A Glide Path to Disaster: The Incredible, Shrinking Health Care Plan

[Karmadillo]

http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon08052009.html

A Glide Path to Disaster
The Incredible, Shrinking Health Care Plan
By NORMAN SOLOMON

Like soap in a rainstorm, “healthcare reform” is wasting away.

As this week began, a leading follower of conventional wisdom, journalist Cokie Roberts, told NPR listeners: “This is evolving legislation. And the administration is now talking about a glide path towards universal coverage, rather than immediate universal coverage.”

Notions of universal healthcare are fading in the power centers of politics -- while more and more attention focuses on the care and feeding of the insurance industry.

Consider a new message that just went out from Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, which inherited the Obama campaign’s 13-million email list. The short letter includes the same phrase seven times: “health insurance reform.”

The difference between the promise of healthcare for everyone and the new mantra of health insurance reform is akin to what Mark Twain once described as “the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

The “health insurance reform” now being spun as “a glide path towards universal coverage” is apt to reinforce the huge power of the insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital industries in the United States.

President Obama says that he wants “things like preventing insurers from dropping people because of pre-existing conditions.” Those are not fighting words for the present-day insurance industry. Behind the scenes, massive deals are taking shape.

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[DJ13]

1. There are times when I think this latest round of "reform" talk was nothing but

....... a means to shake down the insurance lobby for campaign money.

Unfortunately that will mean our politicians are willing to sell us out, but thats nothing new I guess.

[dflprincess]

2. What amazes me is

they are depending on us to be dumb enough to fall for faux reform and to thank them for it. I think some of "our" reps are in for a rude awakening.

If they had our interests at heart they'd come back in September and announce plans to start expanding Medicare. I'm not holding my breath.

[Karmadillo]

5. I hope you're right, but I suspect they're right in thinking they will suffer no consequences for

whatever mess comes out of this. We're pretty much conditioned to accepting the rich and their elected puppets running over us at will.

[BluePup]

4. Bingo!!!! (N/T)

EOM

[Ganja Ninja]

3. The Democrats need to realize that if this fails they and they alone will take the blame.

So they might as well put out their own bill without any GOP fingerprints on it.

The whole reason for health care reform is to provide service to people that have none or are under-served. Keeping things simple and user friendly and keeping the coverage broad and through will insure success. As with any type of government service the Republican philosophy is that it should come with some discouraging drawbacks. Letting them put their fingers in this will only muck up the system before it has a chance to get started.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

6. Wow! Someone in the media noticed that hospitals are part of the problem

However, I'm afraid that the one part of the plan that will stick, that no deals will be made on, is the individual mandate, which forces near-poor single people to pay for health plans that are actuarially unfair. So they will carry a disproportionate share of the burden. Because who's to lobby for the near-poor?