Arguably, healthcare reform has been the be-all and end-all of this website since June 2009. So we're almost at a full calendar year now since the monumental moment when this teeny, tiny, little hope-shaped baby was given to Congress by the White House, and President Obama basically said, "Do something with this! Make me proud!"
Unfortunately, both Congress (both houses, with more blame being placed upon the Senate rather than the House) and the White House have managed to fuck it up beyond all recognition.
After months of debating, and rolling the facts over in my head, I simply cannot support this healthcare "reform" package. Essentially, I think it's a crock of shit. Unless this bill can and will include a public option (or if Alan Grayson's bill gains any traction), then please (PLEASE!) kill this motherfucking piece of crap!
Honestly, I no longer care if I'm labelled a "purity troll" on Dkos. Big effing deal. I'm already labelled so many things here that I (sincerely) cannot keep up with them all. I seem to disappoint people left and right, who think I'm "worth more" or "used to be smart" or whatever. The projection is strong with this crowd, baby.
The reasons I refuse to endorse this "reform" bill are as follows:
- The mandate. You cannot mandate people to, by law, purchase healthcare insurance if they don't have a public option to choose from. The alternative is simply too ghastly;
- The excise tax. This most certainly pits the middle class (as well as labor unions) against the poor, and I think that's absolutely disgusting. On its face, it is wholly undemocratic;
- This bill is a healthcare insurance industry giveaway, not dissimilar to the bank giveaway that the financial institutions received from the United States public in the fall of '08;
- Anti-abortion proponents' language, in both the House and the Senate bills, will still remain in the final product;
- Most of it doesn't go into affect until 2014. Wee; and (last but not least)
- The perfect is not the enemy of the good here. When the American people find out that they are mandated to buy insurance, and that they're paying for it (but the rich folk aren't contributing a single, solitary dime), the Democrats are going to lose, and lose big. Short-term gain does not matter to me if, long-term, we are fucking screwed. (No pun intended, actually.)
It's not as if I think there aren't good things in the bill, because I do. I like that pre-existing conditions will be null and void once the bill goes into affect (immediately, and not in 2014) ... until I remember that health insurance companies will almost surely jack up the rates to their customers to make up for this. I like the subsidies, too ... until I remember how many Americans won't even qualify for those.
Sincerely, I do adore how many health clinics will be built in response to this bill, though. As far as I can tell, this is the only redeeming quality the the HCR bill has. Mandating 30+ million people to buy crappy insurance is not going to help anyone, and it's certainly not going to help us elect more and/or better Democrats!
I know that my friends (slinkerwink, nyceve, and TomP) have signed on board to endorse this bill. But, in my view, if we pass this without a P.O., Democrats will stay home in '10, and Barack Obama may (in fact) be a one-term president. Obama let the Republicans control the narrative in the summer of '09, and he let the conservadems control the narrative (and the overall vote) in the fall of '09.
That was a hideous mistake, and one of his worst, in my humble opinion.
President Barack Obama owes us ALL an explanation about why his actions didn't match his words with regards to the public option! I, personally, needed it!
This is, most certainly, not what I want. This is not what a lot of people want, or expect, either. And, put quite simply, it's not enough. This stupid bill is a train wreck!
Congress fucked it up. The White House fucked it up. And, while I realize that I am but a pissant Democratic blogger who will caucus in the Colorado Democratic primary tomorrow night, I know that I'm not alone in this.
KILL THE BILL!
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UPDATED: For those who believe that this HCR bill will impact their families, and/or help many other people, I would just like to say that I truthfully respect your opinion. Especially if that opinion was hard-fought and personal in nature. This is just my opinion, on a blog, and that's pretty much all she wrote. Seriously. I get why folks feel that they have to support this bill, even if they don't like it, and even if they don't agree with me. That's not only OK, but that's respectable!
The only reason I think this diary is on the rec list right now is because it resonated with a lot of people tonight, and the underlying tensions on Dkos probably caused it to be that way. No more, no less, and I'm definitely not convinced that my opinion will have any kind of impact, nor change anyone's mind.
I wish we could cut out the meta from this crap but, alas, it's probably not to be.