MoveOn.org’s “Lieberman Socks” video has been making the rounds, and I think that it is a pretty good summation of the Senator’s attitudes and ability to obstruct the kind of health care reform that so many want here in the US. Unfortunately, the private insurance market has not been able to produce plans or the health care that the average working person can afford. I know many young adults who either forgo having any coverage because they cannot afford it and know that many work jobs that they don’t want to simply to have employer sponsored coverage instead of forging ahead in other careers or pursuing real passions because purchasing insurance on the private market is so costly. And we probably all know of some who have had to resort to high cost emergency room care for easily treatable and preventable care simply because they could not afford to get into the doctor for a routine visit initially.
While many progressives want to scrap the Senate health care bill altogether, I think it is worth noting what I found in The Atlantic today:
“Yet the bill that Dean so casually dismisses would spend, according to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly $200 billion annually once it is fully phased in to help subsidize insurance coverage for over 30 million Americans now without it. That’s real money–the most ambitious and generous expansion of the public safety net since the Great Society under Lyndon Johnson. And that money, based on the Census results, would flow most into minority and working-class white communities.”
What do you think about the current health care battle?
6 responses so far ↓
1 IE // Dec 18, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I personally think that these politicians are a bunch of “grand standers”. Should they not be able to pass real comprehensive health reform, they should lose their congressional and senatorial seats.
It’s amazing that we can spend billions monthly of two wars, but we can’t find a way to spend that kind of money to reform our broken HC system.
I just saw a CNN report that in Canada a 30 day supply of Lipitor goes for around $93 dollars where as in the U.S. the same supply cost around $180. This is just the craziest things ever. I know R&D cost money, but to pay 2x is ridiculous. Anyone that thinks otherwise is simply in denial.
As for this Health Care battle that we are observing, it’s just a bunch of old timers in D.C. that know how to save their own asses. To think that our U.S. Senators are truly looking out for the best interest of our citizens with regard to Health Reform is ludicrous. You don’t want to lower the Medicaid age to 55 from 65, fine, then how about 60. That too me would sound fair.
Now, I will admit, I’ve not read any portion of the bill, but there has to be a way for these “grand standers” to come to a resolution.
Wow, talk about sounding cynical!
2 Michaelr // Dec 18, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Boy…this was dead on.
3 Reyfeo // Dec 21, 2009 at 8:18 am
$200 Billion a year isn’t the issue I have with HC Reform, mainly because I have no counter to what IE says about how we already spend Billions on two wars (which On a good day I support and then I don’t)…the problem in the onset of this entire HC discussion is that the Gov’t can force me to buy Health Insurance…some see this as a “must have”…me I see this as a impediment of my freedom as an American to do what ever I want.
And the inverse is true…many of us have that freaking Tio who refuses to work…does just enough to get by, has no ambition to make life better for him or his family, YET I and my hardworking $$ (in the form of taxes) has to pay for this Cabron…if this Bill could show me how it doesn’t reward lazy “Son Cabrones y duermen tarde” Latinos, then sure I’d support this 100 percent…but it doesn’t. I went home this past weekend and heard many of these type of peoples (los Tios que no hacen por mejorarse I mean) clamoring about how they are set since they don’t have work for HC anymore.
I could go on and on, and we’d disagree anyway…in the long term if this bill passes it simply keeps the Latino from forging ahead on self initiative attitudes. I’m going to sound like a conspiracy theorist and say since the Black American has gotten its President its time to keep the nanny state alive in the Latino communities (sine in the end it caters to the Latino Community according to The Atlantic), after all its how the Gringo controlled the Blackman and its how the Black man will control the Latino.
Lastly, does anyone here care that this President is now worse then the former in terms of corruption? Bought off Senators and the lack of transparency as promised…I mean how can we fully discuss HC if they are hiding the very Bill we need to debate? Is this what liberal signed up for? Wasn’t this the very politics the left was so upset about? LOL—Merry Christmas!!
4 Anna // Dec 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm
You’re right Reyfeo, this bill is awful.
It includes an individual mandate that forces people to buy private health insurance. Since when can the government force anybody to buy a private product? Furthermore, there are no cost controls. You could be forced to buy an inferior product whose price keeps increasing. I am also afraid that Individual PPO plans will be phased out along with employer sponsored health care plans.
Obama sold out to the health insurance industry. During the primaries, I thought that he was no different from Clarence Thomas and I was right. He’s an Uncle Tom, but the liberals couldn’t see through him because he made them feel like they weren’t racists anymore. Idiots.
This fool bowed to the insurance companies just like he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia.
I am no longer a Democrat!!
5 IE // Dec 21, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Anna,
I assume you drive a car,right? If so, then it is legally required to have at least liability coverage to be able to drive in most states. So yes, the government does mandate you buy a private product at times.
Secondly, while I agree that POTUS Obama did bow to the insurance companies, I think it’s safe to say that he is way smarter than you or I when it comes to dealing with the HC issues. As it stands, the current price tag for the bill is around $900 Billion over 10 years. We just spent $600 billion to fund the two wars for the next year. Personally, I think we need to find a way to get our troops home and stop wasting money on a war that can’t be won. That would at least save us billions that can be used to deal with our domestic issues.
6 Reyfeo // Dec 23, 2009 at 6:07 am
Driving a car is optional…if you live in DC, there’s no need to ever buy and or need a car if you reside or stay within the beltway. You can say the same for LA and Chicago with the subway/metro system they have.
There’s no option to not buy HC Insurance under this bill. AND if I don’t my worst case is jail and serious fines. Somehow that seems un-American to me. I take it that the Constitution is of no defense in this case to most since at any cost everyone has to have HC?!?
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