So this “public option” thing won’t kick in until 2013???

[Cyrano]

Our corporate-owned politicians continue to screw us. (Surprise, surprise.) I don’t care what form of faux "public option” piece of crap congress passes. It seems that whatever they pass won’t kick in until 2013. And that gives the health insurance industry time to screw us out of everything we own.

Where did I find this out? Keith Olbermann mentioned it on Friday or Monday. (And it’s possible that Ed Schultz also referred to it.) Why hasn't this gotten more coverage?

When Lyndon Johnson got Medicare through congress, it kicked in 11 months later. But giving the insurance industry another three years and two months more to rape us? Isn’t there anyone in congress who's not on the payroll of the insurance industry, or big pharma, who will raise their voice about this outrage?

I know that we’re not going to get everything we want. But we’re barely getting micro-sized table crumbs. And Harry Reid is telling us how happy we should be about it? Let's face it. We're getting fucked again, as usual.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. It's actually discussed here pretty frequently

The biggest talking point is that Medicare was rolled out in a year,so why not this?

A corollary discussion is when the insurance reforms kick in. A couple of the bills have things like prior conditions and rescission being allowed to hang around for a few years before they get booted out which would be a CRIME. They should be illegal right now. The bright note on that issue is that President Obama himself stated that priors and caps and rescissions would be out the day the bill was signed.

So far what is left in as far as anyone can tell is AGE discrimination - I think Baucus' bill allows as much as a 5x differential on premiums for those above 50 - meaning that it will most likely be unaffordable - So that is still a big fight on the drawing board.

If some good stuff doesn't take place quickly, like lower costs and more choice, then healthcare will turn into a joint suicide pact by the Dems. That's why they HAVE TO PASS A GOOD BILL. The stupider or more venal ones among them don't seem to get that point. That is why the Repubs are salivating at the thought that the Dems will pass a crap bill that will actually raise prices for most and then they will turn into vultures to feed off the Democratic carrion at election time.

[Cyrano]

3. I wasn't aware this issue had been discussed here.

There are times when I am out of touch for a while and miss what's going on on DU (and planet Earth).

Thanks for the update, Phoebe Loosinhouse.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. Oh hey, the discussions are moving so fast and furious on healthcare

it's hard for all of us to keep up. I am a complete manic-depressive yo-yo, feeling optimistic one day and cynical, bitter and defeated the next.

I am of the opinion that the bill we end up with will be a tenth of the bill we should end up with, if that. The voice of the corporate masters (and their billfolds) effectively drowned out the voice of the people. Not too many Pollyannas playing the Glad Game anymore.

[Posteritatis]

5. The fact that it won't kick in until the next presidential term is sort of telling. (nt)

[gorfle]

21. "why not this?"

The biggest talking point is that Medicare was rolled out in a year,so why not this?

Simple.

Medicare did not take any insurance company customers away from insurance companies. People on Medicare on ON medicare because they are too poor to afford insurance. So it's no skin off of the insurance companies' noses if poor people sign up for Medicare.

But when paying customers start fleeing to the cheaper public option, well, the sheet is gonna hit da fan!

This is why every measure possible to delay and water down the public option is being brought to bear.

The insurance industry doesn't want to be destroyed, and our government doesn't want to destroy them.

[valerief]

2. I thought until it was rolled out the people w/o health insurance would go on Medicaid.

That's after the bill is passed, of course.

[JanusAscending]

9. Did you mean....Medicare?

[valerief]

17. No, I thought I heard Medicaid before. But that was weeks ago. nt

[marshall]

4. I think that's to get them all past the next 2 election cycles

That way the outcome doesn't rest on where the chips fall.

[Kansas Wyatt]

6. Today's Democratic (Republican Lite) Party...

Would never pass Medicare.

[SoCalDem]

8. We were a more "innocent" country back then

no 24-7 bleating cable venues telling us all what to think. ..and until Viet Nam crashed & burned , we actually trusted government not to screw us over.

and we were pretty prosperous back then too..not like now..

When medicare came to be, ONE income supported a whole family, and our lives were less complicated.

[Taverner]

7. Congress wants to make sure it never happens - that way there's more $$$ for them to steal

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. Some of us have been yelling about this for a while now

and the non-insignificant fact that we will have to get through 2 election cycles against the lobbyists and their ad budgets.

[AllentownJake]

11. The Public Option is a charade

to prevent people from looking at the rest of the bill.

For the first time in our history the government is set to demand that all citizens buy a product from a private company and most people are silent.

[Cleita]

14. I noticed the words have changed to a private option paid for by the government.

I heard it this morning out of the mouth of the other Utah Senator (not Orrin). Since I'm paraphrasing from memory I hope I heard it right.

[AllentownJake]

16. I will probably not support the final bill

I've found this entire thing amusing. People signing petitions and making phone calls over a bill that they have no clue what is going to be in it.

[theophilus]

19. Yeah, dedicated people can be hi-larious. n/t

[Cleita]

12. We've been sold down shit's creek without a paddle.

However, I believe this time the backlash from the 70% of Americans who want national health care, will make these politicians go running back to the table very quickly, because even as garbled as the information is, it's been on top of the news for months now and people who were confused about it are starting to make sense from it. More people than ever are becoming aware of what's really going on, that a few corporations and fat cats are getting Croesus wealthy on their tax dollars and that our government is corrupt from bribery in the form of campaign contributions. This time people will demand that they start seeing some benefits coming back to them for their taxes, which is the way it's supposed to work. The thing is not to give up but keep pressuring them until they do the right thing.

Right now pounding our senators has made a crack in the granite of their resolve. Next we work on the House and finally when the bill is ready for President Obama, we deluge him with our approval or disapproval. No matter what comes out, if we don't like it, we don't give up the battles until we have won the war!

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. That way if it is a disaster, it won't affect the 2012 election

[eridani]

24. The political disaster is that people will expect something to have happened n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. +1

[Cass]

18. What worries me about this is if we have a republican-controlled Congress

and, god forbid, a republican is elected president in 2012, they could repeal it or gut it before it gets off the ground and we won't have another shot at it for years. Worst case scenario, I know, but anything is possible.

45,000 people a year are dying now because they don't have access to health care, and scads more are being bankrupted by medical bills, it is unconscionable not to have this up and running ASAP.

Look how the credit card companies are taking advantage in the interim before credit card regulations take effect - the insurance companies will do the same and even more people will die and lose everything. I hope dems gets their shit together and do the right thing with this but I am worried.

[rubberducky]

20. + 1

[inna]

22. KR+6. A point worth reinforcing, even though many of us have been making it for MONTHS...

...for example, my post on this from 3 months ago: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/inna/24

[rhett o rick]

23. k & r 7. Help, the middle class is dying. Not sure we can wait until 2013. nt

[eridani]

25. Tell your congresscritters to support the Weiner amendment

Single payer. If that goes down, insist that they start letting at least some people into Medicare immediately.

[Cyrano]

26. Single payer was given away before this health care war even started

Why we Dems keep supporting our own corrupt politicians is because they're better than the alternative.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. -- Vote for a Republican who is going to fuck up this country and our lives. -- Or vote for a Democrat who's going to fuck up this country and our lives, but do it more slowly while pretending that they're "working in our best interest."

The best thing I can say about some freak like Lieberman is that he's up front about being a miserable prick. Too many Dems are pretending that a sane health care plan is a priority for them. Can anyone really doubt that the majority of these political creatures are more interested in their own reelections and pocketbooks than they are about the well being of all the rest of us?

None of this surprises me. What I do find incredible is that we are not all in the streets with torches and pitchforks.

[eridani]

28. What we need are primary challenges n/t