The deform of reform

[dcsmart]

Alan Maass and Helen Redmond analyze the legislation passed by the House in the name of health care reform.

THE HOUSE of Representatives narrowly passed health care legislation last weekend that was hailed as "historic" and sweeping."

It is those things--a historic and sweeping disaster for the hope that a Democratic president and Congress would finally do something to fix the screwed-up health care system that is a source of misery and suffering for so many people.

The House's Affordable Health Care for America Act would force millions of people to buy high-cost, low-coverage insurance policies from private companies. It would funnel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that could be used to do something useful about health care into the pockets of the insurance giants. It capitulates on even the half-measure of the "public option" of a government-run alternative for the uninsured. It gives up on effective regulation of all but the worst practices of the medical-insurance complex. It contains an appalling concession to the anti-abortion fanatics that would be the most expansive government restriction yet imposed on women's right to choose.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/11/deform-of-reform



Will "reform" do more harm than good?
http://socialistworker.org/2009/10/22/will-reform-do-more-harm

The business of health care reform

MOST GREAT American fortunes were made by capitalists who used the power of government to gain advantages over competitors or to profit from public resources.
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http://socialistworker.org/2009/10/08/business-health-care-reform

The single-payer alternative

The politicians declared one plan for health care reform “off the table” from the beginning: a single-payer system that would cover all Americans and cut out private insurance. But as Dr. Andy Coates explains, it remains the only alternative that can solve the crisis of the health care non-system.
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http://socialistworker.org/2009/09/28/single-payer-alternative

P.S. THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ON MY PART. IT IS JUST ONE POINT OF VIEW.

[IndianaGreen]

1. A well deserved, albeit late, K&R

Democrats have betrayed the working class. Their bullshit of health "reform" will place an undue burden on an already over-burdened American working class, without providing significant relief on the people's health care needs.

The House's Affordable Health Care for America Act would force millions of people to buy high-cost, low-coverage insurance policies from private companies. It would funnel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that could be used to do something useful about health care into the pockets of the insurance giants. It capitulates on even the half-measure of the "public option" of a government-run alternative for the uninsured. It gives up on effective regulation of all but the worst practices of the medical-insurance complex. It contains an appalling concession to the anti-abortion fanatics that would be the most expansive government restriction yet imposed on women's right to choose.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/11/deform-of-reform