Thursday, December 17, 2009

Health Care

I generally come down on the side of the health care debate that says that this is the best bill we could get just now, and it's a lot better than the status quo so lets pass it and amend it. I am concerned that failure to pass something will lead to another 15 years of no progress on this issue and I'm not in favor of that.

That said, I find this post by Glenn Greenwald, arguing that President Obama's protestations of innocence are a little disingenuous.
. . . the idea that the White House did what it could to ensure the inclusion of progressive provisions -- or that they were powerless to do anything about it -- is absurd on its face. Whatever else is true, the overwhelming evidence points to exactly what Sen. Feingold said yesterday: "This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place."
I kind of agree, and find myself wondering what was possible if President Obama had gone to the mattress for what he claimed to support.

1 comment:

Peter L. Winkler said...

The health care bill is worse than the staus quo. It forces millions of people who can't afford health insurance to buy junk insurance that covers very little to avoid fines. These people don't buy insurance because they can't frickin afford it! That's why they needed relief from their dilemma. Instead, this legislation impoverishes them and enriches the insurance companies. Otherwise, it does nothing significant, and the Democrats justed defeated legislation that would have allowed the importation of Canadian drugs.