It is about enough of who won what prize and who wants to own a NFL team…there is far more important issues that need analysis……
Since single payer was a NO SHOW in the deliberations and the public option will most likely be in name only….what options are being considered now? Glad you asked….and this one is a doosey (sp?)…….
As reported in the Huffington Post:
Senate Democrats have begun discussions on a compromise approach to health care reform that would establish a robust, national public option for insurance coverage but give individual states the right to opt out of the program.
How such a system would work is still being debated, according to those with knowledge of the proposal. But theoretically, the “opt-out” approach would start with everyone having access to a public plan. What kind of public plan isn’t yet clear. States would then have the right to vote — either by referendum, legislature, or simply a gubernatorial decree — to make the option unavailable in their health care exchanges.
A simple thought experiment might clarify the issues at hand: What if Medicare had been passed with this ‘opt-out’ provision? To make the thought experiment more appropriate to the situation at hand, we must imagine that the 1965 law creating Medicare had already been subject to the same compromises that the public option has been: that its ability to negotiate with certain suppliers and providers has been negotiated away, and that instead of being available to all older Americans, access has been restricted so that only an estimated 5% of them are expected to join.
A plausible answer is that a number of states, especially in the South, would have chosen not to participate.
This appears to be a weak lame attempt to pacify as many Dems as possible with the chance that a 60 vote super majority can to reached……in other words, it is all about the vote not what is best for the people, who those voting have taken an oath to serve….did I miss something? Is that not grounds to throw the ilk out of office?
Hmmm… This is pretty much what I feared would result. The tendency in such contentious circumstances is for everything to come down to the lowest common denominator – i.e. Jack Shit (not to be confused with his two brothers No Shit and Deep Shit – sorry, that’s all no doubt English vernacular).
I can, though, see the more sensible Republican point of view, since many of them are staunch supporters of the FEDERATION of the United States and tend to baulk at all and any attempts by the Federal Administration to exert authority over individual states which are in many ways at least partially autonomous.
As you know, I don’t believe in big government, so I can sympathise with their attitude, but I keep asking myself if the United States is a country or not – and that’s the point, isn’t it? If the US IS a country (whatever the administration setup may be) then surely things like healthcare must fall into the same category as defence, homeland security, air, train and greyhound travel, federal taxation, human rights and similar things. How would it be if Al Qaida was told you’d defend everything except Texas? Do you think Texans might be a bit upset?
There is, however, one question I have that continues to puzzle me – am I right or wrong in thinking that the Confederate Army surrendered nearly 145 years ago and that, in capitulating, the CSA effectively made peace with the USA and became part of it?
Good points and observations….the constitution calls for the common welfare and to me that would be health, security, rights, etc…the problem is the Right only use the actually translation when it suits their needs otherwise they say it is an interpretation and that is not what the founders wanted….I say bullshit! The constitution is written in generalities and was meant to be interpreted because all things change…..,yep it surrendered, well the leadership did the rest of the hillbillys are still fighting and losing….the old people and some young are proud of their heritage and I say they are really proud of getting their asses kicked….they are a silly bunch….but unfortunately where I live they cannot be ignored…..