|  As the lead headline on HuffPost says: Lieberman Wins.
Amazing. One man. One bitter, angry white guy out for retribution against the party he feels wasn't nice enough to him in 2004 and abandoned him in 2006, has finally gotten his revenge. Don't say you weren't warned: there were a lot of us who said "Absolutely not - do NOT allow him in the caucus after campaigning for McCain. He'll bite you in the rear." But no, the majority said, we're a b-i-g tent. The Medicare-for-55-64-year-olds is gone. This didn't happen in a vacuum: there was pressure from the White House via Rahm Emanuel on Harry Reid to cut a deal with Joe. There has been a willingness on the part of both chambers to find a "middle ground" without full grasping that once you give in, you're done. Congress and the White House crumbled first on Single Payer (which didn't even get heard), then on a robust public option, then opt out, opt in, trigger and finally, it's just plain gone. There is a good chance that the next concession to Joe will be the removal of the requirement that 90% of premium dollars paid to insurance companies go to actual care. (Remember, this guy has taken more than a million dollars from the insurance companies, and his wife is a flack for them, so it's an embedded family business.) After that, the next loss will likely be the subsidies. To be fair, no one except for Harry Reid and the folks at CBO scoring it, knows precisely what was in the legislation that Harry sent over to CBO. Well, we think we know that a Medicare buy-in was in it, so now CBO will need to adjust that score. But let's recap what we know from reading the previous Senate bill Harry Reid took to the floor. Insurance companies cannot discriminate in terms of denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, nor set higher rates by gender. They'll also be limited in terms of recision. There will be some form of taxation (high earners? Cadillac plans?) to cover some offsets provided by the government to help certain people purchase insurance. There will be individual mandates, but only limited employer mandates. We are unsure whether Medicaid will expand from 133% of poverty to 150% of poverty. There is no lifetime cap on what insurers must pay, but "reasonable" annual caps are allowed. Out-of-pocket expenses are capped, but once insurance for the year runs out, the choice will be to pay for care, or go without, even though one is insured. And don't forget, the abortion issue is still hovering on one of the back burners. There is NOTHING in ANY of the bills to limit what the insurance companies can charge for premiums. NOTHING. The sole thing that could have had an affect on premium rates was the competition from a robust public option, recently buried. I would like someone who has read the bills to tell me what this "reform" actually buys anyone, besides higher insurance premiums. Not what some news clip or you tube video says. Not some rumour - but someone who has taken the time to read, and can say "on page "X" it says "Y", and therefore..." And then look here, at the 137,000 people who died from 2000 to 2006 simply because they lacked health insurance. Extrapolate that out, and think about the hundreds of thousands who will die over the next 10 years. If you think the abdication of morality stops with health reform, know that in households with children, in 2008, 21% of households did not have the ability to feed their children. But forget about the health care bill itself. Forget about the kids who go to bed hungry every night. What does it say about a political system where one guy can hold up everything for personal gain and animose? What does it say about a Democratic tent so big that the obligation to keep Americans alive is forgotten so that elected Senators can feel good about all being on the same page? There is one group still holding form to the ideals of the Democratic Party Platform: the House Democratic Caucus, which on Monday requested a meeting (not yet granted) with President Obama to discuss the situation. They're 80 members strong, and they CAN kill this in the House. So here's the question: |
