It's been clear to anyone with an IQ above 10 for about 6 months that we would not get a strong national public option available to everyone.
And it's been clear for about 2 months that we would (at best) get some sort of watered down small public plan that sliced a couple of million people out of the market. And that this plan would probably be a pool of sick people.
A public option that would change the insurance market place in any perceptible way has been off the table for months.
And yet, we're just now hearing about how individual mandates are evil. Seems odd to me!
The bill expands Medicaid and provides subsidies so that it will be rare when someone has to make a tough choice between paying the penalty or getting insurance. Add in the expansion of SCHIP earlier this year and we're left with a nice cushion for lower income people. Maybe that's way SEIU is still supporting the bill!
I'm also hearing a bunch of BS about how people whose insurance is subsidized will get "junk" insurance. That's BS! You'll get the same insurance that I get as a member of the middle class. You pay some copays, you go to the doctor, and that's that. Junk insurance will be illegal - and not only that - but the government will for the first time be heavily regulating private insurance companies. With that precedent set, we can demand that any loopholes that sneak into this bill are closed.
So what's really happening here? Why all the new-found concern for mandates?
The answer? People are throwing temper tantrums because they're pissed about the public option. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing to see here. Just a random outburst of raw emotion.
The truth is that every controversial bill passed in the history of Congress had last minute deal cutting, watering down, etc. This is just the first one that's been followed closely by an army of well-intentioned but politically naive bloggers. You're not used to watching the legislative process this closely, therefore, you're having a conniption after every single development.
Oh, and throw in the fact that there are progressive PACs out there raising money off of your anger who have an interest in stirring up the pot, and you have the situation we see today.
At any rate, I hope this thing passes, and I hope we add 30 million to the insurance rolls. You all need to take a Xanax. And don't worry - if you can't afford, it, the government will pick up the tab soon enough.