December 9, 2009

sigh

We don't really know what the Gang of Ten in the Senate has decided to bestow upon us in terms of health care reform a bill (some clues here and here), but we do pretty much know what won't be in it (cribbed from Daily Kos diary):
Single-Payer
Robust Public Option
Public Option available to all
Repeal insurance industry anti-trust exemption
Negotiated drug prices and rebates
Allow states to offer Single Payer
Negotiated rates Public Option
Expansion of Medicaid
Negotiated rates Public Option opt-out
We also know what the insurance industry thinks about it: "We WIN".

[sigh]
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 9, 2009 at 12:31 PM

    Liberal Senators seem to be great at espousing theory, but horrible at enacting practical application.

    Historically, it seems the problem has been that while the GOP was a litmus-test-party that essentially moved in lock step (both a strength and weakness), the Dems were a collection of a lot of causes: women, gays, unions, blacks, hispanics, the poor, etc. Their power base has broken down when these causes cared more for themselves than for other causes or the party as a whole. Can they get everyone together and form some kind of powerbase to push a progressive bill through? Or will they splinter and compromise and produce a piece of crap? Looks like P.O.C. could be the order of the day. Sigh.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 9, 2009 at 7:34 PM

    Bernie Sanders, Anthony Weiner and Howard Dean all like the deal, so far, for what that's worth.

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  3. JoyDecember 10, 2009 at 9:44 PM

    And now, from Organizing for America (i.e. the old Obama for America, reborn) I get a request to send Casey and Specter a card asking them to pass health care reform, given the "compromise just introduced that increases choice and drives costs down -- your senators need to understand how urgent reform really is."

    WTF? Do you see what I see?

    I tried to send back the following:

    "HOW DARE YOU? How dare you refer to ditching the public option as a cost saving measure? HOW F*ING DARE YOU, after the money you have taken from me?"

    But of course it bounced.

    So...Merry "Fishmas" to all. Something's smelling funny under the mistletoe, and it's not just Santorum's threat to run for President in 2012.

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