Don't like the way the Wall Street bail-out turned out? It looks as if we're in for something similar regarding healthcare.
With popular fury at the status quo rising and hunger for a real, public option attracting over 70 percent approval in polls, the White House is urging public-option advocates to hush.
According to the Washington Post, in a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama asked health care advocates to ratchet back their pressure for a public option. He's apparently concerned about advertisements and on-line campaigns targeting foot-dragging Democrats.
We've been here before. Back in the fall and spring, when popular fury at private bankers was soaring, Washington urged liberal lobbying groups to focus more on backing the White House plan and less on attacking bankers and banks.
What happened? Washington allowed Wall Street insiders, many of whom had overseen the breaking apart of the economy, to manage the so called recovery, putting most of what was rotten back in place. The re-distributions of wealth to the top continued, while civilian unemployment headed through the roof.
As Barney Frank told bankers back in February, “People really hate you, and they're starting to hate us because we're hanging out with you.”
The health care debate is suffering from the same dynamic.
Specifically, on July 4, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations will rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage. But the words public option were left out.
Pro-reform activists are pushing a public plan because it's popular, it's doable -- and it's at least a step closer to the only thing most actually think will work -- which is a totally public system.
Why are they pushing so hard? Well, consider what they're up against. Pulling against anything remotely public, is the biggest lobbying blitz Washington's ever seen. The Washington Post reports that private insurers, drug companies and their representatives spent more than $126 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year. That's over $1.4 million a day.
And they've hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress to do all that lobbying work.
When Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sat down with health-care lobbyists on June 10, two were his former chiefs of staff. Their aim: to minimize the "damage" in profits to insurers, hospitals and drug makers from any change in approach from government. Specifically, they oppose any even remotely public option, the details of which are right now up for debate.
Want to hush the activists? The real scandal, it seems to me, shouldn't be the thousands of dollars that on-line organizers are spending on advertising to the public and Congress. The real scandal should be the millions that private insurers and pharmaceutical firms are spending infiltrating the government.
If the public option lobbyists had the access Big Pharma's got, they might not need to buy all those ads. Besides -- $1.4 million a day. Imagine what real-life nurses could do with that!
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders the host of GRITtv, which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, public television and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GritLaura on Twitter.com.
As a result of your shows I sent the following to my representatives and:
Dear President Obama
CC: Mrs. Obama,
Health Care for All is: HEALTH ASSURANCE NOT INSURANCE
Choice can only be achieved in health care for all by assuring we all pay into the plan at what we can afford and we are all covered – Everyone In and No One Left Out!!!!
This will be realized by “Health Assurance” not “Health Insurance”. Health Assurance is sometimes poorly called a single payer plan. The single payer is all of us including the representatives in the House of Representatives, Senate, and the President of the United States and his or her family (why should they/you not pay in?). It would be better called a “Self Insured Plan for All”. It is a simple concept and is most easily realized that health care for all is paid for by all. Everyone In No-one Out. We the people are in and insurance corporations are out. The time has come!
We have had almost 70 years of insurance corporation control of health care or lack there of. At every turn, the for profit corporate giants have denied health care to many who have paid into their policies and reaped the profits assuring the corporate CEO’s multi millions of dollars in annual salaries while saying that policy holders are not eligible for services by doctors that they would select but only doctors that are assigned under their plan. What kind of health care denial is this? Well it is not the plan that was “Pre-Approved”. It is exactly what the CEO of most peoples “Health Insurance” policies provide, the government all the way up to the president is colluding to continue the system to keep the profits of those CEO’s in just the right balance to allow the financial support of the next campaign donations. It is not a Democrat or Republican policy but a conspiracy to keep denial of service to all of us, all the people and especially the poor by the government representatives.
It has taken me a long time to figure this out. I have watched my health care costs go up and the services provided go down over the last 20 years. Health care cost for my family has gone up by many hundreds of percent. Does the average 20 year old know what a donut hole in their prescription policy means when they turn 70 years old at their retirement? Forget the “public option” and the insurance corporate CEO’s – think of “Health Assurance for All” – it is health care for all. The time for “Health Assurance for All” is here. I urge you all to think about this.
Bill Smiley
7683 Bradford Drive, Goleta CA 93117-1972
805-968-0555
bsmiley_sb@yahoo.com
By bsmiley on July 7th, 2009 at 2:32 am