American Morning
Mass. could be model for national health care reform
With so many town halls descending into Jerry Springer Shows on whether "Obama Care" means "death panels" for seniors (it won't), Massachusetts enjoys near-universal health care and it isn't breaking the bank.
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pushed through health care reform as governor of democratic Massachusetts three-years-ago. The result? 97 percent of the citizens in this state have health care. The program has a 69 percent approval rating and taxpayer watchdogs say it hasn't wasted public funds.
So what's the difference between "Romney Care" and "Obama Care"? In Massachusetts there's no public option. Citizens here are mandated to buy insurance or pay fines.
Romney says Democrats have only themselves to blame for the rowdy town halls on health care. But when asked whether Sarah Palin was wrong to say the president's plan would usher in "death panels," Romney would only say, "I don't read that in the bill."
Rep. Frank fires back at rowdy town hall
We've heard all kinds of snarky, snide, and sarcastic remarks during health care town halls. They're just not usually coming from the member of Congress at the front of the room.
But last night Congressman Barney Frank got rather frank with some of his constituents in Massachusetts. CNN's Jim Acosta was in the room during the rowdy debate.
Mom strikes nerve at town hall
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/12/abrams.katy.cnn.art.jpg caption="Katy Abram, the mother whose comments drew attention at a town hall meeting, explains what got her so fired up."]
There has been a lot of rage and anger at the health care town hall meetings taking place across the country.
Katy Abram is a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom who showed up at Senator Arlen Specter’s town hall in Lebanon, Pennsylvania Tuesday. Her comments and questions struck a nerve with the audience, garnering a standing ovation.
Abram spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday.
Kiran Chetry: Did you know at the time when you showed up to ask the question that that would be the response from people in the crowd?
Katy Abram: No. I didn't even know that was the question I was going ask, to be honest with you.
Chetry: You said that you are a conservative and a Republican but not somebody who is really into politics, the day-to-day politicking out there. What made you change your mind when you told the senator “you’ve awakened a sleeping giant”? How did that happen?
Abram: Over the past couple months, I have seen on the news how they were doing the T.A.R.P. package and trying to bail out banks and auto companies, and I saw a lot of really reckless things and the next thing I see is the health care reform that they’re bringing through – nationalized health care. That really was the nail in the coffin for me, I guess you could say. That woke me up.
Obama's town hall – tackling health care reform
Outside the president's health care town hall in New Hampshire, a little girl held up a poster that said: "Obama lies, Grandma dies." When I asked the child's mother (who didn't want to give her name) what the sign meant, she struggled to find an answer.
- Watch: Obama's health care forum
But the sign was a reference to the false claim from some reform opponents – that Democratic proposals would set up a bureaucratic "death panel" that would determine when patients die. The president batted down the claim at his town hall – a more telling sign of just how tough the health care sell has become.
Are the health care town halls helping? How is the president handling the debate? What do you think?
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Prof: Health care 'rationing' not as scary as it sounds
In the debate over health care reform, we keep hearing the word "rationing." For Republicans, it's been one of the top talking points. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) said, “…rationing is underlying all of this. …If you don't get health care when you need it, you know, ultimately it's going to affect your life.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/19/singer.peter.cnn.art.jpg caption="Prof. Peter Singer says rationing is already happening in private health insurance companies."]
Peter Singer, a bioethics professor at Princeton University, says rationing isn't as scary as it sounds. He joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday.
John Roberts: When you talk about rationing health care, what specifically is it that you mean?
Peter Singer: Firstly, it’s the public part of health care that I'm talking about. I’m not talking about stopping people paying for whatever they can afford to pay for or paying for whatever extra insurance they can pay for. But if you have public funds going for something, you want and the taxpayer wants to get good value for that public funds.
So that means you’re going to have to say, look, at the margins, if there's a very expensive new treatment or new drug that perhaps doesn't do any good anyway – perhaps there's no good scientific studies that show it's going to help you significantly – we're not going to provide that. We're going to say, we want to get a certain standard of value for money, just like you would if you're shopping at the supermarket. That's rationing.
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Filed under: Commentary • Health • Politics