Is this as good as it gets?
The fight for health care reform has really made me think about things. When I look at this joke of a bill coming out of the Senate, I have to wonder what being a Democrat really means.
Democrats control the White House, the Senate, and the House. If there was ever a time that we could get substantial health care reform in this country, it’s now. If there was ever a time we could make sure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care, it’s now.
Instead, we get a health care reform bill that the Republicans could have written. It does not have a public option. It does not expand Medicare. It requires all Americans to purchase health insurance from the for-profit health insurance cartel.
That last part is the real kicker for me. I can see requiring Americans to purchase health insurance if there was a not-for-profit alternative. Because this bill lacks a public option, this is not the case. This is requiring Americans to purchase a product that’s purpose is not to improve health, but to make a profit for the health insurance company.
I cannot help but thing the Democratic party is a lot like a dog chasing a car that doesn’t quite know what to do when it catches the car. The Democrats are in position to enact a good health care reform bill. They are choosing not to do that.
I have a real problem with that.
I hope this man has good health insurance
Republican Teabaggers held a protest yesterday on the steps of the Capitol in Washington D.C. to protest against government run health care and/or health care reform. Unfortunately, one of the people at the protest collapsed. Luckily for him, paramedics from the Office of the Attending Physician, the organization responsible for the medical welfare of the members of the House, members of the Senate, and members of the Supreme Court, were on the scene and were able to quickly provide assistance to this man.
As this photo shows, they gave him oxygen and started an I.V. They later removed him from the scene via a stretcher, presumably to take him to a hospital.
For this man’s sake, I hope the Office of the Attending Physician is in his health insurance plan. Otherwise, his out-of-pocket expenses are going to be ginormous. I don’t even want to think about the added surcharge someone has to pay for paramedics wearing a jacket and tie.
Also, I hope that he had the foresight to call his health insurance company before he collapsed to get pre-authorization for the collapse. As we all know, failure to do so can be grounds for your insurance company to deny the claim.
The man doesn’t appear to be old enough to qualify for Medicare, the popular and very successful government run health insurance plan for our nation’s seniors and disabled. That’s too bad because if he was on Medicare, he wouldn’t have to worry about his claim being denied because of a preexisting condition or because he was treated by health care professionals outside his insurance plan’s network.
If he was on Medicare, he’d only have to worry about getting well.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla of Getty Images
Medicare for all
From the Physicians for a National Health Program:
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) is introducing a substitute amendment to the House leadership’s bill, H.R. 3200, that would delete the language of that bill and substitute the provisions of H.R. 676, the single-payer, Medicare-for-All bill sponsored by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised a full floor vote on Weiner’s amendment in the weeks or months ahead.
The Weiner amendment, unlike the House leadership’s bill, assures universal, comprehensive, and high-quality coverage, free choice of doctor and hospital, and no co-pays or deductibles through a publicly financed system similar to Medicare. Because of the massive savings on private insurance overhead and paperwork, the Weiner amendment would entail no increase in U.S. health spending, in contrast to the House bill’s $1 trillion price tag over 10 years.
Though adopting a single payer system like Medicare, only for everyone, makes the most sense, it will never happen. With that said, I commend Congressman Weiner for introducing the bill. Unlike many in Washington, he truly represents the people, not the corporations, in his district.
Harry Reid is for the public option as long as it’s not owned by the public
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants the world to know that he’s in favor of the public option. It’s where the government would offer non-profit, government run health insurance to every American to give private insurance companies some real competition. The only problem is that what Reid is in favor of are health insurance co-ops, not a true public option.
From the Reno Gazette-Journal:
“I’ve told people, whoever will listen, that I am in favor of the public option,” Reid said, adding he thinks it’s essential in order to provide competition for private insurance companies that are exempt from anti-trust laws. “We’re working now to try to come up with a program that would allow that to take place.”
Reid went on to say that most people “misunderstand” a public option as “some government run program.”
“But there are many ways we can do it,” he said. “One would be to have an entity like Medicare. I really don’t favor that. I think what we should have is a private entity that has direction from the federal government.”
Reid did not elaborate further on what that would look like.
And what’s so wrong with Medicare? I hope that I live long enough to be able to enroll in Medicare. I wish that the age requirement for Medicare would be removed. That would be the easiest and the most efficient way to reform health care.
Harry Reid is an ass. He has to remember that as the Majority Leader in the Senate, he cannot just be a crackpot from Nevada. I realize that is all he really is, but as one of the leaders in the Democratic party, he has a responsibly to help reform health care. He cannot say or do things that work against the goal of ensuring all Americans have access to quality health care.
Hagerstown’s very own health care town hall
United States Senator Benjamin L. Cardin held a town hall on health care yesterday at the Hagerstown Community College and the 450 people that were allowed to attend spent most of the time with Cardin screaming at him about illegal aliens, abortion, and how government health care will result in the elderly being euthanized.
As the above photo shows, there was at least one man walking around the event displaying a photo of President Barack Obama depicted as Adolf Hitler.
Seriously? I just don’t get it.
I watched videos on the Herald-Mail website that showed people screaming at Cardin and reading pre-written statements they brought with them to the event. Their ignorance combined with their rude behavior actually made me feel embarrassed to live here.
A majority of the people attending the event appeared to be at least 65 years of age. To hear them yell at Cardin about the evils of government health care, knowing that as senior citizens, they already enjoy quality government health care in the form of Medicare, would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
The Herald-Mail reported that a man was standing outside the Hagerstown Community College entrance on Robinwood Drive with a sign that read, “Death to Obama” and another one that read, “Death to Obama, Michelle and his two stupid kids.”
Classy.
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