To be or not

Mother throws out his toys,
so twenty-nine year-old man
burns down her house.

To be or not to be – a public option. I don’t know about anyone else, but I, for one, am tired of hearing about health care. I know it is tremendously important, and I know it needs some serious thought and debate. But first of all we are not hearing much in the way of serious debate, mainly just more loud noise. And even when you get away from the loud noise you find that over here they are saying a public option is off the table, and over there they are saying it’s not off the table. A few still cling to the idea of a single-payer system, but most everyone else, including Obama, believe such a system is not possible. Then there is talk of setting up some kind of co-operatives that would essentially be the same as a public option (which they would not). There are a large enough number of Democrats who say they will not accept a system that does not include a public option. And Governor Dean insists that when a bill finally does emerge it will include a public option. It seems to me that no one really knows what is going to happen by the time this is over. Some say Obama is so desperate to get a bill, any bill, passed he will compromise and compromise until no true reform will happen, merely some cosmetic change that he can pass off as health care reform.

If the system that emerges does not negatively impact the Insurance industry it will be useless. There is no sensible reason that the Insurance parasites should have anything to do with health care. There is no reason Insurance people should have anything whatsoever to say about an individual’s health care, especially when we know their bottom line is profit. Health care should not be a for profit enterprise, period. When you hear Republicans braying about not wanting government officials between you and your doctor don’t forget that what you have now are Insurance bureaucrats inserting themselves (from a great distance, in fact) between you and your doctor.

I cannot see what all this fuss is about. The basic problem is simple. Insurance companies are ripping off their clients right and left, the cost of medical care increases far beyond the means of many people to pay for it. Thousands go bankrupt if they have a serious illness. Millions go without health insurance (or care) at all, in the only industrialized country that allows it to happen, the current system is inefficient and much too expensive, much of this is due to having to pay Insurance company profits and pharmaceutical companies ridiculous advertising campaigns, and so on. It is perfectly obvious that a single-payer system is by far the most sensible, reasonable, and cost effective. If such a system is impossible to achieve at the moment we need a public option. There is no other way to hold Insurance companies responsible, not through some hanky-panky co-ops or some other Rube Goldberg ideas. Obama and the Democrats should insist on a public option and ram it through no matter what the bought and paid for Republicans demand. And if any Blue Dog Democrats want to prevent it, they should be publicly ridiculed for their greed and short-sightedness and voted out of office as soon as possible. Frankly, if it comes to this, I would urge Obama to husband through a single-payer system and have done with it. If he keeps on insisting on bipartisanship there will be no health care reform at all, so why not go for broke. The only even remote chance Republicans have of ever regaining power is if they can block Obama’s health care reform and/or see the stimulus fail. They have made it clear they want Obama (and the nation) to fail. This is little more than treason. They must be avoided and bypassed just as would avoid a rabid dog.

LKBIQ:
Last words are for fools who haven't said enough.
Karl Marx

TILT:
A sting from a striped eel catfish can be fatal.