While I've expressed my frustration with the administration's handling of the debate thuse far, I don't question his commitment. He's drawn the line in the sand on the issue of public option. I think it's more fair to ask whose side are we own. Where are the soldiers from the campaign? Where's the damn fight from our side. Yes, it's appalling what has happened to Skip Gates and the precious little kids in Philly, but that should not be our focus right now. We should be pouring our time and passion into the survival of health care reform! As someone posted on daily kos today, calls for Dick Cheney's head and all that other shit won't mean a damn thing if health care reform fails. Game over!

Sorry for the triple post. I have no idea what happened…

How will the public option and the overhaul of the current system address the needs of people with disabilities?

Specifically, there are providers who currently bill upwards of $200+ hourly, but pay the service provider $10/hour, sometimes less. Insurance companies are allowed to provide minimal visits, or totally deny, much needed therapies (e.g., speech and physical therapy) on the premise that improvements are not being made – Especially habilitation and rehabilitation services.

How will family centered care principles be integrated in to the care of children and adults with disabilities?

There are children living in nursing homes, because community options have not been explored. Because different states have different services, people move from state to state (sometimes county to county) in search of the location that has the least amount of redtape re: the condition that they are dealing with.

How will the public option and the overhaul of the current system address the needs of people with disabilities?

Specifically, there are providers who currently bill upwards of $200+ hourly, but pay the service provider $10/hour, sometimes less. Insurance companies are allowed to provide minimal visits, or totally deny, much needed therapies (e.g., speech and physical therapy) on the premise that improvements are not being made – Especially habilitation and rehabilitation services.

How will family centered care principles be integrated in to the care of children and adults with disabilities?

There are children living in nursing homes, because community options have not been explored. Because different states have different services, people move from state to state (sometimes county to county) in search of the location that has the least amount of redtape re: the condition that they are dealing with.

How will the public option and the overhaul of the current system address the needs of people with disabilities?

Specifically, there are providers who currently bill upwards of $200+ hourly, but pay the service provider $10/hour, sometimes less. Insurance companies are allowed to provide minimal visits, or totally deny, much needed therapies (e.g., speech and physical therapy) on the premise that improvements are not being made – Especially habilitation and rehabilitation services.

How will family centered care principles be integrated in to the care of children and adults with disabilities?

There are children living in nursing homes, because community options have not been explored. Because different states have different services, people move from state to state (sometimes county to county) in search of the location that has the least amount of redtape re: the condition that they are dealing with.

Why was a single payer option taken off the table?

Is it possible for the White House and their allies in the Congress to provide more information on how effective health insurance systems in Canada, the UK and other nations are, to counteract lies about their inefficiency and the wait times to receive coverage?

Recently, there have been news reports of private insurance companies piloting programs to have individuals go to India and other nations with effective but less expensive health care in order to have certain medical procedures performed. What impact will this have on the healthcare system in the US and will insurance programs ever be permitted to make this mandatory and it is possible to prevent this from occuring

He brought the same team from the Campaign to the White House with one big exception, David Plouffe, which means he brought their limited strengths and enormous weaknesses. We all know their strengths: grassroots mobilization, embrace of new media, yadda yadda yadda, but not enough attention has been given to their weaknesses, which I might add ALWAYS got in their way of their success, only to be saved with a great speech. The weakest link: Communications. Yes, the President is a great communicator, but his team as a whole is the absolute worse. And may be what ultimately kills health care reform and the Obama presidency:

1. They always appear surprised by but never prepared for the always to be expected opposition. Let's see, the President won the election in part by beating the GOP up over deficit spending. Did he really think cries of hypocrisy would stop them from using the same weapon against him?

2. They have yet to figure out how to get ahead of a bad news story. Really, did the White House not expect the CBO head's testimony not to make headlines? Did they think the AMA endorsement would trumpet itself? What about the big but largely unreported news that Wal-Mart endorsed an individual mandate? When the President was studying the failure of the '93 reform effort, did he not read the chapter on the complicity of the media in helping to defeat it? Did he really think the media was going to take an even-handed approach? Come the fuck on!

3. Continuously on the defensive but never on the offense with a sustained defense of theirpolicies. Not only does this team seem to refuse to acknowledge this is a failture but they appear to think it's a damn strategy.

The larger mistake the President made was not heading the advice of a former Clintonite: LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS IN CHICAGO. I understand the need to surround yourself with people you trust, but I say surround yourself by people you trust to be able to do their jobs.

My last point, who the hell would argue now that Hillary wouldn't have been a far better pick than Biden? Don't get me wrong, I was one of those cheerleading old Biden getting his much deserved 2nd chance. I had dillusions of him being Obama's LBJ. But it's more than clear now that he, the administration and the country would have been better served with him in the Senate and Hillary in the White House, at least on this issue.

My question is similiar to AroundHarlem's – Will self-employed individuals be able to enroll in the public option? Every year, for at least the last 6 years, my premiums have increased at least 20%. The only way to keep the cost affordable is to increase my deductible. It is now at $5,000, in order to have a premium of $546 monthly. No pregnancy benefits. I turn 53 this year and have hypertension and high cholesterol which are controlled thru daily medication.

Thanks J&J Politics! Back to work for me ….