As many of you prepare for the holidays and some of you may have already celebrated your holiday, on Thursday morning at 8AM, one of the most important votes in our history was cast on the United States Senate floor. For many months, we have debated, argued and at times, conversed politely about how we can give tens of millions of Americans access to affordable health care. We, the progressives, came into this wanting single-payer, universal health care, me included. We compromised with a "public option," only to see that slowly get debated away. And now we are left with a bill that neither side is incredibly happy about, but from experience, I know it means that it is a good piece of legislation.
I remember the attacks I received from the Republicans and Democrats when we were trying to get the Rockefeller Drug Laws reformed in 2003. By 2005, we couldn't get everything we wanted, but thousands of people came home from prison because small changes were enacted. With a win under our belt, we kept chipping away at it, and by the time Gov. David Paterson took office, we knew we had a shot to get rid of the whole thing once and for all. And we did.
In a show of support of many of the good elements of the Senate health care reform bill, I support its passage. At the same time, we must continue to work hard and work together to make further reforms in the years to come. This is just the first step towards a long process of making health care a right and not a privilege. Tis' the season to be healthy!
Now, let's take the first step in reforming our prisons, education system, environmental policies as well as the other important issues our President is trying to address.
-- Russell Simmons
Follow Russell Simmons on Twitter: www.twitter.com/unclerush
The analogy that any bill is better than no bill makes about as much sense as riding on one bicycle tire because eventually "you'll get there."
Just about my least favorite cliche of the last three months.
Hmmmm- what do the two men have in common ? ... besides color, corporatism , media spin and lies.
That about explains both of them ...
et tu Simmons?
Covers 30 million people? Not true, it does however make them criminals if they don't start handing over money to the insurance copanies that have been screwing us for decades
No preexisting condition? Yeah but they charge you three times as much.
No recission? True but again those rates jump.
You see folks there is NO!!!! control on rates and no actual competition. Unless we expect companies that have been a functioning oligarchy for fifty years are suddenly going to cut into each others (as well as their own) profits.
I'm sorry to inform all you saps who believe that load of crap. We've been sold a pig in a poke by our President and our Senate. Think about this: We are being given a LAW that we MUST buy private insurance or face fines or go to jail. We have no protections for US, we the PEOPLE in this bill. Those insurers may have to cover pre-existing conditions, but they get to charge you whatever they want for that. There are no restrictions on rate increases, there are no restrictions on how they can base their rates to actually be affordable, no fines for dropping customers. There are no windfall taxes in this bill, NOTHING TO PROTECT THE CONSUMER.
So for all you people who are now saying, this bill is better than nothing, lets talk again in ten years when you're filing bankruptcy because your medical bills or insurance premiums are crushing you.
But lets assume you are right and this is the best bill we could get. Then that means reform is also impossible. So the choices are between status quo (no federal mandate) and this bill (with a federal mandate). I would choose the status quo hands down because requiring all US citizens to buy a corporation's product with their anti-trust exemption is just stupid. Its the worst possible solution. Its pure corporate communism.
Your thesis breaks down without any good examples. It simply does not follow that opposition from both the left and the right is in and of itself a sign of good legislation.
Will America default on its debt? That is a reality--and we need to plan to reduce the deficit. It is going to be very difficult to address. Americans are not going to substantially benefit from these reforms, the health industry will remain and only bloat further--at the expense of the consumer. This is not economically viable. This will only add to the problem we already face--crushing debtor nation status.
We need to put single payer/universal in place NOW. We cannot afford to wait. It is a CHEAPER alternative in the long run, than this bill.
That leaves Tom Harkin in the Senate to try to change the rules about the filibuster. He won't get 67 votes.
Nuclear Option. Harry Reid will have to flip flop on his 2005 position, and get a massive amount of push from someone.
You see any other way to make it happen?
The Emergency Banking Act, Glass Steagall, the 1934 Act creating the SEC--were all passed in a matter of days and weeks. These things didn't sit on the shelf long enough to rot like this health care bill. Things got done quickly--our President is hopelessly off of his change mandate. FDR also had a change mandate--he acted quickly and with purpose. He policy was ACTION, EXPERIMENT AND IMPROVISE.
A Congressional Operations Office, if you will -- Similar to the CBO, but to provide US with clear, concise records of what our government is actually doing.
I want to have, weekly, a Congressional Operations Officer's Legislative Report including:
- Plain English summary of the bill (5-10 sentences, please)
- Line item adds, changes, deletes, with who did it, when, and what it will cost
- Links to the Congressional Record, with the written on-the-record comments by anyone who spoke before the Congress, even at 2 AM.....
I want to have, weekly, a Congressional Operations Officer's Activity Report including:
- Summary of all office visits to every elected official by anyone not in the government
- Summary of every elected official's travels, and what that cost, and the reason for it
- Full list of all non-government people admitted to every building in the capitol and who their employer is, with web links, please
Online, and updated weekly:
- List of all donors, with web links, amounts
- Full business intelligence style reports on who gave what, to whom, when
- Full business intelligence style reports on who voted for what bills, with history from the COO's documents above
We pay for the government.
We should expect that it reports what it is doing in a clear, concise manner.
I haven't seen it. In other words, don't hold your breath on any transparency, 'cause it ain't happening.
Say what? First, not "incredibly happy" is an extreme understatement. Second when did angering and offending everyone become the mark of good legislation?
The ones that 'aren't incredibly happy' are the cretins in the Senate, and most of the House. These people are the POLITICIANS,... not the people. The POLITICIANS are in the pockets of the for-profit Health Care industry, so their view of what would have been a good Bill is not based in the reality of their constituents' lives.
Almost everybody I know (given,... mostly on the Moderate --> Left end of the political spectrum) is far more than 'unhappy' about what passes for 'reform' in this Bill.
............................................................. DON'T REFORM WITHOUT IT ...............................................................
Let our Congressional leaders clearly understand that lack of a condition-free Public Option in any successful Health Care Reform legislation will have negative consequences in the upcoming election.
Health Care Reform is MEANINGLESS without a strong condition-free PUBLIC OPTION, with clear unrestricted path to SINGLE PAYER.
A Public Option must be administered by the Federal Government.
A Public Option must be available to anyone who wants it, effective immediately.
A Public Option must be available to anyone, irrespective of Pre-Existing Conditions
A Public Option must be available to anyone at affordable rates.
A Public Option must be available to anyone whether employed or not.
A Public Option must be available to anyone whether his/her employer offers it or not.
A Public Option must NOT have any conditions placed on it by any private or for-profit entities.
A Public Option must NOT restrict anyone from opting in or out of it.
A Public Option must NOT be restricted from evolving into Single Payer.
A Public Option, and ultimately Single Payer, must be fully financed from federal taxes.
A Public Option must be made mandatory for ALL government employees, including Congress.
.......................ELIMINATE THE ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES.......................
~~~~~~IT'S WHAT WE WANT ~~~~ IT'S WHAT WE NEED ~~~~ IT'S WHAT WE CAN AFFORD~~~~~
........................................... THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A PUBLIC OPTION ....................................... ************************************************************************************************************
That being said, he predicts America will not recover for almost another decade at least. If that is the case, can America afford this big health care reform experiment. Australia has universal care, and other progressive policies, including the 4 pillors, which is their version of what our Congress threw out--Glass Steagall?
Russell; would you sign a 2,000 page contract...?
You think the bill that the Senate just passed into conference is twice as bad?
Would you support real Health Care Reform if was written on a napkin?