Corporations Win Again - This Time It's Healthcare 27 comments
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We shouldn't have been surprised. I'm right now working on a book that exposes anew our corporate-owned government, which didn't change in any way when hope was reported to have prevailed a year ago. The new day in Washington when lobbyists would supposedly take backseats to citizen needs became instead The Washington Post calling last summer the Summer Of The Lobbyist. We're seeing now that insurance industry lobbyists did their work well.
Thus, I wouldn't get too excited about health care reform just yet. The word "historic" has been liberally tossed around everywhere since the House bill passed by five votes on Saturday night, but commentators in other countries noticed before the bill even made it to vote that it's ludicrously light fare compared to citizen health coverage in other countries.
The House bill -- which is more ambitious than the Senate bill -- does almost nothing to contain runaway health care costs. Those are what threaten to consume one-fifth of the US gross domestic product in coming years. Health insurance companies are surely laughing themselves silly as the bill would force people to buy insurance from them. The remnant of the public insurance option is pretty barebones, so those unable to pay for insurance won't be well covered.
Nothing is law yet and it remains to be seen if reform will get through, but even if it does, it's almost guaranteed to turn into another bonanza for health corporations, more national debt, and little improvement in access to health care. That's the worst of all combinations, but seems to so often be the one we get. More spending with real benefits would be good, less spending and thus less collected in taxes so we have more left over to get our own coverage would be good, but more spending and little new coverage is not good.
I'm afraid this will end the way so many issues end, with corporations winning while citizens get screwed.
In my opinion, the best summary of what's wrong with the ramshackle attempt to reform American health care was presented by Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich in his article, Why I Voted No. I recommend that you read it. At just 770 words long, it's worth your time.
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This article has 27 comments:
"...commentators in other countries noticed before the bill even made it to vote that it's ludicrously light fare..." Which detailed proposals do they find to be inappropriate?
"...The House bill -- which is more ambitious than the Senate bill -- does almost nothing to contain runaway health care costs..." Almost?
"...Nothing is law yet..." There you go, a fact, how refreshing.
In every phase... you're right. Middle class is dead... in 20 years when my 2 kids are in college what will it cost if its 50K now? 100K to be conservative? Thats 800K in college debt + 400K in the house + living costs + whatever it will take to retire....
Do the math & you realize quickly there is no chance if you add inflation while wages stagnate.
Long live Joe Liebeman!
Meanwhile you and I will be forced to buy insurance or pay and fine and go to jail...and...be taxed through our payroll taxes another 3% health care tax, to then have the IRS turnaround and give it to the kid. See how it will work?
Well.....that is because it is not really about health care.
It is about politicians getting control of a significant portion of the economy, and using "mission creep" tactics to advance their agendas. It is about directing and influencing the flow of trillions of dollars-- it is a threat to our freedom.
If this atrocity of a bill passes, there will be no end to the regulations that will be imposed on us by stealth-- unelected agency and department heads making new "policy" outside of the legislative process.
The bill is unlikely to be passed, because the Senate has just a few less lunatics than the House. But it is a sad state of affairs when it depends on a head count of the lunatics in Congress.
Benjamin Tucker
If Democrats can't get pure single-payer done now with the huge majorities they have in both houses, they certainly won't be able to get in done after the 2010 midterms.
And don't worry about the impact on the economy of the huge tax increase required by socialized medicine. And don't worry either about the fact the Constitution does not allow the Federal government to take over health care.
You Lefties need to go for the gusto. Never let practical or legal considerations deter you.
And please, get off the Socialism rhetoric, this is a fascist government not a socialist government and it was never a Democracy.
On Nov 09 04:17 PM Robespierre wrote:
> The "health care reform" is a farce. If either party really want
> it to offer real health care then all they need to do is to extend
> medicare to all Americans. Insurance companies server no purpose.
> They have not contained cost as they say they do. They add billions
> of dollars in cost. I know some think that if we go medicare for
> all there is all this fraud going on. Well the solution to the fraud
> is simple: Offer to private companies (capitalism anyone?) %50 of
> the recovered fraud money and the other %50 if there are CRIMINAL
> convictions. But neither the limousines liberals democrats nor the
> idea-less republicans will ever do any real reform
On Nov 09 04:22 PM Steve in Greensboro wrote:
> I think Dennis "Cuckoo" Kucinich really needs to rally the Left wing
> of the Democrat party (redundant, I guess) to oppose Obama-Pelosi's
> health care bill.
>
> If Democrats can't get pure single-payer done now with the huge majorities
> they have in both houses, they certainly won't be able to get in
> done after the 2010 midterms.
>
> And don't worry about the impact on the economy of the huge tax increase
> required by socialized medicine. And don't worry either about the
> fact the Constitution does not allow the Federal government to take
> over health care.
>
> You Lefties need to go for the gusto. Never let practical or legal
> considerations deter you.
No one apparently cares about people just ideology.
Read some Wendell Potter to get an insiders view of the "wonderful" insurance companies.
Any bill WILL be crap because of $$$$ that control this country. But continue to complain about other things. It's much more emotionally satisfying to ideologues.
The author is right.
There are bad programs that come from Washington. That's because most politicians only do what's profitable to them or only do what serves their ideological supporters so they get reelected. That's the problem - corrupt politicians not necessarily government.
On Nov 09 06:51 PM a fat panda wrote:
> Guys - when Congress solves just about anything there are no winners.
> There are just people who lose more than others. It ought to tell
> you something that the supporters are calling this historic and comparing
> it to Social Security and Medicare as if those programs were successes.
On Nov 09 04:22 PM Steve in Greensboro wrote:
> I think Dennis "Cuckoo" Kucinich really needs to rally the Left wing
> of the Democrat party (redundant, I guess) to oppose Obama-Pelosi's
> health care bill.
>
> If Democrats can't get pure single-payer done now with the huge majorities
> they have in both houses, they certainly won't be able to get in
> done after the 2010 midterms.
>
> And don't worry about the impact on the economy of the huge tax increase
> required by socialized medicine. And don't worry either about the
> fact the Constitution does not allow the Federal government to take
> over health care.
>
> You Lefties need to go for the gusto. Never let practical or legal
> considerations deter you.
I read it thoroughly and agree with it completely.
At least a few people like the author and D. Kucinich , and some others, have figured this out well before the disaster strikes.
While somewhat nebulous, this is not the same mystery as NAFTA/CAFTA/SHAFTA was when the legislation was so complex, convoluted, oblique and mysterious that no one but the insider crooks that wrote it and their sold out political and corporate allies could figure it out and profit handsomely from it (and still are).
So it looks like again that Wall Street, and the racketeering insurance and pharmaceutical industries "win " (purchase) the contest once again.
Of the people, by the people , for the people ?
Definitely NOT!
The US is in deep trouble with no way out. At least no way that enough Americans are willing to go. Yes, it's our system where we allow corporations, through lobbying, to shape the laws that our country runs on. But anytime a Kucinich or a Wellstone introduces legislation that would do away with lobbying the neo-conservatives and moderate Democrats prevent it from going anywhere, and they have enough conservatives on the Supreme Court to keep the status quo in our lobbyist heaven. It would require a majority of liberals on the Supreme Court or a Constitutional Amendment and the neo-conservatives, with their cries of "socialism" and "anti-Americanism" led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck, will keep that from ever happening. Bottom line: Americans have gotten brain-soft and can't think for themselves. We allow ourselves to be led by our emotions by those who are profiting from the demise of our once free-thinking society. It's a shame.
This is why many Americans are choosing to have surgeries and treatments in countries where the health insurance is non-existent, at 20 - 30% of the cost in the U.S. That's no accident. Where there is no insurance, nor middle man, the free market is allowed to set prices to the ability of their populace to pay.
On Nov 09 04:17 PM Robespierre wrote:
> The "health care reform" is a farce. If either party really want
> it to offer real health care then all they need to do is to extend
> medicare to all Americans. Insurance companies server no purpose.
> They have not contained cost as they say they do. They add billions
> of dollars in cost. I know some think that if we go medicare for
> all there is all this fraud going on. Well the solution to the fraud
> is simple: Offer to private companies (capitalism anyone?) %50 of
> the recovered fraud money and the other %50 if there are CRIMINAL
> convictions. But neither the limousines liberals democrats nor the
> idea-less republicans will ever do any real reform
On Nov 10 09:59 AM ginchinchili wrote:
> Kudos, Jason. You're spot on in your observations and I thank you
> for expressing them. It's an honest, but unpopular, position.
>
> The US is in deep trouble with no way out. At least no way that enough
> Americans are willing to go. Yes, it's our system where we allow
> corporations, through lobbying, to shape the laws that our country
> runs on. But anytime a Kucinich or a Wellstone introduces legislation
> that would do away with lobbying the neo-conservatives and moderate
> Democrats prevent it from going anywhere, and they have enough conservatives
> on the Supreme Court to keep the status quo in our lobbyist heaven.
> It would require a majority of liberals on the Supreme Court or a
> Constitutional Amendment and the neo-conservatives, with their cries
> of "socialism" and "anti-Americanism" led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh
> and Glen Beck, will keep that from ever happening. Bottom line: Americans
> have gotten brain-soft and can't think for themselves. We allow ourselves
> to be led by our emotions by those who are profiting from the demise
> of our once free-thinking society. It's a shame.
While I think this a good article, I do not believe the insurance or drug companies are the reason that the house bill will do nothing but increase costs. It is my belief that 95% of the legislators know nothing about healthcare, and the other 5% have acquired just enough information to be dangerous.
What hurts is that I know this will lead to our demise. Not that we're going to be taken over by another country or anything like that. But we will continue to slip further and further into a 3rd world standard of living and it won't be smooth either. The worse it gets the more vehemently we'll be point fingers and blame each other until organized groups will start acting outside of the law. It won't be pretty. Wisdom and intelligence is the only cure and I'm afraid that is in short supply right now.
On Nov 11 02:37 PM ginchinchili wrote:
> ncalmd, if all our politicians had Kucinich's principles our country
> would be so much better off. They would be debating real issues for
> good reasons. Now it's just Democrat against Republican with no end
> in sight.
>
> What hurts is that I know this will lead to our demise. Not that
> we're going to be taken over by another country or anything like
> that. But we will continue to slip further and further into a 3rd
> world standard of living and it won't be smooth either. The worse
> it gets the more vehemently we'll be point fingers and blame each
> other until organized groups will start acting outside of the law.
> It won't be pretty. Wisdom and intelligence is the only cure and
> I'm afraid that is in short supply right now.
"right now working on a book that exposes anew our corporate-
owned government, which didn't change in any way when hope
was reported to have prevailed a year ago."
While I don't disagree with the premise that corporations have significant influence with politicians, (as do wealthy donors, unions, and various other interest groups) its not the corporations that are the problem, its the politicians! If the politicians weren't for sale, be it votes or money, the lobbyists would have no effect, presuming of course that the politicians have a source of information about the issues before them other than the lobbyists.
While I don't know a way to determine how much was spent by lobbyists on the healthcare debate, I am absolutely certain the figure would pale in comparison with the cost of the earmarks used by the congress to buy off its members.