Congress Will Regret This Terrible Bill; The American People Deserved Better

If you think that Obama is from the far far left, you are living in a cave.

Crystal
Author of Ewokmama.com
Author of The Frugal Family at Savings.com
SheBlogs.org Advisory Panel Member

Hey Laura, I like your points on the higher expenses in the U.S. compared to other countries. There should be exploration into why that is. I keep  hearing on the news that America spends huge amounts on healthcare... Yet it's so expensive for the people. Something is wrong with this picture...

I like that BlogHer allows different opinions. And commenters are so respectful and argue intelligently. That seems to be rarity on some other blogs/websites I've been on.

I blog about my health and disability issues regularly at http://loveablehomebody.blogspot.com/

Oh dearie, me, I wish Republicans would stop using this laughable "poverty" rhetoric. You're probably more likely to go into poverty if you're denied health coverage because of a serious medical condition.

I blog about my health and disability issues regularly at http://loveablehomebody.blogspot.com/

There's plenty in the healthcare bill that would have benefited from reasonable, intelligent, informed public discussion. I would have liked to have heard real debate on the overhead management costs of public vs private organizations, on the costs and effectiveness of non-profit systems (like Kaiser) vs. for-profit insurance groups. I would have liked to have heard more on the physician coops that are in the bill, because that sounds interesting and new. I would have liked some focus on why prescription drugs here are 10-50 times more expensive than the exact same drugs sold over-the-counter in Europe, and how that could be addressed. I would have liked to have seen some quantitative analysis of the costs/benefits of providing healthcare for the uninsured entirely in emergency rooms (which is what we have been doing to date) vs. with covered preventitive care. In other words, as a business woman, I'd have liked to have been treated with a little respect by the public debaters. What are the numbers?

What we got was, well, we all saw it. It was impossible to miss. The fact that debate got dragged into such demagoguery and chicken little cries of armageddon is a shame.

If we look at the fact that America spends what, 15% of its GNP on healthcare, that is a frightening figure. If your car had to be in the shop 15% of the time, you'd be outraged. If your computer had to get fixed 15% of the time, you be having a much harder time even reading this comment. Only with healtcare, you could get your service contract cancelled for the reason of requiring service. To me there's no question that healthcare has gotten out of control. It needs to change. And sorry, but I don't see how doing nothing or just cutting off everyone's Medicare and Medicaid would accomplish anything. The Republicans and tea baggers never made that case.

Yes, the American people deserved better ... from the opposition.

Laura Scott, BlogHer Contributing Editor
design ( http://pingv.com ), blog ( http://rarepattern.com ), tweet ( http://twitter.com/lauras )

Love the bill, hate the bill take your pick. But it doesn't change the fact that it's unconstitutional for the federal government to require citizens to purchase a consumer good. What if you are someone who does not want to buy health insurance, do you really deserve to be punished with a fine (or federal tax)?  This is a matter that, like car insurance, should be left for the states to decide on their own. Why do so many people think that the federal government has to do all the governing? The federal government should stop impeding on the sovereignty of states and people should stop expecting the federal government to solve every problem. One only needs to read the 10th Amendment to the Constitution to confirm this, it states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Melissa_B. www.suburbanfishbowl.wordpress.com ( http://www.suburbanfishbowl.wordpress.com )

This article is spot-on and I applaud the writer.

I don't understand you women who think this is a "good thing" - by any stretch.

First of all, as a devout Christian, I'm against abortion but am forced to pay for it. Some would call you proponents of this "baby killers". 

Second, it's unconstitutional and as such, literally poses a constitutional crisis.  You cannot FORCE people to purchase a "service" from the gov't.  It's also against the 10th amendment, taking state control away from the power of the people (that's why 14 AG's are opposing it with a lawsuit).

Third, you say you support small businesses yet you support this? You cannot do both. This will be a nightmare to businesses both small and large. Donald Trump said it himself yesterday - this is going to inflict such serious and costy strain on private businesses across the entire nation many will be forced to shut down.  When you hurt the private sector, you hurt the entire country.

Our health care currently is so good we have people from nations with this travesty already enacted coming here for treatment. We will lose that, as well.

And if you have kids, supporting this means sending them into a future of poverty, because this is 1/6th of our economy going down the toilet.

Please, for the sake of humanity and the financial crisis this will place us in (adding to the one we already face), don't be so easily duped. I'm astonished at the ignorance I read in some of the above posts.

Read the consitution and its preambles. Read the amendments. Read the Federalist papers. Learn about the driving forces behind prosperity and freedom.  Socialized health - or socialized "anything" for that matter - care destroys it all and is not a good thing for any of us.

In fact, one can literally say it will be DEADLY to many - but only then will many of you wake up, I guess. When someone you love is told they're too old to bother with, or are forced to wait so long for care it becomes too late, is that when you're going to scratch your head and say, "what happened here'?

I think this bill is a step in the right direction, but it is by no means the answer to the healthcare crisis in this country. The real issue is we treat healthcare as a commodity and not a right, which it should be. Health insurance doesn't even make sense to me as a business, they are essentially making money off of illness, sickness and disease, THIS is the real problem with American healthcare.

I don't care how much money you make, when you're sick and vulnerable the last thing you want to deal with is signing your life away to an insurance company because you can't pay your doctor bills. Capitalizing on sickness is not the right thing to do. When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer it was such a stressful time for all of us, but I was so grateful that she had good health insurance. But as she went through her treatment I started to think about all of the people who go through breast cancer diagnosis and treatment without proper coverage or care and it's such a travesty. The entire system needs a massive overhaul.

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I'm sorry, I don't understand that statement. I was under the impression that the vast majority supported this bill. Just like the vast majority voted for Obama, knowing that this was one of his major political platforms.

No, it's not perfect, but as has already been said: it's a step in the right direction. I wish that it were even tougher and that so many concessions to the conservative nay sayers hadn't been made.

And, on a side note - no one was railroaded, that's just silly to say.

- Maria Young

immoralmatriarch.com ( http://immoralmatriarch.com )@maria0305
( http://twitter.com/maria0305 )

Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers, I would really like to see some non-partisan analysis of the financial implications of this bill that you mention in this article (not to mention the death of the innovation, etc.)  Your statements don't stand up to the facts that I have seen that speak to a positive impact on the Federal Deficit.  As I mentioned above, I'd really like to see those stats...I'm not interested in my position being "the right one", so much as I am interested in having all the facts.

~Margaret

Just Margaret ( http://maurhoffbarney.blogspot.com )

A picture's sometimes worth a thousand words: while the president was signing the bill... ( http://www.daylife.com/photo/08Kc3Rz46b9bk?q=pence )

Cynematic

MOMocrats ( http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/ )

A voice of reason about this subject on BlogHer!  Regardless of the loud voices on the left who insist everyone who knows anything is for this disasterous bill, it simply isn't true.  Americans made it VERY CLEAR.  We DIDN'T WANT THIS.  Congress made their position very clear too; THEY DON'T CARE. 

I am appalled at these liberals who have little to no regard for the will of the people, who railroaded through something that we don't want, cannot possibly afford, and most horrifyingly, is unconstitutional. 

It's not my responsibility to pay for others to have health insurance.  Because Obama thinks I'm "rich" (sorry, a family of four in California making 120 thousand a year is FAR from rich) my taxes are going to skyrocket even higher than they already are and my money will not only fund this disasterous bill which is abhorrent enough, but it will pay for women to have abortions, which is something to which I am adamently opposed.  Mr. Obama's "executive order"  that pulled the wool over the eyes of the Stupak 12 (or lined their proverbial pockets, ahem) is meaningless, since executive orders cannot trump laws enacted by congress.

This whole thing is such a shame.  Thankfully, Americans are waking up, even those who voted for these far far lefties that are causing us to slouch toward Gommorah, so to speak.  I predit a HUGE influx of common sense republicans  during midterm elections and a repeal of this disaster of a bill.  That is if the several lawsuits don't take care of it first.

Lord, but I miss the REAL hope and change of Ronald Reagan..

of Americans voted for Democrats in the last election so that changes would be made to health care. The majority want and need change in order to survive the costs of medical care. I commend my Senators and Congressmen for supporting this bill and for voting for it.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/virginia-debolt ) | Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

I find the republican claims of healthcare reform being the down-fall of our country somewhat laughable.  Really, what's worse here...Obama's healthcare bill or Bush's war? 

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

My husband is from a "European welfare state" and does not understand how people can object, with such vigor, to the concept of providing universal health care.

Our second largest household bill is for insurance -- and I'm the only one that has it, my husband is currently uninsured. We are both self-employed and our second largest bill -- one that does not cover dental or optical care -- is for health insurance.

The government gives huge breaks to large business, but bootstrappers and entreprenuers who are self funded are getting left out of the equation. Providing an alternative to skyrocketing healthcare costs is one way to support people like me.

I actually wish this bill was better, too, but I also think that philosophically, it is a step in the right direction. I also think that the rhetoric used against the bill is faulty, sloppy, and dishonest, and intentionally obfuscates the goal: to reform health insurance so everyone, regardless of their employment status, can be covered.

Nerd's Eye View ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com )@nerdseyeview
( http://twitter.com/nerdseyeview )

I support this bill. I wish there was more bite to it like the public option. 

You stated :With the passage of this bill, America has become less like itself and more like a European welfare state.  This transformation will have terrible consequences in the relationship between citizen and state – including a loss of freedom, innovation, and quality of life.  Madam Congress women, how is this a loss of freedom? Is it the freedom of the fat cat insurance companies that back your campaign financing you are mourning? The quality of life issue is ridiculous. Whose life? The people who currently cannot get insurance or are dropped from their insurance because they have cancer? Is that the quality that you are referring to?You know what I think madam congress women. I think you and the republican party like keeping Americans down. Down in the dirty so you and you alone can have the glory of acting like you care. You don't want people to do good or be educated. If you educate the people, they will catch on to your rhetoric. Then you will lose Madam Congress woman and the rest of America will win! www.thejerseyshort.com

I'm Australian, and over here we have had Medicare (different set up than the US version) since before I was born.

I can tell you from the perspective of someone who has lived with it all m life, that what often gets called welfare or socialised medicine is fantastic. It doesn't remove choice, as you can see any doctor or other medical practitioner.

There's something to be said for all people being able to see a doctor when they feel ill, without having to worry about the potential costs.

It costs about 1.5 to 2.8% of your income in specific taxes, with exemption for those on low incomes, but I think that it is a small price to pay to know that when my Grandmother gets breast cancer, she'll be looked after. And that when a child gets sick her mother doesn't have to weigh her childs health against paying her rent.

I have watched the debate over the last year, and I'm always amazed that anyone can stand up for the rights of relatively wealthy people to choose to pay too much for a doctors appointment, above the rights of others to basic health care, and still manage to look their voters in the eye.

Polls have shown that people support the elements of the bill when they are explained accurately and not through the distortion of the right wing. Congress has a Democratic majority (overwhelming, actually), because we the people voted them in. This is a step in the right direction, and the demonization of this bill will fizzle once the sky does not fall and granny is not unplugged.

Cristina
Working Mom, Democrat, Patriot ( http://workingmomdemocrat.blogspot.com/ )

I agree we deserve better than this behemoth full of concessions and deals.

I wish they would have stepped back and really studied the systems around the world, some of them work incredibly well for significantly  less cost than ours.

It  seems the way things work in this system   that if something wasn't done this time around nothing would have gotten done regarding health care in this term, and something had to be done that is clear even to me at 23 as my insurance premium went up almost 20 percent this year.

The joke on the people is the push of policies with huge deductibles - especially for young people because insurance companies make millions off  those policies, while offering really no benefit at all,  and that trend is going to get worse with this plan, and not only for younger people but for everyone.

  Too bad we ended up with so many concessions, and a huge wet dream for insurance companies with a mandate of sorts without national health care or even a public option.

  I think we had to pass something as a base to work on I wish it had not been this unreasonably lengthy piece of legislation.

cooper

I work tangentially within health care but I have so lost track of what is and isn't in this bill. I am afraid I don't want to know. I do know that the spending on it troubled me from day one and yet at the same time I feel like instead of making it easier for my elderly mother and disabled sister to get the healthcare they need-things may have just gotten a lot harder.
( http://twitter.com/thatwoman )
Retro-Food.com ( http://retro-food.com )

I am not 100% satisfied with the bill, but I would not tag it as "Terrible".  My dissatisfaction with the bill is more focused on the associated Executive Signing Statement, because I think that WOMEN deserved better. 

To your points:  I keep hearing about how the majority of Americans don't want this bill, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of bite behind that particular bark.  I wanted it, and millions of Americans actually did as well--I'm hardly some kind of fringe-dwelling rebel.

With all due respect, I totally disagree with your position on the financial impact of this bill. Your statement that this will cost so much money isn't borne out by the CBO's analysis.  You provide no facts to support your claim.   If you provide some substantive, nonpartisan references to support your assertion that this bill is the death-knell for jobs, innovation, and our "American Way", I'd be thrilled to review them.

I would really appreciate something that I could sink my teeth into, because I've heard positions similar to your own, also with with no evidentiary support.  I also don't see how this becomes a government run healthcare when there isn't even a PUBLIC OPTION.  From my perch, I'd wager that market-based solutions didn't really help our financial difficulties a couple of years ago.  I'm not comfortable relying on the "Market" to untangle the rat's nest that is the health insurance industry in this country.  Please, prove me wrong.

As I said, I'm not thrilled will every point on this Bill.  But knowing that my 46 year old sister who has been without health insurance for four years might be able to get herself and her family finally covered IS thrilling.  Knowing that children won't be excluded from insurance for 'preexisting conditions' IS thrilling.  Basic appropriate preventative health care becoming the norm, instead of a perk for the priveleged?  THRILLING.

~Margaret

Just Margaret ( http://maurhoffbarney.blogspot.com )

Where is this vast majority of Americans who oppose this bill?  And how many of them are without healthcare currently?  The new bill may or may not have flaws, but at least it will help a large portion of Americans who are without health coverage currently get the care they need without completely ruining them financially.  Are you suggesting that those Americans should be ignored and left to drown while lawmakers argue over a "perfect" solution?

Crystal

Author of Ewokmama.com

San Francisco City Guide at SavvySource.com

Author of The Frugal Family at Savings.com

SheBlogs.org Advisory Panel Member