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<DIV>Riddle: <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000><U><EM>What do you call a young adult cancer victim with health insurance?</EM></U></FONT></STRONG> See answer at bottom.</DIV>
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<DIV>From: <A href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/12/president_says_uninsured_ameri.html?hpid=politics" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/12/president_says_uninsured_ameri.html?hpid=politics</A></DIV>
<H2>President Says Uninsured Americans Are More Common Than You'd Think</H2>
<DIV><EM>By Anne E. Kornblut</EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM><BR>President Obama, continuing to mount a fresh surge on health care, argued Saturday in his weekly address that nearly half of all Americans under age 65 will lose their health insurance within the next decade.</DIV>
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<DIV>"We're talking about middle-class Americans," Obama said. "In other words, it can happen to anyone."</DIV>
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<DIV>Treasury officials released the findings of a 10-year study that bolsters the president's case. Based on a sample of more than 17,000 respondents from 1997 to 2006, the study - "The Risk of Losing Health Insurance Over a Decade: New Findings from Longitudinal Data" - <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>found that 48 percent of Americans are uninsured at some point in a 10-year span and that the number jumped, to 57 percent, when taking people under age 21 into account.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV>In a conference call Friday with reporters, Treasury officials, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, repeatedly emphasized the universal nature of the danger - saying it is a "misperception" that the uninsured represent only a small slice of the population.<STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000> In fact, they said, the report found that many more people, inclnuding in the middle class, went for stretches without insurance over the years.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>"If you're under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you'll find yourself uninsured at some point" over the next decade,</FONT></STRONG> Obama said in the address, prepared for radio and Internet broadcast. "And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year."</DIV>
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<DIV>He continued: "I refuse to allow that future to happen. In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without health insurance - not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law - they won't."</DIV>
<DIV>A link to the Treasury report is <A href="http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/docs/final-hc-report092009.pdf" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#0c4790>here</FONT></A>, and a link to the audio of the president's address is <A href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/WeeklyAddress/2009/091209-QCXORI/091209_Weekly_Address.mp3" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#0c4790>here</FONT></A>. <BR><BR>Obama hits the road Saturday, heading to Minnesota to attend a health care rally. <BR></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">From: <STRONG><A href="http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2806" rel=nofollow target=_blank>Congressman Kucinich on Health Care</A></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"The hotly-debated HR3200, the so-called "health care reform" bill, is nothing less than <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>corporate welfare in the guise of social welfare and reform</FONT></STRONG>. It is a convoluted mess. The real debate which we should be having is not occurring. <BR><BR>"Removing the "public option" from a public bill paid for by public money is not in the public interest. What is left is a "private option" paid for with public money. <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>Why should public money be spent on a private option which does not guarantee 100% coverage<U> nor have any cost controls?</U> A true public option would provide 30% savings immediately which would then cover the 1/3rd of the population who presently have no healthcare. </FONT></STRONG><BR><BR>"Unfortunately, under HR3200, the Government is choosing winners and losers in the private sector; <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:
#80ff00" color=#ff0000><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">proposing to spend public funds on subsidizing</FONT> insurance companies who make money not providing health care.</FONT></U></STRONG> This process wil insure only one thing - the expansion of profits. Gone is the debate over cost. <BR><BR>"As a result of current negotiations, the <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>Medicare Part D rip-off will continue for another decade, further fleecing senior citizens.</FONT></STRONG> Drug importation has been dropped, so <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>no </FONT></U></STRONG>inexpensive drugs can be accessed from other nations. <BR><BR>"Instead we are told the pharmaceutical companies will accept a 2% cut in the <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>growth rate</FONT></U></STRONG> of their profits - this they call cost control! "</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">An older Kucinich page of DK info is here:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/Dennis_Kucinich_Health_Care.htm" rel=nofollow target=_blank><SPAN id=lw_1252024337_1 class=yshortcuts><FONT face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/Dennis_Kucinich_Health_Care.htm</FONT></SPAN></A></DIV></td></tr></table><br>