Is This Real Reform? The Insurance Companies Got Everything They Wanted.
By Susie Madrak Monday Oct 26, 2009 10:00amSo according to this L.A. Times article, the health insurance got everything it wanted in this healthcare "reform" bill - except the death of the public option. So as relatively small a concession as that is unacceptable to them - which tells you who really owns this country. (Not us.) All the more reason to push your congress critter. Call today!
Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington - As President Obama's push for a healthcare overhaul moves toward its final act, the oft-vilified health insurance industry is on the verge of seeing a plan enacted that largely protects its financial interests.
That achievement, should it stand up in the final legislation, would be the capstone of a sophisticated lobbying and strategic campaign that began even before Obama was elected president.
The specifics of the healthcare legislation are still being hashed out on Capitol Hill, and key details will evolve in the days ahead. Even so, there is broad agreement that the final plan will, for the first time, require Americans to buy health coverage, with taxpayer subsidies for millions who cannot afford it.
For the health insurance industry, that means millions of new paying customers. What's more, there are likely to be no limits on what insurers can charge, while at the same time the plan is expected to limit competition from any new national government insurance plan that lawmakers create.
I mean, really. What's not to like?
These anticipated wins -- from an initiative that has at times been portrayed as doomsday for health insurers -- is the result of a strategy developed by one of Washington's savviest lobbyists, Karen Ignagni. Under Ignagni's leadership, the industry group America's Health Insurance Plans adopted the goal of universal coverage while setting out to shape it in a way that benefited insurers -- a crucial move that aligned their interests with those of other groups, including consumers and hospitals.
Insurers poured campaign donations into the coffers of key sympathetic members of the House and Senate, and loaded up on lobbyists. And when Obama and other Democrats began attacking the industry, insurers made a strategic choice not to walk away from the negotiating table.
"While so many in this town have been playing checkers, Karen has been playing chess," said Mark Merritt, a veteran lobbyist who heads the Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn.
[...] In addition to fighting the public option, insurers that offer Medicare health maintenance organizations are battling more than $100 billion in cuts in federal payments to that program. And they are trying to beat back a move by Democrats to go after the industry's decades-old exemption from antitrust law.
But in Washington, many marvel that lawmakers have not wrung more from an industry that, surveys show, is held in low regard by the public.
"The industry is really in no position to be making demands," said Celinda Lake, a longtime Democratic pollster.
And yet, they continue to do so - especially through senators like Olympia Snowe and Kent Conrad. Don't you love it that no matter how much we donate, politicians say they can't support the netroots agenda "because you're not in my district", yet are so very sympathetic to the millions of dollars poured into their states from giant industries like insurance? Looks like our bribes contributions just aren't big enough.
For much of the last three years, industry leaders have been laying the groundwork for this battle. Amid horror stories about insurers dumping sick patients, denying coverage for medical treatment and cherry-picking customers, Ignagni and a few insurance company executives pushed the idea within America's Health Insurance Plans that the industry risked political catastrophe if it did not move proactively.
"They knew they had a very big [public relations] problem, and they knew this day was coming," said Wendell Potter, a Cigna Corp. public relations executive who quit last year. "They knew they had to be perceived as coming to the table with solutions. It was a departure from their previous point of view. But they knew they would be slaughtered if it weren't."
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Health insurance denies people coverage. Covering everyone with existing insurance is a problem. This is not reform.
There is a whole article on Reuters about waste in Healthcare....This proves Obama was right all along but it will push the Dems to pass this quick to avoid fallout from the HC donor dollars...Other wise the bill will get tighter..
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idU...
I'm still going to wait for the actual bill. Let the Republicans and the bullshit media speculate(lie their asses off).
I'm right there with you. If we made a list of what first one person and then another has told us would and would not be in the bill, it would probably be longer than the bill its self.
I agree.
All the insurance lobby/companies wanted was NO BILL - they aren't getting what they wanted.
this really sounds like a bad bill for liberals and makes the AHIP lobbyist seem like a genius to her employers so it must be....
and see if YOU can find a source for this announcement, other than the 2 names on the byline. Look at the people quoted in the article and it sounds like industry jubilation based on a "broad agreement" (on what exactly ?) on...
"The specifics of the healthcare legislation are still being hashed out on Capitol Hill, and key details will evolve in the days ahead."
remember that the next time you vote
The point is that voting is not the most important part, activism and contributions are. The world will not change in one election cycle. People have to get involved in the boring primary process in order to have decent candidates to vote for. It ain't easy, the other sides do not take it lying down.
Probably the best that we can realistaclly hope for is that the public has a seat at the table. Right now we don't even have that, all we get to pick up is the check.
....on us.
:P
Is since they've achieved nothing and they're attempting to achieve nothing with a token one repub supporter so they can call it bi-partisan, what are the dems going to claim they've accomplished?
They will claim they've achieved a landmark bill with bipartisan support that will usher in a new era of health care in America. They will hold a huge photo-op and pat each other on the back. The Republicans will go ape-sh!t and call it socialized medicine, the end of democracy and America itself. We will be forced to pay for crappy over-priced insurance and still get denied when in need of coverage the most.
In the end it will be a Democratic "victory" that will leave Americans resentful and help usher in a new Republican majority and possibly even administration so we can once again be raped in plain site as opposed to behind closed doors.
Sounds about right.
n/t
Is failing to be a multi-billion dollar global conglomerate.
If only we weren't all so lazy, we'd be multi-billion dollar conglomerates too. Just gotta lift ourselves up by our bootstraps and quick whining!
Add to this the fun fact that when insurance companies fail, we bail them out with billions of public money. We already have a government owned health insurance company -- its name is AIG.
I don't think AIG was in the HMO bizness...
Yup. The fact that you don't know this makes my point.
http://www.aig.com/health-related-products_20...
... that you don't know what an HMO is.
;-)
Philman Care, owned by AIG before the bailout, was an HMO. Not that it really matters to my point.
... but that wasn't mentioned anywhere in your link. And I have no clue what Philman Care is or what they do, since I never heard about them... and neither seems the googles.
The thing to realize is that the financial crisis and the insurance industry (including healthcare) are linked. This point is rarely made in the media. I have a neighbor who is an exec with one of AIGs competitors and he put me on to it early.
You can make more money speculating with your clients premiums than you can from fees and padding (although they try their hardest to maximize that as well.) There are rules to regulate what an insurance company can do with traditional investments, but wall street invented an entire "off the books" market that escaped those rules -- not that the Bush administration was much for enforcing financial rules. Insurance companies needed to make huge profits to keep their stock prices up, and one way to do that was to invest in the foolproof housing market.
The evil "credit default swaps" are nothing more than an unregulated insurance policy. AIG was heavily into them, which kind of sucked because they were also a heavy invester in the housing market. When it went down they got bit both ways.
This health care reform bill scenario could have been devised by Karl Rove. They have us fighting for nothing but a shadow of what we need and want. Pretty neat trick, getting us progressives behind the Republican plan, thinking we're doing something good.
The health reform bill is a watered-down, bluedog-friendly, Olympia Showe-approved, gift to the health care industrial complex, and it is an insult to us.
.
It's become a clear case of "be careful what you wish for".
My heart truly goes out to Americans being held hostage to a "for profit" health care industry.Lobbyists have usurped the democratic process and corporate power rules the roost.
Emanuel is the new Karl Rove.
who don't see how uniquely evil the Rahmster is.
Kabuki, anyone?
It is very telling to me that the Republican opposition came in the form of attacks on the public option. Real Republicans would have attacked the mandate since that is the true idelogical divide (assuming that there is one). It is the dog that didn't bark that tells you something.
"we the people" have been out of the picture for some time. the only thing in the way of hardcore Darwinian Capitalism is democracy. the ruling class has us by the throat and they know it. they have no loyalty to this country and/or constitution. Listen to a common everyday republican everything is the government's fault. they rarely speak of corporations/financial elite. they believe the "free market" is perfect
much like Greenspan did. the winners in the capitalism game tell the losers it's the government's fault. this health care insurance reform legislation is a "collective" issue not a "individual" issue. if this country is to be competitive in the GLOBAL economy we need a collective strategy regarding health care insurance reform. Single payer isn't and wasn't going to happen. i would like to see a competitive option that has the ability to insurer all comers. if a state wants to opt out maybe that's okay i'm not sure yet.
she wanted, she got liberal blogs to repeat the self serving PR she served up to the MSM.
I'm not really interested in what she is saying now because we all know how her group wanted this to go. When they came out the other week with their estimate of how much the cost in premiums would rise if health care reform went through, you had to know they were not happy with the direction things were moving at that time. She can claim she got all she wanted but there are a lot of people making claims these days.
Carry on citizens.
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_153...
Which of them donkeys was holding the helium tank and which one had the Kool Aid pitcher?
... and let god sort them out. I say...
We are relying daily on the same media who bought that balloon story, hook, line and sinker even though it made no sense from the very beginning. Oh yeah, I'm going to take everything they say at face value. No, I'm not.
... if you have trouble discerning between a political cartoon and the mainstream media...
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_153...
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_153...
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_153...
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_152...
http://images.theweek.com/dir_30/the_week_151...
To all you Pollyanna's out there, give it up. You're screwed. Dems take exactly as much money from insurance lobbyists as Repubs do. There is NO WAY any type of meaningful reform is coming from this. We did not get HOPE and we sure as fuck did not get CHANGE.
The entire government, top to bottom is owned, and not by us.
I just love the plain and simple truth.
Naw...say it ain't so.
This is for the republicans who are against the public options.
It's as true now as it was then....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMV44yoXZ0
the strategy by health care insurance cos. is to maintain power and have government fail. if this reform doesn't reduce cost significantly it will fail. there ae those opportunistic types that i believe want it to fail. they don't want this country to be competitive in the GLOBAL economy, at least not yet. they want their investments in CHiNA to gain more traction and break down more people financially in this country. that way employers will have the upper hand.
Single payer is what we need! I don't give a shit about the insurance co's or their ceo's.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
Ezra Klein nicely encapsulates AHIP's argument: they want more customers dragooned via a strong individual mandate, but also want to kill all the proposed taxes and cost control measures that make the mandate viable.
..Obama sold us OUT! It's true. Look with the momentum that Dems have with this bill, Reid pushing to get the 60 votes, Pelosi, Grayson and Wiener rallying the troops in the House, public support for the Public Option is at 60-65% and with all those factors in play Obama is practically a MUTE. If Obama REALLY wanted the Public Option, he would give one those silver tounged speeches he gives and put the nail in the coffin of all opposers to Health Reform, but he doesn't. He wont. He doesn't want it. He is even pushing for the trigger!
Obama is probably worse kind of scum, even WORSE than Bush. Because from his fake "speechs" he gives he shows he KNOWS what the right thing to do, but he doesn't do it. At least Bush THOUGHT he was doing the right thing when it was really ALL WRONG, but he at least was TRYING to do what HE THOUGHT WAS RIGHT. Obama KNOWS what he should do, but refuses to do it because the lobbyists are shoving his pockets full of money. Obama is a snake tongued hypocrite. He is willing to KNOWINGLY let tens of thousands of people die by pushing for this trigger.
You know, somewhere, there is someone on their deathbed holding on for dear life, just for the hope that this bill passes and they will get the treatment they desperatly need. And Obama all he has to do is say a word to hold out Dems and the bill gets passed with a ROBUST Public Option. But he won't. Because he is bought and paid for.
I'm done with him.
To hell with the politics.
You know Republicans supported Bush because he pushed things that mattered to repubs, whether they were right or wrong.
Don't blindly support Obama just because he is a Dem if he is not going to fight for the things that are important to you. No more than you would raise a wolf in sheeps clothing.
Folks in these here parts are a little bit touchy when you speak too much truth about "The Pope of Hope"...
You may be labeled a troll...
P.S. I agree with what you said.
... saying how "Obama is worse than Bush" sort of deflates any valid point the original poster may have had.
But did you read the reason WHY I say he is worse that BUSH? It's because HE KNOWS WHAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO, but REFUSES TO DO IT!
Hell, that what he campaigned on! He ididn't make vague statements about what needed to be done, he was VERY SPECIFIC during his campaign. This guy promise that "the status quo is not good enough" he campaigned AGAINST IT, but now he seems to be it #1 supporter.
To me, to know what is right and do the opposite is WORSE than someone ignorant of right and wrong.
seems to me like a lame attempt at whitewash the 8 years of hell he willingly put us through.
I am pretty critical of Mr. Obama when it is due, however silly hyperbole like the one you expressed just gives the ones making all those cheer leading noises with their angry pompoms more excuses to dismiss criticism based on the style, not the substance, of the comment.
your kind offers of help in honing their otherwise sound substantive arguments.
but angry pompom hurling making it as if the reason why your team is losing is because the spectators are not cheering loud enough, not the fact that your players suck.
LOL.
our players were doing just fine until the press corps decided we had to let girls play.
Who is trying to "whitewash"? Bush did what he did and practicaly destroyed the world. I'm not going debate that.
But look how watered down the bill is getting day by, friggin day. First it was Univeral Healthcare, then a Robust Public Option, then the Public Option is dead, PROGRESSIVES call for DEMS HEADS and Public Option polls at 65%, Public Option is back on, Pelosi steps up, Wiener steps up, Grayson steps up, Schumer and now Reid all of them step up to where we actually have the numbers to push thru a Robust Public Option w/ 51 votes! We dont even NEED 60! But the Dem compromise (with themselves) which makes no FRIGGIN SENSE TO ME, and decide a PO /w opt-out and OBAMA IS THE ONE WHO PUSHES BACK?
You knwo what this is like? This is like a suspense movie cliche, where the guy you think is the hero or least suspect is the MAIN BAD GUY.
I can see Harry Reid in the Oval Office, "I can't believe it, Barrack. It was YOU ALL ALONG".
Funny maybe, but not really.
however, the whole issue of making it as if Obama is worse than Bush, by insinuating how Bush folly was just due to his stupidity, was pretty lame. And I stand by the assessment that silly hyperbole indeed rests validity to your original point.
Barack Obama appointed eleven members of the Trilateral Commission to top-level and key positions in his administration within his first ten days in office. He appointed all Wall St. insiders to shovel cash to the banksters while the sweaty masses struggle with mortgages and unemployment. Here come the apologists.
Apologies are so pre 9/11 for us "worse than Bushters."
The same apologists come out of the woodwork. I've figured it out they are Repug trolls.
we snake folk like holes in the ground. Woodwork is more for you inselectuals.
and obviously he's "going along to get along"....
Which makes him just as bad, or WORSE than Bush.
Because as lbramblebush says, he is refusing to CHANGE THE SITUATION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkQlm2ifpo
Obama knew when he created a bicameral legislative branch and drew all those state maps with little or no population that we would have this problem. Just a little more saying the same thing over and over would have moved Mary Landrieu. But then she would have just blamed the all boy's basketball game. But that's his fault too.
I agree with both of you. I got yanked on this site for the same reason. Say it like it is and you are gone. You are absolutely correct about Obama Ibramblebush, watch out for the Obama apologists. Obama is a snake.
How does it feel you be one zillion upped in career management by a reptile, Steve E. Wonder?
To me that is counter-productive. I think we as progressives should be pissed. We are the one who worked our asses off to get the Dems the majority. We are the ones to gave whatever we had to support the cause. We are the ones who stood in line for hours to cast our votes.
Obama and the Dems didn't get the majority by some judges panel, WE DID IT! So if we don't get true reform, we will have been betrayed! It's true. And by stiffling our outrage over Obama's selling us out, it only assures that more of the same will continue.
Which might I add Obama campaigned against.
If there is a trigger, I dont care if Obamna finds the Ark of the Covenant, the Gobblet of Christ and the Last Unicorn, I will stay my @SS home in 2012 or vote Green Party.
So you might as well try it in 2012. Worse you'll get is another Bush. Or maybe Palin. That's a step in the right direction innit?
Vote green party. I did for 2008 and will again in 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26m...
of course you can speak your mind and you may even be correct but you could be wrong from my perception. first of all i take exception to obama being scum and worse than BUSH. this may be the biggest political battle in decades. the health care insurance industry was ready for this battle way before obama was on the scene. one of the reasons i voted for obama was because i thought he could instill bipartisanship. maybe that was wishful thinking on my part but i thought it was important since nothing was getting done in washington. it was simply watered down legislation. you can say what you want but BUSH handed obama a bigger mess than people understand. obama's intentions are what i want to believe in but i understand the power of compromise/capitalism.
real people in DC. Plenty was getting done: tax cuts for the wealthy, war profiteering, stacking the courts. And SCOTUS stopped the recount in 2000, thus appointing Bush to the presidency. Why do people refuse delivery of the truth? If you cannot face the truth of the matter, how can you fix the problem? The health insurance industry kicked our asses. Face it. Mandated insurance with subsidies for those who cannot afford it? This is a big joke that seems to be going over so many heads. Why should the insurance industry get money from the taxpayers? If we have to pay for it, why not make it single payer? And you will pay for it with your taxes or premiums. This whole thing is ridiculous. It is a scam. Wake up!
>> Why should the insurance industry get money from the taxpayers?
What insurance company would be getting money from premiums collected for a public option? It's a "public" plan, premiums collected by the government and payouts made by the government.
companies. I am referring to the mandatory purchase of private insurance.
What do you think the PI will entail? I know many people assume that the public option will be like Medicare, but where is that written? BTW, private companies will likely administer the PI, and they NEVER do anything for free.
Yes, wasn't clear who will administer the "public plan" and if it's subcontracted to private insurance without clear separation of the 'profit' element & executive bonuses, etc., then would agree with the conflict. Can't say I've read enough to know if that's what's being proposed (farm it out), but wouldn't doubt it. Will have to read up on that.
Hadn't seen reference to mandatory purchase of "private insurance" ... only public insurance. I think the subsidies for poor will go into the public option (with the caveat that there might be "administrative" elements in private sector, but still not equivalent to handing the premiums to a for-profit company.
Still think 'public' option falls apart completely if not mandatory ... and do want 'single payer' ... but with 'single payer' nowhere in sight, this to me is better than nothing. But it does seem as though it could get messy. Yes - I know you're not a fan of my milque-toast compromise, but really, I'm more a milque-n-cookie type. [No idea what that last pun was about, but it was a long day.]
Have a good one.
mandatory coverage. They traded the "preexisting illness" concession for the "private mandatory coverage." That's why the insurance companies do not want the PI. It will cut into the number of new captive policy purchasers.
I do not believe that the current proposal will be better than nothing. It takes away the impetus for change. And, nothing will take effect until 2013--after the next presidential election. By then, we could have single payer if we fought for it. Waiting all that time just gives the insurance companies time to gouge us. Have you read anything about any caps on premium costs? ... Anything? [Crickets] I didn't think so. I hate being manipulated.
I guess I'd hope that scale, lower admin costs & non-profit of a public plan would be able to attract the bulk of the "captive policies" and become somewhat self-fulfilling to drive down premiums, but I could make the argument that it'll be botched somehow, so do see your point.
because it will be mere smoke and mirrors. Nothing of substance except for the insurance companies.
And yes, when you add the whole "pre-existing condition" to the picture, it gets really ugly as far as premiums go (whether public or private).
NJ added it for private insurance (though not mandatory for people to buy insurance) and the premiums are something ridiculous.
premiums caps were not part of the debate. It seems that it is a given that there will be no caps. Just like it was a given that single payer would not even be considered. Just where do "givens" come from, anyway? Did the insurance companies tell their bribees what points could NOT be discussed? This is why I want it tanked. Too many unaddressed issues. The insurance companies have made enough money, and they need to go spend it somewhere and be thankful they will not have to return it. Or answer to me.
Grow up.
So sick and tired of the emotional rollercoaster of this issue. Every single fucking day the trend reverses.
From now on, I'm retreating into a fantasy land where no one is sick, everyone has a good job, and all health insurance executives have been impaled on flaming stakes.
is a better job than the actual impaling. Or do you have to do both?
If so I'll take the job where you make the stakes.
"Don't you love it that no matter how much we donate, politicians say they can't support the netroots agenda "because you're not in my district", yet are so very sympathetic to the millions of dollars poured into their states from giant industries like insurance?"
This is the key: the toxic and corrosive effects of money in the system. If we could prohibit funds that come from outside of a representative's district and limit any money to only people (not corporations, etc.) and only people who are eligible to vote, then we would have a chance to keep our country of, by and for the people.
Enough said. I'll go without health insurance (my plan barely covers routine doctor visits--I paid $80 to get an ear infection looked at, and that doesn't cover the antibiotic) rather than give my money to private tax collectors (which is exactly what an agency that the government mandates that I give money to is).
I will boycott this legislation so long as the federal government includes profit in our health care system in any way.
I'll pay the fine, keep my fingers crossed, stick to my vegetarian diet and do my afternoon walks etc., and KEEP KNOCKING ON WOOD....
Until Medicare kicks in.
Pfffttt!!!!!!
They will take it from your pay check like Medicare and SS.
And have you seen the new ads from the insurance companies on television? Big letters for the word, "MEDICARE." Little letters for "advantage plans." They are trying to convince people that the government is going to cut billions from Medicare when in fact the government wants to rein in the advantage plans, which are Bush Co.'s attempts to privatize Medicare. Can you get any more dishonest? Well, yes. Stay tuned.
Seriously, I'm willing to screw them as hard as I can, no matter how much it hurts me.
Is that a Carly Fiorina clone they've got there?
It's rather clear that the GOP does not want to be part of the process of doing something constructive to reform healthcare, but unfortunately, on the left, it seems that many would be prefer the satisfaction of being angry to participating in obtaining reform.
Yes, we need to fight as hard as we can to get the best possible bill including controls to prevent health ins. companies from refusing coverage based on pre-existing conditions, rescinding policies retroactively, requirements that companies act on claims within a reasonable time frame, and measures to make insurance affordable to as many as possible (whether through a public option, coops, or subsidies). However, when it comes down to it, no perfect legislation is obtainable, and decrying Harry Reid, or whomever is selected as the black hat of the moment, is not useful.
Thirty-five years ago Goldwater told conservatives to "grow up." It's time that liberals grow up, take a realistic stand and move the ball forward for a healthcare bill.
to us...
Very good carrying of the
Kool-aidwater, dodrama!!!Money Talks. Money has no D or R after it. If people don't start calling there senator or house member now, the insurance will WIN...
Just look at Auto Insurance. They put millions to get states to make Auto insurance a "LAW". I have seen auto insurance go up 4 times from where it was befor this so called Law. And then the auto insurance have there FINE PRIENT. Read it, get some one to read it to you. there all kinds of get out of paying tricks in there. The guy down the street had a travel Trailer. He put in a claim for his awning was trashed by a wind guest. his insurance companie said the awning was NOT covered because it is under personal property. WTF. The awning is part of his trailer, its bolted to it. its part of the trailer. Not accourding to the insurance companie.
The health care will be the same shit. Why would they spend 1.4 million dollars to make sure they keep getting what they want.
... what WE THE PEOPLE want, I hope Michael Moore will do what he promised, and I will support him on that.
He promised the bluedogs that he would do everything he can to get them replaced the next election. The push should really start now.
QUOTE:
"To the Democrats in Congress - who don't quite get it - I want to offer a personal pledge - I - and a lot of other people - have every intention of removing you from Congress in the next election if you stand in the way of Healthcare legislation that the people want. That is not a hollow or idle threat - we will come to your districts - and we will work against you."
The Huffington Post and Raw Story report that a NYT article declares" Bush's Cover-Up Becoming Obama's Cover-Up ". Say it ain't so.
The amazing thing is she sounds so reasonable. I wish we could see what Howard Dean had to say. I saw this article in the Hartford Courant this morning. All I can think of as she's asking us to drink the Kool-aid is when did her soul get removed from her body was it a birth defect and she never had one or was it surgically removed?
What was the official story on Emanuel getting the position Howard Dean should have. Was it something to do with the Clintons?
to the american People to call anything that includes the insurance companies, give aways to big pharma, winks and nods to for-profit hospitals, HMO's and nursing homes "reform". It's the kind of insult that is going to put me in a very vengeful mood in the election cycles going at least through 2014.
Universal single-payer is healthcare reform. This is a travesty of corruption and indifference. I will not forgive it.
I agree. And I won't forgive it either.
.. that during Bush and repugs in both Houses, they were always concerned that everything they wanted to ram through, had to have bipartisan support. I remember the Democrats threatening to filibuster, but did they? Except for judicial appointments, there they folded.
I also remember that the Democrats folded when the repugs threatened with 'Nuclear Option'.
What a bunch of spineless marvels!
Yes this sucks but it is not surprising. I'm not usually a glass half full type person but this does get a foot in the door for public healthcare. It remains to be seen if it is followed up on.
nicely in today's Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle:
http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/10/self-jiving-...
nowhere in it is there the usual 'a Senior Aide in the WH says', or 'sources close to...', no this article doesnt even bother going that far. The ONLY people quoted in this article are, a 'veteran lobbyist (with Pharmaceutical Care Mgt.), Karen Ignani (AHIP),Baucus (who like Wendell Potter who is also quoted, but without any date of the statements), a 'longtime Democratic pollster, and other lobbyists. There is also this
"The specifics of the healthcare legislation are still being hashed out on Capitol Hill, and key details will evolve in the days ahead. Even so, there is broad agreement that the final plan will, for the first time, require Americans to buy health coverage, with taxpayer subsidies for millions who cannot afford it.
So, there you have straight from the source "broad agreement".
Buying into the Medicare system is bad because it's a gov't run program.
Gov't subsidies for people to buy into a private plan is good because the subsidies are a gov't program.
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