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Democrat Gives Up Single-Payer Measure to Back Party Leaders
WASHINGTON - Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of New York, a fierce champion in Congress of a single-payer health system that would be fully run by the government, said Friday that he had agreed not to insist on a vote on that issue, in an effort to help Democratic leaders pass their plan.
US Rep. Anthony D. Weiner Previously, Mr. Weiner had obtained a commitment from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote on a proposal to create a single-payer system like the one used by Canada and many countries in Europe, including England, France and Spain.
Single-payer supporters form a large bloc among liberal Democrats, although there has not been enough broader backing to make the idea politically viable. So Mr. Weiner's proposal would almost certainly have been defeated, although it would have enabled those liberal Democrats to demonstrate their continuing support for a single-payer system.
But as House Democratic leaders struggle to round up the votes they need to pass their health care legislation, Mr. Weiner said in an interview that it was clear that forcing a vote on the single-payer issue would be counterproductive and could endanger support for the bill at a critical juncture.
Mr. Weiner's decision to sacrifice the measure also signaled that Democratic leaders may be struggling even harder behind the scenes than they have acknowledged to win votes for the health care legislation. Another sign was a decision to postpone a visit by President Obama to Capitol Hill until Saturday, allowing his personal appeal to have maximum impact on lawmakers as close to the actual vote as possible.
The Democrats' legislation, which is supported by Mr. Obama, relies on continuing the existing system of mostly employer-sponsored health benefits. The bill seeks to cover 36 million uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor, and by providing government subsidies to moderate-income Americans to help them buy insurance. The subsidies could be used for government-approved private health plans or for a new government-run insurance plan - the so-called public option - that would complete with private insurers.
"I feel very strongly that the employer-based model is not the way to go and single-payer is the better way," Mr. Weiner said in an interview. "But I never wanted it to be the situation where we literally let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
He added, "As disappointed as I am, the higher imperative, I think, is making sure that the big bill got passed."
While Mr. Weiner said he recognized that his decision would disappoint legions of single-payer advocates, he said the danger to the larger bill was too great.
Forcing a vote on single-payer could be particularly problematic for lawmakers who represent districts that split heavily between liberal and more moderate or conservative voters. A vote against the single-payer issue would anger constituents on the left, while emboldening opponents on the right, making it more difficult to support the larger bill. Avoiding a vote on the issue, in turn, could allow centrist Democrats to take a tough vote in favor of the larger bill.
Mr. Weiner said that the debate around the public option had helped the cause of single-payer supporters.
"There's an old saying in the single-payer movement, God supports the single payer, just not now," he said. "I think that the public option debate has to some degree advanced the cause of single payer because, in fact, both the proponents and opponents of the public option are in a way stipulating to the point that government-run health care would be more efficient and would be chosen by citizens if it were offered."
Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders had long ago taken the single-payer issue off the table, saying that it would be too destabilizing to completely change the nation's health care system. Adopting a single-payer program would require a sweeping overhaul of the tax code, as well as of the compensation and benefits packages of virtually every employer in the United States.
"There is some disappointment," Mr. Weiner said. "And I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't disappointed."
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Show AllSometimes it seems like we are living in the world that was shown to George Bailey in Capra's 1946 classic where the angel is showing George what the town would have been like if George had never existed. Except in part what we are seeing is the world that would exist if the progressives were to repeatedly support the "lessor evil" Democrats rather than building up a third party to promote change.
Would a third party that won 3% of the vote in 2004, 6% in 2006, and 9% in 2008 have some interest to voters looking for an alternative to the corporate Democrats in 2010? Would disgruntled voters be considering punishing the Democrats by voting Republican if they saw a third choice? Would the progressive faction of the Democratic party be unable to get single payer healthcare voted on if there was a third option that was displaying some momentum on the left? Would the Republicans be purging themselves of their moderates?
Disappointment is not enough, Mr. Weiner.
Hold out and kill this bill. This is not health reform. It is not even health insurance reform. It is not a compromise.
This is a Trojan Horse.
Herszenhorn sez: "... Mr. Weiner said in an interview that it was clear that forcing a vote on the single-payer issue would be counterproductive and could endanger support for the bill at a critical juncture."
***
Uh, yeah ... voting on a decent bill would 'endanger support' for a piece of crap bill. That would be horrible.
our congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of big insurance and big pharma. yes and our so called president too.
"Adopting a single-payer program would require a sweeping overhaul of the tax code, as well as of the compensation and benefits packages of virtually every employer in the United States."
So?
Yeah, like it's never been done before, like when all those tax codes and benefit packages were first created and then regulated.
We have been sold down the river to the cleptocracy. This is revolting.
This is revolting? Obviously, not yet, but one does have hope for "revolutionary" change...
mujeriego November 6th, 2009 7:34 pm said:
I thought it was a right...
LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...
---------------------
well I was thinkin': damn straight!
after all money is free speach now isnt it?
isnt it the leap life=healthcare shorter than leap of bribery=speach?
"Forcing a vote on single-payer could be particularly problematic for lawmakers who represent districts that split heavily between liberal and more moderate or conservative voters. A vote against the single-payer issue would anger constituents on the left, while emboldening opponents on the right, making it more difficult to support the larger bill. Avoiding a vote on the issue, in turn, could allow centrist Democrats to take a tough vote in favor of the larger bill."
How does voting against single-payer "embolden opponents on the right?" Someone please explain this twisted logic to me. Is this really the best apologia the NYT could write for the spineless Democratic party? Its not even about "angering constituents on the left" either--since when has the Democratic party cared about angering the Left? This is just another kick in the teeth for single-payer advocates, delivered by Pelosi and the party leaders, aimed at silencing the few remaining House members who dare advocate for meaningful reform. Essentially this is the party saying to Weiner: "Alright, you've had your fun now, run along before we decide to make things difficult for you." To the surprise of no one, Weiner predictably buckled. What a joke.
As long as Congresspersons believe that they are absolutely indispensable for the well-being of their paymasters they will go to any length to be re-elected.
Congressman Anthony Weiner:
"As disappointed as I am, the higher imperative, I think, is making sure that the big bill got passed."
Wrong.
This bill makes everything worse.
Under this bill premiums will rise at least 40% by 2013.
Deductibles will skyrocket.
Claims will be unpaid at a clip of at least 1 out of 5.
Claims that do get paid will require an enormous amount of yelling and screaming by patients who should be concentrating on their health.
Poorer people will only be able to afford "bare-bones" policies.
The "public-option" is being designed to be weaker and more expensive than private plans and to limit enrollment to 2% - i.e. designed to fail.
This is nothing more than our current system magnified.
By 2013 the rest of the civlilized world will still be providing health care at $3,500 per capita and our per capita rate will have risen to $12,000 (from $8.000).
Conclusion: This plan should be STRONGLY opposed by all single-payer advocates. We will find out who the authentic progressives are in congress.
I thought Kucinich and Weiner and a few other Democrats were different. I was wrong. They're scumbag Republicans, like all the rest.
David M. Herszenhorn writes:
"Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of New York, a fierce champion ... "
"Fierce champion"? Riight. Every "fierce champion" among the Dems has folded to a "win" for the Oblabla mob. Screw the Democrats.
Can't each state create it's own single-payer plan without the need for any approval from Congress?
Legalizing medicinal herbal medicine can sure put a kick into a healthcare budget and maintain it as well. Just something to think about...
Cygnus---
While I'm not disputing your figures, I am curious from what source(s) they come.
For one thing, if they are close to true then the next move is to dismantle Medicare or jack up its premiums and copays and suck the trust fund dry if they haven't already...
Regards.
-30-
Kucinich asserted the other day that the House Bill allows a 25% increase under the current Democratic plan.
All the pissing and moaning
is pointless.
Most of you will fanatically
back the demublicans again;
especially during the next
all important selection of
the "lesser of two evils,"
election in 2010, 2012, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
That is, unless the realities
of the world don't interrupt
this impotence first.
dwayne chandler.
I will never back a
loser/losers again.
I'll die before that happens.
dwayne chandler.
we live in a country that has been controlled by fascists (corporate interests) for nearly 100 years. Many aspects of life are "broken" or have been fixed to repress the masses. Time for revolution. Serious revolution. Our political system is broken and won't be fixed by the foxes IN the henhouse. Nothing important can be "fixed" within the current "system"; the ruling elite just will not allow it. And, it is equally tough to get a message out to the massses, as the ruling elite also control the press. We are well on the way to being a third world country that also happens to rule the world to a large extent. it is pretty depressing.
I had great respect for this man when he was in the media asking the question, What do insurance companies bring to the table? To which he correctly answered, nothing.
It is amazing how a man can compromise his ideals for such a worthless concept as 'party unity.'
Oh, well, another generation will now suffer under the dictatorship of insurance companies.
It is called politics: they would sell out their own mother if it got them somthing in return.
. . . and then there were none.
First Conyers, who never really fought to have the CBC score single payer, and then Kucinich, with his half-baked, doomed state-by-state sugar coating to help make the poison pill of this bill acceptable to "progressives."
This is the end of the Democratic Party.
The denouement will take time to play out, but the attempt to sustain the illusion of the Democrats as some kind of "progressive" alternative is now completely dead and buried, along with Wiener's reputation.
The only question is whether, from the ashes of the Democrats, a new progressive party will arise, or whether the country will descend into the abyss.
We can and must MAKE a new progressive movement happen.
Anthony D. Weiner is a SELLOUT AND DOUBLE-TALKER.....
In the old days, when people like this were caught lying had been challenged to a duel.....and this guy is a double-talking weasle in the worst way....
Weiner for months sought the media limelight lying to Democratic Party voters on shows like Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann....the critics at counterpunch.org, however, exposed this fraud in its many articles on healthcare....
Obama called it "health insurance reform" on Saturday when he urged the Congress to pass it....
Voting for the Democrats is a hazard to your health, and literally so, now.
I think he is well-intentioned on this particular issue, but too weak to stand up against charges of being a spoiler and abetting the Republicans. The punishment for taking a principled stand is shunning, which is usually death for a politician. Right now there is no place for rebellious politicians to go for support. The progressive caucus is OK, but usually folds in the end. We need a political Covenant House for Democrats who want to run away from their dysfunctional family.
Joe
Anthony Weiner and the rest of the Democratic Party are WORTHLESS AND SPINELESS AND I AM TIRED OF THE EXCUSES AND APPEASEMENT.....THE OPPOSITION TO THE NAZIS DID THIS IN GERMANY AND IT GOT THEM NOWHERE. AS THE USA CREEPS MORE AND MORE TOWARDS FASCISM AND A POLICE STATE, YOU HAVE THESE SPINELESS DEMS LIKE WEINER WHO TALKS A BIG GAME ON THE TALK SHOWS AS THE GLIB JERK HE IS BUT WHEN THE RUBBER MEETS THE RAOD HE RUNS LIKE THE COWARD BITCH HE IS!!!! THE DEMS STILL ACT LIKE THE REPUBLICANS AND NOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S BITCH...THE DEMS BACK DOWN SO EASY TO THE CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS!!!
The Dems are such wimps and cowards when they continue to cave into these right-wing Republicans....The Republicans only get strong when the Dems cower and wimp out and cave in to whatever "principles" they have to the GOP!!! The Dems are DIGUSTING and EVIL in their INACTION!!!!
The Democratic Party has just said screw you to women who believe in choice. Thanks to the Democrats, they aid and abet the right wing radicals and Christian zealots who oppose abortion rights and women’s rights. You know in Nazi Germany, they came into power because the opposition caved and appeased the Hitler faction. The Democrats are WEAK!!!!! The Democratic Party stand for NOTHING!!!!! The Democrats have CORPORATE Led solutions and we all know what CORPRATIONS REALLY THINK of Women and their “rights.”
I am an unabashedly Leftist Here and DO NOT LIKE THE DEMOCRATS appeasement, equivocation and sellout of leftist/progressive policies to the right wing Repukes. Unlike the spineless Democrats, I am not afraid to say that I am a Proud Leftist and not afraid to stand up for these values. The country has moved so far to the right that too many "liberals-progressives" think that conservative to moderate Democrats who oppose the far right Fascists of the GOP believe in liberalism or progressivism. NOT!!!! The "liberal-progressive" rhetoric the Democratic Party uses on the talk shows and even that is less frequent that you all realize should tell you things which you are all intelligent enough to figure out.
It is the Democratic Leadership Council Runs the Dem Party's Agenda, and not the "liberal-progressive" base. It is time that you all understand this. The Democratic Party has diminished the values and voices of its "liberal-progressive" base ever since it formed the Democratic Leadership Council. The Democratic Party takes it leftist/progressive base for granted and when push comes to shove, goes with the Democratic Leadership Council agenda which is GOP-Lite, corporate centered, and favors a militarized foreign policy agenda built on “bipartisanship.”
Liberal and Feminist Women have fell victim to the male-inspired Democratic Leadership Council. The sooner you all understand these realities and deal with it after confronting the facts, then you see why being a "liberal/progressive" Democrats now means very little. The Democrats may as well go on FOX News and bash women for what they did yesterday, The Democratic Party have become liabilities on social and civil rights issues!!!!!!
From Gay Rights to Wage Earning/Jobs to Women’s Reproductive Health Issues, the Democrats now look to maintain their grip on power while compromising the core values of its leftist/progressive base. Obama and the Democratic Party today are closer to the Catholic Church and Christian Fundamentalists on issues of:
1. Women’s right to choose –Yes a WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHAT SHE DOES WITH HER OWN BODY!!!!!!
2. Gay Rights – DADT, Gay Marriage – which Obama and the Democratic National Committee did nothing about in Maine last week, and supports the Defense of Marriage Act.
3. Democrats continue the big Spending on Defense Budgets and endless war funding.
Barack Obama will soon be sending over 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, yet, the leftist/progressive base still fail to see the president as a center-right corporate-militarist leader of which he has proven to be. Obama will not be looking into signing any real international agreements to curb emissions. Obama is turning into a failure on environmental issues as well.
Your anger is totally correct and justified. It is infuriating and sad to see how any momentary spark of life is systematically and expertly snuffed out of members of Congress. However, in my opinion, it is not only a matter of the character flaws of the individual participants, but the very nature of the electoral system and Congress in this country. Almost every elected official capitulates to corporatism on almost every issue. It is a process that has to be observed and understood if we are ever to find the keys to change it.
Joe
This seems like a real sell-out.
Helping Democratic leaders pass their plan to mandate individuals to buy insurance from the same pirate companies that have been cheating us for decades?!! And, no caps or limits on premiums?
I'm sickened. In the last administration Republicans pimped for the oil and gas industry. Now, it seems the Democrats are pimping for the health insurance industry. Different party and different industry, but the ethics are the same. The Republicans helped the oil industry fleece the people, and now the Democrats want to help the insurance industry to fleece the people.
If this so-called health insurance reform plan fails it will be good for the health insurance industry, and if it passes it will be even better for the health insurance industry.
I called my congresswoman and told her I'm a liberal, I voted for her and I SUPPORT a Canadian-style, single-payer national health insurance system.
I also told her I OPPOSE any bill that mandates health insurance purchases from private companies. I told her I won't be able to support her if she votes for insurance company profits over the public interest.
The abomination that the Democrats are ramming through, in a just world, will lead to their just end as a political party within 30 years, to be replaced (in my preference) by the New Democratic Party, which will genuinely be for the common people, and will get a single payer system up and running very quickly, with the speed of enactment reflecting the need to rescue the country from health care system failure AND economic devastation.
You can not possibly get your money's worth by buying American health insurance and then paying deductibles, co pays, and prescription costs if and when you get actual health care. This is already overwhelmingly true and will be even more and more "extremely true" in each and every year ahead for the foreseeable future. The Democrat's bill will provide very few cost controls, so the hell that is the American health care system will only deepen in the years ahead.
If to the present you have arranged, through your own conscious efforts, your health, your health care participation, and your finances in opposition to the grossly overpriced health insurance, and when this bill passes you now succumb to the dictates of the traitorous, disgusting, and useless to say the least Democrats, you will very likely be economically defeated by the fat cats in that party and in the massive health insurance companies. You will most likely lose out economically. You will be fleeced. You will be played like a violin.
True, you might possibly get some health care if you become a slave to the insurance fat cats and write them very large checks often and on time, but you will be financially and economically devastated, or at least heavily damaged. Your health insurance company may or may not stand with you should you really need real assistance; that depends on specific circumstances.
If you are by nature a more gentle, compliant soul and you feel you have to bow down to the politicians and the health insurance moguls, then you will write those checks and not worry about the financial wreckage you are causing yourself, which of course could easily lead to your bankruptcy and could possibly lead to your homelessness. which would devastate your health regardless of any insurance you have.
But I respect you if you will not fight being a slave to the multimillionaire health insurance executives and their death dealing, incompetent employees in their claims denial departments. The fight against greed and tyranny is always optional; it's always for those of strong beliefs.
In fact, there is no real right thing to do once this pathetic excuse for legislation passes. The American system has now failed to the point where every course of action that a common citizen can take with respect to health care will actually do more harm than good overall, if a complete and total accounting of every factor is done. In other words, the system has reached the point of Total Failure, the point where almost everyone is losing almost all of the time.
Until real rescue comes to us, I wish everyone all the best as they confront the deepening devastation of what was once a promising country.
'...the deepening devastation of what was once a promising country." –(tremaine)
–Only no one can remember when that 'once' actually was for a very simple reason: It never existed. –(Jill Bains)
Some optimists out there believe that passage of a Health Bill through the House and Senate will be a first step in the direction of a single-payer system. They have either been smoking pot or, what is much more likely, are deliberately misleading us. Their Hope can be called Single Payer You Can Believe In. I hold these Pied Pipers of Washington in deep contempt. I will not follow them into the Potomac River.