Do you want people to make a profit because you are sick?

Do you want your medical bills paid or denied?

We have to focus on THEIR greed and callousness.

I love Answerfrog's point that the federal government funds police and fire departments. More on that!

That is why it is important for the party to make clear that deals (laws) near and dear to the hearts of these legislators will have a very hard time passing before the next election cycle. What moves Mary Landrieu is the threat that a pet markup or a pet project (like changing the law on drilling off the Florida coast) has a chance of getting passed in the Senate. She is not moved by constituent wishes. The oil industry (and in this case, the insurance industrey) IS her constituency.

So, much as I admire the democratic principles that are at the heart of your postings, folks, I think that they are naive. I'm not saying that buying air time for our side isn't a good idea. It is. And calling, faxing, and phoning doesn't hurt. It helps (especially faxing). But you have to remember exactly who is holding things up. Mary Landrieu is a Republican in all but name: she is going to be movable on issues by the Democratic Party ONLY because that party is now in the ostensible majority and she can use them to get her deals done. (And by the same token, she puts herself in the Joe Lieberman category, because Dems need her vote.) If the party doesn't take advantage of her venality by putting pressure on her, that is a huge opportunity wasted. Horse trading is what happens in Congress. Time to trade some horses.

This fight isn't going to be won simply because the people spoke up and said they want health care reform. We aren't having trouble getting reform passed in Congress because the people aren't speaking up. The people have been speaking up, and speaking up, and speaking up. We have a loud voice. But when it comes to Mary Landrieu, the voice of the people just doesn't matter. It just doesn't. So keep speaking up--it's important. But so is the party voting as a bloc on this one. That isn't going to happen unless these Blue Dogs get pressured by the party. Don't give money to organizations that will give money to people who vote against health care reform. To me, it's that simple.

Contrary to your statement, many citizens in the upper third income bracket DO support public option. Everyone's health care (theirs as well as yours) gets more expensive all the time.

Public option will REDUCE costs for everyone. Not because the surtax is picking up the difference but because we won't be paying middlemen who have to show profits to share holders. Holding down costs depends upon the public option, as study after study has shown (many of the states have done these studies, like Colorado, for example; the results are always the same--costs go down).

I don't think you've identified the reason why health care reform is having trouble getting passed despite the fact that about 3/4 of Americans support a public option. The problem for getting reform passed is that we have a few legislators (who represent tiny populations in tiny states) who are beholden to the industries that are going to lose their ability to monopolize markets. Some of those legislators are Democrats (Max Baucus).

Keep in mind that in any given locale, there are very few HMOs, hospitals, and so forth. So a given company can gain a de facto monopoly in that area. Columbia HCA was particularly successful at this strategy. Now add to that the profit-motive, which drives the kinds of activities that Potter exposed. You have a recipe for costs going up: shareholders in those companies may be happy, but consumers are losing health care and paying more for the dribs and drabs they have left.

Lalo talks about snake oil. I hate to even mention Lalo whose neocon ideologies blind him to simple facts, but let's face it--The snake oil is being sold by big Pharma and the health insurance industry. The problem is that they've bought off Congressmen (and others) to sell it to the rest of us. Have you taken a look at the recent postings on the advertising budgets of big Pharma? Why should a pharmaceutical company with a patent on a drug need to advertise? Don't doctors know what prescriptions their patients need? The advertising is to SELL YOU WHAT YOU DON'T NEED so that they can make money. Study after study, for example, has shown that prescription anti-depressants are less effective than psychotherapy for depression, but what is one of the most frequently aired commercials on TV? Anti-depressant medication.

Snake oil indeed.

In the recent Chinese earthquake in Chengdu, people were traumatized by the event as such but they were outraged and some even became completely overwhelmed by the fact that their children had died due to shoddy construction. Their children died due to human error, greed, laziness, and chicanery. Comforting? I don't think so.

It is possible to protect the city from most storm surge damage with extra levee protection. It is possible to reverse marsh subsidence (takes time and the diversion of river water to the marshes, which is starting to happen in mini-projects). Keep in mind that New Orleans is more than just Bourbon Street and people whose homes have been flooded: it is also one of the most important ports in the country. There are any number of critical infrastructures in New Orleans that need to be protected, even if no one lived there. I am not, of course, trying to minimize the issue of the lives of people who DO live there, just addressing Carey's question.