December 10, 2009

If it Sounds too Good to be True...

Recent murmurs of healthcare breakthroughs have everyone atwitter. Expanding Medicare and making the Congressional healthcare plan* available to some... sounds good. So, what's the catch?

The corporate media is reporting:

MoveOn.org accused Democrats on Wednesday of "bargaining away the heart of health care reform."

MORE from MoveOn.Org & their petition.

I did see, somewhere, that although Medicare would be available, it would cost about $7,600/yr. Better than paying that or more to a corporate insurance scheme that will use the money to increase their power over our democratic processes in the future.

* As for the healthcare plan that Congress and federal employees have... the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan:

The Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan.... Private insurers bid for the chance to sell policies to federal employees and offer a wide array of choices to consumers.

Read, "Private insurers collude on price ranges and bid within that range." Not exactly a public option.

SF Chronicle reports:

Elizabeth McGlynn, associate director of health at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research center, said the current federal plan has a mixed record of controlling costs by providing competition to private insurers - a key aim of the public option. "They are not horrible and they are not best in class," she said. "They're about like everybody else."

That is, such proposed healthcare "reform" would be just like what we have today, except that it's mandatory (everyone is covered, whahoo!) and our money goes to the health insurance corporations so they can tighten their power over our democracy. Party like it's 1999!

Read More in SF Chronicle article linked below.

Sources:

San Francisco Chronicle, Dems' public option alternatives under fire, December 10, 2009.

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1 comment:

libhom said...

I already emailed my Senators asking them to vote against this wealthcare bill.