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FlintConservative
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"Petition to ask Michigan voters to pass universal health care
December 19, 2007
BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A campaign that claims support from key Michigan labor and religious groups, the AARP and Lt. Gov. John Cherry plans to launch a petition drive next month to ask Michigan voters to approve statewide, universal health care.
The coalition would amend the state constitution to require the Legislature to enact "affordable and comprehensive health care coverage" in the same way the constitution mandates state support of free public education.
Health Care for Michigan, headed by former state Rep. John Freeman, an Oakland County Democrat, is to appear today before a state elections panel to ask for approval of its petition forms. But the campaign is already well under way, spokesman Gary Benjamin said Tuesday. The group's polling shows broad popular support for the idea, he said.
The amendment would "create a duty to provide health care coverage for everyone," Benjamin said. "But it's not a plan; it's a constitutional amendment."
An estimated 850,000 to 1.1 million Michiganders do not have health care insurance.
Benjamin said passage of the amendment would create political pressure for the Legislature to act and a legal standing to compel action if political pressure wasn't enough.
Steve Gools, Michigan director for the AARP, said passage of the ballot proposal would be the organization's top state priority in 2008, and that it was prepared to put $100,000 into the campaign.
AARP members, including many enrolled in Medicare for older citizens, won't necessarily benefit directly, Gools said, but "their concern is not so much for themselves as it is about their kids and grandkids."
He said the organization isn't wedded to a specific plan. Nor does universal coverage mean a government takeover of health care, he said; it just means that everyone is covered.
But the broad language proposed for the constitution is exactly what concerned Bob LaBrant, an elections specialist at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
"Affordable is in the eye of the beholder ... and comprehensive is a term of art," LaBrant said.
A constitutional amendment mandating health care coverage for every citizen could eventually mean that "we all get plastic surgery," he said.
Benjamin said coalition members believe universal coverage can be achieved without adding to the overall cost of health care in Michigan. Michigan health care costs about $60 billion a year, or $6,000 per person, Benjamin said, easily enough to provide coverage to the state's 10 million residents.
The campaign will need to collect the signatures of more than 380,000 registered voters to put the issue on the November ballot. Benjamin said the group's goal is 475,000 signatures in all to provide room for error, at a cost approaching $1 million.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the governor is considering the proposal.
Granholm supports the goal of universal, affordable care, but has not taken a position, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said. Boyd said she was not aware that Lt. Gov. Cherry's name was listed among the endorsements on a Web site linked to the campaign.
The Web site, www.michuhcan.com, also lists the Service Employees International Union and the faith-based Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength among the campaign's supporters.
A state plan would be among the first in the country and could be modeled after similar state-mandated coverage in Massachusetts."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS06/712190365/1001/NEWS
"It's not a plan. It's a constitutional amendment." That's usually how it works. We want this. We want it now. We don't know what it will cost. We don't care how it gets paid for. But we want it. |
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Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:56 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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I would be very leary of any plan that might have had its roots from a state that keeps relecting the likes of Kennedy,Kerry and Barney Frank.  |
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"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:37 pm |
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last time here
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man oh man.. you kats graduated from "Limbaugh University" 
by the way, it's been deemed unacredited!!!!!   
Last edited by last time here on Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:43 pm |
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twotap
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Not me im still attending.  |
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"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:53 pm |
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FlintConservative
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quote:
last time here schreef:
man oh man.. you kats graduated from "Limbaugh University"
by the way, it's been deemed unacredited!!!!!
First, I don't listen to Limbaugh or any of the other talking heads.
Second, and more importantly, I think you need to check your source.
"Universal health care petition drive approved
December 19, 2007
BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU
Petition drives to create a part-time legislature and provide universal health care to Michigan residents were given the green light to start collecting signatures Wednesday by a state elections panel.
The Board of State Canvassers said the petition for a third proposal, to give voters veto power over tax hikes including those passed in the last six months, needed to be re-worked.
The canvassers approved proposed constitutional amendments to:
• Limit the legislative term to four months; cut legislative pay in half and dock pay for lawmakers who don’t show up to work.
• Require the Legislature to provide universal access to affordable health care insurance.
The tax proposal would mandate that voters be given the chance to repeal tax hikes approved after May 1, 2007.
Board approval merely signifies the petitions meet state standards on type size, disclaimers etc.; the canvassers are not authorized to take a position on the content of proposed amendments. Greg Schmid, a Saginaw attorney and architect of both the part-time legislature and tax hike amendments said the board’s qualms about the form of the latter petition were unfounded and that signature collection will go ahead on both after the first of the year.
A proposal to amend the state constitution needs to collect the signatures of more than 380,000 registered voters to qualify for the November 2008 ballot."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS06/71219051
No plan for implementation. No definition of "affordable." Just give me mine. For free. |
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Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:34 am |
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last time here
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i know..i know....it's socialism right??  |
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Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:50 pm |
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FlintConservative
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quote:
last time here schreef:
i know..i know....it's socialism right??
LT, you're always attributing words to me that I never said. KNOCK IT OFF!! lol
I did just re-read your earlier post, and must apologize. When you said "deemed unaccredited" I thought you meant that the petition language had been rejected. I just realized you were talking about Limbaugh U. My bad. |
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Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:55 pm |
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last time here
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| ha ha ha ha..you are a good "straight man".... |
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Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:08 pm |
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