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Blue Dog Mike Ross benefits a great deal from the current state of health care in this country. But what about the people who he’s supposed to represent? According to a new report from the Main Street Alliance, the people in Ross’ state of Arkansas aren’t benefitting very much from the way things are:
The data presented in this report were gathered through a survey of 180 Arkansas small business owners. Surveys were collected through face to face interviews with business owners in Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Malvern, Monticello, Stuttgart, Dumas and Little Rock. The results indicate that Arkansas small business owners:
• Are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of health care and need meaningful health reform so they can contribute to economic recovery;
• Support approaches to reform that include more public oversight of insurers and a choice between private insurance and a public health insurance plan;
• Are willing to contribute toward health coverage for their employees, but can’t do it without a system of shared responsibility where the costs are shared; and
• Want government to play a stronger role in making health care work for businesses and employees.
Furthermore, despite the massive amounts of money being dumped into media and Congressional manipulation by the insurance and health-care industries, they are actually losing the debate here. Polls show that Americans trust Obama on this issue more than they do Republicans, who are known to be opposed to any sort of health care reform (unless it’s fake reform that makes their lobbyist friends richer). Granted, you’d never know it from most media coverage, which is ridiculously slanted against meaningful reform, but that’s the way it is.
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wow PW, that report is a great resource
urging all to click on it and scroll down to the polling on Public vs Private Option – yummy
Thanks, cbl2!
If that’s what the Republicans call winning the health care debate, they are even more screwed than has been reported.
From your keyboard…. Although I wouldn’t say the republics are screwed, I would say they are f***ed.
91% of the small businesses are unable to afford health insurance for their employees.
but they would be willing to chip in about half if the government chipped in the other half. And that’s pretty much the plan in HR3200. They get a tax credit of 50% against the costs of the policies.
Asked at what level they would be willing to contribute toward health coverage, participants
who specified a level responded as follows: 48 percent said they were willing to contribute four
to seven percent of payroll or more, 43 percent said they were willing to contribute one to three
percent of payroll, and nine percent said they were not willing to contribute at all.
91% of the small businesses are unable to afford health insurance for their employees.
but they would be willing to chip in about half if the government chipped in the other half. And that’s pretty much the plan in HR3200. They get a tax credit of 50% against the costs of the policies.
Asked at what level they would be willing to contribute toward health coverage, participants
who specified a level responded as follows: 48 percent said they were willing to contribute four
to seven percent of payroll or more, 43 percent said they were willing to contribute one to three
percent of payroll, and nine percent said they were not willing to contribute at all.
Could we please take the pledge right now to go after Ross in 2010. It might help the people in Arkansas. And there are some really poor people there. He is my ‘WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD” !
The key problem is finding a candidate to run against him. Know anyone in his district that could primary him successfully and hold on to the seat for Democrats. (That is, besides Bill Clinton)
He has won by huge margins in the past so I can’t think of anyone who would step into that meat grinder. If we ran ads against him and campaigned really hard we might start to chip away at him. He has an A+ rating from the NRA. Says he is a moderate (making raspberry sound) and is pro-life.
It has always seemed ironic that two or three of the most illustrious families,synonymous with untold wealth, have longstanding ties to Arkansas-one of the poorest and least educated states in the nation.
Namely ,I am referring to the Rockefellers and the Waltons,of Wal-Mart infamy.Winthrop Rockefeller and his son were both governors there.
Of course, there is the Jackson Stephens family,too,not to mention Tyson.
The Rockefeller family also has a distinct presence in West Virginia-once again, grindingly poor and hopelessly uneducated-for generations.
ALL of the Reps and Senators from Arkansas,whether Dem or Repube have NO interest in doing a job FOR anyone but the corporate interests of Arkansas,in particular,and corporatocracy ,in general.
WHERE’S the trickle down?
Oh,I forget,that’s when you pee on your constituents’ legs,and tell them it’s raining….
One of the problems with the south is that you can call yourself a Democrat or a Republican and it makes no difference to the voters. The politicians down there say whatever they think everyone wants to hear, people have no idea what the 2 parties stand for and just vote for the guy they “like” – the one who’s most ‘folksy”.
Umm, you’re preachin’ to the choir.
I’m FROM “down South”.
WAY down South.