This weekend has marked the beginning of the end of the health care reform debate. Late Sunday night, the House passed the Senate version of reform, plus an additional packet of amendments that must be passed through the Senate, possibly this week, by reconciliation. Obama plans to sign the bill into law tomorrow, and it will be the law of the land.
Many parts of this bill are phased in over time. Immediately, however, a few major things will take place. First, no one can be kicked off the insurance they currently have because they get sick. Second, no one under 18 can be denied new coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Also, it will end the "donut hole" for seniors and require insurers to pay for preventative care.
So, of course, the conservatives are freaking out. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), he of the infamous "Waterloo" comment, has already promised to repeal the bill. This is laughable! It is a long shot that Republicans could take over both houses of congress this fall, but even if they did, would Obama sign legislation to repeal his own victory?
Many conservatives, and "tea-party" people, have cried about the creep of socialism into this bill. Hardly! There is no public option, or any other government run health care plan. Yes, Medicaid eligibility has been expanded, but Medicare has not (and was a popular idea.) However, the government has put in rules regarding what the insurance companies can offer you. Mostly, these amount to a floor that insurers must meet, and most are good for the consumer. In Washington, these are normally called Regulations.
Will this be a big issue in November? It depends on what Republican party shows up. Will it be the corporatist one, the party that ran up huge deficits under G.W. Bush and backed any giveaway of taxpayer money to a company? Or will it be the populist one, the tea-partiers who loath taxes and government of all types. We will not find out until after the Republican primaries decide what candidates will be on the ballot. If it's the Republicans, they will know that they cannot re-open the donut hole, and allow insurance companies to kick people off just for getting sick. In other words, although they do not like it, they will swallow the medicine and allow this bill to stand. If it's the Tea Party, they will only accept absolute ideological purity, and this bill must go down. They may win a lot of seats like that, but they will not get anything done. Then the Tea-Partiers will learn what progressives have known for years; Ideological purity feels great in the moment, but it doesn't earn you a governing majority and makes it impossible to get stuff done.
1 comment:
Good synopsis, here, On the Border. Yes, this is the best thing since White Bread! It could have been much better, of course, with a single-payer system, like Canada, or even a public option to provide some competition. But providing free health care to people for preventive treatment is a huge first step. If the Republicans want to try to take this away, it will be like them trying to snuff out Medicare and Social Security. People will not let it stand. I think the Tea Parties have been magnified by FOX, and are not nearly as influential as the media would like us to believe.
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