Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of health care reform. The constant realignment of positions, back and forth on legislation and overall amateurish atmosphere of this process has been absurd. But, somehow, our Democratic legislators have managed to keep the possibility of reform alive by compromising on almost every issue they claimed was steadfast.
As of December 8th, 2009, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has said about the compromise, “It is a consensus that includes a public option and will help ensure the American people win in two ways: one, insurance companies will face more competition, and two, the American people will have more choices.” He added, “As is long-standing practice, we do not disclose details of any proposal before the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to evaluate it. We will wait for that to happen, but in the meantime, tonight we are confident.”
As of December 9th, 2009, the public option had been dropped. In its place stands the Office of Personnel Management to be the middleman between uninsured and the insurers and also an expansion of Medicare to cover those 55 and older, instead of 65 and older.
This is not the only case of subtraction leading to more additions. Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Sen. Byron Dorgan (North Dakota) have proposed an amendment that would allow wholesale distributors and pharmacies to import FDA-approved drugs from Canada. This would significantly lower costs of prescription drugs and treatment.
Once unthinkable, an amendment like this would drastically reduce the overall spending that goes towards healthcare. Of course, the pharmaceutical industry is going to be initiating their propaganda machine in order to counter any pro-import ideas. This amendment is bipartisan and might have a chance of sticking around until the final showdown over healthcare reform takes place.
Republican Sen. Sam Brownback has already sided with Big Pharma in this battle. Brownback is claiming that imported drugs from Canada would not be safe for Americans to use, “We can’t certify that we can keep these products safe.” Uh-huh.
Luckily, for those of us who want to help people with their healthcare, Brownback has little sway in the Senate and is seen as a far-right Republican. The fact is we don’t have to worry much if Sam Brownback is the voice of the opposition to this reform.
Democrats have been battling to get Universal Healthcare for many decades, and they have made great strides towards this goal throughout history. Whether it was Social Security and the start of the social safety net under FDR or the beginning of Medicare and Medicaid under LBJ in 1965, strides have been made and this case is not different. However, the ultimate goal was to achieve a single-payer universal system that would have a public option and this goal was not accomplished.
President Obama has given the current proposal his endorsement, “I support this effort, especially since it’s aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering cost.” However, this falls short of the goal of providing healthcare to every single man, women and child who is an American citizen.
An e-mail sent to members of MoveOn.org had a different tone.
How could they?
Senate Democrats have just announced a tentative health care deal that doesn’t appear to include a real public health insurance option.
Instead of pulling out all the stops, they’ve bargained away the heart of health care reform—allowing conservative senators like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson to hold the process hostage and protect Big Insurance.
And sure enough, the insurance companies are reportedly thrilled with these terms. “We WIN,” one industry insider said during the negotiations. “No government insurance competitor.”
If the health care bill doesn’t include a public option, it’ll be a huge giveaway to the insurance companies. But the deal isn’t final yet, so we need to send an immediate message to Congress and President Obama that any health care bill without a real public health insurance option is simply unacceptable.
Details are still emerging about this new deal. According to The Washington Post, “the government plan preferred by liberals would be replaced with a program that would create several national insurance policies administered by private companies.”
But half-measures simply won’t cut it: we desperately need a real public option in order to hold private insurance companies accountable. That’s far more important than appeasing Joe Lieberman and his friends in the insurance industry.
And this fight isn’t over yet, no matter how many times the media tries to declare the death of the public option. It’d only take one or two senators to unravel this deal, and progressive senators Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders both indicated last night that their support can’t be taken for granted.
So to win, we’ve got to send a powerful message to congressional Democrats and President Obama that we won’t accept this deal. Instead of giving up on the public option, they ought to show real leadership and ratchet up the pressure on Lieberman and any Democratic senators who are threatening to filibuster.
What do you think about this bill? Will it bring reform?
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