Maybe the Democrats will be passing the legislation that they want to pass. Legislation that has mandated INSURANCE coverage to expand the insurance companies profits and ensure further political contributions without even a public option to give people a chance for affordable healthcare.
Either the Dems are too stupid to do the job or they are doing precisely what they want to do. Not too many other options or excuses left IMO.
Posted by MO Blue at June 25, 2009 07:08 AMthey are doing precisely what they want to do
Yup.
They NEVER intended to give us real health care reform.
The difference between Republicans and Democrats is the Republicans stab you in the front.
Posted by Crawdad at June 25, 2009 07:43 AMWhat the little people want? "Off the table" says the Dem pols. Selective spinelessness, and money talks. Nothing really new here.
Posted by at June 25, 2009 08:54 AMThe top commenter is correct, "they are doing precisely what they want to do".
As for Ezra, I posted on his blog before he was at American Prospect, let's remember that he, in fact almost all, the A-List bloggers thought the Iraq war was a really swell idea too.
A-list bloggers repackage "conventional wisdom" for a living and as a result they have been rewarded and added to the MSM tool kit.
Long ago Josh Marshal, Keven Drum, Ezra, Kos, Yglesias, et al. lost any creditability. During the primary season their posts were so heavy slanted even Goebbels would cringe.
Posted by S Brennan at June 25, 2009 10:28 AMYou're absolutely correct in your assessment of the spineless, inept weasels of the Democratic Party. The Leader Of The Band, President Obama, always negotiates starting from his bottom line position (see: appropriations bills / stimulus bill, et al).
Obama said from the git go that single payer was off-the-table, instead of starting with single payer then falling back to a public option default.
The Obama acolytes always pull out the favorability polling to make themselves feel fabulous about their choice in '08. If he's that popular, he should be arguing the case for the public option every day and take advantage of his popularity. He should give Mssrs. Baucus, Reid, and Pelosi their marching orders to 'get this done'.
The truth is.....the Dems are bought and paid for by the Healthcare Maffia. The Dems and their hopeless search for bi-partisanship and lack of will from the White House, will ensure that the public option is either left out of the bill, or diluted to the point of irrelevancy. And the shame of this is.....IT'S NOT 1993. We've got a Democratic President, vast majorities in both Houses of Congress, and the the blessing of the people to get this job done. And of course, this debacle is given credibility by the likes of guys like Klein, Yglesias, et al who don't understand that when you have power, you use it.
Posted by Seriously at June 25, 2009 10:39 AMThe problem is funding and rationing. Neither topic sits well with the American people, and politicians are concerned about next year's elections.
Posted by Dennis at June 25, 2009 12:20 PMMan, what a day, Farah, the king of pop passing. And Doxie amongst others figuring out Democrats can't learn, well elected and appointed Democrats. I think it applies to Democrats period and the new found Obamacrats!
Maybe it's the difference between campaigning and governing. Young Democrats just aren't too patient. those old Democrats that got us out of Vietnam used 33 different pieces of legislation to do so. Can you imagine these new progressive Democrats waiting to put ALL those pieces together to accomplish their cause? Not at all. Yeah folks, we need better Democrats. Let's get back to the Truman, Kennedy, Proxmire, Monohan, and Johnson type of Democrat. Return to the DLC type of Democrat. They had the patience needed to govern. Not these faux progressive ones.
And for balance, we need some better Republicans too. Lately our brand hasn't done too well either.
Posted by peter at June 25, 2009 04:08 PMso did you take a break from shooting up churches today petie?
Posted by headxray at June 25, 2009 05:31 PMThe extortion racket known as the medical insurance industry will use it's political clout to continue it's monopolistic practices....sqeezing businesses and individuals until they drop out of the system.
Our political system is so dysfunctional (institutionalized bribery and blackmail) that it will likely take a total collapse of the private insurance market for a government underwitten insurance plan that Americans can purchase to become a reality.
Posted by brisa at June 25, 2009 06:53 PMYeah brisa, that's what it will take as long as Democrats try to fix it. The simple fix is to follow the Swiss single payer model. The problem with the Swiss model is it's not big enough for Democrats. It works very well, but that's not what our elected Democrats want. They want largess.
Posted by peter at June 25, 2009 08:20 PM...it’s simply that from where I sit the healthcare initiative, strategy and tactics this year has been a pathetic joke...
We're at that point where we were about 6 years ago when people started smelling rotted fish with the Buschco economic mackerel. Many of us here knew something was really wrong, and some hit the nail on the head when they predicted the economy would 'splode. I was off by a year.
The same thing is happening in health care. I'm seeing predictions that the private model can only last about 5-6 more years before it breaks. The sure bet is is that fairly soon the for-profit industry will HAVE to end, or be subsidized beyond what a public single payer plan would cost. Don't think so? We've only paid $7 trillion for the smartest bankers and hedge funders out there.
Costs are huge. Premiums are huge. So much so that republi-KKKons have no idea the savings that could be had with a single payer plan. They also have no idea what it would be like NOT to worry about going to a doctor. Our disability rates are nuts compared to other western countries because Americans put off care until some really bad shit happens. Do people with a good public plan tend to go to the doctor more often? Yes. Splinters, bumps, bruises, knots, headaches...and when they do go, some of those seemingly minor things are found to be precursers to deadly conditions...and finding and treating them early actually causes costs to go down.
Case in point is my sister. When she had her symptoms she didn't go to a doctor because she had no insurance. So she saved some money. When the strokes became obvious I took her to the ER where they saved some money and sent her home. At this point, about 2 years later, she is on Social Security Disability, SSI, Food Stamps, and a very small state cash allotment. She is well under the poverty level. To keep her out of the nursing home ($40,000.00 a year) I have two nurses coming in -1 on a daily basis and an RN weekly. That only costs about $28,000.00 a year. And your taxes are paying for it. I thank you all very much. But the need for you to shell out about $35,000.00 a year for my sister was not really necessary. She was a working, taxpaying person, who cared for people at the end of their own lives. Her only fault was she didn't have access to insurance or health care. And everyone gets to pay through the nose for it.
Although I do wish my sister was back as she was, that will never happen. But I assure you, as a disabled person she will not do without, and you will pay for every fucking dime of it. I'll make sure of it. It's not a mean or spiteful thing I'm doing. That's just the way the system works.
Posted by phidipides at June 25, 2009 08:48 PM...and what's up with Obama going on national TV and saying Medicare, the large successful government health insurance program that we already have, will (along with Medicaid) go bankrupt and "will consume all of the federal budget." Hell of a way to sell a people on government health insurance.
Posted by DeanOR at June 25, 2009 09:03 PMDemocrats can't learn because they don't want to. Think 'barrel of apples' analogy, except what we have here is a barrel of rotten apples and a few good ones are literally swimming in putrid slime of rot.
The greed and corruption that is eating our government alive - from all sides - has about the same feeling to me as would having a grater pushed down my throat.
Posted by primeq2 at June 25, 2009 09:08 PMObama was elected by the corporations and the MSM because they knew he wouldn't give us decent health care. The same way they knew that he wouldn't hold the Bush administration accountable...for anything...That he wouldn't stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...Wouldn't close Gitmo...Wouldn't stop the banks and Wall Street from looting us to death...and on and on...Mission Accomplished, Obama.
Posted by johnnyboy at June 26, 2009 03:49 PM