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.

Senator Joseph Lieberman Is a Schmuck!

Everyone knows it would be impossible to have real health care reform without a public option. I'm disgusted at this point with President Obama's lack of leadership and the Democrats in general for failing to be more aggressive on this issue. I personally campaigned tirelessly for Obama and other Democratic candidates in 2008. My priorities were to end the Bush Wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and concentrate those resources on domestic issues here at home. My number one motivation and priority was health care reform with a public option.

Now, 11 months into his presidency.  Obama still has 135,000 troops in Iraq and has announced a new expansion of the war in Afghanistan.

As far as the health care  "Public Option" is concerned, well needless to say that got thrown under the bus real quick. Other than some polite lip service early on, My New President hardly made the "Public Option" one of his priorities.

Democrats tried to placate us, by expanding Medicare. Seniors 55 to 64 would be given the option of "Buying In" (at their own expense, of course) to the already very popular and successful Medicare program. This was obviously not the public option we had been promised, but it was a start I thought. Besides, so the theory went, this would get Senator Joe Lieberman on board, since everybody knows he has been supporting the expansion of Medicare for years. As he states in this video.  Just three short months ago...



Well guess what?  Surprise, Surprise!  Joe Lieberman states on  "Face the Nation"  Sunday morning that he can no longer support the expansion of Medicare Provision and if it's included in the bill he will join Republicans and filibuster against it.

You see Joe Lieberman has never really supported Health Care Reform.  The truth is he's firmly in bed, financially and otherwise, with Big Insurance and Big Pharma.  He has continually done their bidding by undermining true health care reform every chance he gets.

Senator Joseph Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship and no longer seated with the Democratic Caucus.  He's a Traitor and yes indeed,  He's a Schmuck!

 - Just Thinking...

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