HCR: Vote to Allow Debate was Historical. Don’t Let the Media or Naysayers Convince You Otherwise. [View All]

[Avalux]

The question I want everyone to think about is this – “For the past 60 years, have Democrats EVER been this close to passing a bill that will, even incrementally, move us closer to health care for every American citizen?”

The answer, even if you are not happy with the current bill, is a bit fat ” NO”.

In April, the media reports and discussions on this board that gave zero chance to passing heath insurance reform. By all accounts it was dead in the water; President Obama would never get such a huge piece of legislation passed by the end of the year, yet alone during his presidency. The pundits and experts were confident of it; Republicans were in battle mode to ensure the predictions would become true.

August brought us screaming mimis at town hall meetings and tea bagger gatherings across the country. They were all angry and pissed off about SOMETHING; big insurance companies and Republican shadow men tapped into the anger and funded “astroturf” organizations who manipulated these poor souls into thinking that health care coverage for all Americans was evil; a socialist plot by Democrats in Congress, led by a fascist, communist, muslim, Kenyan-born anti-christ dictator named Barack Hussein Obama. They screamed “keep your hands off my Medicare” without understanding the origins of Medicare; without understanding they were protesting their own best interests.

Congress resumed after the craziness of August, the House and the Senate continuing to work on their respective versions of health insurance reform. The Senate’s finance committee bill made it through with defeats of amendments which would have added strong public options. Baucus was much-maligned and given the thumbs down by most Democrats (myself included), but the bill passed; to be merged with the HOPE bill that had made it through committee earlier.

The House bill was passed after defeating anything resembling single payer or a strong public option. Opportunistic conservative Democrats found a way to hijack the bill with an amendment that would effectively outlaw abortions for anyone with health insurance . Have they not read the Democratic Platform? we all asked. So it was done and the bill passed.

Now here we are with one bill in the Senate that has been given life. It stands alone as the sole piece of legislation of it’s kind; it’s made it further than any that came before.
During the next month or so, there will be an all out war by the media, Republicans and the health insurance lobby to kill the bill before it can become law.

Regardless - debate will occur; changes will be made and I am fully confident an imperfect health insurance reform bill will be signed into law by President Obama before the end of the year.

The law won’t be what many of us wanted; it’s not going to cover everyone who needs health care NOW. But it is a start, and that’s more than I thought was possible months ago. It will be a a starting point which can be expanded upon to eventually encompass every American; just like Medicare and Social Security so many years ago. Democrats, once again, will be responsible for progress; The ONLY political party that has passed legislation benefiting the common American in the past 70 years.