At any rate, mandating coverage the only solution that does not involve completely dismantling the insurance industry, and though you might entertain fantasies of eliminating one of the largest subsections of an industry that comprises 1/6th of the American economy, I am pretty sure your 401(k) would tell you to Fuck Right Off.
Oh. Yeah. My 401(k).
Public option would be swell, and that crazy "Republicans want you to die" dude from Florida has already submitted a bill. I think that's a bit premature; we owe it to the skepticism to show that UHC works before we go further. But hey, that's just me.
Yeah, I've always thought that what healthcare needed was more deliberation. I just can't handle the breakneck pace it's taken over the past seven decades.
it's almost like i think liberals should be gracious and not act like entitled douchebags upon achieving their single biggest policy victory in 45 years
Oh, come ON now. It's a set of modest improvements constituting a fraction of a fraction of what we actually wanted, or what the rest of the industrialized world has already done.
Entitled? Yeah, I guess I DO feel that way. I feel like I'm entitled to go to a goddamn doctor, have him figure out what the hell is wrong with me, and fix it, without worrying that my annual coverage limit is going to run out before the year's half the hell over. I see now what a douchebag I have been, what with my recent trip to the ER because the doctor thought my brain might be swelling and causing seizures. (It wasn't, by the way. So obviously I should have just walked it off rather than act like an entitled douchebag about it.)
Let me put it this way: if 1) you believe, as I do, that America will benefit from this bill in many ways almost immediately,
If you define "almost immediately" as 2-4 years down the road. Or "many" as "not really very many".
2) the additional benefits of a public option will primarily focus on driving costs further down, rather than the immediate concerns of actually improving coverage and care,
Yes.
and 3) there are a lot of people in Congress who wanted the public option and if it could have been included in this bill, it would have
No.
The Democrats screwed the pooch on this from day one. Obama stood back while Reid and Rangel dithered, they started with a compromise bill instead of asking for more than they wanted, they ceded the moral high ground and watched a popular bill turn unpopular based on lies told by crazy people, and they slobbed Lieberman's knob rather than point out that he was willing to let
150,000 people die to feed his ego. When Obama finally DID start standing up for the bill, it was to say that well, the public option wasn't really that important, and anyway he didn't campaign on it even though it was specifically listed as part of his campaign platform.
The Democrats fucked this one up in nearly every way possible; it seems like it's a miracle that this thing passed, but that's only because they've bungled it so badly. A year ago at this time, it was considered a foregone conclusion that a much more comprehensive bill would pass.
Oh, and they have enough votes to get the public option through on reconciliation. But they won't, because then Republicans might accuse them of ramming an undemocratic socialist bill through Congress against the will of the people.
what harm is there in waiting a few years for UHC to become more popular?
I'll get back to you when I see the numbers on how many people died or went bankrupt while we sat back and waited.
I recently spent a Saturday as the least sick person waiting for care in the ER. I do not recommend the experience, but it does tend to provide a certain perspective on the whole "let's just wait and see how this plays out" line of thinking.
As an aside, I do think it's funny how people are crying about how this is a huge corporate handout and the Democrats are totally in bed with big business as if
-this is news
I'll admit I haven't been keeping up with the thread, so I'll forego the strawman emote on the assumption that you are actually talking about somebody in this thread.
I do believe I have stated -- in this thread, even! -- that being totally unsurprised by something does not remove your ability to think it fucking sucks.
-delivering insurance companies 32 million new customers, most of whom are very low income,
and federally subsidized
is going to totally wash over the hit they're going to take on no longer being able to deny/adjust coverage based on medical conditions
This is possibly the single most important thing in the bill and I'm certainly not going to argue with it.
avoid caps on premiums
Is that annual, or just lifetime?
avoid negotiating with parties with actual leverage
Because if there's one thing I trust the US government to do, it's drive hard bargains with medical providers and keep costs down. Now if you'll excuse me, I just have to check how much of the $350 I spent on prescriptions last month my insurance will cover.
-the entire back half of the bill doesn't give a gleeful ass-fuck to the banking industry by repealing FFELP
That's swell and all, but doesn't really have anything to do with the insurance industry.
To top it all off, Mitt Romney's political career is over.
Oh. Yeah. Mitt Romney's political career.