BillCosby

Nurses’ Health-Care Ad Takes Aim at Cheney

Susan Davis reports on health care.
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Vice President Dick Cheney would “probably be dead by now” if not for his federally funded health care, according to an eye-catching ad calling for universal health care that will run Monday in ten Iowa newspapers. The ad is union-funded by the California Nurses Association and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, which represents 75,000 nurses.

“The patient’s history and prognosis were grim: four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, angioplasty, an implanted defibrillator and now an emergency procedure to treat an irregular heartbeat,” the ad states, referencing Cheney’s lengthy medical chart. “For millions of Americans, this might be a death sentence. For the vice president, it was just another medical treatment. And it cost him very little.”

The group is calling on the presidential candidates to support a single-payer government-run health-care bill introduced in Congress by Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.) that has 88 co-sponsors, including long-shot Democratic candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

The three Democratic front-runners have all proposed sweeping plans to cover all or nearly all uninsured. Republicans have offered more modest plans and none advocate a single-payer system. The nurses group opposes the plans of Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards because they argue that each plan will “continue to rely upon the wasteful inclusion of private insurance companies.” The single-payer plan would take insurance companies out of the equation altogether.

Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of CNA, refutes suggestions that the shock-value of the $55,000 ad could prompt more discussions on it rather than the underlying health care proposal. “The ad is about the substance of the debate. The ad says Democrats are bad, and Republicans are worse,” she said. “Dick Cheney is just the exemplar of what it means to have a double standard.”

The vice president’s office said the ad isn’t worth more than a no comment. “Something this outrageous does not warrant a response,” said Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney.

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

anhailla

the nurses are right. Private insurance serves absolutely no purpose except to collect profits from the inevibility of everyone's demise.

It's actually quite absurd and criminal if you REALLY think about it.

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Oscar Wilde

BillCosby

Part of the reason we have been sucker punched in the past about this is the wackO's raking in the money set the tone, argument & language..... (The seeds for the scary images their words plant have been there many years)

You not for profit healthcare then you are a fucking commie.

Then you are for "socialized healthcare"........

& we have been raised (brainwashed) w/ cue words such as "socialized"........

Such words bring to mind old, dusty black & white images of dim lights & shoddy doctors w/ unclean hands in cold war eastern Europe........

That is opposed to the clean shiny images are "for profit" system brings to mind....... (absent the old women or mental patient tossed to the curb of course as this is done out of sight.... Out of sight out of mind)

& it does not bring to mind those evil socialist countries that have systems that take care of all their ppl............

A partial list: (these are the icons of capitalism)........ Taiwan, Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Canada, England etc......... & many, many more......... Premier capitalist states all approaching the "solution" from different angles & perspectives.... No citizens going broke or life time in debt etc..........

They tell us it can't work here.... THey are lying... IF it can work there it can work here. The insurance companies & such will just have to find some other means to prey on the ppl to make their billions...................

Thnx to the nurses & their union the CNA for taking on this fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

Jonesy

Regardless, almost all socialism constitutes the abolition of freedom. Insurance is voluntary, pluralistic socialism (when it isn't 'mandated' a.k.a. forced), therefore is perfectly acceptable in a free society.

Freedom is the #1 priority. If you do not want freedom, leave the country. It is your freedom to leave. Why should someone else have to sacrifice their freedom for your inability to finance your own health-care?

anhailla

Right on the money Mr Cosby. The "conservative" agenda which has been hijacked by corporate greed has been extremely effective in spreading good ole fashioned propaganda.

until the average schmo republican realizes that their lives are in more in danger of being ruined by corporate fascism than by Stalin...we are stuck in the land of the ignorant.

it's laughable to think we are still fighting the cold war, unchecked corporate domination and greed is more of a threat to the welfare of this country than Russia could have ever dreamed of being.



your welcome

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...either I go, or that wallpaper does.

Oscar Wilde

anhailla

Are you suggesting the French and English aren't "free".
Explain to me how "free" you are when an illness bankrupts you and sends you to the street.

give me a break. I hope your post was meant to be sarcastic.

__________________
...either I go, or that wallpaper does.

Oscar Wilde

Mark M.

Please do not confuse Political Socialism with American Social Welfare. They are two different things. Communism didn't work because it could only work when everyone agrees to it. Socialism doesn't work for the same reason, they are linked very closely.

But America is not a true Democracy or Republic. It is a great experiment combining many different ideas and it works well because people are their to support those ideas.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of Socialised medicine and surely it could work here given the chance. It would not be the same as Britain or Canada for many reasons....mostly because this is not Britain or Canada and we have a different political system than them to begin with.

BleedingPinky

I think I´ve said it before somewhere. Oh well, here it goes again. Having the chance/luck/joy/nightmare/whatever of living at many countries as I have done in the past, I do agree universal medicare should be free for any citizen, anywhere. It´s very expensive, I know. But it can be achieved. Just losen your wallet a bit and spend your tax doe with a bit of wisdom. Cut down the military budget. Stop sending checks to those lazy bummers who just sit down and do nothing but build up fat asses all day long. Public finances is a hard subject ain´t it?

BillCosby

IMO take that big military budget & you will have lots of money to work w/............ Fed employees, military, criminals & many many state workers as well have this........

Before they need to spend all this money on these wars. THen to stop communism......... Then to stop narcO terrorism. Now it is Islamic terrorism.... Like jets & tanks are gonna stop any of that.......

There is always some reason in this country we "have to spend" all this money on weapons...........

That is what really distinguishes the "greatest country on earth, the lone superpower etc" from those other run of the mill democracies.... They actually care about their citizens & put them first or @ least as a priority..

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

JackfromMN

Well said