Single payer...would be reform.
Bargaining with Drug companies...would be reform.
Making doctors salaried rather than fee based...would be reform.
This legislation doesn't introduce single payer; this legislation does not bargain with drug manufacturers; this legislation will not reform the way doctors are paid.
This legislation, requiring all to join an insurance plan or pay a fine is a tax and a boon to insurance companies. The most likely to not have insurance are under 35's, and consequently have the lowest risk of injury. That is why they do not choose to carry insurance. Forcing them to buy or pay a fine just helps the insurance companies.
We already pay more Per Person, Total, or as a % of GDP than any nation on earth on health-care. Now we have bought on to the idea that we just need to pay 1 trillion more and it will get better.
The Democrats, the media, and the Republicans have all conspired to do is to change the debate from why health-care is costing the U.S. so much, and accomplishing so little -- to we need insurance for everyone.
Forget doctor reform. Hell no! No one can insult a doctor, I mean they aren't charlatans who recommend 8000 tests when one (or even none) will do.
Forget changing how litigation happens in any meaningful way. Let doctors be so worried about mistakes that they have to do meaningless procedures just to not get sued.
Forget hospital and health-group reform. Let doctors in geographical regions continue to collude and conspire to increase the prices for everyone.
Forget Drug Reform, I mean sure the U.S. pays 90% more than anyone else, but we wont force them to lower prices...that would be un-American.
Forget insurance reform, give people all the tests they want, and keep blowing 50% of medicaid money on the last 3 to 6 months of life on needless operations and procedures.
This legislation will in no way solve any of the root problems of the disease which is U.S. Health-care.
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Now some will say that it is because of the undue influence of money in U.S. politics, but this argument is disingenuous.
If the politicians wanted to they could enact serious public financing of campaigns to do away with the power of money.
The U.S. government owns all radio frequencies, and can dictate the Term,s of Use, allowing equal time provisions and the like.
That they do not want to means that they want to rely on the myth of having limited power.
And why not? It is convenient. Already we have a top rated diary about how the HCR legislation will be awful, but that we should just swallow it down.
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Well if we swallow something down that does more harm than good; or something that is just a financial give-away to hospitals, insurance co.'s, and drug makers; or if we swallow something that becomes filled with graft---The progressive cause will be hurt for a very long time.
It will cause people who voted for Obama based on his promise of Health-Care reform, using his dead mother as a rallying cry, to be skeptical of anything he ever will do.
I want to keep supporting Obama, but every day is another day when I begin to wonder where is the change that we can believe in?
I mean seriously 1.2 trillion or more to bankers for a jobless recovery? 700 billion for 640,000 jobs? 2 billion to sell 150,000 extra cars?
Put this POS legislation about health care on the table and wowsers.
I for one think that it would be prudent for ardent and hard-working supporters of Obama to wake him up to the terrible predicament he would be in politically if he wastes all of his political capital on ineffectual legislation.