What went wrong?
I am fascinated by the increasing desperation surrounding the HealthCare reform bill. (Which is a misnomer because Health care itself is not being changed; they are just stirring around how it gets paid for.) the President is really sounding desperate when you hear him talking about it now. It is like he has begun to believe that if this fails his presidency fails. There is still a long time in his term for him to do something else if this doesn’t make it.
But you have to ask yourself, Why is this bill in so much trouble? Or even better, Whey the Hell didn’t they pass this last year? My theory on that is a bit different from most I have heard.
I really think that the one thing that has kept health care reform from passing, and has sunk any chance of the President’s promised and hoped for reconciliation and bipartisanship in government, was the Democrats 60 seat supermajority in the Senate.
This gave the Democrats a (false) sense of invincibility. If they had not had that last seat they would have approached this thing completely differently. They would have had to ACTUALLY TRY to work with the Republicans. And they would have found a few Republicans who would have worked with them. AS it is, they had the MAJORITY, they could pass anything they wanted to. So they made no real effort to work with anyone. They sort of solicited ideas, they talked a lot about Olympia Snow, they made some gestures but when push came to shove, instead of working together to find a common ground and get something done, they just said “We don’t really need you. If you aren’t going to come along, we’ll pass it anyway right over you.” Unfortunately, for them, they failed to remember that the Democratic Party is not at all monolithic when it comes to political ideals. There are LOTS of relatively conservative Democrats mixed with lots of exceptionally liberal Democrats. And since the more conservative ones would really like to keep their jobs, and just may have some actual standards and beliefs they won’t/can’t compromise the Democrats painted themselves into a corner. They crafted two bills, one in the House and one in the Senate that are not compatible with each other. The Republicans seeing that there was no real attempt to include them, sat back and started throwing stones, while the Democrats fought amongst themselves to make something. They had the votes to pass anything they wanted, so they passed nothing.
Now, too late, they don’t have the votes anymore and they are desperately trying to salvage something from the mess they foisted upon themselves. And I honestly believe that when push comes to shove and the arms are twisted and the metaphorical (maybe) knives are pulled in the back rooms, the Democrats will succeed in passing something. But what is coming is not going to be a well thought out, reasoned, rational bill. Because they can’t convince the house to vote for the Senates bill, they are going to foist some frankenbill off on the American people that may, MAY, lower some insurance costs, and MAY get some of us uninsured folks something that will vaguely resemble health insurance and a price that MAY be almost affordable. (I have my doubts about that one) But, due to the twisted, cobbled up, mishmash nature of the bill it will inevitably create two or three new levels of bureaucracy and regulatory confusion in the Health Care system. And any time there is an increase in bureaucracy and confusion there will be an equally inevitable increase in corruption and fraud. This combination will cost us all, each and every one of us a fortune in the future. Not right out of our pockets to doctors, or even to insurance companies, but to the government as it pays for the new bureaucrats and the new investigators to check on the bureaucrats, and the tons and tons of paperwork that it will generate and slow the whole system down even more.
I am not rally happy with the Republican Party right now, but at least when they have a majority they can pass the stuff they want to pass. Incompetence is, in the long run, more destructive that malice. Or possibly even outright evil.
But you have to ask yourself, Why is this bill in so much trouble? Or even better, Whey the Hell didn’t they pass this last year? My theory on that is a bit different from most I have heard.
I really think that the one thing that has kept health care reform from passing, and has sunk any chance of the President’s promised and hoped for reconciliation and bipartisanship in government, was the Democrats 60 seat supermajority in the Senate.
This gave the Democrats a (false) sense of invincibility. If they had not had that last seat they would have approached this thing completely differently. They would have had to ACTUALLY TRY to work with the Republicans. And they would have found a few Republicans who would have worked with them. AS it is, they had the MAJORITY, they could pass anything they wanted to. So they made no real effort to work with anyone. They sort of solicited ideas, they talked a lot about Olympia Snow, they made some gestures but when push came to shove, instead of working together to find a common ground and get something done, they just said “We don’t really need you. If you aren’t going to come along, we’ll pass it anyway right over you.” Unfortunately, for them, they failed to remember that the Democratic Party is not at all monolithic when it comes to political ideals. There are LOTS of relatively conservative Democrats mixed with lots of exceptionally liberal Democrats. And since the more conservative ones would really like to keep their jobs, and just may have some actual standards and beliefs they won’t/can’t compromise the Democrats painted themselves into a corner. They crafted two bills, one in the House and one in the Senate that are not compatible with each other. The Republicans seeing that there was no real attempt to include them, sat back and started throwing stones, while the Democrats fought amongst themselves to make something. They had the votes to pass anything they wanted, so they passed nothing.
Now, too late, they don’t have the votes anymore and they are desperately trying to salvage something from the mess they foisted upon themselves. And I honestly believe that when push comes to shove and the arms are twisted and the metaphorical (maybe) knives are pulled in the back rooms, the Democrats will succeed in passing something. But what is coming is not going to be a well thought out, reasoned, rational bill. Because they can’t convince the house to vote for the Senates bill, they are going to foist some frankenbill off on the American people that may, MAY, lower some insurance costs, and MAY get some of us uninsured folks something that will vaguely resemble health insurance and a price that MAY be almost affordable. (I have my doubts about that one) But, due to the twisted, cobbled up, mishmash nature of the bill it will inevitably create two or three new levels of bureaucracy and regulatory confusion in the Health Care system. And any time there is an increase in bureaucracy and confusion there will be an equally inevitable increase in corruption and fraud. This combination will cost us all, each and every one of us a fortune in the future. Not right out of our pockets to doctors, or even to insurance companies, but to the government as it pays for the new bureaucrats and the new investigators to check on the bureaucrats, and the tons and tons of paperwork that it will generate and slow the whole system down even more.
I am not rally happy with the Republican Party right now, but at least when they have a majority they can pass the stuff they want to pass. Incompetence is, in the long run, more destructive that malice. Or possibly even outright evil.
posted by exMI | 06:50
3 Comments:
Deliberate incompetence is evidence of malice : which is why GWB played his 'dummy' act to the hilt. Interestingly, Obama went in with no such billing...and is accordingly without excuses for the party that managed to somehow fund activities like foreign wars that they supposedly 'opposed'. I say 'supposedly' partly because I do not remember Obama ever making any bones about the idea that he thought the U.S. was wasting its military muscle in Iraq when Afghanistan was being neglected.
You can see why I mention this if you reflect the same thing is happening in healthcare : Bait & Switch.
And I agree. This bill is going to be worse than nothing...by quite a bit, actually.
Wow, my guy on the left thinks it blows too. That does not fill me with optimism.
I really have to wonder at times about my government.
'My guy on the Left' hehehehe
Left/Right is a mug's game : heads I win, tails you lose.
Nobody much really gives a flying whatever about ideology - the nature of the facade promoted to disguise government - if they have a chance to make a life without getting jacked around.
Knowing the insanity behind laws is just a protection racket providing stability for the rich - and crooked - should be a hint to take an interest in political systems...and induce a healthy dose of skepticism about 'conventional wisdom.'
I could never understand how someone who had seen 'behind the scenes' still believed in the drivel promoted to instill slavish obedience to Authority...not 'freedom'.
From http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2009/07/perception-alteration.html and its various irreverent articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptocracy
BTW It isn't just the USA that's disguised as something it isn't. It's just that the nation that made folk heroes out of the biggest liars doesn't know when to quit.
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