For those of you that missed the article in the Journal News or the posts in Rockland Discussion Group, our own Steven White—one of the founding members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus—had a YouTube video question answered on a C-Span forum on health care with President Barack Obama. The forum took place on a college campus in Virginia. Steve didn’t know they picked his video until after the show aired.
Thousands of these videos were submitted, but only a few were answered, so that’s some achievement. President Obama called Steve’s question “terrific.”
I think Steven did quite well, and I’m still torn between the single-payer and public-option models.
Steven’s question for President Obama
The following part of a letter to Rep Lowey by Nora Freeman was posted to the RCPJ forum today, I very much agree:
It is my opinion, supported by much evidence presented by the organization Physicians for a National Health Program, among others, that we cannot have all of the following: universal and meaningful coverage [meaningful meaning that all of people’s legitimate medical needs are covered], cost control, and privately owned health insurance companies. The corporate mandate to maximize profits and dividends to shareholders, and the attendant expenses of marketing and executive compensation place massive costs, unrelated to healthcare, upon the system. This is the real “fat in the system.” Physicians for a National Health Program’s website is http://www.pnhp.org. I would particularly recommend reading an article on the site comparing healthcare costs in our country vs. Canada: Woolhandler S, Campbell T, Himmelstein DU (August 2003). “Costs of health care administration in the United States and Canada”. N. Engl. J.. Med. 349 (8): 768–75.