We Must Oppose the Healthcare Bill Compromise

(Here's hoping that House Progressives vote down this sham. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.

The compromise in the House is not real Healthcare reform. Although our country desperately needs Healthcare reform just supporting any bill offered is not progress. After Corporate Democrats and Republicans have gotten a hold of the bills in the House and Senate they are so watered down that they will not be anything that will do much good.

They convienently ignore the real problems in the healthcare industry due to complaints from the very folks who profit handsomely by the status-quo.

Reports coming out about the “compromise” with the treasonous Blue Dogs in the House and with like minded stooges in the “House of Lords” known as the United States Senate should be completely unacceptable to those of us who seek real progress for real people in this country.

Of course the Corporate controlled media touted this as “sweeping reform”:

After weeks of turmoil, House Democrats reached a shaky peace with the party’s rebellious rank-and-file conservatives Wednesday and cleared the way for a vote in September on sweeping health care legislation.

Bipartisan Senate negotiators reported progress, too, on a bill to extend coverage to 95 percent of all Americans without raising federal deficits. “We’re on the edge, we’re almost there,” said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican involved in the secretive Senate talks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hea…

Luckily Liberals and Progressives in the House immediately voiced opposition. They are our hope to defeat this Corporate-tainted compromise:

The House changes, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would reduce the federal subsidies designed to help lower-income families afford insurance, exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer insurance to their workers and change the terms of a government insurance option.

As word of the agreement spread, liberals fired back. “We do not support this,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., head of the Progressive Caucus. “I think they have no idea how many people are against this. They can’t possibly be taking us seriously if they’re going to bring this forward.”

Thank you Ms. Woolsey for speaking sanity to Corporate-controlled power. No free-thinking Progressive should support this “compromise”. You see, as usual the only ones who have compromised anything are the folks like all of us who want real progress in this country. The Insurance companies and big business as always are allowed to walk between the raindrops as the working man and woman are left to foot any bill of these “reforms”.

In the “House of Lords” the sellout of millions of Americans seems to be complete. Their version of “reform” is just as bad:

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has given Baucus months to see compromise across party lines is possible, and he told reporters during the day he expects a bipartisan plan to emerge.

The pace of decisions appears to have accelerated in recent days, with negotiators all but settling on a tax on high-cost insurance plans to help pay for the bill, as well as a new mechanism designed to curtail the growth of Medicare over the next 10 years and beyond.

More problematic from the Democrats’ point of view is a tentative agreement to omit a provision in which the government would sell insurance in competition with private industry. In its place, the group is expected to recommend non-profit cooperatives that could operate at the state, regional or even national level.

Nor is any bipartisan recommendation likely to include a requirement for large businesses to offer insurance to their workers. Instead, they would have a choice between offering coverage or paying a portion of any government subsidy that non-insured employees would receive.

Harry Reid is a disgrace as a leader, as is the leadership in the House if they actually think that they can shove this “reform” in the guise of more corporate welfare to the insurance companies off on the American people. This is simply a disgrace and not what we all fought so hard for last year. I beg the President, the Speaker of the House, or any real Democrat to stand up and oppose this. Americans have waited this long for Healthcare Reform and if this is the best these “leaders” can come up with maybe we just need to start fresh again when they get back from jetting home on the taxpayer dime and sipping their maritinis with the elite that they serve.

Furthermore, I have always loved my party and been proud to be a Democrat, the party that represents the working folk of this country. However, this process is showing me that the Democrats no longer represent the values of the majority of their own members. This compromise is finally nailing it home to me that our party is just as sold out to the Corporations as the Republicans. If this is allowed to go through I would love to start a third party, a REAL PROGRESSIVE party with other like minded individuals such as myself who are tired of being the only segment of the population that is denied representation. Unfortunately I think this Healthcare battle shows it has finally come to that.  

The time is nearing to let the Corporate Democrats and the far-right lunatics have their party, and build a true grassroots political party that represents working Americans.

About the Author(s)

RDemocrat

  • House Progressives

    have been rolled many times. It’s no wonder leadership does not take them as seriously as the Blue Dogs.

    Unless the Progressive Caucus members put their money where their mouths are and vote no on this bill, they shouldn’t be surprised when House leaders continue to ignore them.

    I think the odds of Obama vetoing a bad health care bill are no greater than 10 percent. We cannot count on the White House to save us from this.

  • here's HuffPo

    on the deal with the Blue Dogs:

    Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders gave in to numerous demands from rank-and-file rebels, so-called Blue Dogs from the conservative wing of the party who had been blocking the bill’s passage in the last of three committees.

    The House changes, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would reduce the federal subsidies designed to help lower-income families afford insurance, exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer insurance to their workers and change the terms of a government insurance option.

    So ragbrai08 was right about the bill looking like Massachusetts style “Romneycare.” This bill would just create a mandate for individuals to buy overpriced private insurance, with no public option for most people and fewer subsidies. It won’t solve the problems and will make a lot of middle-income Americans furious.

    Great political strategy there.  

  • Genuine health care reform

    is on life support and we are subsidizing the costs for this abomination (not to be conused with Obama Nation).

    Democratic Leadership has nearly solidified itself as the front-running oxymoron, just ahead of political feasibility.

    Reid is no better than a door mat.

    If this watered-down corporate version makes it to Obama’s desk and he actually signs it, the Dems are in deep trouble next year, but 2012 more so.

    Should Congraess blow it, this should become the poster child for campaign finance reform.

    • Obama's approach has failed

      His hands-off posture toward Congress, combined with meeting health industry representatives at the White House without disclosing their names, is not bringing us the bill we need. Like some guy used to say, the system in Washington is rigged because corporations have too much power.

      However, Obama would clearly rather sign a bad bill and claim victory (hoping to get through the next election) than veto a bad bill and start twisting arms in Congress.

      The Obama administration can twist arms when it wants to–like getting progressives to vote for the war funding bill, or getting Congressman Steve Israel to drop plans to primary Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. On health care Obama has decided not to mess with the broken system in Congress, and we’ll all pay for it.

  • Public Option

    The problem is that there is just no way we are going to get a public option through congress at this point regardless of how much we really need it. Blue Dog Dems who vote for a public option are just simply not going to have any chance of getting re-elected so they aren’t going to vote for it, which means there simply are not enough votes to support it. I think the best we are going to get is something that forces more competition between insurance companies.  

    • a huge majority supports a public option

      Even 60 percent of Republicans support a public option. It’s ridiculous to say that Blue Dogs who vote for a public option would lose the election. All they would lose is a few donations from corporate groups, and probably not even that. Their own districts if anything stand to benefit more from a public option than urban areas.

      Obama could get a good health care bill through if he set clear terms on what he will and won’t sign.

    • Boswell's a Blue Dog

      I don’t don’t think the residents in his district are anti-public option. I haven’t heard anyone say that. I think opposite might be true–people would stay home or vote third party rather than support support Boswell if he voted against it.

      I wish someone would primary him.

  • Are There Plans to Go To Townhall Meetings?

    I’m in Boswell’s district, and he obviously needs persuading. I know Grassley’s going to be in Adel at some point, and he definitely could use tons of input from unhappy Iowans.

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