Kucinich's Brave Health Vote Vs. Obama's Failed Promise

Published on Sunday, November 8, 2009 by the Huffington Post

Kucinich's Brave Health Vote Vs. Obama's Failed Promise
by Lee Stranahan

Personally, I supported President Obama in the primaries and the election but do not support him on this corporate giveaway built on broken campaign promises. I voted for the Barack Obama who opposed the individual mandate, who said the negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN and who campaigned against backroom deals with PhARMA.

Conservatives have expressed outrage for months about the way the health care bill was handled. Their anti-government anger is misplaced because the lets the insurances and drug companies who really helped drive this bill off the hook. But I understand their sense that this bill was passed despite the people.

Progressives should be every bit as upset that President Obama lied to us to get his historic health bill. The citizens of this country did not have a seat at the table. Proponents of the Single Payer didn't have a seat at the table. Under the guise of health care reform, we watched as the insurance industry got a bill passed that entrenches and enriches them.

Don't let anyone fool you that this bill is a good start. It's got a poison pill "Public Option" that is designed to fail. As the brilliant RJ Eskow wrote recently about the House bill's public option,



http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/08-4

He has a secure congressional seat with a gerry rigged electorate just like many represenatives

The remedy is rather simple: support only those candidates that will support our issues.

I believe health care is a fundamental human right.

even if we have to drag you kicking and screaming all the way there.

and then there is this:

The biggest flaw lies in the House's failure to produce a robust public option -- that is, one that fully employs the administrative efficiencies and negotiating power of Medicare/Medicaid. A robust plan demonstrates and delivers the advantages of a public system, while bearing the disadvantages of such a system as well. (And there are disadvantages: For example, doctors could disenroll from the plan in large numbers if pricing is too aggressive.)

A robust public plan that's made available to all Americans on "a level playing field" could allow people to compare and contrast the advantages of public vs. private insurance, then make their own decisions. The House plan doesn't do that. As a result, my long-standing fear seems likely to come true. The plan will have low enrollment and little power to negotiate, causing the CBO to state as fact what I've long considered possible: That the public option could become a dumping ground where private plans jettison sicker people, while lacking the efficiencies of scale or negotiating power to get better rates or administer itself more economically.

As a result, says the CBO, a public plan's premiums might be higher than private insurance. While the CBO's word isn't gospel, it's entirely possible that they're underestimating the cost of any "public option" we're likely to see this year. The likeliest political outcome, once the House and Senate bills are combined, is a non-robust "public option" with a state-by-state opt out. The CBO didn't consider the opt-out when it came up with its shocking (to some) estimate.

So how small would the public option plan be in the end? The CBO projects an eventual 6 million enrollees. Compare that to UnitedHealth, which had 32,702,000 members in 2008. Or Wellpoint, with 30,622,000. Or Aetna, with 16,318,000.(1) The public option would barely make it into the list of top 10 US health insurers. And the opt-out provision could cut enrollment by another 20%(2) or more.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/time-to-kill-the-pseudo-p_b_342370.html&cp

But it does NOT = "universal health care"

Dennis is a very strong campaigner. He's also extremely receptive and responsive to and well loved by his union/ working class constituency.

If only our party had more like him we could do great things.

Instead we have people like Tom Daschle, Insurance company pimp. Tax evader. Close confidant of the President.

It's our corporate slimeballs that are holding us back.

anti-trust exemptions is the epitomy of bravery.

and the exchanges, which are a piss poor substitute for the promised public option, will cost more than regular insurance and will become a dumping ground for risky patients.

The Kucinich health care plan: Let people die as long as you keep your "more liberal than thou"-ness in check.

...makes you feel like a real big god damn liberal doesn't it? Why don't work in the words "bold reform" and single payer in there just to seal the deal and show me how progressive you really are? Ya know because using a bunch of bad cliches that don't really mean shit is how it gets done right?

for the last few years, but never went any where.

Got a link?

Or me.

While you remain anonymous (as I do) and snipe from your hidey hole, Dennis Kucinich takes a stand for the people and actually signs his name to it.

You and I could take a lesson in bravery from that man.

Hillary saw that he was right to vote against the IWR. Both Obama and Hillary saw that he was right to oppose NAFTA, and said as much in Ohio during the campaign.

Dennis was right to vote against a bad bill. Yes it has a couple of good things in it, but it also has a lot of very bad things in it.

And the bad things will do far more harm in the long run than the good things would do in the short run. It was a brave vote. And one day you will see that., I'm sure.

Joining forces with the party who would leave millions more uninsured, raise the deficit and let people die is far more worthy than giving people a lot of nice reformation like gender bias, and giving many people like myself a chance at the PO. My ovaries thank Kucinich for his vote against them.

He's such a Maverick!

you have to give it to some of these journalist.

:wow:

i guess that's what i like about Dennis. He's too honest to be elected President.

And that's the CBO estimate. Now explain to me why Obama and all of congress aren't a total sham. Orwellian fucks. They obviously learned well from the previous administration.

Clear skies and freedom! Rah.

On all levels.

If I worked for the insurance companies, I'd be supporting people against HCR.

Like Kucinich.

think you are a little confused about what's happening.