One of those talking points, of course, goes back to last summer: no one knows what's in the bill, no one's read it. Apparently Beck, Rush, et al, hadn't come up with an appropriate spin yet for Republicans Force Reading of Health Care Bill. It was read, word-for-word, out loud in the Senate chamber. There may be a lot of good reasons to vote No on the bill, but ignorance of its contents is no longer one of them. (I'm not happy with the bill as written because overall it appears to be a gift to the insurance companies with the few vague benefits to help us peasants all being things that kick in so far in the future they're close to meaningless.)
Anything less than single payer Canadian style health insurance is a sell out to the corporations.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The process has been screwed up since day 1 because the whole focus has been on how to preserve the system that created the problems to begin with -- private insurance -- and make sure that hospitals, doctors, and other for-profit entities don't lose any money instead of focusing on what would work best to make sure the largest number of people have adequate health care. It's been totally money-oriented instead of people-oriented.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's a gift for the insurance companies ... their lobbyists have the skills and cash that citizen groups don't.
ReplyDeleteRepresentative government is such that those that spend their days talking and lunching with elected representatives will win out.
You and I don't have the time or skill to glad-hand, etc. From a few attempts at "geting involved" I learned this: Elected reps don't respond well to those with complaints - they like those that offer solutions. And in this case insurance companies offer solutions. And they don't like solitary voices full of anger and demands ... they fear these people and back pedal to not get caught up in rhetoric.
Until the day citizen groups have money and clout we will continue having corporations doing and getting whatever they want.