LBJ

Helen Thomas: Obama Making "Big Mistake" Ignoring Single Payer

Wed, 08/12/2009 - 3:21pm — mass

How Johnson did it.

I covered the battle to create the Medicare system back in the 1960s. The cries of "socialized medicine" worked for years until President Lyndon B. Johnson rammed Medicare through Congress in 1965.

Johnson signed the Medicare legislation on former President Harry Truman’s desk in Independence, Mo. Truman had first proposed a health care program for the elderly back in the 1950s.

Truman, still feisty at age 81, was all smiles.

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LBJ's ruby slippers

Wed, 07/29/2009 - 7:05pm — a little night ...

Tomorrow is the anniversary of this event:

LBJ signs Medicare into law, photo from SSA

Larry Dewitt has written an account of how Medicare came to be passed, with information gleaned from the LBJ tapes to give more background and insight into LBJ's thinking. I've posted this excerpt before, but on the eve of the anniversary I think it is good to reflect on it again.

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I support Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Per capita health care spending (2007):

United States: $7290
Switzerland: $4417
France: $3601
United Kingdom: $2992
Average of OECD developed nations: $2964
Italy: $2686
Japan: $2581

-- Bob Somerby

The text of HR676 (Medicare For All) as PDF (30 pages). The FAQ. Compare HR3200 with HR676.

Medicare for All would save $350 billion a year (study in New England Journal of Medicine).

In 2003, a young Illinois state senator named Barack Obama told an AFL-CIO meeting, "I am a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program*." -- Bill Moyers.

* Medicare For All.

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Chat box

22:03:36 Valley Girl I'd sure like Bruce Dixon's take on the Conyers comments. Just emailed him.
21:03:43 lambert Thanks, Jeff.
18:16:03 Jeff W lambert, I wrote to NOW about that Elizabeth Warren video not playing and got a response of sorts back, which I sent to you as a private PM. Just FYI.
02:28:28 hipparchia the first thing they told us my volunteer training: humans are natural born rescuers.
00:18:34 lambert One more study... [url]
23:57:37 lambert Joe Bageant is god. [url]
01:00:54 lambert The actuary was a whistleblower under Bush, too. [url]
00:47:48 hipparchia that's ok, jason stands ready to help smear the actuary quoted in that wapo article [url]
23:16:16 lambert Elders under the bus on Medicare, naturally. [url]
20:11:01 lambert 19:49:09 +100
20:10:18 lambert Capitalism in a world where we will throw as many taxpayers under the bus as necessary....
19:49:09 hipparchia elizabeth warren for president!
02:24:14 Jeff W Elizabeth Warren on the economy on PBS's NOW: you can watch it online here: [url] "If [Congress] gets it wrong, the country we knew is gone."
17:52:53 Davidson So, of course they're not going to show the truth about boxing her in from the beginning.
17:51:57 Davidson Yeah, that was just a comment in general, like, "Not even the RBC decision warranted scrutiny."
15:38:02 lambert That's not the RBC meeting, though. That's the smoking gun, beyond "Smart politics" (Wolfson).
14:17:16 Davidson Notice how everyone still avoids exposing the RBC decision
14:16:04 Davidson Can someone do a post on this? [url]
10:04:26 lambert Jeff, thanks. Fixed.
02:05:14 Jeff W lambert, your "especially with Obama's youthful base" link here [url] is broken. :(

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Equivalate

1. To assuume that competing sides, especially political parties, are equally extreme, equally guilty, etc. 2. To treat a dubious position as arguably equivalent to a legitimate one.(Vast Left) Usage example: Joe Klein equivalates by comparing Rush to Markos.

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