Contact
Subscribe
Pig-trough health care on the GOP docket
Why do the “fiscally conservative” Repubs who swept back into power last week want to foil implementation of the health reform law when it cuts the deficit and creates jobs – the very things they convinced the voting public that they stand for?
Oh, yeah. That’s why. Fear, lies and populist pandering protects their corporate and military interests.
Was the public duped, or do we really have a populist movement in the United States for continued economic inequalities that make the Gilded Age look like fun?
To answer that, we must first answer this: How strong will liberals, progressives and other equity-loving patriots fight for implementation of the health reform law? Flaws and all?
It takes a village and then some to fight the U.S. free-market, health-care, pig-trough system of unequal illness creation. President Obama was able to open the steel door for change after 14 months of slogging through blue dog Dems and shameless lying Repubs to produce the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. Progress from here is up to us. Again.
At least, after this Tuesday, we know what we’re up against, and it’s not just corporate power. It’s worse: It’s a public indifferent and hostile to the very concept of equality, hell-bent on fighting for unbridled corporate power that segregates our society in a way that only the government used to be able to do.
What will progressives do this year to try to keep the door open for more health care regulation, more governmental accountability, and more centralized control of our gluttonous health care non-system?
An equitable society depends on keeping that door ajar for more humane structural changes to come – but we’ll only get there if New Mexico and the country realize what we voted for last week and plan accordingly.
Terry Schleder is an Albuquerque health policy agitator and organizer. He’s worked in health equity and community epidemiology movements in New Mexico for more than 10 years and holds a masters degree in public health from UNM.
|
Share
Tweet
|
Advertisements
|
5 comments so far. Scroll down to submit your own comment.
Leave a response
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I’ve been around the block a time or two and i still don’t understand the bogeyman characterization of corporations. I’d like someone to explain just exactly how they do what the writer of this piece claims they do. What i see is businesses that are owned by millions of stockholders who include IRA investors. Where does money we invest for retirement go? I hope it doesn’t go to greedy unions. I certainly hope corporations make money or my 401s are worthless…….
The ObamaCare law was a flawed, monstrously complex and opaque exercise in spreading government power into private, free enterprise. Remember even Pelosi said we had to pass it to see what was in it, even she was not aware nor wanted to be aware of it. The American public, at least the 47% who want it repealed (vs. the 46% who don’t) has voted against it already in the midterms. Already, my private insurance has gone up 25% due to ObamaCare, they admitted that when raising the premiums. Already I have bells and whistles I could have bought before, but declined due to high costs, I can no longer decline them. ObamaCare forces people into coverages they would not freely choose due to costs, but now we have no choices. And, in that regard, many Dr.s may well say no thanks to my policy, so can I really keep my Dr. or will it be like Medicare in a few years? No, and in a few years, I will probably not get to keep even the policy I have now, which I don’t like as well as my old one due to higher costs and “benefits” I don’t want or need. But the bottom ine for all thinking Americans is that you cannot cover 30 million+++ uncovered people and increase coverages for everyone and make it cost less, it just doesn’t make sense, someone has to pay, and it is the existing policyholders. And repeating the tired old lie that ObamaCare will cut the deficit is just beyond the pale, again, who can be so naive as believe a new multi-trillion $$ entitlement will save money? The people voted against that idea too. If Obama wanted to cover these uncovered people fine, do it honestly and raise taxes for that so we can see what we are paying for and getting. This ObamaCare is just trying to do the same thing without being honest about who pays and about forcing everyone into the same government selected insurance policies.
A better question; why would they want to implement the flaws?
When the animus against “Republicans” begins to drive decision making, the decision making is flawed. Had there been a truly bipartisan effort to fix the flaws, we would have ended up with a better package to begin with.
Time for citizens of all parties to stop beating their partisan drums, and insist upon meaningful dialogue on complex issues, imho.
We need health care reform in this country and especially here in NM. We are a very poor state for the most part. Many people have very limited access to health care. In our rural communities and on tribal lands this is a huge problem. Without a healthy populace we will have worse problems than at present. Health insurance companies already come between the doctor and the patient. As a retired nurse, I am very fearful for the health of our state.
It could be because it costs more than we as a nation can afford and has too many pitfalls in it , not to mention that it vies the government domain over a part of our lives that should be left to the doctors and the family.
Maybe it is because most Americans feel we can better direct our lives than a bunch of bureaucrats and politicians.
Maybe it is because Americans feel it is against the Constitution to force them to take something they do not want.
There is a whole line of maybes here, but I don’t want to waste you time to read them. It is your right as one of those Americans to stick your head in the sand and ignore the facts.