The Rachel Maddow Show's August 18, 2009, "Parable of the Pizza Order and Health Care Reform," (link below) inspired me to offer a non-parabolic version of sorts, entitled, "By Partisanship."
In the past 5 years, America's health care insurance companies' profits rose 1000% while consumers saw their cost of insurance go up 200-300%. [1] More than 50% of the personal bankruptcies in the US are because of an individual's health care costs. Of those bankruptcies, more than 75% are people who do have health insurance.[2-footnote] On average, 14,000 Americans a day lose their health insurance.
So, something needs to be fixed, and even most Republican opponents of reform--including Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA), Rep. Mike Pense (IN)--recognize it and say so publicly.
The Obama Administration and the Democratic majority in Congress thought it would be grand to get a compromise health care reform bill that some Republicans could support, even though such support might not be absolutely necessary for legislative success, because for the most part, the President and the Democratic majority been elected in 2008 by fairly solid margins.
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