Okay, okay, I have been hearing a lot of talk about no public option for healthcare reform from the more fickle Congress members that make up the fine and mighty tapestry that is the Democratic Party. They are the ones I want to ask this question to the most.
If there is to be no public option, do you still plan on mandating insurance for every citizen?
Seriously, no public option, no insurance mandate.
Otherwise, that does not make much sense at all, except for the shareholders of the Health Trust, of course.
I remember when this first came under my radar, because I thought that it meant public option was in the bag for sure.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the President of the United States:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
THE PRESIDENT: I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that unless you have a what's called a single-payer system in which everybody is automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual, because there's always going to be somebody out there who thinks they're indestructible and doesn't want to get health care, doesn't bother getting health care, and then unfortunately when they get hit by a bus end up in the emergency room and the rest of us have to pay for it.
But that's not the overwhelming majority of Americans. The overwhelming majority of Americans want health care, but millions of them can't afford it. So the plan that has been -- that I've put forward and that what we're seeing in Congress would cover -- the estimates are at least 97 to 98 percent of Americans.
There might still be people left out there who, even though there's an individual mandate, even though they are required to purchase health insurance, might still not get it, or despite a lot of subsidies are still in such dire straits that it's still hard for them to afford it, and we may end up giving them some sort of hardship exemption.
Quickly two things:
- Yes, I am not an idiot, I know there is no bill to argue against right now
- Yes, I am also aware that Congress writes the bill that President Obama signs
However, it is quite obvious President Obama is pushing policy in this debate. I will not get into the debacle of giving away our purchasing power to the Health Trust last spring, but I want to make it perfectly clear that a mandate to buy insurance cannot be in the same bill that does not contain a public option.
That is beyond unacceptable. In fact, this is the exact opposite of the thing the American people sent this Congress to Washington to do.
Again, no public option, NO INSURANCE MANDATE.
Because then the mandate would fall to private insurance firms who are driving this crisis in open arms with the Health Trust. This would feed America to the very corporate wolves this reform was suppose to protect citizens from.
I was waiting to wade and weigh in on this debate when there was an actual bill. But watching the wiggling and squirming away by Democratic leaders from a firm and real public option raises grave concern if the insurance mandate will be left in.
America cannot find out afterwards that it was, this is a snowball best stopped at the top of the hill, not at the bottom.
Please make it clear that if there is no public option then there is to be no insurance mandate in the healthcare reform bill.
To do otherwise would be to get it so completely wrong that even satire will not serve it justice.
Because there will be no justice to be had.