Whatever health care reform bill is finally signed is going to help the uninsured about as much as the 2005 bankruptcy bill helped people who were struggling financially (and yes, there’s a lot of overlap between those two constituencies). What President Obama introduced tonight was the "Leper Plan" for the uninsured.
I watched President Obama's speech tonight in its entirety. If you didn't get a chance to catch it live, here's a link to the transcript (sorry, Fox is the only major news organization that had it online as of the time I wrote this). But you really need to watch the video to get the nuance, body language, and inflection. It's important. Here's why.
For the first 37 minutes of the speech, there was no mention of the phrase, "public option". When this insurance plan of last resort was finally mentioned, it seemed almost an afterthought, and in fact, it was almost like President Obama spat out these words:
OBAMA: And the insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just that, but an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, let me -- let me be clear.
(APPLAUSE)
Let me be clear, it would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance. In fact, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, we believe that less than 5 percent of Americans would sign up.
I listened to the speech live. It was as if he fairly spat those words out - "less than 5 percent of Americans" - like he was introducing The Leper Plan. Let's quickly do the math.
47 million people in America are uninsured. And you know what? I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt: in his speech, he used the figure "more than 30 million American citizens" when describing those of us who are uninsured. The implication? 17 million of the uninsured are non-citizens (wingnut translation: illegal brown people aliens or other foreign nationals who want to suck off the American teat). So, ok. We'll go with 30,000,000.
Five percent of 30 million is ... drumroll, please ... 1.5 million uninsured citizens who would qualify for a government sponsored public option in the "market exchange". And make no mistake about it (because President Obama didn't) - even those 1.5 million citizens wouldn't just be given the coverage, they'd still have to buy it.
There were no words about being our brother's keeper. There was no talk about a subsidy for those who couldn't afford to buy mandatory health insurance. Yes, Obama proposed a tax credit to offset the cost (presumably below a certain income level), but no subsidy or sliding scale.
And most importantly to those who are currently living on the knife's edge of health care: none of what he's proposing would kick in for four years. How many more lives will be lost, or life's work ruined, for those who have to wait another four years for access to basic health care?
Excuse me if this political progressive is unimpressed with the proposals that were put forth tonight. Feel free to correct me in the comments, but I heard very little in President Obama's speech that would lead me to believe that whatever health care plan is adopted will be little more than a tremendous boon for the insurance industry.
In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the moguls of the various parts of the health care industry were popping champagne corks tonight, and that AIG executives are burning the midnight oil to figure out how to get into the health insurance racket.
Whatever health care reform bill is finally signed is going to help the uninsured about as much as the 2005 bankruptcy bill helped people who were struggling financially (and yes, there's a lot of overlap between those two constituencies).
We deserve better. But at the very least, we deserve honesty, or (optionally) a 55 gallon drum of Astro-lube drop shipped to every citizen's doorstep.