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Debbierlus posted on the following on DU back on November 21st. Now is an excellent time to remind everyone of what Debbierlus said.
Health Insurance Reform: The Enslavement of American Citizens to Corporate Rule
After months of silent, closed door negotiations between the holy trinity (the executive branch, the congress, & the health care industry), we stand on the brink of health insurance reform.
Health insurance reform. Do not confuse this with health care reform as that was never the intent of this legislation. This is not a minor point. Health care reform would have addressed the central problem of our current health care system and confronted the reality that in order to provide universal, affordable health care for all citizens, we would need to stop treating human health as a commodity. It would have taken a moral imperative to place human life over profit. But, right from the very beginning, the central GOAL in creating this legislation was just the opposite, the development of a plan that not only maintained, but expanded the ability of the health care industry (private insurers, big pharm, large hospitals) to profit off human illness.
And, that has what has been created. A bill that enshrines private health care companies as the government mandated model for health care administration. A bill that will provide 70 billion dollars in subsidies to private insurance companies, at the expense of universal, affordable coverage for every American citizen. A bill that negotiated away the government's ability to stop big pharm price gouging, in exchange for a phony bargain where the pharmaceutical companies would cut up to 8 billion dollars in costs over the next ten years while they elevated prices 10 billion this year alone. A bill that does not allow reimportation of drugs from Canada and holds the American people hostage to a mob type system of pay or die. Under this bill, millions will not be able to afford their prescriptions. Millions more will be forced to choose medication, food, or heat.
Under this bill, denial of care will be allowed for a thousand other reasons then the sole prohibited exception of a preexisting condition.
Under this bill, health care coverage will remain a game of chance.
Under this system, class difference may still determine whether you live or die.
The promoters of this legislation claim that this bill will provide health insurance to 96% of the population. But, they fail to note that doesn't mean it provides health care to 96% of the American people. The reality is that tens of millions will only be able to afford plans that provide either minimal or catastrophic coverage. Millions more will opt out entirely and pay the fine to avoid tax penalties or jail time. Millions more won't be able to pay the fine, and they will incur a thousand dollar penalty in addition to the hundreds of dollars they could not afford to pay to opt out. Or, they will go to jail.
Bankruptcy from medical bills will continue en force with this legislation. The most affordable 'comprehensive' policies are allowed to only cover up to 60% of costs. If anyone with a 'comprehensive' policy such as this meets with the bad fate of a chronic or life threatening illness (or even a single hospitalization), they will stand in very real danger of being financially ruined even with their insurance coverage.
Under pressure from the executive branch, the Congress removed the only strong amendment in the House bill that would allow a state from emancipating from the enslavement to corporate insurance by developing their own single payer plans. The Kucinich amendment which would have prevented insurance companies from suing states who developed single payer at the state level is gone. So, yes. That means states can be SUED by private insurance companies for developing an alternate system that would provide universal, affordable and comprehensive coverage to its citizens.
Industry profit above all else.
This reform is being accepted from the American people out of ignorance and sheer and total desperation. We have acquiesced to the corporate dictate for so long, we forget that we even have the alternative to fight back against policies that put our very lives at risk for the sole purpose of corporate and shareholder profit. We have become so accustomed to the myth of compromise,
we have relinquished our principles to the point of our own powerlessnes. So, it is with this legislation. Better to take what crumbs are thrown, then to stand on conviction and demand true reform. Something is better then nothing. Our fear is so great, we cower and give up before we even begin to fight. But, until we break this circle, we will be left with less and less, and our power to influence will be all but impotent.
This legislation was written to save the health insurance system from the collapse which was soon to come. A collapse which very well could have precipitated the transition to single payer.
Why are we reviving the beast?
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We should not settle for crumbs. The Senate bill, which the House is about to rubberstamp, is about MANDATING INSURANCE, NOT ABOUT BETTER HEALTH CARE. Insurance does not = health care. Health insurance companies make profits by DENYING THEIR CUSTOMERS HEALTH CARE.
I refuse to go along and play along. If the Senate version of the bill had been proposed and passed by Republicans, most of you would be screaming your heads off about how bad the bill was, how many loopholes it contains, how it is nothing more than mandated profits for the insurance industry and how the Republicans are owned by corporations. Sticking a "D" next to the bill doesn't make the pile of shit smell any better.
If the Senate bill passes and is signed into law by Obama, WE WILL ALL BE GIVING UP ALL CHANCE OF TRUE HEALTH CARE REFORM in our lifetimes. The health care industry, who is already powerful enough to control the writing of this bill will gain even more money, more power and more control over future members of Congress. They will not allow future regulation or legislation that will impact the way they do business or their profits.
I voted for change we can believe in, NOT corporate chains we will be in.
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