Wow, that was awesome. I overslept this morning and missed it. The best take down of Scarborough ever, he usually isn't speechless, he usually screams over the top or changes the subject quick-like. Incredible, Bob, thanks for that and all you do for us real liberals.

And insurance rates would more likely be less due to the expanded spectrum of competition, and doctors would have to pass as many costs on to the consumers.

( wouldn't )

That's called 'reform', not 'expansion'.

force the Democratic party to scrap the house and senate bills by doing this:

Progressives don't have to sit and take the
conservative nonsense from conservatives in our
Democratic Party and the RepubliKLAN party.
You influence a lot of people. Read what I have to
say and if you like it tell people about this
until we bust the conservative coalition in
congress.

We're going to go after the friends of
conservative Democrats and Republicans with a
massive consumer boycott of those companies that
give money to conservatives. People did that in
South Africa and India and we're going to do it
here.

I called these 2 organizations.
Omaha Steaks 800 228 2778
Nebraska Beef Council 800-421-5326
and told a person in both organizations, one a
beef seller and the other an organization that
promotes Nebraska beef that

I communicate with thousands of people on the net and that
UNLESS their CEOs get Senator Ben Nelson to get
all Anti abortion language out of the final health
care bill they can forget me doing business with
them and also forget about me buying Nebraska bred
beef at the Supermarket which I will make sure
that the local Supermarket does not sell.

Spread the word please.

Demand congress fix the Medicare prescription drug benefit

go here http://bit.ly/drug_benefit

Send a message to traitor Joe Lieberman demanding
he help enact a strong single payer public option
into law.

http://bit.ly/traitorjoe

Also at http://bit.ly/public_option

Send this message wide and far. Thank you.

You can see further actions at http://WWW.DEMOCRATZ.ORG

tort reform -- perhaps needed in some states -- I don't know -- hasn't done one thing for consumers or doctors in my state regarding health insurance or liability insurance. All it has done is erode consumers' rights.

Remove anti-trust exemption--- YES!--- that would be good.

Selling across state lines is one of those ideas that sounds okay if you say it fast.

"But critics -- including consumer watchdog groups and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners -- say the provision would erode many state government consumer protections, leave policyholders with inadequate coverage and could actually lead to higher premiums for some people."

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/November/06/health-insurance-across-state-lines.aspx

Today's top moving sector on the stock market? Go ahead - take a guess.

Yup - it's Health Care at 1.6%. You can track it here

So the insurance companies are claiming the across-state-line provision would hurt individuals. Kaiser Health, no less, is telling us we shouldn't want that. Given that they are a trustworthy organization with only our best interests in mind, we should definitely heed their warning.

To be fair, I don't really understand the details of this suggestion. Since car insurance companies have been doing it, it seems to have kept downward pressure on those premiums so it seemed like a good idea to me when I first heard it. Please, anyone with insight on why this is bad or good or irrelevant, fill me in. I don't want to disregard it just because it came from Republicans. Maybe they're due for a good idea.

Offering insurance across state lines will give the insurance companies the opportunity to set up shop only in the states with the most lax regulations.

See credit cards for an example. South Dakota has virtually no regulations on fees and interest rates - that's why most credit cards are issued by a SD bank.

Without strict federal regulations, selling health insurance across state lines will be a disaster.

Is it reasonable to pair the ability to sell across state lines with federal regulation? Obviously most repubs would say no to that, but are there a few who would agree that being given the freedom to market all over the country requires federal level guidance? Lieberman would certainly vote against that I'm assuming.

I missed it this moringi but, I saw that show back in August where Weiner stumped him. It was great. It's funny because around that same time he had Michael Eric Dyson on and he was cleaing Scarborough's clock to the point that Scarborough told him he'd have to have him back on. I'm still waiting!

without looking at the ups and downs of such stock during the past year, I imagine that investors were holding off any activity until they understood what final bill would be. when it was clear it wouldn't gut the industry, people reinvested. doesn't necessarily indicate a total giveaway to industry.

it certainly isn't the big "fuck you" to the insurance industry that we on the left wanted bill to say.

you might be able to buy insurance across state lines but good luck finding a doctor that will accept it. it's a long enough paperwork process for doctors as it is which is why a lot of doctors will not accept every insurance. it's a stupid idea.

Tort Reform?

Anti-trust?

These, coming from the mouth of a conservative, is like an invitation, nay, PLEA!, to punch them right between the ideological eyes.

Here's my three point tort reform retort:

1) Both of these "solutions"

a) Dramatically undermine state rights.

b) Limits and abolishes consumer protections and binds the hands of justice.

c) Does very very little to control costs and basically guarantees any savings will be diverted to CEO portfolios.

A tort is "an injury to someone’s person, reputation, or feelings or damage to real property."

2) CBO estimates that savings from Republican proposals for Tort reform would save about $54 billion over ten years, or about .5 percent savings on health care expenses annually. This is an unserious solution.

I'd like to hear Joe get specific about what constitutes "tort reform" if he's going to "educate" the public on the evils of malpractice claims.

Conservative party proposals for tort reform are ridiculous.

3) A more uniform set of tort reforms may be in order, but relying on Conservative versions as a focal point-- for a system-saving package of close-to-non-measures and deregulation-- is a fecal point.

Don't trust the anti-consumer anti-labor party to do what's best for the budget and economy.

terry said: "it certainly isn't the big "fuck you" to the insurance industry that we on the left wanted bill to say

Well said.

But maybe it's more like the early stages of a great big "hey, what the fuck?!"

I am so sick of rethugs bitching about Tort Reform. Bush/Cheny already did Tort Reform. As a result, I have permanent nerve damage in my neck from a workers comp case. Of course, I HAD to go to the Companies Doctor. They are supposed to give you a choice of three Doctors. Well, they all were in the same practice, same building, same medical group. The Doctor said I was fine. I have nerve damage that will affect me for the rest of my life. Because the Company Doctor said I was fine, even though I had an independent evaluation, I had to settle for $3,500. That's it. Now, who will hire me? I've always had jobs where you work hard physically. There really isn't anything else. I cannot even lift a frozen 18lb turkey.
Tort Reform my a$$. All it is is a freebie for the AMA.