Howard Dean has said it. Baruth has said it. Markos has said it. It seems to have dawned on everyone with the news this morning that nothing – nothing – progressive activists have fought for in the health care reform “compromise” that’s about to trump both the already passed (and currently being debated) Senate bill, as well as the House bill – will survive. All that will remain after all that work will be a bill essentially written by one man: Joe Lieberman.
And let’s be clear, he has done so with the full backing of the Obama administration. The denials trickled away as multiple sources confirmed that Obama attack dog Rahm Emanuel personally delivered marching orders to Senate Leader Harry Reid: give Lieberman whatever he wants. Consider this list from Firedoglake of what we’re looking to get:
1. Mandates every American buy expensive insurance from private companies without the choice of a public option
2. Severely taxes middle class health care plans, rather than wealthy individuals
3. Insurance premiums will increase in cost $1000 a year
4. Increased health care costs
5. Insurance companies will be exempt from anti-trust laws, inhibiting competition
6. A sweet, sweet deal for PhRMA with no ability to negotiate for Medicare drug prices
Monopolies granted on new biologic drugs so they will never become generics
7. NO public option
8. NO medicare expansion
I think many of us have independently had the epiphany today at all the bad news. For my part, I’ve been where I’ve been for months on this; a bill with an individual mandate and without a public option will make a bad system worse. I’d planned on writing this up this evening, and find myself just one of many, many voices spontaneously saying the same thing. The monstrosity barreling our way goes against Democratic Party principles. It goes against Republican Party principles. It is a Connecticut for Lieberman Party bill, recognizing only the “principle” of Joe exercising power, and Rahm getting some sort of twisted notch on his belt.
This is not better than nothing. This is worse than nothing. If the powers that be are determined not to deliver meaningful reform, then at least drop the mandates and some of the the regressive taxes and you’ll be left with a wimpy bill, sure – but that will be a bill better than nothing.
This thing should die. Senators Leahy and Sanders owe it to working and middle class Vermonters not to chain their limited incomes to the unchecked whims of the insurance companies. Both should step up and indicate that if the Lieberman bill comes to a vote, they will vote against cloture.
Bankers have won the Banking Bill.
King Coal has won the Energy Bill.
Big Pharma has won the Health Care Bill.
I thought we had an election way back in 2008 to usher in “Change”!
There is no other choice. (Whoops, I almost said “option.”)
The party MUST rein in the blue dogs and DINOs, or their chances in 2010 are toast. People are hopping mad about this, all along the political spectrum.
The political capital earned in the 2008 election is being squandered 6 ways to Sunday. It’s like watching sand pour through an hourglass, knowing that no one plans to turn the dang thing over before time runs out.
No one can vote for this pro-insurance, and extremely expensive bill that does not deliver health care — just insurance costs and medical bills that are unaffordable.
Seems like the bill should be killed – – except that there may be some good stuff in it that didn’t hit the headlines. I’m not expert on the subject and haven’t read the bill.
I think the discussion, in my mind and others has changed from pro bill to why shouldn’t it be scuttled?
So if it defeated – – or allowed to die – – what comes next?
To do a real overhaul job, you need stronger public support.
I think that in order to mobilize the masses you need to first change the way we pay for health care. If we had a bill that divorced health care from the workplace we would get that public support.
Businesses could increase pay to cover the amount that people would have to pay (and the amount they are no longer paying), but people would have to pay for their medical insurance themselves and they would see how all their pay increases go toward the increase in medical ins.
Then they may pay attention.
PJ
It is a sad day, we all had that glimmer of hope last week that some form of public option would make it and now…we are in a situation with mandated $$$ from every US citizen to the Insurance Corporations. What happened!?!?
Is there even a shot at gaining support for states rights and some sort of waiver so that individual states could go the route of a real system for the application of medical care and preventative care?
I find it very interesting that the best position now might well be to vote no so that there is more pressure in the future to do it right!
If there is one thing that I have learned in the legislature it is that once a bill gets momentum, it is rarely possible to stop it…no matter how bad it gets. The issue gets lost for the game of “success” regardless of whether the final language is even succesful. Along with that, once a “major” issue is tackled, that issue rarely sees the light of day for at least a few and often many cycles.
So if this passes we will not get another shot for quite some time.
I am hopeful with the new found momentum for H.100 and S.88 in the Vermont Statehouse. With the passage of Catamount a few years ago it seemed that any meaningful reform was going to be off the table for far longer. That was why I voted no. I hope I am proven wrong. Lets focus our organizing where we can have an impact, on the state level.
This is where we can really make a difference.
Granted, what we’re looking at now sucks. On the other hand, Sherrod Brown (D, Oh.) was on All Things Considered this afternoon talking about a lot of things that the bill still has that are worth enacting, including an end to preexisting condition exclusions, “no more women paying more than men for the same coverage”, no more lifetime caps.
Sure, if the bill passes in its current form we may have a hard time fixing it in the next five-ten years. On the other hand, what reason is there to think we have any better chance to pass something real in the next five-ten years if the bill is killed?
Yep. Just grease them a little bit and they fall apart like the crackers that they are.
acts like him too.
this display of support for nobody but the glutted insurance industry is brought to us by a Democratic majority in the Senate with a Democratic president.
The DC Dems would rather give us a MASSIVE middle and lower class tax increase in the form of forced payments to private insurance companies then they would do what a clear majority of US citizens want … an honest public option that would push down costs.
So yes … lieberman is an ass; but it’s the likes of surrender monkeys in chief Reid and Obama who are calling the shots (and don’t forget about their avid enablers and supporters: Sanders and Leahy).
The bigger question becomes what are YOU going to do now? Are you going to continue supporting candidates associated with a national political party that has proved to be no different in results than the radical right wing Republican Party?