jarutte, (8/22/2009 12:57:35 AM)

Coburn knows that the Republicans are committed to blocking health care reform no matter what's in it. Chuck Grassley has said he won't vote to pass any bill, no matter how good he thinks it is, unless most of the Republicans will vote for it. And a lot of the loss of support for health reform is not from conservatives, it's from Democrats who are worried that there won't be a public option.

Several of you ask, why doesn't the Congress make all the government workers switch to the public plan? Well, because NO ONE is going to be forced to switch to the public plan--it's meant to be one option on an "Exchange" with a variety of private insurance options. If you already have good employer coverage, you can't buy insurance from the Exchange--it's meant to be for people who either can't afford insurance or can't get it at all, due to preexisting conditions and the like.

And all these people trying to scare us with the supposed horrors of Canada? This plan has exactly nothing in common with Canadian health care.

Whether or not the public option is provided on the exchange, we're all probably going to be required to buy insurance. Without the public option, we'll get to buy it from insurance companies--period. I'd rather see an option to buy it from the government, both because I think it will be cheaper, and because I don't see why we have to turn healthcare reform into a bonanza for insurance companies. The insurance companies want the mandate for you to buy insurance, but not a public option. Why? The CEO of UnitedHealth has over $742 million in unexercised stock options, for one thing. Those stocks might go down if his company got a little non-profit competition.

flyingtheo, Broken Arrow (8/21/2009 11:54:15 PM)

Let me get this straight: Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it and whose members will be exempt from it,
signed by a president who smokes,
funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,
and financed by a country that is broke.
What could possibly go wrong?

Harold Brookens 1, Tulsa (8/21/2009 11:51:32 PM)

And what trick is this? Republicans wanting the president to sit down with them, talk, and write a bill? And then what? Just say NO, NO, NO? What trick is this?

human1, A change is gonna come someday (8/21/2009 10:32:20 PM)

What Mr. Cobrun meant was Obama needs to agree with everything the right wants and forget the rest of the uninsured and the Right Wingers will pass a terrible health care bill, except for the benefits for themselfs.

DirtyWhiteHouse, (8/21/2009 8:35:59 PM)

interesting point:

------------------

AFFORDABLE MY A R S E!!

People are beginning to wonder, just what connection do Homeowners Associations have to Obama's Healthcare plan? This only covers one segment of the divisive debate, and some might say this is really reaching, but read on and decide for yourself if Obama's Healthcare pitch isn't a familiar monster.

The last time Big Brother Government attempted to try to change the way things are traditionally done in America, and affecting a massive portion of the United States economic system, was with HOUSING.

A cadre of legislators and their lobbyist lawyers proclaimed that it was a fundamental "right" for Americans to be able to own a home they can afford. And guess where this 'affordable housing' concept was very popular? Chicago.

In what has been referred to as a "legalized housing scam" sanctioned by the legislators, the lawyers crafted and concocted the concept of mandatory shared housing (that would conveniently benefit their brotherhood), made it into Law, and cleverly herded human beings into Condominiums, Cooperatives, and Master Planned Communes by deeming them to be "affordable" housing for the masses - aka Homeowners Associations (HOAs).

The HOA concept has long been compared to socialism.

--------------------------

From dictionary dot com:

so-cial-ism - Pronunciation [soh-shuh-liz-uh m]
1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2. procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3. in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

From Wikipedia:

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating state, public or common worker (e.g. through COOPERATIVES) ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation.

-----------------------

Could Obama's healthcare plan fit into those definitions of socialism? Think about his sales pitch and most recently, his idea of forming health care "Cooperatives" - (read HOA's).

Over 30 years later we are learning that the concept of so called "affordable" housing is anything BUT affordable. The rise in foreclosures is not only related to inability to pay one's mortgage, but the inability to pay the once "affordable" housing promise but now skyrocketing mandatory HOA premiums.

If you can't pay with your wallet, you pay with your home.

"Joe Homeowner", through a deceptive adhesion contract buried in an undisclosed mountain of legalese, was trapped in a scheme to fund this mandatory shared housing for the masses, and promising "affordability".

Now in a similar fashion, "Joe Patient", is being thrown a mountain of legalese and being asked to fund mandatory shared healthcare for the masses, with the same promise of "affordability".

The affordability factors are a fiction designed to lure the masses into a system they may not easily, if ever, be able to escape from. What will be the unpredictable catalyst that might cause the "affordable" healthcare promise to become the all too familiar unaffordable healthcare premiums?

We may find out way too late for millions of Americans that the reality of so called "affordable" healthcare may inevitably revert back to having to make that painful choice:

If you can't pay with your wallet, you pay with your life.

DirtyWhiteHouse, (8/21/2009 8:35:02 PM)

i found this debate at The American Homeowners Resource Center (ahrc dot com) to be interesting for sure:

-------------------------

I think the solution should be Health Insurance Reform.

Just as with HOA's - AHRC and homeowners have for decades now demanded reform of HOA civil codes and have YET To receive any meaningful solutions.

They have asked for the repeal of all laws that allow for non-judicial foreclosure by neighbor for any reason, for limits on the potential outrageous and unaffordable special assessments and premiums that nonpayment of could result in foreclosure, to not allow litigation costs to be drawn from maintenance accounts or to be levied against the owner in a foreclosure and on and on and on.

In summary - one's home should be sacrosanct. It should be protected from the myriad of assaults that leave person's homeless and bankrupt. No entity should be allowed to steal a home for a debt. Only the deed holding bank should be entitled to restitution for non payment.

The legislators created a monster and for whatever reasons, have refused to cooperate. Some of us fear the same with Obama's plan. It's just too big of a monster, too much change, too soon, too fast, and with too little forethought.

Why NOT just create a thousand pages of INSURANCE REFORM instead? MAKE INSURANCE AFFORDABLE! Don't try to turn healthcare into a so called "right". People say the insurance companies are the culprits, and yes they are - so let's hold their feet to the fire!! MAKE THEM CHANGE!

Maybe start with a basic plan that everybody is entitled to.

1. Base insurance premiums on one's income. NEARLY everybody can afford to pay something. I guaran dang tee it that even a single mom on welfare can forego a few hamburger meals to pay a small premium.

2. Remove any reference to pre existing current or future conditions. Basically, if you pay your premiums you are covered regardless of the body you have. Just like auto insurance really.

3. Tort Reform. Throw out the possibility of lawyers making millions on malpractice claims and forcing them to accept set fees therefore allowing more of the award to go directly to the patient.

4. For those who can afford more than the basic health insurance plan, allow them to buy supplemental insurance, just like auto or home insurance does, to pay for that "cadillac" of supplemental insurance.

As to the comment regarding Medicare and Social Security - we will be darn lucky if we get much of that benefit. The government programs are on the road to bankruptcy. Medicare fraud is a huge problem because the doctor's and hospital's can get away with it. Welfare fraud is rampant. How many druggies who don't work, collect welfare, and use the money on drugs, tobacco, alcohol?

NOBODY is minding the shop!

Does anybody REALLY THINK government can handle an even LARGER monster than SS and Medicare put together? I prefer not to gamble my health and life with yet another government sanctioned failure.

There is no fundamental RIGHT to healthcare coverage just as there is no RIGHT to own a home. HOWEVER, if someone is timely paying their mortgage or paying their AFFORDABLE health insurance premiums - they now have a RIGHT to KEEP THEM no matter the condition of the home or the body.

Make sense at all?

tulsagerry, Tulsa (8/21/2009 8:24:20 PM)

Hey, Coburn, How much are you receiving from the Health-Care industry? DO YOU CARE ABOUT US OR YOUR BANK ACCOUNT?

Steven, (8/21/2009 7:58:25 PM)

"There isn't a bill out there, Republican or Democrat, that doesn't eliminate pre-existing conditions," Coburn said. "Everyone agrees on that. But the bills coming through the House and Senate destroy what's best about health care in this country."
................
What a sad state of affairs the President is putting this country in. We can only pray for common sense among politicians. Only a miracle can bring common sense to politicians.

Steven, (8/21/2009 7:54:25 PM)

I agree with Coburn

Jiggs Kincaid, (8/21/2009 4:59:24 PM)

It figures that Dr.Strangelove's other-worldly views would get standing O's in Bartlesville.
It may be a cockoo's nest now, but no other American city in the early 60s was a more hospitable cell for the John Birch Society nor was more certain that dear old Ike---war hero, ex-president, all-american, Gettysburg farmer---was a communist.
In fact, when Eisenhower came to Bartlesville in 1966 for a Boots Adams-inspired Phillips Oil celebration, half the town resented it; the other half was content to rumble and there were no reports of concealed weapons.
Memories of such high times are about all the town has left, that along with antediluvian civics, occasional relief ventures from the hated federal government and periodic visits from constitutional buffoons.

Jester1969, Broken Arrow (8/21/2009 4:07:49 PM)

Marine,

Of course it’s easy to blame the insurance companies. Let’s be honest, just about everyone has had a negative experience with them at one time or another. But we all are thankful that we have insurance when we need it. It is interesting how quickly the POTUS changed from Healthcare reform to insurance reform. He knows that it is easy to play on people’s prejudice and fears when it comes to the big bad insurance man and it is just a tactic to gain support for a program that can’t stand on its own merits. Tort reform is needed, but seeing how the left portrays this as helping the insurance industry, it will never be included in the Dems unilateral reform package.
Also, I have to agree with GOP that when all else fails the Dems can always fall back on blaming Bush and talking about the war especially when a vast majority of them never got their boots dusty.

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 3:27:46 PM)

dusty- Me a fool? LMAO! I DID plan ahead, made the right choices early, sacrificed and was able to semi-retire five years ago at age 45.

marine2.0- You are spot on brother!

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 3:11:39 PM)

Crackers? Oh I see now.

No one is taking away your healthcare. Even illegal immigrants are getting free healthcare.

Being dependent on the government has never offered a lifestyle that was worth living. People need to make the right choices early to avoid becoming the working poor. Unforunately, programs that were designed to help only enslaved them in a culture of dependancy because there was no incentive to achieve.

marine2.0, (8/21/2009 3:00:57 PM)

I am so tired of the blame being put on the heads of the heads of the "mean" insurance companies. Oh they are so mean and cruel....pay a premium of $500 dollars, a co-pay of $25 and only 20% of your actual bill and in return the mean spirited insurance companies cover 80-100% of expenses. Prices have risen for two reasons. 1)governement's interference and low-balling services accounts for 70% of healthcare expenses.2)The leading health problems are obessity, smoking related and drugs and alcohol related illnesses; Behavior controlled illness.

If it was really about cost and not wealth sharing then three things would be a part of the bill. Tort reform, interstate competition and tax cuts on benefits. None of these have been considered because it is not about cost reform it is about a socialist agenda. I know all you libs discount this concept so why don't you prove that it is not true?

So go ahead an blame your failure on the GOP when you have a majority in the house, 60 voted in the senate and a liberal/socialist president at the helm. Only idiots couldn't win with that kind of support and yet you still fail.

dustyoutlaw, (8/21/2009 2:45:23 PM)

Maybe if I had of just not paid taxes and cheated on my taxes like all you far right wing American Taliban did then I could have planned ahead.

What a fool you are.

dustyoutlaw, (8/21/2009 2:43:05 PM)

How can you work under the table when you're young idiot?

does purchasing things and paying sales tax count? Does paying quarterly estimated taxes and being honest because you feel obligated to do the right thing all your life count?

MORE IGNORANCE.

As citizen M says "food shelter, gas,etc.that think it's poor planning to not have health insurance only proves how ignorant people are. Everyone who does not have health insurance are poor planners. Welfare does. Illegals do. But the working class poor in this country SURVIVE because we've never taken handouts and now you crackers want to take health care even from us.

Citizen M, Bartlesville (8/21/2009 1:45:47 PM)

Bubba's comment above seems to suggest that people aren't buying health insurance or paying for health care because their financial priorities are not in order, and are spending too much money on "luxuries"; I guess that means food, shelter, gas to drive to work, etc. It's sad that there are so many Bubbas in this state that people like Inhofe and Coburn feel compelled to parrot the idiocy of our Bubbas.

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 1:33:36 PM)

LC- Most people understood that the war was never just about WMD. Besides, they found thousands of shells loaded with sarin gas-WMDs. The nuclear evidence is in Syria.

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 1:29:26 PM)

dusty- calling someone an uneducated hick after admitting that you don't have insurance even though you have job? And you admit to working under the table? How can you work "under the table" and still "contribute"?

While I feel for your plight, you have no one to blame but yourself. Your lack of planning is exactly the reason why our country is going bankrupt. People don't plan for the worst, they just live for today and believe that the government (taxpayers) will bail them out.

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 1:20:57 PM)

GOP: I've always thought it telling that we found out there were no WMD and STILL re-elected Bush.

What does that say about John Kerry and his party?

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 1:18:40 PM)

dusty: "I work without health insurance and I'm a man. You work without health insurance and you are screwed in this country."

>> Pretty much. Pity you found this out the hard way. Now you probably have a "pre-existing condition" and insurance companies are loathe to take you on.

Can't say that I blame them because there's nothing to keep you from signing up, hitting them for $11K then walking away.

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 1:18:21 PM)

Skeptic- I can understand why you're a posterior-ostrich. Three things that are hard; steel, diamonds and admitting you're wrong.

The beat-a-dead-horse WMD talking point is a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from rapidly falling approval numbers for the Radical-in-Chief.

dustyoutlaw, (8/21/2009 1:10:56 PM)

I don't qualify for anything. I work without health insurance and I'm a man. You work without health insurance and you are screwed in this country. I'm less than three years short of medicare and not a woman on welfare and have no dependents so I can just forget it.

Of course if for the first time in my life I needed something from my govt I could get it if the hicks would just shut up and let this happen. Nothing could be worse than the system as it is. To cut this cancer from me would cost 11,000.00 and I don't have it. But that's fine. I can pay taxes for 55 years and never ask for anything and the time comes I need it and you people won't shut up with your lies long enough for someone like me who has never done anything but contribute can't get anything. I will never collect social security thanks to you. I'll be dead in three years.

Thanks a lot.

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 1:07:58 PM)

dusty: "Of course you'd be one of those uneducated ignorant hicks that use polls only when they support your ignorance."

>> Actually I use them to point out the ignorance of others.

But to your point, yep, people are fickle. Bush and Cheney's numbers will likely go up as time goes by.

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 1:05:18 PM)

dusty: Why do you not have insurance? Do you qualify for Insure Oklahoma?

dustyoutlaw, (8/21/2009 1:03:41 PM)

Well 91%of Americans supported the War Criminals Bush/Cheney at one point and now 66% think that Bush and 81% think that Cheney were the worst in USA history so I'd be careful about quoting polls Legal Citizen. Of course you'd be one of those uneducated ignorant hicks that use polls only when they support your ignorance.

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 12:55:25 PM)

Skeptic: "My belief in the President is even stronger as he attempts to get the truth out."

>> Funny that his approval numbers don't reflect that. They fall every week.

Further, support for his plan hasn't improved either (NBC poll from 8/15). The majority of Americans (54%) don't support Obamacare (but that's just because we're all stupid, right?) and get this: only 36% think Obama's plan is a good idea and only 24% think it will improve healthcare.

Your arrogance is amusing.

dustyoutlaw, (8/21/2009 12:52:51 PM)

What irritates me most of all about being from here is the ignorance of so many redneck hicks.

I'm 62, white, male, been working (and still work) since I was 8 years old. I've never collected workeman's compensation, welfare,food stamps and in fact, never even collected a day's worth of unemployment. Much of those years I was self employed or worked under the table in this so called "right to work" state.

I HAVE PAID MY OWN WAY.

Now I have curable (to some point) cancer without any health insurance. To all of you who think health care reform is socialism go straight to hell.

I've never asked for nor received a dime. But I should be able to get this local cancer dealt with in time to continue working and living the life of the working poor. But not if you hicks continue your lies about death panels and such.

Go straight to hell.

Legal Citizen, . (8/21/2009 12:43:12 PM)

What's entrenched in this country today are people who are not only too glassy-eyed to question their messiah, but belittle anyone who dares to.

It'll be so much fun to watch you people squirm when the GOP takes back control - and they will eventually as nothing lasts forever in the world of politics - and a future Senator Palin or someone equally evil in your eyes starts messing with your healthcare (that someone else pays for).

Skeptic, Tulsa (8/21/2009 11:42:16 AM)

Hey GOP, no remorse here. My belief in the President is even stronger as he attempts to get the truth out. The Bush lie machine is so entrenched, fiction is more readily accepted in this country than fact. Truth will eventually win, but it won't be easy.

Remember WMDs? Oh that's right, we were told to believe they were there. But they weren't. Spin takes a while to "spin out", but it always will eventually. Same with the GOP's spin on health care.

just passing through, (8/21/2009 10:52:35 AM)

I like Colburn's comments on this. After all is said and done he can have it both ways.

If the bill passes: "If the President had just paid attention to me to begin with we could have had this long ago."

If the bill fails: "The President did not offer what the people wanted so I had to kill it."

Either way, Colburn can do nothing and still be the winner.

That ol' boy may not be so dumb after all. So the real question becomes: Are you happy with a Senator who works so hard to accomplish nothing?

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 10:42:07 AM)

For those of you with "buyer's remorse" you can take the first steps to clear your conscience at:

iamsorryivotedforobama com.

Grand Old Partier, Owasso (8/21/2009 10:25:28 AM)

Ignatz - I'll bet you there are more Democrat millionaires in the U.S. Senate than there are Republicans millionaires.

Ha ha...now that's a good one.

**********************************

According to RollCall com, 6 of the top 10 richest members of Congress are Democrats, including 3 of the top 4.

FS, Broken Arrow (8/21/2009 10:25:18 AM)

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:57:19 PM)
FS: "... and yes - the President should take the lead and demand all government employees, in addition to the House and Senate, be forced to partake of the exact same insurance he wants to hang the people with..."
>> Amen. I would LOVE to see someone try to insert this tidbit in the package. Oh, Sen. Coburn...?
________________________

I read somewhere about a freshman representative (obviously a misguided soul who believes he can make a difference) who has offered an amendment to this football bat of a law requiring exactly that.

Perhaps he's not as dumb as he seems - something tells me even though he offered the amendment for inclusion the rest of Congress will manage to bury it. Not bad - he can tell his supporters he offered the bill (knowing very well it only had a snowball's chance in hell of inclusion) and he is forever endeared to his constituents for "standing for what is right".

Ben Franklin suggested those with weak stomachs should avoid watching sausage making and law making, but I believe the present shenanigans of the Congress have gone far past the gross and sickening point.

Unfortunately, only one third of both houses must stand for election/reelection during any cycle leaving the remaining corrupt members to explain to the newbies how the cow will proceed to eat the cabbage, and what will happen to them personally if they don't play the game.

KYCane, Crestwood (8/21/2009 9:43:49 AM)

God Bless Dr Tom.

pkmiller, (8/21/2009 8:46:33 AM)

I don't know why everyone is so riled up about this...there isn't even a bill yet, just several proposals. Why don't we wait and see what the final bill looks like? And for all of those people saying the government is spending too much money, think about this: If there had been no stimulus bill and if the government did not bail out the banks, we would have gone into another "great depression." Is that what you all wanted??? Seriously? Do you realize the cost of healthcare contributes to the bad economy? I know, I had to file bankruptcy due to medical bills. Personally I think the HMO's and PPO's are the problem. I want to go to any doctor or hospital of my choice and not be restricted. The way it is now, the insurance companies own the doctors and hospitals.

Mr. Brown, Could be anywhere (8/21/2009 8:40:44 AM)

I suggest that he put his book writing skills
to use by personally crafting a bill that speaks to his vision. President Axelrod obviously isn't doing anything for him...

Graybeard, Tulsa (8/21/2009 7:15:25 AM)

Dr. Tom has called for Obama to jump in the wrong place. Find a lake, Mr. President.

Alan Shore, (8/21/2009 6:30:16 AM)

Bville, (8/20/2009 3:46:31 PM)
Ignatz - I'll bet you there are more Democrat millionaires in the U.S. Senate than there are Republicans millionaires.

Ha ha...now that's a good one.

Alan Shore, (8/21/2009 6:28:53 AM)

I'll see your Coburn and raise you a Howard Dean...

Michael Phillips, Tulsa (8/21/2009 6:16:38 AM)

Thank goodness we have Dr. Coburn.

droopy, wagoner (8/21/2009 6:09:03 AM)

Stay strong Senator, your help will be needed.

olddude, tulsa (8/21/2009 5:57:13 AM)

Incentives is this not a government program?the more you make the more you get back,Coburn said they need the pres. to sit down with the gop,why all they say is no to every proposal.

CWG, Tulsa (8/20/2009 7:20:46 PM)

Myself remembers health care costs when I had a family before Medicare,then Medicaid came along and costs were reasonable, then we all had to pay the increases to pay for the freeloaders, the crap Congress has come up with since the sixties is give away vote buying thievery.

An amendent by Dr. No to force Congress to use the same healthcare plan that they passed for the rest of the nation was defeated rather robustely

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 6:42:17 PM)

skptic: "Great use of sarcasm, LC. Is it supposed to add credibility to your argument?"

>> Not really. The way you and the other liberals consistently ignore my arguments and dodge my questions demonstrates the credibility.

The sarcasm is just for fun.

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 6:33:41 PM)

Hijinx: "Do you really believe that nobody is going to read this? Do you?"

>> You got it, oh Naive One. The messiah wanted the thing PASSED by now and we're just now getting to crack the thing open and ask questions.

I'm not the moron here.

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 6:26:26 PM)

IrishQuaker "Ignatz is correct. If everyone is on Medicare, Ville, of course the doctors will take it. They are happy to take it now."

>> No, they really aren't. It's a necessary evil of the business.

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 6:25:21 PM)

Bedazzled: "You may not know it but Medicare works better than the private insurance."

>> For the patient perhaps, but not the provider the patient relies on.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (8/20/2009 5:59:47 PM)

Gee Bville...try to figure out who the docs will gouge if everyone is on the same health care plan...you? You actually think Medicare is broke? If it was does that comport with your political views?

IrishQuaker, Tulsa (8/20/2009 5:57:56 PM)

Ignatz is correct. If everyone is on Medicare, Ville, of course the doctors will take it. They are happy to take it now.

Isaac, of course the interesting thing about your post is that Canada paid his bill, his whole bill.

Few Clothes, Austin, TX (8/20/2009 5:42:48 PM)

Good post Isaac.

Bville, (8/20/2009 3:48:17 PM)

Extending Medicare? LOL! It pays pennies on the dollar NOW and is broke!

Call around and see how many docs are actually taking any new Medicare patients.

Gaa!

Bville, (8/20/2009 3:46:31 PM)

Ignatz - I'll bet you there are more Democrat millionaires in the U.S. Senate than there are Republicans millionaires.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (8/20/2009 3:35:00 PM)

A bill will pass and there is nothing in the bill thaat came out of the labor committee that would cause anyone but major shareholders on the biggest insurance companies any cause of alarm, but that bill will be amended, by Democrats, Repubs have decided to just say no to everything. They will pay a price for that. With participation they could have had some compromises, maybe even some legislation that would have reduced malpractice premiums for doctors who don't butcher patients and require those who do consistently to shoulder their fare burden or give it up (10% of doctors create 90% of all serious malpractice). I'm all for extending Medicare to everyone and paying for it with taxes on Republican millionaires (a few extra thousand bucks a year), particularly the radio talk show hosts and insurance executives. That won't happen and the big boys will keep gouging the public, charging whatever pays for their palaces and jets.

okierose, Glenpool (8/20/2009 3:26:16 PM)

I found this on CNN today:

Commentary: Why the doctor won't see you now

It is from a doctor's perspective. Pretty much explains why the POTUS plan just simply won't work as it written now.

vrcTulsa, Okmulgee (8/20/2009 3:19:34 PM)

Sitting down with Repubs or Dems won't do any good. It will just lead to more bickering and more partisianship. We need health care reform in this nation, however, I am not so sure anymore we will get it. This plan could be extremely beneficial to those who do not have or cannot afford health insurance through thier employer. If you doubt what you are hearing about this bill, and there are a lot of false rumors out there, go to FactCheck dot org and check out the truth.

Bubba, Bixby (8/20/2009 2:46:07 PM)

The problem: Living beyond our means and refuse to sacrifice our luxuries to pay for health insurance.

The solution: Personal fiscal responsibility.

What's next, too many people can't afford their utility bills so the government takes over national gas and electricity production and delivery. Then we will complain about the cost of groceries, so the gubment runs the farmers off of their land. Then what, blue jeans prices are out of control and we're all wearing gubment denim?

Bville, (8/20/2009 2:20:33 PM)

And another thing Pastor...you and I both know that had Obama gotten a bill - the same one everyone hates right now - he would have signed it!

Isaac Parker, Tulsa (8/20/2009 2:19:42 PM)

More about the "wonderful" Canadian socialized health system...
Canadians visit U.S. to get health care

Deal lets many go to Michigan hospitals
BY PATRICIA ANSTETT
DETROIT FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER

Hospitals in border cities, including Detroit, are forging lucrative arrangements with Canadian health agencies to provide care not widely available across the border.

Agreements between Detroit hospitals and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for heart, imaging tests, bariatric and other services provide access to some services not immediately available in the province, said ministry spokesman David Jensen.

The agreements show how a country with a national care system -- a proposal not part of the health care changes under discussion in Congress -- copes with demand for care with U.S. partnerships, rather than building new facilities.

Michael Vujovich, 61, of Windsor was taken to Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital for an angioplasty procedure after he went to a Windsor hospital in April. Vujovich said the U.S. backup doesn't show a gap in Canada's system, but shows how it works.

"I go to the hospital in Windsor and two hours later, I'm done having angioplasty in Detroit," he said. His $38,000 bill was covered by the Ontario health ministry.

Canada eyed in the health care debate

Dany Mercado, a leukemia patient from Kitchener, Ontario, is cancer-free after getting a bone marrow transplant at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

Told by Canadian doctors in 2007 he couldn't have the procedure there, Mercado's family and doctor appealed to Ontario health officials, who agreed to let him have the transplant in Detroit in January 2008.

Bville, (8/20/2009 2:18:14 PM)

Pastor - I don't seem to recall the Dems being the party of YES when Bush was around.

Bville, (8/20/2009 2:16:54 PM)

It is also amusing how Republicans who oppose their leadership are labeled as open-minded and principled and moderate, but when Dems do it they are traitors and need to be punished. LOL.

Pastor Reginald Levi Walker, Not in Tulsa but will return soon. (8/20/2009 2:16:16 PM)

To qoute myself "Okay, I really do hope that everyone read that statement. 'What needs to happen is for the president to sit down with some of us and say 'I'm going to write a bill and send it to Congress,' Coburn said during a town hall meeting at Bristow. 'That's what has to happen. If we do that, we'll get a good bill.' Everyone has been blaming Obama for this bill and the ideals that has been thrown around. The truth is Obama has not written any of it. This bill comes from the Senate and the House. Obama is too smart to get caught like Bill Clinton. Obama wants the ones that each state elected to write a health care reform bill. If it succeed, great, if it does not then Congress is to blame not the Obama. I think he put his foot in his mouth He knows and now the public knows that Obama did not propose the current bills. Because of his statement everyone now know where the ideal of socialize health care came from, the party of NO or the GOP. Good move, Coburn.

Bville, (8/20/2009 2:11:27 PM)

Simmer down, Jiggs. Only the "glamor states" like CA, NY, FL, TX have to worry about their reputations and even they don't care what others think. Everyone else is paying attention to their own state. Really, now, just how much time do you spend thinking about Iowa, Missouri, Oregon, West Virginia and the like?

Never worry how much others think of you because, in reality, they don't think about you that much.

Royce, Tulsa (8/20/2009 2:09:06 PM)

Basil writes: "Everyone has been blaming Obama for this bill and the ideals (sic) that has been thrown around. The truth is Obama has not written any of it."

That's quite true. Indeed, like most congress critters, he hasn't even read it.

Jiggs Kincaid, (8/20/2009 2:02:22 PM)

Whenever Coburn's homilies 'come home' you can send in the clowns. But they weren't all in Bristow; almost as many seem to be here, echoing his moronic line in chicken-fried sentences that political comfort can be found in the barrel of a gun.
He wants them carried everywhere---national parks, schools, churches, honky tonks---everywhere except in his Washington office; that must be exempt from danger, a contradiction his devoted mob of great white hunters don't seem to notice.

It's Coburn and his simple-minded followers who insure that Oklahoma's reputation will stay the same, being last in war, last in peace and last in national literacy.
And nothing's going to change, not wirh Inhofe, Coburn, and Sullivan as inspiration and with each unaware of the damage they do to the memory of the long-gone bright, golden haze on the meadow, and not in a state where it's still a matter of pride that Nixon had more support the night he resigned than two years earlier in the '72 election when Oklahoma gave him everthing but the kitchen sink.

Somewhere above the San Joaquin Valley, Tom Joad must be happy that he left when he did.

Basil, Tulsa (8/20/2009 2:00:26 PM)

"Everyone has been blaming Obama for this bill and the ideals that has been thrown around. The truth is Obama has not written any of it."

The buck stops with Obama. You never heard W. Bush whinning about his critics. Obama is campaigning for this bill, so he should be held accountable for it, as his parties head.

reckless abandon, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:57:44 PM)

Okay folks write this down, I am going on record. I agree with Coburn. Obama needs to take the bull by the horn, get a decent bill written and passed.

Bville, (8/20/2009 1:57:17 PM)

It's so humorous to read how the Dems are all for bipartsianship and getting along...when THEY are running things.

What happened to patriotic dissent?

Pastor Reginald Levi Walker, Not in Tulsa but will return soon. (8/20/2009 1:53:38 PM)

Basil, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:46:29 PM)
I think he put his foot in his mouth He knows and now the public knows that Obama did not propose the current bills. Because of his statement everyone now know where the ideal of socialize health care came from, the party of NO or the GOP. Good move, Coburn.

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:52:18 PM)

2ndjoyce, we would all love to see that but I don't think Colburn is on the same page.

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:51:45 PM)

Basil, Obama told the congress what he wanted to see in the bill.

These guys should be smart enough to come up with something good for everyone. If not they don't deserve to be in the congress with the health care we give to them and their raises they give themselves.

2ndjoyce, BA (8/20/2009 1:49:48 PM)

Coburn and the President are friends. Maybe they COULD be the trailblazers to bipartisanship we have been looking for.

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:49:37 PM)

through not throught

Pastor Reginald Levi Walker, Not in Tulsa but will return soon. (8/20/2009 1:49:26 PM)

Everyone has been blaming Obama for this bill and the ideals that has been thrown around. The truth is Obama has not written any of it. This bill comes from the Senate and the House. Obama is too smart to get caught like Bill Clinton. Obama wants the ones that each state elected to write a health care reform bill. If it succeed, great, if it does not then Congress is to blame not the Obama.

Basil, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:46:29 PM)

I think he's trying to put Obama on the spot, knowing Obama has no clue how to propose a bill. Obama didn't submit much, if any, legislation during his short time in Congress. Also it would pin the failure to socialize health care square on Obama. Good move, Coburn.

Pastor Reginald Levi Walker, Not in Tulsa but will return soon. (8/20/2009 1:46:01 PM)

Okay, I really do hope that everyone read that statement. "What needs to happen is for the president to sit down with some of us and say 'I'm going to write a bill and send it to Congress,'" Coburn said during a town hall meeting at Bristow. "That's what has to happen. If we do that, we'll get a good bill."

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:43:14 PM)

I have insurance throught United Health care from the company I retired from and they have sent people from UHC to these meetings. They have been well organized. The Media is not showing the people there who are interested and 91% say a change is needed.

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:40:12 PM)

oops my comment was addresed to what okcthunderrolls

Bedazzled, (8/20/2009 1:39:19 PM)

Your eyes are telling you something different than my ears, I don’t see the same picture. The Republicans have the same story.

After the Republicans nearly destroyed this country I don't know why people are listening to the extremist left in their party giving out misinformation. The person who actually stops all of this nonsense from the Republican party will be the leader if there is one.

This President told congress what he wanted to see in the bill and if they cannot come up with a good plan then we don’t need them in congress. Someone has to help slow down the cost of the insurance for the middle class working families that will take this country to its knees if it isn’t fixed. It is broken.

If Government is so bad, then I wonder why these people in congress like their health care so well and everyone 65 and over would not give theirs up if you asked them – they are all socialist programs. Our Military gets government care and all of these are affordable. They should be able to come up with something similar to what each Senator has. This government has been saying Medicare and SS are broken but they have been saying that for 40 year. They need to fix it if they think it is broken. It isn't that hard when you put responsible people in office.

You may not know it but Medicare works better than the private insurance.

Hijinx, (8/20/2009 1:38:01 PM)

Legal citizen SEZ >> This always makes me leery. Get it passed before anyone has the opportunity to even read it, let alone discuss and debate it.

If there is a more moronic statement and assumption than this I have yet to here it. Do you really believe that nobody is going to read this? Do you? THE biggest bill in decades that effects the whole of the country is just going to be slipped under the door? My god how retarded is that assumption? A billion eyes will see the final version when it comes from the committee and will have a ton of excerpts on the news. I guess sometimes you just have to throw all logic to the wind to buy into the GOP/FOX bs.

Legally Insane too?

Tulsa Kayaker, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:35:42 PM)

I agree? wow

Skeptic, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:29:47 PM)

"Anything The First Black President would add...." LegalCitizen

Great use of sarcasm, LC. Is it supposed to add credibility to your argument?

"""Tom Coburn said Thursday that President Obama needs to take the lead in the formulation of a health care reform bill.""" - TW

Isn't that what's going on now while the GOP is maligning any reform plan at every town hall meeting they can get to?

Coburn and the GOP want health care reform as long as that "reform" changes nothing.

RecklessProcess, Tulsa (8/20/2009 1:25:01 PM)

The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money. - M Thatcher.

Nationalised Health Care will raise the taxes on everyone. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You cannot afford to buy healthcare because you HAD to have that big SUV to drive around in? Well you won't have that choice anymore: the government will TAKE the health care money right off the top of your paycheck. If you take all the money earned by all the rich people there is still not enough money to supply this government takeover of healthcare. So where do you think it will come from? How much do you think Obama can print before the dollar is so devalued that a Big Mac will cost twenty dollars? We aren't far from that. Democrats and Republicans both are responsible for out of control spending in government. But democrats have no shame where Republicans are at least embarrassed about it.

Ex-Marine Viper, Sand Springs (8/20/2009 1:08:23 PM)

It's hard to believe that the congress of the USofA can't agree on this issue of healthcare.
Sen. Coburn is one of the few who calls it like what it is.
Not everybody is going to get what they want and as usual...we the middle class tax-payer are gonna foot the bill.
Maybe it's time to start owning up to tax & spend...spend....spend...maybe more tax & spend...spend...spend!
No one can argue that we didn't do this to ourselves. Too much profit and tax loop-holes for the "biggies" and no incentive for anything to realistically level the playing field. That's when big-brother thinks he has to step in. The problem is too many are beholden to the "biggies" IMO

okcthunderrolls, (8/20/2009 1:07:15 PM)

They shouldn't even have this idiotic socialist bill on the table. Coburn needs to introduce a bill with someone with influence like McCain and make all healthcare payments tax deductible. If 2/3 of the cost of the bill is going to be paid by getting rid of inefficiencies why isn't Obama getting rid of them now?

Bville, (8/20/2009 1:06:40 PM)

Thank you, Edgar, for proving just how you really feel about the American people.

Oh, and the last time I checked there were a whole bunch of Democratic elected officials who ain't buying what Obama is selling.

"As you know, I am for a single-payer healthcare system."

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:57:19 PM)

FS: "... and yes - the President should take the lead and demand all government employees, in addition to the House and Senate, be forced to partake of the exact same insurance he wants to hang the people with..."

>> Amen. I would LOVE to see someone try to insert this tidbit in the package. Oh, Sen. Coburn...?

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:54:13 PM)

FS: "...and the rush to get it passed..."

>> This always makes me leery. Get it passed before anyone has the opportunity to even read it, let alone discuss and debate it.

Interesting tactic from a president who claims to want transparency in government.

FS, Broken Arrow (8/20/2009 12:50:58 PM)

... and yes - the President should take the lead and demand all government employees, in addition to the House and Senate, be forced to partake of the exact same insurance he wants to hang the people with or give the country the exact same medical option the House and Senate has voted for themselves at the expense of the taxpayer.

zzx375, BA (8/20/2009 12:47:38 PM)

The president did a handoff to Pelosi...

FS, Broken Arrow (8/20/2009 12:46:39 PM)

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:40:39 PM)
FS: "If some of the "factfinders" are correct, there is a provision in the bill where a person can be denied coverage, even though O'Bama says it ain't so."

>> Absolutely. 20-25% of the "50 million uninsured" will not be insured under the plan currently in Congress. 10M-12M of that 50M are illegal aliens and are specifically denied coverage.
________________________

The explaination I read made references to laws that weren't any longer on the books and bounced back and forth with a lot of legal doubletalk.

Considering the size of this bill (and corresponding lack of explaination re: its content) and the rush to get it passed, it can't be good for anyone but the special intersts who are having their bought and paid for errand boys and girls (the House and Senate) put on a show for the people. When this stuff starts, I always wonder what they're doing under the radar.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (8/20/2009 12:41:31 PM)

not sure why he's saying this since he plays no role in Republican leadership other than helping family values Senators who cheat on their wives pay-off black mailers and cover it up.

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:40:39 PM)

FS: "If some of the "factfinders" are correct, there is a provision in the bill where a person can be denied coverage, even though O'Bama says it ain't so."

>> Absolutely. 20-25% of the "50 million uninsured" will not be insured under the plan currently in Congress. 10M-12M of that 50M are illegal aliens and are specifically denied coverage.

FS, Broken Arrow (8/20/2009 12:38:14 PM)

... and all this time, I thought O'Bama was an Irish version of that small pecan pie they used to make down on 11th street ...

Legal Citizen, . (8/20/2009 12:36:59 PM)

“The president has to say, I’m going to write a bill and call some of us in and put something together and send it to Congress,” he said. “And we’ll have a good health care bill.”

>> I don't often disagree with Sen. Coburn but I do on this. Anything The First Black President® would add would only make it more expensive and more detrimental to the providers we rely upon for care.

FS, Broken Arrow (8/20/2009 12:36:51 PM)

If some of the "factfinders" are correct, there is a provision in the bill where a person can be denied coverage, even though O'Bama says it ain't so.

One will have to figure out who stands to gain the most from this legislation - special interests are responsible for much of the garbage dropped on the citizens because they and the pushers can make more money, which is always the bottom line.

I'm left wondering if the citizens that are raising hell while getting screwed are ever going to get angry enough to take back their country by whatever means necessary.

Edgar, Norman, (8/20/2009 12:35:05 PM)

Well tommy, if you and the other gop spin meisters would quit fomenting the ignorant masses with stupid bunkum fear mongering about fabled "death panals", maybe we could get some real reform done. Hick.

Welcome to America !, Claremore (8/20/2009 12:32:44 PM)

Thanks again for your great representation of your constituents Sen. Coburn.

Few Clothes, Austin, TX (8/20/2009 12:29:01 PM)

Tom know a lot more about medicine and doctors that the lame B. Hussein does. I doubt if B. Hussein will allow himself to listen to anything the Republicans have to say because he's an empty suit.

Hijinx, (8/20/2009 12:24:50 PM)

That kind of talk is gonna get Rush mad and get him kicked out of the hate club. But he’s right.