New motto.......Kill the Mandate or Kill the bill.

[yourout]

It has been touched upon in several threads and in my eyes
without at least a decent public option either the mandate goes or the whole bill gets scrapped.

[Bullet1987]

1. Democrats Need to Fight for what they want

So, to review what's in the Senate *Health Care Reform* bill:


1. No Single Payer

2. No public option

3. No expanded Medicare coverage

4. No drug re-importation

5. No cost controls

6. No renegotiation of drug prices

7. Capped annual coverage for care

8. Individual mandated coverage

9. Anti-trust exemption for insurance companies

10. A tax on middle class insurance plans

11. Taxes that start up in January, but benefits that don’t start until 2014

[BlueIdaho]

13. Well, since you put it that way...

Wow - this bill really sucks! I mean it REALLY sucks.

Death to JoeBamaCare.

[Armstead]

2. I was about to post the same thing

It would be easier to accept the losses of the good stuff if they weren't about to make the overall situation worse by strengthening and expanding the stranglehold that private insurance bastards already have.

They should follow the oath that says: First do no harm.

[tridim]

3. There is no justification for the mandate. It should obviously be stripped.

Pass the mandate with a real PO next year.

[Laelth]

4. Agreed. k&r n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[tritsofme]

5. Killing the mandate would kill the bill.

No one is going to go for abolishing pre-existing conditions clause without a mandate.

[MNDemNY]

7. so be it.

[Armstead]

8. No one being the insurance companies

[OhioBlue]

14. well, you do bring up a good point...

maybe they will have to amend the "pre-existing condition" clause too. If they can make insurance more portable, less expensive, non-discriminatory and make it much harder for the insurance companies to cancel policies and much harder to deny a policy pre-existing conditions, perhaps we can get to a place where we have a starting point and a strategy for future legislation.

[verges]

16. Oh well. nt

[MNDemNY]

6. Kill it. Kill it dead.

[Orangepeel]

9. they aren't going to kill the mandate and also prohibit exclusion for pre-existing conditions

it is both or neither. So, it seems now like the bill will be scrapped.

[mopinko]

15. anyone who thinks otherwise is

not operating in the same space time continuum as the rest of us.

[yourout]

10. Here is my email to Senator Feingold.

I am a longtime admirer of your willingness to do the right thing and your steadfast adherence to your principles. I have little doubt you will do the right thing with the current Health Care reform debate but would like to pass on my concerns.

While long term the best thing for this county would be a National Single Payer system like many of the European nations. The current political climate and immense influence of the Health care lobbyist makes this an impossibility.

If the current legislation before the Senate does not contain at minimum a robust public option it must not contain a mandate for the purchase of health insurance. Without the public option there is simply not enough incentive for large private health insurers to reign in skyrocketing health care costs and the mandate would equate to a huge government inspired giveaway to the very companies that are extorting American taxpayers presently.

While I am in agreement that health care reform is desperately needed I can not support a bill that requires the purchase of health care insurance without the availability of a public option.

Thank you for your time.

[beaglelover]

12. Great email! n/t

[jillan]

11. With the mandate, this has become a gigantic Christmas present to the Ins Companies.

It's become the opposite of what we wanted.