Gotta love Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. He's actually read the health care bill - one thousand pages in length - and his view is that if Congress wants to push people into such a system, then members of Congress should themselves enter the system.

Ugh, no one's being "pushed" into anything.

I actually think Coburn's idea isn't bad though. If Congresscritters were enrolled in the public option, that would certainly guarantee a certain level of service.

But I prefer the corollary, that all Americans should get the same level of care/insurance as their Congresscritters.

If we are to have national health care (I'm still dubious about it) then all public employees and congress should be in the same basket.

And if there is a provision that health care coverage can be enhanced in any form, then it should only come from each employee's income (after taxes), not the employer or governmental agencies. If we are going to have socialized health care, make it truly equal.

Whether OHSU? or Kaiser? put the money where Waaaydone's mouth is, that's my question.

A second click from Jack's link gets to Paul Blumenthal's blog, with this:

Sen. Ron Wyden raised $1,414,911 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of his career. His first day in office, as a senator, was February 6, 1996. In total, he has served 4,911 days as a United States Senator. This works out to $288 every day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $20,160.

Answer: Both. "health sector" (OHSU) and "insurance sector" (Kaiser) ... unless Blue (double)Cross & Shield would like to step up and take the fall. Or Oregon Health Plan ??? Nah, couldn't be ... musta been the Grey Panthers blocking medical care from the under-80 generations ...

Hopefully R.W. saved some campaign cash for his own personal retirement, seeing's how lotsa pension funds are sagging toward flatline.

Apparently the only retirement fund that minded its fiduciary solvency all these years, and did NOT make its directors privately rich obscenely rich, is Social Security ... however, reports say that safe deposit box only has IOU's initialed by Ronnie Raygun, (Calif.Governor -- what a coinkydink!), and the actual cash which was deducted from paychecks got 'borrowed' for Star Wars and (ZionArabia) Missions Impossible, (the reality war crimes ones, not the fantasy movies).

God forbid, Wyden should want to take some time trying to understand what works for health care.

We're getting this shoved down our throats as "we need it NOW!" a la Bush. Here I thought we elected someone with new ideas. Congress understands health care as much as they understand how to fix the banking system.

Obama? He's not much. Socialism is the death of life in a nation.

God forbid, Wyden should want to take some time trying to understand what works for health care.

This is all about delaying any momentum on this thing so that it can die a death by 1,000 procedural moves once August is over. Ron knows that. Shame on anyone who falls for his "I want health care for everyone!1!1!" act.

And as for Tom "pay off your mistress" Coburn, I'd like to ask him why, if taxpayer-financed healthcare is so horrible, why he's so willing to accept it for himself and his family.

The plans being considered are terrible mistakes that will be used by opponents of universal coverage as evidence that government-mandated plans do not work. IMO, the only way to break the stranglehold the medical-pharma industry has on our economy is a national single-payer option. Implementation of a progressive non-marginal flat tax on all income (including cap gains) with no deductions or tax deferrals would free up more than enough money.

"Ugh, no one's being "pushed" into anything."

You're correct Nate - we are being dragged, hog-tied, beat, coerced and lied to in an attempt to shove us all into a one-size-fits-all scheme. Obamas plan is like day old, uncleaned fish ... it stinks.

And Yuan - we have a name for what you suggest, it's called socialism; it doesn't work very well. Unless you never want to improve your lot in life.

"it's called socialism; it doesn't work very well."

And free-market american-style capitalism is a marvelous success story?!?

PS: That "s" word does not mean what you think it does.

Given the choice between socialism or even communism (yes I know the difference)and capitalism - capitalism wins going away. I just had dinner last night with several Cuban immigrants (legal ones at that). They had come over when they were in their early teens and they have nothing but praise for America and capitalism. One owns a landscaping company that employs 27 legal workers. All of them said that socialism and the communism in Cuba would never have allowed them to get where they are today.

BTW - the "s" word means EXACTLY what I think it means. Obama takes over your life and you owe to the government for everything and anything. Nancy said it best when she said, "Just say NO!"

R-NY? Um, clean-up on aisle 3.

native oregonian,

that diatribe was truly hilarious!

in the rest of the world "s" means owen, morris and schumpeter -- not marx and lenin. the majority of our nato allies are socialist or have been governed by socialists. i would remind native oregonian that both china and the erstwhile soviet union were not only "socialist" but also self-proclaimed "republics". what does this say about republicans...

And I would remind Yuan that we are a 'representative republic' which has functioned MUCH better than any of the other 'so-called' republics that he seems to like. As for our NATO allies, the socialist system hasn't really worked out too well for them (IMO), as unemployment out strips ours and almost always has. The socialist system is NOT a system to emulate.

I dunno what it says about republicans, what's it say about democrats? That they admire socialist and communist governments?