The Senate Is about to Pass Health Care! Should We Be Saying Merry Christmas or Bah Humbug?

Due to some last minute changes in the Senate health care bill, most Progressive Democrats, including Howard Dean, (see my previous post " Howard Dean Says Kill the Bill! " )  have reversed their position and decided to reluctantly support the new Senate health care legislation.  I must admit however, I'm still a bit skeptical and as MoveOn.org reports there are still many unresolved issues. 

The Senate bill would:


#1—Deny Americans the choice of a public option. In contrast, the House bill contains a national public option, the key to real competition, greater choice, and lower costs.

#2—Leave insurance unaffordable for some lower income and working people. Both bills require virtually all Americans to buy insurance. But even with the subsidies provided, some families could have to pay up to 20% of their income on health care expenses.

#3—Impose dangerous restrictions on women's reproductive health care. Unfortunately, both bills do this and the House provision is worse. Both versions would be a dangerous step and neither should be in the final bill.

#4—Tax American workers' health coverage to pay for reform. The Senate would pay for part of reform by taxing the hard-won benefits packages of some working Americans. The House, on the other hand, pays for reform with a small surcharge on only the wealthiest Americans—a far better approach I think.

#5—Allow insurance companies to remain exempt from anti-trust laws. Under current law, insurance companies are actually exempt from laws designed to prevent monopolies and price-gouging. The House bill would fix this, but the Senate bill leaves it in place.

Of course, these aren't the only problems with the bill. Most glaringly, both the Senate and House bill would leave millions uninsured,  a far cry from the vision of universal coverage so many of us have fought for.

Additionally, this latest version of the bill does nothing to rectify the "Health Factor" (a.k.a. previous existing conditions) issue as well as some of the other problems I've addressed previously. When the bill goes to committee, hopefully the House and Senate leadership, as well as the White House will get the message and rectify these key outstanding issues immediately.  But I'm not counting on it. As I said before, I'm unfortunately, still very skeptical of this bill.

As far as Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is concerned,  making  "Backroom Deals"  is not the kind of  "Change " I was hoping for.  Nor is it the kind of   "Change"  I can believe in.

                                    And as far as Senator Joe Lieberman is concerned...

Democrats should have called his bluff and let him filibuster!

 - Just Thinking...

Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

Howard Dean Says Kill the Bill!

Giving Seniors 55 to 64 the option of  "Buying In"  (at their own expense, of course)  to the already very popular and successful Medicare program was an excellent idea. This was obviously not the Universal Health-Care Public Option I had hoped for, but it was a start.  Now, absent both the public option and the Medicare buy-in, this new health care bill is useless.  In fact, it's a ripoff!  As Howard Dean and others have stated, this is nothing but a Christmas Present to Big Insurance Companies!

With the possible exception of the late Ted Kennedy, there are few leading Democrats that have been stronger proponents of health care reform than Howard Dean. A Licensed Medical Doctor and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, former Governor Dean is a highly motivated Health-Care Reformer and is certainly well qualified to address this issue. If he says kill the bill, there must be a reason why.

Many Democrats, including the President still want the bill to pass however, the feeling is that something is better than nothing. But is it really? This new bill claims to eliminate (by 2012) the pre-existing conditions clause currently used by insurance companies. But closer scrutiny reveals It's merely a change in rhetoric.

While it's true that insurance companies will now be forced to accept all applicants they will still be able to raise rates and charge significantly more to people that have what will now be called "Health Factors". You know "Factors" such as high blood pressure or a history of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and so on. Sounds like a "Pre-Existing Conditions Clause" to me.

In addition, they can even charge more for other "Factors" such as age and to people who are overweight, smoke, drink alcohol or engage in so-called "Poor Lifestyle Choices".

The bill further claims to extend and ensure Medicare for years to come by cutting the program of some $313 billion in funding.  Talk about your convoluted logic and political doublespeak.

Oh - and get this, if you are among the uninsured, like it or not, you will be forced to buy one of these policies or face a financial penalty (i.e. you'll be fined). Effectively guaranteeing private insurance companies at least 30 MILLION new customers.

Now requiring full participation in a competitively priced, public health plan is understandable. But forcing us to buy overpriced private insurance is indeed a real gift to the big insurance companies.

I'm sorry to say, but in its current form, I have to agree with Howard Dean on this one. It's time To Kill the Bill!

 - Just Thinking...

Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at  eddieoreilly@hotmail.com  and your comment will be posted.