The Democrats Strike Back! House Vote on Single Payer

Congressman Anthony Weiner

WHY DO WE NEED HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES?

Fed up with the propaganda and misinformation being spread at the tune of over $1.3 million per day by the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, as well as resistance at every step of the way by the Republican Party which seems to think that stopping healthcare reform in American will somehow destroy the Obama administration, Nancy Pelosi has decided to strike back.

First, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), hoping to force the GOP to put up or shut up on health reform, introduced an amendment Thursday night that would have repealed medicare, thereby forcing Republicans to show their support for the largest form of government-run healthcare in the U.S. Speaking to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Thursday broadcast, he took his point even further and wondered aloud why America even needs health insurance companies. “What we’ve learned is that government-administered healthcare works pretty darn well,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Thursday. “It’s got low overhead and people like it. So, when my colleagues pound the drum and pound the podium about how they hate government-run healthcare, I guess they haven’t looked at what they get.”

The congressman added that he believes medicare works so well and is so simple that America does not need the health insurance companies at all. “Why do we even need the insurance companies?” he asked. “What constructive role are they playing? They’re taking tens of billions of dollars each year and putting that into profits when that should have been going into healthcare.”

He declared that only a “true single-payer system” will work and said he plans to introduce legislation that would accomplish those ends. “It’s simpler and we know it works,” he said.

PELOSI PROMISES HOUSE VOTE ON SINGLE PAYER

In a surprising development Friday evening, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised to allow a debate and vote on a single-payer plan for health care reform.

The promise was made after Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) agreed to withdraw a proposed amendment to create a universal Medicare system for the entire nation.

According to the New York Daily News, “The Brooklyn-Queens Rep. looked a little surprised when Chairman Henry Waxman said Pelosi would allow that vote, and made Waxman repeat the deal to be sure it was clear and on the record. It’s an especially big deal for advocates of a single health care system — who see it as cheaper and simpler than the complicated measure being drawn up — because they have been complaining that they have not even been able to get an airing of their position.”

The development came as the House Energy and Commerce Committee was meeting to finalize its own version of health care legislation, which passed by a vote of 31-28, with five Democratic members of the committee and all Republicans opposed.

As reported by the Associated Press, “the committee agreed to cap increases in the cost of insurance sold under the bill, and also to give the federal government authority to negotiate directly with drug companies for lower prices under Medicare.”


source: RAW STORY













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