The Busy Season

I guess I have to admit to the fact that those of us who are blessed with still having jobs must now work four times as much to keep them.

That's one reason why my posting has once again ground to a halt. Maybe the other reason is that I just don't want to jinx health care reform via reconciliation by jumping up and down here too much. Besides, it makes the change fall out of my pockets.

Yeah, there's no public option...yet. But there is regulation. We just had nine years of no regulation. This fairy tale known as the "free market" has all but destroyed our democracy.

Corporations are still planting themselves offshore to avoid paying taxes (even though they still got huge tax cuts under Bush). And even if they're forced to pay taxes, the lack of regulation will allow them to raise prices on us. It's a lousy truth, and libertarians get their undershorts soaked when you talk about it, but regulations are necessary. Sorry, kids. Go cry somewhere else. They had their shot at deregulation and it's killing all of us.

"Fair Market" sucks, plain and simple. The cracking down of insurance costs, the ending of pre-existing conditions clauses, the end of randomly revoking insurance - these are all LONG overdue.

We can get to a public option eventually. Right now, the other obscenities the "free market" has allowed have to be dealt with. To use a phrase which the GOP loves to use, let's ram this thing through already.

Good and hard. Right up the obstructionists' filibusters. It's about damned time.

Comments

[mustang sally]

I guess I have to admit to the fact that those of us who are blessed with still having jobs must now work four times as much to keep them.

I second that emotion. And also everything else you said. My family does not get a penny of insurance coverage from our employers & we are at the breaking point trying to keep health insurance for a healthy family of three. Every quarter (when the premiums go up) we discuss dropping it because it costs so much & guarantees nothing.

[David Aquarius]

Personally, I say forget the public option and let us all buy into Medicare at 6% of gross pay.

Use the current network, make a few changes to pay outs to doctors and clinics. Give rebates and other incentives to wellness and preventative care. Make allowances for responsible alternative care and erase any restrictions on who gets treated. If you're sick, you get help - period.

Also, increase grants to colleges and universities that score high in health related fields. We should be encouraging young people to become health professionals, not business wonks.