Insurance premiums still unaffordable under Baucus bill (Part 2)

  Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) (AP)

Click here if you missed Part 1

White House officials say that while Obama wants the cost of the final bill to stay manageable, it has to provide affordable coverage.

"The president is absolutely committed to making this affordable. That's the whole point," said Linda Douglass, spokeswoman for the White House health reform office. Douglass said it's premature to draw any conclusions while the bill is being shaped in Congress.

Don't insult our intelligence. You'd have to be blind to not see what's going on here.

Acknowledging the affordability problem, Baucus' committee voted Friday to exempt millions of people from the requirement to buy insurance and reduce penalties for those who fail to do so. But that would mean leaving at least 2 million more uninsured. It's very nice of him to reduce the penalties when he was suggesting jail time if someone were uninsured.

"I think we've got to do something about it," said Sen. Schumer "We've got to make sure health insurance is affordable for the middle class."

Congress has just been so tone deaf on this issue it's blood-boiling. The whole point of health insurance reform was to provide affordable health insurance to every citizen in this country. It's either that, or continue to allow one person every 11.7 minutes die directly due to the fact that they weren't covered by health insurance.

Congress has dismissed the only plan that would completely work; and that's “Medicare-for-all” single-payer Universal health insurance. The only other hope of controlling costs to allow everyone to buy-in to affordable health insurance is to include a Public health insurance option on the menu of health insurance plans to choose from; so that health insurance costs are controlled, and not allowed to grow exponentially year after year.

It's becoming very clear that a Public health insurance option is hanging on by a thread. If this happens, it means we (as a country) will be giving kickbacks to health insurance companies for all their hard work. Kickbacks, of course, in the form of subsidies designed to help insurance companies “lower costs”. They sincerely think this is what's going to happen. Health insurance companies will take free money from the government, and lower their costs because they're just a bunch of nice guys, right?

Insanity is the word of the Senate right now. Republicans are still unable to produce a health insurance reform plan, despite their claims that they want reform too. Unless their plan really does consist of “No” and “You Lie”. That's all ANYONE has heard from Republicans on health insurance reform.

And this is the attitude that the Democrats are trying to “reach across the aisle” for. They are so concerned that Republicans won't like them it seems; they've made concession after concession after concession. They truly wonder why it's still not good enough.

And then there are other Democrats who are only out for their own interests. You know, like those who have taken more money than anyone else from the health care lobbies over the last two years? Number one, we all know, is Max Baucus. Number two, is Kent Conrad. Number three is Chuck Grassley – (R-IA) who, of course, famously said that the government health insurance reform bill would “kill grandma” in the spirit of bipartisanship. Number 5? Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). What do they all have in common? They all voted against the two public option amendments.

The fix is in, kids. These Senators will do everything they can to give back to the people who have given so much to them. They don't care about their constituents, they care about their own pocketbook and being re-elected. This is true of Senators from both sides of the aisle.

There are so few people in Congress who can be considered “honest” and who look out for the best interest of their constituents it's simply scary. These are the people President Obama (no stranger to health care lobby money himself) gave the keys to, to provide a pressing need for us all; affordable health insurance.

I can only hope that some of these Senators have consciences. That's the only way we'll actually get the reform that we need. Otherwise, that number of one person every 11.7 minutes dying due exclusively to the fact that they don't have health insurance will explode over the next 10 years. Then when does it stop? One person dies every 5 minutes? Every 30 seconds? When does it end. The callousness of hearing “who cares” is jarring. Nobody is immune to this. You could lose your job tomorrow, and then be paying triple what you were paying for COBRA benefits; with money you don't have. Then you get sick and don't have health insurance when you stop paying the COBRA premiums.

Then what? Then what do you do?

Still think it can't happen to you? It happens every single day. You'll care then.

Click here if you missed Part 1