Diane Feinstein calls cops on elderly protestors

allnurses Guide · Aug 4, 2009

I am very disappointed in Senator Feinstein.

UKRNinUSA, RN · Aug 4, 2009

I came across an article that may explain a few things, I called her office this morning to register my opinion on the healthcare debate -if you are a constituent please do the same, it takes less than a minute.

Dianne Feinstein Dithers on Healthcare Reform -California senator still won't back Obama's healthcare plan

By JACKSON WEST

Citing the potential costs of President Barack Obama's proposed healthcare reform legislation, California Senator Diane Feinstein has refused to openly back the project.

While agreeing that the country needs healthcare reform, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday she expressed concerns that the the program could potentially increase deficits going forward.

"The problem is how to do it and how to pay for it. The specifics of that need to get laid out in a crystal-clear, uncomplicated manner," Feinstein told the paper.

Of course, Feinstein doesn't seem to worry about healthcare costs when they are spent on her career -- the industry is the sixth-largest donor to Feinstein's campaign funds since 2005, contributing over $300,000 according to Web watchdog OpenSecrets.

The Senate voted yesterday to table the bill in question, and will not vote on the issue until the fall. House Democrats, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, were pressing for a vote this month.

Jackson West wonders if the defense appropriations bills that benefited her husband's companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars are considered "entitlement spending."

Copyright NBC Local Media First Published: Jul 24, 2009 12:55 PM PDT

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Dianne-Feinstein-Dithers-on-Healthcare-Reform-jw.html

CRNA2007 · Aug 5, 2009

Wow, a lib on the take? Say it ain't so.

UKRNinUSA, RN · Aug 6, 2009

It does seem that being "on the take" is a bipartisan issue.

I would love to see campaign finance reformed to eliminate these abuses -it sickens me that big business seems to be running the country rather than we the people.

"When it comes to trying to rein in the uncontrolled costs of health care, corporate interests naturally use their economic and political power to protect their markets. For them, our costs are their revenues, so their battle is to perpetuate the status quo and limit government intrusion. They do so by campaign contributions to both sides of the aisle in Congress, lobbying, and control of the media. Over the last 40 years, the lobbying industry has grown from a small group of lawyers and influence peddlers to a multi-billion dollar industry employing thousands of people, including almost 200 ex-senators and ex-House members who became lobbyists through the revolving door. The five largest private health insurers and their trade group (America’s Health Insurance Plans) spent more than $6 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2009, while Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, spent more than $9 million during the last quarter of 2008 and the first three months of this year. And as expected, conflicts of interest abound in the political process. The Washington Post recently reported that up to 30 members of Congress who hold key committee memberships in Congress (in both parties) have major investments in health care companies totaling somewhere between $11 and $27 million. Conflicts of interest even extend into the White House, where the Director of Health Care Policy has served on the boards of several health care corporations."

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/blog/john-geyman-md-pnhp/2009/07/20/corpocracy-vs-democracy-in-health-care-reform