Flirting With Failure
October 27th 2009 23:04
Just a few weeks after Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee struggled to produce a victory of sorts by giving birth to a health care bill minus a public option, the Baucus Bill, Senator Harry Reid did an about face and declared that he would support the public option missing from the bill, albeit one that would allow the states to opt out.
Reid, bowing to pressure from Nancy Pelosi, liberal Senators, unions and other liberal interest groups, reversed himself even though he knows that adding a public option to the Baucus Bill will probably cause the only Republican to vote for it, Senator Olympia Snow, to disavow it, along with quite a few fiscally conservative Democrats. I’m sure Reid was also influenced by a recent Washington Post poll, as reported by Rasmussen, that showed 57% support a government run health insurance company to compete with privately run health insurance companies; however, Rasmussen also reported that the poll showed that people were overwhelmingly against a public option if it would cause their employers to drop health insurance coverage. The Rasmussen report pointed out that when the wording in such polls is only slightly changed, big changes in the results can be expected, signifying that the public hasn’t made up its mind on the public option (Reid probably didn't get that far in the article).
President Obama, who publicly stated that a health care bill without a public option would not be a deal killer, is probably privately tearing his hair out (if only he could grab his short shorn hair). Republican/Conservatives in Congress, and all over the country, are beside themselves with joy because they know that no health care bill will pass with a public option. The entire health care industry will also celebrate.
Reid obviously felt that this was something he had to do if he was going to survive his upcoming election in Nevada and be able to retain his Senate seat and majority leadership position. In a Mason-Dixon poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Reid trailed Republican challenger Sue Lowden 49 to 39 percent and he trailed the other Republican challenger, Danny Tarkanian, 48 to 43 percent. Even worse, the poll showed that almost 100% of Nevada voters know who Reid is and 50% have an unfavorable opinion of him, with only 38% favoring his performance.
In order to gain liberal and union support for his re-election, Reid switched, at least until the election is over in November, 2010. What does this mean for the health care bill? It is highly unlikely that it could pass the Senate with a public option; there wouldn’t be enough votes, even though states would be allowed to opt out. Anyway, what good would that do even if the bill would pass? No state would accept a public option if it meant the allocation of state funds to support it; states are already reducing Medicaid funds and limiting Medicaid enrollment due to the high costs involved and reduced tax collections caused by the severe recession.
Reid is the Democratic version of Chuck Grassley. Grassley, a Republican/Conservative snake (Senator) from Iowa, is the current Senate Finance Committee minority leader (he was the majority leader until John McCain met Joe the Plumber and embraced Sarah Palin) who, on the surface, was pretending to work on a compromise health care bill, but who, in reality, tried his best to subvert the will of the Finance Committee. Reid, on the other hand, pretended to work for compromise while secretly knowing all along that he would side with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and Nancy Pelosi, and subvert the health care proposal with the public option albatross.
I want a public option; I believe it is necessary in order to keep all parties involved in providing health care to Americans (doctors and the AMA, hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment companies, medical transportation companies, and state and local governments) just as honest and concerned about the patient as much as they are about revenues. But, I am willing to sacrifice the public option in the short term to get a health care bill out of Congress and on the President’s desk for signature that will do most of the other important things like reign in prescription drug costs, make health insurance universal (even if it’s through health insurance companies), control health insurance costs, control Medicare costs (even though I am about to register for Medicare), make “experimental treatments” (which allow insurance companies to refuse coverage) mainstream, and allow the working poor and the unemployed to keep their health insurance independent of their jobs.
That’s the problem with politicians, even Senators, who only have to run for office every six years, unlike their Representative brethren and sisters who are constantly running for office; they are always looking at the polls, trying to judge which way the wind is blowing. They know that if they are not bending with the wind, they will be swept away, and this very often prevents them from doing the right thing.
Reid, bowing to pressure from Nancy Pelosi, liberal Senators, unions and other liberal interest groups, reversed himself even though he knows that adding a public option to the Baucus Bill will probably cause the only Republican to vote for it, Senator Olympia Snow, to disavow it, along with quite a few fiscally conservative Democrats. I’m sure Reid was also influenced by a recent Washington Post poll, as reported by Rasmussen, that showed 57% support a government run health insurance company to compete with privately run health insurance companies; however, Rasmussen also reported that the poll showed that people were overwhelmingly against a public option if it would cause their employers to drop health insurance coverage. The Rasmussen report pointed out that when the wording in such polls is only slightly changed, big changes in the results can be expected, signifying that the public hasn’t made up its mind on the public option (Reid probably didn't get that far in the article).
President Obama, who publicly stated that a health care bill without a public option would not be a deal killer, is probably privately tearing his hair out (if only he could grab his short shorn hair). Republican/Conservatives in Congress, and all over the country, are beside themselves with joy because they know that no health care bill will pass with a public option. The entire health care industry will also celebrate.
Reid obviously felt that this was something he had to do if he was going to survive his upcoming election in Nevada and be able to retain his Senate seat and majority leadership position. In a Mason-Dixon poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Reid trailed Republican challenger Sue Lowden 49 to 39 percent and he trailed the other Republican challenger, Danny Tarkanian, 48 to 43 percent. Even worse, the poll showed that almost 100% of Nevada voters know who Reid is and 50% have an unfavorable opinion of him, with only 38% favoring his performance.
In order to gain liberal and union support for his re-election, Reid switched, at least until the election is over in November, 2010. What does this mean for the health care bill? It is highly unlikely that it could pass the Senate with a public option; there wouldn’t be enough votes, even though states would be allowed to opt out. Anyway, what good would that do even if the bill would pass? No state would accept a public option if it meant the allocation of state funds to support it; states are already reducing Medicaid funds and limiting Medicaid enrollment due to the high costs involved and reduced tax collections caused by the severe recession.
Reid is the Democratic version of Chuck Grassley. Grassley, a Republican/Conservative snake (Senator) from Iowa, is the current Senate Finance Committee minority leader (he was the majority leader until John McCain met Joe the Plumber and embraced Sarah Palin) who, on the surface, was pretending to work on a compromise health care bill, but who, in reality, tried his best to subvert the will of the Finance Committee. Reid, on the other hand, pretended to work for compromise while secretly knowing all along that he would side with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and Nancy Pelosi, and subvert the health care proposal with the public option albatross.
I want a public option; I believe it is necessary in order to keep all parties involved in providing health care to Americans (doctors and the AMA, hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment companies, medical transportation companies, and state and local governments) just as honest and concerned about the patient as much as they are about revenues. But, I am willing to sacrifice the public option in the short term to get a health care bill out of Congress and on the President’s desk for signature that will do most of the other important things like reign in prescription drug costs, make health insurance universal (even if it’s through health insurance companies), control health insurance costs, control Medicare costs (even though I am about to register for Medicare), make “experimental treatments” (which allow insurance companies to refuse coverage) mainstream, and allow the working poor and the unemployed to keep their health insurance independent of their jobs.
That’s the problem with politicians, even Senators, who only have to run for office every six years, unlike their Representative brethren and sisters who are constantly running for office; they are always looking at the polls, trying to judge which way the wind is blowing. They know that if they are not bending with the wind, they will be swept away, and this very often prevents them from doing the right thing.
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