When the Dems won’t even go along with Obama’s meager Public Option, really, what kind of “reform” is this?
Lawmakers on both sides of the U.S. Capitol struggled to reach a healthcare deal on Tuesday, with Senate Democrats near agreement with three Republicans on a plan that would not include a government-run insurance option backed by President Barack Obama.
At least the House Dems aren’t caving. Yet.
After more than six hours of closed-door meetings, however, Democrats in the House of Representatives said they had not reached a deal with rebellious fiscal conservatives and it was unlikely they would vote on a healthcare overhaul before heading home for their August recess at the end of the week.
Exchanges…that’s where the Senate Dems are headed.
The Senate Finance negotiations have zeroed in on a plan that would use non-profit cooperatives to compete with private insurers to drive down costs, members say, not the public plan favored by Obama and many Democrats.
Oh, and I get to help subsidize this give-away to insurance companies. Not only will I have a premium to pay, I’ll get to pay taxes on the part of my premium my employer covers.
The panel also is likely to back a tax on high-cost insurance policies to try to raise revenue and keep costs down.
The White House said it would wait until it sees the bill to comment on the cooperative approach, which is certain to disappoint some Democrats even if it wins over the three Republicans involved in the negotiations.
“I have done a lot of reading on the history of co-ops and it is not a nice history,” Senator John Rockefeller told reporters after a closed-door meeting of Democrats.
Democratic Senator Kent Conrad said the approach would use non-profit associations at a state, regional and national level and could attract some 12 million people.
And the other 30 million uninsured?
He said the U.S. government could provide about $6 billion in start-up money to help healthcare cooperatives meet reserve requirements. Any co-op would need about 25,000 members to be financially viable and about 500,000 members to negotiate competitive rates with providers, he said.
This should tell you everything you need to know about who is going to “benefit” from this legislation:
Shares of U.S. health insurers rose broadly on Tuesday on hopes a health reform bill would not include a government-run option, which has drawn strong opposition from insurers who fear it would destroy the private marketplace.
The S&P Managed Health Care index of large U.S. health insurers closed 6.5 percent higher.
With the Senate willing to dump even the public option, and any the knowledge that any kind of legislation will have to have the magic 60 votes to become law, it is clear that this is all an exercise in futility. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nibbling around the edges of a terribly flawed system isn’t going to help.
Single-Payer. Now.
You see, “fiscal conservatives” have to nickel-and-dime everything to ensure that some “undeserving” person doesn’t *gasp* get some unwarranted doctor visits.
But we throw money hand-over-fist to buy expensive Pentagon boondoggles and fight unwinnable land wars in Asia under the guise of “protecting Americans!”
The two things are actually two sides of the same game. If you want to know who is being protected, I’ll give you a hint – it’s not the average American.
It’s times like this when I hope the good sisters who taught me were right and these people – corporate management and the politicians who love them – won’t have to worry about having their slippers warmed for all eternity.
Everybody hates the health care proposals on the table. The Left, the Right, the in-between. I guess Obama had his reasons for deciding to sell health care reform as a cost-cutting measure but it’s making a huge mess.
What I’d like is a bill that makes sure the uninsured can get insurance. No, I don’t want single-payer but there are other routes we can go. Let anyone who wants to buy into the Federal Employees Health Plan and have the Feds subsidize whoever can’t afford it. Let anyone who wants to buy into Medicaid: charge a premium to those who can afford it otherwise it’s free. Give debit cards to those who can’t afford health insurance and let them buy it from whoever they want.
It seems to me that’s step 1. If we can get that done, then we can talk about how to cut costs. Right now, I think this bill has lost sight of what *I* think it should be about: making sure everyone who wants it can get health insurance. This shouldn’t be that hard.
Hammer meet nail. Well said.