First, I am absolutely furious about this bill. I have obsessively followed the course of the bill over the past year, and the worst of it is that I KNEW THIS WAS COMING.
Deep down, I knew corporate power trumps public opinion, citizen activism, and virtually any other factor or combination of factors. Every time I checked the news, I looked to see if it was dumped yet.
You see, we've been down this road before...
When clinton came into office, they realized that the left had no where else to go. Our party is, by nature, less effective than the republicans. We're funded partially by the left, but mostly by corporations. That leaves a pretty diverse set of priorities within the party.
Well, Clinton pushed NAFTA promising labor (our strongest branch of the left back then -- and maybe now) promising a deal on forced labor (slavery), child labor and environmental standards soon afterwards. We are still waiting. The left was stripped naked in front of everyone when they were taken on that and still had nowhere else to go in 1996, and the results through the next years showed that.
So, how do I look at the choice in front of us now?
- The current bill looks a lot like this (from AHIP): http://www.americanhealthsolution.or...
- Combine guarantee-issue coverage with no pre-existing condition exclusions with an enforceable individual mandate:
- Create tax equity: Currently, individuals purchasing insurance on their own cannot deduct expenses for health insurance coverage unless total health care expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. This should be corrected to promote tax equity and help make health care more affordable whether coverage is obtained through an employer or the individual market.
- Create a broadly funded reimbursement mechanism to ensure a stable market: A broadly funded mechanism which spreads costs for high-risk individuals across a broader base needs to be put in place to ensure premium stability for those with existing coverage.
- Provide premium assistance to ensure coverage is affordable for lower-income individuals and working families:
- We are buying coverage at a high financial price, basically shifting wealth upwards in a very deliberate manner in exchange for ending a disgusting byproduct of our corrupt political system -- people dying needlessly because they are not rich.
- We will get rolled on any climate bill (paying an enormous financial price to polluters for their permission to begin to take action on something that we should have done 30 years ago), financial reform (that the banks will write), and any form of EFCA will probably strengthen management's hand.
- Our base will be crushed, and our electoral prospects with it. We will look weak, ineffective, and corrupt. And, I will have a hard time making calls to argue that isn't true. Support for the bill has also plummeted, as a new NBC poll finds -- as the left abandons it, too. The bill will be poison when the mandates kick in, without price controls. (Even if the price difference wouldn't be great, perceptions will be that we are being taken without a legit public option in the same price range -- Due to our own efforts!)
I still don't think Obama is a bad guy, just dealing with the corrupt realities of congress. But, with that said, the left will be stripped naked in front of corporate power that cannot be bothered to even fly to Washington to meet with the president that used our money to save their asses. (See: Bankers phone it in )
Obama, you are being exposed as WEAK, WEAK, WEAK!
This is a business run society, and they aren't even pretending to respect our only source of power anymore.
As I said, I'm disgusted -- in case you couldn't tell.
What a fucking disaster!