Columnist Jamala Rogers
Last week, Democratic leader Howard Dean said “Kill the bill.” He was referring to the fact that the public option and the expansion of Medicare had been chopped from the Senate health reform bill.
Many of those in the Democratic base who are left of center echoed that sentiment, including Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union. SEIU spent $60 million on President Obama’s road to the White House and had plenty to say on behalf of its union members. Since then, both have tempered their views.
In the last days before the successful Senate vote to pass its version of health care reform, it was the division within the Democratic Party that threatened to torpedo the bill, not the Republican Party. The conservative wing of the Dems threw all kinds of monkey wrenches in the process.
You call them Blue Dogs, I call them Democrats in Republican clothes. (We have some of these in St. Louis and elsewhere in Missouri.)
Joe Lieberman, who parades around as an Independent, gangstered himself into the process by holding the bill hostage for his 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 basket weaving committee after this escapade. Here we are trying to make history in passing real health care reform for the majority of citizens in this country, and he wants to be Don Corleone.
It looks like Nebraskan Senator Ben Nelson was paid $45 million for his hold-out vote. He managed to secure this funding for Medicaid expansion in his state in exchange for his support for the Senate bill. However, in spite of his inclusion of restriction of federal dollars on abortion, anti-abortion groups in his state have expressed their outrage over his support of the bill, vowing to oust him in 2010.
Even Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, an early supporter of the health care bill, finagled $100 million for a health care facility. Dodd, a high-ranking Dem, is also in a tight race for re-election in 2010. I am sure other senators got goodies for their support of the bill that will be uncovered in the coming days.
The insurance industry had its influence on the bill as well. MSNBC reported that some deviant lawmakers slid in an amendment which caps the benefits for catastrophic medical costs. Insurance companies’ stock reached a high last week as they salivate about the billions they stand to make with the mandatory insurance coverage.
At the recent Human Rights Day Celebration, Amy Smoucha and state Rep Tishaura Jones focused on health care as a human right. Soon after the event, Smoucha’s update was already obsolete with the fast-moving wheelin’ and dealin’ in the health care debate. Jones reported that a couple of Missouri Republican legislators are already fashioning an opt-out law for the state.
The general public still doesn’t know what the massive bill contains. We will find out if it’s really reform in the weeks and months ahead. Real reform would mean that all citizens get accessible and affordable health care, that medical costs are controlled, and that there’s accountability from the insurance companies. There are some who contend that even if we no longer have the public option, these should still be the goals of health care reform.
It is estimated that coverage for 30 million uninsured people will be included in the legislation and that it would cut federal deficits by $132 billion over the next 10 years. There are some regulations that curb abuse by the insurance companies but how strong they are and how effective the enforcement is remains to be seen.
We must remain vigilant as the bill continues on its way to President Obama’s desk. More deal-cutting to water down the water-downed version of health care bill is still possible. We must now look for ways to strengthen and enforce the bill at the state level. I think it is too soon to pop the cork in celebration.