22 March 2010
By Stephen Lendman
Ideologically it believes governments must provide for
the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
It opposes concentrated wealth, demagogy, and
despotism, and supports democracy, human and civil
rights, and social justice - an ideology the 19th
century People's Party and 20th century Progressive
Party endorsed without majorities.
Until recently, faint echoes remained, sadly silenced
after Senator Bernie Sanders and sole House populist
capitulated.
Former Kucinich for president consultant, David
Swanson, said "he gave in to the power of a false
narrative, and that he ought to have said so....I
think the corporate media has instilled in people the
idea that presidents should make laws and the current
president is trying to make a law that can reasonably
be called 'healthcare reform' or at least 'health
insurance reform.' " I don't excuse Kucinich
flipping....I just want to find the right explanation
for it." The
web site singlepayeraction.org, ("everybody in. nobody
out.") called the Democrats (like Republicans) "a
corporate party, rotting from the core." SPA
called Kucinich's "flameout....spectacular" in support
of a bill he and progressive Democrats strongly
opposed until they flipped, including Congressman
Danny Davis, representing this writer's 7th Illinois
District.
Kucinich said "I've taken a detour supporting this
bill." For SPA, it's one "that will condemn millions
of Americans to ongoing suffering and death" because
insurers make money by denying care, why real reform
requires their removal and assuring everyone of
universal single-payer coverage. Everyone in. Nobody
out. What your senator and House representative get,
you get. What congressional Democrats won't enact. On
March 17, Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced the
following: "I
have carried the banner of national health care in two
presidential campaigns, in party platform meeting, and
as co-author of HR 676, Medicare for All. I have
worked to expand the health care debate beyond the
current for-profit system, to include a public option
and an amendment to free the states to pursue single
payer." On
November 7, 2009, despite enormous pressure, he voted
against HR 3962: Affordable Health Care for America
Act," asking "Is this the best we can do" in a
prepared text titled, "Why I Voted No," saying: "We
have been led to believe that we must make our health
care choices only within the current structure of a
predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes
money not providing health care." Passing "legislation
in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation,
indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health
insurance industry (exacerbates) the very source of
the problem....Clearly, the insurance companies are
the problem, not the solution." On
March 17, he reversed himself, saying:
"....after careful discussions with President Obama,
Speaker Pelosi, Elizabeth my wife and close friends, I
have decided to cast a vote in favor of the
legislation. As
this bill passes, I will renew my effort to help those
state organizations which are aimed at stirring a
single payer movement....I have taken a detour through
supporting this bill, but I know the destination I
will continue to lead, for as long as it takes,
whatever it takes to an America where health care will
be firmly established as a civil right." He
later said that not supporting the bill "would destroy
Obama's presidency," a nonsensical view given Bill
Clinton's success despite his health care program
failure and efforts to impeach him. He survived,
served two terms, and left office with a 68% approval
rating, matching Franklin Roosevelt at the end of his
presidency. On
Democracy Now (March 18), Ralph Nader referred to "the
latest chapter of corporate Democrats crushing
progressive forces both inside their party and against
third parties." It's nothing new. It happens every
time reform is proposed.
Current legislation doesn't "provide universal,
comprehensive or affordable care to the American
people. It shovels hundreds of billions of dollars of
taxpayer money (to predators that) created the
problem: the Aetnas, CIGNAs" and other insurers. It
requires no contractual accountability or other
benefits for people denied coverage under a
"pay-or-die system that is the disgrace of the Western
world." For
the drug cartel, "it's a bonanza" heading right to
their bottom line, including no government negotiated
discounts, lengthy new drug patent protection periods
to impede cheaper generic competition, and no
reimportation of lower-priced foreign drugs to keep
prices high and affordability low.
Further, there's no public option, and the legislation
mostly doesn't kick in until 2014. It means "180,000
Americans....will die between now and (then) and
hundreds of thousands of injuries and illnesses" will
go untreated. "There's (also) no free choice of doctor
and hospital under this. There's all kinds of
exploit(ive provisions to let) health insurance (and
drug) companies continue their ravenous ways over
people who are (the) most vulnerable....when they're
sick or injured." Who in Washington represents them
when the few progressives side with the others. It's
a sad moment when liberal Democrats caved. "They've
all caved. They've all been put into line by the
(House) majority rulers." It's a shameless, but
predictable climb-down. They want to perpetuate a
system that costs double per capita (about $7,600) of
other Western states and provides worse coverage. In
America, about 800 people die weekly because they
can't afford insurance, enough of it, or insurers deny
or delay their claims. Will
new legislation fix this? Not at all because
providers, especially insurers, are notorious for
gaming the system, and 2,500 pages of legislation
contain loopholes, ambiguities, and legal
interpretations that experts can easily manipulate to
their advantage or create a process so onerous to
contest that it amounts to the same thing.
Former CIGNA vice president, Wendell Potter,
explained, saying Obamacare lets insurers shift costs
to consumers, offer inadequate or unaffordable access,
force Americans to pay higher deductibles for less
coverage, and even scam subsidized consumers.
"What worries me," he said, "is that people who are
forced to buy coverage and all they can afford to buy
is a high deductible. (So) if they get really sick,
they have to pay so much out of their own pockets that
they're going to be filing for bankruptcy or (lose)
their homes."
Potter especially dislikes the Senate bill that will
force many people to buy insurance only covering about
60% of costs if they're sick. Many people have no
insurance because it's unaffordable. "They certainly
couldn't afford premiums plus the out-of-pocket
expenses in today's market" that keeps hiking costs
higher. At
best, Potter believes Obamacare will move millions of
uninsured to underinsured, making them vulnerable to
serious illness costs, the main cause of personal
bankruptcies. When it happens, no Obamacare provision
protects them from losing their homes. As
for prohibiting pre-existing conditions, the Senate
bill especially gives insurers "all the flexibility
they need" to prevent people from accessing coverage.
Health history and age will determine premiums, so the
chronically ill and aged will pay far more than the
already unaffordable high rates. The
so-called medical-loss ratio is another problem. It
determines what percent of premiums cover medical
costs. The less restricted, the more profits (in the
billions of dollars), and less care for policyholders.
Nader points out that even with more people covered,
prices aren't regulated, "junk insurance policies"
will be offered, and there's nothing to stop insurers
"from taking this papier-mache bill and lighting a
fire to it and making a mockery of it." They're
unhindered by controls, and no facility will "create a
national consumer health organization" to give people
"their own non-profit consumer lobby (in) Washington.
This is really a disaster."
Obamacare forces coverage on consumers, assesses
penalties for noncompliance, empowers the IRS to
collect them, protects corporate profits, rations
care, and dumps millions of Americans (insured and
millions left uninsured) in the scrap heap to fend for
themselves. It's not a step forward. It's a full-scale
retreat.
Obama is like Bush. He froze out dissenters,
single-payer advocates, and surrounded himself with
corporate hacks and warmongers. It's the same old,
same old, the people getting scammed and harmed
because no one in Washington represents them. Unless
they act on their own, they'll get no help from
politicians delivering the best reform money can buy,
with no restrictions on spending amounts for it. In
June 2009 on a visit to Gaza, Jimmy Carter said "the
citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals
than like human beings." So will millions of Americans
under Obamacare, a sellout scheme to provide less than
they now have and charge more for it.
Kucinich said his constituents urged him to do
something, rather than nothing even if it meant
passing a bad bill. Unfortunately, most people don't
know the tawdry fine print, that insurance giant
Wellpoint wrote the Baucus bill, that corporations
write virtually all legislation, that Obamacare gives
America's healthcare system to predatory insurers and
Big PhRMA, something Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, other
progressive Democrats understand, but capitulated
anyway. Why so?
Despite his stated reasons, only Kucinich knows for
sure, but here's a guess. Washington is notorious for
pressuring, intimidating, and/or bribing members of
Congress for support. Kucinich may have been told,
either vote yes or face a well-funded fall primary
challenge that could succeed given the power of deep
pockets and deceptive ads. It's a prospect no member
of Congress relishes. They could also take away his
Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security,
Emerging Threats and International Relations.
Whatever the reason, he may have tipped the balance
with House, then Senate votes, imminent, perhaps as
early as Sunday, March 21. Going first, it's believed
the House will use a controversial "self-executing
rule" for a package of Senate bill fixes to "deem and
pass" the entire bill that would otherwise fail. The
Senate will then consider the revised bill through
"reconciliation," requiring a simple majority to pass.
Self-executing has been used many times before, but
never for a bill impacting health care for everyone,
amounting to one-sixth of the economy. It
also bypasses the 1985 Byrd Rule that restricts
reconciliation to budget revisions according to
provisions under Section 313(b)(1) of the 1974
Congressional Budget Act.
What's at stake?
Plenty!
House and Senate bills will ration care, enrich
providers, and make a dysfunctional system worse.
Hundreds of billions of Medicare cuts will harm
seniors. Most others will pay more, get less, and
millions will remain uninsured. According to an
earlier AMA estimate, those covered "will face higher
premiums, deductibles, copayments and coinsurance,
effectively reducing the scope of their coverage,"
what Wendell Potter explained above.
Business Week magazine acknowledged it last August
saying, "No matter what specifics emerge in the
voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama
this fall (or now), the insurance industry (and drug
cartel) will emerge more profitable." Quoting an
unnamed Senate Finance Committee staffer, "The bottom
line is that health reform (will) lead to increased
revenues and profits," and for doubters, check current
insurance and drug company stock prices for
confirmation.
Relevant
International Law
Adequate health care is a human right, not a commodity
for those who can afford it.
Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) states:
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and
of his family, including food, clothing, housing and
medical care...."
Article 12 of the 1966 International Covenant on
Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR) states: "The
State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health
(including universally ensuring) medical service and
medical attention in the event of sickness....
government(s) must ensure all citizens have
(affordable) access to basic health services."
Under international law, UDHR and ICESCR form the
backbone of the right to health for everyone. The UN
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
developed guidelines to implement it, including a
"minimum floor" below which no country may fall, that
for health ensures it, in terms of availability,
accessibility, acceptability, quality, and
universality without discrimination.
America's Low
Healthcare Delivery Ranking among Industrialized
Nations Of
all industrialized countries, America is the only one
that doesn't recognize the right to health and a way
to provide it. In fact, in Maher v. Roe (1977), the
Supreme Court declared it unnecessary for Congress to
require minimum health care standards. The closest to
it are Medicare and Medicaid.
Removing middleman insurers would save over $400
billion annually, enough to cover all the uninsured
and provide quality care at lower overall cost.
Letting corporate predators game the system ensures
the opposite, a problem Obamacare exacerbates. In
1943, Franklin Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of
Rights, declaring "freedom from want" an essential
liberty necessary for security, including "the right
to adequate medical care and the opportunity to
achieve good health." Predatory insurers deny it.
Focusing on outcomes consistent with
internationally-recognized standards is vital, not the
right of business to commodify a human right, charge
what they want, and deny access for those who can't
afford it.
Obamacare will worsen the current system. It's about
profits, not people, especially the nation's poor,
most vulnerable, and disadvantaged on society's
fringes, most hurt by all congressional measures,
including one this vital. What
the 1913 Federal Reserve Act did for bankers,
Obamacare may do for the insurance and drug cartels.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site
at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio
Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening.
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