It's time to kill this bill. We watched while the public option got taken out, while affordable medicines were jettisoned and now those greedy insurance companies get to keep their beloved "pre-existing conditions"? The only thing that seems to be left is a mandate that every American be in thrall to the insurance industry the rest of his or her life. Screw that!
Why are they even moving ahead with this turd of a bill? As the NY Times says "(to) provide political cover to Democrats, who said they could not simply drop the issue after spending so much time and effort on it." That's really good, eh? The Democratic Party leadership wimps out on everything that was good about this bill and now is willing to screw over every hardworking American just so that they don't lose face. It's time to kill this bill and to vote these losers out on their butts. I don't care if the Democrats I help elect to office are born with balls or not, but I sure as hell expect them to act like they have a pair when they are working on my behalf. It's time these wimps go clear brush somewhere.
From AmericaBlog:
Joe and I saw this coming two days ago. And unfortunately it's looking increasingly like we were right.
A day after former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is elevated to a more senior adviser status at the White House and the DNC, Plouffe pens an op ed in the Washington Post in which he seems to suggest that much of President Obama's promise to ban pre-existing conditions is now being jettisoned. Plouffe wrote in the op ed, which was certainly cleared with the White House, if not written by them:
Parents won't have to worry their children will be denied coverage just because they have a preexisting condition.
Their children? The original promise - even the bad Senate bill - protects everyone, of any age, from being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Now it's just children?...
It would sure be one hell of a coincidence if Plouffe, on behalf of the White House, is now talking about kids being protected from pre-existing conditions when the growing chatter in town is that only kids may now be protected from pre-existing conditions - that the rest of us are about to get tossed under the Martha Coakley bus.
From Pam's House Blend
No final decisions have been made, but the White House is floating a nastygram balloon for all of us out there who have pre-existing conditions and know how health insurance companies have gotten away with murder denying people coverage. And this was one of the primary reasons reform is needed in the system.
From the NYT:
* Insurers could not deny coverage to children under the age of 19 on account of pre-existing medical conditions.
I fail to understand why there is a lack of support, other than being bought off by the insurance companies, for barring denial of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The fact is that for those who cannot receive their medications to treat chronic health issues, will end up getting care in the ER, where it is most expensive, or, they'll simply die. I suppose that's one way to keep costs low -- the GOP way.