Sen. Dashle, in your three-minute video clip, you make no mention of the numerous calls on this blog for abolishing the health insurance industry and moving to singe-payer, yet you deliberate over the need to contain costs. THAT would be the way to contain costs, and most Americans are realizing it and demanding it. You need to acknowledge that and find a way to get it implemented, because it is the way to fix our health care system. Please see the Physicians for a National Health Program website http://www.pnhp.org for information on this.

Mr. Obama (and everyone else), please read this article from the New England Journal of Medicine:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/22/2384?query=TOC
about how Johnson got Medicare passed in 1965. There are important lessons here for you as incoming President.

Part 1

We need to get rid of the private health insurance industry and go to single payer (HR 676). The health insurance industry just sucks money out of the system and adds nothing of value. People say they don't want to pay more taxes. They will pay less taxes for this program than they now pay for insurance premiums. The money saved from eliminating the private health insurance industry will fund health care for all of us. And we can vote out our elected officials, which we cannot do with the greedy insurance CEOs.

According to the laws of free enterprise, therefore, the private health insurance industry deserves to die a natural death and go the way of the buggy whip. This will take political courage. Mr. Obama, are you up to the task??? You campaigned hard to become President. Please act like a true President and work for the best interests of the people, not the insurance and drug companies, for a change.