Abortion: The Stupak Amendment was passed by the Congress because Pelosi got a call from the top Catholic Cardinal in the USA urging her to accept the Stupak Amendment. Realistically speaking she is between a rock and a proverbial hard place and the Congress won’t pass the legislation with lenient language on abortion and now liberal Dems have come back and declared they won’t vote for it if the Stupak Amendment stays. Fortunately for Pelosi, she is too old to get an abortion but not to old to have to spend some time in Purgatory if she goes against the will of the Catholic Church. You can bet your bippy the Catholic Church doesn’t plan to compromise on this issue. Neither does Stupak, who was featured as a hero on my "Catholic Messenger" this week.
The Public Option: Numerous press articles are damning the management of Medicare for allowing extensive fraud to take place and do nothing about it. The AARP magazine this month pointed to outright fraud of over $60 billion a year, despite the Agency knowing full well about the criminal activity. My home town paper, The Cincinnati Enquirer, ran such an article suggesting the corruption and mismanagement by Medicare makes the Insurance Companies look like angels. Why would anyone want the government running yet another inefficient program?
The Price Tag: Every pricing of the proposed legislation exceeds cost containment targets and will add trillion plus dollars to our struggling economy. It doesn’t make sense from a financial point of view to add massive bureaucracy and pass out insurance benefits we can’t afford as a nation. When the process was started the use of efficient, organized providers like the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics was discussed. Also much discussions took place with people like Dr. Dean Ornish and those who place our health care cost problems on life style management. As it turned out this was nothing but a bunch of wind and Congress went about trying to solve problems just as they solve every problem -- by throwing money at it.
Benefits Cuts: Again both federal and privates studies show significant cutbacks in the Medicare benefit level if $500 billion is trimmed from the budget to pay for care for the indigent. No there won’t be death panels, but there will be rationing and denial of some care in the later stages of life. And this is to seniors who have been paying into Medicare since 1974 and now have to purchase supplemental insurance to cover the actual costs. It is predicted that Medicare will just continue to price gouge private medical providers to make ends meet. I question the wisdom of the AMA in being for this legislation.
No tort reform: If you want to look like a political hypocrite, just admit the trial lawyers association has you in their pocket. This is a real killer as estimates that as much as 50% of all medical practice in American is defensive and potentially unnecessary.
On paper it should be a “slam-dunk” to pass a Health Reform Act but watch the sparks fly. There will be some interesting discussion as our democratic process gets into the “making of sausage” stage. The old adage states, “There are two thing you don’t want to see made: sausage and legislation.”
posted by CaliforniaBlonde
Cali
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posted by SherriAnne
There are so many very intricate issues at stake here. I can see folks reverting to treating themselves with home remedies- which could have devastating results.
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posted by exedir
So, as to "health care", yes, there is a lot of stuff involved in the term as to what it covers and how deep it reaches as to the life of the nation and each individual in it, the country that is.
And yes, these issues have been on the national agenda since the turn of the century, the 19th century. So have we come a "long way baby", sure, why not as long as we are spending other people's money. And that is a any good politician is good at, spending other people's money for the good of the country, for the children, to preserve family values and truth, justice and the American Way and useful in November to get reelected in the oldest way possible good, old vote buying with other people's money in one pocket and lobbyists and campaign donors in the other, all red, white and blue with stars on it.
Not to appear cynical of course, the work does get done, slowly, painfully and with mixed results much of the time with unintended consequences or at least consequences that are inconvenient and will require further fixes and tinkering on the publics' behalf, probably at great expense and effort and dutifully reported by the hand and glove, symbiotic media.
So, health care legislation by Christmas, bah hambug.
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