HCR passes the House
Congratulations to President Obama, to those in Congress who kept pushing for this to happen, and to the activists across the country who stiffened their spines.
The reform is far from perfect -- it's not exactly what I wanted or exactly what anyone wanted -- but it's a vast improvement on the cruel and unsustainable status quo, and in the months and years to come it will be revisited and improved, as such reforms have been in the past.
Now, is there some way that all the far-right loons who think this is a Communist take-over and Obama is the second Stalin, and all the far-left loons who think it's a corporate sell-out and Obama is the second Bush, can go off somewhere and fight each other and leave us sane people alone?
Update (22 March): Read David Frum's hard but wise words for his fellow conservatives, and Andrew Sullivan's roundup of reactions.
The reform is far from perfect -- it's not exactly what I wanted or exactly what anyone wanted -- but it's a vast improvement on the cruel and unsustainable status quo, and in the months and years to come it will be revisited and improved, as such reforms have been in the past.
Now, is there some way that all the far-right loons who think this is a Communist take-over and Obama is the second Stalin, and all the far-left loons who think it's a corporate sell-out and Obama is the second Bush, can go off somewhere and fight each other and leave us sane people alone?
Update (22 March): Read David Frum's hard but wise words for his fellow conservatives, and Andrew Sullivan's roundup of reactions.
posted by Infidel753 at 8:04 PM
14 Comments:
YES!!!! This is but the beginning of the end of the beginning, though...we have far to go, but at least we have finally made that first step!
is there some way that all the far-right loons who think this is a Communist take-over and Obama is the second Stalin, and all the far-left loons who think it's a corporate sell-out and Obama is the second Bush, can go off somewhere and fight each other and leave us sane people alone?
You're such a dreamer sometimes. ;)
JJ: Yes, it's a great thing to have accomplished when it seemed impossible for so long -- and it took determination in the face of flat-out stonewalling from the right-wingers and the cynics and quitters on our own side. It needs more work, but we know now that that work will get us somewhere.
Elizabeth: You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.....
I'm thrilled. I just wonder how we can expect folks in Congress to speak out against the extremists when one of them calls Stupak a "bay killer."
I think Elizabeth was poking you in the ribs with a smile. I think we're all dreamers and it's a good thing.
"you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one", Aaahhh love the song! Love the Democratic party of YES WE CAN!
Just a note from the world outside the political pundits and their little teapot tempests:
This morning, my boss observed that now, we'd have choice in health insurance providers -- that prior to this, a company could come to us with better coverage at half the price, but we couldn't take them up on it because we'd all be pre-existing conditions (sometimes for only a year waiting period, others, an outright exclusion of costs incurred due to the condition). So the company was at the mercy of our current provider and whatever rate hikes they decided to impose, held hostage by our pre-existing conditions.
TNLib & Sue: Well, there you have it. The Republicans have got their out-of-control extremists chained to them like a millstone; we can get things done, because we understand how things work and know how to compromise when necessary.
GL: That's a point I hadn't thought of -- business will have greater flexibility too. Let's hope more of the business community comes around in stronger support of this.
It's not quite in place yet, unfortunately -- the reforms on pre-existing conditions will take three to six months to go into effect, based on the current bill.:-(
Actually .... despite how much I bitched about no public option, since I'm a "commie" and wanted nationalized care (just kiddin) I have spent a few hour's today researching some of this plan, and there is REALLY some nice thing's in it for the American People, that we otherwise would NOT have .... especially this plan to let workin poor folk's buy into medicare amongst a few other item's, so NOW I can see why the GOP may be angry, because they had NO PLAN to even compete with that actually, they had "zilch" man ... I mean ... not a cotton pickin thing. In a weird sense .... the insurance companies AND the people got some nice deal's here. But yeah ... you know me... I'm one of them hard headed MF's who been bitchin wanting public option in the past, although a deal like I mentioned above is not far from one.
Thanx Guy ..........
Well, you can just imagine the crap I've heard at the office,today.
One old guy came in & in 1 paragraph talked about his 80 year old wife having hip surgery (medicare) and Obama ruining the country with..You guessed it,"socialized medicine".
IMO, if he can't see the irony in that, what would be the point in opening a can of worms? That's seems to be a fundamental problem with alot of conservatives ...they have no sense of irony. On the other hand he's a very nice person who does a lot of volunteer work for the community.
The proof will be in the pudding, anyway. Right?
RC: Yes, it does have a lot of positives. There are definitely some flaws there too -- pretty much every piece of legislation as massive as this is going to be a patchwork of compromises -- the nature of the system guaranatees it (so many competing interests are represented and need to be appeased). It can be improved later. There may be a vote on adding a public option within months, for example. If it hadn't passed, there'd be nothing there to improve. It's the same process as with previous reforms.
Rita: Jon Stewart once showed a clip of some conservative businessman ranting against "socialism". The guy was talking about the time in his life when he'd been poor. "I was so poor I was on food stamps -- nobody gave me any help." I don't think it's even a lack of irony. They just don't realize at all. I don't think they even have any sense how different their lives would be without tax-funded police and fire departments, public immunization programs that prevent the kinds of epidemics that used to be so pervasive, etc. They think it's all just a given, just something that's "there".
The proof will be in the pudding, anyway. Right?
Exactly. Now that the thing has passed, it will be judged by what it actually does, not by the made-up scare stories the right-wingers have been circulating.
YES WE DID!! w00t! w00t!
These are heady days but like Jack says we still have a long way to go!
"Now, is there some way that all the far-right loons who think this is a Communist take-over and Obama is the second Stalin, and all the far-left loons who think it's a corporate sell-out and Obama is the second Bush, can go off somewhere and fight each other and leave us sane people alone?"
Balance - why I keep coming back to read your posts, Infidel. Refreshing, informed, intelligent, balance.
I'm working poor, single mom in Massachusetts, where we already have forced health care; the powers that be determining how much I should pay each month (plus all the co-pays), when the reality is that I can't really afford to pay anything. If I didn't sign up I would be fined each year at tax time. I am for a Public Option. That said, I was for this HCR passing; understanding that it was just a beginning and basically they would be figuring how best to proceed as it was being implemented. I have no idea how it will effect Massachusetts; it's just starting to stabilize here but I tend not to burden myself with such worries-life is too short. Besides it is illegal for hospitals to refuse care to anyone here.
@RC... LOL re: Commie Tommy- every family has one =] mine has more- not me BTW
Karen & Mad Mike: I agree with both sentiments. There are always more battles ahead, but this is a victory, and we've earned the right to just be uncomplicatedly happy about it.
WinsomeDove: Thanks much for the kind words, I appreciate it.
I think everyone sees that this is, as Jack says, the end of the beginning. The public option was popular in the polls and I think, in not too long, there'll be pressure to add it. What they needed to do this month was just get the thing passed so we have something to build on, and relief can start going out to the victims of some of the current system's worst abuses.
I certainly don't know all the details of the thing either -- not even every way in which it will affect me personally (probably not much). If the mandate turns out to be too burdensome, obviously that's one of the things that will have to be revisited.
Thanks for visiting.
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