What’s really at stake
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com [info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 2:24 PM
To: Tom
Subject: What’s really at stake
Tom –
Any day now, health insurance reform will come up for a vote in the Senate.
We’re hearing a lot about what’s at stake with this vote for President Obama, the Democrats who are fighting alongside him, and the Republicans who have lined up in opposition.
But let’s talk about what’s really at stake for America. The Senate health reform bill will:
– Extend coverage to 31 million Americans, the largest expansion of coverage since the creation of Medicare.– Ensure that you can choose your own doctor.
– Finally stop insurance companies from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
– Make sure you will never be charged exorbitant premiums on the basis of your age, health, or gender.
– Guarantee you will never lose your coverage just because you get sick or injured.
– Protect you from outrageous out-of-pocket expenditures by establishing lifetime and annual limits.
– Allow young people to stay on their parents’ coverage until they’re 26 years old.
– Create health insurance exchanges, or “one-stop shops” for individuals purchasing insurance, where insurance companies are forced to compete for new customers.
– Lower premiums for families, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office — especially for struggling folks who will receive subsidies.
– Help small businesses provide health care coverage to their employees with tax credits and by allowing them to purchase coverage through the exchanges.
– Improve and strengthen Medicare by eliminating waste and fraud (without cutting basic benefits), beginning to close the Medicare Part D donut hole, and extending the life of the Medicare trust fund.
– Create jobs by reining in costs — fostering competition, reducing waste and inefficiency, and starting to reward doctors and hospitals for quality, not quantity, of care.
– Cut the deficit by over $130 billion in the next 10 years.
It’s a long list. But that’s only because this bill represents the most significant health reform our nation has seen since the creation of Medicare.
And it’s important that every American knows what’s really at stake this holiday season.
So please pass this email along to friends, family, and neighbors today — or click below to share this list on Facebook and Twitter, or print out a copy to share with others:
http://my.barackobama.com/SenateReformBill
We wouldn’t be this close to enacting these powerful reforms without all your hard work. Now, we’re in the final stretch — let’s keep it up.
Thank you,
David Plouffe
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Israeli Military = Judge, Jury, and Executioner
via: Israeli Troops Kill 6 in West Bank, Gaza | CommonDreams.org
The Israeli Special Forces shot and killed alleged criminals without arrest or questioning. No one’s lives were in immediate danger, yet the first option they chose was the use of deadly force. What has happened to justice? Did these alleged murderers have any rights to their day in court? Apparently not in Israel. If the person that they had allegedly shot been Palestinian instead of Israeli, would the Israeli Army have burst into that house with guns blazing to dispense immediate justice? I doubt it.
Are the Israeli Special Forces allowed to shoot and kill any individual carrying a gun even though that individual does not threaten them? I don’t know, but that is not American justice.
I can understand why he asked not to be named. Giving his name may be his death warrant. In the meantime, Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory continue to be built, thanks to the help from the Israeli Special Forces.
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