Back in 2009-2010, I was a "kill-the-bill"'er. That is, I was compared with the likes of Jane Hamsher at every turn.
"Kill-the-bill"'ers got their nickname from the leftist wing of the Democratic Party. They were the people to whom the healthcare bill President Barack Obama pushed the fuck through Congress was substandard and simply not good enough.
So, ya know, it didn't begin all that well and negotiations didn't improve from there, either. Democrats had the majority in both the Senate and the House, which is extremely rare, and I felt like Obama should have used those two years to his advantage.
'09-'11 proved to me to be very tough. I thought (and I still think) that single payer should have been Obama's starting point. The man does not know how to negotiate to save his life, and I think even his most strident supporters might agree with me on that.
As Congress debated specifics of the bill, things turned really ugly on Dkos and other leftwing sites, simply because the bill being rammed through both the Senate and the House was not nearly as helpful as people would have hoped.
Succinctly, we wanted a better healthcare bill, one that would have helped more people in the long-run.
That's all we really wanted, truthfully. But some asshole (and I don't even know who) said that single payer was "off the table". Somebody said that!
Single payer was off the table. Damn, they were not even kidding. A public option would certainly have been acceptable, but GTFO:
An insurance-industry, mandated healthcare system for profit? How the fuck is THAT going to work, right?!
Except it does, because I signed up. It was easy, helpful, and affordable. Some guy even called me after I signed up just to make sure everything was peachy keen with me.
WHO the fuck calls you back after you buy shit from them, just to make sure you're happy with said shit?!
Nobody, that's who.
And so I was wrong. Over 7 million people have signed up for Obamacare in this country in the past 6 months, and even more then that when you count people who signed up for a state exchange plan (like me), and ... other people that NPR told me about, I forget. But a lot more then 7 million, man!
I'm still really happy that Bernie Sanders pushed through an amendment to the bill stating that community health care centers would have decent funding, and be able to help in some very poor and lower-middle class neighborhoods.
This is a good bill. It's not absolutely fantastic, but it gets the job done. It's historic, it's timely, and we can grow it and change it from here. Hell, more then half the country loves the idea of free insurance, and a public option was extremely popular back in the day. Medicare and Medicaid were once infant public health options, too, back in their own day. Everything has to start somewhere.
Mea culpa. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.
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EDIT, 4/5/14, 9:43 am MST:
As much as I'd like to say that I think Obamacare is a resounding success, I never said (and do not feel) anything of the sort. "It does not suck" and "it's a good plan" are far cries from me believing that Obamacare does not need any tweaks, changes, or updates. Single payer, for starters, would be an excellent change that I would wholeheartedly support. Not having to deal with a shit-show of a for-profit insurance industry would be another. I could totally get behind those things.
Also, I'm seeing some awesome examples of this very divided community being kind to each other in the comments (huh! who'd a thunk it?), and I love that, so thanks for being your better selves today.
This, of course, only goes out to the people in the comments who are not being out-and-out pricks, because there are a few of those as well. And you can stop being pricks any time you want, just so we're clear.