Health Care Reform has Passed!
I know we’ve got a fairly wide range of political thought here on the Scrab (even if some tend to be quite a bit more vocal than others). What do you think of the Health Care Bill that just passed? In case you haven’t had a chance to review, here is The Congressional Budget Office’s reportings on the bill. The major headline being that it will save $130 billion in the first ten years and over a trillion in the next ten. I’ve heard there’s some controversy about the CBO findings, but I’m not sure if that’s conspiratorial wingnut controversy, or legitimate complaints.
And here’s a pdf of the actual bill itself if you actually want the only true, unbiased opinion you can possibly have on the damn thing. Boring reading, for certain, but worth skimming at the very least.
Comments
Another great link is this vote map from the NYTimes article on the bill. Useful, I guess, if you happened to have forgotten whether or not you have a democrat or a republican in your district, or if you wish to punish one of the 34 democrats who voted No.
Here’s the thing: despite being one of the people who this will help in that I no longer have to fear for losing our jobs or our insurance and Dylan not being able to be covered because of all his pre-existings, I’m still very uneasy about this. Not because it’s too much but because it’s not enough. The thing about pre-existings and also about not being able to drop someone after they get sick are unambiguously good. The thing about no lifetime caps is good, but my understanding is that there is enough wiggle room as far as raising ANNUAL limits that it ends up not being good.
What I really want to see is this: All the people who are cheerleading this bill in liberal circles are throwing out this blanke “IT WILL COVER 32 MILLION PEOPLE!!!!!”….o.k. I’d like to see a breakdown of that. How many of that is because of the expansion of existing programs (Medicaid) to higher income levels (which would be good)? How many are people who want and can afford insurance but have been denied or dropped and can’t get it (which would be good for them to now get? Because I’m sorry but if any part of that 32 million number is simply because now people HAVE to buy insurance then I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Yes, I understand why you have to have the mandate. But if you’re going to have the mandate then they should have had a public option.
I think the worst part of all this for me is despite it being something that’s firmly in the “success” column, it comes at a price of just completely exposing how inept the democrats are and realizing through the process just how beholden the majority of elected representatives are to corporations and the wealthy over the majority of the people. Especially since the public option would have made the whole thing cheaper, it would have made the whole thing deficit neutral, it would have covered more people, and the idea was popular with a majority of the american people.
And it also just really made me understand just how horribly shitty democrats are with messaging and media. The fact that they got beaten up as much as they did, going up against one of the most loathed industries in the country, which was being championed by what was (before this debate) the more loathed political party and essentially lost the messaging wars is just one of the biggest political disasters I’ve ever seen.
For info on time frames when certain parts of the bill will go into effect Check out How the Health Care Overhaul Could Affect You at NY Times#
I need to really review this and understand how it will affect me and my family before I can judge it.
My initial reaction is happiness because my 57 year old uninsured mother will now be taken care of by someone other than me. But, it also seems like my current health plan, which I am very happy with, is going to be considerably more expensive in a couple of years.
let’s wait until obama signs the damn thing and the senate votes on it.
He said it’s mildly positive step. That means he does like it, but only a little bit.
This bill will be a great one if the medicare buy-in bill becomes a reality or one of the many public-option bills go through.
His (Chomsky’s) point is a good one. This leaves a lot of problems with our system still in place, but doing nothing would have left all of them in place.
The medicare buy-in and public option are never happening. Not ever. What Chomsky said in that piece about how politicians have never had to account or explain why something that has the majority of support of the american people when explained accurately, is not what they pursued politically is so dead on (corporate money, duh).
My other big issue is the idea of enforcement. These insurance companies have ways of skirting everything and unless there’s a solid, well staffed entity to pursue and review claims quickly and accurately then all of this is pretty much going to be useless.
“The day that that bill was passed will be remembered just as 9/11 was remembered in history,” Carl Paladino
yup, someone actually said that.
it really is a big fuckin deal
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/joe-biden-drops-f-bomb-during-historic-health-care-signing/
christina said:it really is a big fuckin deal
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/joe-biden-drops-f-bomb-during-historic-health-care-signing/
hahaha I love it! Biden can run his mouth a bit too much, but it’s hard to be angry with his enthusiasm.
Joe Biden is so adorable.
hahahahahah, amazing. Like a foul mouthed and confused old Grandad.
I never understand this whole Biden gaffe thing. Since when is saying what a normal person would say a gaffe?
Yeah Evan, don’t you hate it when politicians act like humans?
I just got back to the US last week so I really don’t know enough about this bill but I like knowing that if I ever got breast cancer, the insurance company can’t claim pre-exsisting conditions because I have breasts.