• commentary
  • TUESDAY JUNE 30 2009 9:30 AM

Democrats Blowing It On Health Care

It’s really quite interesting to watch the Democrats throw it all away. This time, they seem to think blowing the chance at decent health care reform will aid them in future elections. Or perhaps they have taken so much money from the health care industry that they don’t give a shit. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Fixing health care is the biggest problem facing our country. If we don’t do something drastic, it will completely destroy our economy in the years to come. As it is, we’re in bad shape. Democrats, specifically Senate Democrats, have decided to help the poor insurance industry out as much as possible. Es no bueno.

Most of the debate is over the dreaded “public option.” Oh, dear no. We can’t have a public option. That’s socialized medicine! Americans must be able to choose! And by that I mean they can’t choose a public option! They have to be able to choose between private monopolies! This is fucking America! We demand to be fucked over by private companies as much as possible!

And make no mistake about it; those against the “public option” want to continue with monopolies.

But the notion that most American consumers enjoy anything like a competitive marketplace for health care is flatly false. And a study issued last month by a pro-reform group makes that strikingly clear.

The report, released by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), uses data compiled by the American Medical Association to show that 94 percent of the country's insurance markets are defined as "highly concentrated," according to Justice Department guidelines. Predictably, that's led to skyrocketing costs for patients, and monster profits for the big health insurers. Premiums have gone up over the past six years by more than 87 percent, on average, while profits at ten of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007.



So, that's what the "free market" kids are fighting for. Monopolies. Yay!

A public option would guarantee the possibility of lower cost, reliable coverage. It will bring cost control by reforming how we pay for medical care. It will create competition between private insurers that simply does not exist today. It will also force private insurers to perform better, something they are not doing today.

To those who say the public option would drive the private companies out of business; I thought everything government did sucked? Is government bad or highly efficient? Please stick to one talking point, no matter the subject. Secondly, the private insurance companies have had their chance and to say they fucked it up would be an understatement. They deserve no protection. I have no interest in keeping pedophiles in business, either. Their time has come and gone. They could have kept costs lower, kept people from dying, insured anyone with preconditions, but they decided to go for the biggest profits possible and now they are on the deserving end of what’s coming. They only compete to insure the well and reject the sick. Then they employ adjusters to get the company out of paying for health care services when the well become sick. Welcome to the world of failure. They made their bed, now they have to lie in it.

If any of you loud mouthed, utopian, not living in the real world Libertarians bring up regulation, feel free to explain the exact regulation that makes health care so expensive. If you can’t detail these so called regulations, shut your face and stick your broad stroke arguments up your ass. Your simplicity has grown tiresome. This current debate is for adults and what you want will never be, so stay out of it or act like an adult and accept that what you want ain’t going to happen.

As far as the public plan, Democrats are right now working on a way to water it down until it is completely ineffective. Senator Jay Rockefeller, who is a son of a bitch because of his FISA legislation, has come up with a good public health care plan. His plan would partner a public plan with Medicare for more bargaining power and access to provider networks. According the non-partisan Lewin Group and the Commonwealth Foundation, Rockefeller’s plan would drop premiums 20 to 30 percent. Can’t have that, now can we?

Rockefeller’s plan would force private insurance companies to be more honest. They would have to cut their bullshit administrative costs and fire quite a few of those adjusters whose job is to find ways to not pay for care. Right now, you have no choice. You can choose between one horrible private insurance company or another. There really isn’t much difference. The idea is to force them to become insurers instead of profiteers.

Other Democrats are working on plans that would do almost nothing. Senator Chuck Schumer has a “level playing field” public plan that won’t save much at all. It will just create a plan that will allow private companies to dump old, sick and high-risk patients onto the public plan. This is considered a compromise. It will be awesome because by doing it halfway, they will create exactly what the right wing claims will happen. It will be a terribly ineffective, expensive plan. It would not use low rates that Medicare sets or use taxpayer subsidies. It wouldn’t force its way into networks. It would just be like any other insurer, except for the fact that it would be a dumping ground for private insurers to unload their expensive patients. It’s one of those genius “Democrats compromise and create a pile of shit plans.”

Finally, there’s Ben Nelson’s “Trigger Plan.” You know it’s good because Nelson has taken millions and millions of dollars from insurance companies. The Trigger Plan would be like a big, invisible, scary fist looming over the insurance industry. If the private market didn’t offer cost control or enough options, the public plan would come into existence - but it would be at the state level. It’s a regional Trigger. Some states might have a public plan and others would not. It’s basically set up as a way for private companies to game the system. Ben Nelson doesn’t seem to realize the trigger should have been pulled 8 years ago. If he wants to set the threshold where costs are now, it’s a big lose. Go Blue Dogs!

Those are the public plan options. Now which one do you think Democrats in the Senate will choose? I’d bet big money on the “Level playing field” plan because it doesn’t actually threaten the private insurance market. It actually helps them in their quest to be the biggest douche bags on Earth.

Prepare for failure.

FearTheReaper is a writer, actor and stand up comedian. Check back each Tuesday and Friday for more from FearTheReaper You may also enjoy his blog, Stop All Monsters.

 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 ... 

5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

 ... 29

Next

Comments
FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

JUL 05, 2009 10:59 PM

missshanab said:
This government is working on taking away everything we fought to obtain.
mad



Please explain further.

gfvella

gfvella

Australia
November 2004

JUL 05, 2009 11:04 PM

missshanab said:
I agree, but i think you're missing something.
The health care will be a poor system yes. But that's what OBAMA wants.
The earlier people die, the less resources they use. Social security will make it's way back and everyone wins, except us.
All government officials are exempt from the health care plan, allowing them to live long and rule even more.
In the eyes of buisness and government he truly believes what he is doing is right. It's more personal than that though.
This government is working on taking away everything we fought to obtain.
mad



Being ignorant you - of course - ignore the fact that nothing in what Obama is proposing prevents you from having your own private health insurance. The biggest problem in the US health market is the lack of an affordable choice. This plan will allow the poor some health care and ensure that the rest of the country gets the basics without being gouged. Everything else will be up to you to choose from the private health insurers.

What a public option will mean is that the health Insurance companies will not be able to gouge people because they have nowhere else to go. Suddenly to keep the mass market they will have to be competitive and the medical companies will find themselves being publicly called on the overcharging and over-testing they currently carry out to bump up their profits. This is why the corporations involved are fighting tooth and nail against it. How even someone who is abysmally ignorant can thinks that a public option is what corporate America wants is truly beyond me.

The only thing I can think of that would be just as useful is a single US-wide health insurance market; thus forcing all US health insurers to compete against each other in all 50+ states and breaking down their current duopolies and oligopolies. That runs into your arrant states rights nonsense however.

TheFuckOffKid

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

JUL 06, 2009 01:51 AM

Crap. The crazies come out.

DevilsReject

DevilsReject

Cleveland, OH
February 2007

JUL 06, 2009 02:12 AM

TheFuckOffKid said:
Crap. The crazies come out.



In her defense, it may not entirely be her fault. If she's in the right part of Dayton, she is represented by John Boehner who is just mildly less insane than Rush Limbaugh and the Republican House Minority Leader.

He's a very loud and opinionated fellow that can put up quite the speech that would make you believe he knows what he is talking about......

mydogfarted

mydogfarted

Oakland, NJ
June 2003

JUL 06, 2009 04:19 AM

missshanab said:
I agree, but i think you're missing something.
The health care will be a poor system yes. But that's what OBAMA wants.
The earlier people die, the less resources they use. Social security will make it's way back and everyone wins, except us.
All government officials are exempt from the health care plan, allowing them to live long and rule even more.
In the eyes of buisness and government he truly believes what he is doing is right. It's more personal than that though.
This government is working on taking away everything we fought to obtain.
mad



How exactly are government officials exempt from the plan? When does the exemption start? Like, when they're born, does someone come and say "This baby is exempt. They are going to be a Senator." surreal Or is it divine right? The parents are government officials, so the child will be one too?

*headdesk*

Otoki

Otoki

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

JUL 06, 2009 02:58 PM

mydogfarted said:

missshanab said:
I agree, but i think you're missing something.
The health care will be a poor system yes. But that's what OBAMA wants.
The earlier people die, the less resources they use. Social security will make it's way back and everyone wins, except us.
All government officials are exempt from the health care plan, allowing them to live long and rule even more.
In the eyes of buisness and government he truly believes what he is doing is right. It's more personal than that though.
This government is working on taking away everything we fought to obtain.
mad



How exactly are government officials exempt from the plan? When does the exemption start? Like, when they're born, does someone come and say "This baby is exempt. They are going to be a Senator." surreal Or is it divine right? The parents are government officials, so the child will be one too?

*headdesk*



You know, I would normally talk about the ignore button here, but her statement is so amazingly far from reality I want her to explain how she came to believe what she believes.

Seriously.

Hunkpapa

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom
June 2004

JUL 06, 2009 03:05 PM

And just what does "allowing them to live long and rule even more" mean?

mydogfarted

mydogfarted

Oakland, NJ
June 2003

JUL 06, 2009 03:12 PM

Otoki said:

mydogfarted said:

missshanab said:
I agree, but i think you're missing something.
The health care will be a poor system yes. But that's what OBAMA wants.
The earlier people die, the less resources they use. Social security will make it's way back and everyone wins, except us.
All government officials are exempt from the health care plan, allowing them to live long and rule even more.
In the eyes of buisness and government he truly believes what he is doing is right. It's more personal than that though.
This government is working on taking away everything we fought to obtain.
mad



How exactly are government officials exempt from the plan? When does the exemption start? Like, when they're born, does someone come and say "This baby is exempt. They are going to be a Senator." surreal Or is it divine right? The parents are government officials, so the child will be one too?

*headdesk*



You know, I would normally talk about the ignore button here, but her statement is so amazingly far from reality I want her to explain how she came to believe what she believes.

Seriously.



This left my head spinning. I NEED clarification on this one.

FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

JUL 06, 2009 05:57 PM



As Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) prepares to unveil the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan health care reform legislation later this week, several blogs are reporting that Republicans on the Committee are pushing legislation that would require insurers operating within the new Exchange to to deny coverage for abortion services. From Raising Women’s Voices:

The Senate Finance Committee has been writing a health care reform bill and struggling to create legislation that will have bipartisan support. Chairman Max Baucus (pictured left) considered several compromises to win Republican support, so they can claim it is bipartisan legislation. One of these potential compromises comes in the form of an abortion exclusion, which would prevent abortion services from being covered by some or all insurance plans in the Health Insurance Exchange. We fear that members of the Senate Finance Committee are considering such a compromise.

Should it pass, the Senate Finance version would be the only bill that specifically prohibits a medical service. As the Wonk Room points out, “if denying abortion services to women is the price of bipartisanship, then perhaps winning those one or two Republican votes isn’t worth the price of jeopardizing women’s health and well-being.”



Sweet.

smithers_jones

smithers_jones

I'm lost
November 2003

JUL 06, 2009 06:07 PM

FearTheReaper said:


As Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) prepares to unveil the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan health care reform legislation later this week, several blogs are reporting that Republicans on the Committee are pushing legislation that would require insurers operating within the new Exchange to to deny coverage for abortion services. From Raising Women’s Voices:

The Senate Finance Committee has been writing a health care reform bill and struggling to create legislation that will have bipartisan support. Chairman Max Baucus (pictured left) considered several compromises to win Republican support, so they can claim it is bipartisan legislation. One of these potential compromises comes in the form of an abortion exclusion, which would prevent abortion services from being covered by some or all insurance plans in the Health Insurance Exchange. We fear that members of the Senate Finance Committee are considering such a compromise.

Should it pass, the Senate Finance version would be the only bill that specifically prohibits a medical service. As the Wonk Room points out, “if denying abortion services to women is the price of bipartisanship, then perhaps winning those one or two Republican votes isn’t worth the price of jeopardizing women’s health and well-being.”



Sweet.



Wait, I thought the Republicans didn't want the government to decide what health care services patients should or shouldn't receive.

gfvella

gfvella

Australia
November 2004

JUL 06, 2009 07:37 PM

smithers_jones said:
Wait, I thought the Republicans didn't want the government to decide what health care services patients should or shouldn't receive.



The right wing are always in favour of small government and less government intrusion in our lives unless it is to force others to live by their narrow religious-moral dictates. The word I like to use to describe this intellectual confusion of theirs is hypocrisy.

FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

JUL 06, 2009 10:40 PM

The Democrats who don't want a public plan are kicking it into high gear.





It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.

"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.

His comments came as the Senate Finance Committee pushed for a bipartisan deal. To help pay for the package, the committee planned to announce an agreement Wednesday with hospitals and the White House for $155 billion over a decade in reductions to Medicare and charity-care payments for hospitals, according to a person familiar with the agreement. That will help pay for the legislation, expected to cost at least $1 trillion over 10 years.

One of the most contentious issues is whether to create a public health-insurance plan to compete with private companies.

Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.

Mr. Obama has pushed hard for a vigorous public option. But he has also said he won't draw a "line in the sand" over this point.



So, Obama doesn't mind The Trigger, which would be like not having health care reform at all.

sick

sick

Minneapolis, MN
June 2003

JUL 07, 2009 05:19 AM

...reductions to Medicare and charity-care payments for hospitals...



Did I understand that correctly? How villainous do you have to be to cut charity payments to hospitals?

Otoki

Otoki

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

JUL 07, 2009 08:31 AM

smithers_jones said:

FearTheReaper said:


As Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) prepares to unveil the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan health care reform legislation later this week, several blogs are reporting that Republicans on the Committee are pushing legislation that would require insurers operating within the new Exchange to to deny coverage for abortion services. From Raising Women’s Voices:

The Senate Finance Committee has been writing a health care reform bill and struggling to create legislation that will have bipartisan support. Chairman Max Baucus (pictured left) considered several compromises to win Republican support, so they can claim it is bipartisan legislation. One of these potential compromises comes in the form of an abortion exclusion, which would prevent abortion services from being covered by some or all insurance plans in the Health Insurance Exchange. We fear that members of the Senate Finance Committee are considering such a compromise.

Should it pass, the Senate Finance version would be the only bill that specifically prohibits a medical service. As the Wonk Room points out, “if denying abortion services to women is the price of bipartisanship, then perhaps winning those one or two Republican votes isn’t worth the price of jeopardizing women’s health and well-being.”



Sweet.



Wait, I thought the Republicans didn't want the government to decide what health care services patients should or shouldn't receive.



^^Exactly whatever

I really don't see why they're taking these Republicans seriously. Not covering abortions?

I'll have everyone know that once I pay my deductible, my abortions cost me a $10 copay. That's right. So if and when I get an abortion, it won't take me weeks and weeks to save up the money for my safe medical procedure.

ZakSmith

ZakSmith

Los Angeles, CA
August 2003

JUL 07, 2009 10:04 AM

Otoki said:
I'll have everyone know that once I pay my deductible, my abortions cost me a $10 copay.



When they start paying you then we'll know this shit's gotten straightened out.

Previous

PAGE: 

1 ... 

5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

 ... 29

Next