Shep Smith is the maverick for sure on Fox News. He took on Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) over saying calling the public option a government take-over. Smith tried to explain to Senator Barrasso that every vote against public option was a vote for the insurance companies.
Meanwhile, Wellpoint, the largest health care company in the United States, who encouraged its workers to lobby against health care reform, has just announced it will cut benefits and increase their employees’ premiums. Nice way to say thank you. Meanwhile, the CEO made just under $10 million dollars in 2008. Wellpoint, is the parent company for Blue Cross Blue Shield in some unholy alliance, also does not pay dividends to its stock holders. Full story at Huffington Post.
Shep Smith always surprises us with his intolerance for right wing bs. He finally says enough is enough!
Interesting post. Looks like a lot of Republcians are changing their positions:
Governor Arnold of California supports Obama’s Health Care overhaul:
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/obama-adds-schwarzenegger-to-his-republican-trophy-case/?hp
Reform Gets Conditional GOP Support
Urged by the White House, Republicans Speak Up for Bipartisan Health Fix
By Michael D. Shear and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
And in the past two days, former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist; George W. Bush health and human services secretary Tommy G. Thompson and Medicare chief Mark McClellan; California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — a Republican turned independent — have all spoken favorably of overhauling the nation’s health-care system, if couched with plenty of caveats regarding the details.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100601602_pf.html
Thanks for those links Starryflights.
That is quite a lot of switches. Maybe they started thinking for themselves.
O’Reilly made up for Smith’s heresy by having on an economist who agrees with O’Reilly’s assessment that America does not want Obama-Care, and the whole thing is a way of redistributing wealth and punishing Wall Street for the economic collapse of ’08.
All of this came as a surprise to me since I had been reading newspapers and magazines on the subject and public opinion was not only in favor of health care reform, it is in favor of the public option.
I am sick to death, pardon the pun, of the propoganda about “government takeover”! CBO, which the Repubs love to quote, stated that, at its height of use, the public option would only provide health coverate to 8 million people, within a few years, that number would decrease to 6 million. WHY and HOW is providing health care overage, in order to stimulate REAL competion, a problem to such a small number of people. You are talking about LESS than 2% of the population. BUT , that 2% will have such an overwhelming impact on the reform mechanisim itself……NOT FOR PROFIT insurance is the key.
Me too Elena. The very idea that a CEO of an insurance company could command a salary package of nearly $10 million dollars speaks to the profit issue.
There is a huge health care lobby out there. And who knows where the pharmaceuticals stand…let me guess. Another huge lobby!
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many of those tea bag people are employees of health care companies.