So, I’m really happy about the passage of H.R. 3962 last night. I know that there are parts that suck ass and that we’d all be better off with single payer. I’d actually LOVE a strong public option with an opt-out clause for states1. I’m glad for a lot of what’s in the bill and disgusted at some stuff. But, as with the election of 2008, you gotta do what ya gotta do to win. In my case then it was vote for Obama (though some of us knew then he wasn’t liberal enough for us…hmm) and now it’s supporting this bill and praying that it survives the Senate to end up on Obama’s desk before the end of the year.
No, everyone is not covered. And there are those dastardly mandates. And the insurance companies have been handed some 36 million new customers. That sucks, but how else were we to get anything through a Congress that is bought and paid for by lobbyists (which are at this point bought and paid for by insurance companies2. This whole process has been a ridiculous circus. I’m not even sure if anyone who is "against" it is really against it and those that are for it are really for it. I just know that it will end rescissions, pre-existing conditions, caps on benefits and price gouging– among other things that I’m too lazy to list. As well as eventually provide health insurance to people who, right now, don’t have any.
This is a personal issue for me because I’m not exactly in the best of health and, quite frankly, we’re all kinds of screwed in my house if my strange health issues go south. What I was hoping for was the end to exclusions for pre-existing conditions and caps on benefits. Right now, the crappy insurance I have will only pay $50 a month for prescription, $15k a year for any kind of treatments and $100 for hospitalization. Shoot, if I step off the sidewalk and get hit by a car that’s it. I’ve exhausted my medical just by going in the ambulance (ok, I’m exaggerating, but really). So, my support for this issue is 100% personal. Also, I’m not an all or nothing kind of person. Without this bill, we’re stuck bitching and moaning about rate increases and treatment payments decreasing. We’re stuck with the same old shit. This is, at least, a step in the right direction.
Good lord, but I hate that phrase, but it’s true. For those that say “KILL THE BILL!” because it’s not single payer, or doesn’t contain a “robust”3 public option, I think, don’t see the bigger picture. Last year at this time there was nothing like this. There was no single payer bill or a public option bill or anything. So, no, it’s not liberal enough—I agree with that—but it’s better than what we had a year ago. It’s better than people getting kicked off their insurance for having acne when they were 17 or becoming “uninsurable” because they’ve got an autoimmune disease or people losing their jobs because their employer can’t afford the rising premiums—because the employee has something as mundane as diabetes. These kinds of things—and worse—have been happening for years! If we killed this initiative because it wasn’t perfectly progressive then, FUCK!, we’d be stuck in that same position with the goddamned insurance companies and their republican/blue dog lackeys living high off American lives.
So, yes, it’s better than what we had. And, yes, I’m praying that it passes the Senate and that Obama will sign it. Because once that becomes law we can fight to expand it and to strip it of it’s exclusions and work to end the stranglehold insurance companies have on this country. We need to get that one foot in the door so that we can properly break that motherfucker down and get what we really want.
You know, it wasn’t until 2009 that women were guaranteed, by law, equal pay for equal work in this country. That’s been one little step at a time too. That’s how we do shit in this country. That’s how we’ve always done it. All or nothing has never gotten us anywhere. So, I don’t exactly understand the sentiment. I understand the principle and wanting single payer or bust. I’m 100% in favor of nationalized health. Oh yes. But I’ve seen how far this has come. The ups and downs and ins and the pulling of the hair… oh wait. No one likes anything new until they get a little taste of it. And this is our taste. Let the idiots have a little taste and they’ll love it and then we can move on to getting more.
Right now, I’m being completely selfish in my joy for this bill’s passing. I’m not ashamed to admit it. One of my favorite provisions is employer mandated coverage. I love that for purely personal reasons (which I won’t relate right now, but if I remember I’ll write a post on it). I’ve got no doubts that insurance companies will find a way through some loopholes, but I think they’ll end up pushing the naysayers over to our side with that kind of behavior.
You know, Lil’lady and TheMan are covered by socialist healthcare programs: Lil’lady by Healthy Start and TheMan by the VA. I don’t have to worry about either of them if they get seriously ill because they will receive the care they need. I want that for the rest of America. I really do. This is one step in that direction. I suppose if I qualified for medicaid or the VA benefits I might think differently about the parts of this bill that are so objectionable. But I don’t. I’m a little jealous of their insurance plans and pissed off that we even need insurance plans. And I’m irritated that my man, Dennis Kucinich, would rather throw everything down the drain because his amendment wasn’t added (for his “principals”) than cheer for this tiny, tiny victory. I’m sorry, Dennis, that single payer isn’t an option and won’t be for a long time. But can’t you be just a little bit happy that we’ve finally made some progress? I’m not behind him on this one.
And so, I’ve become a rambling, jumbled mess now. My bad. I’ve gone on too long and forgotten where I was going. Next time I’ll do an outline and work from that. Ha! So, yay for our side and a big ol’ SUCKIT to John Boner, er, Boehner. A-men and good night.
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~applause!~
Excellent post, as always. Yours are well worth waiting for. OF COURSE it is better to have this than the status quo, sheesh. We can try to make it better later. Going to share on FB.
Thanks for sharing it. I appreciate that. I’m afraid, though, that between the followers of John Boner, er, Boehner and that crack-head Betsy McCaughey and the purists we’ll probably be stuck with nothing.
Lovely, huh?
I’m glad Jenny just knows “it will end rescissions, pre-existing conditions, caps on benefits and price gouging — among other things … as well as eventually provide health insurance to people who, right now, don’t have any.”
Except there is no way to know that. See, in those 1990 pages you will find all those wonderful ideas and in those 1990 pages you will find all those wonderful ideas contradicted. The only things we know for sure are
(a) Medicare will get worse;
(b) The cost shifting from national health care will ensure more caps on benefits and price gouging; and
(c) More than two trillion dollars per year will end up passing through Washington.
Oh, and by the way, it ain’t “insurance.” The health payment system is simply an accountant’s dream to transfer 17% of American income from the taxpayer, a little less than half to the government and to “insurance” companies, and the other half of it trickling to health care providers.
For an opposing view, read the WSJ take here http://tinyurl.com/yb5g793 (ED: Betsy McCaughey article. JJ)
or the 13 articles on ObamaCare here http://blog.dickharper.com/category/obamacare/
First of all, Dick, what we have now isn’t, in fact, insurance. However, that’s what society calls it and so that’s how I’ll be referring to it. And it’s the only system we currently have to deal with health care costs. I’ll do a post on why it’s not fiscally feasible to be a self-payer in today’s climate.
Your point about the number of pages of the bill is what exactly? Is that too much for people to read? Too comprehensive? Big Bill Scary? Legislation shouldn’t be 2 pages long– unless is single-payer/universal health care coverage. Otherwise, if those crying about the length of the bill can’t handle it then perhaps they should give their jobs to people who can not only READ but who will properly legislate and not try to govern through fear.
Point #1:
Medicare’s donut hole (enthusically passed by Bush’s Repubs and DINOs) will be fixed. That will save seniors thousands of dollars a month. Administration will be streamlined and become more efficient. That is, until the republicans get control back and then the shit will, once again, hit the fan.
Point #2:
Price gouging is specifically addressed in the legislation. You mention my half-assed list which says specifically that anti- price gouging policies will be in place. Perhaps that cut-and-paste talking point should have been omitted.
Also, if the insurance companies want to go this route, which is something else I’ve addressed in my post (which you obviously failed to read), then that will anger citizens even more which will force Congress to act further toward single payer. They, the insurance companies, will be committing fraud and will be held accountable. It’s the taste that’s important here. Don’t let that freakish quack McCaughey scare you so much.
Point #3:
Easily fixed by ending our unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not only that, but this bill will actually cost less than what we’re paying now– giving us a savings, according to the CBO, of $856billion instead of the trillions that republicans and insurance hack McCaughey would have you believe.
I would rather have our money spent saving lives and helping our people than killing our people.
Insurance companies are going to benefit from this legislation. If you’d have actually read to the post on which you’ve commented you would have seen that I’ve addressed that. This is because of the overwhelming fear created by idiots like McCaughey who would have people believe that the government here, unlike the governments of Canada, France and England, can administer our health care. And so, because of the crybaby, fearmongers, we’re stuck with the government simply subsidizing health insurance for those that the insurance companies would otherwise reject.
The “kill grandma” meme is played out and bullshit. It doesn’t fly here. And neither does anything Betsy McCaughey has to say. She’s making a pretty penny trying to get people like you to oppose any kind of health insurance overhaul. You’ve fallen for her breathy, boldface lies. I haven’t. She’s a crank and not worthy of the attention you seem to bestow upon her. Her arguments are not in the slightest bit credible and there is no way in hell I’ll read anything that woman writes.
Also, just so you know from now on (I’ll be updating my comment policy), tinyurl.com/bit.ly/ or any other link shortener service. isn’t needed to obfuscate links here. I prefer to know where I’m going prior to clicking the link. I’ll go ahead and change those links for you now, but in the future I’ll simply strip them completely when they’re added to comments on this blog.
I just wanted to add that this bill, the one you’re so very afraid of, will cut $104 trillion dollars off the federal deficit. It’s a life-saving savings plan almost! Imagine that. Of course, I know you won’t read this comment or the preceding because, Dick, you didn’t even bother to read the post.
My God, she lives! Good to see you still have some passion to impart on my screen.
I’ve become much more pragmatic in my older age. We’ve lost the art of compromise these days. I agree we need a better healthcare system in this country. Working for one of the “big bad health companies”, I get a different view. There’s lots of reasons we raise your (and my) rates. For example, this year I saw my new numbers for 2010, and I’ll be paying something like 15% more, but I only pay about $35 or so a week for health care, a steal in today’s economy. I’m fortunate that my company picks up the other over $11,000 it costs them to insure me. I nearly choked when I saw the number. Part of the problem these days is that it costs over $12,000 a year for an “average” health care plan to insure a family of 4. We need to get that under control and reduce the costs of health care as well as getting health care to those that can’t afford it.
So preach on, sister, preach on.
I’m sorry, Vince, but I have a very grim view of insurance companies as a whole. I have for years, it’s nothing new and most definitely nothing personal. I don’t believe the industry is populated with heartless devils– I just believe it’s run by heartless devils.
Keep in mind that I put some of the blame on doctors, the pharmaceutical companies and on people that abuse the system (such as going to demand an antibiotic for a cold as my mother-in-law does). I just don’t think health care should be a for profit industry all the way around. I think a lot of expenses incurred by doctors could be curbed without the outrageous overhead of dealing with different insurance companies. And there should be no recissions (unless fraud is evident) or denial of preexisting conditions such as chronic diseases and life threatening diseases. That’s bullshit.
I give you much love and don’t want to see you out of work, of course. I just want people to be able to get a decent policy and not have to pay through the ass to get the coverage. I’m all about compromise. I prefer Universal healthcare, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. It’d be nice if people with your heart and spirit were running things, that’s for sure. Then we’d all be better off.