Victoria Kennedy at Senate: "I feel fantastic"

[jefferson_dem]

Victoria Kennedy at Senate: "I feel fantastic"

Ted Kennedy made health reform a lifelong cause, and after he died this year, Democrats frequently invoked him for inspiration. His wife, Victoria Kennedy, watched the Senate health reform vote from the gallery.

Moments after the vote, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry embraced her on the third floor off the chamber.

"I'm so happy for you," Kerry said, hugging her.

"I'm so happy," Kennedy said.

In the reception room off the chamber, which became the site of an impromtu celebration, Kennedy stood in what was effectively a receiving line, getting hugs from Sens. Barbara Mikulski, Chris Dodd, and others.

“You all did such a phenomenal job,” Kennedy told them. “He's smiling. You made history tonight.”

Sens. Chuck Schumer and Tom Harkin arrived moments later. "Where's Vicky?" Schumer asked before enveloping her in a hug .

"I feel fantastic," Kennedy told a small group of reporters. "This is an enormous victory."

Kennedy then moved to just outside the chamber, where she and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shared a hug.

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1209/Victoria_Kennedy_at_Senate_.html

[itsrobert]

1. Of course, she doesn't have to worry about going to jail

like the people who can't afford it.

[elocs]

3. Please, show us all a link that indicates people will be tossed in jail.

All who like to toss out that accusation somehow never seem to be able to provide a link to prove it.

[itsrobert]

7. If you don't buy the insurance and don't pay the fine for that you can be

put in jail. Don't you know that?

[jefferson_dem]

8. Freeper talking point.

n/t

[itsrobert]

9. But you know it's true? But continue to just to call me names.

Is it not true if you can't pay the fine for not buying mandatory health insurance you can go to jail?

[treestar]

10. No, it's not

Like any other government benefit, you have to use it for the purpose for which it was given. And will suffer penalties if you defraud the government and they prove it- for instance lie about income to get the benefit. There is fraud in any government program.

If you get food stamps, use it for food. If you get Section 8 benefits, use it for housing. If you get subsidies for health insurance, use it for health insurance. If you can afford insurance without help, get it so the rest of the people don't end up paying for your ER treatment if you are so unlucky as to be ill or injured.

What the hell is wrong with that?

[dflprincess]

23. Yes, but unlike those programs where you'll be fined for lying about your income to get a benefit

in this case you will be punished for lying about your income to avoid sending your money to a private company. The government will be telling what you can afford to spend on a shoddy product and coming after you if you don't do it.

[Teaser]

11. It's a tax. If you don't pay your taxes, you have problems

any other taxes you don't want to pay?

[itsrobert]

13. I don't have to worry. I have health insurance through Tricare Prime

$460 year for the family.

So let me get this straight, if you can't afford healthcare you are tax. But if you can't afford the tax because you need to make your house payment/rent, it's okay by your standands to send that person(s) to jail?

[Teaser]

14. you're taxed either way.

But if you agree not to participate in the system, you are still entitled to emergency room care, of course. This tax helps generate funds for that care you will still receive, regardlesss of insurance.

[Orangepeel]

19. why would the IRS put you in jail? If you are in jail, you won't have wages they can garnish. n/t

[DCBob]

4. This sounds like something Sarah Palin would write....

No one is going to jail for for not having healthcare insurance.. That is absurd.

[gardenista]

21. and defended with the same willful ignorance

only a Palinite knows...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Yeah. What a tool she is.

What would Vicky Kennedy know about this stuff, anyhow?

:sarcasm:

[phleshdef]

16. No, they will send you to the "death panels" instead...

which is exactly what the credibility of your claims ad up to

[Phx_Dem]

18. ROLF. What a loser.

Enjoying your fear-mongering are you?

[dflprincess]

25. Or how she'll manage to pay for her mandated insurance

or if she'll be able to afford to see her doctor because the only insurance she could afford has deductibles that are so high she still has to come up with cash to get care.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Here we go again...

A TINY TINY TINY TINY TINY TINY TINY fraction of people who owe money to the IRS actually wind up in prison for something related to that. Usually the IRS finds a way to collect money long before that. The ones they put in prison are the nutjobs who spend night and day subverting the IRS because they think the 16th amendment didn't really pass or some other such nonsense or people who try to avoid paying by fraud.

So yes if you try really really really really really hard you can wind up in prison for not paying the mandate related tax.

[cliffordu]

30. Completely debunked in several current threads right here in DU.

try to keep up.

Fuck me teh stupid is thick sometimes.

[impik]

31. You're hilarious. Seriously.

[liberal N proud]

2. Enough Said

[freddie mertz]

5. I am happy for her. But sad for the nation. nt.

[Hepburn]

12. Ditto. n/t

[GeorgeGist]

15. Disgraceful

[Phx_Dem]

17. Me too, Vicky, me too!

[gardenista]

20. F'in Vicky Kennedy! WTF does she know!?

Seriously, though, I'm really happy for her, this is a tribute to Ted.

[dflprincess]

24. If this bill is what Ted Kennedy spent his life working for

he wasted his time.

[gardenista]

26. TK became a pragmatist

for you to diminish his life's work to score a couple of points is disgusting.

[dflprincess]

27. "Pragmatism makes for bad policy"

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/78561822.html?elr=KArksc8P <img src=

And Ted Kennedy's life work was to try and get us access to health care - not the protection of the insurance companies who made this mess to begin with.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

32. You'll forgive me if I take Ted Kennedy over John Marty. (nt)

[dflprincess]

33. Marty's comment that

"coverage for more is not healthcare for all" hits the nail on the head.

The current bill will leave at least 15 million uninusured and millions more underinsured. The bankruptcy courts will still be filled with people ruined by medical bills. That is not what Senator Kennedy ever had in mind. The bill the Senate has come up with did not exist while he was alive and probably wouldn't now if he were still with us.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

34. His widow disagrees with you.

And what are you going to tell the 30 million uninsured that will get insurance out of this deal? "Sorry - it's all or nothing. Enjoy the breadline."

[dflprincess]

36. One more time,

insurance does not equal healthcare. As many of us who have already joined or are about to join the underinsured know.

Marty has advocated for a single payer system in Minnesota (something Franken once supported) sadly, this insurance scam will not allow that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

37. Franken obviously understands reality.

You and Marty obviously do not. The votes are not there for single payer. They were never going to be there. They were never going to come close to being there. You don't give up getting something for 30 million Americans simply because it's not exactly what you want.

It's not a scam, and you damn well know it.

[dflprincess]

38. Then why are the insurance company stocks going up?

I've kept a few shares of my UHG stock just so I get a vote at the annual meeting (which always amount to my voting agains what the board recommends). My 401K sure looks better today than it did a few weeks ago thanks largely to what happened to that stock.

We were sold out by corporate senators who ignored what the public wanted and voted the interests of large campaign contributors instead. It is a bait and switch scam.

You did not read my post or Marty's editorial closely enough.

Marty is advocating that Minnesota should have the right to create its own solution to the mess. Including, should we chose, a state single payer system (this is how it happened in Canada, province by province). At one point, Franken also supported that idea of states being able to find actual solutions on their own - in fact he campaigned on that.

But the Kucinich amendment, which would have given the states that right, was stripped from the House bill (supposedly at Obama's request) and was never part of the Senate's. Hawaii is the only state being granted the right to an exemption because they already have a system in place that actually does regulate the insurers in the state and controls costs. The Hawaii system requires that the policies sold there have low out of pocket expenses. As a result of so many Hawaiians actually having access to CARE, not just coverage, they have some of the lowest insurance costs in the country. However, other parts of the U.S. will not be allowed the freedom to try something other than what the insurance bill is foisting on us.

Physcians for a national health plan says this bill does more harm than good:

More: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/22-8

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

39. Are you familiar with the terms "pump and dump" and "bubble"?

Yeah, stocks don't always have a lot to do with future or current profitability. Plus, the death of the public option must be factored in, as those stocks very well could have been depressed for fear that it was going to pass. Point is, there's no direct correlation to be made. You should know this because we went through it with the whole "Obama made the stocks go down!" and "Obama made the stocks go up!" fiasco.

[Cha]

22. Glad this is going forward

without the obstructionists.

[Undercurrent]

28. Bless her heart.

It is good to see this strong, and intelligent woman carrying on Ted's work.

[EFerrari]

35. The oligarchs speak.