The Problem with the "Anything is Better Than Nothing" Mentality on Healthcare Reform

[Bullet1987]

There is a split in the Democratic Party...a split that I don't think will be going away anytime soon. A number of political columnists along with a substantial amount here on DU (more centrist, fairweather folk) have what I call a quasi-defeatist mentality on HCR. It shows itself in the idea that anything...no matter how bad or watered-down it is...is better than nothing. Like a parent chastising his/her child, they tell us we SHOULD be happy anything is passing at all. They don't want to push Democrats in Congress or Obama, they seem to be perfectly fine with whatever the hell we get. The other side (the side that follows Olbermann, Maddow, Big Ed, etc) has more of a fire in their belly. They see this as a golden opportunity being squandered by Democrats and Democrats alone. You can't blame Republicans for this they say, we have the numbers and the wind at our back. This camp doesn't just want ANYTHING, they want HCR that matters and that will be the most effective.

Well, it seems Obama and the Dems have sided with the centrists on this one. Yes, I'm on the liberal side of this issue. You see, the major problem with the "anything is better than nothing" crowd is that their argument is flat out false. Anything is NOT better than nothing if what you're getting is not substantially better than what we have (but rather very, very marginally better). I personally would not be surprised if Obama has a very tough re-election in 2012. I also doubt if he does win, his numbers will look anything like they did in 2008. HCR was what most people wanted, and they wanted REAL reform. Not some corporatist insurance mandate with no public option. That's NOT reform as people like Michael Moore and Rachel Maddow have pointed out. The worse mistake Dems can make is that Republicans won't come out in force and sneak by and win an election. Let's also not forget that election fraud is STILL a very real threat to the integrity of our Republic. If the Dems screw this up (which it looks like they have), whatever happens to them in 2010 and 2012 will be their own fault. They had public support on this, but they decided to strengthen the insurance industry instead of doing what was right. Centrist Dems can't blame their brothers and sisters if they say "to hell with it" and sit the next couple of elections out. You can't be blind to the fact that we're getting screwed and OUR self-interests are not being represented anywhere.

[eleny]

1. Do they side with the centrists or are they at the mercy of the centrists?

Should we expect Bernie Sanders to vote against this?

I want Medicare for all. So I ask you, with respect, What will happen if this effort dies? What do you say to the people who would qualify for this new category of Medicare? Btw, I won't qualify for it since I have health insurance through my retirement association.

K&R

[yurbud]

2. stop calling them "centrists" they are corporate owned

centrists makes them sound like pragmatic compromisers, but they don't compromise, and pragmatism would lead them to cross their corporate owners and least some of the time (like when the public overwhelmingly supports or opposes something).

[eleny]

3. Good point!

But the dilemma remains. Does the effort die now? How long do we wait for it to be resurrected if it's defeated?

[mrcheerful]

5. Exactly, insurance companies hae been fighting against health care reform since the 40's

they have managed to get an upper hand on regulation, thanks to the republicons and have stopped reform every since. Folks don't seem to realize that the best thing we can expect is just getting a reform bill signed right now. Once there is a bill signed that opens the door to improvements of the bill in the future. A weak bill is better then no bill at all. That is why the republicons are fighting tooth and nail to kill any bill passing, they know how the system works, which is why they are trying to kill it before it gets voted on.

[eleny]

11. It's a tough reality to swallow

I'm angry about a lot of things. I'm also old enough to have seen a lot of good happen in this country. I'd just like to see a great leap with this health care push and not just a short hopscotch hop on one foot.

[WeDidIt]

8. If it's defeated now, it'll be 20 years before it's attempted again

and it'll be twice as hard to get half as much as is in this bill in the next attempt.

[yurbud]

9. turn up the volume on Congress for the "reconciliation"

[eleny]

10. I read that then it would have to go back to the committee Baucus chairs

I'm for whatever gets Medicare for all accomplished. But if goes back to Baucus's hands, what chance do we have?

I hate this. But it looks like everywhere we turn there's another brick wall. And every time, we climb it. It's all we can do. I'm sick and tired of crumbs while the corporations dine. "More porridge, sir?"

[RDANGELO]

4. If the House or the Senate bill passes,

it will mean that nearly one hundred percent of the American people will get health care, and thousands of people will not die every year because they don't have health care. If you say don't pass anything, that means you are willing to let that happen because you didn't get everything that you wanted. If you look at all the other industrialized nations, the way that they have kept costs down is by eliminating or restricting for profit insurance companies. The public option is about bringing down costs not necessarily expanding coverage. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

[kenny blankenship]

6. The reason for "pass anything!" is simply to avoid looking like fools and bought-off crooks

which is the scalding truth of the matter.

And they aren't just passing "anything", they are going to be passing THE ONE THING that mattered to them all along: forcing all of us to tithe to the insurance companies. That's been in every bill except for the summarily dismissed HR676 "Medicare for all" measure. So they twisted this and that and floated a million variations and made it look like they were working so so very hard for you, and then they jammed it in there where you'll never get it out again.

A majority of the people support Medicare For All. But the Republican Rump wants private insurance for all. The Centrist solution would have been a Public Option open to all. An even larger majority supports that. But NO, we couldn't have that. That got negotiated away almost as fast as Single Payer was dropped. Then the Public Option only for some was offered. That got whittled away and watered down to the point where it could be acceptably dropped without major outcry. Then we got Medicare for 55-65 yros. and not even all of them. Now more negotiations are on deck. Thank You, but No! This has long passed the point of being an obscene joke.

Mandates is what you got. Mandates --and not even the Public Option. And in endorsing this crap, Obama is now an opponent of his own plan. If a Democratic presidential candidate had proposed this during the 2008 campaign he or she would have been pelted with rocks and garbage.

Pass Anything! is the new rallying cry of the Suckers.

[Lilith Velkor]

12. One candidate was pelted with rocks for proposing a mandate WITH a public option

by those very same Suckers.

Cognitive dissonance is a helluva drug.

[WeDidIt]

7. Kill Healthcare reform and you shut the door for another generation

Accept the compromise and it can be built upon over the next generation.

That's how it worked with Social Security and that's how it worked with Medicare.

That's how our system works. Change is slow to come. Increments are the best you can hope for.