On one side, conservative Republicans allied with the health insurance industry are doing their best — including disrupting the democratic town hall meetings across the country, — to maintain the status quo.
On the other side, the Democratic Party, bullish from two back-to-back election victories and a clear public mandate, is determined to change the health care system once for all.
In round one, Republicans, with help from the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, were able to throw a few punches by stalling the debate until after the congressional recess in September.
Despite scoring a few points, conservatives are poised to lose this battle, as the health care issue has not only brought loyal liberals to the battleground, it has also brought consumer groups and the business community in on the Democrats’ side.
While at the end of the day Democrats will likely have their way, it’s important to know what that means.
At best, Democrats will be able to pass a health care reform bill with a limited public option. However, the insurance industry will continue to maintain an immeasurable ability to influence the cost of health care. Is this what health care reform is all about?
The current health care reform idea is a part of President Obama’s campaign promise to help provide health care insurance to all Americans, as well as to bring down the health care inflation from its current 10 percent annual rate.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the health care proposals, as presented in congressional committees, will be able to cover 95 percent of the 47 million uninsured Americans. However, it will do nothing to control the cost of health care, which is bankrupting the country.
This makes the current health care reform proposal a single-part solution to a two-part problem.
Obama, gun shy from the Clinton experience in 1993, crafted the health care reform idea during his 2008 campaign without a single-payer option. Then, the candidate Obama and his advisors wrongly believed that health care reform without a single-payer option would easier to pass than the universal-care options proposed by President Bill Clinton.
The Obama team seems to have forgotten the fact that, as the biggest stakeholder of a more than $2.5 trillion industry, health insurance companies are not going take any chance of reform and risk billions of dollars of profit. Not when they have their friend, the Republican Party, helping fight their battle.
The insurance industry, which is in between doctor and patient, is only there to squeeze profit out of both without offering a tangible value to either.
A significant portion of the trillions of health care dollars spent on brokers, advertising, lobbying, paperwork, record-keeping and executive bonuses by the health care industry contribute no value to better people’s health. Yet, they make up of a sizable percentage of double-digit health care inflation.
Therefore, as long as the insurance companies are in the forefront of the business, no amount of tinkering — without a single-payer system, controlled by either government or a government-regulated agency — is going to bring down health care costs.
The White House and the Democratic leadership in Congress have made a strategic mistake by taking the single-payer system out of the health care debate. Not only has it deprived the country of a real health care reform opportunity, it has also weakened the Democrats’ bargaining position. Had they started the debate with a single-payer threshold, they would have at least come up with a public insurance option with bipartisan support. Instead, they are fighting with the members of their own party.
It’s still not too late for Democrats to act. They should introduce a new bill when they reconvene the House of Representatives after summer recess and pass a single-payer, comprehensive health care reform bill with or without Republican support. That will end the health care debate, once for all.
• Roger Adhikari has been a Tracy resident for more than 17 years and works as a finance and management consultant in the Silicon Valley.
What could be better than crazy talk about socialism with a Proud Tracy Lib?
Did you happen to notice the libs are paddling upstream without only one socialist paddle and they want us to get into a "socialist" boat with them?
Wake up Jerry. I and others like me used to think like that too until a few weeks ago.
Funny thing is PrdLib, some of the banks didn't get a bail out and did well. Others got a bail out and asked for more.
Now there are some cracks starting to show in the liberal platform and it's time for me to step off.
I'm not willing to put the entire on some half-baked, welfare system at a the expense of weak economy and a pre-depression era workforce and a prez that can't pull us outta war.
Keep your promised first before you make crazy talk with me. I really don't see what you're so proud of.
More crazy talk. Speaking of the Post Office and jobs is like an oxy-moron. Didn't the prez admit to us how bad the US Postal Service is doing? Crazy liberal talk.
You know the how the LLNL and Sandia just went through laying folks off? Yes government created jobs. Gone. You proud yet?
Don't jump to conclusions. I only mentioned "IT jobs" because I heard Jerry McNerney said, IT. But, at least, now you are STARTING to come around. I just hope you realize what you stepped in and realize what's wrong with the picture Jerry McNerney is painting.
You may also want to go Pow-Wow with Nancy, before you start ranting about GWB? You guys are starting to make him look good. Saying GWB gave out TARP money. Not like this he didn't.
Hocus Pocus. No, this isn't stimulation. This is Nuts. Liberals don't have a clue. You know your you better get in line with the rest of the Proud Libs. One of them admitted to the American people that the country is "already broke".
The fact is the Proud Liberals simply reproduced an argument that makes the case for healthcare reform. But what's clear from discussing it with you is that the Liberals have absolutely no understanding how to implement health care reform.
Hey, look, I'd be the first one to help them do it. But you are talking crazy talk. Not like that. I won't get in the boat you are trying to build. And I don't care to support you wasting my tax dollars to build it.
It's not too late. You can make the switch too.
You are absolutely correct in that the business of litigations in all forms needs to be reigned in, including the corrupt lobbyist that support it.
Just because they have a different perspective than you doesn't make it hocus pocus. Argue your points based on facts you can substantiate, and an intelligent discussion can take place.
That being the case we need to focus on jobs and not just play makebelieve that they plan to stimulate the economy with IT jobs. Did you catch that Buzzword that Jerry McNerney is now playing little league football with?
IT Jobs? Really?
Do you also realize that these "IT" jobs are not here in the USA? Jerry may not realize it but he is talking about jobs that are set up in a remote server CoLocation, in other countries, where they pay IT personel who outsource our healthcare-dataprocessing jobs?
Look at it this way, if you can't stay focused on the issue of jobs how do you expect your Congressperson to do the same?
Well, I guess they should have been smarter to have focused on jobs to begin with and not devise a way to raise our taxes to pay for jobs/economys?
The problem with Democrats is they don't know how to PRIORITIZE. Catch that? PRIORITIZE.
Just a couple of quick ideas for Nancy and Jerry so they can learn the art of prioritizing:
Focus on NOT giving our "IT" jobs away.
(doesn't he live near the Silicon Bubble Burst?)
Focus on getting control of spiraling special interest lawsuits.
No more Socialist, HOCUS POCUS.
Sorry!
If they are truly concerned they would have prevented this castrophic health insurance hike of 78 percent within few years while housing market took a nosedive!
Did we know that was happening while our focus was on the war? Seems to be clever at shifting our focus, just don't trust our government anymore, sorry to say.