The Washington Post provided a nice overview yesterday, on the occasion of President Obama’s return from Ghana and the G8:

Headlines during his absence pointed to multiple problems—beyond the virtual wall of opposition among Republicans. There is resistance among conservative Blue Dog Democrats over the potential cost. There is nervousness among progressives that the White House might compromise too much on a public insurance option. The all-important Senate Finance Committee appears stymied. As a result, the prospects of floor action in the House and Senate before the August recess now appear in jeopardy.

Who’s representing Washington State on the all-important Senate Finance Committee? Maria Cantwell. Which way is she pushing her colleagues? Unclear at best.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

15 replies on “Why Is Health Care Reform in Jeopardy?”

  1. People why are you holding out for health care reform?!?!? Fuck, FDR tried to get it through with the Social Security Act in 1937 and failed. FDR couldn’t pull it off!! (Though he wanted Universal Health Care) Still, FDR couldn’t pull it off!! And you honestly think that Mr. Corporatist Obama will come up with anything???

    Pardon me while I laugh my fucking ass off!!

  4. It’s awesome to consider that I will continue to live at poverty level or below for the rest of my life due to my pre-existing condition. Kind of makes me want to stop taking the expensive meds I take every month, so as to save our poor government a little money. Perhaps it will help someone at Goldman Sachs buy a nice paper shredder or something. I’ll just die quietly now so my betters can have a better life.

  5. It’s not dead in the water. It’s just going to take longer, and if it does we’ll get a better bill. I’m happy that the Senate Finance Committee is stymied. Their bill is a piece of shit. It would be better to do nothing than pass that bill. The HELP committee’s bill is adequate if disappointing compared to single-payer, and close to 60 votes. It definitely has 50 and there are ways for the Democratic majority to push through without a supermajority. The biggest obstacle it has is the Finance bill.

    My hope is that the Finance Committee fails, and HELP takes the lead in the fall session. If so we could get meaningful reform passed by early next year. It won’t be single payer, but getting to single-payer politically means crossing this bridge first.

  6. “Let me make it very clear that everybody in that room thinks we ought to pass health care,” Hoyer said. But he also acknowledged that they still need to work through the details.

    I understand they want the best bill to get through, so I am not going to lose hope that something will be put forward. I also agree that there are probably many problems with the medicare structure, and hopefully they can make something more functional and less wasteful.

  7. Oh, golly gee whiz. If it isn’t one boogeyman it’s another.

    Now that there is a complete Democrat majority in the Congress, Obama fan bois are whining about Blue Democrats.

    It’s always something preventing The King from actually doing something instead of failing at everything.

  8. Fat people are a part of the problem. Being fat isn’t a pre-existing condition, it’s a self induced one.

    This country just has its priorities messed up. Even my bias against fatties isn’t reason enough for everyone to not have health insurance, even fatties. But with our colossal defense budget consuming so much of our resources I don’t see how we will eve be able to provide the kind of universal quality care we all deserve.

  9. What’s Eli Sanders pushing? Oh yeah, this tired attempt to make a story out of Cantwell’s refusal to push forth an impotent health care reform bill.

  10. Health care reform is in jeopardy because Obama isn’t leading the effort to get the damn votes. He needs to have changed politics as we know it, like he promised, he should have been using his 11 million e mila list which could have grown to 30 million by now, he needs to be having rallies and town halls in the districts of the senators anfd reps. who are holding back, he need to have Rahmbo call them up and tell them exactly who we are going to run against them if they don’t get on board and he needs to stop leaving the grass roots effort to ad hoc volunteers like some guy named Paul who organized a rally (75 people , woo hoo) at Cantwell’s office or other ad hoc people like some guy named Eli who works for an alt media hip blog outlet; with no coordination of any national message, either.

    The root of the problem is he isn’t changing politics as usual. He could have 75,000 in that footbal stadium at U Nebraska, he could fill Husky stadium and believe me if he had Maria Cantwell on stage there she’d be pleding to work her ass off for single payer if he’d of demanded it.

    And btw once you retreat from single payer the whole thing is so muddled andunclear and untested you can’t really sell people on it…you’ve basically conceded the main point which ins. cos. have got to go, they produce no value added, the whole business is a scummy scam, when you give up that point you are implicitly telling the public that they are okey dokey….which confirms the message that they do good and govt. is suspect and any govt. participation has to be an “option” and tentative and limited and we have to compromise with these blue dogs….

    in short, OBAMA IS BLOWING IT.

    Why can’t you lay the blame on him, he’s in charge of this whole thing 100% and in your posts he is notably absent. Dealing with Maria should take one phone call from him. He’s not using the political power and change energy he built up during the campaign he’s throwing it away so he’s only left with caving in to the craven congress people and politics as usual.

    Which as we all know, is insanity because for 75 years it hasn’t produced health care reform.

  14. I posted this elsewhere and it echoes in the same way that Eli’s broken-record coverage of this Cantwell non-story does, but it bears repeating:

    The big problem with UHC is that health care itself is prohibitively expensive. I want UHC… but I don’t think it’s feasible (especially with the nation’s growing budget issues), which is in part why politicians are pushing the wishy-washy co-op alternative.

    The blame for the high cost always gets shifted to the admin costs of dealing with health insurance people… but one look at the costs of the average prescription, the average doctor’s salary or the average piece of medical equipment shows that streamlining the payment process isn’t going to bring costs down nearly enough.

    I’m a broken record in saying this, but for health insurance reform to work, you’ve got to fundamentally reform how we practice health care in this country and start getting the cost of health care down.

  15. I don’t want UHC. Even if they had a magic wand that would somehow reduce cost, increase coverage and increase quality along with research (add all this up and does it really make sense?) UHC is the ultimate in goverment control. Once they get health care they control our health which is our life. Plan and simple. Don’t give up your freedom for security. Yea its not easy but freedom is not easy. It requires depending upon yourself which is scary but it is a must. If not for yourself do it for your kids. The goverment needs you dependent on them. Another word for dependency is addiction. They believe they know better how to spend our money then we do. They have “educated” ideas that the average american would not spend on because they don’t make common sense. Don’t give in. There are things we need the goverment for but you have to draw the line somewhere. Those who do not have insurance because of a previous condition….don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are a less of a person then them and you can’t do it for yourself. There are non profit organizations out there that will help you. Believe it or not there are people willing to help you. But you have to want to help yourself first.

Comments are closed.