By the time a health care reform bill finally makes it to President Obama's desk in October, I'm going to need a therapist. I'm feeling uneasy. I have no confidence in the Democratic Party to accomplish anything. The fact that all interested parties have basically given up on the possibility of a single payer system is enough to make the process seem like another round of special interest roulette where the American people get screwed, Congress gets their campaigns financed and a handful of multinational corporations get all of our money and most of the rest of us die poor and in excruciating pain.
The status quo, which health care corporations are dumping tons of money into saving, is not just ineffective in that so many of us are uninsured, but it is also generates a great deal of fraud, unfairness and immorality.
Swimming Freestyle blogger Jay McDonough
writes, "A recent investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations found, in the last five years, WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled coverage for more than 20,000 people to avoid paying more than $300M in claims." We don't just need reform, we need the cops.
Even one of the beneficiaries of the stupefying wealth of the industry, former vice president for corporate communications at health insurance giant Cigna, Wendell Potter, motivated by his disgust at the wealth he, his company and his industry gained at the expense of his fellow Americans' health,
gave devastating testimony (
video) about the industry's behavior before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Here's a bit of Potter's testimony (h/t Jamie Court):
I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand -- or even to obtain -- information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world.
(full transcript here)
Despite the obvious fact that this country is crying out for coverage, too many of our legislators are trying as hard as they can to ignore the writing on the wall. The lengths to which some of our representatives are willing to go in order to preserve this unnecessary middle-man, this corporate interloper standing between us and our doctors smack of desperation.
One of the most transparent ruses being floated by members of Congress who are in bed with the health care industry is the "trigger," meaning that if the insurance industry doesn't cut costs by some preordained amount after a certain number of years, a public option will go into effect. This is simply a way for the insurance companies to buy time in hopes of getting a more friendly political playing field between now and the time the trigger goes into place, which is likely to be never because the language will be so vaguely written that the companies will be able to sue their way out of complying anyway.
In what must be a brilliant strategy by Barack Obama, John Kerry--who, as we recall from many prior misadventures, has the reverse Midas touch--is now proposing legislation that would trigger a public option in.... get this...
ten years! Clearly Obama is making Kerry the face man for the trigger option so that it will die the sad, fiery death of the Kerry/Edwards campaign.
Between now and October there's a very good chance that the Democrats will have managed to seat Al Franken in the Senate. That's important because there's
growing consensus that with 60 Senators the White House will be able to craft the best possible reform package in conference after the House and the Senate pass some version of a reform bill.
Even so, for the reasons stated above, waiting until the last minute to watch the White House and progressives in Congress try to pull out the big win gives reform advocates the willies. And my health care provider does not cover the willies. Well, my health care provider doesn't exist, but if it did exist, I highly doubt it would cover the willies or even a case of full blown heebie jeebies.
By the time a health care reform bill finally makes it to President Obama's desk in October, I'm going to need a therapist. I'm feeling uneasy. I have no confidence in the Democratic Party to accomplish anything. The fact that all interested parties have basically given up on the possibility of a single payer system is enough to make the process seem like another round of special interest roulette where the American people get screwed, Congress gets their campaigns financed and a handful of multinational corporations get all of our money and most of the rest of us die poor and in excruciating pain.
I'm beginning to think that I dreamed the entire 2008 election. Panicky Democratic Senators are bowing down before their Republican counterparts like it's fucking 2002. Every time I turn on Sunday television I see Newt Gingrich. What part of the word mandate do people in DC not understand? Bush won the 2004 election (I'm playing along) by 2.4% of the popular vote and the first words out of his mouth were, "Suck it bitches, MANDATE!" Obama kicked McCain's ass and every time he opens his mouth some scumbag from the last administration gets up, acts like he or she has a shred of credibility, then trashes whatever change Obama proposed. Instead of laughing their asses off, the media hires these people and listens to them. If the Roman Empire had Fox News they wouldn't have needed Huns.
Even the Washington Post is Republican Party-lining it like it's the eve of Shock and Awe. On Thursday, they fired Dan Froomkin. One day later, who do they hire? Droolie McCombsucker--Paul Wolfowitz. How the fuck is this possible? This jackass was one of the architects of the Iraq War. How did that work out? How does that line pop on a resume? And does anyone recall Wolfowitz being forced out of his deliciously evil job at the World Bank in the ugliest manner possible? Christ, Washington Post, why didn't you just hire Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales too and be done with it?
Absolutely fantastic Democracy Now! on Thursday was dedicated almost entirely to the life and times of American journalist I.F. Stone. Stone considered himself a Jeffersonian-Marxist. I find that digable.
Once again the blog Pasta Primavera points me to the good shit. The MP3 and the video are over there. The song is here:
Jenny stopped by Minnesota Public Radio's The Current last week and played a few songs.
