Posted on 08/06/2009 7:46:55 AM PDT by SmithL
You know that American voters aren't feeling the love for ObamaCare when House members hold town-hall meetings in their districts, only to be heckled and booed.
No worries for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. On Tuesday, she ditched the town-hall concept in favor of a friendlier closed-to-the-public "roundtable" with health care professionals and consumers at San Francisco General Hospital.
At a news conference afterward, Pelosi proclaimed that "health care is a right, not a privilege." The House health care bill, she said, would mean Americans could receive health care with no restrictions on pre-existing medical conditions, more benefits for seniors on Medicare, a yearly cap on co-payments and no cap on what providers pay.
Catherine Howard, 36, was on board. Five years ago, Howard was self-employed, uninsured and afraid that she might get wiped out financially if she was injured snowboarding. So she bought a low-premium, high-deductible insurance plan for $140 per month. "I had no way of knowing at that time what it was going to cost me," she said.
Then she got breast cancer - and the plan that she thought would cap her co-payments at $7,500 didn't. The uncovered costs of vital treatment drove Howard close to $100,000 in debt.
While many of those at the roundtable worked in health care, none raised the question asked by CBS reporter Hank Plante: How much is all this going to cost?
To which Pelosi responded, "First, let's talk about the cost of doing nothing" - that is, the anticipated rising tab for health care costs if they continue to grow at current rates.
"We can't afford not to do this," Pelosi argued.
Only in Washington do people assert with a straight face that they can expand who gets covered and what everyone gets - and...will be cheaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The following essay, reprinted with permission, is from a 1987 book entitled, "Our Ageless Constitution."
"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant - they have been cheated; asleep - they have been surprised; divided - the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson? ...the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." James Madison America's Constitution is the means by which knowledgeable and free people, capable of self-government, can bind and control their elected representatives in government. In order to remain free, the Founders said, the people themselves must clearly understand the ideas and principles upon which their Constitutional government is based. Through such understanding, they will be able to prevent those in power from eroding their Constitutional protections. The Founders established schools and seminaries for the distinct purpose of instilling in youth the lessons of history and the ideas of liberty. And, in their day, they were successful. Tocqueville, eminent French jurist, traveled America and in his 1830's work, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, wrote:
On the frontier, he noted that "...no sort of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling that shelters him.... He wears the dress and speaks the language of the cities; he is acquainted with the past, curious about the future, and ready for argument about the present.... I do not think that so much intellectual activity exists in the most enlightened and populous districts of France' " He continued, "It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic republic; and such must always be the case...where the instruction which enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education.." Possessing a clear understanding of the failure of previous civilizations to achieve and sustain freedom for individuals, our forefathers discovered some timeless truths about human nature, the struggle for individual liberty, the human tendency toward abuse of power, and the means for curbing that tendency through Constitutional self-government. Jefferson's Bill For The More General Diffusion Of Knowledge For Virginia declared:
Education was not perceived by the Founders to be a mere process for teaching basic skills. It was much, much more. Education included the very process by which the people of America would understand and be able to preserve their liberty and secure their Creator-endowed rights. Understanding the nature and origin of their rights and the means of preserving them, the people would be capable of self government, for they would recognize any threats to liberty and "nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud." (Adams)
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“health care is a right, not a privilege”
I must have missed that section of the Bill of Rights.
Kathy Castor in Tampa just did the same thing. Cancelled her town hall. Instead she is going to an Acorn style..possibly afilliated Black community activist meeting in the Black area of town. She will be protected by Acorn Brown Shirts from concerned citizens and their questions.
RE :””health care is a right, not a privilege.”
She means ‘free’ health care.
Gene Green, Houston area representative (d), had his town hall meeting and promptly afterward told the local news that, regardless of the protests, he was voting for this new system. Have seen numerous other d's make the same statement, they have the numbers in both houses to do whatever they want, and they will also pick up a few rino votes.
C R A P O L A.
She means free health care for illegals. The rest of us get to pay for ourselves and for them too!
Where in America are there people who are denied access to health care? Nowhere at all.
It is just not all controlled by the government and that is what bothers the liberals.
Pelosi doesn’t mean that people have a right to health care.
She means the leftist government has a right to take more taxpayer money with health care as a pretense.
She means the leftist government has a right to dole out health care to people who vote the right way and to use it to lure more people onto the government plantation.
Apparently Catherine's life was worth going into debt for $100,000 to her, that's why she did it.
Now, of course she'd rather have us all go into debt for her life. The thing is even though she might be a really great person, I'm not so sure Catherine's life is worth $100,000 to me.
Under Obamacare, she will have free chemotherapy, and hopefully still be alive by the year they schedule it for her.
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