Last Friday when President Obama vanquished the entire Republican Caucus in question time in Baltimore he said:
"Now, what I said at the State of the Union is what I still believe. If you can show me and if I get confirmation from health care experts, people who know the system and how it works, including doctors and nurses, ways of reducing people's premiums, covering those who do not have insurance, making it more affordable for small businesses, having insurance reforms that ensure people have insurance even when they've got preexisting conditions, that their coverage is not dropped just because they're sick, that young people right out of college or as they're entering in the workforce can still get health insurance -- if those component parts are things that you care about and want to do, I'm game."
Outside two doctors were arrested for trying to tell the president a better way to really solve America's health crisis. The president wants a system that doctors confirm works well this one is supported by 60% of U.S. doctors. He wants a system that nurses will confirm works. This approach is supported by the National Nurses United the largest nurses union in the country. And, two-thirds of Americans support their better way.
For more than a year advocates of expanding Medicare so it covers all Americans have been trying to tell the president how to fix health care. They have faxed, emailed, telephoned, visited Washington, attended town hall meetings . . . they've even gotten arrested protesting their exclusion at hearings. Even the president's own doctor, David L. Scheiner, has urged him to adopt a national health care program with Medicare for All at its foundation. In every way they know how they have tried to tell the president.
The president claims he will listen to all ideas. Why will he not listen to the idea with the widest public support?
Back in Baltimore when the president showed the country that the Republicans were straw men putting forward false facts and phony arguments, Dr. Margaret Flowers and Dr. Carol Paris stood outside in the cold. They were holding a sign, responding to the president's request in the State of the Union that said: "Letting You Know: Medicare for All."
Dr. Flowers had a packet of materials for the president. It included a letter she wrote to him the night of the State of the Union. When the president said: "if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know," Dr. Flowers started writing.
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