There are many interesting ideas in this world. This blog is dedicated to pursuing them wherever they go. Politics, philosophy, religion, environment, and anything else that captures imaginations and leads to healthy discussions. Never take the world for what it is, there's always a better way to do something.
I voted for Obama in the last election. I’ll honestly admit that I fell in love with the idealistic qualities of his campaign. How you choose to interpret that is up to you, but I felt much more optimistic about him then about McCain and Pail. They scared me. I felt that if they were elected I’d be exposed to four more years of constant fear of terrorism, a threat of war, threat of Iran, threat of Korea. I was tired of being told to be afraid. That was primary reason for why I voted for Obama, I wanted a change in attitude.
However, now that a year has passed, I have definitely re-evaluated my outlook on him. I still support him, I think if given proper support he will accomplish great things for this country. You have to admit, America is struggling, she’s hurting, and we need someone to do something to heal hear, bring her together, bring the people together and stop the fighting. I think Obama, given a chance, will do that.
The House’s healthcare reform bill passed yesterday, 220-215.
It still needs to be passed by the Senate, but considering nothing like this has passed through the House in 40 years, it’s reason to be excited.
Among other things, the version of the healthcare reform bill that passed would:
-Expand Medicaid eligibility to anyone below 133% of the federal poverty line (FPL).
-Allow people between 133-400% of the FPL to purchase the “public option” government insurance plan.
-Require people to get insured (this was favored by Clinton and opposed by Obama in the primaries and seemed to be the main point of disagreement in their debates)
-Not allow insurance companies to reject people based on pre-existing conditions
-Kill your grandma (no not really)
CBO estimates it would reduce the number of uninsured by 36 million.
A yay vote came from 1 Republican, Joe Cao of Louisiana. Thanks, Joe. I’ll drink a cup of you in your honor. I hope you wont be offended that it’s instant.
The NY Times published an analysis of the 39 House Democrats who voted nay. They emphasize that a lot of them tend to be in districts where they either won narrowly in their last election or their district favored McCain in 2008. There are a few exceptions to these conditions, however, such as Dennis Kucinich (who only supports single payer healthcare), Brian Baird, John Barrow (Blue Dog) and Artur Davis.
I don’t know whether to begin with the positive or the negative. Oh, if only I remembered what the I/O literature said to giving feedback.. is it negative positive negative.. or the other way around?
Lets start with the positive. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid announced earlier today that the sweeping healthcare reform bill will include a public option. Although the White House has been indecisive at best on the issue, I’m glad the Senate is moving it along. With 57% percent of the population supporting it, there is no reason not to pass it.
There is another interesting story relating to healthcare today. A Thomson Reuters report today detailed that United States healthcare system wastes around $500 to $800 billion annually. Of that figure, 37% percent is estimated to be spent on unnecessary procedures and another 20% is lost due to fraud.
The answer to that question should be obvious.. the mighty dollar. Or rather the person or people who have the most of the dollars. This goes beyond buying the fancy clothes and cars, the big houses, or anything else you might think you need to make you happy. That’s the things people who don’t have money dream about. The greatest things that those greenbacks can get you is power and influence. If you have that, you don’t need anything else.
Following that logic it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out who in this country has the real power and influence. Anyone who thinks its the President or the Congress is unfortunately very mistaken. They’re just players in a game they have no real control over. Our exalted politicians often talk a big and tough game.. but in the end they’re just as powerless as the rest of the population.
This article from the Guardian is a few weeks old, but it brings up a great, great point. The piece, written by Chris McGreal, discusses the role the American health insurance providers, along with the drug companies and hospitals, have in the continuing tar pit that is the health care overhaul. While there is slow progress being made, neither the liberals nor the conservatives are happy with the effort. The liberals feel that too much is being sacrificed, with the public option taken off the table, while conservatives do not want government controlling health care. The question that remains is what is our best course forward?
The answer to that question isn’t that easy, because here is where the views conflict. I am not referring to the clashes between the conservatives and liberals in the population, but rather the American public versus the American Corporations. According to the Guardian:
“The industry and interest groups have spent $380m (£238m) in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totaling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law.”
That is absolutely mind numbing amount of cash being spent to convince us that healthcare overhaul is bad! Yes this number is insignificant when compared to the recent passed stimulus. But think of the recent presidential election and the money the candidates spent to get elected. They really don’t want that healthcare overhaul do they? And unfortunately their money isn’t being wasted, per Guardian:
“Reform groups say vast spending, and the threat of a lot more being poured into advertisements against the administration, has helped drug companies ensure there will be no cap on the prices they charge for medicines ‑ one of the ways the White House had hoped to keep down surging healthcare costs.”
and:
“Insurance companies have done even better as the new legislation will prove a business bonanza. It is not only likely to kill off the threat of public health insurance, which threatened to siphon off customers by offering lower premiums and better coverage, but will force millions more people to take out private medical policies or face prosecution.”
Scared yet? I am. Because it only gets better. Our elected Senators, the men and women we entrust with fighting for us now and shaping the future of our country, are busy offering paid fishing trips to the lobbyists. Another little gem from the Guarding:
“Baucus holds dinners for health industry executives at which they pay thousands of dollars each to be at the table, and an annual fly-fishing and golfing weekend in his home state of Montana that lobbyists pay handsomely to attend. They have included John Jonas, who represents healthcare firms for Patton Boggs, widely regarded as the top lobbying firm in Washington. Jonas, who formerly worked on the congressional staff, acknowledges that political contributions are intended to buy influence and says it works.”
And what about Barack Obama, our President, what can he do in all of this? Not much:
“Robert Reich, the labour secretary in the Clinton administration, says the Obama White House, mindful of how the health industry killed off Clinton’s attempts at reform, has grown so fearful of industry money that it has quietly reached agreement to pull back from price caps and public health insurance.”
In the end I think we will get what is realistic in our democracy. A healthcare bill that benefits only a portion of the population and all the wealthy players in the corporate world.
A poll released earlier today, by Washington Post-ABC News, found that over majority of the American Public does support a government created public option to compete with private health insurance providers. Of those individuals polled, 57 percent reported that they either strongly support or somewhat support a government created health plan to compete with private insurers. There is also a lot of opposition to the proposal, with 40 percent of those polled reporting they strongly or somewhat oppose the plan.
It appears there really is no middle ground on this issue. It is definitively one of the most debated and fought over bills that I have seen firsthand. Pundits and supports from both sides have been trying to sway the public opinion, which seems to go by party lines, whether Democrats support the bill and Republicans strongly oppose. What adds to the intensity, and unfortunately smear, are the corporate interests that have a lot at stake on this bill. Health insurance providers have been very involved. However, it looks like progress is slowly being made.
I was a little surprised with the poll results. With all the negative remarks I’ve been hearing about Obama recently, I began to feel in a minority as his supporter, despite the fact that the guy had nearly 70 million people vote for him. However, this is good news, or at least for me. I’m sure I’ve stated before that I support the health care overhaul. Not only do I think it is the government’s duty and obligation to provide adequate health care for its citizens, but a government option would give some control the population.
I don’t think most people realize that anything that is government owned is accountable to the general public. It is socialist, however, it is also democratic. The private health insurance providers do not have to answer or look out to the public. The primary concern of the executives in charge is not the well-being of the customers, but rather the profits made for the investors. The general public does not have any direct ways to influence the policies and decisions made by the men in charge within the private sector. With the government option, on the other hand, the primary concern is not the bottom line.
It might be more expensive.. but sometimes democracy is.
