Howard Dean on Meet The Press 12/20: 'The Major Problem: We Committed to Private Insurance for UHC'

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 10:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Hu5rWkmms   Posted on YouTube: December 20, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: December 21, 2009 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 3632

 
NBC Meet The Press w/ DAVID GREGORY: Mostly full interview with Howard Dean on 'Meet The Press' today.

DEAN: "The Senate bill says you can charge three times as much for somebody who is older than who's younger, now, the House says twice as much. In Vermont, it's 20% more. It's 1.2 times what an 'ordinary' person pays. That's clearly not... there is going to be insurance that's unaffordable. Suppose you make $70,000-80,000 a year, you could end up paying $20,000 for your insurance under the Senate bill. So, there are some big, big problems.

Here's the major problem, David. We have committed, in this last week of unseemly scrambling for votes, we have committed to go down a path in this country where private insurance will be the way that we achieve universal health care. That means that we're going to have a 30-year battle with the insurance industry, every time when we try to control costs and try to get them to do things.

It is not a coincidence, David Gregory, that insurance company stocks, health insurance company stocks hit a 52-year high on Friday, so they must know something that the rest of us don't.

- snip -

...and the bottom line is, in an unseemly scramble for votes that have nothing to do with long-term public policy, we have really essentially cut out the idea that Americans will have a choice of a different kind of insurance system, the same kind of insurance system people over 65 have, the same kind of insurance that veterans have. A lot of us would have liked to have that system because it's so much more effective, and, frankly, so much more satisfactory than what we see in the private insurance sector.

- snip -

DEAN: "I think it's gotta have a public option, at least allow some of the states... now, there are two countries that have done this without a public option - Switzerland and The Netherlands - but they treat insurance companies as public utilities, that's what we would have to do.. and I don't have an objection to that. My concern about the public option is not ideological. But I just think a 30-year fight with the insurance industries over every little detail over how they're going to control costs is something, judging by this past week with the insurance companies that essentially wrote the bill, is something that's not going to happen."

GREGORY: "Governor, my question was: without the public option, is your position, say no to the bill?"

DEAN: "My position is, let's see what they add to this bill and make it work. If they can make it work without a public option, I'm all ears. I don't think that's possible.

- snip -

I think there's been an enormous amount of compromise. I think the compromise, frankly, has been too much. Here's the basic problem. I said it before and I'll say it again. We have set this nation down a course where we're going to do this through private insurance. It is possible to do that. Two other countries that I know of do that exclusively in private insurance. It is very, very difficult. It is very, very expensive. We are nowhere near where Switzerland and The Netherlands are, in terms of the regulatory apparatus on the private insurance industry..."

MORE

[janedum]

1. No Kidding! And President NO Backbone conveniently FORGOT that was the whole point!! PUBLIC OPTION!!

[Divine Discontent]

26. or, in essense, Medicare Part E, as Dean said, in 3-4 months people would have seen their neighbors

get health care that had none - so 2010 and 2012 will be very hard on the Democrats if there's no clear change to health care. I am SOOOOOOO thankful that Howard said that he wants to wait and see what will be put into this bill still - SMART! Changes can happen.

[madfloridian]

2. This unrec stuff is out of control here. Recommending.

Thanks for posting.

[thunder rising]

4. I logged in to get it from 4 to five, but others helped before my return.

There is a group of trolls on this site. I have watched it happen.

[chill_wind]

5. Videos are good. It's a little harder to twist or misrepresent his words.

Lots of people don't seem to want him to be heard first-hand.

[madfloridian]

11. And there has been a lot of twisting here.

[eagertolearn]

20. The good thing is that these trolls have to read part of it before

un-recking. Maybe something will sink in or maybe a few will actually get a conscious!:think:

[chill_wind]

3. K & R

[bkohatlanta]

6. There are people that believe in things and stand for things.

I am such a person. Barack Obama is not.

[bleever]

7. I'm very glad to have seen that.

Thank you for posting it.

I have slogged through heavy mud before, and known that I could keep going. I'm getting that same feeling now.

[burning rain]

8. Rec for HoDo.

I see you're at +15 now. Hmm!

[Jefferson23]

9. K&R, DEAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH

Come on Obama, for crying out loud, fight for the citizens of this country.

[ihavenobias]

10. K & R n/t

[democracy1st]

12. K & R

[midnight]

13. Dean keeps negotiating for us to get a choice. Obama not so much?

[Norrin Radd]

14. kr

[DFW]

15. I hope Howard put to rest some of the speculation about his bolting the party

He said here publicly what he's been saying all along to anyone who would listen: he's staying with the Democratic
Party, "absolutely."

Howard is one of us, and will stay that way. He will keep raising his voice from within the party, and do whatever
small (or maybe not so small) part to steer it in a better direction.

I hope his words get taken at face value. Howard ALWAYS says what he really means, and this is no exception.
He is a member of, and intends to remain a member of, the Democratic party. He sees a better country with a
strong Democratic Party rather than two separate and weakened movements to oppose the forces of reaction from
the radical right. Howard knows the difficult position Obama is in, and he also knows the backroom negotiations
that can still put some improvement into this bill, while letting the more conservative elements save face to
the point where they might not endanger their re-election in states that are mostly red.

As I said in an earlier post, Howard will never make it to the White House--when is the last time a president
got into office by speaking as straightforwardly as Howard does? But he's still the chairman of our party, even
if the title has been stripped from him (or has Tim Kaine been all over the headlines back stateside, and I just
never noticed it?).

[katkat]

16. DFW

Perhaps I am misreading your post, or reading too much into it?

Are you suggesting that those of us who now say never again to DLC DINOs should fall in line? (And I am now one of those after decades of telling my farther left friends they were crazy when they said no difference between the two parties.)

Because it isn't going to happen. Obama's "difficult position" is either (a) sold his soul to BigBusiness or (b) missing spine. No more fooling us into supporting anyone but real liberals/progressives with track records.

[DFW]

17. Reading too much into it

I have seen a LOT of speculation on DU as to whether Howard was ready to bolt the party. I have said all along
that the answer to that is no. He just confirmed it. Howard would prefer that the DINOs to fall in line, not the
other way around. That, too, is something he has never wavered on.

[MissDeeds]

18. K&R

:kick:

[eagertolearn]

19. Great job Dr Dean! how does the senate think that the elderly are going to pay

more than they are now for health care? Most of them have been fooled by these privatized medicare HMO's and are wondering how they are going to pay all the supplements they didn't used to pay. I've asked them why they changed to the HMO's and they said becasue their insurance companies told them it would be a better deal! I hate these insurance companies!!!! You don't know how hard it is for these poor people who are caring for their loved ones and trying to figure out how to stay afloat with all the bills. It should be medicare for all and no more "private" HMO's ripping off these poor seniors.

[nicky187]

21. The insurance industry may think they've won.

Time to start electing candidates like Dr. Dean who know that ...

"We are nowhere near where Switzerland and The Netherlands are, in terms of the regulatory apparatus on the private insurance industry..."

... and are willing to change that. People are so upset that they'd probably support candidates on this issue alone. Damn. The hard work is just starting.

[90-percent]

22. Snow?

Gregory has no right to send any of his snow to Howard Dean.

Where the hell does he think he can do such a thing?

-90% jimmy

:sarcasm:

[defendandprotect]

23. Right .... our health care system was PRIVATIZED/CORPORATIZED before we even got it!!!

And I would suggest that next up for privatization/corporatization will be

Social Security and Medicare ---

and, of course, abortion is proving to be a target now of Democrats!!!

[SandWalker1984]

24. We can't find 5 progresive senators to stand up & say NO to this farce?

We can't find 5 progressive Senators?

4 corporate prostitutes masquerading as Democratic senators can absolutely take out a true and transparent public debate on health care, eliminating a public option for all Americans or Medicare access for Americans over 55 (but it should have been access to Medicare for ALL Americans),

but we can't find 5 progressive or "liberal" Democratic senators to stand together, united for the people, and just say "NO, everything stops in the Senate on this vote until this bill is fixed to give every American access to a public option like Medicare."

Several have spent time going on shows such as Keith's, Ed's and Rachel's over the past few months, spewing what appearently was just political rhetoric about why a true public option was the only way to get meaningful health care reform and competition for the private insurance corporations and their monopolies.

Where are they now?

If Bernie Sanders, Russ Feingold, Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden and the others vote yes on this sham bill that's nothing more than a bill to protect the insurance corporations profits, that has no meaningful public competition for them, then these senators are no better than Ben Nelson & his gang, or the Republicans that at least have never mandated we buy expensive, private insurance or pay fines/go to jail.


If you agree with me, then contact these senators offices and tell them you want them to stand on principles, even if this corporate enslavement bill goes down in defeat. We will respect and support them for taking a principled stand for us, which now more than ever is needed in our Congress.

[CRH]

25. I agree with your post, but ...

Why do we need five progressive senators, and not just one or two? Sixty votes is still needed for cloture.

[ProSense]

27. "In an MSNBC appearance Monday, Dean reversed his opposition to the Senate bill from last week"

here

[valerief]

28. Big K&R for Dr. Dean!!!!

:kick:

[mother earth]

29. K & R for Dean, who represents us more than those elected.

Much thanks to the man who should have been Sec. of Health & Human Services, I have so much respect for him, he understands this in its entirety. He has seen this from a doctor's perspective and he understands who stands to gain far more than anyone.

Much gratitude, Dr. Dean!!! You are a man of truth, and you shine for it with, we the people, you always have.

K & R