would have wanted to counter what's starting to come out from the other side.

[man4allcats]

4. Thank-you. +1

"With the “what would Kennedy want” storyline really about to gain steam, seems like Kennedy’s Medicare for All should be a big part of the discussion."

Hear, hear!

[AuntPatsy]

3. The truth..how refreshing..

[Avalux]

6. I added a video -

please watch if you haven't yet. :hi:

[AuntPatsy]

8. wish I could but on this laptop having problem watching any videos...can't figure out why not..wish

I could..

[liberal N proud]

5. K&R

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. My first vote

was for Kennedy when he sought the party nomination for President. It is the vote I am most proud of casting. Why? Because decades later he was still fighting for the rights of common folks. Unlike most of the other bastards we've elected. He never sold out to corporate Amerikka.

[Avalux]

9. That's why I have such strong affection for him.

He never sold out and he never gave up. If I had been old enough to vote in 1980, I probably would have cast my vote for him too. :hi: