Max Eternity - Ever since Senator Obama announced his support for a Single-Payer [1], Medicare-for-all, style of Universal Healthcare--while campaigning to be President--Progressives have heeded the call and lent their support. Yet, once becoming President, as a result of invigorated new, young Liberals and hard-core advocates of social justice, much of the President's base found itself disillusioned with his swift ideological reversal, now having embraced nearly all of "The Bush Doctrine" named after the former White House resident. Nonetheless, the Left held steadfast, in hopes that the replacement for Single-Payer, known as the "Public Option", would be vigorously endorsed by Obama. But as it turns out, those hopes too have been dashed, with the leadership, or lack thereof, coming from President Obama resulting in what is being described as a "bailout for the health insurance industry.
Labor unions are displeased too, with the President of the AFL-CIO saying recently that "Health Care Bill Must Change to Be Real Reform [2]." And Howard Dean, former leader of the Democratic National Committee, which got Obama elected, has said in response the the Senate bill"This is a bigger bailout for the insurance industry [3] than AIG [4],"
Among other political heavyweights, weighing in on all this is Jacob S. Hacker, who is said to be one of the core "Thinkers" that originally conceptualize the idea of a Public Option. Of the now dire circumstances surrounding the current healthcare bill, Hacker says in part:
Progressives have good reason to be angry. Yet we should harness our anger to fix the bill--now and every year from now. The current bills in Congress do too little to help Americans immediately; their main actions are delayed for years. If and when legislation passes, progressives should demand immediate concrete actions to make the promise of a reform a reality more quickly and more effectively.
So a bill must pass. Yet it must be a better bill that passes. And it must be understood by the President, the Congress and every American as only a step--an important but ultimately incomplete step--toward the vital goal that the campaign for the public option embodied: good affordable health care for every American.
In the video below, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks with author, constitutional lawyer and journalist for Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald [8].
Links:
[1] http://maxeternity.blogspot.com/2009/12/healthcare-yesteryear-and-today-obama.html
[2] http://maxeternity.blogspot.com/2009/12/trumka-to-obamas-senate-health-care.html
[3] http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8640050
[4] http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9337626
[5] http://maxeternity.blogspot.com/2009/12/at-urgings-of-obama-supreme-court.html
[6] http://maxeternity.blogspot.com/2009/12/progressive-black-caucus-rep-maxine.html
[7] http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/why-i-still-believe-bill
[8] http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/
[9] http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/21/health_bill_passes_key_senate_hurdle