Howard Dean has been watching the twists and turns in U.S. health-care reform very closely, and he's not happy with what he's been seeing.
Here's what he had to say on MSNBC last night before interviewing fellow Vermont politician Senator Bernie Sanders:
"With the Senate now less than a week away from debating health-care reform, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now has a choice: stand firm on the public option or compromise it to get something passed.
"Those on the compromise side argue that we should just let the bill pass without a public option so we can get all of the good insurance reform that's in the bill. But there's a dirty little secret about this: The insurance reform is gone.
"In order to have insurance reform, you need two things. The first is making sure insurance companies can't turn you down for any reason. That's called guaranteed issue, and that's in the bill. But that's only effective if the coverage is affordable, and that's not in the bill.
"As the bill is written now, the insurance companies will still be allowed to gouge their customers if they have illnesses, to charge you two or three times what your neighbour gets charged.
"A lot of the insurance reform in this bill is gone. The only real reform that's left is the public option. And if that's compromised away, this bill is no longer health-care reform -- it's just a huge gift to the health insurance industry from the very same people who bailed AIG out, the American taxpayers."
U.S. health-care reform is a long, winding, confounding road. And these days I'm not sure it's leading to a very nice place.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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10 comments:
Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Rich Trumka, Russ Feingold, Richard Grayson and Anthony Weiner are the only ones in the public sphere telling it like it is and pulling no punches whatsoever on Health Care Reform. More people in government need to follow their example and stop being so mealy mouthed about this.
-SJ
I'm with both you guys on this one. It's gettin' kinda ugly out there, and the bumpy ride is caused strictly by the greedy insurance companies every step of the way. That they have bought out all the Republicans and so many of the Democrats is proof positive how corrupt and vile our government has become.
Nice catch Stimpson!
Something to mull, esp. today. Email campaign starts for me on Friday and Monday I'm calling the Reps & Senators and White House. I do regular...they's all on speed dial. :_)
Happy Turkey Day STimpson! Great catch!
Those last two sentences are the key.
SJ, you neglected to mention Sanders.
Jack, I believe the lack of party discipline in the U.S. Congress gives lobbyists more influence than they have in Canada or Britain. Maybe I'll expand on that thought in a future post.
Gwen: Thanks for the TD wishes, but we Canucks had Thanksgiving in October. :-)
Yea, we're going to get stuck with a severely watered down bill that is NOT revolutionary in the least.
I don't like it. There are a bunch of pansy assed politicians ready to bend over at the slightest provocation on the democratic side of the aisle. You can bet that the repubs 4 yrs ago would never have caved the way these piss ants politicians are giving in. Pitiful.
The worse case senario would be if no bill passed. If healthcare reformed was a total failure during this session, Obama and his future agenda would be severely hobbled. It could possibly doom his administration.
Something HAS to pass.
I believe the only reason healthcare reform of any kind is being held up is because the average persons out here are so busy doing other things that they deem more important.Some of those things are keeping a roof over their families head,food in the fridge and gas in the car.
The day to day antics of Washington politics don't move their shock meter.
And the politicans understand this better then the people and exploit it to their benifit.
I agree that something has to pass, BUT not if the tax payer will have to fund another billion dollar bailout. We are already bankrupt. We owe billions of dollars to the chinese and the deficit is out of control. How can we in good conscience think of a health reform that will include millions of dollars of bail out to insurance companies???? Where has common sense gone? It is outrageous.
If we can't get a string public option, we'd be better to put the insurance reform back in, subsidize those who cannot afford it, and remove the mandate that requires those who can afford it but don't want it to buy it.
Yes, TomCat, it would hardly seem fair and right to require people to buy from the brigands of the health-insurance industry.
I suppose, as Sagacious says, that something has to pass or the opportunity will be lost for years. But still, a gift to the insurance industry seems unacceptable and not at all reform.
And ya know, Bigmac, I guess the grassroots majority lacks its sane equivalent to Glenn Beck with a rousing rally cry.
If I think about this too much, I feel glum.
I'm looking forward to your take on party loyalty Stimpson. There's a time for "maverickism" and a time to circle the wagons. This is time to circle the wagons. National health insurance is far more important than being able to throw one's chest out and boast about being a maverick.
And it would stick it to republicans which always puts a smile on my face.
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