Health Reform?

Americans who do not maintain an "acceptable health insurance coverage" and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (that 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

As Julie Tarp pointed out, at least we'll have medical care in jail.

Heathcare-Now!'s reaction to the horrible bill passed by Congress:

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, the House passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, to much celebration by the Democratic party. Healthcare-NOW!'s view, however, is that the House bill is a gift to the insurance industry at the further expense of the people of this nation.

The bill's advocates claim it will cover an additional 36 million people, subsidize the cost of insurance for families up to 400% above the poverty level, increase Medicaid coverage to 150% above the poverty level, close the Medicare donut hole by 2019, place a surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 and couples making more than $1,000,000, will end rescissions and pre-existing conditions.

What the Democrats fail to mention is the bill leaves millions of people uninsured, allows medical bankruptcies to persist, criminalizes and fines the uninsured, increases the number of underinsured, does nothing to contain the sky rocketing costs, blocks women from their reproductive rights, transfers massive public funds to private insurance companies strengthening their control over care, protects pharmaceutical companies' superprofits at patient expense, fails to reclaim the 31% of waste in our system, expands Medicaid without regard to the state budget crises, discriminates based on immigration status and age, and sets up several levels of care covering less for those without the ability to pay. Those who have coverage will increasingly find care unaffordable and will go without. The whole system will inevitably fail from being fiscally unsustainable.

So is the House bill better than nothing?

"I don't think so," writes Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. "It simply throws more money into a dysfunctional and unsustainable system, with only a few improvements at the edges, and it augments the central role of the investor-owned insurance industry. The danger is that as costs continue to rise and coverage becomes less comprehensive, people will conclude that we've tried health reform and it didn't work. But the real problem will be that we didn't really try it. I would rather see us do nothing now, and have a better chance of trying again later and then doing it right."

Given that the bill does nothing to contain or reduce rising costs or end the private health insurance industry's dominance, we hoped that the Progressive Caucus would stand strong. But they did not. All but two of H.R. 676's cosponsors voted for H.R. 3962 -- Rep. Eric Massa [D-NY] and Rep. Kucinich [D-OH].

Rep. Massa stated, "At the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period. There's really no other way to look at it."

Despite telling single-payer advocates that Congressman Weiner's single-payer amendment could not go to vote because it would open the floodgates for regressive amendments on abortion and immigrant access, the Democratic leadership allowed votes on both. Prior to the vote on H.R. 3962, the Stupak Amendment passed that will prevent women receiving tax subsidies from using their own money to purchase private insurance that covers abortion and in many cases will prevent low-income women from accessing abortion entirely.

"The House of Representatives has dealt the worst blow to women's fundamental right to self-determination in order to buy a few votes for reform of the profit-driven health insurance industry," writes Terry O'Neill, President of National Organization for Women. "We must protect the rights we fought for in Roe v. Wade. We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips millions of women of their existing access to abortion."

Healthcare-NOW! fought to win a fair and open debate on healthcare reform including the merits of a single-payer system. This has not yet happened, but the advocacy for this system has greatly impacted the debate in meaningful ways.

We need to continue to build the grassroots movement for single-payer, not-for-profit, national healthcare. We look forward to much brain-storming at our upcoming national strategy conference in St. Louis this weekend, and the opportunity to move forward with renewed energy, creative ideas, and resolve.

Meanwhile, we have the opportunity NOW to continue to support the Sanders' Single-Payer Amendment to be introduced in the U.S. Senate, Congressman Kucinich's efforts to get the state single-payer amendment back in when the House and Senate bills are reconciled, and the efforts of the Mobilization for Health Care for All.

WHY KUCINICH VOTED NO:

After voting against H.R. 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:

“We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

“Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.

“But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies — a bailout under a blue cross.

“By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress’ blog, Think Progress, states “since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.” Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that “money will start flowing in again” to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy.

“During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The “robust public option” which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.

“Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks’ hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy -- in which most Americans live -- the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street.

“This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.

“Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America’s businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals.”

 

57 said they would not accept a healthcare bill this bad in July. Only two kept their word -- Kucinich, Massa. The other 55 lied!  (PDF)

Harvard lecturer and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine: "Is the House bill better than nothing? I don't think so. It simply throws more money into a dysfunctional and unsustainable system...and it augments the central role of the investor-owned insurance industry."

Dennis Kucinich: "Why Is It We Have Finite Resources For Health Care But Unlimited Money For Wars and Wall Street and Insurance Companies?

Watch the video for the rest:

And if you want to learn more about the scam that is Public Option, you can start here:

What "Reform" Really Means - Windfall 4 Insurance Companies

and

Domestic Violence is a Pre-existing Condition (Not a Joke)

We have trillions to spend on war, but even though every 12 minutes an American dies because they lack access to health care our leaders balk at true reform.

Update December 12, 2009:

What? -- Lieberman to Head up the Healthcare Exchange. So Much for Real Reform.

and

"Please don't insult us any more by selling this legislation as healthcare reform or even health insurance reform. This seems more and more like health industry protection and less like anything at all to do with providing what President Obama declared as a basic human right during the campaign." 

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As currently written, the Senate Democratic health care bill would permit insurance companies to place annual limits on the dollar value of medical care, as long as those limits are not "unreasonable." The bill does not define what level of limits would be allowable, delegating that task to administration officials.   Adding to the puzzle, the new language was quietly tucked away in a clause in the bill still captioned "No lifetime or annual limits."

Update December 14, 2009:

How a Few Private Health Insurers Are on the Way to Controlling Health Care

and

One of Few Things Growing as Fast as Health Care Costs Is Income of Richest 1%

Update December 16, 2009:

The Obama administration is pissed off at Howard Dean, not at Joe Lieberman. That tells you all you need to know. Health Care Reform was a scam and a sweetheart deal for the insurance industry from the beginning.

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Howard Dean: "Health Care Reform Is Turning The Insurance Industry's Dream... This Will Be A Bigger Bailout for the Insurance Industry Than AIG"

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Dean urges defeat of emerging health care bill: "You will be forced to buy insurance. If you don't, you'll pay a fine. This is an insurance company's dream" 

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Fuck you White House: Dean speaks out against the atrocious "insurance reform" bill in the Senate, and the WH has a tantrum. Where is that anger towards Lieberman?

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Obama Helps Kill Cheaper Drug Imports; Sides with big pharma on proposal he backed as candidate, senator 

Update December 17, 2009:

MSNBC's Ed Schultz to Obama: "Your base thinks you're nothing but a sellout."  

Insurance company stocks “on fire” – they’re winning, we’re losing

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10 health insurance execs, $86,000,000,00 a year, now choke on it. Maybe America is just a support system for a small group of wealthy individuals and the only real problem is that I am unwilling to accept my place in it.

Update December 18, 2009:

"In other words, it uses the power of government, the force of law, to give the greatest gift imaginable to this industry -- tens of millions of coerced customers, many of whom will be truly burdened by having to turn their money over to these corporations..."

and

Life expectancy vs Health care cost per capita: Look at how out of whack the USA is compared to other nations!

 and

"Single payer became a strong public option, a strong public option became a weak public option, a weak public option became Medicare buy-in, and Medicare buy-in became Joe Lieberman's revenge. Progressive ends are submitting to conservative means, and industry is laughing all the way to the bank."

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New poll: 58% favor health care bill with public option and Medicare expansion. Only 33% support a bill with neither.

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And They'll Call This Health-Care Reform: How Three Senators Are Extorting You For Their Big-Time Buddies

Update December 22, 2009:

The Senate Health Care Bill: Leave No Special Interest Behind

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Obama came out today and said "I never campaigned on a public option!" Obama during the campaign in 2008: “My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage.”

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CBO pegs Nelson's Nebraska Medicaid deal cost at $100 million; deal also subsidizes VT ($600mm) and MA ($500 million); the other 47 states pay their own way.

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National Nurses Union: Bill entrenches chokehold of insurance giants. "It is tragic to see the promise from Washington this year for genuine, comprehensive reform ground down to a seriously flawed bill that ...exacerbate the health-care crisis ...and that cedes far too much additional power to the tyranny of a callous insurance industry."

and

Greenwald: Healthcare industry stocks explode as bill progresses

Update December 23, 2009:

Can Obama Open His Mouth Without Lying About Health Care?

Update December 24, 2009:

Even "progressive" democrats sold us out on healthcare. With breathtaking speed they dismissed, deneutered, and dealt away anything and everything killer corporations objected to. When push came to shove they did not stand and deliver, they backed the status quo.

 Update December 31, 2009:

Other titles:

Unlimited $$$ for Wars, Wall St, and Insurance Corps...

Healthcare, not Warfare - Single Payer (HR 676) NOW!!!

Public Option is NOT reform.  It is a bailout 4 insurance

Rush crushing on Sloan & Magic Honkey is him flirting

Pat Buchanan caught in compromising position with OS editor!

This started out as merely yet another post to take back the most read feed from older posts that garner huge hits from google image searches and have gone "zombie."  

Now I use it to raise awareness of HR 676 Medicare for all and what a screw job the so called health care reform bill is going to be.