-  Almost nobody seems to think that a plan that forces people to buy policies from private insurers is a better alternative to offering people the choice of not buying insurance, buying private insurance, or buying a new public insurance plan.

-  Almost nobody seems to think that a plan that helps the poor buy insurance…but then fines them if they still can’t afford it, is a very good idea.

-  Almost nobody seems to think that “co-ops” are really a solution to ANYTHING, much less a way to provide “competition” against the private insurers.  Of course, RNC chair Michael Steele agrees…but for the wrong reason: he thinks that co-ops are some sort of “back door” to creating a public option.  This theory, besides utilizing the worn out “slippery slope” fallacy, has absolutely no merit, and only displays that Steele (like most people) has no idea what a co-op really is.  Here it folks…and it’s not very complicated: a co-op is just a large group of people joining together, so that they can go to the insurance companies and say, “Hey, we’ve got a WHOLE bunch of potential customers for you…how about giving us a nice, bulk discount?“  That’s it.  It doesn’t provide ANY competition for private insurers and has NO resemblance to a “government-run insurance program.“  NONE.

-  Almost nobody seems to think that paying for the plan with a 13% tax taken directly out of the paychecks of middle-class Americans is good way to make the bill “deficit neutral.”

In fact…what should give us pause, is the few people who are actually in favor of this plan:

-  INVESTORS:  Upon news that there was a new bill that would FORCE everyone to buy private health insurance, while doing little to curtail the unethical practices that private insurers use to raise profits (examples here and here)…health insurance stocks SOARED.  Think Progress reports: “Following Baucus’ announcement, HealthNet shares increased by 3%, United Health Group Inc shares rose by 2.7%, Humana Inc. grew by 2.6%, Wellpoint stock gained 1.7% and Aetna Inc rose 1.6%.“

-  HEALTH CARE LOBBYISTS:  It’s amazing what putting a few million dollars in the pockets of the right Republican and Democratic senators (especially the ones sitting on the Senate Finance Committee) can do for your industry’s bottom line.  Teddy Partridge at Campaign Silo sums it all up nicely: “Health insurance executives who have poured money into the campaign coffers of Blue Dogs, Max Baucus, Chuck Grassley, Kent Conrad, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins (as well as their political action committees) likely made all their money back in the one day rise in stock prices. The companies themselves, which hold huge amounts of their own stock, surely recouped all of their PAC investments on Tuesday alone.”

-  HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES:  Time for a kegger…stocks are up, the bill would force millions of new people to become their customers, and all they have to do is accept people with pre-existing conditions.  All that’s left is to kill is the excise tax on their most expensive policies for the wealthiest Americans, and the proposed fees the bill would force them to pay.  But even if they can’t get out of these taxes/fees, it’s no big deal…they’ve already said they’ll just pass these costs onto all their customers (it’s not like they’re going to pay them out of their profits!).

Of course, the media isn’t helping Americans to realize how truly ridiculous this bill is…CNN, AP, and others published news items shortly after the bill’s release that claimed the bill represented the “majority of what Obama wanted.“  Why did they print this?  Just because Senator Baucus SAID the bill was the majority of what Obama asked for.  In truth, the bill is everything the Republicans and the Health Care industry asked for…and almost NOTHING that Obama and the Democrats insisted was necessary.  Almost ridiculously, the bill features the GOP’s two biggest talking points (no policies for illegals, no federal money for abortions) when these issues are ALREADY addressed in our laws, and no further mention is necessary unless the bill included a public option…which it DOES NOT.

I’ll leave you today with three items for your entertainment and personal edification.  The first is a link to Matt Taibbi’s excellent article, “Sick and Wrong,” from the last issue of Rolling Stone.  In his usual, inimitable style, Taibbi outlines how truly AWFUL our current system is…and why our elected officials may be the absolutely wrong people to count on in terms of fixing it, unless American citizens REALLY put the pressure on them.

The second item, is an article from this month’s Newsweek titled, “No Country For Sick Men.”  It should upset us…that we are the ONLY industrialized, democratic nation that does not openly propose that ALL of our citizens have a right to health care.  It should upset us…that we are the ONLY industrialized, democratic nation that has “medical bankruptcies” and that these make up 68% of our total bankruptcies.  It should upset us…that we are the ONLY industrialized, democratic nation that allows tens of thousands of people to die each year because they don’t have access to health care.  The author, in examining our system and those of others clearly asks:  what exactly do these facts say about us AS A PEOPLE AND A NATION?

And lastly, Rachel Maddow discusses the Senate Health Care bill with…yes, the bill itself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT1xHZcWkaQ

…but I wanted to take a quick moment to provide first impressions on a bill that, prima facie, seems as bad or worse as most people feared it would be.  A few points for your immediate consideration, to be followed by more in-depth analysis in the very near future:

• Former health insurance executive for Cigna (now a leading whistleblower) Wendell Potter warned us yesterday of what we might expect to see.  Speaking before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, he argued that once you take the crucial reform elements out of the bill…and you take out the only measure that will serve to provide competition against the private insurance companies (ie. the public option, or some facsimile)…all you have left is a plan that GIVES BUSINESS to the insurance companies.  As Potter said, it might as well be called the “Insurance Industry Profit Protection and Enhancement Act.” Here’s an excerpt:.“  Here’s an except:“H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, encompasses a comprehensive set of reforms that address the critical need for expanded coverage, lower health care costs, and greater choice and quality. Other legislative proposals, including the “Baucus Framework” being considered by the Senate Finance Committee’s “Bipartisan Six,” would benefit health insurance companies far more than average Americans.

“The practices of the insurance industry over the past several years have contributed directly to the growing number of Americans who are uninsured and the even more rapidly growing number of people who are underinsured.

H.R. 3200 would go a long way toward making many of the standard practices of the industry illegal while providing much-needed assistance to low and moderate income Americans who cannot afford the overpriced premiums being charged by the cartel of large for-profit insurance companies that now dominate the industry.

H.R. 3200 would provide premium and cost-sharing assistance through the Health Insurance Exchange it would create. It would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a defined package of “essential health services” that all plans, public or private, would have to cover.

It also would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or basing premiums on pre-existing conditions, gender or occupation. It would eliminate deductibles or co-pays for preventive care as well as the lifetime limits currently common in health insurance policies. The bill also would set an annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses that is more reasonable than in other proposals.

As important if not more important than those market reforms, H.R. 3200 would also create a public insurance option to compete with private insurers. Contrary to the misinformation being disseminated by the health insurance industry and its allies, the public insurance option would not have a competitive advantage over private plans. It would have to meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance market reforms as private plans.”

• Let me get this straight: the House bill…would allow people to buy from private insurers, buy the inexpensive government-run plan, or not buy insurance at all.  The Senate bill…would force EVERY American to buy plans from private insurers, or pay a fine.  Since about the only reforms left in the Senate version are that people with pre-existing conditions could not be denied, and premiums cannot be raised except for specific reasons including “age” and “tobacco use”…and since the only assistance anyone is going to get is in the form of subsidies for poor people to help buy overpriced private insurance, and caps for the middle class on how much they can be forced to pay out of pocket…it seems to me like Potter was right:  only the insurance companies are going to profit from this.  They will get a lot more business, they won’t have to stop their current practices (overcharging, rescission, spuriously denying claims), and EVERYONE is going to be forced to pay TOO much for policies that AREN’T WORTH IT…only to have their claims denied when they try to get reimbursed.
• Again…let me make sure I’m getting this:  the plan proposes helping poor people with subsidies to buy insurance, but if they still can’t afford it (because they’re effing POOR)…we’re going to FINE them?
• They claim the Senate version still contains “competition” because it calls for the creation of “co-ops.”  Ok fellas…here’s a little Business 101:  a “co-op,” where people form large groups to buy insurance plans and get a “group rate“…that isn’t competition…it’s just “collective bargaining” to take advantage of “volume pricing.”  You’re just forming a larger group so the insurance companies have a better incentive to offer you a lower price…it provides ZERO competition to the insurance companies.  Only another insurance provider offering better prices and service can do THAT.  And once again…it is ironic and patently hypocritical that Republicans would have a problem with the so-called “socialism” of a government insurance plan…but are perfectly ok with the “sort-of-communist” collective known as a co-op.  I would guess it is because the insurance industries LOBBYISTS have much less of a problem with co-ops.
• It’s also noticeable that while real reform and competition are absent, everything the REPUBLICANS HAVE WANTED is in there.  Lower overall price tag: CHECK…strict measures to prevent illegal aliens from purchasing insurance (unnecessary since there isn’t a public option, and illegals already CAN’T BUY private insurance): CHECK…restrictions so federal money can’t be spent on abortions except in extreme cases (unnecessary because Medicare laws already explicitly prohibit it): CHECK!
• Well, at least Baucus got something for all the compromises to the bill…exactly ZERO (zip, zilch, nada) Republicans say they’ll vote for it, and most are still complaining about the proposed cuts to Medicare costs (Medicare, being the GOP’s FAVORITE “socialist” program)…and the Democrats are also reasonably upset with the final product.  Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said “The Senate and the president to some extent have been like a child looking for a unicorn. I don’t see it…“

More details certainly to follow…at a minimum, the House bill and the Senate bill…well…have quite a bit of daylight between them.

But those people…aren’t really the heart of the problem, are they?  No one expects the portion of Americans (it appears to be about 30%) who are functionally illiterate, or marginally educated, or ignorant (either as a product of upbringing or willfulness) to react any different to what they are hearing.  We can’t really expect them to perform research, much less to read the actual bill.  We know that many…personally despise the President and will condemn any action he performs, simply on the basis of his race.  We know that some, are religious fanatics who are easily convinced that their opponents are “evil,” or “demons,” or even “the antichrist”…others, are simply mentally unbalanced….some are both.  We can’t even realistically expect them to be able to determine which news sources are reliable or which are not…they are likely to gravitate to the sources that either 1) entertain them, or 2) Reinforce their existing beliefs and prejudices.

No -- the heart of the problem, is THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER.  It is those people, generally educated and generally informed…who either for political, personal, or financial reasons are disseminating claims that THEY KNOW TO BE both false and dangerous.  And who SHOULD know how the 30% of Americans mentioned above will react when hearing the demagoguery and deceptions.

Just a few examples (certainly not an exhaustive list), from each category:

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR FAME/EGO:

• Glenn Beck: Beck whips his audiences into a furor over imaginary “FEMA Concentration Camps“…he compares health care reform to the work of the nazis, and outrageously claims that the reform plan would kill newborns and children.  He warns of Obama’s “brownshirts” (an ludicrous reference to fascism) and a nonexistent “enemies list.“  He incessantly accuses the current administration of wanting to take away American freedoms so it can rule with an “iron fist.” He even jokes about poisoning the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.  When criticized for his positions…he accuses the people leveling charges against him as using “pure hate” speech…and then proceeds to call the president a RACIST who has a “deep-seated” hatred for white people.  Now…Beck is an educated man.  Any man with any sense knows that these claims are ridiculous and unfounded.  Any man with any sense would know that these words might drive scared, easily-influenced people to consider thoughts of violence and rebellion against the government…even Beck knows this, as recently he started making statements BEGGING his listeners not to do anything desperate.  Why did he try to take a step back?  Because he loves the attention…he loves his ability to control the 30% of Americans who lack the critical reasoning to determine that his statements are plainly false…but HE IS SCARED at the same time, that his words will inspire these people to do the kinds of sick, stupid, and deadly things that HE KNOWS these people are capable of doing.  It is the very definition of “wanton disregard for the well-being of others.”  As Keith Olbermann put it, it is the equivalent of shouting “FIRE” in a crowded theater, and then begging the people to exit in a calm manner as they scream and trample each other to death.
• Rush Limbaugh: Rush Limbaugh…also openly compares the President to the worse genocidal dictator in history, Adolf Hitler.  He claims the Obama health care logo…looks like a nazi swastika.  By making such claims, he is KNOWINGLY inciting the most easily manipulated portion of our citizens to “act against” a president and the democrats who he portrays as “evil.”  Rush paints the adminsitration as ruining this country, destroying the Constitution, ruling through autocracy, and desiring to kill American seniors.  Then…he tells “his people” that they are the true “patriots” and that anybody who criticizes their actions (especially if it’s the president) is a “racist” and a “tyrant.”  Rush knows…that these things aren’t true.  He’s been around long enough and has enough education to know about Hitler and the Nazis, and to know that there is NO reasonable comparison to the current administration.  He also knows that the president and the Democrats aren’t going to put seniors in “Statist Farms,” or to euthanize them. These statements are so false as to absurd to anyone with even the slightest education or even common sense.  He also knows…that 30% of the population, upon hearing these things, will be angered…some to the point of threats and violence.  He knows all this…and says these things anyway, because he longs for the cheers of the vast, ignorant throng that look to him and his words, whose passions flare at his ranting, who will accept as GOSPEL, even the most outlandish utterances…as long as they come from him.

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR POLITICAL REASONS:

• Sarah Palin: Palin tells the people that she just can’t support a reform plan that would send her parents and downs-syndrome baby in front of a “death panel,” a plan that, in her words, is “downright evil.”  Three days later…she says the conversation of health care should be kept “civil.”  She knew there were no “death panels” in the plan, but she said it anyway, to draw attention to herself and in an attempt to increase her political stock through publicly attacking Obama’s plan.  She knew that 30% of Americans would believe her REGARDLESS of how obviously insane the contention was…and when she realized what some of the more unstable members of that 30% might do, out of fear of “death camps,” she quickly backpedalled and called for civility…it’s too late, the damage done, but she still thought worth an attempt to cover her own ass and to distance herself from the actions THAT SHE KNEW some headcase might take because of her words.
• Most Republicans: I could list each Republican by name, along with his or her comments…but why do so, when they are all following the same script.  The RNC provided them with a memo TELLING THEM exactly what to say, and for the most part…they are consistently following with it.  They were told to describe the plan as a “government takeover,” and as the first step towards full “socialism.”  They were told to say that seniors would lose Medicare benefits, and the middle-class will carry the MASSIVE tax burden required to support the plan.  They were told to scare people into thinking that government bureaucrats would now be making their medical decisions and that “rationing” would lead to them dying without treatment.  They were told to tell us that the plan would cause ALL of the insurance companies to go bankrupt.  They were essentially told to paint a frightening picture of a communist America, where all people are poor, and where people…especially seniors…are dying in the streets without proper medical care.  They know better:  they’ve read the bill (or their staff has)…they’ve seen the Congressional Budget Office reports…and STILL they willfully lie to their supporters, stir their supporters’ fear and anger, and risk some of their more-unhinged supporters committing deadly acts.  And they do it so that they can “defeat Obama” and so they can please the health care companies who have paid for their campaigns.   It has nothing to do with the American people…for them, it doesn’t even have anything to do with health care.
• Again…Most Republicans: They have perpetrated similar injustices against the American people on the subject of Obama’s legitimacy.  You need do no more than to watch the two videos made by Firedoglake to know this.  Firedoglake asked several Republicans, on camera, what they thought of the ridiculous “bither” theorists who claim the Obama is not an American citizen.  A DISGUSTING number of them…either supported the theory, or gave non-committal answers.  Now…they have SEEN the Obama birth certificate, and the documents certifying its validity.  They KNOW that Obama is an American citizen…but they also know that 30% of Americans, many out of pure racial hatred for the President, desperately want ANY reason to claim the president is serving office illegitimately.  They know these people are racists…and they know that support of this idea may lead to ANOTHER white supremacist committing a desperate act under the misguided notion that he or she is “saving the country“…but they lie anyway, because these people VOTE FOR THEM, and they know that it distracts people’s attention from the issues the president wants people to focus on.

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR FINANCIAL REASONS:

• Lobbyists and PR Firms: These groups are easy to understand.  They are paid MILLIONS every year to do three simple things.  One…they must wine, dine, and provide campaign contributions to politicians, in exchange for the politicians support of the health care industry.  Two…they must place tv and radio spots that will convince the American people to accept the positions of the health care industry, EVEN IF those positions are contrary to the person’s own self-interest.  Three…they must organize demonstrations and events filled with people who will disrupt any attempt to discuss health care reform…and to give the false impression that most people in America don’t want health care reform.  They are doing all these things…and they do them very well.  They don’t care about politics…they have no ethical or philosophical position on health care…they don’t even care about the best interests of Americans.  They care about one things…getting paid.  America’s Health Insurance Plans…FreedomWorks…Americans for Prosperity…Conservatives for Patients’ Rights…these groups and others, funded by the corporate, health care, industrial complex, are organizing groups of the most uninformed/misinformed 30% of our population, pumping them full of disinformation (attacks that they KNOW to be false, but effective) to get them scared and angry, and coordinate events where these groups can vent all of their anger and ignorance in the most violent and disrespectful manner possible.  To these groups…this represents “a job well done” and there is no consideration for possible violent outcomes…for deaths…for destruction.

Now, of course…these categories represent over-simplifications.  Rush certainly also gains politically and financially from stirring the emotions of America’s most uninformed demographic.  The politicians I mentioned also benefit financially, in terms of contributions from the insurance industry lobbyists, when they choose to play to their constituents’ baser instincts.

And one thing that they ALL have in common…is that they are thinking of the benefit of themselves, their political party, their company, their bank account…with a wanton and complete disregard for the dangerous, event violent consequences of their actions.

And our “watchdogs,” in the media…are all but asleep.  For example, Palin’s claims of “death panels” that would take the lives of her parents and her baby…were so obviously false, and so obviously intended to do nothing more than scare the more ignorant members of our society, and to spur them to extreme actions.  Any objective news anchor or outlet would be completely justified in condemning the statement in the harshest terms possible…some non-objective, CONSERVATIVE pundits even did so.  But where was the mainstream media to clearly inform the public of its absurdity and recklessness?  As this columnist points out, the reaction from the press was to quote Palin’s comment, and perhaps to describe it as “harsh” or “controversial“….but they would not go so far as to even mention that it is FALSE, which lends the statement unintended credence.  As this columnist writes…the reaction to Rush Limbaugh’s comparisons between Obama and Hitler, were SHAMEFUL in their timidity.  As with the Iraq War, the press is again failing in its straightforward obligation to provide the public with INFORMATION…and when a political or celebrity pundit makes statements that are 1) patently false, and 2) designed to incite hatred and violence, it is the job of the press to inform the public of both the FACTS and to warn against the THREAT to our civil order.

In this…the ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/FOX news, and a majority of the daily newspapers are as culpable as the fearmongers, as they seem to have ceded their responsibilities to liberal pundits and online bloggers, WHO CAN NOT DO THE JOB ALONE.

On that note, I will leave you with one such liberal pundit…speaking eloquently to this very issue.  Here’s Keith Olbermann’s latest “Special Comment:”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-UxRfmtiI