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'While I Think It's a Cruddy Bill, at Least It Is a Start'
It may be a "cruddy" bill, but it's better than nothing. That was the view from the trenches of America's health service yesterday, as doctors and patients tried to size up the potential impact of the landmark vote on their troubled industry.
A doctor examines a woman at the Broward Community & Family Health Center in Pompano Beach, Florida. "There is no way to pay for better treatment without major changes to the pharmaceutical industry," said Dr Jeremy Kaslow, who runs a private Integrated Medicine practice in prosperous Orange County, Los Angeles. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Joe Raedle) At St Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, 2,500 miles away from the political showdown on Capitol Hill, Dr Pamela Byron was coming off a 10-hour night shift in the emergency room. She was "hopeful but not exactly confident" that Barack Obama's Bill would revitalise the lot of patients.
"I'm a liberal, and there's no question that I'm totally for reform," she said. "People need to have insurance, and they need to be taken care of. I saw about 20 patients last night, with anything from heart attacks, to a man who had a gunshot wound in his leg. Half had no insurance, and I worry for what will happen to them down the line."
California is no stranger to the problems of America's current system. In August last year, the LA Forum indoor arena hosted free medical and dental checkups that drew overnight queues and about 10,000 patients. But Dr Byron is not convinced this Bill will help. "It has been so compromised by the insurance companies, who have spent millions on lobbyists to protect their interests, I fear it might make things worse for some people," she says. Other medics are concerned that the Bill will do nothing to address the biggest problem facing American healthcare: the rising overall cost of treatment, which means the medical industry now eats up a sixth of the nation's economy.
"There is no way to pay for better treatment without major changes to the pharmaceutical industry," said Dr Jeremy Kaslow, who runs a private Integrated Medicine practice in prosperous Orange County, Los Angeles.
"Almost all the rising costs I see are due to the huge prices of medicines, which just keep on rising. This Bill will add an awful lot of money to the burden facing taxpayers, but do nothing to address that problem."
For campaigners who've fought to address the fact that the world's wealthiest nation is unable to provide decent medical care to tens of millions of citizens, yesterday's vote was, however, being billed as a small step on a long journey towards reform.
"Fifty years ago, the first civil rights Bill didn't even extend the right to vote to black Americans," said Jerry Caldwell, a Democratic activist who has organised pro-reform demonstrations in Los Angeles. "So however much we dislike this legislation... it will be improved upon in coming years."
Another cautiously optimistic campaigner was Donna Malamud, whose 80-year-old mother, Shirley, suffered a stroke in January and has since been shunted between hospitals in San Diego as insurers bicker over care costs.
"We have insurance, yet my past three months have still been a nightmare," she said. "So it sickens me to think of what happens to people who don't have insurance. And it sickens me to think that the World Health Organisation ranks US healthcare 37th in the world. While it's a cruddy Bill, at least it's a start."
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Show All"So however much we dislike this legislation... it will be improved upon in coming years."
Not as long as corporations run "our" government's three branches it won't.
Time to vote out ALL members of the Corporate Congress, and keep voting them out till only supporters of public campaign funding are left.
As long as the Corporate-War State exists, democracy is a complete lie and misery is the consequence, here and abroad.
The bill is 3000 pages of weasel clauses written by the insurance industry to assure that the only "future improvements" will be to the insurance companies' bottom lines.
Too many of the people in the trenches are letting a good story get in the way of the facts.
Ed, you got it. Public campaign financing only.
ED: "Time to vote out ALL members of the Corporate Congress, and keep voting them out till only supporters of public campaign funding are left."
Exactly. And this means we need to support the campaigns of the non-corporate candidates. I attended the antiwar rally in Seattle yesterday, and was very happy to learn that long-time activist Richard Curtis is running as an Independent for U.S. Senate.
I encourage my fellow Washingtonians to check him out (richardcurtis4senate.org) and support his campaign.
petrkrop: Thanks for the link to Dr.Curtis' campaign website. I've looked it up, he looks good. While I'm far away from Washington (Florida), I'm interested in the election of progressive candidates from wherever they may be running, as their votes in Congress affect me and every other American, and these "local" campaigns should be nationally supported.
On that matter, more broadly, I'd like to alert you and like-minded others of a facility that is about to be opened. A Florida-based website called Sun State Activist is about to launch a "campaign corner" which will be a combination directory of "progressive populist" campaigns for all offices and for all ballot issues throughout the U.S.A, a "one-stop" facility for people who want to know about other people who are doing similar campaigns and to find ways to be mutually helpful with one another's campaigns. It is very much under construction but is expected to open for "business" on April 1, and you can visit the "construction site" and alert campaigns like that of Dr. Curtis to contact the site (You can use the Contact Us already there) to "register" their campaigns in what promises to be an interesting experiment in whether we in the progressive community can make common cause in a situation in which so many of us have despaired with the regressive tendencies of both branches of the Republicratic duopoly. The site is currently found at http://sunstateactivist.org/campaigncorner/
Good idea... I'll pass it on.
Thanks
The shake in my hand, Good idea... twice, I'll pass it on.
Thank you, I'm glad to know about Sun State Activist, and I'll pass it on to everyone I know!
Does the Dem elites incubate these spawn and then program them to diseminate a Dem apologetic?
Ever notice how they puppet back the expected script every time they launch another version of corporate hegemony, while controlling the House, Senate, and the Presidency?
It goes something like this: sure we controll the political landscape now, but in some undefined future we "will make it better" but we don't have either the backbone, the resolve, or the man-hood to do it now.
We are owned by our corporate paymasters and first need to convince them that profits, exploitation, and opporession are really not in their best interest. Of course they will "make it better" at least for the For Profit industry, they already gave them 80% of what they wanted, and in the future will insure they get the other 20%.
This, my friends, is what is referred to as the Santa Klaus scenario.
"Fifty years ago, the first civil rights Bill didn't even extend the right to vote to black Americans," said Jerry Caldwell, a Democratic activist who has organised pro-reform demonstrations in Los Angeles. "So however much we dislike this legislation... it will be improved upon in coming years."
But, I want it all and I want it now! I'm an American, dammit!
Yes, it is the poor, working poor, and middle class who are to blame.
The Dem shills always want to blame the 'victim' rather than place responsibility where it belongs.
First they told us to work to change the Democratic Party from within by electing progressive Democrats. But the "progressives" folded again, like they always do. Weiner, Pelosi, Kucinich, Sanders, et al; just a few short months back they told us that void a "public option" they would not sign on to the legislation. In the end, we discovered just how much their progressive vocabulary held sway to their resolve and integrity: in other words, they have none. Or to put it another way, they will do the oppossite of whatever they say to the public.
For the rest of you, if you want authentic transformational change, just ignore the corporate cubical and lip service liberals, but especially when they extract a three sentance rejoinder from an article as if it represents a panacea.
We should not have to "preach to the choir" about the Democratic party. The mendacity of the Democratic Party ought to be self evident.
If the progressives here aren't absolutely convinced that the Democrats are corporate owned, what can be said about the general public?
Preaching is a foundational font of the apologetic wing of the Dem Party. You might want to take a closer look at your own projections.
This bill is the end, not the start of anything.
If you want to hear the new theme song of the democratic party, simply pull up an old episode of MASH.
ALL members of Congress won't be voted out, but the democratic traitors that betrayed the American people will mostly be gone.
"...suicide is painless/ it brings on many changes..." ;D
the problem with the shitty health insurance plan is that the democrats have already said once this is passed they can focus on other things -
ie- they WON'T be revisiting the plan to "fix" it....
what you see is what you're stuck with....
and by the way - let's see if the senate actually passes the reconcilliation part - they can easily not pass it - in which case we're stuck with an even worse bill than people are talking about right now!
mtdon: You're absolutely right, the Democrats can now focus on messing up other "reforms" like immigration (Fine the Illegals and Then Give Them a Rocky Path to Citizenship) and a federal education policy (Race to the Top as the Bottom Bottoms Out). They'll be way too busy to worry about "fixing" a health care policy that was accepted on a "better than nothing" mentality. You know, can't let the perfect get in the way of the....er, cruddy.
Frankly, I don't have thimble full of sympathy for the American people. Their laziness and gullibility have put them in the position they are in. But, they hardly know the jeopardy they are in with this health insurance care bill.
It will be harder than ever to get a public run single payer system, now. The private system would first need to be over turned, which will be very difficult.
Still, we mustn't 'blame the victim', and we should always keep in mind that health care is surely one of the basic human rights that belong to every person in the country, every person on earth, not something we earn, have to 'deserve', etc.
Perhaps for the same reason that explicitly stated answers to the question are unlikely.
Three more are Micheal Moore, Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders. All have pledged to keep at it and they have a good deal of support in doing that.
And there are challenges to the Mandatory aspect of the bill (the part that the Corpos love) that will hit the courts before any of this is brought online.
"Fifty years ago, the first civil rights Bill didn't even extend the right to vote to black Americans,"
Nothing is given, everything takes a struggle, this is part of the struggle, savor the small victories and build on them.
It's almost as encouraging as Moe, Larry, and Curly returning from the hereafter.
Except that none of the three you mention have Moe's sadistic élan.
Ask the 32 million who will become insured. Ask those with "pre-existing conditions". Ask seniors who hate the "doughnut hole". This CAN be the FIRST step to universal health care coverage.
hey, shach, those with pre-existing conditions are going to have to wait until 2014 as I understand the new law. Kids will get covered this year. What about their parents? I think you've been listening to the cheerleaders in the Corporate Party....
RichM: "One wonders, then, why the headline touts only the "hopeful" opinions of the 2 know-nothings."
Savvy one that you are, I don't imagine you even "wonder" at all. Headlines are the last refuge of the scoundrels who try to impose the print media equivalent of "sound bite" pieces of public "information." The hyperbole of "historic" and "sweeping overhaul" accompanies practically every MSM headlining of the passage of the bill I have seen. Unfortunately, it too often carries over to "alternative" media like the one on which we are commenting.
RichM: "One wonders, then, why the headline touts only the "hopeful" opinions of the 2 know-nothings."
Savvy one that you are, I don't imagine you even "wonder" at all. Headlines are the last refuge of the scoundrels who try to impose the print media equivalent of "sound bite" pieces of public "information." The hyperbole of "historic" and "sweeping overhaul" accompanies practically every MSM headlining of the passage of the bill I have seen. Unfortunately, it too often carries over to "alternative" media like the one on which we are commenting.
Buy health insurance stocks now!
They rose today. So much for the argument that the insurance corporations did not favor this bill. What a crock. Everyone knows this is a windfall for them.
'While I Think It's a Cruddy Bill, at Least It Is a Start'
I bet the banksters didn't have to say that about their bailout...
Our New Pledge:
...One Nation, under Medicare, with freedom and healthcare for all.
Even if its not free, the key thing is it stops them from dropping sick patients, or denying people health insurance based on pre-existing conditions....
For now this is the best were going to get
Yes, it does stop insurance companies from denying health insurance, but it doesn't stop insurance companies from denying claims. All the insurance in the world won’t help if they deny every claim that they get.
I believe it requires them to spend 80% of the revenue from premiums on patient care, which would be claims.
Only on the paper this bill is written on
they can charge what ever they want
they can price people out of the market
so they can still deny coverage by setting the
premiums out of reach to even the likes of Bill Gates
A start? Looks more like a culmination from this trench.
But it certainly is better than nothing -- IF you're a member of the financial industry's insurance cartel. It should allow the diversion of even more money (in this case the need for advertising and sales agents) into the profits pot. Very nice of the U.S. government and its taxpayers to take over that expense via mandatory purchasing enforcement.
One wonders if all you pitiable people in USA Incorporated's trenches are aware of how utterly pathetic you appear to the rest of the world. Does "America The Beautiful" even recognise any externalities at all?
You are very very very concerned about us Americans aren't you.
We are not in control, big money is.
But to be fair, what is your country and how are you doing with the corporate situation?
Big money's control of the U.S. and its "globalization" agenda are everyone's concern -- or should be.
"Money has no heart, no soul, no conscience, no homeland."
BUT it is in control and has
no need for a heart and soul just greed
I am not aware of anything that controls premium hikes or denial of claims. If this is true then it has not solved the core problem of affordability for the middle class. As for me I see a root doctor and use natural remedies mostly.
Stone: Oops, you uttered the A-word (affordability), the unspeakable aspect of health care "reform." If you get everybody "covered," isn't that the idea? (An insurance agen't dream.) Never mind that that coverage won't cover their costs unless these are contained. And didn't the President bargain away cost-containment with the drug companies at the very beginning of the "negotiation" of a reform system? We were screwed from the start of this "historic" process and nobody (hardly anybody) utters the A-word. Thanks for doing it.
"Affordability" is such a fuzzy term. If one can't make their mortgage payment or feed their family, as so many can't these days, nothing is "affordable."
Single payer is the only solution, but we'll never see it under the criminal government we have. They have succeeded in turning the entire health care issue into a farce. Try to stay healthy folks.
this is the problem that almost every body
is over looking in this bill
there are no price controls in it at all
the ban on denial of coverage is meaning less
as long as the insurance can set the premiums
to what ever they want to set them at
they can just price those people out of the
insurance market instead of denying them coverage
could anyone pay $100,000.00 per month ?
there is nothing in this bill to stop the
insurance companies from demanding that much
for coverage
I think I recall that serious cost controls (on premiums) start in 2016 after the exchanges are up and running, but I don't know the details. As for claims, it requires insurance companies to spend 80% of their revenue from premiums on patient care, but I'm sure they'll find a way to let plenty of people die instead of paying for treatment.
So they've got what? Six years to continue to jack up rates?
I'm not sure it would make a difference if the cap was immediate. Remember all the credit card companies jacking up rates just before a cap for that takes effect this year? And they had just a year to do it in.
Human nature is rotten, even the most vociferous voices on the left would've succumbed to the insurance companies demands had they been handsomely bribed.
And that's what happened to our congress: COLD HARD CASH in their pockets was the reason this was voted in. The ones who voted NO did so because they didn't get enough bribe money. You can bet your life savings on it.
The saddest part is, many on the left (most of my Facebook friends) think this passage was a victory for the people! My God, how stupid can people be.
They suffer from a disease known as Obamabotulism, which causes severe delusions and denial.
I hope this is a start. I hope that this huge stinking mess is enough to get the American sheeple to finally recognise that the problem isn't the republican party or the democratic party. The problem is the soulless scum that own both parties lock stock and barrel and are using them to steal the last little bit of money, dignity, hope and dreams from us all.
What you (and I) hope is precisely what others fear most. In fact, the possibility of that much broader recognition and awakening is the real target of much of the commentary. Segmentation and divisiveness are the primary tools and (so far) they seem to be working quite well.
"Its a start".
B.S.
This bill is an absolute cop-out. I'd compare it to throwing an deflated life raft to a group of drowning people in the middle of the ocean.