Health Care Reform - the morning after

[julie doceanie]

I was just out with the dog for our morning walk. I want to report: There was no dancing in the streets.

[vince]

..or rioting.

[Uncle $cam]

Meanwhile...

US weighs more troops for north Afghanistan: official
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100320/wl ... tomilitary

[Bruce Dazzling]

A commenter over at Cryptogon said it best:

"The No Insurance Company Left Behind Act, 2010."

[SanDiegoBuffGuy]

I'm not buying health insurance. And no one can make me.

[Simulist]

Health Care Reform - the morning after

This may be the "morning after," but the real hangover hasn't even begun.

[Maddy]

Isn't there a "morning after" pill for when accidents happen?

[ninakat]

The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed
By Chris Hedges
Posted on Mar 22, 2010

Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s decision to vote “yes” in Sunday’s House action on the health care bill, although he had sworn to oppose the legislation unless there was a public option, is a perfect example of why I would never be a politician. I respect Kucinich. As politicians go, he is about as good as they get, but he is still a politician. He has to run for office. He has to raise money. He has to placate the Democratic machine or risk retaliation and defeat. And so he signed on to a bill that will do nothing to ameliorate the suffering of many Americans, will force tens of millions of people to fork over a lot of money for a defective product and, in the end, will add to the ranks of our uninsured.

The claims made by the proponents of the bill are the usual deceptive corporate advertising. The bill will not expand coverage to 30 million uninsured, especially since government subsidies will not take effect until 2014. Families who cannot pay the high premiums, deductibles and co-payments, estimated to be between 15 and 18 percent of most family incomes, will have to default, increasing the number of uninsured. Insurance companies can unilaterally raise prices without ceilings or caps and monopolize local markets to shut out competitors. The $1.055 trillion spent over the next decade will add new layers of bureaucratic red tape to what is an unmanageable and ultimately unsustainable system.

The mendacity of the Democratic leadership in the face of this reality is staggering. Howard Dean, who is a doctor, said recently: “This is a vote about one thing: Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?” Here is a man who once championed the public option and now has sold his soul. What is the point in supporting him or any of the other Democrats? How much more craven can they get?

(more)

[Simulist]

What is the point in supporting him or any of the other Democrats? How much more craven can they get?

Indeed. What is the point?

[Sweejak]

The main features of the bill include hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, and the requirement that individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a fine, thus providing a new influx of cash-paying customers for private insurance companies. Businesses are under no obligation to provide their workers with insurance, paying only minimal fines if they do not.
The government and the corporations are to a large extent absolved of any responsibility for funding health care, and the working population made to foot the bill.
Those elements of the overhaul which, within the framework of American liberal politics, were proclaimed to be absolutely essential—such as the public option—were abandoned long ago. They were initially included as a fig leaf, to make it easier for Obama’s liberal supporters to sell the scheme to the American people.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar20 ... -m22.shtml

[Nordic]

On my Facebook page, several "friends" are virtually dancing in the streets over the passage of this.

These folks are the "Dailykos" - variety Democrats. They tow the company line, think the Dems tell them the truth, fall for all the bait. They're good people, but they just haven't delved into reality, like ever.

[StarmanSkye]

What REALLY floors me is how this sellout win for the insurance companies and Wall Street will be spun as the lefty Dems imposition of hateful Socialism on a resentful American society.

\It
Just
Boggles.

America looks like hostile occupied foreign territory more every day.
The global Imperium coming back to homebase to recreate its own corporate-technocracy image.

[23]

I'm not buying health insurance. And no one can make me.

They won't bother to try and make you, SDBG.

You'll just be another case for the IRS to extract a monetary penalty from you.

Either way, they have the upper hand.

[Sweejak]

I've had about 3 FB friends support this , or appear to, citing the need to keep pushing. Right, no one is going to want to touch this in a positive way for the rest of my life.
One of them cites this article by Krugman pitting Obama against Gingrich, and pointing to Mitt Romney's Massachusetts plan. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/opini ... an.html?hp

[ninakat]

What REALLY floors me is how this sellout win for the insurance companies and Wall Street will be spun as the lefty Dems imposition of hateful Socialism on a resentful American society.

That really floors me too, Starman. The spin from the right has been all about "socialism" whether it's the too-big-to-fail bailouts, healthcare, or fuck knows what else that Obama does that looks just like Bush -- but they just forget the rest of the phrase: socialism for the rich (i.e. socialism for the corporations) which is the same fascism their heroes on the far right pursue. But they don't see any of it. What they especially don't see is that Obama is right of center, just not far enough right of center I guess. Makes me ill to realize where all of this is heading. We've seen it coming for years -- now it's here and escalating. I commend Chris Hedges for trying to wake people up and get some real socialism happening, but I'm afraid I have zero hopes of any true solidarity, given the deeply entrenched divisions amongst The People. Some days I actually do have a little pity for the propagandized masses ("oh, you poor dears"). This isn't one of those days ("oh, you stupid sheeple").