Those of you on Medicare, Medicaid, or with no insurance at all, please have at it. You have every right to chant "kill the bill"," say that it's a bailout for insurance companies, and call the rest of us sell-outs. So sorry I can't join you.
But how hypocritical would it be for me (or any of you who currently rely on a private insurance companies for yourself and/or family) to deny the same care we enjoy to 30 million uninsured Americans?
Yes, a public option would be better, but in the absence of that option I'm not going to risk the lives of my loved-ones to make a political point to the Democratic leadership. This bill gives over ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR in public subsidies to poor and sick people. Plus 50 billion more to the very poor. Oh, but it involves private insurance companies? Sorry you poor sick losers, but I have my ideological purity to preserve, but I'll be sure to think of you when I go in for my next privately insured checkup. And maybe I'll try to steal you a couple of sutures for when you foot falls off.
Look, you may not have a foot, but at least you don't have a mandate! We've saved you from having to live in some sort of mandate-crazy police state like Switzerland or the Netherlands or Germany. What? Since you are poor you would be exempted from the mandate penalty? What? You can't go to work with out your foot? Well sit tight and wait, because in 2021 we're really going to get this thing right. We're going to ORGANIZE and hire slick Mad Men types, just like the insurance companies do! I can't wait to see President Liz Cheney's face when we send Don Draper after her! Just keep your foot in the freezer until then.
I have to support this bill because of my conviction that we must do everything possible to expand health coverage to every American. This is the moral imperative. I don't know how it will play politically, but I often look to Nate Silver on these matters (he's seldom wrong). I'm sure others have posted his excellent 20 Questions for Bill Killers:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/...
P.S. I love you, Daily Kos. This is my premier diary. First-time/long-time, as they say. Sorry it's not better.