Posted on February 24th, 2010 | Categorized as Latest News
“The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.”
That’s what I said on the House floor this afternoon.
The Republicans squealed like pigs and immediately demanded that my words be “taken down” as they say in the House. But they can’t say it’s not true.
House ethics rules prevent me from posting video here, but you can see the whole thing at Firedoglake.
I have never met a single Republican who is not a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. But as for me, I’m not owned by anyone.
To prove it to the Republicans and special interest, I’m organizing 2,000 grassroots donors to stand up and show them that we won’t back down, and they can’t silence us.
Click here to make a contribution and fight with me for the public option. Even as little as $5 from you will help make our voices heard.
I’ve been saying all along – We have to stop making concession after concession to win Republican votes. We haven’t won over a single person from the other side.
That’s why I’m so pessimistic about tomorrow’s health care summit. We know the Republicans won’t bring any real ideas for reform.
But just in case the Republicans thought they could tap dance their way through the summit without getting called on their baloney, I’m going to be live-blogging all day at Daily Kos.
Posted on February 22nd, 2010 | Categorized as Message from Anthony
I’m glad to see that the President is providing some long awaited leadership on health care. I have been asking him for months to talk directly to Americans about what he believes we need out of health care reform.
The good news is that the President’s plan improves the weak Senate bill. But I am concerned that it embraces a state-by-state exchange system rather than a national one. And it walks away from the public option, which we know is essential to genuine cost containment.
Let’s be honest: Republican support will never materialize. They are the Party of No and have stood clearly on the side of big insurance companies from the beginning of this process—without once offering a single constructive proposal that would lower costs and improve the quality of care for everyone.
We need to stop bargaining against ourselves and aim for a plan that can get 51 votes, not 60. Worrying about Olympia Snowe, Joseph Lieberman and Ben Nelson didn’t get us anywhere. I think the President’s approach is a step in the right direction.
Anthony
Posted on February 18th, 2010 | Categorized as Message from Anthony
This blog post can also be found on FireDogLake here.
I want to extend a warm thank you to everyone who voted for me in FDL’s “Fire Dog of the Year” contest. The FDL Fire Dog label is one I will wear proudly as we continue to march forward on health care, the economy, and the many ways that we are working together to create real and lasting change in America.
I’ll never back down from telling the Republicans where they can shove all their filibusters because health care reform strikes the very heart of so many challenges our nation is facing.
You can join me in this fight at CountdowntoHealthCare.com where you can find updates on our progress, learn about what I’m doing to keep the fight alive, and can sign my petition to keeping working for real reform.
Every year, we spend $145 billion on insurance company overhead and profits. That’s not money we spend on better care or vital procedures—it’s money we send straight to insurance company executives and shareholders.
As we face an economic crisis on one hand and rising governments deficits on another, this is money we should be saving and investing—not wasting on insurance companies. We’re only going to get back on track when this annual $145 billion goes back to American families who are struggling, back to the small businesses who drive our economy, and back to lowering government deficits.
But, as you know, we can’t truly contain health care costs until we introduce much needed competition to the insurance industry.
There is more than one way to do this. I’ve fought hard for a single-payer system like Medicare, because it shows that you can achieve better results than insurance companies with only 1 percent overhead. But I’ve also fought for common sense reforms like the public option or the Medicare buy-in—solutions that have been blocked by a broken Senate process that makes a majority out of the 41 senators who don’t want real health reform.
Thanks to the support of you all here at FDL and everyone at CountdowntoHealthCare.com, I believe we can win this fight.
I may count no friends in the insurance industry, but I’m grateful for the help of people like you–people who know real health care reform is long overdue. I’m not going to give up as long as you stand with me.
Anthony
Posted on February 11th, 2010 | Categorized as Message from Anthony
What will it take for my colleagues to understand that we can’t let 41 senators be a majority? A report released today found that the five largest for-profit health insurance companies made record profits in 2009. How? By dropping millions of customers.
All the posturing in the world about bipartisanship doesn’t change the fact that today’s news was largely cheered by Republicans and lamented by Democrats.
And for all their talk of an alternative proposal, we know that Republicans favor a status quo approach that lets big health insurance companies get away with anticompetitive and abusive practices. That will only mean more rising premiums and more dropped customers.
If we want to see a change, we need the Democratic majority to take back the reins on health care policy. That’s what a majority is supposed to do.
Anthony
Posted on February 5th, 2010 | Categorized as Video
Posted on February 5th, 2010 | Categorized as Video
Posted on February 4th, 2010 | Categorized as Video
Posted on February 4th, 2010 | Categorized as Message from Anthony
What do health insurance companies do anyway? That’s the $145 billion a year question. That’s how much money goes each year towards profits and overhead to insurance company executives and shareholders. Not for check-ups, not for vital procedures, not for health care.
For the 45 million Americans who get health care through Medicare, the overhead isn’t 30 percent. It’s about 1 percent. That’s all.
So why not open Medicare to everyone? Simple.
That’s why over 145,000 of you have joined this fight by signing-up here at CountdowntoHealthCare.com. Many have heard our voices, but some have continued to stand in our way.
It’s time to follow what the President said yesterday on health care: “We’ve got to get it done.”
Stand with me in this fight. Together we will win.
Anthony
Posted on February 4th, 2010 | Categorized as Video
Posted on February 3rd, 2010 | Categorized as Feature
Tell the Senate to keep the House’s improvements in their bill.
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