Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Kill This B.S. Healthcare Bill

I will not be mandated by the United States Government to purchase bull shit private health insurance the fattens the wallet of some of the most corrupt entities in this country. I will not pay a yearly fine of $750 dollars because I refuse. I'd go to jail over this if the mandate wasn't illegal as fuck.

And I'm so sick of hearing "there's enough good in this bill....'' Bull-Fucking-Shit. This bill was written by conservative Dems and Republicans. The Progressives (You know, the ones who got Obama and all Congressional Dems elected) were royally ass fucked on this deal and pretty much treated like children.

Obama has ensured that we lose one of the Chambers in 2010. When that happens, it is pretty much over as nothing will pass and in 2012, President Palin will take office.

I couldn't be more disgusted with someone I once so admired.

KILL THIS SHITTY BILL.

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AMERICAblog News: The GOP had at most 55 Senators during Bush's presidency:

"And one final point. What do you think is going to happen if, during the House-Senate conference, a combined bill is returned to the Senate that even vaguely improves upon the garbage they're currently debating? Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Evan Bayh will threaten the same filibuster. We're not getting anything better than the crap they just came up with last night. It's over. The next three years are going to be about mediocrity, broken promises, and striving for second best. That's not the America I grew up in. And it's not what I voted for, or was promised."
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Open Left:: Joe Lieberman's Healthcare Bill Is Worse Than Nothing. Kill It.:

"The first rule of medicine is, 'Do no harm.' The post-Joe Lieberman version of the Senate healthcare bill fails that basic criterion. Unless Democratic leadership steps up to fix this misguided proposal, our only recourse will be to kill it.

The fundamental failing of the newest Senate proposal is that it requires individuals to purchase health insurance, but does nothing to rein in what insurance companies charge. There is nothing to stop spiraling health costs from eating up an ever-increasing percentage of our national productivity.

The House bill has two major cost-control mechanisms: the public option and the 85% medical-loss ratio requirement. The Senate bill is on track to have neither, and nothing new to replace them. The Senate bill is a recipe for national disaster. If it's that bill or nothing, I prefer nothing.

We all know America's current healthcare system is failing -- and it's failing everyone, not just the uninsured. It is far too expensive: Americans spend 16% of GDP on"
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Daily Kos: why today made me disgusted to read daily kos - UPDATED

1. Losing the public option doesn't change the bill that much
Maybe, but it sure does kill the enthusiasm of the Democratic base, including a record number of first time and young voters who only participated because of hope for change. Losing either chamber will mean the next 2 years will be even more ridiculous than the last 2, and Obama will be fighting for his political life in 2012.

2. The health care bill is still a tremendous piece of legislation for liberals - Sure, if the year was 1968. But sorry, in 2009 we can look to several other countries that have systems that put ours to shame. And perpetuating the antitrust exemption and the mere concept that profit trumps care when it comes to health coverage is a travesty.

3. The individual mandate will not bring about armageddon. - Yes, it will, because it's unconstitutional and there are MANY, including myself, who will go to court to challenge the notion that the federal government can force me to buy a product from a for-profit company protected by an antitrust exemption. The entire premise is ludicrous.

4. Working against this bill is an absolutely disgusting display of political ignorance - As is pretending that there won't be serious repercussions for essentially abandoning your base on an issue that has been a prominent plank in your party's platform for generations. We all know by now what reconciliation is. THERE WERE ALWAYS 51 VOTES. IF YOU'RE GOING TO SIT THERE AND TELL ME THAT THE REPUBLICANS CAN USE RECONCILIATION TO PASS GOD DAMN TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH, BUT DEMOCRATS DON'T HAVE THE COURAGE TO USE IT TO PASS MEANINGFUL, BENEFICIAL HEALTH COVERAGE REFORM, THEN YOU BETTER BELIEVE BY GOD I'M GOING TO STAY HOME IN NOVEMBER 2010.

Furthermore, if you somehow believe that smarmy asshole Joe Lieberman isn't going to oppose every single piece of legislation he deems as too "liberal" just to settle a score from 2006, you're a fool. When he gets what he wants here, he'll know he can do it over and over again, without consequence. It's time to stop rewarding bad behavior and kick him out of the caucus, once and for all.

I can't be on board with passing a bad bill (yes, it is a bad bill) not only because the legislation is weak but the process is indicative of a larger problem - this hasn't been about compromises, it's been about capitulation. WE STILL NEED BETTER DEMOCRATS.

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Daily Kos: My Letter to My Congresswoman

  1. The bill has an individual mandate. When President Obama first ran for office, he opposed this idea. Now, it is in both the House and Senate bills. But the good thing about the House bill was that there were ways to control premium increases. With the Senate bill, every person in Brooklyn will be required to buy health insurance with no way to control the price increases that will occur year after year. Especially if they have a pre-existing condition. While they wont be denied coverage, the coverage offered will be far outside their means. The subsidy will have little effect.
  1. The Senate bill has no public option. With the individual mandate in place, the people of our district, many of whom are struggling new arrivals from the islands just like our parents, will be forced to purchase insurance they can't afford. Because the insurance companies will face no competition from an honest plan, there is nothing to stop them from raising prices beyond what the subsidy will cover.
  1. The Senate bill has no antitrust provision. In most states, although not New York thankfully, health insurance is a near monopoly. There is no regulator to break up this monopoly because the health insurance industry is exempt from antitrust regulation. This is what also allows the industry to engage in some of the worst anti-competitive practices of any industry in America. Again, no competition equals bad for consumers.
  1. The Senate bill has no free choice provision. This bill leaves in place the employer-based health insurance system and gives most consumers no choice of provider, weakening competition further. Those people and businesses will continue to see premium increases.
  1. The Senate included the Republican "buy across state lines" provision. This is the worst possible idea in the bill. It will allow the worst possible junk health insurance from an unregulated backwater like Oklahoma to be sold in Brooklyn with no regulation allowed from our State and City authorities. People will see this as attractive in order to avoid being penalized under the mandate. But this insurance will come with extremely high deductibles and no lifetime cap on out of pocket costs. Essentially, people will be paying for insurance that wont be there when they get sick.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Missouri we are forced to buy minimum auto insurance coverage . . . of course the distinction there is that driving is a privilege. It appears some individuals, on both sides of the aisle, believe that life is also a privilege.

I agree with your conclusion that Republicans will probably take control of the house in 2010- largely in part to what I perceive as the President's inconsistent application of campaign promises he built himself on, i.e. health care, war and transparancy.

CLA

Jez said...

Yeah, JPW, I am with you. How the hell did the country get this far with this kind of bullshit? I am certainly baffled at this turn of events.

If I didn't have a good job or like my house so much and where I live, I would be definitely putting my energy into moving to a Scandinavian country.

AAW said...

Yeah, the auto insurance argument is apples to oranges in comparison. You are not required to purchase a car. We are all required to have 'health'.

All I'm asking for is a fair purchasing field and by every study imaginable the Public Option is the only way to go (really, single payer, but God forbid we eliminate blood sucking insurance corporations. Fucking welfare kings).

ConservaDems and Repubs definitely believe that life is a privilege afforded only to them. There's a special place in hell for those bastards.

He's done what he said he'd do on the war in Afghan. I've no issue there. And he is opening up transparency. Kept his promise there, too.

But he's throwing the game on health care and in turn taking all of my and all other progressives hard work over the past two year and rendering it meaningless.

Policy and politics are involved. Our side will not be inspired to vote in 10 and that pisses me off more than anything. Just going to hand it all back to the loons.

AAW said...

I don't have any of those things, Jez, but if you've got a line on how to move there, hook me up.

I'm gutted at the moment. This was the biggest sell out in the history of the world.