Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Obama's health warning

46 milioni di cittadini senza tutela sanitaria; costi assicurativi 
altissimi; cartello tra le compagnie di assicurazione; lobbismo che 
intossica e castra la democrazia; sovrastrutture ideologiche usate come 
strumento di marketing dalle corporation; opinionisti e parlamentari 
venduti; pazzi millenaristi; e gente che muore perché non può pagarsi le 
cure.
Il travagliato progetto di riforma sanitaria di Obama sta mettendo a 
nudo, di nuovo, quel verminaio che è il sistema politico statunitense.
--------------------------------
Obama's health warning
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Friday, 26 February 2010
Chances of a last-ditch bipartisan deal on US healthcare reform faded 
yesterday as Republican leaders told Barack Obama to jettison the 
current Democratic proposals now marooned in Congress and restart the 
process from scratch.
At an extraordinary public "summit" of the leaders of both parties, the 
Republicans also warned their opponents not to try to "jam through" 
reform in the Senate by the use of a controversial procedural device.
In recent days, the White House and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill 
have dropped loud hints that, failing agreement, they would resort to 
the "reconciliation" mechanism that would require only 51 votes for 
Senate passage, instead of the 60 needed to overturn a Republican 
filibuster.
"We believe we have better ideas," said Lamar Alexander, Senator and 
former governor of Tennessee, as he set out the Republicans' case. "We 
want you to succeed, because if you succeed, the country succeeds. But 
we want you to change direction on healthcare. This [the current 
Democratic Bill] is a car that can't be recalled and fixed," Mr 
Alexander said, urging Mr Obama to come up with a smaller, more 
incremental measure.
The exchanges grew more pointed. John Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's 
second-ranking Republican, warned of "fundamental differences" between 
the parties "that cannot be papered over", while Harry Reid tartly told 
Mr Alexander that he was entitled to his own opinions, "but not to your 
own facts".
"I'd like to hope this won't be political theatre, just playing to the 
cameras," President Obama said as he opened proceedings in Blair House, 
the government guesthouse just across from the White House. Then he 
invoked the death of his mother from cancer and the childhood illnesses 
of his daughters in making his case.
There had already been a spat over whether the table at which the 
participants sat should be in a U or an O shape. The exchanges 
thereafter turned into theatre, or, more precisely, a televised boxing 
match, in which both sides rolled out their most powerful punches.
Yesterday effectively opened the endgame of the healthcare debate that 
has dominated Washington politics for the last nine months. After hopes 
of filibuster-proof Senate passage effectively died with the loss in 
January of Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, the President on Monday 
put forward for the first time his own proposals, raising the stakes 
even higher.
Mr Obama clearly reckons that having invested so much time, energy and 
political capital in healthcare reform, he cannot abandon the project 
now. But privately, Democrats and Republicans agree that the Easter 
recess that starts in early April has become a de facto deadline for a 
Bill. With November's mid-term elections already on the horizon, both 
parties are desperate to switch the focus to the economy and jobs, the 
issues that matter most to voters.
If anything, the Republicans seemed to have the better of the televised 
argument. The waspish Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who 
along with Mr Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has become a symbol of 
the gridlocked legislative process, adroitly left the early talking to 
the folksy Mr Alexander. At times, Mr Obama seemed on his own in fending 
off Republican criticism.
He also appeared irritable as discussions wandered off substantive 
arguments back to all-too-familiar talking points. But the basic problem 
remained: how to extend coverage to the 46 million Americans without 
health insurance, and reduce the costs of a system that consumes 18 per 
cent of the US economy and threatens to drown the country in debt.
Mr Reid claimed that 750,000 people had been forced into bankruptcy in 
2008 by healthcare bills, and that each year 45,000 Americans die 
because they lack coverage. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn – a doctor by 
training – insisted that 20 per cent of government healthcare spending 
was fraudulent, and eliminating this fraud could cut costs by 10 per 
cent or more.
What happens next is unclear. The use of reconciliation in the Senate 
would infuriate Republicans, and make them even more unwilling to 
co-operate on healthcare, or anything else. The Bill's fate in the 
House, where the original proposal passed last year by just five votes, 
has also become uncertain. Since then, at least two supporters have 
defected and a third has died.
------------
[Megaphone]
The Foreign Ministry itself is now pushing the idea, urging supporters 
of Israel everywhere to
become cyberspace soldiers "in the new battleground for Israel's image."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378505678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 nudo, di nuovo, quel verminaio che è il sistema politico statunitense.
A Persio non piacciono le elezioni.
Potrei spiegare perché, ma credo sia inutile...
Tb (bieco illuminista)
-- 
"A vote is like a rifle, it's usefulness depends upon the character of
the user."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

 A Persio non piacciono le elezioni.
l'esistenza delle elezioni non rende uno stato civile. E uno stato che
ha la più alta mortalità infantile dell'occidente e contemporaneamente
la più alta spesa sanitaria pro capite, non è civile

 Tb (bieco illuminista)
ROTFL!  Ogni volta che ti definisci "illuminista" mi viene da ridere.


 
#_ ...Che per cambiarlo, non bastera`il tempo di una amministrazione, 
neanche nell'ipotesi che questa possa operare per tutto il corrente secolo.
_Alle condizioni attuali, arrivare ad una decente riforma sanitaria per 
le classi piu`povere, equivale a voler scalare il K2 in una sedia a rotelle.

 Tanto peggio, tanto meglio, mh?
#_Per te va meglio, no?
Batti le manine su ...
... come una bambinella impubere!
GRR..la vï¿œi capi' o no che vai pisciando dietro il cespuglio sbagliato??????

 Am.
#_Mimmo non insegna, e`Giano che docet!
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