The Democrats' Authoritarian Health 'Reform' Bill and the Ascendency of Corporatism

[IndianaGreen]

The Democrats' Authoritarian Health "Reform" Bill and the Ascendency of Corporatism in the Democratic Party

Miles Mogulescu.Entertainment attorney
Posted: December 23, 2009 02:32 PM

If Barack Obama and today's Congressional Democrats were passing Social Security for the first time, instead of a creating a public program, they would likely be mandating that every American buy an annuity from a private, profit-driven Wall Street firm like Goldman Sachs (who could keep 15%-20% of their payments for overhead, profits and executive salaries) with the IRS serving as Wall Street's collection agency. If they were passing Medicare today, they would be mandating that every American buy a health insurance policy from profit-driven companies like Aetna, Humana and Wellpoint that would start paying benefits with 40% co-pays and $10,000 a year deductibles when they turn 65.

Therefore, when Senate "liberals" argue that their health "reform" bill, while compromised, is like the first iterations of Social Security and Medicare and provides a "starter home" that can be added to later, many progressives respond that its foundation is built on quicksand and that it's not incremental reform but a step in the fundamentally wrong direction.

Democrats and liberals once stood for providing a social safety net through government programs like Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, which were administered by government employees for the benefit of the American people and not by private companies for the benefit of their shareholders and executives who receive multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses. For over 60 years, they stood for the principal that health care should be a right and not a privilege and that Medicare should be extended to all Americans.

Democrats in Congress, under the leadership of Barack Obama, have now turned that principal on its head and made health care neither a right, nor a privilege, but an obligation for individual citizens and a government-mandated profit center for private corporations. For the first time in American history, Democrats are about to pass a bill that uses the coercive power of the federal government to force every American -- simply by virtue of being an American -- to purchase the products of a private company. At heart, the Democrats' solution to 48 million uninsured is to force the them to buy inadequate private insurance -- with potentially high deductibles and co-pays and no price controls -- or be fined by the federal government.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-democrats-authoritari_b_402146.html

[polpilot]

1. Alert! This truth posting HAS to stop.

[suede1]

2. I would like to shout to the people supporting this bill, "you're not helping!"

At least be honest.

K & R

[ProSense]

3. This is so stupid.

"If Barack Obama and today's Congressional Democrats were passing Social Security for the first time, instead of a creating a public program, they would likely be mandating that every American buy an annuity from a private"

Yeah, remember when they joined the Republicans to help Bush privatize Social Security?

People are saying some of the most moronic things because they can't comprehend that this bill is progress.

[Odin2005]

4. Suprised I'm rec'ing one of your posts.

:hi:

[treestar]

5. It's not a product that anyone would turn down

If people can't afford it, they want it. Nobody turns it down. If they have it, they are happy, not thinking they'll save money by not buying it.

[ShortnFiery]

6. Of course, because you can NOT refuse ...

if you get my drift. :evilgrin:

[Garam_Masala]

7. K&R

[depakid]

8. "like the first iterations of Social Security and Medicare and provides a "starter home" that can be

added to later...

Easy enough to eviscerate that shallow tome:

Some paint the Senate bill as a flawed first step to reform that will be improved over time, citing historical examples such as Social Security. But where Social Security established the nidus of a public institution that grew over time, the Senate bill proscribes any such new public institution. Instead, it channels vast new resources – including funds diverted from Medicare – into the very private insurers who caused today’s health care crisis. Social Security’s first step was not a mandate that payroll taxes which fund pensions be turned over to Goldman Sachs!

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/december/pro-single-payer-physicians-call-for-defeat-of-senate-health-bill