Dean rejects watered down health reform
By Jamala Rogers Of The St. Louis American
With the most recent watering down of the health care reform bill, Howard Dean says, “Kill the bill.”
The public option and the expansion of Medicare have been chopped from the bill that the Senate is currently wrangling over. Dean is suggesting that the Senate version of the bill be kicked to the curb, the House version picked up, then on to reconciliation.
At the recent Human Rights Day Celebration, the discussion focused on health care as a human right. State Rep. Tishaura Jones reported that a couple of Missouri Republican state legislators are already fashioning an opt-out law for the state. So, even if a decent federal bill passes, Missouri citizens may still be denied access to health care provided by Congress.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, who parades around as an Independent, is gangstering himself into the process with an ultimatum about holding out on the infamous 60th vote needed to pass the bill in the Senate.
The Democrats should pay attention to this double-crossing legislator and make sure he gets a thumb-twiddling committee after this escapade. Here we are trying to make history in passing real health care for the majority of citizens in this country, and he wants to be the Vito Corleone of the U.S. Senate.
There are aspects of reform that have to be non-negotiable or else the law is not worth the paper it’s printed on. I keep hearing this weak refrain that something is better than nothing. No, it’s not!
I made a call to U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s office to make sure she’s still on board with the public option. The public option component is not a silver bullet, but it is a safety valve to keep premiums competitive, control spiraling medical costs, and improve the quality of health care. It represents miniscule efforts to make changes in the insurance industry.
Over the last few weeks, the public option has been viciously attacked and a misinformation campaign rooted in fear was unleashed. Now, with Lieberman signaling he won’t vote for the bill if either a public option or an expansion of Medicare to citizens at age 55 is included, it may be totally removed.
MSNBC just reported that some deviant lawmakers slid in an amendment that caps the benefits for catastrophic medical costs. This is just another example of how insurance companies are winning if we don’t get informed and get involved.
There’s still a lot of insurance company money flowing through the halls of Congress. The website Open Secrets lists the top 20 elected officials at the non-partisan trough who are receiving unending dollars from insurance company lobbyists.
President Obama is number one, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is number six and Senator Lieberman is number 14. We can’t expect these folks to protect our interests – they’ve already been compromised.
If the people lose this one, you better believe it will be a winner for the health insurance industry. Their pool of insurers will radically increase as health insurance becomes mandatory. Cha-ching for them, empty pockets for us. Worse, we will have come full circle to no health care reform.
The legislative shell game is in play. It’s time to be vigilant.