Obama Makes Closing Argument for Health Care Reform

AP

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - It was March 15th, but President Obama showed no signs that he should "beware the Ides of March."

On the contrary. For the 3rd time in 8 days, he got up a full head of rhetorical steam to make the case that Congress must act now to finally get a health care bill to his desk.

His voice rising to a decibel-busting crescendo, he implored Congress to show "some courage"

"I don't know about the politics," he said "But I know what's the right thing to do. And so I'm calling on Congress to pass these reforms - and I'm going to sign them into law."

It's his hope that'll happen by Sunday at 10:00 A.M., the time he's scheduled to leave on a weeklong trip to Indonesia, Australia and Guam. He was supposed to depart on Thursday, but he delayed the trip three days in the hope it'll give him more time to jawbone and arm-twist the last of the Democratic votes he needs in the House of Representatives to pass the Senate health care bill.

In a recreational center in this suburb of Cleveland, it sounded as it he were making his closing arguments in the longest-running political drama of his presidency.

"We have debated this issue now for more than a year. Every proposal has been put on the table. Every argument has been made."

On the Sunday shows yesterday, two of his top advisers said they were confident the votes would be there when the bill comes up for a vote.

"It's just politics are getting in the way of actually getting it done," said Mr. Obama to his audience.

With his suit jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, the president spoke again of Natoma Canfield, the cancer patient who wrote him of how she could no longer afford the rising cost of health insurance. She was supposed to introduce him at today's event, but she is back in the hospital, diagnosed with leukemia.

"I'm here because of Natoma," said Mr. Obama. "I'm here because of countless others who have been forced to face the most terrifying challenges in their lives with the added burden of medical bills they cannot pay."

He cited her story as making the case for overhauling the system of health insurance coverage in America.

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Confused about health care reform? Email us your questions and CBS News will try to answer them in the days ahead.

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"That's why we need health insurance right now," he said to cheers and applause, "health insurance reform right now."

He said Congress owes the American people "a final up or down vote."

"It's time to vote," he declared.

"We need courage!" shouted a member of the audience, and the president agreed.

"We need courage," he repeated."

But it's not a lack of courage that has kept him from getting the health care plan he wants. It's growing doubt about "health care reform" and whether it's what the American people really want and whether if might backfire on Democrats in the midterm elections in November.

A Big Week for Health Care Reform: What Could Happen Next?

Obama Seeks "Courage" from Dennis Kucinich, Other Dems

Washington Unplugged: Chip Reid on the Health Care Battle

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

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Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

[erb0087]

Rudy Giuliani (the GOP genius who said on TV that America was never attacked by terrorists during the George W. Bush administration) talked about his prostate cancer, and how he was cured in America but probably would have died under England "socialized medicine."

The Washington Post fact checking squad obliterated his claims, pointing out that his statistics were invalid and that any differences in outcomes are due to different medical philosophies about specific treatments. They have nothing to do with whether there is or is not universal care.

Commentator Ezra Klein added the finishing touches:

1. 'Giuliani received his care for prostate cancer while still mayor of New York, which meant he was probably receiving insurance through the state of New York, utilizing one of those government-regulated purchasing pools he terms "socialism."'

2. "[T]he technique used on Giuliani, prostate brachytherapy--using radioactive seeds--was pioneered in the modern era by a physician in Denmark [a country with socialized/universal healthcare]."

3. In the United States, most people with prostate cancer are treated under Medicare, a government program."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/rudy_miscalculates_cancer_surv.html

[erb0087]

Rudy Giuliani (the GOP genius who said on TV that America was never attacked by terrorists during the George W. Bush administration)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tYoMoJHNDs

[erb0087]

"[T]he technique used on Giuliani, prostate brachytherapy--using radioactive seeds--was pioneered in the modern era by a physician in Denmark [a country with socialized/universal healthcare]."

Dr. Holm was the Danish urologist in question.

(Warning. The following quotes use a lot of big words. Teabaggers should probably skip it.)

"In the late 1960s, Bagshaw and others began publishing results of treatment of prostate cancer with newly emerging, megavoltage external beam radiation technology. Their data demonstrated that external radiation therapy could cure prostate cancer by the delivery of high doses of radiation to the prostate gland. This form of radiation and Young's newly developed technique of removing the prostate surgically soon became the preferred treatments for prostate cancer; interest in prostate brachytherapy gradually declined.

This was where things stood until 1983, when Holm, a urologist from Copenhagen, Denmark, published his technique of implanting the prostate gland with radioactive seeds transperineally. The seed-bearing needles were guided into precise positions in the prostate gland by transrectal ultrasonography. His novel and elegant technique has been shown to be generally reproducible and yielded clinically meaningful results. Holm went on to train Ragde (senior author of this article) in prostate brachytherapy.

In 1985, Ragde performed the first prostate seed implantation in the US at Northwest Hospital in Seattle. Two years later, he performed the first Pd-103 implantation for prostate cancer and established a national brachytherapy implant course. His unswerving commitment to development of this modality, namely radioactive seed implantation for treatment of prostate cancer, as well as dedication to the training of other physicians in the technique, soon led to a resurgence of interest in prostate brachytherapy."

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/pub/content/pub_3_8x_modern_prostate_brachytherapy.asp

[patienceisavirtue]

Let's try and remember how the last president convinced this country to go to war with another by filling our heads with fear and lies.

Our current president has so much damage to try and fix that it's hard to figure out where to begin.

There are so many people in the country without money or health care. Including the soldiers who fought and defended this country for those who lied and deceited us. And now they are among some of the many suffering with no affordable health insurance.

Is this the thanks veterans get? Who in their right mind would ever want to go to war and defend this country again if this is what they get in return?

The following is an excerpt from "examhealth.com":http://www.emaxhealth.com/1/72/34403/many-veterans-are-without-health-insurance-plan.html

[Doesn't the Veteran's Administration provide health insurance and medical to veterans? That is largely the case. However, many veterans uninjured in combat are--surprisingly--considered ineligible for VA insurance. The post-military income levels deemed too high to receive benefits are surprisingly low; a veteran with no dependents can only take advantage of the government's health insurance plan if he or she earns under $29,400 per year, while one with four dependents can earn around $41,300 before losing eligibility for VA benefits. Such incomes aren't quite poverty level, but are the domain of working-class Americans (including civillians) unable to afford private insurance if their employer doesn't offer it. Troops returning from Iraq and Afganistan are also struggling with unemployment, and are a disproproportionate percentage of the nation's homeless. Many are working low-paying jobs that push them just above Medicaid and VA elibility. This makes it even harder for them to become insured.

Uninsured veterans also face unique challenges when buying health insurance plans. Although they may not have been physically injured in combat, serving in a war zone can affect their mental health. One-in-five of the veterans of our current wars has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Some health insurers could consider PTSD a pre-existing condition and refuse to cover a returning veteran. Treatment sufferers PTSD can be expensive, making it out of reach for uninsured vets. If sufferers are not properly cared for, they have the potential to act out in ways that hurt themselves or others. Quality health care would prevent a large portion of that.

Studies have shown that, controlling for other factors, being uninsured leads to a 40% increased risk of death. According to the Harvard Medical School, nearly one-and-a-half million veterans went without health insurance during 2008. Out of those uninsured veterans, who were too young to be eligible for Medicare, 2,266 are said to have died as a result of medical conditions that could have been prevented. The Walter Reed scandal nonwithstanding, Veteran's Administration hospitals have received high praise for the quality of their care...if veterans are able to access it.

Regardless of one's feelings on healthcare reform for the civillian population, don't the soldiers that risk their lives to protect us deserve better? As we remember the veterans who have fallen in battle, we should also resolve to take care of the ones who made it home.]
What's your solution to taking care of them?

[rmfanning]

Let's summarise. The DEMs have known since the Election Nov 2008 of the 60/40 Majority in Senate and huge majority in House. They could have written the HC Bill over Christmas 2008, and could have voted it through in early 2009, but DEMs are a fragmented, disorganised, Party possessing zero leadership, and they have failed the American People. They can only blame themselves .... Pathetic really, America deserves better. The DEMs call the REPs the Party of NO, but the reality is the DEMs are the Party of NO RESULTS.

Obama Care as written and presented is doomed. The President just does not get it and rambles on with his talking points. Hello! The only people listing are the ever-shrinking extreme Left. The Democrats are a rudderless, fragmented Party, without leadership, incapable of governing. Jobs & lowering spending must be his focus.

Thank goodness the Republicans for introducing a Bill this week in the Senate to enable all US Citizens to purchase Insurance Policies over state lines, increasing competition and lowering costs. I truly hope the Democrats demonstrate true bipartisanship to promptly fall in line with the wishes of the American People.

Next week, the Republicans are scheduled to introduce the Tort Control Bill to rein in the abuses by Trial Lawyers and thereby reduce the waste of money that now is widespread due to frivolous lawsuits only serving to line the pockets of the trial lawyers. The country owes a debt to the determination and leadership of the Republican Party. We should all stand up as Americans and applaud them.

The voters are eager for the housecleaning in the 2010 Elections, kick out left-wing DEMs and get some people in who can get the country "positive" & restore honor again!!! Let?s start with the CA 8th District & a Nevada Senator.

[ebystrom]

The end game is in sight. (It must be by now. I lost track of how many times since August last year the media talked or wrote about the end game on this deal.)

Everything that can be said about health care has been said. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now. (Obama said something like that, I'm pretty sure, several times, and he's still saying it, and still saying it, and still saying it, etc., etc., etc., and on and on and on. Isn't this about the gazillionth speech he's made on this, even though the time for talk is over? Why is he still talking about it? It's so weird!)

We have the votes, and we'll be voting on health care soon, for the American people. Isn't that what Nancy Pelosi said? (Pardon me if I doubt it when Nancy Pelosi says we have the votes. If you have them, why is it "soon"? Isn't it as urgent as you say? If you have them now, you would be calling a vote now. If you don't have them yet, you haven't called a vote because you're trying to get them, and you don't want the famous Obama up or down vote when it might be down instead of up.)

"On the Sunday shows yesterday, two of his top advisers said they were confident the votes would be there when the bill comes up for a vote." Well, when is it? Do you have the votes now, as Nancy Pelosi says, or are you waiting for an indeterminate time, maybe this week, "when the bill comes up for a vote"? When will that be? Is it scheduled? If not, why not? Didn't Nancy say she has the votes? That's so weird!

I think Obama said, for the gazillionth time, the time for talk is over, the time for action is now. So why haven't you voted yet? It's so weird!

This is not about abortion, Nancy said. Yet Bart Stupak and others believe we shouldn't be paying for abortion with our taxes, and the Democrats refuse to remove the federally funded abortion from the Senate version that they're trying to force the House to pass. Well, Nancy, if it's not about abortion, why won't you put the federally funded abortion ban that was passed in the House in it? You could get the votes you want, if you did. If it's not about abortion, why did Max Baucus tell Bart Stupak that if we don't fund abortion, that's a lot more people (presumably he means the babies that would otherwise be born) and will cost us a lot more money (presumably he means health care coverage for people who weren't aborted)? If this bill doesn't fund abortion, as you and Obama claim, why can't abortion funding be banned in the bill? Because the money takes precedence over human life? But isn't this whole deal about how the government wants to protect and save human lives by providing health care? That's so weird!

It seems that the Speaker of the House and the President promised that the special deals, like the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase are coming out of the bill, but now they're not. Well, are they or aren't they? How many broken promises are congressmen supposed to swallow, and still give you their votes?

Nancy and Harry have promised unhappy House Democrats that, if they'll just vote yea on the current Senate bill, the Senate will later remove the things they object to in a reconciliation process. Well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A Nevada congresswoman has said she doesn't trust the Senate to promise its way out of a paper bag. Once it's passed, and Obama signs it into law, there's no power in the House to make the Senate do what it promised. Why should House Democrats believe Senate Democrats' promises? It's so weird!

Oh, what a tangled web they weave, when first they practice to deceive.

[AnonymousActuary]

I am a health actuary writing to let all of you know about a website I?ve created to inform the American public about the real issues in health care affordability. The site is called:

FixTheHealthCareBill.com

To make the site more user-friendly, it includes several electronic presentations (videos) that visitors can scroll through and view. While these videos are from my perspective as an actuary, they are narrated in non-technical language, which a broad range of viewers should find clear and understandable.

I am a political moderate, and as such I have endorsed no particular health care proposal. However, my most recent presentation, ?The Pitfalls of Health Care Reform,? focuses on key features of the House and Senate bills, as one of these (or some variation) will potentially be voted into law in the near future. Each contains components that, while well-intentioned, I truly believe could be disastrous to health care affordability for those who purchase their coverage directly from insurers rather than through an employer.

If you have questions, please feel free to send them by return email to:

[e-mail]

I apologize for the need for anonymity. On my website, I explain that I have chosen to remain anonymous so that my message will not be corrupted by any external influences.

I hope that you will view some of the videos I?ve created, including the one mentioned above, as well as others such as:

Why Is Health Insurance So Expensive?
What Is ?Leveraging??
The Truth About Rate Increases
The Truth About ?The Provider Problem?
The Truth About Rescission
The Truth About Anti-Trust Exemption

I appreciate your time reading this letter. Again, please feel free to reach me through return email.

Sincerely,


The Anonymous Actuary

[apostasyusa]

Our elderly collect Social Security and/or Medicare checks. Then they turn around and give it to the insurance companies and drug makers, who have ever increasing rates and prices. Yea! Corporate America wins!! It's the American way! Yea for profits fed by the American tax payer!! Yea! Almost right up there with the military industrial complex; the sky is always blue for these types of corporations. The latest Supremely crappy ruling about corporate funds in politics will be having our low information voters falling in line with the greedy freaks for decades to come.

The necessity of military action creates the "blue sky" for such defense industries. Even Karl Marx himself argued that spending on defense was necessary and useful for capitalism.

I'm not making an argument for or against the use of the military, I'm arguing that companies whose earnings are the tax payer dollar deserve to be under heavy scrutiny and this scrutiny is encompassed in my use of the word regulation.

Maybe you volunteered to serve in the armed forces and had to adhere to guidelines and exercise discipline because you had the power to do harm to others. Corporations whose profits are from the US taxpayers also have the ability to harm when unregulated. I'm sure in your lifetime you heard somewhere that Americans spend a lot on defense and a whole lot on healthcare.

Now I know we have the best military in the world, but do we get our moneys worth with our healthcare system? The military industries didn't have anti-trust protections, healthcare industries have for decades.

It is time to flip the script on these companies who are sucking the life out of our healthcare system and the dollar from our pocket.

Why are Republicans against it? Follow the money.

[retm-w]

apostasyusa

Since your complaining about corporations, let me ask you if they shut down today, how many more people would join the unemployed?

[apostasyusa]

It's not a rallying call against all corporations, just those that profit directly from the American tax payer, the "blue sky tribe".

Personally; I'm not for or against capitalism. I think you can't blame capitalism for more than you can give it credit for.

[nadiz6]

medicare, social security,medicaid,postoffice all run by the goverment and all are bankrupt and causing huge deficits that will bankrupt the country and we have high unemployment and borrowing money from china and printing money and instead obama and congress leaders seat like grown up to fix these programs that people like and put a plan to fix the bad financial situation of the country ,obama and this lousy congress leaders are involved in last year and half in passing a health care bill that make the situation worse,there is a lake of leadership in congress in both parties and in white house ,we are in the road to be a third world economy that borrow and spend with no end in the horizon , we need a leadership in the white house and in the congress that know how to work together and to find smart intelligent solutions to these problems that benefit all americans not only special interest or base of the parties god help america

[wcfileds]

Good, hurry up and shut up already about your lame legacy building so we can kill this toxic bill and put it out of its misery.

[drewsands]

GOP has done nothing. Obama has done more so far then the past 10 years combined of the GOP. Fox News = Tabloid. We just beat Mexico in education so we are not last yet. We are creating terrorists in the USA, Bin laden will win because of the GOP. Health care will pass sukers.

[wcfileds]

Why are you going after the GOP, they're harmless and they aren't doing anything. You should be so happy you should be filling your diapers hourly. The Dems have a majority and has had that majority for well over a year now, oh and the boy prince hasn't done a damn thing for the economy...what were those unemployment numbers again?...most of your incoherant ramblings and are unrelated,so I have to ask, do you work for The White House? -you should come prepared next time.

[hateisafourletterword]

drew - the current education system was designed by the democrats decades ago. Your party set it up. Conservatives have railed against the system for years but you just use the courts to stop any improvements.

So now you blame conservatives for schools too?

I think you made our point for us!

[retm-w]

1200 tickets for Obamas health care push today, yet only 200 tickets were given out to the public. Gee who got the other 1000 tickets? Well I know a lot of Democrat local politicians were in the audience,and I'm sure they didn't wait in line for hours to get tickets.I recognized them on the local news. I will give Obama some credit for going into a Republican dominated suburb.Of course when you load the audience in your favor I guess it doesnt make any difference.