Healthcare: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back?

The heathcare debate continues! As if it will ever end! To start, here is a link that everyone who is confused about the healthcare debate should read:
http://www.time.com/time/healthcaredebate

The final Senate bill was completed on Monday and is currently being analyzed by the CBO
(Congressional Budget Office) to determine the ultimate costs of the bill.

The completed bill, which is a combination of the Senate Finance Committee bill and the Senate Health Committee bill currently includes a public option with a provision that allows states to opt-out in case they want to continue to contribute to the incredibly disheartening budget deficit. Why on earth they would choose to opt-out, when nobody would be forced into the plan is anyone’s guess. This appears to be a move by Senator Harry Reid (Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate) to appease the moderates and conservatives who are vehemently against a public option. Of course, as noted in a Time article this week, fewer than 5% of Americans are expected to sign up for the public option. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091027/us_time/08599193239700

So the fight is on. Moderate Democrats are suggesting that perhaps a public option should only be available to states where only one or two insurers control the market and “premiums are high” (whatever that means), so the state would have to invite the federal government’s plan in, rather than opting out.

Meanwhile, the GOP has actually threatened to filibuster the bill on the Senate floor and will do so for any bill that contains a public option. (This could be political suicide considering the most recent polls: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/10/27/Poll-Majority-favors-public-option/UPI-55041256619076/.) Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said yesterday that he would back a Republican filibuster of Reid’s healthcare bill.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get uglier, “anti-abortion activist Randall Terry is calling on people to burn effigies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this Halloween, as part of a ‘Burn in Hell’ video contest to protest the health care legislation in Congress.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul_burn_in_hell. Wow. Do they not realize that abortions are covered by many private insurance companies? I mean, think about it, one procedure is a whole lot cheaper for an insurance company than pre-natal appointment after pre-natal appointment followed by the actual visit to the hospital to give birth. (Yes, I realize that was way harsh, but really people, we’re talking about Fortune 500 companies which had billions of dollars in profits in 2008, and they didn’t get there by not thinking about things like that.) Perhaps these people should be burning an effigy of Leonard Schaeffer (CEO of Wellpoint Health Networks, formerly Blue Cross/Blue Shield) as well?

Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone!