If Obama is a Corporate Stooge

[dem mba]

than why did he initiate this health care reform at all? Why not just kick the can down the road since the status quo is already so profitable? He didn't have to fix this thing you know, he could have concentrated on economic recovery, Iraq and Afghanistan, and any number of other things.

So for everyone posting about how big a Corporate Shill Obama "really" is (because only you know the REAL Obama) than why did he launch this reform and waste all this political capital in the first place?

I know you'll say health care and pharma stocks are at yearly highs, well, lots of stocks are at yearly highs. You aren't telling me anything with statements like that.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/22/markets/markets_newyork/

What am I missing? I see Obama kind of like Lincoln in the sense that Lincoln famously equivocated on slavery with his "if we can preserve the union without slavery, fine. if we can preserve the union with slavery, whatevs." i'm paraphrasing, but Obama is like this with single payer/universal healthcare. If we can reform health care with single payer, cool. if not, oh well.

i just don't see him as this corporatist tool that many on DU see him as.

[Justyce]

1. This "reform" directly benefits insurance corporations. nt

[Echo In Light]

13. And there it is. Plus it fit the new, substanceless, 'friendlier' image US elites needed after Bush

[Junkdrawer]

2. Because, without individual mandates, health insurance was becoming too expensive...

for the vast majority of the insurer's customer base.

[phasma ex machina]

12. +1 AKA "the death spiral." Curable only with new funding from healthy young people. nt

[Junkdrawer]

16. And even then it's debatable that it will work....

Until we address fee-for-service, costs will continue to escalate.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Because this 'reform' will make things better for the corporations and worse for us

that's why

[Bonn1997]

9. Exactly. He's just repaying them for all the contributions they've given him. I thought he'd

advocate for real reform but in retrospect, I can't believe I actually expected someone who had accepted several million dollars from insurance lobbyists to reform the industry.

[zbdent]

4. If he's such a corporate stooge ...

how come the corporations are lined up with all the $$$ funding the attacks on him, and fighting tooth and nail what he tries to do?

[EFerrari]

14. What makes you think they are?

Study Reveals “Revolving Door” Between Capitol Hill Staffers and Healthcare Lobbyists

A new study on healthcare lobbying published in the Chicago Tribune has found that healthcare companies have spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years. At least 166 former congressional aides involved in shaping healthcare legislation have registered to lobby for healthcare companies. This includes at least fourteen former aides to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and at least thirteen former aides to Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the chair of the Finance Committee.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/22/study_revolving_door_between_capitol_hill

Not only are they not fighting him tooth and claw but a lot of former Democratic aides got on the gravy train.

[dem mba]

25. this is the same for every industry

telecommunications, transportation, housing, etc. nothing unique regarding this and health care.

[AndyA]

5. Follow the money. Who is profiting most from these changes?

That will provide your answer. (The health insurance corporations are set to profit big time from this. Check their stock price over the last couple of weeks.)

[dem mba]

26. did you even read my post

lots of stocks in various industries are up. that means nothing.

[AndyA]

29. Health care stocks are up more than most.

Certainly more than the average.

Health-care stocks are enjoying a day in the sun this week, with traders breathing a sigh of relief that Washington's debate over an industry overhaul is nearing an end.

Analysts describe the reaction as part elation at the details of the bill taking final shape in the Senate, especially its lack of a publicly funded insurance option to compete with private-sector providers.

Nothing indeed. :eyes:

[goclark]

6. You are not missing anything

You get it!

[ixion]

7. why: To provide revenue to insurance companies

I think that is rather obvious, just like it is that he is a stooge.

[closeupready]

8. Taking up the HCR banner helped establish some street cred against Hillary

who had attempted it before.

[DebbieCDC]

10. Kick the can down the road = no 30 million new forced enrollees into existing Big Insurance

Not so hard to understand is it?

And it's NEVER profitable enough for the insurance companies.

And he hasn't "fixed this thing" to use your term.

[kenny blankenship]

11. He didn't initiate it. WE initiated it.

Think back to the beginning of the Democratic Primary season.
Obama didn't have anything you could call a health care reform proposal when he began his Presidential bid. He got shamed into acquiring a plan by the other primary candidates who had plans. Hillary had a plan but fleshed out the financial details by borrowing Edwards' details on that topic, Obama had no plan but borrowed it from Hillary, with the twist that he was harshly critical of the individual mandate idea. Democratic Primary voters were the ones who put health care at the top of the agenda. After running with a domestic agenda centerpiece of health care reform, including a public sector replacement for failed private sector insurance, Obama could hardly drop health care reform without a word. However, he flip flopped on TWO major elements of the reform, changing from opposed to approving on the individual mandate, and from approving to opposed on the Public Option. President Obama sternly rejects candidate Obama's proposal, but hey, "whatevs" is good enough for idiots and chumps.

[dem mba]

28. interesting quote i found

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/us/politics/12health.html?_r=1&hp

For Mr. Obama, the White House meeting was an opportunity to showcase his consensus-building approach, in contrast with the confrontational style of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who at this point in her husband’s first term attacked “price gouging, cost shifting and unconscionable profiteering” by the industry in a speech to union members.

Mr. Obama is not cracking the whip on the health care industry so much as wooing it, just as he said he would in the campaign.

[OHdem10]

15. Duh!!! This bill is a Corporatists Dream.

[JVS]

17. Is the status quo that good for insurers, given that the baby boomers are about to turn 65?

[T Wolf]

18. Of course it is. At 65, the boomers are foisted off on the federal government (read - taxpayers)

while the insurance corps get 40 million new, healthy customers who will be forced to buy their policies but who will not use many of their resources.

A huge gain for the parasites.

[JVS]

23. You're talking about the soon to happen future, the "reform", but look at what's going on now

The industry need the reform to survive.

"But this time, it turns out, the health insurance industry has good reason to support at least some change: It needs it.

Private health insurance faces a bleak future if the proposal they champion most vigorously -- a requirement that everyone buy medical coverage -- is not adopted.

The customer base for private insurance has slipped since 2000, when soaring premiums began driving people out. The recession has accelerated the problem. But even after the economy recovers, the downward spiral is expected to continue for years as baby boomers become eligible for Medicare -- and stop buying private insurance.

Insurers do not embrace all of the healthcare restructuring proposals. But they are fighting hard for a purchase requirement, sweetened with taxpayer-funded subsidies for customers who can't afford it, and enforced with fines.

Such a so-called individual mandate amounts to a huge booster shot for health insurers, which would serve up millions of new customers almost overnight."



http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-healthcare7

[branders seine]

19. at their secret meetings in Jan-Feb 09, the insurance CEOs

informed him what they wanted their big giveaway to look like.

They planned this long ago--well before he was elected.

[NJmaverick]

20. Those are very good questions

for which I have yet to see a good answer.

[seeinfweggos]

21. anyone who calls obama such doesn't live in the real world and certainly isn't a democrat

for the most part they are folks who can safely shriek 'kill the bill' and align themselves with tea baggers because mommy and daddy pay for their insurance.

[EFerrari]

22. This probably sounds nannyish but could we please not call the president a stooge?

It degrades him, the office and our discussion. Just a request.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[optimator]

27. thats like asking : if obama is such a warmonger why did he expand war

duh