Supporting this law sometimes seems unpopular here these days and I'm sure I'll catch flak for not being a true progressive and whatnot. But 1 in 6 Americans are uninsured, and this law will (for the first time in history):
*Make government take some responsibility for every American's health care
*Insure 32 million people
*Establish premium caps and subsidize premiums for incomes of up to 400% poverty
*Expand Medicaid coverage to everyone with incomes of up to 133% poverty
*Establish an employer mandate
*Close the Medicare Part D donut hole
*Ban insurers from rescission, discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, and lifetime limits
*Impose loss ratios of 85% or higher on non-profit insurers
*Implement initiatives to improve quality and reduce costs in health care delivery
*And the list goes on
Almost everyone on DKos (including me) wants a public option or single payer, but when people here say they don't care or even want this law to get repealed or overturned, do they think none of the above is worth keeping? It was a FREAKING MIRACLE that this law got passed. So in case people have forgotten, below is a quick recap of what the Democrats faced just a year or two ago to get these reforms:
Chaos and violence at the town hall meetings
Rep. Kathy Castor town hall:
Rep. Lloyd Doggett town hall:
Sen. Arlen Specter town hall:
Rep. Tim Bishop town hall (later he had to be escorted away by police)
Many of these harassment strategies at town halls were detailed in a right wing memo entitled "Rocking the Town Halls--Best Practices." Right wing groups were funding and busing the crazies to the town halls.
Vandalism
Monroe County Democratic HQ vandalized:
Sedgwick County Democratic HQ vandalized:
Rep. Gabby Gifford's office vandalized:
Other incidents included the vandalism of Rep. Louise Slaughter's office and the Hamilton County Democratic HQ office.
Threats and intimidation
From the Code Red Tea Party Rally in DC:
A note attached to a brick thrown through a Democratic office window:
* Speaker Pelosi, Reps Tom Perriello, John Boccieri, Kathy Dahlkemper, Bart Stupak, Betsey Markey, Frank Kratovil, Steve Driehaus, among others had all received death threats, and many of their families also received death threats
* Rep. Tom Perriello's brother had his home's gas lines severed
* Rep. John Boccieri was threatened with arson of his house
* Rep. Driehaus' home address was revealed by a conservative web newsletter, and it called for right wingers to stage a protest at his house. John Boehner said of Driehaus, "He may be a dead man. He can’t go home to the west side of Cincinnati."
* Rep. Bart Stupak received over fifty threats on his life and his wife was forced to disconnect all their home phones due to obscene threats
* A death threat letter with white powder was mailed to Rep. Anthony Weiner's office after HCR passed
* Protesters brought guns and assault rifles to two of Pres. Obama's town hall meetings
* A gun was brought to one of Rep. Gabby Gifford's town hall meetings
* A gun was brought to one of Rep. Steve Cohen's town hall meetings
In the midst of all this, conservative politicians were using charged rhetoric, and the conservative media and blogosphere were inciting people to violence. From death panels to "more people dying than living because of this law", conservative politicians and media were telling people this law would destroy their whole way of life.
Protesters harassing lawmakers on the day of the vote:
First off, law enforcement has to protect elected officials and prosecute people who make death threats against them effectively, or else this kind of political intimidation will happen again and again.
Secondly, I'm so sick of hearing the "Democrats suck" with regard to this law. Yes, fake Dems like Max Baucus refused to allow the public option out of the Senate Finance Committee, and fake Dem senators kept us below the 50 votes needed for PO reconciliation, but they don't represent the entire Democratic party. The majority of Democrats we elected in 2008 fought the good fight, and wanted to take the once in a lifetime opportunity to finally do something on health care in spite of the fake Dems trying their damndest to block at every turn. Nancy Pelosi and the House Progressives fought like hell for a strong PO, but when the fake Dems killed it, they fought like hell to keep HCR alive and get to 217. Harry Reid had 59 "Dems", one Joe Lieberman, and zero margin for error in getting to 60. This law was the best they could do, and they did it because they believed the good in this law was still worth passing. It's always harder to make legislation than block it.
Some people act like this law's worth less than crap and passing it was some easy and selfish thing to do. A lot of the congresspeople mentioned above lost their jobs in part because of their vote, and made a courageous decision to vote for it anyway in spite of death threats because they believed it was the necessary and right thing to do, and we should commend and thank them for what they did. If they had known that some Democrats would think this law was worse than doing nothing, then they might as well have just taken the easy route and done nothing.
Progress is REALLY HARD, and with HCR, we saw the full, vicious, ruthless force of the conservative media and entrenched interests throwing the kitchen sink at this law. While the progress in this law is not enough, it was hard fought. I understand people not being happy with this law. I am one of them and have posted here numerous times about what is wrong in it, but to call it "a Republican plan" or the like is mind blowing. Zero Republicans voted for it and they all want to overturn it. Republicans have passed HCR (even just through a chamber of Congress)...uh...never. There are 50 million people and counting uninsured, this law makes progress on that, and hopefully we can build/make changes to this law. The "Let's abandon this law so that we can wait another 50 years and hopefully (knock on wood!!!) get single payer then, that'll show the insurance companies!" isn't a good idea, in my humble opinion.