s skippy the bush kangaroo: paging dr. dean, dr. howard dean...

skippy the bush kangaroo



Wednesday, December 09, 2009

paging dr. dean, dr. howard dean...

we understand that progressives are quite upset w/barry these days and, while we also count ourselves among the disappointed, we aren't particularly surprised (obama is, after all, a politician above all else; more so, he's a politician from chicago fercryininthesink).

however, even as our esteemed co-blogger frets about the public option (which at this point seems to be dead), we recommend turning to established progressive voices for an opinion on what's going on w/hcr before we start running around like so many chickens with so many heads cut off.

via greg sargent (the hardest working man in blogtopia and yes, we coined that phrase), we find that no less than dr. howard dean is pleased w/the current health care reform bill permutation:

in a boost for the senate health care deal reached yesterday, howard dean said in an interview with me moments ago that the current compromise contains “real reform,” and said that as it stands now, progressives could support it.

dean also confirmed various details about the deal that he’d learned in direct converstaions with senators involved in the dicussions — detail that news orgs had mostly attributed to anonymous sources. dean’s general support for the bill could give it a boost among progressives who say it falls short of real reform.
dr. dean thinks that the newly-proposed "early medicare buy-in" makes the difference:

dean confirmed what i reported here yesterday: the medicare buy-in will be available as early as 2010, a provision he hailed for substantive and political reasons. “they’re making government-run single payer available to people under 65,” he said. “that’s a step in the right direction.”

dean added, however, that it was unclear as of yet whether the early buy-in applied to all those without insurance or just those at high-risk (i was told yesterday that the latter was true). he said that if it’s high-risk only, that could also be a provision that falls short of real reform, and noted that the early buy-in would have to be made available to everybody.

asked to respond to progressives who decry the compromise for not making government-run insurance available to all age groups who need it, dean said:

“the question is, is there enough of a kernel of real reform in the bill to make it possible for progressives to vote for it? given the details we know today, i think there is. the group at largest risk is being taken care of, those over 55. there really is reform. is there enough reform? no. but significant reform matters.”
so at this point, progressives must ask themselves hard questions:

is it worth abandoning the majority coalition because we haven't gotten everything we wanted (we are speaking about health care only at this point; don't get us started on afghanistan or gitmo)?

remember that many people thought fdr's initial social security measures were not inclusive enough, and indeed were "nowhere near the system we have today."

as we implied above, there's plenty of things to be upset w/president obama about @ this juncture, but in the opinion of the editorial staff @ skippy international, to withdraw support and walk away from the congressional democrats @ this point, so close to their passing history-making health care reform, would be political and social suicide.

politics is a game of compromise, and folks, believe us, you can't compromise, you can't even play the game, if you take your ball and go home.
posted by skippy at 12:42 PM |

9 Comments:

How is extending Medicare to people over 55 a solution for people under 55?

Of course it's all sausage, and anyone who walks away before the final bill is passed is giving up prematurely. I don't assume it will be whatever the Senate negotiations are currently producing.

And we don't even know what that is, yet, since we're waiting for CBO scoring before details will be released.
commented by Blogger mahakal, 11:08 AM PST  
It still chaps my ass that Lieberman is even involved in the process at all and that the Blue Dogs can't seem to understand what the average Joe is up against when it comes to skyrocketing health care costs. Yes, it is not a done deal yet and no, I don't have to like these back room deals w/Big Pharma etc..

But as usual Skippy, you have your head screwed on right.

Busted
commented by Blogger Bustednuckles, 12:27 PM PST  
Compromise? Obama has been compromising with himself since before the republicans got involved. First he said no single payer then he cut a deal with big pharma and now? He didn't compromise, he got what he wanted from the git go. He's given big bucks to big industry. The rest of us well -- not so much.
commented by Blogger lawguy, 1:00 PM PST  
it sucks for everyone under 45, mahakal.

it's my hope that this thing passes, and then we can build on it.

granted, obama pisses me off in other aspects. we should be out of afghanistan and iran now. he's gone back on his support for the lgbt community, and his promise to close gitmo is taking way longr than i would like.

he panders to the repubbbs far more than i think is necessary.

but i'm willing to give him and the dems some slack on this one.

i'm thinking that if it passes, this bill, combined w/the apparent unfreezing of the economy (albeit slow), will be good for dems next year.

if not, they're on their own.
commented by Blogger skippy, 1:31 PM PST  
Gotta tell you, skippy, I'm 38. So it does jack all for me. He hasn't done anything to fix the fundamentals of the economy or the financial system either.
commented by Blogger mahakal, 5:42 PM PST  
I give him support and credit for one thing, he kept his promise to let California and the other states with medical marijuana laws alone. And that's not a small thing.

I don't regret voting for him. I'm not going to agree with him when I don't, however. The current proposal for medicare expansion to 55+ is far from adequate or sufficient. It might be a good piece of standalone legislation but don't tell me that it's health care reform.
commented by Blogger mahakal, 5:48 PM PST  
I keep telling myself, it was either Sarah Palin one heartbeat from the presidency or Joe Biden. I have been letting all kinds of things slide with Obama. But seriously, with him and the congressional Dems as friends, who the hell needs enemies? I'm doing okay for the most part, but how many people can say the same thing? And all these friggin' politicians seem to want to do is play reindeer games...
commented by Blogger Jim Yeager, 7:32 PM PST  
The odds are pretty high that sooner or later those under 55 will be 55 or older. Life's fucking hilarious that way. And the public option seems to still be a trigger-pull away -- how much force will be necessary to get that pulled is anyone's guess. Beyond that this bill will force insurers to stop denying on preexisting conditions. As a former insurance claims examiner with his own history of medical problems, that alone is huge. The GOP had 6 years to consider health care when the country thought it was rolling in it -- they gave us nothing. By this time next year, Harry Reid will be elected out of office and I suspect the Democrats may lose at least one House. This is as good as its going to get. You want to blame the politicians, go right ahead. But they are a product of the people and the people are cattle as prone to stampeding over a cliff as not.
commented by Anonymous sean, 8:18 AM PST  
Is it not the case that the minimally beneficial parts of the bill don't go into effect until 2013?

Plenty of time to repeal all of them before they accomplish anything, if so.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 8:35 PM PST  

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