This is not a slam against Obama or Universal Health care. When I say Obamacare I mean the bad compromise that is currently being proposed and hung around Obama's neck. My concern is that a bad health care reform legislation will ultimately be a poison pill for Health care reform. We have seen the industry force our elected official to take single payer off the table. The public option is being discussed but even the house version has been crippled to protect the insurance industry. The Senate Finance committee bill is far worse. If something called a "public option" or more likely Insurance COOPs are passed by Congress this could make the US health care system worse.
How? Because we will have institutionalize the worst of the US Health care Practices into a government program. The model for this is Medicare prescription Drug plan. So much was given to the Pharmaceutical Industry that all the benefits that were supposed to be derived from the program were negotiated away. Ted Kennedy, bless his heart, championed this legislation and figured he could fix the legislation later on. The problem is after years no one is talking about fixing a program that forces the government to buy drugs at high costs with no ability to negotiate for cheaper prices.
Having a bad Health Care Reform that locks in high costs and does not insure all Americans is a real possibility. Because of industry lobbyists, Republicans demanding bipartisanship, bad faith negotiations we could end up with one of the worst piece of legislation in American History. Then the critics will point to this government program point out its numerous flaws and declare that the government can't do anything right or efficiently. People who hate government force a bad program then blame the government when the program produces bad results. Hello self-fulfilling prophecy.
Why would the Democrats agree to this. Because they want to get re-elected . They promised this in the last election and know that there will be hell to pay if this is not accomplished. They are scrambling to put any deal together. Republicans, industry lobbyist and even Blue dog Democrats know this and have been able to extract huge concession and still there is no deal. I for one have contacted my elected representatives and told the folks on the phone Single Payer or a strong Public Option anything else should be rejected. This is not a time when the enemy of the Good is the Perfect. This is a case where Liberals/Progressives should refuse to legitimize corrupt policies and practices that hurt Americans every day.
So unless we repair these bad bills I think its time to say no to our elected officials. The options should be that they give us real reform or kill these bad bills and start over.
Sometimes starting over is the best option
UPDATE For all you folks freaking out over my use of the word Obamacare I just Googled it and came out with over 3 million hits. The vast RIGHT WING media machine is very effective. Pretending that it has not entered the American mind is wishful thinking. It's out there and its being used to beat up Democrats everyday. So unless we can kill it or redefine it its going to used against Health Care Reform. My puny little diary did not create that condition