by Damozel |Bill Maher got it right in his closing monologue this week: progressives need a party that will represent progressives. We certainly don't have one now.
So now it's time to get activated and to start emailing your representatives in Congressto tell them what you really want. Even the very unsatisfactory "public option" seems at present to be circling the drain in favor of half-assed plans that won't work even as well as that one won't. As Paul Krugman says, while it's a given that Republicans aren't going to go for anything that might actually change the system, the key people standing in the way of a public option aren't Republicans, but Democrats.
Thus Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska initially declared that the public option — which, remember, has overwhelming popular support — was a “deal-breaker.” Why? Because he didn’t think private insurers could compete: “At the end of the day, the public plan wins the day.” Um, isn’t the purpose of health care reform to protect American citizens, not insurance companies?
Mr. Nelson softened his stand after reform advocates began a public campaign targeting him for his position on the public option.
And Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota offers a perfectly circular argument: we can’t have the public option, because if we do, health care reform won’t get the votes of senators like him. “In a 60-vote environment,” he says (implicitly rejecting the idea, embraced by President Obama, of bypassing the filibuster if necessary), “you’ve got to attract some Republicans as well as holding virtually all the Democrats together, and that, I don’t believe, is possible with a pure public option.”
As Robert Kuttner points out at HuffPost, even the endangered public option is a pretty poor second best compared with what we really need.
The public option is a not-very-good second best--because our leading liberal politicians lack the nerve to embrace the one reform that simultaneously solves the problem of cost, quality, and universal inclusion. The policy that dare not speak its name is of course comprehensive national health insurance, or Medicare-for-All. I try to avoid using the term "single payer," because a technical, policy-wonk phrase not understood by most civilians has become insider shorthand for national health insurance. Let's call the thing by its rightful name. Medicare-for-All is something regular people understand.
So what's the matter with our politicians? Why are the people so far ahead of their elected leaders on this one? One reason, as usual, is money. The combination of the insurance industry, the drug industry, the American Medical Association, the hospital lobby--all of whom oppose Medicare-for-All--represents a huge amount of political spending. It takes a brave politician to face down all of these industries, even though the people are on the side of real reform. The AMA's position is especially shameful, since the professional societies that represent most actual physicians favor national health insurance.
The second reason that liberal politicians wimp out on single payer is that the self-styled realists in this debate have decided that Medicare-for-All, even if it's the first-best system, is too hard politically....The current House leadership bill, offering a mixed system, with a robust public option, a requirement that employers provide good insurance or pay a tax, and that insurers not discriminate against pre-existing conditions, is just as heavy a political lift as national health insurance--and far inferior policy. So why not just go for the first-best?...
The advocates of Medicare-for-All have become something of an embarrassment to the liberals. The White House forum on health reform on March 5th, which boasted a diverse range of viewpoints, including representatives of the Business Roundtable, the health insurance industry, the drug lobby, as well as a broad spectrum of business, labor and Congressional leaders, left advocates of Medicare-for-All banging on the door. None were included, despite requests for invitations.(More at HuffPost; emphasis added)
As always, our system favors compromise -- even at the sacrifice of workability -- to any real from-the-ground-floor-up reform. Will writing to our useless Democratic representatives get us the change we really hoped for? Doubtful. But sitting back and letting them gut even Obama's unsatisfactory reform -- which it's clear quite a few senators from both parties are all set to do -- means we'll end up with something that will satisfy nobody.
Finally, what is the truth behind all the political posturing? It's the same truth as always, and John Cole sums it up:
Liberals have often claimed complained that our
government has plenty of money for tax cuts and wars, but never enough
for education and health care. And it’s easy to turn that into an a
preachy slogan or bumper-sticker.
But at a certain point, everyone should admit that it is true.
RECENT BUCK NAKED POLITICS POSTINGS
- Iran: The Crackdown Continues & Rifts Deepen; a Young Woman, Shot Through the Heart, Becomes a Martyr (with Disturbing Video Footage)
- Bill Maher: New Rules + "Democrats are the New Republicans" (Why Progressives Need a Political Party)
- Bill Maher Interviews Hooman Majd on the Current Situation in Iran
- The Daily Show: Jon Interviews/Debates Mike Huckabee on Abortion (Unedited)
- Daschle Caves in on Public Health Insurance
- Does Olive Garden Need Boycotting?
- TPMtv's The Day in 100 Seconds (June 18, 2009) -- Iran'sTwitter-Driven Revolt
- Iran Clerics Call for Pro-Mousavi Rally; Mousavi Calls for Day of Morning & Protest
- Bush Emerges from His Lair to Criticize Obama's Policies to "Local Business Group" (with Illustrative Video on W's Deep Thoughts)
- Mike Madden: The Same GOPpers Who Wanted to Bomb Iran Now Want to Love Bomb Iran
AMERICA’S NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY!
It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.
STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.
We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.
And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.
Progressive democrats and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and demand that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).
Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.
In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!
Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD!
God Bless You
Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS
Posted by: jacksmith | June 22, 2009 at 11:47 PM