Health care “reform”
I make a serious point of not following the mainstream media (for very good reasons). However, even following alternative outlets, I’d long since given up on reading about the health care reform debate. After it became clear that the Republicans would never compromise on anything whatsoever and the Democrats would never stand up to them on anything whatsoever, I just couldn’t be bothered to participate in the absurdly prolonged circus. Despite that, I could hardly not notice that it’s finally “over”, that the Democrats finally used their majority for once and the health care reform bill had passed. I had a fleeting bit of hope (I’m one of the millions of uninsured), but then it was thoroughly crushed when I started reading the details of what actually passed.
Wow, that is what the right was having a collective paroxysm over? In case you were like me and were caught unawares, all the bill does is put a stop to some of the more heinous ways that insurance companies fuck us over within the existing system. Which is good! That was desperately needed. But I’d hardly call it a reform of the American healthcare system. Reform is when the system itself is actually changed, most pointedly being when everyone has access to healthcare as a basic human right. Certainly there are more people with access now, particularly those with pre-existing conditions (which, again, is a good thing!). But for myself, and I imagine most of the other millions who don’t have coverage simply because it’s hideously expensive, it seems like for the real heart of the entire debate, we completely lost. The Democrats rolled over, just like they always do. And that unholy alliance of fundamentalism, (ironically) nationalism, and corporate greed that calls itself the Republican party continues its steamrolling of the citizenry, still largely unimpeded.
Call me back when I can actually get insurance. Then I might care more about how it’s run.
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I definitely see where you’re coming from. I can’t get insurance either. I think health care is a human right, and we should be joining the rest of the civilized world by embracing universal health care. I’m also one of those who believe the Democrats should grow a collective spine.
But I fundamentally disagree that the Democrats “rolled over” this time. I definitely think they could have done better at the beginning of this process; they shouldn’t have taken single payer/public option off the table, for one thing.
But when you see what the Democrats had to fight against just to get these modest reforms through, it’s truly amazing that anything got done at all. At least 10 to 20% of the Democratic Party are DINOs (Democrats in name only) from the South or heavily rural areas who continually vote with Republicans on issue after issue. So the Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress is not as great as it appears.
Then there was the outright war against the reality of the bill–and even truth itself–by Teabaggers/Republicans. And these fundamentalist reactionaries are given far too much of a public forum by our 24 hour news media, so these outright lies get legitimized in the eyes of the ignorant (and of course, the gleeful supporters of said reactionaries). With all of this noise drowning all sense of reality, polls for this bill kept trending downward until you can safely say that a majority of Americans were truly against it. (And no, I’m not talking about the idiotic Faux News polls that said upwards of 80% were against it.) The Right screamed over and over that this bill is the beginning of a Socialist takeover. Death panels! They shouted these lies loud enough and long enough that–obviously–some of them stuck in the national consciousness.
Then the Democrats lost their *filibuster proof* majority in the Senate with the election of Scott Brown to the late Ted Kennedy’s seat. (The filibuster obviously needs to be done away with. It’s not in the Constitution and is only a Senate rule that’s completely against the spirit of majority rule.) Republicans claimed this win happened because the public is against health care reform–and the media bought that argument and parroted it for weeks. (Except for those brave few who actually looked at the data which revealed that the Democrat lost because health care reform wasn’t going *far enough* and the candidate herself wasn’t all that promising. Still, this is a case of the Progressive Movement truly shooting itself in the foot, in my opinion).
So at this point, everybody was declaring the health care reform bill completely dead. Many Democrats and the media called it dead in the water. The Republicans were trumpeting the polls saying Americans didn’t want it (and still are). Media “experts,” among others, said that the only way any health care reform would be passed would be to completely start over and do very small incremental stuff.
Against all this negativity, against Tea Party protesters who shouted racial and homophobic insults and *spit on* Democratic lawmakers making their way to the Chamber this weekend, the Democrats passed the largest reform of health care in over 50 years. Something that Clinton could *not* get done in his two terms. Something that every Republican administration refuses to do on “principle.” This bill does a *whole lot* of good. You listed some of what happens. Also, many more poor people are going to be able to get Medicaid because of this bill. People who work 30 or more hours a week will be considered “full time” so that companies will be mandated to offer insurance to them. No more of this “I work 35-39 hours a week, so I can’t get health insurance through my employer” crap. (This will effect Jamie, most likely.) And I don’t know the details, but I do know that cheaper insurance “pools” will –eventually– be set up for those of us who can’t get Medicaid, yet can’t afford current insurance rates. So I’m hopeful that in a few years, I might be able to get insurance. I’m also hopeful that Obama will do more–perhaps a public option–if he reaches his second term.
I’m sorry you feel disappointed. I was disappointed when they dropped the public option from their initial negotiations. But I’ve been keeping up with this bill throughout this circus, and I’m very happy that it passed. It’s going to help a whole lot of people in this country. It’s progress. Isn’t that what the Progressive Movement is all about? Yes, there’s more progress that needs to be made. But I definitely feel that in this *utterly poisonous* political environment, it’s the best bill that could have passed. I’m definitely not an apologist for Democrats when they all-too-frequently act spineless. But this weekend was not one of those times.