Health Care sell-out by Obama

Politics

Unless someone can give me some reasons not to do so, my recommendation is that we all call or write our Senators and tell them to vote no on the currently proposed health care bill. I know that Obama wants it passing with whatever is in it as a feather in his cap. I know they say pass it now, and it will be fixed later. *taking a deep breath to lower my blood pressure* If this health care reform is to pass, it must be without a mandate given how they have gutted any measure to control costs. Basically it is currently a give away to insurance companies.

Obama has kept in the background, not fought for a public option, denied any chance for single payer, worked to deny Americans the opportunity to buy cheaper prescriptions from Canada, and now let Joe Lieberman be the fall guy for blocking any type of public option. This reminds me a lot of what Ingineer said awhile back about maybe McChrystal was saying publicly what Obama wanted said. It is underhanded, disgusting, but all too possible in politics.

Obama wants bragging rights that he got a bill passed when no other president could. This bill is not for health care. It's for profits for the insurance conglomerates as in forcing all Americans to buy insurance with no limits on costs, the percentage of our GNP it is taking today is about to go up. It is basically a tax going straight to the insurance companies' pockets.

Ronni at Time Goes By put out a good opinion piece on the bill as it stands: The Health Care Reform Sell-out. She wrote that there is a nasty little surprise (how typical is that) in the section on saying insurance companies cannot limit lifetime benefits. They can't but they can limit how much they must pay out in one year. No problem on the lifetime benefits if you can't get the treatment you need when you need it. How tidy! I heard Rush Limbaugh today chortling over how health care for all Americans was a loss of freedom; so this is about freedom? Freedom to die? That's what it sounds like to me.

We have two Democratic senators in Oregon and we called them to ask them to vote no on this sellout. I don't know who Obama thinks he is; but this kind of catering to the rich and powerful, the not caring about the individual, means he isn't the man I thought I voted for. He let us believe, because so many of us supported him with our contributions, that he would be a man of the people. I am gagging over that one. It appears no matter which party you vote for, you get the same thing-- a sell-out!

The Washington Post said it well: Kill the health bill!. Progressives better hope this bomb dies quickly because if it does pass, they will have as many things to answer for as the onetime war on poverty that ended up being a money sinkhole and didn't do a thing to relieve poverty. We don't need that kind of health care reform.

There are options to go forward but for something that can work. One is something called Reconciliation where they can pass a new bill with that Medicare extension with a simple majority. It would be considered by the opposing party to be an act of war (equivalently). I would bet Obama would be against that because what we have today is apparently the bill he wants. Another option is wait for a more honorable president... if there ever can be such a thing.

For any right winger feeling good about this debacle, just remember, the winners in this are the insurance companies, not your personal insurance, not your health care, not the people who cannot afford health care; no, the winners are stock market profits. That's good for those with investments, I guess... if we can stomach taking our profits on other people dying. I am sickened by this! (and don't bother telling me I should have voted for McCain/Palin. That was totally off the wall as a choice. There'd be no talk of health care concerns with that twosome. I have no regrets on my vote but how about offering something more reasonable in 2012?)

Because politics keeps intruding, I end up pushing back blogs on Arizona, the house here, some of our hikes. That will come next unless something huge gets in the way and it would have to be really really huge!