Bad News on the Healthcare Front
If you’re depending on Democratic senators on the take from health insurance companies to provide “affordable, quality health care for ALL Americans”, the news is not very good.
If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s because President Obama has repeatedly said “affordable, quality healthcare for all Americans” is one of his three guiding principles for healthcare reform. But the White House now says ALL AMERICANS STILL WON’T BE COVERED TEN YEARS AFTER THE PLAN GOES INTO EFFECT. Check out this revealing NPR interview with Peter Orszag, President Obama’s budget director (”All Things Considered,” Tuesday.):
“Q. Is it realistic to think that the 46,000,000 people currently without health insurance will, within 10 years, see healthcare coverage?
“Orszag: It depends. The bulk of them, yes. Depending on the plan that’s adopted, IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE TO COVER EVERYONE, BUT I THINK THE GOAL IS TO GET SOLIDLY ON THE PATH AND COVER THE BULK OF THEM.”
(Orszag Defends Healthcare Overhaul Plan)
It gets worse. The Congressional Budget Office released its cost-benefit analysis of the Kennedy plan Tuesday. Their conclusion: It will cost $1 trillion over ten years, AND 37,000,000 PEOPLE WILL STILL BE UNINSURED AFTER 10 YEARS.
The CBO says the other Senate bill, the Baucus plan, would cost $1.6 trillion — no estimate yet on how many people it would leave uncovered. Baucus has delayed release of his bill, as the committee TRIES TO GET THE COST DOWN TO $1 TRILLION.
So let’s get this straight. Under these plans, an already insolvent country will “get solidly on the path” by spending $1 trillion to reduce the number of uninsured Americans from 46 million to 37 million over 10 years? Are they serious? I’m afraid they are.
Whatever happened to “affordable, quality healthcare for ALL Americans”? The good news is that there is one plan in Congress which can deliver on that promise — the single payer plan offered by Rep. John Conyers and 80+ cosponsors in the House; and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate. THIS IS THE ONLY PLAN WHICH CAN MEET PRESIDENT OBAMA’S THREE HEALTHCARE GOALS.
Single-payer would provide universal healthcare — everybody in, nobody out — cradle to grave. No copays, no deductibles, no denial of care for pre-existing conditions, and NO FOR-PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. Complete choice of doctors. The type of healthcare every other advanced country enjoys.
The bad news is that Obama and the senators who are owned by health insurance & drug companies REFUSE TO CONSIDER SINGLE PAYER. In addition to preserving the power and profits of their corporate benefactors, their goal is to GIVE THE PRESIDENT A VICTORY, whether it solves the problem or not.
Call the White House, your senators and representative TODAY and tell them what you think of this scam. Tell them to support the only plan which offers universal healthcare — HR 676 (the Conyers bill) and S. 703 (the Sanders bill). Tell them to demand a CBO analysis of the single-payer plan, as it has done for the others. If there are any “Organizing for America” (a.k.a. Obama campaign) meetings going on in your area, attend those and demand to know why they are trying to get you to support health reform scams which don’t come anywhere close to achieving President Obama’s three principles.