Determined to get as many people as possible covered, lawmakers first proposed fines of as much as $3,800 per family for health insurance scofflaws. But they have been steadily scaling back the penalties, with the Senate Finance Committee last week dropping them to $1,500 maximum per family in their version of a health care bill. The commi

As soon as swine flu vaccinations start next month, some people getting them will drop dead of heart attacks or strokes, some children will have seizures and some pregnant women will miscarry.

But those events will not necessarily have anything to do with the vaccine. That poses a public relations challenge for federal officials, who remember how sensational reports of deaths and illnesses derailed the large-scale flu vaccine drive of 1976.

“These highly profitable corporations are spending millions every month to protect their bottom line by fighting health care reform in Washington, D.C.,

When Frank Aprile severed his left thumb and index finger, he had just lost his job and his health insurance. The unfortunate accident would end up costing him much more.

Frank is a perfusionist, highly trained in operating heart and lung machines during complicated surgeries. "We have a very stressful job," says Frank, "that carries tremendous responsibility, and [are] reasonably compensated for it."

Wendell Potter, the former Cigna executive-turned-whistleblower, told a small group of reporters Monday that the Baucus health care plan is an “absolute gift” to the industry.

“The Baucus framework is just an absolute joke,” said Potter, Cigna’s former head of corporate communications who has been speaking out against insurance industry practices. “It is an absolute gift to the industry. And if that is what we see in the legislation, (America’s Health Insurance Plans chief) Karen ...
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Potter, who was previously a vice president of communication at Cigna, also sharply criticized Democratic Senator Max Baucus' health care reform bill in a conversation with reporters Monday, calling the plan an "absolute gift to the industry."

Potter said the proposal would not provide affordable coverage. It gives the industry too much latitude to charge higher premiums based on age and geographic location, fails to mandate employer coverage, and pushes consumers into plans with limited be

President Barack Obama used only-in-Washington accounting Wednesday when he promised to overhaul the nation's health care system without adding "one dime" to the deficit. By conventional arithmetic, Democratic plans would drive up the deficit by billions of dollars.

The president's speech to Congress contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions in laying out what he wants to do about health insurance.

A look at some of Obama's claims and how they square with the facts or the fulle...
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Cesca's ananlysis of the failed and frightening Baucus proposal:

Predictably, the Baucus Plan is totally nightmarish. Naked on the subway while being accosted by prostitutes that resemble Chuck Grassley nightmarish. I've been writing about the terrible possibility of such a bill for several weeks, but now it's actually beginning to take shape.

But first, because he's not the most famous or likely political villain, here's some background.

Baucus controls the Finance Committee, which has juri...
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According to recent polls ... get ready for this ... a majority of Americans believe the BS the conservatives have been feeding them.

The judgment is harsh in a new poll that finds Americans worried about the government taking over health insurance, cutting off treatment to the elderly and giving coverage to illegal immigrants. Harsh, but not based on facts.

A new NBC News poll suggests some of the myths and partial truths about the plans under consideration are taking hold.

Yeah, it just keeps ketting better. Somehow showing up with machine guns proves that we, as Americans, have the constitutional right to not have health insurance.

A number of YouTube videos have shown a man carrying an AR-15 rifle to a pro-Obama health care reform rally outside the president's speech in Phoenix on Monday. He was one of at least a dozen men carrying unconcealed weapons at the event, according to the AP.

Hard to believe with all the good that come of health care for people that these lies are floating around ... oh wait, this is America.

So much for a slow news month. August feels like campaign season, with claims on health care coming at us daily. Does the House bill call for mandatory counseling on how to end seniors’ lives sooner? Absolutely not. Will the government be dictating to doctors how to treat their patients? No. Do the bills propose cutting Medicare benefit levels? No on that one...
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The White House may have to go for the morality of health insurance in order to convince the wing nuts that it's a good idea.

The rethinking comes amid a struggle by the White House to clarify its view on a public insurance plan, which liberals see as a critical part of a health overhaul. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that a public plan isn't the "essential element" of a health bill, prompting sharp words from liberal groups.

Cao heard from a crowd that seemed overwhelmingly in favor of a major system overhaul, with several questioners explicitly advocating a public option and chiding Cao for his statements about abortion and his party's framing of the larger debate.

Melanie Miranda of the Irish Channel criticized Cao's previous public statements about his Catholic faith and his absolute opposition to abortion. "I didn't vote for you because you are a Jesuit, " she said. "I voted for you to represent your constitue...
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Oh look, how grweat is this when County Commissioners are weilding signs with Swatikas.

A protest rally planned by anti-health care reform forces in Michigan's 7th Congressional District was upstaged by a pro-health care reform rally staged an hour earlier in front of the offices of freshman Representative Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek)

Yeah, some idiot at Investors Business Daily said:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

As usual someone didn't do enough research, because as it happens Hawkings lives in England and is surprisingly alive.

In response to Sarah Palin's idiotic statement about death panels -- which she put on her Facebook page.

"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels," Murkowski, a Republican, said. "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

That's half of the $2.2 trillion the United States spends on health care each year, according to the most recent data from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute.

What counts as waste? The report identified 16 different areas in which health care dollars are squandered. But in talking to doctors, nurses, hospital groups and patient advocacy groups, six areas totaling nearly $500 billion stood out as issues to be dealt with in the health care reform debate.

Great Moyer interview with Wendell Potter, former CIGNA Insurance guy.

BILL MOYERS: So they want to reverse that. They don't want my premium to go for my health care, right?

WENDELL POTTER: Exactly right. They--

BILL MOYERS: Where does it go?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, a big chunk of it goes into shareholders' pockets. It's returned to them as part of the investment to them. It goes into the exorbitant salaries that a lot of the executives make. It goes into paying sales, marketing, and underwr...
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