Progressive Opinion

motherjones.com — The anti-health care reform rally in Washington indicates the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement are increasingly one and the same.

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nytimes.com — House Republican leaders have produced their own health care reform bill. Here is the first thing you need to know: It would do almost nothing to reduce the scandalously high number of Americans who have no insurance. And it makes only a token stab at slowing the relentlessly rising costs of medical care.

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washingtonmonthly.com — This comes up from time to time, but it's good to see former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a new ringleader for right-wing activists, state it plainly. "The largest empirical problem we have in health care today is too many people are too overinsured," he said. There it is, the right's philosophy on American health care in 17 words.

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voices.washingtonpost.com — Republicans are learning an unpleasant lesson this morning: The only thing worse than having no health-care reform plan is releasing a bad one, getting thrashed by CBO and making the House Democrats look good in comparison.

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nytimes.com — The moment of truth for health care is at hand, and the distortion that perhaps gets the most traction is this: "We have the greatest health care system in the world. Sure, it has flaws, but it saves lives in ways that other countries can only dream of. Abroad, people sit on waiting lists for months, so why should we squander billions of dollars to mess with a system that is the envy of the world?" That self-aggrandizing delusion may be the single greatest myth in the health care debate.

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huffingtonpost.com — Imagine where we'd be now with President John "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" McCain, and Vice President Sarah (shudder) Palin. Each and every time you get disappointed in President Obama, or disagree with something he says or does, ask yourself: "How would this discussion be different if McCain had won?"

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dmiblog.com — Consider this simple hypothesis: times are tough. Voters need to see that elected leaders are doing something that actually makes things better. If they don't, they're liable to opt for a change.

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voices.washingtonpost.com — A House Republican health care reform bill won't stop health insurance companies from denying sick people insurance. And it won't stop prevent insurers from dropping people who become seriously ill. On the bright side, the Republican bill would allow insurers to base themselves in whichever state has the weakest regulatory standards and then sell policies built around those rules nationwide. If you've ever thought that your insurance was too comprehensive, too straightforward, and contained too few loopholes that you didn't learn about until you feel terribly ill, then this is the plan for you!

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washingtonmonthly.com — The House Republican health care reform plan was expected to be inadequate, but it was hard to predict it'd be this bad. It's tempting to think it was written directly by insurance industry lobbyists, but in all likelihood, even they'd probably put together a more compelling proposal.

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tomdispatch.com — If you can't find any swine flu vaccine for your kids, it won't be for a lack of positive thinking. In fact, the whole flu snafu is being blamed on "undue optimism" on the part of both the Obama administration and Big Pharma. But let's stop a minute and also ask: Who really screwed up here — the government or private pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and three others that had agreed to manufacture and deliver the vaccine by late fall?

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