Everybody is celebrating this health care reform legislation like we just won the Super Bowl. Or just beat Iraq. All that's missing is the "Mission Accomplished" sign.
I know it seems like we went through a war and it was sweet to see the Republicans lose. And, much more importantly, it was good to see more people covered (kind of, since they have to buy the insurance that they are "covered" by). And there are many great things in this bill, which I have talked about at length.
But this celebration is premature and over-hyped. The insurance companies are still in charge. In fact, they have 31 million new customers handed to them by the government. The issue of costs has simply not been addressed. As things stand now, there is absolutely nothing that can stop insurance companies from raising your premiums tomorrow. And they will, at some point. That's a guarantee.
I'm afraid they are going to be a little bit savvier than raising prices immediately though. Here is the nightmare scenario -- they jack up rates right before the next election ... and blame it on the Democrats. The Republicans are already previewing this strategy. They're talking about how this bill will raise your premiums. That's absolutely not true, but it is true that the bill does almost nothing to prevent insurance companies from doing so.
The drama over the passage of this bill was always fake. The Democrats had overwhelming majorities in the Senate and House. I never once doubted they were going to pass the bill. That wasn't the question. The question was what kind of bill they were going to pass. And the kind they passed was as weak as possible. Every branch of the health care industry absolutely loved it, from the drug makers to the large hospitals.
No public option. No Medicare buy-in. No competition for the insurance companies. No price controls. This is the historic victory? It feels a little like when we pulled Saddam's statue down in Baghdad. Yea, we beat Saddam! Was that ever a question? Of course, we were going to take Baghdad, but that didn't mean we won the war. With this premature celebration over health care reform, I smell a little Iraq in the air.
The underlying problems still exist. Yes, they stopped some of the bleeding and some of the bandages they applied were large, but the patient still has cancer. The rates are never going to stop going up as long as our only option is private insurance companies who are legally bound to make as much money from us as humanly possible while delivering the smallest amount of service. The wound festers and grows (with 31 million new customers). When will it pop back up again? The next time they decide to raise the rates.
When is that? Well, that's the ticking time bomb. And it has not yet been defused. I wouldn't put up any "Mission Accomplished" signs yet and I wouldn't promise the American people that we have a historic fix to the health care problem in this country. Especially when they're going to see differently the next time they get the bill.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
The HC Bill is like receiving the gift of a Half-Running Used Car given to you by the Good Cops (Demos) at New Car Prices (Corporate Give-Away). You dare not complain, since you need the car to survive and the Bad Cops (Repubs) are breathing down your neck, telling you they can't wait to repossess it.
Either way both Parties win with Corporate Donations, and Corporate American wins the most with Corporate America's masterful game plan.
*** In a US Bubble Economy, it takes both political Parties to create the Illusion of Wealth. ***
I suspect there is an easy one-liner to kill that off.
"While we leave these companies in control as the enemy of their clients, whatever reason they give for premium hikes, we will need a single payer system via a public option to defeat them."
As an aside, did they remove the anti-trust protections for health "insurers"? They should help prevent them thinking they can operate as the current cabal.
But at least now the insurance companies are mandated to spent 80 to 85 cents of every dollar on patient care... and at least they can no longer pick and choose who they want to insure.
Because something is free does not make it desirable, nor it means there is no cost to it...it comes out of somewhere. Take all the cost of the private insurers plus their profits, double it, then you would get to see what it would cost to run all that under government control. Of course, governments never get to those levels as they will start putting artificial spending limits and thus start limiting access.
Cenk is right on the fact that this "reform" all is going to do is fuel further rises in premiums. There are no cost controls at all in the bill. Healthy, young people will probably opt out for the fine (which is nothing compared to the cost of the insurance) and insurers will end up with the higher risk insured population. Also, employers will most likely drop coverage as it is far cheaper to pay the fine ($2,000) than offer insurance. Those fines are a joke. Not to mention there is no real collection enforcement of them, so many would not even pay them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUKvGRrjXP0
What is pathetic is that there are lawmakers who think they got the inside track on this while simultaneously actually believing they have the interests of the citizens at heart. At least the ones who know it's a sell-out are competent at what they do. The question remains: Which ones are all-in and which ones are the corrupt fools? It's nearly impossible to know.
A provision in the Bill which is now Law grants States the prerogative to establish a Single Payer System provided the single payer system exceeds the requirements of the current Law (which it would). It also provides Federal funding for the establishing of the single payer plan and maintaining it.
Of course I think this part of the comparison is quite apt - As for mission accomplished, if obama says it or thinks it, he is being as blind of reality as bush was when he declared mission accomplished.
In an developed economy, a public medical system is as much a matter of basic national infrastructure as public police and fire departments, and for the same reason: the cost of not doing so is a drag on the entire economy, making the nation poorer.
Then the game became how to make it look as if they actually supported real reform (which would at the very least require such a public option) without actually passing it. That's when their actions degenerated into farce, but a surprising number of Democrats actually seemed to believe them.
According to many credible polls 60% - 70% of Americans WANTED the public option, and did NOT want this bill without it. The House passed it. Over 50 Senators were on record as being willing to vote for it during reconciliation. If that's not a 'viable political path' for this kind of change, I don't know what is.
Do I lament this demise of the big insurers? Not really. I am gratefully among the fortunate few able to cover my own health costs and I don't believe insurance is a synonym for healthcare anyway. This will eventually increase government coverage of the poor and very ill, which I think should be taking place anyhow. But it will add to the deficit in the longer term of course.
Personally, I will be looking to short insurance companies soon, as more and more people realise paying the fine is simply cheaper.
In the meantime, I must say this now: this is NOT about health care. This is about tax revenue. Receipts are falling as drastically as the deficit is rising. The government needs revenue right NOW, and this is the most effective way of raising some. Hence the urgency in passing this bill - it isn't because the government suddenly realised people are dying.