Unbelievable! Baucus and Conrad Cater To Joe Wilson, Float Citizenship Requirement For Insurance Exchanges
By dday Friday Sep 11, 2009 10:00amJohn Aravosis uncovers an amazing nugget in TIME Magazine. Apparently, there are Democrats who saw Rep. Joe Wilson yell "You Lie!" at the President of the United States and thought, "that guy has a point." And they happen to be the ones writing the health care bill in the Senate Finance Committee.
The controversy over Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shouting out "You Lie!" at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn't benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. "We really thought we'd resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President's speech last night we wanted to go back and drill down again," said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Baucus later that afternoon said the group would put in a proof of citizenship requirement to participate in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left.
So many things wrong with this, starting with caving to an extremist. But it's worse than that on the policy end. The exchanges are just health insurance purchasing centers, like a Wal-Mart for insurance. You don't have to receive a subsidy to buy insurance on the exchanges; in fact, if your family makes over $88,000 a year, you can't be eligible for a subsidy, though you can still purchase there. What Conrad is saying is that he would make it illegal for a non-citizen to BUY something.
Not only that, but proof of citizenship laws, which we don't have in most states for voting, are onerous and disproportionately tilted away from the poor and the elderly, as well as potentially restrictive to legal immigrants with green cards, in this case. As the New York Times says today:
Should we take a harder line? Force people to prove citizenship in emergency rooms? That’s illegal, for good reason. Make verification requirements so onerous that not a single illegal immigrant slips through? Very expensive, and not smart. It would be highly likely to snag deserving citizens — like old people who don’t have their original birth certificates. And besides, we’ve tried that: A House oversight committee reviewed six state Medicaid programs in 2007 and found that verification rules had cost the federal government an additional $8.3 million. They caught exactly eight illegal immigrants.
In the case of an epidemic, like swine flu, should illegal immigrants go untreated so they can infect legal residents and American citizens?
Hard-line Republicans insist that they will fight for citizenship verification. They could, in theory, get the country to spend whatever it takes to do that and proudly report back to their voters. But there is a line beyond which antipathy to the undocumented can be damaging to those voters’ health, not to mention the federal budget. Mr. Wilson and his admirers seem to have crossed it.
Not to mention the fact that buckling to these demands will not get one Republican vote on any health care bill.
This is the Senate Finance bill, not the overall bill. But Democrats are so wishy-washy when it comes to, well, anything, that we actually could see this rotten, xenophobic, piss-poor policy in a bill supposedly designed to expand access to health care.
I know a lot of money has been flowing to Joe Wilson's opponent in 2010, but a far better use of those dollars would be to funnel them toward primary opponents for Kent Conrad and Max Baucus.
UPDATE: Conrad is now clarifying that there would be no federal subsidies, and requiring proof of citizenship would just be used to determine qualification for government assistance. Of course, you end up with the same problem, then; those without proper proof of ID would have trouble getting subsidies that could be available to them. The larger point is that there was no need to react to a teabagger yelling and screaming. This was already implicit in the bill, and allowed for the HHS Secretary to determine a best practice. This blunt instrument is not the way to do it, and makes Democrats look weak (but that's redundant).
UPDATE II: As this GAO report notes, checkpoint systems like Baucus and Conrad want were implemented under the Bush Administration to ensure undocumenteds didn't get on Medicaid, and for every $100 they spent, 14 CENTS in Medicaid savings were achieved. It's wasteful and spiteful!
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OOPS....sorry for the duplicate post...had some connection issues.
Anthony
Why do Republican presidents and politicians never bash "The Right," but President Obama bashes, or calls out should we say "The Left" and "Progressives?"
.
. .
Maybe your not "seeing" or reading between the lines like I am.
to provide an example of what you just claimed. Right?
Obama (The Dems) were never serious about it and it never was a serious option so they remained silent hoping no one would notice or say anything. This is the kind of slick wheeling and dealing I'm talking about. To me they may as well come out and just say "look screw you lefties and progressives and SHUT UP your annoying us get with the PROGRAM".
... that is not what you claimed, is it?
When has Obama called out, or bash directly liberals?
I am plenty critical of Obama. But over the top senseless hyperbole is as self defeating, as the perennial excusing of Obama via passive aggressive snark.
Van Jones and Yosi Sargant
Sometimes what's between the lines is nothing but empty space and sometimes empty space is just empty space.
(the media smokescreen) and the General Public isn't entitled to participate in it.
It's not a good situation. Americans need to have a Law Degree and be able to sit in congress 24/7 just to see how bad they are messing things up.
... Tyler's right. You don't know what's going on.
I've got 23 years working in television news. I'm not getting bribes or secret directives from the GOP to tell me what to cut/put on the air.
Funny how people want to complain about how the conservatives are so stupid and yammering about things they don't understand, then there's the whole crowd on the 'it's the mainstream media' bandwagon.
That's just another car on Uncle Rupert's Circus Train. If you're riding that train, you're either a clown or an elephant being forced to perform by having a shock rod shoved up its flanks.
get through the day.
So you worked in the "uppermost levels huh?"
... without the photographers, editors, writers and reporters.
You're simply repeating what Uncle Rush told you to say, that there's this horrible 'mainstream media' and they don't cover the real story. So they should give more airtime to the 'other side.'
As long as you help spread that little lie, then you're just perpetuating the environment in which the false equivalence of the right wing flourishes.
I'm not management, but I've been through a half-dozen news directors and general managers - and they're more concerned with ratings and station revenue. I've watched our station go from being Westinghouse to CBS to Viacom and back to CBS. I've seen crackpot ideas on how to make the news appeal to more people come and go and come back.
Let's be serious. When Dan Rather came out here to tape the CBS Evening News one week, we were told not to bother the man. Other than that, I think we had a ten-minute meet-and-greet with Bob Schieffer in 2002.
You sound like one of the 'Obama's gonna take my guns' crowd. You're sure it's a conspiracy, it's plain to anyone with eyes, they're all in on it, and, by golly, you're gonna fight every step of the way.
But as long as the phrase 'mainstream media' is part of your grounding, the truth is the 'conspiracy' has already won. They've sold you on an idea, welded it to your cerebral cortex, and you don't even know you've sold your own interests out.
uppermost levels?
You mean the up yours most level?
so much experience in television, explain why we don't get some of the most important news. If it isn't the MSM, who is responsible?
It's a construct created by Rush Limbaugh to convince people of media bias.
As long as you accept that premise, you'll never get 'the most important news,' because news management is convinced that the audience believes there's a 'liberal media bias' and counters it with Republican talking heads.
Who is responsible? YOU ARE.
Your voices and consumer dollars have to be louder than Rush Limbaugh's decades-long rant against media bias.
the Main Stream Medias cheer leading of Bush in the run up's to our now permanent state of war.
That ever make you feel guilty?
I agree with Rush when he says, "The drive by media" but it seems like the media has picked up on the idea that they have to repeat talking points rather than dispute them. I agree with you on the fact that it is a ratings game but they have overplayed that hand. The reason many are not watching TV or buying newspapers is because they recognize that they are getting missinformation, not information. Maybe you should apply for the next station managers job.
the majority of news outlets are controlled by 6 corporations, corporate decisions impact reporting, concerns about ruffling the feathers of advertisers plays a role in deciding what and what not to report, etc.
Zumtimes a ziggarette is chust a ziggarette
A ziggurat is just a pyramid.
Some progressives are in a relationship, trapped in the Democratic Wing of the American Corporate Party. Obama, Reid & the Democratic leadership take progressives for granted, knowing the majority will cave from their principles in the end. "When you knocked my teeth out last night, I got blood on the new white shirt I gave you. Can you forgive me, dear?" Some progressives to Obama & Blue Dogs: "When you voted for the FISA Bill, told us to not "Look in the rearview mirror" at Bush war crimes, continued renditions, met in secret with Big Pharma for another 10-yr., no drug price negotiations, escalated the Afghanistan War with no end plan or "Noble cause", NEVER lifted a finger to discuss single payer & gave a lovely speech to Congress about the need for reform, that's OK. There is never any bashing in the mind of the battered spouse. Listen to the speeches & then watch the actions. Wall St. listened. "Health care stocks soar after president's speech."
... so we lost Ted Kennedy, and we're left with these a**holes?
If there is a god, he sure is a sick and twisted funny motherf*cker.
or unfortuantely
One simple rule: don't eat the fruit of this one tree, and we couldn't handle it.
(Of course, what does He do? He gives us TEN rules, then a bunch more through Leviticus! And We All Know That Government Regulation doesn't work!)
Then, of course, there was that bit about nailing his kid to a tree for daring to suggest we be nice to one another and take care of those less fortunate ...
I joined the Green Party in December of 2008.
Bernie Sanders is not a registered Democrat either.
Ted Kennedy was the LAST REAL LIBERAL and he is no longer with us. I was a Ted Kennedy Liberal Democrat.
The Democrats are pathetic and it is time you all start to realize this. You all should have realized this when more than fifty percent of the Democrats went along with Bush's war on Iraq which if Kennedy knew was a lie than the rest of them did too but were playing the same political games they are now.
Wake UP!!!!! Yes, the Republicans are hideous--that is a given, but, that is no excuse for you to forgive and go along with these Dems who appease constantly the GOP. The Dems appeasement of the GOP is now a given pattern and is not an isolated thing.
You have Choices--Leave the Democratic Party!!!!
Wake UP!!!
Some of us do not have that choice. I moved from an area that did have a Green Party, where I was on the council, to an area that only has Dem and Rep. You claim one or the other or you don't vote in any primaries.
you have to register as an Independent. Sometimes that works.
are really so concerned about illegal immigrants, why don't they clamp down on Wall Street & Big Oil?
Or quit hireing them to do their lawns and other menial work.
If you're not a citizen, but you are a legal resident you can't buy insurance? How flippin' stupid is that?
Legal residents pay taxes (incl. FICA taxes) just like citizens do.
Ideologically inflexible.
Illegal is illegal and some judge is likely going to uphold that regardless of good intentions.
Basically we need to do a housecleaning on all the obsolete and archaic laws on the books in this country while we are in the process of "reforming".
Let me say that I am in total and complete support of "illegals" receiving emergency room care! It is against one's fellows that anyone be denied care in a time of need. Yes, I believe these so-called "illegals" should be allowed to get healthcare if they are sick at a public health facility, emergency room and any other place providing such services. I am so glad that I left the "Christian Church" many, many years ago. In the words of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, God does "Damn America" and especially jerks like this guy above, who is a racist.
Americans wonder why they are "hated" around the world? People like Kent Conrad and Max Baucus as well as right wing jerks who show their racism are some of the reasons why other other nations' people's do not like America. Americans need to start understanding clearly and sanely why other people around the world look down on America. Tell Baucus and Conrad to start to talk about the way American-based corporations dump polluted materials in other people's lands, and ruin their habitats. Baucus and Conrad are RACISTS just like these other right-wing Racists as well. Baucus and Conrad play right along with these proud right wing racists who show it in both overt and covert ways. Conrad and Baucus now seem to be just fine to be on the same team with these right wingers who loud and proud of being racists.
Please do pray tell...
and not be a citizen. There are some that the immigration department just keep issuing them work permits year after year and not allowing their citizenship go through.
was it?
Where is anyone saying that legal US residents are going to be excluded from health care?
Sometimes you're an "enigma wrapped up in a Twinkie". However, if the law changes that you have to be a citizen in order to receive such services or to participate in the government insurance program. Those that are in this country legally and pay their taxes (and are not citizens) will not be allowed since they do not have a proof of citizenship.
Of course that's based upon the analysis and commentary of someone else, so who knows what the final bill would look like.
edited to clarify.
immigrants wouldn't benefit from health care/insurance reform. g What he said was that they would not receive any GOVERNMENT BENEFITS! Since that is true, the Rethugs scrambled to find something to hang their hat on to justify Wilson's childish behavior. So they came up with that illegal immigrants would be able to purchase,PURCHASE,insurance through the "exchange." Hello, so fucking what! The "exchange" is simply a national clearing house of insurance plans. All insurance companies are going to be in it, you know that. The stupid exchange is not going to do a damned thing for us. Nor is it going to do a damned thing for illegal immigrants. I would think the insurance companies, who are all in favor of a mandate on everyone -- EVERYONE -- to purchase their lousy products would be raising hell that upward of 11 million people will no longer be forced to buy their product. What's next, are the Rethugs going to say we have to prove we are American citizens to buy food in this country? This is just plain stupid and nothing more than pandering to boorish,immature, lying,standard Republican behavior.
Fix healthcare now and then fix the immigration problem. Both are hard problems and it makes no sense to commingle them. A good immigration solution will make the illegal immigrant neglibibly small. Why hold up health care for us because of that?
Enforce the FUCKING laws on the books!
Or better yet, start throwing some of these CEOs who's companies hire the illegals in prison for a while, and even have a mandatory shut-down of the plant, office, store, etc. that hired the illegals in the first place (but no more than a week.)
Throw a few white boys in jail and you'll start to see a dropping off of hiring illegals.
Enforce the FUCKING laws on the books!
There are laws on this?
Man, hope I'm not doing anything illegal. (Are there laws on masturbation I'm not aware of also?)
Geez...
1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.
It defines several areas of who is a citizen and who is not. It outlines what's supposed to be done if someone is here illegally. It outlines how one can become a legal citizen.
There's little enforcement on some of these areas.
None on masturbation that I know of, but in Georgia if you stick your penis up your bum, you're goin to jail!
... you may have bigger issues to fry than the threat of the Georgian penal system ;-)
Really? Have you been paying attention at all?
Joe Wilson is a political terrorist! What ever happened to "The United States of America DOES NOT NEGOTIATE with TERRORISTS?"
... is that this, just like 'REAL-ID' legislation, makes the value of identification greater to forgers and even thieves.
What will they call these laws. Perhaps the Dr. Crow laws will do.
What else do these fools feel non US citizens shouldn't be able to buy?
This is not only wasteful and spiteful, it's inhumane and cruel.
Good talking to ya again.
[Ricky, please lose that number. Site Monitor]
It's so comforting to know that our wonderful two party is system is so uniformly xenophobic. What a wonderful wedge issue to pit us against each other to distract us from the real problems we face.
Nation states are artificial constructs. Open the borders.
what the corporitists want. Drive down wages even more.
what I have been imperfectly saying for awhile.
Bravo.
Anybody remember the Mariel boat lift. Aside from the thousands of hard working Cubans risking all for freedom came the contents of the mental health institutions and the prisons. Not the political prisoners mind, just the garden variety crooks.
My own country was built by immigrants and I'm all for that and generous refugee policies too. On the other hand I can do without organized crime or fugitive war criminal asylum claimants.
.
mixed bag.
... that the Italians brought their mafia, and most of them came legally. The Chinese brought their triads. The Scots and the Irish brought their short fuse and their bootlegging, and the English brought the Bushes.
Import of criminal enterprises is nothing new, nor exclusive to Cuban immigrants.
But based on your recitation of history, we erred by not keeping a closer eye on the English.
policy for that one, oh wait....
some undesirables would slip by any security system but that is not a reason for abandoning the attempt. That is the same argument Coulter advanced yesterday with regard to financial regulation: if you cite enough examples of badly executed regulation it proves there shouldn't be regulation. I do not agree with that. The chief problem with the GOP is their view that the government is incompetent and every time they get their hands on the controls they set out to prove it.
Most of us were already here!
Sen. Baucus, Sen. Conrad, you lie!
This bitching about non US citizens getting health care is nothing more than a straw man that appeals to the racist and the stingy. It gets any pol who agrees with it a nod from the right wing crazies.
... it is a red herring ;-)
The Dems are also appealing to the worst passions of people like Racism and the right wing racists? First, I am not shocked at all. Secondly, if you actually believe this truth, you should do the right thing, and leave the Democratic Party altogether.
Anyone abhorred by this stuff, should leave the Democratic Party on this basis alone!
Anyone who keeps on appeasing these type of putrid Democrats is just as bad as those they are complaining of.
A mass exodus from the Democratic Party will send a very loud message!!!! It does not mean you cannot vote for Democrats you prefer, but, it sends a loud message to these jerks in the Democratic Party.
... so it's time to switch the topic and get their hate on for the brown man.
...stop it at the border.
Once a human being is inside our borders, they get care.
I'm beginning to wonder just what the hell is going on with this health care thing. Personally, I'd rather lose the fight than give in one inch to these idiots.
Don't get me wrong, I support the president completely but I don't understand caving on such an important issue. I was hoping for single payer, I'd settle for public option but now he's giving up too much and honestly, I'm beginning to waiver a little.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anything in this post about anything the President was planning to do. This is about democratic weasels in DC.
As I've said before, we've given up single payer...that's a big compromise....what more do we have to cave in to these idiot repugs?
I've just sent emails to Baucus and Conrad asking them this very same question.
....and are disgusting human beings who need to have a fast awakening...
Dems are pathetic.....
Yeah..in fact, I think we should make them show their marriage certificate and prove they're on their first marriage, prove they can speak fluent English, prove they have a job, a dog and a family, drive an American car, own property, and go to church every Sunday. That otta eliminate a lot of Republicans as well as illegal aliens. (snark)
you glo girl!
(love your screen name)
I think we should force Baucus and Conrad and the entire republican party to prove that they are human.
The church thing. Haven't been to one in ages,,, earth would move if I stepped near one. But to I get extra credit for owning three American cars,,, two dogs, one cat,,, fish tank and two ferrets?
They brought his m****r-f*****g iced tea?
Nothing unbelievable about it. Baucus's job is to scuttle the bill if he can't make it pay off for insurers.
.
So provide proof of citizenship:
To your employer
To a police officer
To your school
To your doctor and hospital, etc.
Anyone see a problem here? How many documents does it take to do this? And does this new "get the illegals at the doctor's office" segue into a national ID system?
Here comes the National ID again ... just another part of Total Information Awareness
How very fucking Christian of them.
What blissful unawareness these descendants of immigrants seem to have.
Aren't those Retuglican family values?
Just curious, does this new legislation include any kind of coverage for domestic partners? Or will that vary from state to state?
Its a big question whether or not the co-ops will recognize same sex partners as a family unit, or if the legislation will require it be extended in the private sector by law.
These idiots would not dare include anything so logical as domestic partnerships, even though there are more people living together than are married............The Rethuglicans and the Bible won't let them!
everyone would be required to have health insurance. Subsidies for those who cannot afford insurance to purchase coverage on an exchange.
How this is going to work for all the splinter factions - the disenfranchised - ect . . of our population I don't know. Your guess is as good as mind as to what they have cooking up.
Could you imagine first responders to a wide spread disaster trying to verify citizenship? Or rendering emergency services then casting them out on their own because they happen to be traveling in our country?
Really, what they are saying is the US doesn't want even tourists, because you will not receive any assistance that requires tax dollars.
at Wally World? I am for that.
U.S. security agency enlists Girl Scouts
“Girl Scouts are thrilled to be partnering with the Department of Homeland Security to encourage girls to learn what to do in case of emergency,” said CEO Kathy Cloninger in press release put out by DHS. “Citizen Corps is a terrific program — one that provides an opportunity for our girls to lead the way in ensuring that their families and their communities are prepared for emergencies.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/20...
First Girl Scout rule of emergency response: Check for citizenship.
you do not talk about emergency response.
LOL
The majority of both Republicans and Democrats all play for the same team.
caving is such an ugly word... ball-licking has more of a ring.
they are brass balls.
My friends in the UK are laughing their asses off at us! Wealthy democracy that refuses to provide health care for it's people. It is almost funny.
Mr. President..fuck 'em all, drop the current plan and force single payer up their asses..damn this all pisses me off!
Corporate Plutocracy.
Sad to say it but that's reality right now.
As Pat Buchanan noted, they lost their empire over Poland.
They laughed at us for the last 8 years, I guess you're right, let 'em laugh, what's another 8 years of being the butt of world jokes?
as another "Former Empire" at some point.
If it can restrict my right to own my workforce it will soon want the right to tell me I cannot hire anyone in the world I want to anytime I want to. Then they will start telling me how long that person can work.
incentives for dynamic new enterprise geared towards the needs of the 21st century rather then bailing out and trying to keep alive the Corporate Dinosaurs it would be another story.
by believing governement claims they could stop that meteor.
system Evet. If you do you might have to reframe your thinking.
Awww...sucks for you, Ricky, that government won't allow you to keep and hold your slaves.
The idea isn't that you can't hire anyone you want to, it's about treating him fairly and paying him a decent wage that allows him to support himself and his family....and not exploiting him to death.
Besides...government isn't too big to give you that subsidy, that Interstate highway you ride to work, the clean air you breathe, or the Internet you use to type your comments...right?
Anthony
dupe post. So here it goes:
woooooooooossssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
forgot to add a "snark".
Government is the problem.
Now, pardon me while I choke on dead redwood pollen.
Republican strategy is clear:
1) Read the Bill to find a provision they think they can exploit.
2) Pass the Bill's language through their Truth Distorsion Language Filter, attach a short label (low in truth, high in Fear-Mongering) by which they will hereafter refer to the provision.
3) Rely on their integrity- challenged politicians and media (including e-mails) to circulate this bogus
"threat" to their masses, confident they won't do any fact-checking).
4) The Dems, surpised, frustrated and bewildered by the noise of the Big LIe (aided by the MSM by now),
(a) strike the provision - thus usually weakening the Bill or (b) add "clarifying language", thus making explicit what everyone knows is implicit in the provision (not unlike what parents and teachers regularly are foced to do with recalcitrant 5-year olds).
(5) The Merry Band of GOP Dullards (from trolls to John Boehner) then proclaim that the Republicans have saved America from this dastardly Democrat (sic) plot to harm the country (never mind they
manufactured the whole thing).
Expect to see it as the post-Bill reaction of Republicans. See, on this,this and this (cf Big LIes) we have saved the country.
Ironically, even if this has any traction,, it only underscores that since the GOP is incapable of doing any heavy lifting in respect to domestic and social issues (though they're good at throwing pebbles on the load), their BEST POSITION as a political party is that of a PERMANENT MINORITY.
I think you nailed it... especially the recalcitrant five-year old part.
someone could be denied purchasing health insurance because they didn't have proper ID and then be fined for not purchasing health insurance? Sounds like a typical GOP/Baucus proposal to me.
It's funny that most all of us here agree on single payer health care, but the moment I mention opening the borders everyone gets apoplectic.
Ron: My justification for opening the borders has nothing to do with corporate profits. It is purely based on a moral imperative, just like all my other decisions. Morality first, everything else comes later.
Peter G: Thanks for the condescending shout out: "admirable but misguided" huh? Unlike yourself, I do not view citizens of other countries as rival gangs that are about to murder us. We are fellow human beings.
I say get rid of all immigration laws because they are immoral. Why "reform" something that is fundamentally immoral at its core? If you want to engage me, present me with an argument that is not premised on racism.
I believe people are right to get upset about illegal immigrants. They shouldn't be here much less be getting government subsidized health insurance. The only reason they are here is for companies to use them for cheap labor. I respectfully disagree with the Democratic Party stand on illegal immigrants. Reagan made the mistake of giving amnesty, now it looks like Obama is going to try the amnesty route also. I commend Baucus and Conrad are doing, dday.
One more thing. You think the right freaking out on healthcare reform is bad, wait until immigration reform comes down the pike. Baby, you haven't seen nothing yet.
I think the “reason they are here” is the same reason people have always immigrated to this country -- they are looking for a better life for themselves and their families.
One of the things that is so striking about the fervor that surrounds the question of immigration to America and its accompanying xenophobia is how little the thinking of many has changed since the nation's first attempt to define and exercise legal control over citizenship. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited naturalization to "free white persons" of “good moral character.” It specifically omitted just about everyone else you can think of but European immigrants. Doesn’t the sentiment, “the right freaking out” over the prospect of “immigration reform comes down the pike. Baby” seem to embody a perverse nostalgia for a return to America circa 1790?
ed alien. I'm traveling in Greece and I just had a minor medical problem. I went to downtown Athens and went to the walk in clinic. The whole affair took me 30 minutes -- in and out. The asked me my name, and where I was from because my Greek is pretty bad. I paid nothing and nobody questioned if I was a Greek citizen. I had a doctor and three interns to talk to. It was so pleasant. If I did that in the states, it would have been 2 hours and $500.
When they are on their death bed and talking to God, will they ask forgiveness because they denied someone (aka illegal alien) medical care? What kind of goddamn Christians will they be? By the way, they have some pretty good Ouzo in this country :)
We need a citizenship check for gun purchases too
If Obama plans to offer immigration reform then forcing people to prove citizenship is a savvy political move; it provides cover from the right while not effecting his health care policy.
Obama, and enough of the Democrats in Congress to make the rest irrelevant, has been bought and paid for by Big Pharma and its allies. Their purpose here is to preserve just enough of a veneer of process to prevent having to publicly admit that the only thing this White House, and this Congress, is going to do is precisely what their corporate masters TELL them to do. If anyone in Washington held any lingering doubt that our Republic is and has been for some time a moldering, shuffling zombie animated by the malignant will of ultracapitalist interests - that doubt should be forever gone. The massive upsurge of support by the American people for a President and a Congress who were willing and appeared able to deliver meaningful health care reform was a setback for them - but a temporary one at best and one a quick flex of muscle has already tamped safely down. This will end in the only way it can : Massive handouts to the insurance companies, no meaningful assistance for those who need it most, the mandating of coverage, punishable by steep fines, for those who cannot afford coverage in the first place (effectively making it a crime to be poor in the United States), no control of costs, no letup or even slowdown of the systematic rape of the American wallet that is "US health care". We will not have the status quo, for sure - to punish us, the American people, for our insolence in daring to beg for more fair treatment, our corporate masters will simply tighten the screws just that much more.
Mark my words, damn near every one of these bastards is bought and paid for, on both sides of the aisle. Those few that aren't are powerless to even slow down the rest. Just wait and see.
As for this, its all handwaving and grandstanding - illegal immigrants purchase health insurance policies from private companies NOW. There is no system that cannot be subverted, and people will find ways to subvert any conceivable system of "citizenship verification" Truth is, insurance companies don't give two dead rats about whether or not you're in this country legally, so long as you have juicy US dollars to pay your premiums with and they can find an excuse to not cover you at the drop of a hat so they never have to pay out. (Like, say "Discovering" that when you filled out the insurance application, you misspelled your full name as "Mickey Mouse", and misprinted your address for billing as "1234 Anywhere Street, Someplace, USA." Too bad they didn't "discover" this in the process of collecting your premiums.)I imagine that those who hold the leashes on Wilson and his ilk will let them froth at the mouth a while longer, then quietly instruct them to let it fade before they end up actually pinching a valuable revenue stream by accident with some amendment or another.
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