The US healthcare bill
Well, it passed. It's a nice big piece of polished turd legislation.
Trying to ignore its massive and built-in follies is a bit hard, but it appears there are quite a few so-called progressives doing just that.
People are hoping against hope this bill will be somewhat fixed in reconcilliation, and a public option added in an up-or-down-vote, but the truth is, don't hold your breath. It ain't gonna happen. That vote is a myth, and our bravest leaders in the progressive sphere will make sure it doesn't happen.
We keep being told, too, by our brave progressive leaders that we can fix all the wrongs in this bill later, at some point in time. When? After the Democrats are trounced out a majority in the next election? We're likely to see the Democrats lose one or even both of the houses down south because this time people aren't going out to vote. And when that time comes, we're going to be witness to the Republicans grinding out any pluses this bill might have in favor of health-care industry bailout tricks.
The bill doesn't kick in immediately, anyway, so people won't benefit from it before the next election. And when it does begin, people will start to feel the squeeze more than the positives. The Republicans will be able to hang this on the Democrats for ages.
In the end, even Kucinich folded to the pressure to vote. Progressive leaders have failed on the whole, entirely.
It'll be a decade or two, now, before we again see another attempt at health-care reform.
- Troy's blog
- Login or register to post comments
-
So often
our only choice at the moment is the lesser of two evils.
The Republicans and conservatives in general like to use incrementalism. They think long term. We have to start doing that. We want the world and we want it now and totally, I am with you on that. But the reality is, we need another election cycle to start cleaning out the worst rot of the Democratic party. Don't give up on us just yet. For instance, look at how kick ass Al Franken has been against KBR with Jamie Leigh Jones. People can now see right through the SCOTUS.
Admittedly it ain't much, but it's somethin'.
Give up?
Not me. Just saying the process chosen to bring about a decent health-care system to the States is fundamentally broken.
Strategically, it is vitally important to get those Congressional and Senate seats that are needed to bring this to life.
However, as this recent debate has shown, there is a deep division within the progressive side between the professional class and the working class. The professional class won some concessions, and the working class won nothing.
The political culture in Washington is rather simple: you gotta be somebody to get anything. Nobodies aren't allowed to play the game. In the past few decades, the working class has been cast aside by Washington into this role of nobodies, which is why in the big debates like this, the working class will continue to win nothing, because they don't have any pieces on the board.
To get into the game, working class progressives are gonna have to start using alternative and different politics: protest, strikes, and organizing.
The working class does tend to organize quite well, but these groups are often co-opted by the professional progressives, who shy away from protest and strikes.
A good general strike or two in a major city would probably shake up the game board in Washington enough to have the pols place a piece onto the board for the working class.
But I'm not seeing any major organizations in the US thinking like this. They've all retreated into their separate camps trying to win whatever doesn't hurt them, instead of anything for the general good.
And saying, 'By any means necessary' has people running for the hills, instead of it being a rallying cry for something as simple and decent as good health-care.
So, in summary, yes, progressives need to get the right numbers in Washington, but the working class needs to exercise its own political muscle in methods professional progressives shy away from, or we're gonna see the same repeat itself whenever it may be allowed to happen again: working class demands ignored in favour of the professionals.
My worry now...
is our own system. If this is what passes as progressive in the US, how long will it be before Harper starts tinkering with our universal health system. Seriously, our political bearings have swung to the right without any public acknowledgement - so much so, that Ann Coulter actually can make a buck touring here. We are seeing valued policy positions being torn up daily. We have gone from peace keepers to tough and aggressive combatants. We no longer care about controlling foreign ownership of our resources, communications and culture. We no longer blink an eye when key crown corporations are sold off bit by bit. We don't care that we are paying more and more service fees and taxes because our income taxes have been reduced by 2 to 5%. We seemingly don't care that social services have been off-loaded to Christian organizations.
Harper has worn us down, bit by bit, but quite rapidly in the scheme of things. Why? Because he can position himself as making only moderate changes compared to the pile of regressive shit that is the US. Incremental destruction under the guise of moderate change. He doesn't need an opposition to keep him in check because it seems like all eyes are focused on the political circus to the South and nobody in the political or media spheres are really taking him to task.
I never thought things could get so bad in this country in such little time.
And worry you should
The health care system here is under attack. My husband said he'd heard something on the radio today about a 2-tier system being suggested. I haven't had the heart to google for it. I hope this country wakes the fuck up soon. I tell ya, if I didn't know so many people with really amazing, aware, and compassionate kids, I would have given up hope long ago for either country.
Iggy the Idiot strikes again.
Harper doesn't have to suggest 2-tier system because he has the LPC leaking it out of their "great thinkers" policy making convention that just took place. The sound bites I heard revolved around our current system being too taxed and not viable moving forward. Talk about Canadians having to accept a bitter pill one way or another: 2-tier medicine, higher taxes (that's not going to happen), increased service fees, greater public-private partnerships, etc.
Not all of them suggested that...
That dr Bernstein said that we shouldn't be to much of a rush to jump into private simply because we don't have it...
And Dr. Reichman said that other things need to be considered before private or public debate, like how, what type of services, etc.
Why aren't more folks out there protesting anyway?
If this all happens, it's because we allow it to happen.
The Europeans wouldn't allow anyone to take their programs away.
It's already goin' to happen....
in Quebec.
That last budget is a bit of a doozy because that old health care zombie was awakened. Like yourselves in BC and in Ontario, we are going to be invoiced a 'contribution' at the end of the year.
In theory, I'm not really against that, simply because I know that the alternative is having our public health care system gutted even further than it is now.
Not to mention, the right on talk radio are all a screeching against that, sooo...when they screech about something, I start looking at it another way.
The contribution starts as early as this year. 25$: not going to break the bank for most. The following year, it will jump to 100$: starting to be problematic for many. Then after that 200$; not sure if that will cap. The biggest problem with this scheme is it isn't progressive. It should be on a sliding scale by income.
What's not in this budget, but they want to visit this one in the future, is they want to charge 25$ per visit to a clinic, hospital or even your family doctor. Imagine that, it's in an effort to curb abuse.
It won't curb abuse, but the poor and sick will just get sicker and poorer.
This smacks of the beginnings of the American health care system. Can anyone say: "Pre-existing condition"?
There was a protest last week and there is another one scheduled on the 14th.
Steve "time for the feds to scrap the Canada health act" & "Time for experimentation in the markets" is, of course, going to look the other way.
Biggest problem is the way we view doctors
The only thing I hear practically on the radio is we need to pay doctors more money in order to keep them or make up shortfalls, yadda yadda yadda.
I saw a graph from NY Times dated as recent as July 2009; Canadian doctors' salaries are competitive with the others around the world, except of course, the US where they make much more money than the others.
Doctors are one example of greed these days.
In addition to demanding more money: they don't wanna work for it. How many times have I been to the doctor and I feel like I've overstayed my welcome as soon as I walk in the door? Too many to count; that's what.
My dad, who will be coming home after a 5 month hospitalization (barring any complications that is). He lost his family doctor. My mom asked hers to take him but guess what? She refused, BECAUSE HE'S TOO SICK!! Really! I'm not kidding.
That is in Toronto.
More evidence the American system is on its' way here.
Don't be fooled by these so-called experts talking about trips to Europe and Japan. All a smoke screen.
Death by 1000 cuts
They will purposely slash and burn the public system until people are so fed up with it that they demand private delivery and coverage.
Prole, that's been happening for awhile now
What they don't get though is that whole be careful what you wish for thing.
Cause, it will be the American health care system through and through, complete with pre-existing condition discrimination.
Remember, it's already happening with Quebec planning to tax the sickest further with those 25$ per visit
And my mom's GP refusing to take my dad as a patient because he's too sick