Progressive Diary
Democrats Killed Health Insurance Reform, Progressives Can Save It—March 2010
By John Clay
The US Congress has passed Obama's health insurance bill into law, and I want to share some concerns. My wife Elizabeth and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but we aren't much different from any family anywhere in today's America. We both work full-time, have kids, and don't have much money to spare. Under the new Obama health insurance plan, I see cause for worry about how we are going to pay for health insurance in the coming years. Despite all of Obama's tough rhetoric, his bill leaves the for-profit insurance companies in charge, attempts to control costs by taxing people whose insurance premiums are high and fining people who can't afford their insurance, and will mean higher subsidy costs for our government and higher profits for the very companies that created the health insurance crisis. Studies of health insurance exchanges like the Obama plan (see for example Steffie Woolhandler et al, "State Health Reform Flatlines", International Journal of Health Services, 38-3) indicate it is likely that under such a plan the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans will rise over the coming years, and before long the US Congress will again have to take action.
There is another option out there—HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act introduced in the US House. It's the plan that Paul Krugman said makes the best economic sense. And it's the plan that the 16,000-doctor Physicians for a National Health Program say makes the best medical sense. You may not have heard much about it. Not because of the Republican Party, but because of the Democratic Party.
When Elizabeth and I attended a Labor Day picnic by the Mississippi River for US Representative Keith Ellison last year here in Minneapolis, I asked Ellison in person to support single-payer Medicare-for-all or at the very least a robust public option. Ellison answered with an enthusiastic "That's what we're gonna do." It seemed too easy an answer, considering that the leader of his party was calling for compromise and for summits with insurance industry executives, and that now at this very picnic, Obama operatives were working the crowd around me arguing against the public option because it might " derail" the reform movement and because " we have to pass something now" .
All I can say is that it looks like the grassroots small-donation fundraising strategy of Obama's first presidential run wasn't good enough for him—he's going for the corporate campaign contributions now, and it shows in his policies, including the industry-dominated healthcare reform plan. And because individual Democrats in Congress want their party leader's support and the campaign funding that comes with it, Obama's alliance with big money is now infecting our Congressional representatives as well.
The law that Obama and the Democrats have passed is not reform, is not a step toward reform, and does not deserve the support of any of us who are concerned about the future of healthcare for ourselves and our families.
The following resources shed light on the flawed Obama law and the law we really need:
- Read Bob Herbert's opinion piece on the Obama bill at www.nytimes.com
- HR 676 is still in Congress and would, if Americans would rally around it, provide true reform. Read the text of the bill at the Library of Congress website www.thomas.gov
The Physicians for a National Health Program at www.pnhp.org is a great place to learn more:
- Read an explanation of HR 676.
- Read the Bill Moyer's interview with Dr. Marcia Angell
- Read the report State Health Reform Flatlines
Email reactions to director@democraticpromise.org.
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