MANHATTAN, Kan. - Saturday night's vote in the House of Representatives was a real disappointment to me. As a member of the uninsured, I was hopeful that Obama and the Democrats would lead as they had on Social Security, the Voting Rights Act and Medicare and fulfill Obama's promise to "fundamentally transform the United States of America." But instead the party "of the people" has in the words of Rep. Massa (D-NY) enshrined "in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry."
This isn't what health care reform was supposed to do.
For 17 years I enjoy national health care in Italy. Broken bones were mended, allergies brought under control, kidney stones dissolved. All at no cost to me. Whenever I needed to see a doctor I could either go down to the local clinic or make an appointment with a specialist and my tab was covered.
Returning to the US, not having health care loomed large for me. For a while my employers provided it, but since 2006 I have been without coverage. This past January I had a staph infection in my left elbow that cost me $12,000. One quarter of my annual income. It wiped out my savings. Now if anything goes wrong with my house, car or my health, I have no money to take care of the problem without going into debt.
I though health care reform was going to change that reality for millions of Americans like myself. It isn't.
In voting against H.R. 3962, Rep. Kucinich articulated what a growing number of progressives have realized as we have watch the health care reform debate unfold:
"During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The "robust public option" which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies."
It is a sorry day when I have to say I support Rep. Lynn Jenkins' vote against H.R. 3962. It is a failed bill and the "public option" feature it includes is a farce.
R. J. Eskow wrote last week for the Huffington Post about the H.R. 3962's public option:
The plan will have low enrollment and little power to negotiate, causing the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) to state as fact what I've long considered possible: That the public option could become a dumping ground where private plans jettison sicker people, while lacking the efficiencies of scale or negotiating power to get better rates or administer itself more economically.
As a result, says the CBO, a public plan's premiums might be higher than private insurance. While the CBO's word isn't gospel, it's entirely possible that they're underestimating the cost of any "public option" we're likely to see this year. The likeliest political outcome, once the House and Senate bills are combined, is a non-robust "public option" with a state-by-state opt out. The CBO didn't consider the opt-out when it came up with its shocking (to some) estimate.
My disappointment in Barack Obama's leadership on this issue is profound and follows a long series of disappointments during his first 11 months in office. He promised on the campaign trail that he would opposed the individual mandate. He said the negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN and he campaigned against backroom deals with PhARMA. In action he has done just the opposite.
The citizens of this country did not have a seat at the table in this debate. Proponents of the Single Payer didn't have a seat at the table. Obama has lied to the American public and given the insurance industry a bill that entrenches and enriches them and will cost me my health, shorten my life and will bankrupt me should I need emergency care. At this point, I hope health care reform fails in the Senate because no bill is better than what passed the House Saturday night.
So much for Obama's promise to "fundamentally transform the United States of America."
Christopher, I'm 100% with you. I believe that the only way that we will improve cost, quality and equity in healthcare (yes, I believe we can do all at the same time) is through a single payer system. I wasn't disappointed Saturday night because I've been nursing my disappointment since late 2007 when it became clear to me that none of the leading presidential candidates (except the doomed John Edwards) were even close to considering single payer, national health care systems. I'm not giving up though because I believe that single payer is the only way to improve quality, cost and access for all.