Let me be Very Clear about my position on the HCR Bill. I don't support it.

berni_mccoy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Dec-22-09 04:22 PM
Original message

Let me be Very Clear about my position on the HCR Bill. I don't support it.

Edited on Tue Dec-22-09 04:38 PM by berni_mccoy

Many here claim to know my position on this because I would defend Democrats against the likes of Hamsher. To be clear, they don't.

My position on HCR has been consistent since Obama ran for President. I support Medicare For All but would accept a Public Option with reforms of the health insurance industry. For me, the House version of HCR is the minimum. The current Senate bill is simply some reform of the industry, with subsidies provided for those who can't afford it and clearly not enough for many who still won't be able to afford it. Does that mean it shouldn't pass? I'm leaning toward no. What disturbs me is that so many progressives are saying that this reform should pass. I need to understand that before I'm going to sign on as agreeing that it should pass. I doubt that I will be convinced for reasons not the least of which are the Abortion clauses or the fact that the PEC clause does not kick into effect for adults until 2014.

As I've posted before, I have a very personal connection to the issue (see my sig line). I have two children with chronic diseases. We pay more to medical insurance than we do for our home, our food and our savings and it still requires us to spend more than $6000 / year out of pocket. We also have reached our annual limit for medical supplies. As such, we have gone to DC to lobby our Congressional representatives on Health Care. I've written letters to the editor and supported them. I've volunteered for some of them. Despite posting on why I am passionate about this issue several times in the past, I'm still accused of being a paid shill for the insurance industry when I post topics that are hard to accept for some here.

But I will not go so far as to attack Democrats or to side with teabaggers, or to buy into the talking points the other side does for killing the health care bill. There are serious differences between teabaggers and us, one that cannot be overcome for even the sake of this issue. Are there reasonable people on the right? Certainly. But Fox News and their Teabaggers aren't the reasonable ones. I do not trust those who would level baseless attacks against Democrats, many who are Progressives, for supporting this bill. I trust that the Democrats supporting this bill see it as better than nothing. I don't see it that way and I've asked some to explain how it is. Some of their points ring true with me, some do not. But one thing that doesn't ring true is attacking them, on this forum or any other, with teabagger tactics and hypocritical stances.

Call me a cheerleader if you will. Hate me if you must. But I will not stand aside while unsubstantiated attacks are made against the people who are best able to serve our interests. And I sure as hell won't stand for people calling for the defeat of them (with the exception of Lieberman, who is not a Democrat and has betrayed the Democrats and his own constituents). In a similar way, I also won't defend the administration for attacking Dean. Dean may have overstated his position but the administration certainly made a mistake in focusing their response on him while they should have been lambasting Lieberman.