So you thought we were almost there? You thought we might get true HCR? Ha Ha. Lucy snatched it away almost before we got to the kicking part.
First we had four committee lay down a very good pathway to good HCR. Not perfect. The timelines were iffy, the numbers weren't totally as they should be, either for the numbers that were to enjoy security in being insured nor for the way they structured that good old public option. But the fifth committee gave us a clue about how the thing would really really go. These good ole boys in the Senate got their heads together and closed ranks around freezing out the PO and laying on the lard to the Ins. cos. They had good reasons for what they did. Lots of money on the line and lots of prestige on the line. And they knew we were watching.
I cannot figure how to embed the cartoon but you can get the link here:
Lucy again foils Charlie
They did a masterful job in the end with the senate maneuvering and now the house version. They gave themselves lots of cover in what they did and how they did it. And they have plausible deniability and they can say they tried their utmost but the system was just too difficult to get through too much reform all at once.
And during this time, we saw corporate monies being used quite profligately in lobbying both congress and citizenry. We saw BC with its possibly illegal postcards and letters to its customers. We saw our congresscritters raking in the dough hand over fist. Almost as if they created the issue to drive the money their way. That money comes out of our insurance premiums, btw. We are paying for our own demise, as it were. And we will pay again, through the nose, when this monster passes because of the gifts to that same insurance industry and drug cartels. And the top CEOs will not be taxed much at all with this bill. Just us, the shrinking middle. And no savings will be had. Premiums will still go up and we can expect them to double in the next ten years.
And we also saw the progressives get stiffed and the blue dogs get rewarded. The little lady repub from back east will do fine. LIEberman will enjoy a great retirement from the senate in a couple of years and become a lobbyist for the ins cos. And in the meantime he will keep his kennel, er sorry, chairmanship. And the Senate will pat each other on the back for working so hard for the American Way (which includes skimming theirs off the backs of taxpayers for great bennies). And Obama and Rahm will congratulate themselves for having gotten a bill (and will probably not even notice how unlike the bill is to what Obama promised.)
True, it is not over until the fat lady sings, so I ask you these questions.