NEWS JUNKIE POST
Oct 12, 2009 at 9:33 pmIn The Senate, Public Option’s Future Rests On Harry Reid
It’s clear — the proposed health care reform bill from the Senate Finance Committee that legislators will vote on Tuesday doesn’t include a public option, nor any other plan that would effectively insure working Americans. With such a bill, some 25 million people will miss out on getting coverage while the insurance companies enjoy most of the $850 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money that went it to fund it.
But there is hope. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Ted Kennedy, the health care reform proposal from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee does include a robust public option. Such a proposal would actually provide health care coverage to everyone, but it will ultimately be up to Harry Reid to combine the two bills, get the public option in there, then get 60 votes, or whatever votes are necessary through reconciliation for the bill to pass the Senate.
Michael Moore spoke out earlier this month at a press conference organized by Public Citizen about voting out of office any Democrat that voted against the public option. Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann as well as Bill Moyers and Bill Maher and other Progressive voices on the radio and on many publications, including this one, have made their voice loud and clear that Democrats need to support a government-run plan as an alternative to the ones from for-profit companies. Unfortunately, these politicians haven’t been listening and the $19 million dollars that the insurance lobbyists have spent buying them out is working.
What will get the public option to be a reality is for the men and women in the Senate to grow a backbone and pressure their fellows and their leadership to support it. But, one of the greatest failures in this whole process has been Harry Reid’s leadership. Reid has flip-flopped on the public option from the beginning — often appearing to support it, then later giving Senator Baucus free reign to eliminate it.
Here is a snippet from an opinion piece on The Guardian about Reid:
Reid supports whatever can get 60 votes. He also supports the public option, so long as it’s private, a co-op, a trigger and finally, an ethereal concept.
Reid sat on his hands while the Senate finance committee frittered away the last few months mauling its healthcare legislation into a gift for the insurance industry. Interfering with committee work just isn’t Reid’s style.
Reid is facing two serious challengers in his home state of Nevada on next year’s election, according to reports today, he is trailing the two GOP contenders there: Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden. If Michael Moore carries out his threat to get wimpy Democrats voted out, then getting Reid to lose the Democratic primary may not be too hard.
Most Progressives are serious about following through with getting rid of lousy politicians who can’t do the right thing when they have the power to do so. Reid and all the other Democrats who have obstructed REAL health care reform must be replaced with those who can serve the interest of the people and not that of corporations.
Harry Reid needs to hear the American people now more than ever. He has to do what’s right and stop whoring himself to campaign contributors and PAC groups from the healthcare industry. If he is to redeem himself after all the flip-flopping he has done on the public option, he must come to the Senate floor with a final bill that includes a public option, and not just a watered down version, but a robust one. The message is the same for the House of Representatives.
Let’s face it, Republicans are not going to vote for ANY reform, period; tweaking the bill to their liking is a waste of time. Therefore, if Democrats are going to pass health care reform all alone, it should be something that we all can be proud of.
Over 60% of All US Bankruptcies Attributable to Medical Problems
Most victims are middle class, well educated and have health insurance
August 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine
In 2007, before the current economic downturn, an American family filed
for bankruptcy in the aftermath of illness every 90 seconds; three-quarters of them were insured. Over 60% of all bankruptcies in the United States in 2007 were driven by medical incidents.
The share of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems
rose by 50% between 2001 and 2007.
http://www.amjmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ajm/AJMMedicalBankruptcyJun09FINAL2.pdf
They are crushing the overall markets from coast to coast – skimming as much of the froth off the top of the middle class as they can so much so that we can’t even afford movie tickets anymore. And they have an anti-trust exemption (like baseball) – the whole insurance industry is an albatross around the neck of the entire economy.
Paul Burke
Author-Journey Home
I am not a scholared man, but I do know when people are crying foul too much. I keep hearing the Republicans; 1) say they are opposing health care reform: 2) for it, just oppose agreeing on anything: 3) tell the people to “go find charity, but never are the voters their real focus.