December 17, 2009 7:19 AM

Neither health, nor care...nor even reform

The American Insurance cartel IS the death panel.

  • Keith Olbermann

I write this profoundly saddened by the travesty about to be perpetrated upon us in the name of "health care reform". HB 3590 contains neither a single payer system nor a public option nor a Medicare buy-in. What will likely emerge is a gift to the American health insurance industry. Senators bought and paid for by the industry (et tu, Joe Lieberman and Mary Landrieu??) are in the process of creating a health care system that will place every American in the thrall of the health insurance industry.

The worst part of this is that Barack Obama, the man who ran for President on a platform promising universal health care reform, is now pushing this putrid corpse of a bill by engaging in fear-mongering worthy of those who whip teabaggers into a foaming-at-the-mouth frenzy. By asserting that the federal government will eventually go bankrupt if HB 3590 doesn't pass, President Obama has crossed the line between "compromise" and "compromised". He's proven that "Change We Can Believe In" is a joke that's being played on those of us who dared to believe. Obama is less than a year into his Presidency, and I want my vote back. Not that I would have voted for John McCain, but if I'd known that Obama would turn out to be such a cowardly, gutless compromiser, I would have stayed away from the polls altogether.

Combine HB 3590 with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and you can understand where my disillusionment comes from. Frankly, we've been sold a bill of goods. We knew that John McCain would sell us to Big Business and the warmongers. There was no mystery to his agenda. Barack Obama promised that things would be different, that he would help us take this country back from those who traffic in ignorance, reaction, and self-interest. Instead, his pursuit of bipartisanship at all costs has led him to cave in at every conceivable juncture. Because of his lack of leadership and commitment, HB 3590 is neither "health care" nor "reform". Instead of being "Change We Can Believe In", it's a gift to insurance companies, who can almost literally what they want, when they want, and to whom they want...all while being protected from antitrust laws. Who needs to be competitive when you've been handed an almost guaranteed monopoly that's been structured to remain that way?

We've been sold a bill of goods by a President who promised better. I never would have believed on January 20, 2009 that we would be where we are just a few months later. It's become evident that behind the flowery rhetoric and the lofty principles expressed in his speech lies cowardice, lack of commitment, and a fundamental lack of honesty. In short, we've been lied to. Republicans still run this country; we've just been pretending that we won the 2008 election.

WE DESERVE BETTER.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on December 17, 2009 7:19 AM.

Joe Lieberman (n.): Latin for "I'm a dick and a miserable excuse for a human being" was the previous entry in this blog.

Today's nominee for the Tasteless Advertising Hall of Fame is the next entry in this blog.

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