The Public Option is Dead...Long Live the Fear of Reform

[IndianaGreen]

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Public Option is Dead...Long Live the Fear of Reform

After Nancy Pelosi did her job in the House by pushing through the controversial but long-awaited public option, it was expected that the health care bill, as passed in the House, would have tough sledding in the Senate. Still, it was also expected to have some form of a public option present in the bill. Well, that plug got pulled. The public option is dead. It's gone. It's out of the bill, and Harry Reid killed it because he was so eager to please everyone.

When Republicans held the Congress, they didn't care about other people's feelings or what Democrats desired. They moved forward their agenda without any regard for any opposition. What they felt was important became law. Tax cuts for the richest Americans, billions of dollars for an unnecessary war, and more items than I can even mention here were placed into law. All the time, the real problems of this country were ignored. Wall Street ran roughshod over Main Street as the gap between rich and poor exploded into a chasm. Democrats waited in the wings for the right moment to rise back into power. The Republicans got greedy, and the voters got mad.

Riding anti-war sentiment, the Democrats were placed in power in 2006. Without a Democrat in the Oval Office, we were told, real change would never come. When things didn't improve, voters rewarded Dems with President Barack Obama and even bigger majorities in Congress. Dems were given marching orders...ENACT CHANGE! Instead, we've been given more of the same.

Sure, the Democrats have thrown us a bone here or there with things like hate crimes legislation that included LGBT and disability protections that has been signed into law. The War in Iraq is slowly de-escalating from an American point of view, and the strategy has changed in Afghanistan. President Obama has done an admirable job repairing the United States' reputation around the world and has emphasized that the United States foreign policy is no longer, "If you're not with us, you are against us."

The fundamental domestic change that Congress was given marching orders on in 2008 was to improve the economy and provide for health care for Americans. On both accords, the Democratic Congress and the Obama Administration have had mixed results. A big reason why is that I feel the Democrats have abandoned that mission the American voters sent to Washington for them to enact. Instead, they've given the obstructionists and the fear mongers too much credence and too much clout.

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2009/12/public-option-is-deadlong-live-fear-of.html

[Ken Burch]

1. But remember, the "details" made it ALL better.

:eyes:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Two recs here, and the one in GDP has already been unrecced more than once.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. Well Done

A sober, well expressed opinion! Thank you IG!

I tend to agree with most everyting you write. I am still very interested to know the exact details of the final bill. One thing you are absolutely right about is the stark difference in the way the GOP wields power in comparison with Democrats.

[ve7pnl]

4. Why so difficult?

I am writing from Canada - I moved here in 2000 from Washington state. I find it mind boggling how complicated the Health Care reform process has been in the US. As one of the primary goals of President Obama I am wondering why these various gangs of legislators have been left to cobble together such a huge and complicated scheme without at least a concise list of goals from the White House.

Here is what I would have expected:

The President invites in a lot of stakeholders.
They discuss the problems and work out solutions.
Obama puts some top people on the problem.
They have a few meetings. And then they put together the OBAMA Health Care proposal and send it to the House and Senate.
One bill. Clear language. With the President's seal of approval. And then they vote on it...

As it is, they appear to be going in many different directions getting an occasional nod or wink from the President.

I've read about 200 pages of the House bill, and 80 pages of the Senate bill.

For a good time, read the law that brought single payer health insurance to Canada.
It is 14 pages long. And that includes both the French and English language versions.

It is so very clear and simple compared with the convoluted legislation we have seen in the congress.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/C/C-6.pdf

This is my first posting here after visiting for a few months. Am I being stupid about this?

[IndianaGreen]

5. No, you are not being stupid about this. We are!

The Single Payer bill, Medicare for all, that Obama put off the table from the git go is only 30 pages long. The monstrosity our corporate-bought Congress is getting ready to unload on us is almost 3,000 pages long.

A majority of Americans are opposed to the war in Afghanistan. Our government goes ahead and escalates the war.

A majority of Americans support a public option. Our political elites kill the public option, but keep a mandate to force people to buy into a broken health system.

Things will never change for as long as Americans remain as the abused spouse in a relationship.

What America needs is our own version of a Bolivarian Revolution.