Dem Strategy on Health Care Reform…
People have been delving in to the specifics of the debate on reforming the health care system in this country… I’m not sure where exactly I stand, to be honest. I think the public option is a great idea but i think large Co-Ops (even if they were setup regionally like our federal courts) could offer significant opportunity to those currently uninsured and thousands of people paying ridiculous rates for individual coverage.
Personally, I feel the insurance industry has had it far too good for far too long. I’m a healthy guy in my late twenties who was denied individual insurance coverage several times because of I tend to get one or two sinus infections a year. Absolutely moronic – I offered to pay more, I offered to have that condition excluded, etc. etc. but was still denied coverage from half a dozen firms. We simply cannot trust corporations with our health any longer. But…
Democrats have screwed the proverbial pooch on this debate so far. Worst of all it was a ‘veteran’ from the previous fight who failed to set up the whole debate, rather he ran into it completely naked and without a plan.
Rahm Emmanuel is one of the most conservative strategically – though not ideologically, politicians in the party. He’s got this bad boy reputation for telling people to fuck off and sending dead fish – in reality, he is a giant pussy. Pardon the sports analogy, but he always goes for the field goal instead of trusting the men on the front line to push ahead for the touch down. He rose to fame with the ‘big win’ in 2006 but in reality the DCCC strategy was so poorly played that Dems missed out on winning at least a dozen more seats. It wasn’t until the end of the summer ‘06, that many very competitive campaigns got the seed money needed to win and by then it was too little too late. I think the 2008 house results demonstrated how narrow-minded Rahm is – we won an additional 25 seats, and it wasn’t the “Obama Coattails” that pundits like to cite – McCain actually won a lot of the house districts that Dems picked up. Democrats simply finished the job Rahm couldn’t, cleaning out vulnerable repubs in moderate districts and a couple scandal plagued seats as well.
Okay, so now that we’ve established Rahm is a big wuss who plays more conservatively than Joe Gibbs, back to health care…
Democrats failed to set up the debate. There are thousands of horror stories going on right now thanks to the coverage policies of health insurance companies. You fracture you spine in a fall, they’ll drop your coverage b/c you failed to disclose you were treated for strep throat 3 years earlier with another insurance company. Insurance companies will argue every effective cancer treatment developed in the last 10 years is ‘experimental’ and deny coverage until the day the person dies. And every day thousands of people like myself are denied for ‘pre-existing conditions’ which, as in my case, could be something as small as a sinus infection last winter. One simple fact that has amazed me… For-profit insurance companies used to spend 90% of their revenue on covering people – in the last 20 years that has fallen to 80%. In a $2+ trillion dollar industry that’s a lot of money that used to go to saving lifes, preventative medicine and basic health care - now going to pay Health Care exec salaries, such as the CEO from United Health who makes roughly $104,000/hr.
How in God’s good name, are these people winning the PR battle?
Congressional Republicans and the big insurance companies are launching the most dishonest debate I’ve seen in years. Whether it was welfare reform, tax cuts, the Iraq war, or the recent stimulus package – at least Republicans were making an honest ideological argument. There’s zero honesty on the Republican side in this debate, save for a very few Republican senators open to dialogue on establishing co-ops. It’s unbelievable how much money these guys are accepting from insurance companies – not only in exchange for their vote but for also disseminating insurance company talking points.
Despite the disastrous situation and trajectory of our current health care system a Republican victory is seeing reform fail. Throwing enough wrenches in the process, propagating enough bullshit socialism attacks that their base is in a frenzy during the 2010 elections.
Exactly how can Dems lose this? Well they’ve done a good job so far – with zero coordination (there are 50 different plans!), zero attack mechanism to not only respond to the lies and misinformation but also attack the Republican’s for hypocrisy, dishonesty and blatantly selling their vote for millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the insurance companies.
The only reason Dems have to be worried about 2010 elections are their own preoccupations with it. Have some balls. Be aggressive and get something done. Don’t let the party that cut taxes by a trillion dollars while simultaneously taking a trillion dollar turd in the desert claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility. Don’t let Republicans make a single claim about health care with out pointing out the contributions they received in return for arguing these lies. And don’t be afraid to aggressively push ahead with an agenda that moderates and/or the pussy blue dogs shy away from… I know Rahm’s fragile little world is all ready desperate for compromise, and some compromise isn’t a terrible idea, but letting assholes like Mike Ross and the rest of the Blue Dogs set the agenda is a horrendous idea.
IF this plan does extend coverage to 10-20 million people – guess how many of them are going to vote Republican in the following elections? Exactly. Democrats need to stop being pansies and press forward knowing they are not only doing what is right morally but will also benefit politically in the long term.
