Ablogination

Senate Majority leader, Harry (jellyspine) Reid just announced that the Senate will pass their version of Health Care legislation with a Public Option intact.

That’s good news for many. Not so good for others.

They could just go with Single Payer and all would be well. But no, that would be too smart and too easy for this gov’t.
So we get drama. Lots of drama.

The legislation Reid refers to provides the individual states the opportunity to “Opt Out” of the Government supported plan.
Now, in Vermont or California you have little to worry about.
But, living in a state governed by idiots, as I do, this could end up leaving entire states full of needy at the mercy of the greedy.
And that’s not going to cut it.

The Republican/Republican-Lite, corporate owned Tennessee legislature is almost certain to “Opt Out” of the plan.
They took an ax to TennCare leaving it barely alive. 30% of Tennesseans are without coverage.
What about us, Reid?
Virginia is poised to elect a scumbag to the Governor’s office. Kansas has always been governed by fools.
There are no bigger idiots in state gov’t than we find in Florida.
North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas…
All of the uninsured of those states are at risk of being fucked by their state level leaders.

This is not good lookin’ out, Senate.
As a matter of fact, you suck.

Still, a Public Option, as I’ve been telling you, will be reality. That’s as good as we’ll get for now but it is better than the alternative.
However, I encourage all who read this to again contact your congress critters and tell them, firmly, that some states are run by fools and we don’t want to be left victim to their folly.
The PO must be a Fifty State Mandate. Care must be equal in every corner of the nation. If not, you’ll have states that become awash with insurance companies engaging in the same economically and morally disastrous practices that put us all where we are today. Either without care, or grotesquely overcharged for the care we have.

The “Opt Out” just isn’t an option.
For the industry maybe, but not for us.

From the LA Times:

By Noam N. Levey

October 26, 2009 | 1:34 p.m.

Reporting from Washington - Fueling the push for a new government insurance plan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today that his chamber’s healthcare bill would include a compromise that would create a nationwide public option but give states the right to opt out.

“The public option is not a silver bullet, [but] I believe it’s an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry,” Reid said. “Under this concept, states will be able to decide what works for them.”

Reid sent the proposal to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be analyzed today, a key step before he can bring a bill to the floor for debate.

His decision does not settle the debate roiling Democratic ranks over how to create a government plan that would give consumers who don’t get coverage through their employers an alternative to plans offered by commercial insurers.

The “opt-out” compromise is still two votes shy of the 60 Reid needs to overcome a Republican filibuster, according to a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill who requested anonymity when discussing the plan.

“Under this concept, states will be able to decide what works for them.”

That’s the sound of Harry Reid throwing millions of Americans under the bus. This is unacceptable.
Write and call. Tell the House that Universal Health Care must be exactly that. Universal.
Well beyond the destructive reach of Governors and Legislators on the Insurance Industry’s payrolls.