The Big Guy's Low Benchmark for Healthcare Reform

Benchmark of sanity

(Trenholm)

"The House bill should include the four key elements that have already emerged from House committees:

(1) a public plan option,

(2) a mandate on all but the smallest employers to provide their employees with health insurance or else pay a tax or fee (so-called 'pay or play'),

(3) a requirement that every individual and family buy health insurance, coupled with subsidies for families up to 300 or 400 times the poverty level;

(4) a small surtax on the top 1 percent of earners or families to help pay for this subsidy."

— Robert Reich

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Reich should have included the matter of making pre-existing conditions moot, but he rounds all the rest up nicely in one paragraph.

When we speak disparagingly of all of this in the near future, let's remember the July benchmark that people in office and the likes of Reich set as the point of no return. There IS an element within the political apparatus of the elected Democratic Party that wants robust public healthcare and universal coverage subsided by the rich, the top 1%, for individuals making up to $41,600 a year (400% of the national poverty line).

That's where our cannibalistic recriminations must feast if Democrats are unable to pass it.

That's the mainstream Democratic benchmark for argument, debate, discussion and wishful thinking, while the so-called centrist wish-list is comprised of little more than a mandate that we all purchase private insurance... for responsibility sake... maybe-maybe not in exchange for insurance corporations turning a blind eye to pre-existing conditions... while they sit back to enjoy their handy work.

"In other words, next fall we might get something called 'universal health insurance' that still leaves millions of Americans uninsured and doesn't substantially slow the meteoric rise of healthcare costs. That would be a tragedy."

The frustration in all of this is that a single-payer system is misunderstood by most of those who argue against it, believing the concept itself to be some specifically defined and monolithic thing and mistaking it for the public-run health care of Canada and the UK, while misunderstanding the success and popularity of those public-run institutions too.

At this point, we can fairly call the proposal on the table in the House Obama and Pelosi's hybrid of a robust public-run healthcare option for those who don't buy into a parallel gateway to subsidized coverage concomitant with federal employee healthcare plans.

To leftists, progressives, and liberals arguing over the public option vs. single-payer, this love-child between the two camps will seem like a luxury, just a year or two from now... even to the flimsy-minded centrists who respond nervously to simplistic fear-mongering about how much the current, cruel system of corporate healthcare rationing means to being a true American.

"Finally, you, dear reader, must contact your senators and representatives and explain why you want genuine reform -- incorporating the four elements listed above. Mobilize and energize others to do the same, especially residents of Blue Dog states, including Montana, where Senate Finance Chief Max Baucus resides."

We hear from the swing-states: "Our 'con' column is a lot more than the 'pro,'" the aide to Sen. Mark Warner, (D-Va.) said. "There have been hundreds of people who are against the plan or any specific part of it compared to dozens for it. And that was only in the last week."

And THAT, my friends, is why healthcare reform will amount to little more than a mandate for purchasing private insurance.

If you live in one of these so-called centrist states or districts, if you care about healthcare reform, whether a public option or single-payer, if you haven't called your senators and representative, you're losing the battle for us.

What can you do if you don't live in a swing state? Again, if you know someone in Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, Louisiana, or Nebraska, now would be a good time to ask them to call or write one of these eight so-called centrists holding up the healthcare reform bill in the Senate.

Baucus of Montana
http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/offices.cfm

Conrad of North Dakota
http://conrad.senate.gov/contact/

Wyden of Oregon
http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/

Lieberman of Connecticut
http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/

Snowe of Maine
http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Phone

http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email

Collins of Maine
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.Phone

http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.Email

Landrieu of Louisiana
http://landrieu.senate.gov/services/offices.cfm

Nelson of Nebraska
http://bennelson.senate.gov/email-issues.cfm

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