Skip to main content

Why We Are Hopeful and Hopeless About Health Care Reform [Point/Counterpoint]


Barack Obama backing off (or maybe not?) the public option is either the death of health care reform or yet another of this month's distractions from what is actually still a very viable bill. We lay out both cases, below.

Why You Should Be Cautiously Optimistic About Health Care Reform

Because the "public option" is actually maybe more important symbolically than actually. Government subsidies, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, and strict regulation of insurance companies would achieve most of the same goals, and gradual expansion of Medicare and Medicaid are just as much stalking horses for single-payer as a public option would be.

Additionally, the Town Hall debacles and bubbling revolt of the citizenry are largely smoke and mirrors. August is a news vacuum, and health care opponents provided a story to get us through the slowest month for political journalists. Most members of Congress will not change their votes based on what crazy people shouted at them in town halls.

Now. Politically, when everyone gets back to work, all the momentum is still in favor of something passing. As Ezra Klein describes the process here, things actually look pretty good. Something decent will pass the House, something will most likely pass the Senate, and then, in the conference committee, liberal Representatives and hopefully liberal Senators will hammer out a compromise. This compromise will also pass the House, and while there may be a lot of grandstanding in the Senate, the odds are still against a filibuster.

Why You Should Have Given Up Hope Already

What the hell are these "co-ops"? They don't exist. They are non-existent. No one can explain what they are or what they will do except that they will not be run by The Government and so they will not Kill Grandma.

Meanwhile the Democrat charged with getting something, anything out of the Senate Finance Committee is committed to keeping his girlfriend Chuck Grassley involved in the negotiations despite the fact that Grassley openly acknowledged that he would not actually vote for a bill that he himself crafted.

The longer the misinformation campaign drags on and the more Obama appears to repeat and internalize criticisms against liberal health care reform, the more public polls slowly turn against any reform at all.

It seems reasonable to believe that whatever passes will be so limited in scope and yet so much of a political headache that, once again, actual universal coverage of Americans will be kicked down the road for yet another generation.

And someone will probably actually shoot up a town hall by the time this fucking month ends.

In Conclusion

It depends on whether you will be dispirited by seemingly lackluster reforms or heartened by some small step toward joining the rest of the developed world.









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to find ideas to post new article in your blog

How to find ideas to post new article in your blog    阅读原文»   It is true that sometimes being a blogger may face situations where I would personally like to call it your brain juices got dried up as you have pretty much ran out of topic to blog and you are in crisis as your readers are anxiously waiting for your new posts but you are unable to give in. That’s when you will probably come with excuses like I just posted last week although that post was more directly towards the newbies who stop themselves from making money but it’s still pretty much the same even though you consider yourself not a newbie. The fact is that ideas are everywhere and I mean everywhere if you know where to find it and know how to leverage it. You may be surprised that sometimes these ideas are just right in front of you but you are not observant enough to convert these ideas and turn it into your blog post. Today I will share some tips on where to get these ideas and most of it is part of your dai

Over A Year After Android Launch, ShopSavvy Finally Comes To The iPhone

ShopSavvy was one of the best early Android applications. It launched in October of last year after winning one of the initial Android Developer Challenge top prizes (when it was still known as GoCart). But despite the success it has seen on Android, one question remained: When would it be available for the iPhone. Today, it finally is. Developed by the guys at Big In Japan , ShopSavvy is an app that allows you to use your device as a portable barcode scanner. You point your phone's camera at any barcode and it will read it, do a product look up, and give you information about the product, as well as where you can find it online or at nearby stores and for how much. Obviously, something like this is a window shopper's dream. ShopSavvy was one of the best early Android applications. It launched in October of last year after winning one of the initial Android Developer Challenge top prizes (when it was still known as GoCart). But despite the success it has seen on Android, o

Lindsay Lohan Breakup Confirmed by Lohan, Locksmith, Police [Gossip Roundup]

Farewell, last season's Suri Cruise fashions. Goodbye, Amy Winehouse's bathing suit. Adieu, humanoid version of Lauren Conrad. And so long, LiLo and SamRon's fairytale romance. Lindsay Lohan confirmed her split with Samantha Ronson and insisted the decision was part of a very healthy and mature effort to " focus on myself ." Upon hearing this, Ronson changed her locks and discussed a restraining order with police, so confident was she in Lohan's ability to turn productively inward. Lohan promptly had a run-in with the police . Who would have imagined such a messy breakup for this model relationship? Courtney Love's lawyer, on her client's drug-fueled plunge into broke-ness: ""Courtney noticed the money was gone when there wasn't any left." Deadpan gallows humor: the only possible response to having Courtney Love as a client. (Besides asking for a hefty retainer.) [ P6 ] Before Lauren Conrad's contract expired in March, MTV