This week could mark a big turning point for the health care debate in Washington. Drafts of the bill are starting to make their way out of committee in both the House and the Senate. Much has been made of Democratic "super-majorities," and how this should ease passage of President Obama's key proposals. However, the most vocal opposition to health care reform has not come from Republicans, but rather conservative Democrats, or "Blue Dogs."
Blue Dogs are fiscally conservative House Democrats from red or purple states, and are an ancestor of the socially conservative, or racist, Dixiecrats. Unfortunately, they may hold the key votes for this legislation. If enough Blue Dogs join Republicans to vote against the bill, it would be defeated. When asked if his caucus would vote against the bill in it's current form, Congressman Ross of Arkansas said, "absolutely." Jim Cooper of Tennessee appeared on The Newshour to defend that position, stating that he believes that Congress can find up to $700 billion in savings from the present system, but that people should have more "realistic expectations" for what a reform bill can accomplish.
The Republican response to this Democratic infighting has been to be even more stubborn than ever. Having offered no real plan of their own, Republican Senator Jim DeMint has said that blocking this bill will "break" Obama. RNC Chairmen Micheal Steele said, "this plan does not contain cost, it shifts them to the taxpayer." Who does he think are paying these cost now!? Only now, insurance companies can deny basic claims while they are running up billions of dollars in profits. One only needs to know that these companies are spending 1.4 million dollars a day to lobby against this bill. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a key Democratic opponent of health care reform, has personally raised $2.2 million from insurance companies.
It has been eighty years since FDR first called for national health insurance as part of his New Deal, yet many in Washington want to drag this process out even longer. How many more will lose their health care in the weeks and months to come? How many will be forced into bankruptcy from unpaid medical bills? This is not only a moral issue, in that the richest country on Earth cannot provide health care to all of it's citizens, but also a public health and public finance issue. If people are walking around with contagious disease or falling behind on their bills so they can buy needed prescriptions, this puts all of us at risk. President Obama won the election with 365 electoral votes, and this was one of his big policy agendas. Democrats won huge majorities in both chambers of Congress to help him pass that agenda. If these Democrats won't step up and support this bill for all of the Americans that desperately need it, then we should elect Democrats that will.
1 comment:
Everyone except the insurance companies and their lackies want this, but if enough of the goons in congress who are bought and sold by the insurance companies ban together, they can put a kabosh on this. I can't stand it! So many people I know suffer because they don't have health insurance. Their employers don't offer it, and its too expensive to buy - and if you have a pre-existing condition - fagettaboutit! They tried to do this back in the 30s or 40s, but the kabosh was put on it then, because lawmakers in the South were afraid their constituents might have to be in hospitals with black folks! That's just sickening! Anyhoo, it just shows what kind of greedy society we are when we can't do this for our citizens, when countries like Canada, France and the UK can. But we can sure afford to wage war against any third world country that won't do exactly as we tell them to. I thought people woke up when Obama was elected, but if this doesn't get through, I'll have to think twice about that one.
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