Question Of The Day: What If HEALTH CARE Doesn't Pass In 2009?

[Segami]

The Atlantic:

by Chris Good


If health care reform doesn't pass by the end of the year, will the political will behind it fall apart? What changes for health care if Congress leaves for the holidays without putting a bill on President Obama's desk?


<http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/question_of_the_day_what_if_health_care_doesnt_pass_in_2009.php>

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. It would fade away, though some face-saving insurance reform bill would pass

[MNDemNY]

4. Is that not what is on the table, now?

Certainly it is not REAL "reform", now is it?

[Segami]

7. Is that the outcome they're priming us for? Are their current actions a reason for concern?

[iceman66]

2. I would interpret that to mean

that Harry Reid does not even WANT to be re-elected because he already has a cushy seven-figre job lined up as a health industry lobbyist.

Or something of that nature.

[MNDemNY]

3. Insurance company profits will suffer.

We MUST pass "The Insurance Industry Profit Protection Act of 2009" or we will be doomed, doomed I say!

[kenny blankenship]

5. Question assumes political will exists now. It does not.

Political will sufficient to pass health care reform will exist when the politicians FEAR what the people will do to them should they not pass real health care reform. Clearly they do not fear the people now. "Health care reform" has been approached by our politicians in 2009 as an opportunity to stuff bon-bons into the mouths of the insurance companies.

A very different debate will emerge in about 8 to 10 years. Health care in America under our antiquated "system" is in inexorable, long term decline. When the bulk of middle class voters either cannot afford their deductibles, copays and premiums, or realize that the insurance product they can afford (and are perhaps forced to buy) is a fraud, then politicians will discover a burning will to enact real reform and to oppose the interests of their constituents in the insurance lobby. They will suddenly discover that reform is good for them, for health reasons.

[Cleita]

6. What health care?

What I see is more corporate welfare for the insurance industry. Unless, Congress passes a law forbidding private insurance from selling basic health care first, there will be no health care as it's done in most of Europe.