12.22.09
Health care bill, where it stands
At this point my take on health care is that despite my want to hold out for a much better bill, the best we’re likely to get is the current Senate bill with a few more concessions, hopefully, to the house side once it gets through the conference committee. And the fight to make this bill better should not end until a final bill is voted out of conference committee. But Without changes to campaign finance, and the continuing hold that corporations have over most politicians in our government, (especially Senators), this is the best we can get right now. From JackandJillPolitics:
For those who say, “but there are serious corporate giveaways.” Name me a bill that makes it through the United States Congress that doesn’t have major corporate giveaways! It’s how this system works. You can argue that the system is rotten, and we need campaign finance reform, and those are great points, but they have very little to do with the politics of the present moment. The politics of the present moment demand that those on the left who’ve fought for health care reform support this bill and build on that foundation in the future.
We get the best we can get right now and build on it, like was done with Social Security, HCR is a PROCESS, people! A bit of historical perspective.
Ah, yes. That bastion of progressive reform, social security, started out not covering women. And African Americans. And farmers. And maids and butlers. And government employees. And teachers and nurses and librarians and social workers.
Guess what? It does now.
In 1939 it became Pay-As-You-Go and the Social Security Trust Fund was created along with the FICA tax. They created the Aid to Dependent Children program and began including some women. Not all women, mind you. But some women.
In 1950 domestic labor, household employees working at least two days a week for the same person, nonprofit workers and the self-employed were added.
In 1954 hotel workers, laundry workers, all agricultural workers, and state and local government employees were added.
In 1956 disability benefits were added.
In 1961 retirement at age 62 was extended to men.
In 1962 dependent husbands, widowers, and children of women were allowed to collect benefits for the first time.
In 1972 benefits were increased 20% and cost of living allowances (COLA) were implemented.
There were further improvements made in the late 70s and early 80s as well.
Is it perfect? Nope. Has it gotten better and better over the years since 1935? Hell yeah, it has.
The bill will cover many currently uninsured in Texas, via the AAS.
Many of the health leaders say Texas — which has the nation’s highest rate of uninsured residents — has much to gain from the nearly $1 trillion proposals because they would dramatically expand coverage to people who lack it. Families USA, a consumer health advocacy group, estimated Wednesday that the state could cover 4 million of the 6 million people who are uninsured today under the Senate health bill now being considered.
Does this bill “fix” health care? No, far from it. Does is make it better? Yes, (see image in extended entry).
Some of the back-and-forth in teh blogosphere regarding pass or kill of the health care bill be read here.
Watch Markos last night for the final word on the bill for now.
Well, you know, I’ve been saying that this bill is not health care reform. It’s definitely not reform. What it does is allows more people to buy into the existing, broken system. And there are a lot of people who need insurance, but what’s happening is that even people with insurance cannot afford health care because of the co-pays and high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.
So, I’d like to see something being done to address the cost side of the equation. I mean, you have the federal government now on the bill, on the tab for the insurance of 15 million people. You have a middle-class that’s not going to get much relief in this bill, continuing to pay these out-of-control health care costs. So, we need to see more work done on the cost side.
Now, I’m really encouraged by the notion that maybe Obama now thinks it’s OK to allow cheaper drugs to be imported from Canada. That’s a huge first step, because I think the insurance companies have gotten a lot of the venom, but also a lot of the reason for the high cost is the drug companies and also the health care providers.
So, at worst, this could be a first step towards full health care reform, not just increasing access to insurance.
[...]
I have to say there is a fairly big split in the progressive, online community, between those who just want to take a deal, anything, and move on to the next big issue, and those of us who haven’t quit fighting. I have to say, the reason Obama that is now talking about drug re- importation, cheaper drugs from overseas, is because we are continuing to fight.
If you laid down arms, you know what? The Ben Nelsons and Joe Liebermans, they keep extracting concessions. We cannot, at any point, lay down our guns and stop fighting.
Once we have a final bill, and things are set in stone, then we can re-examine that bill. But right now, things can still change. To stop fighting for that change, to me, is patently ridiculous.
Any positive change from here on out is going to be because we keep pushing from the left not because we say, “Good enough. Let’s pass it.”