Obama Says Senate Vote is a “Big Victory” for Health Care Reform

And, a “Big Loss” for the American people…
Christmas coal to the 64% of Americans (liberals and conservatives) opposed to this legislation from your Congress Critters.
The presently in limbo “Cap and Tax” bill will prevent you from using your coal to heat your home in the future, so burn it NOW…
Bah!

I guess Obama will grade himself an A- now … sigh.

Hmmm…if his poll numbers don’t go up to 60%, will he still claim it is a victory?

Will the Democrats be sending flowers to the American people after what they just did to them?

How bad is the bill?
- Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not.
- If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS.
- After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
- Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.
- Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-pays.
- Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions — until 2014 when the program begins.
- Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others.
- Grants monopolies to to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
No reimportation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years.
- The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of 4 will rise an average of $1000 a year — meaning in 10 years, you family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.
I could go on, but it should be clear: this is not reform. This is a con job.

OK Tierra, jwh539, Ryan C, and the rest of you come defend this massive payoff to private health insurance companys

I love the idea of health care reform but I think we are moving in the right direction, but I don’t know enough about the bill to comment on the issue at length.

My brother is one of the big parasites in one of the largest insurance companies- he loves it, his stock options are worth more by the hour,they still have the anti-trust exemption.
__________________________________
Greed is what makes American great.

Look, the Democrats passed the bill-do they even know what is in it? Do they even realize that they have just given a huge windfall to the same insurance companies that they have been attacking for months as “greedy”?
Posted by: Nephron |
You bet they realize it. They’ll be talking about it just as soon as they can figure out how to pin it on the hapless Republicans.

Let’s use the Health Care bill as an Obama “teaching moment” — not him ‘teaching us’ but us ‘teaching him’!
This ‘Health Care’ (sic) bill reminds me of the illogic of the Vietnam War:
“It became necessary to destroy the bill in order to save it”
And, in fact, the reason that this illogic applied then in the Vietnam War “abroad”, and now in the corporatist tyranny over health care “at home” is precisely the same reason — that a ruling-elite corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE makes all decisions, and not the people of America.
As Hannah Arendt presciently warned from her direct experience with empires:
“Empire abroad (always) entails tyranny at home”.
Let’s teach Obama a critical lesson that he needs to understand. The famous old phrase was, “What goes around, comes around”. But today, “What goes around, comes home to roost” as his own minister tried to teach him.
Let’s tell Obama:
“If you are only going to pose as another front-man for the ruling-elite Global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE that controls our country — by hiding behind the façade of its two-party ‘Vichy’ sham of democracy — then that’s not the ‘hope’ and ‘change’ that we voted for.
We’ve been fed that old “Okie Doke” (as you called it) since the Vietnam War, for forty years!
Now if you really believe that times they are a changing, and that you don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin, and that ‘Yes we can’ confront Empire, then why don’t you give us a chance, and help lead us in a second American Revolution for democracy against Empire — cause if you’re not going to lead, then at least ‘get out of the way’.”
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine

OK Tierra, jwh539, Ryan C, and the rest of you come defend this massive payoff to private health insurance companys
Posted by: ‘Un-American’ | Dec 21, 2009 2:11:14 PM
There is a ‘massive payoff’ to private health insurance companies because President Obama is a muslim, marxist, commie, redistributor of the wealth to the poor out to destroy capitalism and big business, because he’s studied Saul Alinsky and Reverent Wright and etc, etc, etc.
Posted by: tierra | Dec 21, 2009 2:28:40 PM
Ok….that was weak

I can guarantee you that these polls will swing very quickly in the next week or two when Americans start learning what is in the bill.
The Republicans keep complaining that they were kept out. What did they expect. Their sole objective has been to BLOCK ANY REFORM and DO NOTHING.
We can now state without equivocation that the GOP is not only the party of NO but the party of hypocrites.
With this bill Dems will increase their majorities in both the House and the Senate in 2010. Mark my words. The Repubs are cooked.
Posted by: Steve_NJ | Dec 21, 2009 3:56:04 PM
Really? If this is so wonderful why do we have to wait until 2013 or 2014 to get. Oh we have to get our taxes raised I forgot. Don’t count your chickens just yet on those election predictions. Once the people find out what is in the bill you could have an opposite effect.

I could go on, but it should be clear: this is not reform. This is a con job.
Posted by: SandWalker | Dec 21, 2009 1:37:10 PM
“Yet when it comes to big, wet kisses for entrenched interests, you can’t beat the individual mandate. People will soon have to buy health insurance from private companies, or else face a tax penalty from Uncle Sam. Democrats who think they can come back later to fix this perverse result are kidding themselves. The insurance lobby is already so powerful that Democrats couldn’t get the public option through now – what makes them think they’ll be able to later, after they’ve given insurers 30 million additional customers, and required every last American to do business with them?” – Jay Cost, RCP, 12/20/09

from CNBC
“This is the biggest giveaway ever for health care … I’ve been saying Wellpoint [WLP 59.95 1.64 (+2.81%) ] since 43, everyone thought the HMOs would be the big losers, they’re the big winners … It’s almost as if the HMOs elected the president and the Congress.
“You buy all the health care companies, Cramer said. “They were clearly the winner. Loser was obviously … well, small business gets clocked. Big business gets clocked.”
time till abc takes this news down 3-2-1

I’m just waiting for the next election. Obama ain’t gonna be too happy with the results.

“Obama’s record for keeping promises is public information you can find easily on the net – his record of keeping promises is impressive.”
YIKES!!!
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels

The PoltiFact website (Pulitzer Prize Winner) has carefully documented and is tracking all of Obama’s campaign promises.
They have him keeping or having in the works moving towards completion 275 campaign promises. He has broken 9.
Do any of you remember Bush’s promise to not only keep the reduced deficit Clinton passed on, but to eliminate it and move into surplus? Do you understand how much deficit and debt he left if his wake, along with the collapsed economy?

“Do you understand how much deficit and debt he left if his wake, along with the collapsed economy?”
Not anymore – it has all been overshadowed by obama’s debt, deficits and HIS collasped economy.
____________________________________
Not according to any but the Republican right wing.
You know full well Bush has contributed the majority to the national debt compared to Obama – with his tax cuts, the 2 wars he intitiated, the programs he put in place without taxes to pay for them.
And that isn’t even mentioning the world-wide economic collapse that took place on his watch.
We all wish a magic wand could be waved to fix the mess Bush left – there is no magic wand.
Are things improving – yes. Are we out of the woods yet – no.
And you’d better work your ass off and hope we do get out of the woods; there is not guarantee. Bush certainly proved that.

Bush, Cheney, Libby, Rumsfeld remind us of what Republican government is REALLY like . . .
And all the fear mongering and hate will backfire on the Republicans and the right; people don’t like the hateful extremism – they won’t vote for it again . ..

Tierra: “Are things improving – yes.”
Yeah, I’m sure the 50% who are unemployed in Detroit agree wholeheartedly!

Posted by: Mary | Dec 21, 2009 7:03:03 PM
Mary you seem have quickly forgotten what things were like when Bush and the Republicans were kicked out of the White House.
Something like 700,000 jobs being lost every month, stock market crashing, big banks and financial institutions in crisis collapse …
How soon you Republican right wingers forget . ..

Posted by: SandWalker | Dec 21, 2009 1:37:10 PM
Sandwalker, it looks like you gave us a recap of Jane Hamsher’s 10 reasons not to kill the bill. Part of me wants to say “What Alex Pareene said” (wonkette, “News of First Major Progressive Legislation in 30 Years Enrages Liberals”– very good and pretty much describes my thoughts and sentiments) BUT Pareene is irreverent, and I can play the more reverent, sedate route so…
As Igor Volsky at the Wonk Room puts it, “The comprehensive list relies on the competent work of FDL’s team of health care bloggers and some of the critique is not without merit; other points are overstated. For instance, the claim that “many will be forced to buy low quality insurance they can’t afford to use,” is a bit baffling. The newly uninsured would have access to a minimum benefits package that is far more comprehensive than the available options in the individual market. Two-thirds of these “forced” Americans would pay less for more substantive coverage, not more. And the poorest Americans would have their out-of-pocket costs capped.”
I urge everyone to read Igor’s blog post called “Reasons NOT to kill the bill.” It includes a handy a graphic representation of the choice lawmakers face. For example, without reform, 54 million people in America would be uninsured. With it the number is reduced to 23 million.
On another point, Igor notes, “Hamsher claims that the bill “allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others.” This is true, but it’s a massive improvement from the status quo, which allows insurers to charge older people as much as 11 times more for equivalent coverage“ (and this issue may be something that can be addressed in conference as the House bill is better in this regard.)
The blog post also has links including one to an article @ Bloomberg back in September called “Obamacare will require concessions by liberals ” by Albert Hunt. (Snip: With few exceptions, sweeping initiatives in the U.S. system start small, are often flawed, and then are expanded, sometimes improved, sometimes not. “If you can’t get a whole loaf,” Joseph Califano, who was President Lyndon Johnson’s top domestic adviser when Medicare was enacted in 1965, said in an interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose on Sept. 9, “take a half, take a third.” )

“For example, without reform, 54 million people in America would be uninsured.”
Detailed breakdown of that number please.

Feels to me like the only “big victory” is for laying the foundation for rationing and socialized medicine.
And a contined march towards fiscal insolvency.
You libs who support this bill realize that fundamental sources of “income” (payment) for this bill come from $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and a 20%+ cut to doctor pay next year, right?
Yeah, this is going to work out just great. Yet another example of an industry in which the U.S. enjoys competitive advantage, but turns to outsourcing due to government interference.
Anyone interested in investing in a hospital with me? I have some contacts in Costa Rica…

“But the deficit reduction number cited by the president has been disavowed by CBO.”
Q: Want a hint to know when Obama is lying? (A: His lips are moving)

As if we should trust an outlier poll from CNN.
Progressives know that the Senate bill is a sell-out to the insurance giants. That is why the insurance stocks have went through the roof.
People are forced you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations, and you get nailed with a penalty of up to 2% of your income to the IRS if you don’t take their forced insurance. No public option, no buy in to Medicare at age 55. Many of the taxes to pay for this kick in now, yet most Americans won’t see any benefits like an end to discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions until 2014 when the program begins. It allows insurance companies to charge older Americans up to 300% more than others. It grants monopolies to drug companies who will keep cheaper generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market. No re-importation of drugs… and on and on it goes.
The Senate bill is a sell-out. Period.
Obama, Reid, Blanche Lincoln, Nelson, Dodd and company are sell-outs. We have been rolled big time. The only hope now is that the 60 progressive Democrats in the House of Reps will at least hold firm to their promise in the letter that they signed that they will not vote yes on any final bill that does not include a public option. A public option is a game-changer for business- as-usual America and millions of desperate Americans.
If those 60 progressive Democrats don’t keep their word, then they need to be tossed out in November 2010 along with Reid, Lincoln, Nelson, Dodd and company or primaried before then if at all possible.

Oops. I redid the top part and somehow botched it.
It should say “You are forced to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations.”

Also regarding Medicare Advantage, there were good posts at health care blogs last summer, like “The problem with Medicare Advantage” by Maggie Mahar. ” Plus, there is interesting information on the topic at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (“Ending Medicare Advantage Overpayments Would Strengthen Medicare”)

Are you familiar with the term “unintended consequences”?
Posted by: tjp612 | Dec 21, 2009 11:11:11 PM
You referenced a post of mine which is gone now, and I don’t remember what was in it and I’m not sure why it’s gone. Anyway, I think you’re conflating Medicare with Medicare Advantage, yes? See my post @ 11:23:09 PM.

tierra – where do you get that things are improving? Because Obama says so? There is nothing improving around here. People still don’t have jobs. My spouse is still making 25% less than he was a year ago. My child’s college tuition is still going up. My electric bills are about to go up 33%. My heating bills are set to go up 10%. And now, my health insurance premiums are going to skyrocket more than what they already are. So what exactly is improving?

No, we can’t have ANYONE getting anything better than everyone else…
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I’m not sure where you get that Medical Advantage is “better”– particularly if you read the studies. It was implemented to achieve certain objectives and it has not achieved them, hence government funds could be used more efficiently and effectively– and I personally don’t just give fiscal responsibility and fiscal efficiency lip service, I think its a worthwhile goal and I support efforts to work toward that goal, and I use political activism to press (“push”) for achievement of those goals.
Overall, I have a tendency to be on Team Wonk, including in health care reform. That’s why I read wonky blogs and reports.
I believe Congress will need to be pressed to ensure more efficiency and fiscal responsibility is achieved.
If you look at the evolution of other efforts in the direction of universal coverage, more effective cost-curve measures tend to follow takiing the first step or two toward universal coverage. So, I do not believe this is mission accomplished but it’s gotten us on the path with a compass, rather than still flailing about in the woods without a path or a compass.

Does Sheldon Whitehouse know that? Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn | Dec 21, 2009 6:48:26 PM
Absolutely. Sometimes a little fire and brimstone rant is necessary and personally I’m glad he slammed Republicans for their “desperate, no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, falsehood, obstruction and fear.” Truth isn’t “extreme” :>)
““When it turns out there are no death panels, when there is no bureaucrat between you and your doctor, when the ways your health care changes seem like a good deal to you, and a pretty smart idea, when the American public sees the discrepancy between what really is, and what they were told by the Republicans, there will be a reckoning. There will come a day of judgment about who was telling the truth.” Sen. Whitehouse
Somewhat related, I thought Jonathan Chait’s “The Rise of Republican Nihilism” piece at TNR was certainly worth a read.
“Whatever the merits of President Obama’s agenda, it is clearly a response to objectively large problems facing the country. The administration has selected three main issues as the focus of its domestic agenda: the economic crisis, climate change, and health care reform. The issues themselves offer a stark contrast with Bush’s 2005 crusade to reshape Social Security. While sold as a response to the program’s long-term deficit, the privatization campaign was actually motivated by ideological opposition to Social Security’s redistributive role. (Bush refused Democratic offers to negotiate a fix to the program’s solvency without altering its social-insurance character.) By contrast, it is impossible to dismiss the problems Obama has chosen to address. In all three areas, the Republican Party has adopted a stance of total opposition, not merely because it disagrees with aspects of Obama’s solutions, but because it cannot come to grips with the very nature of the problems of modern American politics.”

tpj, I did answer. Perhaps, you didn’t like the answer :>)
“I believe Congress will need to be pressed to ensure more efficiency and fiscal responsibility is achieved.
“If you look at the evolution of other efforts in the direction of universal coverage, more effective cost-curve measures tend to follow taking the first step or two toward universal coverage. So, I do not believe this is mission accomplished but it’s gotten us on the path with a compass, rather than still flailing about in the woods without a path or a compass.”
In other words, I don’t think congress will make sure the cost efficiency measures are enacted and improved without pressure from above and below. The onus is on us to hold them accountable. I think we should take that on, and make sure it happens.
We create our destiny, n’est pas?

One last comment on this ‘political art-manship’ business that has drawn such controversy (as it should) around the health plan.
Senator Dodd was already on board with the plan yet The leadership threw a $100 Million his way for a hospital as part of the package.
This isn’t political maneuvering or some kind of ‘art of politics’ nonsense: this was flagrant payola for one of the insiders, pure and simple.
There are rumblings that the people of Nebraska are saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ to their $100 Million dollar political payola. I wonder if the people of Connecticut will say the same thing? And, what about Louisiana?