Redistributing Wealth Through Health ‘Reform’....

This just in from Ayn Rand Land and the Joe the Plumber Brigade...

Eight in 10 uninsured individuals work mainly in small businesses; hiking premium costs for individual and small group plans will only increase the number of uninsureds. It is no wonder that the CBO estimates that by 2019, there will still be 25 million uninsured individuals.[10] 

 

lol... its filled to the brim with other gems which I'll break down more when I have the time.

 

Gee... those who have blocked quality health reform are now attacking the bill because its not good enough reform?

 

I've discussed the issue many times before--for instance last August I posted on government spending and the ivory tower "conservatives"... 

Lots of "conservatives"[sic] claim to worry about government spending and waste.

 

As an Ivory Tower ideological position I can understand it--political theory does have its place in discourse.  But government isn't the land of Utopians like Karl Marx and Ayn Rand, whose quaint little theories have nothing to do with the real world; its about coalitions and pragmatic compromises.

 

In their efforts to oppose health care because of ivory tower theories they've pushed Obama into the hands of big pharma... cutting deals that hurt the taxpayers so that they can get a bill through congress. 

 

This ironically enough will cost taxpayers more than if opponents of excessive government spending acknowledged that people want health care reform and that they therefore used their influence to make sure the best results and most cost effective approaches are used--which would be single payer, just as a by the by.   The medicare prescription drug benefits boondoggle pushed through by Republicans that the Bush administration signed into law is one example.

 

A true fiscal conservative would look at something like Bush's prescription drug plan and say---"if we have to pass this bill we should do it in a way that gets taxpayers the best bang for their buck."  Which would have meant allowing the government to use its purchasing power--just like Walmart does when buying soap--to negotiate better deals on those drugs.

 

Instead we are subsidizing private profits with taxpayer money.  A coalition of fiscal conservatives could have pushed that through with the help of Democrats.  But they sat on the sidelines...

 

They are sitting on the sidelines again and whatever bill passes through congress will be more expensive because of it.

And i've talked about a lot of the misinformation that gets thrown about other nations... go check out 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World. 

 

So again lets go back and read this to see if we can find anything wrong with it...emphasis added...

 

Eight in 10 uninsured individuals work mainly in small businesses; hiking premium costs for individual and small group plans will only increase the number of uninsureds. It is no wonder that the CBO estimates that by 2019, there will still be 25 million uninsured individuals.[10] 

The recent census numbers showed that 15.9% of Americans lack health coverage.  A record breaking 46.6 million Americans in 2005.  The number of children that were uninsured rose to 8.3 million.  The percentage of Americans with private insurance declined to 67.7%.

 

So you do the math...

 

46.6million to 25million.... that's quite an increase! 

 

When did right wing think tanks become[sic] an utter joke?

 

Of coarse the bill is bad... but it was the rightwing that created the political ammunition to block a stronger, more efficient, effective, and fiscally sound bill.  One that wasn't just a subsidy to the health insurance sector.  But as economist Dean Baker mentioned to me in my interview with him--whatever comes out is probably the best we can get, and we should probably take it. 

 

Those who claim to oppose rent seeking corporations---low and behold--went and empowered them with the political clout they needed to increase health insurance company profits at the expense of further lowering the deficit.  Real Politic isn't for the faint of heart--for those who don't like compromise, coalition building, and concession should call me... I have the names of some good philosophy departments where they'd fit right in in political theory seminars.

 

Our nations fiscal outlook is at risk, 45 million die every year because they lack health care, Drug-Makers Paying Off Competitors To Keep Cheap Generics Off Market.  I'll sit down for a cup of tea later on...

 

The first step after the health reform bill passes--will be to reform the health reform bill. 

 

Why we need more moderate Republicans? To keep the Joe the Plumber brigade at bay... 

 

 

 

Posted via email from Jim Nichols