The first rule of medicine is, “Do no harm.” The post-Joe Lieberman version of the Senate healthcare bill fails that basic criterion. Unless Democratic leadership steps up to fix this misguided proposal, our only recourse will be to kill it.
The fundamental failing of the newest Senate proposal is that it requires individuals to purchase health insurance, but does nothing to rein in what insurance companies charge. There is nothing to stop spiraling health costs from eating up an ever-increasing percentage of our national productivity.
The House bill has two major cost-control mechanisms: the public option and the 85% medical-loss ratio requirement. The Senate bill is on track to have neither, and nothing new to replace them. The Senate bill is a recipe for national disaster. If it’s that bill or nothing, I prefer nothing.
We all know America’s current healthcare system is failing — and it’s failing everyone, not just the uninsured. It is far too expensive: Americans spend 16% of GDP on healthcare and get worse results than countries that spend half that. Literally.
We need health reform that expands access to quality healthcare, abolishes unjust practices of insurers, improves value to the country, and puts us on a trajectory to continue to improve our healthcare system over time.
But the Senate has systematically stripped out nearly everything I liked about what was proposed in the early, heady days of healthcare reform. They have done so in order to please a handful of so-called centrists who care more about protecting corporate profits than protecting the people they claim to represent.
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Joe Lieberman's Healthcare Bill Is Worse Than Doing Nothing ☀
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