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Posts tagged ‘legislation’
Found Objects for a Friday Afternoon: Billy Bragg
by n0madic, posted on Friday, April 2nd, 2010 at 3:32 pmHealth Reform: Theirs and Ours
by Paul Street, posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 7:33 pmCorporate health “reform” has gotten the
Speaking of Apathy…
by Downtowner, posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 3:59 pmI got a phone call about the importance of health care legislation from Organizing for America yesterday morning. Now, I’ve quite recently ranted about both phone calls from OFA and health care reform, so I was prepared to lambast the poor volunteer, as soon as she had finished with her request.
But then she did finish her request, which was, specifically: “Will you call your representative and speak to him about the importance of health care reform in whatever direction you think that should take from here?”
er.
So instead of tearing into her I said yes. Although, to be brutally blunt about it it my idea of where health care reform – in it’s present form – should go is some sunshine free area of someone or the other’s anatomy, I didn’t see anything in the volunteer from OFA’s request that would do anything but encourage me to express exactly that.
Which is exactly my point: Way to display clarity of message and leadership on an issue, guys. Although who “guys” are is also in question. Is this the administration? Or is this the DNC? Or is it all of the above?
This strikes me as a clear signal that the administration is taking charge by expanding it’s brialliantly executed circle jerk of a sort of vaguely expressed hopiness that we can somehow achieve real reform, without rocking any important contributor boats, all the way down to the rank and file.
But at least we have Obama’s Awesome On-Line Organizing Community to join the circle jerk, eh?
I’m positively tingling with enthusiasm. And hopiness.
Nate Silver’s worst argument yet for Healthcare Privateering
by modestybl, posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 7:13 pmI don’t know why Nate and others keep emphasizing the low profit margins of the insurance companies.
Accounting tricks aside (e.g., counting increased perks as “costs”, etc.), the lavish compensations and bureacratic bloat are devices a “marquis class’ of individuals, who bring NOTHING of value to the system, use to extort “protection” money from vulnerable citizens. By the way, the bottom line is profit VOLUME, which is substantial.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/insurance-stocks-rise-on-news-of-health.html
One function of government is to protect its citizens against persons or institutions that can do harm, such as predators in the “healthcare provider” business. Is it that hard for the apologists of the Democratic “healthcare” bill to understand how distressing this is to progressives, or any good government types?
Profit has NO PLACE in a system of basic health care. Let the marketplace work its wonders in cosmetic surgery. The fact that profit margins are now inextricably imbedded in this push for universal healthcare is going to explode this effort down the way, and not very far off.
We know how this is going to work. We’ll be forced to give them our money (and since I’m 50, I may be forced to pay 1/4 of my income to these criminals) right up front – with the government being the collection muscle. And there is nothing NOTHING to force these guys to behave. The sharks will walk off with their compensations, and we’ll be forced back to square zero, with a more impoverished society, and the problems not solved.
The people running these “healthcare” protection rackets have no care for the public, the system, or even their own companies. We’ve already seen CEOs walk off with over $1B in compensation… they don’t have to look back.
They shouldn’t exist. All of these guys in the privateering “healthcare” racket losing their jobs would be a small blip in the unemployment rate. I’d rather some of them use their actuarial skills toward optimizing high-speed rail systems or smart power grids.
Don’t. Not this, not to these thugs. No.
What Sirota Said
by Downtowner, posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pmIn terms of why it’s bad strategy for progressives to fall into line on the health care fiasco vote, this kinda says it all. On the other hand, it leaves me wondering where the screaming and yelling and Liebermanesque holding-out is from elected Progressives.
Where are they?
Is Dean – not holding any office at all at the moment and hardly a model of a progressive – really the strongest voice we have to scream “kill the bill?”
That’s scary.
Giant Insurance Company Giveaway Eve – Early Evening Update
by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 6:55 pmJust got home from work and am wondering if you are all feeling festive yet?
No?
Well, if you are, say, male, and are feeling left out of the opportunity to contribute something (like the right to control your body) to the effort to funnel billions of dollars to corporate America, don’t despair: there’s something in here for you too.
If you are, like me, so uninsurable that the only policy you will be offered will be junk insurance at punitively high premiums, you’re in there: the penalty for paying to keep more of your money to pay for your health care out-of-pocket (because your “policy” won’t) is up – reputedly to offset the fact that it’s much more expensive to give away lots of cash to our insurance overlords without the public option. So they had to raise more cash to offset that.
Or, if you are a union member, you too get to contribute to the Giant Giveaway. Those good insurance policies you have, via trading wage increases to get them, are going to be taxed at a higher rate – also to help offset the more expensive non-public-option Giveaway.
Who knows how many other lovely opportunities there are for Americans of all descriptions to do their part to create a festive season for the insurance industry. You can go read the manager’s amendment here and see if you can find more.
Giant Insurance Company Giveaway Eve: Abortion Coverage is the New Opt-Out
by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 11:01 amMore on the concessions to ensure Ben Nelson gets greater control over my body (at least if I live in a Red State) from NYT.
Under Mr. Reid’s proposal, health insurance plans are not required or forbidden to cover abortion services, but there is a major exemption that would give states power to prohibit abortion coverage in the insurance markets, or exchanges, where most health plans would be sold.
Oh, also, Reid was also apparently required to sweeten the deal by outright buying Nelson off:
Mr. Reid’s amendment also includes a substantial increase in federal contributions to Nebraska’s costs of providing Medicaid coverage to the poor.
Which, of course, does not extend to abortion coverage. Because, you know, they are poor.
Giant Insurance Company Giveaway Eve: Nelson Speaks
by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 10:46 amWell, CNN is reporting that Ben Nelson is feeling a bit more in control of my body, so a happy camper overall.
He says:
“Anyone who is in the exchange who also gets a federal subsidy because they’re poor, if they choose a private insurance policy and want any kind of abortion coverage, they have to write that part of the premium from their own personal funds.”
Offhand I’d say that means most poor women getting subsidies will elect not to write that additional check for the coverage – can’t afford to, really, if you are poor.
No word on whether Nelson’s other demands, such as cutting the aforementioned subsidies, have also been met.
Happy Giant Insurance Co. Giveaway Eve
by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 8:43 amHarry Reid has indicated that he anticipates a vote on the Senate’s Festive Giant Insurance Co. Giveaway on Christmas Eve, making that a really big day for celebration by Insurance Inc.
But today is a big day too; Harry Reid says he has his 60 votes and today will unveil the final version of the Festive Giant Giveaway.
Of course, neither we nor Harry can really know that it’s final until Lieberman and Nelson have issued their public responses to the “final” version Harry thinks they’ve agreed to. We will then learn what additional perks we will have to provide to Big Insurance in order to get our money on it’s way to them.
I plan on monitoring events throughout the course of the day and hope to be back with updates, comments, despair, panic, as the situation warrants.
BREAKING: I don’t need overpriced junk
by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 3:32 pmI need health care. Which the Senate bill will neither provide, nor provide access to for uninsurable people like me.
Sorry to put the “Breaking” into the title, but this appears to be news to so many diarists and commenters that I thought it was justified.
Also, sorry to be repetitive, as I posted much of the same appeal here recently, but there seem to be so many people deluded by the belief that at least the Senate bill offers access to care for the uninsured that I can’t help thinking someone, possibly lots of people need to repeat this, in real terms, until we are debating reality.
This is a piece of junk legislation, that will lead to junk “coverage” and continued lack of care for people who are currently most damaged and most at risk because they have been uninsurable – in some cases for quite a long while. In short, for people like me, uninsurable people, it is worse than the status quo.
