The Sellout May be Complete

The Sellout May be Complete
by: RDemocrat
Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 11:53:08 AM EDT

Having long ago taken single-payer off the table, it now appears as if the sell-out of any real reform to the healthcare system is complete. Yes, today it seems as if the Democratic White House we all worked so hard for has been cowed by a bunch of lunatics and liars. Kathleen Sebelius, who got the job Howard Dean should have occupied seemingly put the nail in the coffin today. Well at least now we know why they were so eager to throw Dean under the bus after his successful run at the DNC. He has some guts.
RDemocrat :: The Sellout May be Complete
Here is Kathleen Sebelius giving the Republicans, and the lunatic fringe that stifled voices at townhalls a huge victory, and giving the Progressive base the finger:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says Obama still believes there should be choice and competition" in the health insurance market - but that a public option is "not the essential element."

Obama has been pressing for the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured. But he had not seen a not-for-profit co-op as sufficient to offer consumers choice and competition that would bring down the costs of private insurance.


And of course, Republicans are rejoicing in there victory. As Bernie Sanders put it, Heads they win, tails we lose:

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama says a potential administration shift from a government-run health insurance to a privately run cooperative is something that opponents like him should consider.

Shelby is a vocal opponent of the health care overhaul proposed by President Barack Obama. Shelby says he sees insurance co-ops as "a step away from the government take over of the health care system."

He says "that's something we should look at."

Anything that makes Republicans such as Shelby so happy cannot be a good thing for America, or anyone that works, or anyone who cannot afford insurance. This will serve as yet another big giveaway of Corporate welfare to the insurance companies and chances are now we will be mandated to buy insurance we cannot afford under the guise of a "cooperation".

This idea was born of Kent Conrad and as usual is just another giveaway to big business:

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota has been pushing the co-op system as an alternative to a government-run public option to help cover the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured. Conrad says it's an idea that has worked well in other business models.

I hope Mr. Conrad is happy. The stab in the back is complete. Having talked to many Progressives in the last couple of months about this there will be a whole lot of disappointment about this.

As Bill Maher has stated, this country has one far-right lunatic party, and one center-right party that defends the Corporations at all costs. I believe this was orchestrated from the very beginning to make folks like us think they were "trying" to get real reform but all along our President and most of our Representatives and Senators planned on selling us down the river.

I hope that the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus will vote against this and send Universal Healthcare back to the drawing board. I could care less if Barack Obama gets his "victory" on this legislation and would much rather see no reform at all than this garbage being shoved down our throats.

Who will stand up and fight for us?? If this is the bill we get and it gets passed then the wind is completely deflated from my sails for 2010 and 2012. The more I think about it Progressives need a party of our own because it is very apparent that the Democrats have sold their souls to the highest bidder, and the lunatic fringe of our country.





The key issue is reasonably straightforward ...
Big health insurance corporations will be putting plans into multiple health care exchanges. Under the "strong public option", the NHS would be putting the same public plan into each of those exchanges as well.

That is the head to head competition that would give a public plan the ability to benefit from its intrinsic competitive advantages - the advantages that private health insurance companies fear, and at the same time are claiming do not exist.

In the most likely version of a "co-op" system, each health exchange would have its own not-for-profit plan, with its own administration with substantial duplication of the administration of neighboring co-ops, and little market leverage to persuade health care providers to go out of their way to work with the co-op.

So small, divided, not for profit co-ops get to compete against large coporations putting the same plan into multiple exchanges ... ensuring that the competitive advantages of a not-for-profit system do not have a level playing field.

Of course, one could sabotage the idea of crippling the not-for-profit option with co-ops by having co-ops that are allowed to pool administrative resources to offer a common plan in multiple exchanges. And indeed, one could go one further and say that since they are not "public" plans, there's no call for government restricting their power to negotiate lower prices with health service providers and drug companies.

But that's only if the "substantial competition" is a real line in the sand. Certainly it seems that if Rahm gets his way, it'll be empty rhetoric.

The Words of the Prophets
Are Written on the Subway Walls
And Tenement Halls


http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/451/the-sellout-may-be-complete

"I could care less if Barack Obama gets his "victory" on this legislation and would much rather see no reform at all than this garbage being shoved down our throats."

That's my position in a nutshell. This isn't football. It's not about "our team" winning. It's about passing meaningful legislation that improves the lives of Americans.

:dem:

-Laelth