Originally Posted By Darkbeer First off, in case you don't know who he is... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Feingold" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...Feingold</a> >>Russell Dana Feingold (born March 2, 1953) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He has served as a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate and the junior Senator from Wisconsin since 1993. A recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Feingold is known for his cosponsorship of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act ("McCain–Feingold Act"), a major piece of campaign finance reform legislation. He was also the only Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act during its first vote. He had been mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, but following the November midterm elections of 2006 he chose not to run.<< And his stance on Health Care Reform from Wikipedia.... >>Feingold has long been an advocate for creating a system of universal health care in America. During his first run for the Senate, he endorsed the single-payer model, similar to that used by Canada. Once elected, he opposed the Clinton health care plan, saying that it did too much for the insurance industry and not enough for the uninsured. During the Bush administration, he has opposed the enactment of Medicare Part D and authored a bill to require the Senate leadership to submit health care reform bills. On July 24, 2006, at a press conference at the Martin Luther King Heritage Health Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Feingold announced that he had authored the State-Based Health Care Reform Act, a bill to create a pilot program for a system of universal health care under which each U.S. state would create a program to provide its citizenry with universal health insurance, and the federal government would provide the funding. The bill would create a non-partisan "Health Care Reform Task Force," which will provide five-year federal grants to two or three states. The program is expected to cost $32 billion over 10 years.<< So it is interesting to see these comments made by him yesterday.... <a href="http://www.lakelandtimes.com/print.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=10027" target="_blank">http://www.lakelandtimes.com/p...ID=10027</a> >>U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold told a large crowd gathered for a listening session in Iron County last week there would likely be no health care bill before the end of the year - and perhaps not at all. It was an assessment Feingold said he didn't like, but the prospect of no health care legislation brought a burst of applause from a packed house of nearly 150 citizens at the Mercer Community Center. "Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas, and maybe not even then, if this ever happens," Feingold said. "The divisions are so deep. I never seen anything like that." Feingold reiterated his appraisal a bit later. "We're headed in the direction of doing absolutely nothing, and I think that's unfortunate," he said when asked about the plight of uninsured Americans. The Mercer session was spirited but civil - as Feingold himself accurately described it - with most people focused squarely on the health care issue, followed by the deficit as a runner-up concern. During the discussion, Feingold said he could not declare whether he would support a health reform bill until he has actually seen one, and he said he would then seek out the opinions of Wisconsinites. The Senate recessed in late July with a deadlocked Senate Finance Committee unable to finish work on a bill. "When I get a proposal I can look at it and decide whether I will support it," he said. "I will let the people of the entire state talk to me."<< >> Finally, Feingold repudiated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's remarks calling vocal critics of health care reform at town hall meetings "evil mongers." Feingold called Reid's remarks unfortunate and inappropriate. "I've been listening to the people for 16 years, and I have never impugned their motives," the senator said. Though the vast majority of the crowd opposed the administration's health care effort, particularly a public, or government, health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers - and showed it with frequent bursts of loud applause - some in the room supported some type of reform, including a government option. They too drew some hand claps, but much fewer. Proponents of reform repeatedly cited the 40-plus million Americans who do not have health insurance. One citizen summed up the majority's mood, however. "This issue has definitely awakened a sleeping giant," the man said. "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."<< Much more of his comments at the Lakeland Times link.....
Originally Posted By Mr X <a href="http://www.lakelandtimes.com/print.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=10027" target="_blank">http://www.lakelandtimes.com/p...ID=10027</a> ***Content © 2009***
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt >>Though the vast majority of the crowd opposed the administration's health care effort, particularly a public, or government, health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers - and showed it with frequent bursts of loud applause...<< See, this makes NO sense to me at all. I wish someone could explain to me why would be strictly opposed to the government breaking up the strangle hold that the insurance industry has on medical care.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I wish someone could explain to me why would be strictly opposed to the government breaking up the strangle hold that the insurance industry has on medical care. << In America, we do not punish people for their strangleh- uh, I mean success.
Originally Posted By hopemax I spent a little time Googling some stuff on health care costs today. Did you know that small businesses pay on average 18% more than large businesses? Did you know that 60% of the 46 million uninsured people in this country are small business owners, employees and their dependents? Did you know that small businesses that do provide health insurance for their employees have seen their premiums go up 113% in the last decade, and this year are seeing premiums go up 30%? Did you know that a small business owner could see his premiums go from $300 a month/per employee to over $1800 a month/per employee if the spouse of just one of his employees receives treatment for breast cancer?
Originally Posted By DAR <<During the discussion, Feingold said he could not declare whether he would support a health reform bill until he has actually seen one, and he said he would then seek out the opinions of Wisconsinites>> One of the smarter things he's done.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< See, this makes NO sense to me at all. I wish someone could explain to me why would be strictly opposed to the government breaking up the strangle hold that the insurance industry has on medical care. >>> Oh, I can explain that easily. A lot of the anti-reform media buys have been paid for by groups representing health insurance companies. Of course, the companies behind these ads aren't against health care - that's how they make their money! But the last thing they want is to have to compete with a government-provided not-for-profit plan. With health care being such a large portion of the US economy (more than 1/6 by most estimates), there are bound to be a great many constituencies that can be affected by any kind of reform, and especially the comprehensive kind. Each of these constituencies is going to vie to make sure that it doesn't lose what it currently has (whether it be coverage, profits, or whatever) and ideally that any "reform" enacted serve to benefit its constituency. When you have a group such as private insurers, they can't go out directly and say "make sure that any reform retains if not increases our current profit margins!" So, they come up with alternative ways to influence the public, and through the media advertising and other methods of spreading the message, these seep into the psyche of the public, and certain people will latch onto the talking points to support their own issues without realizing what actually happened. This is how you have seniors showing up demanding "NO GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE," with the irony of Medicare being completely lost on them. The most likely explanation is that their actual internal motivation is precisely the opposite - they want to keep their Medicare benefits no matter what, and the anxiety that some might be taken away as part of an overall program to provide for others allows them to subconsciously latch onto any line of reasoning that's opposed to reform.
