About Health Care

We on the left apparently have 2 positions on the health care debate:

1. Pass it even though it sucks,

or

2. Vote no because the bill is not what anyone wants.

Obama ran on health care, and touted the public option as the only way to control costs. I think just about everyone who voted for Obama knew he was settling for a public option because single payer would never pass. Democrats aren't stupid; we are self-defeating.

As Obama and the Democrats caved on everything to the insane right, the left apparently realized they had no cojones, and they had better try to get whatever Republicans would let them have. They forgot that Republicans won't let them have anything. We have to fight for it. But Obama wanted bipartisanship. So we ended up with a year-long fight.

There were some Progressives in Congress who stood up to the nonsense and presented a united front in favor of a public option: Weiner, Kucinich, Grayson, among others. They were considered fringe, even though the left (among others) wants exactly what they want--universal health care--but we decided to settle for a public option.

That was our first mistake.

Now we find ourselves making the last of the Progressives cave into the debacle that has become the health care reform debate (there is no debate about the need, just who will profit). And it isn't reform. And Kucinich caved, just like the rest of them.

Yeah, yeah, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Well, what we have is not good, and what we will get is not good; it's just less bad. And that is what Kucinich and Grayson and Nader and all the rest have been saying. But they are too far out on the fringe (except they are not) to take seriously. Even though they are correct that this bill is a disaster. Mark my words, the insurance companies will find a way around most provisions, especially those that don't take effect for a couple years.

We are doomed, but at least a few folks who don't have health insurance now will get it (and they will pay, because it will be the law). In their minds, going to the ER was a much better deal, I am sure.

We know that America needs universal, single payer health care. We know it, but won't do it.

We know Bush, Cheney and the rest lied and tortured, but we won't prosecute.

We know they spied illegally and sent prisoners away to black sites for even worse torture, but we will do nothing.

We know the banks are stealing from us, but we will do nothing.

What is the point of living here? America, the greatest country in the world? You decide.

Kucinich should vote no. He said he would. But now he feels like he has to help Obama, or something. Voting for Obama is turning out to be something of a mistake. Would Hillary have been better? Probably. Oh hindsight.

I am so tired of Democrats trying to be reasonable. Reason is not what drives most people. We need less reason and more "vim and vigor," based on reason. We need to match Republican resolve. We need to fight with the same weapons, and reason is NOT a Republican weapon.

Democrats fucked this thing up. Now it's Hamsher v. Moulitsas. Hamsher is our conscience--she fights for what we need, deserve and actually want. Moulitsas is now, and I guess it's kind of funny, the establishment, arguing for what we can get.

We need to be both Firedogs and Kossaks.

Maybe Next time.

Kucinich Explains His "No" Vote On Health Care

“We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

“Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.

“But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies — a bailout under a blue cross.

“By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress’ blog, Think Progress, states “since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.” Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that “money will start flowing in again” to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy.

“During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The “robust public option” which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.

“Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks’ hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy -- in which most Americans live -- the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street.

“This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.

“Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America’s businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals.” [emphasis mine]

The Cleveland Leader

Kucinich On Health Care Bill: "It's Killing The American People"

Dennis Kucinich: Is This The Best We Can Do? Updated

Update: More from The Health Care Blog:

So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests, our representatives have obligated themselves to their benefactors' interests rather than to those of the American people. More than 3,330 health care lobbyists - six for every member of Congress - contributed more than one-quarter of a billion dollars in the first and second quarters of 2009. A nearly equal amount has been contributed on this issue from non-health care organizations. This exchange of money prompted a Public Citizen lobbyist to comment, "A person can reach no other conclusion than this is a quid pro quo [this for that] activity."

More at the link.