Heathcare!!!!

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html

First off, I love Bill Moyers. Yes, I am a nerd who would rather watch PBS on a Friday night than go to a bar.

One thing I've noticed is how every argument against a public healthcare option can be countered with, "That's what's happening now!"

The rich will subsidize the poor
That's what's happening now!

There will be a bureaucrat between you and your doctor
That's what's happening now!

Competition will be stifled
That's what's happening now!

It will be inefficient
That's what's happeing now!

It will be too expensive
That's what's happening now!

It will kill old people.
That's what's happ - oh wait, old people have access to Medicare, a publicly run healthcare provider which is very efficient and has higher rates of satisfaction. Old people would not see much of a change if a new public Medicare-like option was available to all. Admittedly, they will continue to die from time to time.

So I guess not every argument...

It breaks my heart that a few "blue dogs" can almost kill a public option and employer mandates. When the Republicans were in charge, moderates like Chuck Hagel didn't have this kind of power. Many very conservative policies were enacted, killing regulation and civil liberties. We all know how that ended up...

(Update: just learned that Nancy Pelosi has promised to have a vote on Single Payer Healthcare on the house floor. Yea! The House's final bill maintains a public option, but requires them to negotiate rates rather than tie rates to Medicare. The Senate will be trickier, and they don't really have a bill nailed down. The Senate Finance Committee chaired by Max Baucus is the real bear. Write to him and tell him what's what: http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm)

Fact is, Republicans do not support responsible policy, they support corporate lobbyists. They've proven it. America voted for CHANGE, we want Democrats to exercise as much disregard for conservative interests as they did for our interests when they were in power. I don't want to build a bridge to a rich thief that wants to continue to give my money to other rich thieves. What I want is to go to the doctor when I'm sick, and not get a damn bill in the mail that I have to dispute every single time. I want drug addicts to be able to get counseling so that they have a chance of getting clean, rather than committing crimes. I want to know that even if I lose my job, I can still get treated for unexpected illness. I want to know that our kids are going to school with healthy kids.

It's time for our party to get real about healthcare, and we need to demand it. I would rather pay taxes than these exorbitant premiums. The private market can continue to operate competitively along side a public, not for profit model. They have this thing in the Senate bill, "co-ops". It's like a community-run insurance option. Basically, they took a public model and cloaked it in complexity and inefficiency. So they could "get the votes." They also removed employer mandates, but maintain individual mandates. So if you don't have insurance, you pay an exorbitant tax penalty, like we do in Mass. But in Mass, employers w/ more than 8 employees also pay a fine if they don't offer insurance. So the burden is shared, and we're still operating at a deficit. Uninsured Americans cannot afford the whole burden of funding this system.

And while I'm on the matter of funding, can I just reiterate, I don't mind paying more in taxes if it means my overall, out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures go down. Next time you get anxious about higher taxes, imagine a life without premiums, deductibles, copays, scheduled benefits, lifetime limits, shared percentages, and out-of-network fees.

The reason Commonwealth Cares is operating at a deficit isn't because penalties aren't high enough. It is because MA is operating as an agent to insurance companies. The state goes out and negotiates plans with Blue Cross, etc. So we are still paying corporate profits, marketing, underwriting, advertising. All that would go away with a publicly administrated, not for profit alternative. Let the insurance companies live in a profit-driven vacuum, keep them out of any public option. The co-ops are trying to fill that void, but I'm skeptical...

These things always go longer than I intend them to...