It's a Matter of Life and Death

Neil Gaiman tweeted a link to this article recently.  It's about a young woman who died, alone and in pain, of a heart attack, because she didn't have health insurance.

As imperfect as the Affordable Care Act is, it's a step closer to ensuring that people like Melissa don't die so needlessly.  And I'd rather see us take that step forward than make no move at all.  I'd rather see us make progress toward the day when there are no more tragedies like this.  We need to start somewhere.

It's a matter of life and death.

It's Not That Easy Addendum

Saw this at Digby's after I'd written the previous post:

All over TV today, I'm hearing the gasbags fret about the fact that Obama hasn't brought up gun control. It's a good question, but they know the answer to it very well: the Democrats have given up that issue, the only problem is that the Republicans refuse to accept their surrender. They have nothing more to say about it.

I'm more curious about why they aren't all over this:

Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to roll back state Medicaid coverage would leave thousands of Arizona's most mentally fragile without health care. 

An estimated 5,200 people diagnosed with a serious mental illness and thousands more who qualify for other behavioral-health services would be among 280,000 childless adults losing health-care coverage under the governor's plan.

But, Jan sez, she'll allocate $10 mil or so to cover psych meds.  Well, that's nice, Jan.  Too bad you're cutting out all the other services that go along with the meds.  You don't seem to realize that it's not just a matter of chucking pills down people's throats.  Meds have to be prescribed, they have to be monitored, they have to be adjusted, they stop working and have to be changed, above all they have to be taken.  Funny thing about mental illness, paranoid people often won't swallow the pills you hand them.

Without intensive monitoring, without counseling appointments, and without a support system that will help these poor ill people get well enough to achieve some level of function, you might as well be hosing them down with homeopathy for all the good it will do.

Just like with transplants, Jan Brewer doesn't get it.  Jan Brewer doesn't care.  That's the takeaway lesson here, people: do not get sick in Arizona, because Jan Brewer doesn't care if you suffer and die.  She and her merry band of fucktards do not believe the great state of Arizona needs to waste its money on you.

Suzanne left a comment on the last installment I want to make sure all of you see:

very well said dana. in the past, i've had to try to navigate the california mental health system for family and friends in addition to my experiences on the pd.

even before the draconian cuts that have happened in ca, the cops had to determine that the person was (1) a danger to themselves (suicidal); or (2) a danger to others (homicidal); or (3) gravely disabled (ie dementia/alzheimer) in order to place an involuntary 72 hour psychiatric hold. the patient would then be transported by ambulance to the county contracted mental health facility where the docs would either agree or disagree.

more times than i can recount, if ya didn't have good insurance, that 72 hour hold was ignored the patient would be discharged early -- many times later that same day.

it is heartbreaking what is happening to our safety net in the country.

its not that easy -- and it is being made harder and harder each and every day.

And that was in California, which according to some was a socialist paradise.

If you want to see what the Republican ideal of health care is, watch Arizona.  And consider carefully whether that's what you want for this country the next time you go to the ballot box.

Imaginary Death Panels vs. The Real Deal

I've been trying for several days now to figure out how to capture my outrage in words, but it's impossible to do it.  Let's just say that if I ever get a chance to do it, I will gladly punch Arizona's political overlords in the face.

The same pieces of shit who have no problem going on and on about imaginary death panels in order to defeat health care reform also have no problem with creating death panels of their own (h/t):

The only political effort to implement death panels since Obama got his health reform bill passed has been in the state of Arizona. There the Republican-controlled legislature with the approval of GOP Governor Jan “there are headless bodies turning up all over our desert” Brewer has told 98 people waiting for transplants that they must die.

Those 98, who are either poor or uninsurable by private insurance due to pre-existing conditions, need bone marrow, lung, heart, and other forms of transplants. They were told by the state’s Medicaid program—Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS—that they qualified for coverage. But, this October 1, AHCCCS said it could not in fact pay for their transplants. Facing a billion-dollar-plus budget deficit, the Arizona legislature cut out all state funding for transplantation retroactively!

This means that people who were told they had a chance at life had the rug pulled out from under them without any warning. The Republican legislature not only acted as a death panel; it chose to balance the budget on the backs of the poorest and most desperate of Arizonians by welshing on a promise.

Just to be clear, the legislature and governor did not say there would be no more transplant funding going forward. They said they are telling those to whom coverage has already been promised to drop dead.

I hope Arizonans have the decency to realize just what kind of murderous assclowns they've elected, and remedy that the next time they go to the ballot box.  Otherwise, my old home state will gain a deserved reputation as the worst place in America to live.  Jan Brewer & Co. seem intent on proving that when it comes to treading on the poor and immigrants, nobody stomps harder than they do.  Once suspects she and her cronies rather enjoy the sound of bones breaking under their boots.

This, America, is what it looks like when the modern Cons get their way.  This is what they think this country should be.  If it doesn't horrify you, then there is no trace of morality or decency left in your shriveled little soul.

Shoes on Other Feet and So Forth

Oh, the humanity!  Poor Andy Harris.  He's discovering two important things: that guvmint-run health care is a desirable thing, and that gaps in coverage suck (h/t):

A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan from the government takes a month to kick in.

Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.

“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange.

Awww, poor baby.  Somebody call the waambulance - only he can't afford it, cuz he ain't got coverage.  Oh, the outrage!

Harris, a Maryland state senator who works at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and several hospitals on the Eastern Shore, also told the audience, “This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed,” his spokeswoman Anna Nix told POLITICO.

Well, ain't he special?  I've never yet had the joy of working at a job where I don't have a waiting period for coverage.  Even my union-negotiated insurance didn't kick in until I'd been employed for 60 or 90 days - I don't remember quite which, because I was just so damned happy the company had a physician's assistant on the premises I could make use of immediately.  Came in useful when I had that ear infection that nearly turned serious.  Without them, I'd have let it go until it became critical, because as I mentioned before, I wouldn't have insurance for months.

All in the audience who've either had to endure a waiting period or no coverage at all, please raise your hands.  Yup.  It's what I thought - there are a fuck of a lot of us.

Maybe someone who knows how to do such things should start an online petition for Andy.  Maybe he'd feel better about having a waiting period for his government-run insurance to kick in if he knew all us peons working for private companies have to wait even longer for crap insurance that costs a fortune and, before the evil Obamacare law passed, could drop us like a hot rock at the first sign of our coming down with something expensive. 

And don't forget to remind Andy at every conceivable opportunity just how ironic it is that the man who hates guvmint-run health care so can't bloody wait to get himself some.

A Shout-Out to Evergreen and Union-Negotiated Health Insurance

Wednesday was fun.  About half an hour into my shift, the mild discomfort I'd been feeling announced itself as a full-blown kidney stone.  I'm prone to the bastards, and apparently the one that had announced its existence a few months ago didn't so much pass as await a better opportunity.  Anyone who's had these before knows it's an exquisite form of agony.  Sometimes, it's only moderate torture, and you can ride it out with the proper swear words.  But since I can't scream profanities at work, I decided a trip to the ER for some nice happy drugs was in order.

Now, I've been to a lot of hospitals for these stupid things.  I've had to wait in the waiting room for hours before getting a doctor, and been put through the excitement of having to register before being seen.  The last thing you want to do while your kidney feels like it's simultaneously imploding and exploding after being blowtorched is answer questions about your insurance.  I wasn't looking forward to it.

But when I got to Evergreen Hospital's ER, a gentleman zipped out to meet me, whisked me back for a blood pressure and temp check, slapped the plastic bracelet on, and said they'd call me right back.  I don't think the whole thing took more than five minutes.  I had time to call my intrepid companion and alert him to the fact I'd need a ride home, and then they were ushering me right to an exam room.  I'd barely gotten the gown on before a nurse was there - with bad news.  They had to check for blood in ye olde urine before they'd start the good drugs.  This, I thought, would take ages.  But no - about fifteen minutes after producing a sample, she was back with the great good news that I did, indeed, have a stone, and it was time for the blessed relief.  Wasn't her fault that just as she was putting the IV in, the damned thing passed.  All that drama for naught.

The ER doc, who is one of the sweetest people I've ever met, decided we'd best ensure the little bugger wasn't just playing possum, so we waited a bit.  He sent me home a little over an hour later with a prescription for the good stuff and an apology for taking so long with the discharge papers - they were horribly busy.

You never would have guessed it from the speed with which they handled my case, start to finish.  That place is amazing.  I wish every hospital could have an ER that functioned so smoothly.  And it's one of the only hospitals I know of that sends someone in to get you registered only after you're no longer in agony.

In fact, they left me feeling so good (even without drugs, hee hee) that I went back to work for the rest of the evening.

They did a fantastic job, they've got a wonderful hospital with an exceptional staff, and they deserve recognition for the tremendous work they do.  So, my dear Evergreen: thank you from the bottom of my heart (and my kidney)!

And there's another reason I'm telling you about my ridiculous little medical woes: it points up the value of good health insurance.  Everyone in this country should be able to have the experience I had.  When the pain hit, I didn't have to suffer.  My union-negotiated health care's got me covered (theoretically, anyway).  So well, in fact, that when I checked out, there wasn't even a copay. 

Now, single-payer would be a fuck of a lot better - I wouldn't have had to do that frantic little do-I-or-don't-I-have-my-insurance-card-on-me check.  But having good insurance is certainly the next-best thing.  We're on our way to that with the Affordable Care Act.  No, it's not going to be perfect at first.  Yes, insurers will kick up a fuss and try to wriggle out of their obligations and in general make this as miserable as possible.  Cons will try to tear the law down rather than building it up, and too many "moderate" Dems will be more than happy to help them with the wrecking ball.  But if we, the sick and those who could get sick without prior notice, keep the pressure for a better health care system on, it won't just be the union members and other suck lucky folk who have good coverage.  We can take this Act and build on it.

So, thanks to my union for ensuring I'm well-insured.  And thanks to those who had the courage to vote for the first steps to ensuring the whole country's well-insured.  That's the first skirmish won - keep fighting for more!

Finally, huge thanks to my intrepid companion, who stood by ready to drive my loopy self home if they'd had to pump me full of painkillers, and who even cleaned out his car, and let me ruin his afternoon plans, just so he could be told his services weren't necessary.  Friends like that are solid gold.  I can't ever express in words how much he means to me, and I suck at performance art, so a simple "Thanks, man" will just have to symbolize the whole.

Yes They Could

They did it.  At long last, we have health care reform.  We've begun.  Now we have a foundation, imperfect as it is, that can be built upon.

Drinks on the house tonight, my darlings.  And make sure Cujo gets a few stiff ones, as he won't be a happy puppy tonight.  As for the rest of us, I do believe some drunken debauchery is in order.

Oh, and Republicans?  Ha ha ha fuck you!  That is all.

Outrageous Bullshit Double-Header

The Muse knows I am fuming, and has graciously allowed me to post another post.

First, absorb this bit of reality and see if you're steamed enough to power a freight train:

We learned a few years ago that the CIA had video documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives who'd been subjected to "severe interrogation techniques," but because of what the video showed, the agency destroyed the tapes. In effect, officials had evidence of a possible crime, so they eliminated it -- which is itself a crime.

Within a few weeks of the revelations, Bush's Justice Department appointed a prosecutor to lead a criminal investigation into the destruction of evidence.

What we didn't know until today is that a far-right senator, Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas, acting his capacity as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was apparently made aware of the alleged crimes in a closed briefing in 2003, and raised no objections.

That's right.  This fucktarded piece of shit has no problem with crimes being committed.  None.  No problem, cover it up.  And we're not talking minor shit, we're talking war crimes.

These people aren't amoral so much as anti-moral. 

Meanwhile, John Yoo, he of the torture memos, has decided the Prez can use nukes any ol' time he likes.  No limits on his power to destroy civilizations whatsoever.  Totally fine with the Constitution, despite the fact the Constitution's all about the checks and balances, and despite the fact that Supreme Court precedent sez executive powers tain't so unlimited.  Observe:

As far back as 1804, a unanimous Supreme Court held in Little v. Barreme that Congress has sweeping authority to limit the President’s actions in wartime. That case involved an Act of Congress authorizing vessels to seize cargo ships bound for French ports. After the President also authorized vessels to seize ships headed away from French ports, the Supreme Court held this authorization unconstitutional on the grounds that Congress’ decision to allow one kind of seizure implicitly forbade other kinds of seizure. More recently, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Court held that the President does not have the power to unilaterally set military policy (in those cases with respect to detention); he must comply with statutory limits on his power. Taken together, these and other cases unquestionably establish that Congress has the power to tell the President “no,” and the President must listen.

John Yoo is a moral vacuum, but he is also a constitutional law professor at one of the nation’s top law schools and a former Supreme Court clerk. It is simply impossible that Yoo is not aware of Little, Hamdi and Hamdan, or that he does not understand what they say. So when John Yoo claims that the President is not bound by Congressional limits, he is not simply ignorant or misunderstanding the law. He is lying.

Indeed he is.  Lying about the law, and yet Berkeley believes he's qualified to teach law.  I'll never, ever, understand that one.

Bonus outrages: selling plates of pasta to save your life (thank you, broken health care industry!) and the Cons' idea of a bipartisan dialogue on health care reform.  Maybe we should hold a pasta fundraiser to see if we can whip up enough cash to get these idiots some brains.

The Best in the World, Eh?

The best in the world at spending far too much and getting far too little, yeah:

It's hard to constantly come up with new ways to say "America spends way, way, way, way, way more than any other country on health care." But we do! Just look at the National Geographic graph above, which puts per-person spending on one side of the chart and average life expectancy on the other. Or consider this: If we spent what Canada spends per person, our deficit problem would go away entirely. And Canada's per-person average is in a country where everybody is fully covered and so has full access to care. America's is in a country with 47 million uninsured, and so many people skimp on needed care. So the comparison is actually unfair to Canada.

David Leonhardt has another way of making the point. We don't have a government-run system. But our system is so expensive that our government's partial role is pricier than the whole of government-run systems.

If we had a functioning, rational government in this country, we'd have elected leaders all huddling over this graph.  They'd see that the "how much we spend" point on the line is ridiculously higher than anybody else's "how much we spend" point.  And for a moment, they might preen with pride, until they traced the downslope, and came to the point that tells us just how much life expectancy we're getting out of that, and realize just how very low it is compared to countries that spend far less.  And then they might notice how blue this graph is.  Well, blue represents countries with universal health care.  Interesting thing is, the vast majority of countries with universal health care spend less and live longer than we do.

At this point, if we had a functioning, rational government in this country, our elected leaders would hustle a bill through the House and Senate that gave us universal health care at a fraction of our current costs.  The President would sign it, and within a few days, perhaps a week, we'd be on our way to sitting with the grown up industrialized nations.

Alas, we haven't got a functioning, rational government.  We have a government that is partially rational and attempting to function, but that has a rather large minority of batshit fucking insane dipshits and a handful of posturing nitwits who are incapable of comprehending simple reality, but damned sure know how to fuck everything up.  Thus, we have ended up with a wretched cripple of a reform bill that is, appallingly, miles better than the current status quo.

I don't know how we can get to a point where batshit fucking insane dipshits are no longer given enough political power to keep things this badly fucked up.  But we have to try.  That graph up above is unacceptable for a nation like America.  It's time more Americans realized that.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Everybody knows the health care reform bill passed the Senate, right?  Yes.  Good.  Then we can move on to the stupid.  Newt Gingrich is already moving on to the stupid.  He's moving right to committing the Cons to running on the promise to repeal the bill.  I can't wait to see that.  I think Steve Benen's pretty excited, too:

"Every" Republican candidate will pledge to repeal popular consumer protections? Caps on families' medical expenses? Cost-containment measures? Deficit-reduction provisions? Subsidies for families who can't afford coverage? I really doubt it.

Thing is, they may be forced to run on repeal.  The Teabaggers are demanding it.  And it doesn't seem Cons will be able to pacify them with non-committal, Mitch McConnell-style prevarication.

This is going to be hysterically funny to watch.  I don't know if the usual summer movie fare can compete.

For a really good time in the meantime, go check out some lame Con excuses as to why the Medicare prescription drug boondoggle they foisted on the country without paying for is totally legit, whereas a health care reform bill that's fully paid for is not.  It's priceless.  Hard to choose my favorite, but I think Olympia Snowe's lameassery is a definite contender.  I'll let you lot decide:

The AP's Charles Babington reports that most GOP officials no longer want to talk about their own record.

Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "We were concerned about it, because it certainly added to the deficit, no question." His 2003 vote has been vindicated, Hatch said, because the prescription drug benefit "has done a lot of good."

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said those who see hypocrisy "can legitimately raise that issue." But he defended his positions in 2003 and now, saying the economy is in worse shape and Americans are more anxious.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said simply: "Dredging up history is not the way to move forward."

Translation: we fucked up and we don't want to talk about it because we were really hoping you'd all forget just how fucking stupid we are.

And, finally, the next time some Con starts whining about bipartisanship, remind them that their plan all along has been to play the obstructionist dickweed game for partisan political gain.  Arlen Specter knows - he was there, and he's revealed their dirty little secrets.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

It's actually a little boring now that it's clear the Cons have met their Waterloo.  It will all be over at 8am Christmas Eve, as long as Joe Lieberman doesn't stampede.

This seems to have prompted Sarah Palin to whip out the ol' death panel argument again:

Just one day after her deranged "death panel" nonsense was named the "Lie of the Year," Palin decided to raise the specter of her insane accusation all over again.

"NOW w/the Prez "threatening" &Congress "rushing" is when we MUST pay more attention than ever 2what this HealthCare Takeover is all about," Palin wrote in one tweet. "[M]erged bill may b unrecognizable from what assumed was a done deal:R death panels back in?"

To translate this into English, the former half-term governor believes President Obama is "threatening" someone -- she wasn't clear on who -- while lawmakers are "rushing." Given that the health care reform debate lasted nearly as long as Palin's entire tenure as governor, it's hard to believe the process really has been "rushed."

Nevertheless, she believes it's important that "we" carefully scrutinize what the "takeover is all about." Who, exactly, is taking over what is, alas, still unclear.

She goes on to suggest the conference report may be "unrecognizable" from the legislation, and "death panels" -- which never existed in our reality -- may be "back in" after the White House's intervention.

As Alex Koppelman put it, "[B]ecause Democrats are just dying to sneak in a provision that would allow them to kill your loved ones."

These idiots are so fucking pathetic.

Other Cons are wailing and moaning because the bill includes some perks:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters yesterday that it took quite a lot of effort to shape a health care bill that could generate as broad a base of support as this one.

"There are 100 senators here, and I don't know that there's a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that isn't important to them," Reid said. "If they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them."

That last part seems to have made an angry group of Republicans that much more furious. The accusation, of course, is that the bill is now loaded with "pork," as the Wall Street Journal put it, as senators were "bought off."

As Eric Boehlert explained, the complaints sound a little silly.

For anybody who's spent more than three weeks inside the Beltway, the allegations of legislative arm-twisting certainly sound naive, since that's how the D.C. game has been played for going on two centuries now. But nonetheless, conservatives insist Democrats have stooped to some kind of historic low.

But I can't help wondering what Nick Smith thinks about those claims. Because back in late 2003, when was serving as a Republican member of Congress from Michigan, Smith opposed the Bush White House's attempt to revamp Medicare when the issue came up for a vote in November. Republican leaders quickly realized that night that they didn't have the votes and started leaning on their own members.

At the time, House GOP leaders literally promised to deliver $100,000 in campaign contributions to Smith in exchange for his vote. The attempted bribery of lawmakers on the House floor was so obscene, it prompted yet another Ethics Committee investigation into Tom DeLay's antics.

By comparison, Democratic "sweeteners" on health care are about as common as the sunrise. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was in a position of leverage before the motion to proceed, so she secured some funding for her state. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was a long-time holdout, so he sought some extra Medicaid money for Nebraska. All kinds of senators received all kinds of inducements, prompting Republican apoplexy, as if this were some kind of unprecedented abuse.

To which Ben Nelson said, fine.  If that's the way it's gonna be, if they're really that upset, he'll just have Reid take out Nebraska's incidental extras.  And then, no doubt, have immense amounts of fun explaining to the good folks of his state that, if Cons hadn't thrown a tantrum, they'd have a lot more funding to play with.  Oopsies.

This is quite possibly the first time I've felt a little bit of admiration for that rat bastard.

And here's another bit of unexpected admiration: I actually think Max Baucus did a brilliant job of bawling out Cons:

In an uncharacteristically impassioned and frank speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) challenged “courageous” Republicans to “break from their leadership” and “work together to pass health care reform.” Baucus argued that the Republican party was more interested in winning seats during the 2010 election than offering sensible alternatives to the health care crisis. He also accused the Republican leadership of pressuring members of ‘Gang of Six’ to abandon bipartisan negotiations.

Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) “wanted to pass health care reform,” Baucus insisted. “They asked very good questions,” but “one by one by one they started to drift away. They wanted to pass health care reform, they wanted to act in a bipartisan basis but they were pressured, pressured from their political party not to do it.”

[snip]

“I just want the public to know that we worked very hard to get a bipartisan bill that side of the aisle started working with us but gradually they began to bleed politically,” Baucus said. They realized “that they would do a better chance in the 2010 elections by just not working with us, but just attack attack attack attack attack and try to score political points to defeat any honest effort to get health care reform.”

I never thought I'd ever say this, but... "You go, Max!  Woot!"

So, soon, we'll be on to conference.  There's already some talk of what we might expect.  There won't be miracles - far from them - but it looks like earlier benefits are very much on the table.  Rep. Grijalva, a progressive champion, will certainly be pushing for them.  We'll see what else ends up on the table.

And Dems are already setting Cons up for a fall.  If we get early implementation of some of those benefits, it just might work.

If you've got some time on your hands, and want to learn more about what improvements should be made, Ezra Klein's got a "Letters to Health Care Santa" series going that's definitely worth a look.  So far, we've heard from George Halvorson, Diane Archer, Alain Enthoven, David Cutler, Austin Frakt, and Jacob Hacker.  It's fun, creative, and full of good ideas.  Go enjoy.

Barring any extraordinary stupidity, this is probably the last dose we'll have for a while.  If you stumble across anything that's too stupid to ignore, or too thought-provoking not to share, please do drop it in comments.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

I didn't mean to spend nearly my entire day reading up on health care reform, but that's how it happened.  And, at the end of all that reading, I've made up my mind: the Senate reform bill is not the root of all evil.  In fact, while it's got lots and lots of room for improvement, it's actually not looking too horrible. 

The man who conceived the public option's not thrilled, but he still believes in the bill (h/t).

TNR's Jonathan Cohn chased down some numbers, and likes what he sees.

Paul Krugman's not joyful, but relieved.

But, as it turns out, it isn't those sober analyses that turned me from meh to hey, why not.  It was Jane Hamsher and her 10-point crusade against the reform bill that turned the tide.

Jonathan Cohn knocked her points one and three out of the park.

Ezra Klein knocked out all ten.

If all that prose is too dense, Igor Volsky made up a nice, colorful chart.

And Daily Kos blogger deaniac83 read over the list of ten, investigated, and decided that the bill must pass.

At about this point, I threw up my hands and said, "So be it.  Let it pass.  On to conference!"

Now, mind you, I have quibbles.  Many quibbles.  And that is why I'm looking forward to conference, and why I hope Jane Hamsher and her ilk keep charging with spears at the ready.  Y'see, an enraged crowd of powerful progressives attempting to kill the bill dead will probably haul the thing further to the left than we might have expected, and that is very much to the good.  In fact, if Jane Hamsher ran for Senate, I'd work for her campaign, for the simple reason she's wisely insane.  Can you imagine her playing chicken with Lieberman and Nelson in the Senate?  I don't think she'd be the one dodging in the end.  And having a crazy, implacable progressive kicking up a fuss would be a fine bargaining tool for Senators and a President who might want something a little bit more leftish but don't want to blow their centrist cover.  "Well, we would've made it less progressive, and we'd really like to give in to you, Ben and Joe, but... Jane might rip our faces off and feed them to Tom Coburn if we concede any more to you.  So, you see, we can't.  So sorry." 

That's the kind of progressives we need to work like hell to elect, my darlings: the ones that know that the art of negotiation means a) make insane demands and b) don't back down from them until you've gotten what you actually wanted.

And it'll be more important than ever to elect them after health care reform passes, because we're gonna want improvements.  We ain't gonna get them with a Con majority or the current batch of Conservadems and cowed Progs.

Incidentally, those of you who think the public option's dead if reform passes without it need to talk to Sen. Harkin.  Then redouble your efforts to get better Dem butts in those Senate seats.

But even if we don't manage that, and have to live with what we get for a bit, the Senate bill's not actually all that bad a beginning.  Seriously.  And I say that as someone who's had to make the decision between health care and putting food on the table in the past.  If my cushy union job goes adios, and this legislation is law, I'll have a better net than COBRA.  So if you ask me what's in it for me, that's it: I'll no longer have to worry that my pre-existing conditions and the high cost of health care will mean I'm SOL if I'm bounced back to retail.  That's a comfort.  And it's good enough to get started with.


Another factor in convincing me that this bill's worth passing is how shit-scared it makes Cons.  I mean, it's seriously to the point where they're praying for Sen. Byrd to die.  That's pretty fucking pathetic.  And now, here they are, knowing they've lost but obstructing till the bitter end just cuz.  Fine by me.  It gives Hamsher and her mob of howling progressives time to scare the Dems into shuffling left.  Besides, maybe they'll drive more of their own legislators from their ranks.  And that's a happy thought.

Do you know how pathetic Cons have become?  McCain's having to snivel lies that Dems never reached out to Cons (uh, Gang of Six?  Constant fucking phone calls to Snowe?  Delayed for months while you fucknuggets played coy?  Heeelllloooo!).  Oh, and whining that Teddy Kennedy would've wanted a bipartisan bill (betcha he wouldn't have minded a unicorn, either, but in the end he'd settle for a pony).  Huck feels that Ben Nelson betrayed him (funny thing we have in common with the Cons, there - Ben Nelson betrayed us, too!). 

I'm amused.  I can't wait to see the looks on their dear little faces when they lose this fight.  And they will lose.  Oh, there'll be sturm und drang and more histrionics from the Ben and Joe floor show, there may even be a progressive march on Washington complete with flaming torches, but in the end, health care reform shall pass. 

And then the work of turning the starter home into a castle will begin.

We're On Our Way

To what, I'm not quite sure yet.  But the Dems in the Senate held together this morning to defeat the Cons' filibuster of Harry Reid's manager's amendment.  The bill's got a long road ahead, but it's possible it may pass.

Cujo's hating it.  And I'm meh.  I think Cujo got the impression I support the thing just because.  How, I don't know - I've been linking to arguments for and against, and my main argument is not that we should pass any bill, no matter how bad it is, but that we shouldn't let progressive setbacks keep us from fighting for better Dems to represent us.  As for the bill itself, I'm wanting to see some improvements before the end.

I do know that this bill's already seen some meaningful changes, and it will see more before its final passage.  McJoan's got an excellent rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly in this current incarnation. Howard Dean's backed off calls to kill the bill and is sounding more hopeful about what we might be able to do in conference. 

Personally, I believe we should have single payer.  We ain't gonna get it.  Failing that, I'd like a public option.  We're probably not getting that.  And without the public option, either subsidies need to be higher or the mandate should probably go altogether.  But am I calling for them to kill the bill without that?  No.  What I'd ask for is higher subsidies.  And I'd like to know that this "exemption for those who can prove they can't afford coverage" is actually a meaningful protection for those who may not qualify for subsidies and can't afford their premiums.  If we can't pull the bill a lot further to the left by pressuring Reps and Senators in conference, then I'd at least insist on that.  And the percentage of income that goes to health insurance should be a fuck of a lot lower, much more in line with the House bill, if not even smaller.

Cujo seems to think those of us who support the bill, or at least don't despise it, have never been poor.  Hate to break it to him, but many of us have.  And those days when I didn't have health care because my $6 per hour job didn't offer benefits were horrible.  I wouldn't have been able to afford a coverage mandate.  Fuck, I could barely afford my (mandated) car insurance.  But newsflash: under this bill, I'd qualify either for Medicaid or subsidies.  Under this bill, my teeth may not have rotted nearly away, and I'd have been able to go to the doctor when I got sick.  And under this bill, my pre-existing asthma wouldn't disqualify me for coverage.  Those are no small things.  That's why I can't put myself firmly in the "hell no" camp.  Especially not before we see what comes out of conference.

So, no unqualified celebration in the cantina tonight.  But at least we're on our way to conference.  If anyone's got any blackmail material we can use on kings Lieberman and Nelson to keep them in line if the House manages to insert progressive priorities back into the bill, now would be an excellent time to pony it up.

Catching Up on Health Care Reform Stupidity

I assured you I'd give you a little something on Sunday, and here it is.  It's what I can manage at the moment.  There will be more later, as energy levels and chores allow.  Word o' advice to the guys who might be thinking it'd be awesome to be a woman: it ain't.   And that's all I have to say about that.  Let's talk about health care reform instead.  (I'd be a lot more excited by it if it had a hysterectomy-on-demand amendment.  Gah.)

Whelp, it looks like me might just possibly see the Senate actually vote on a health care reform bill by Christmas Day.  Harry Reid's filed for cloture - well, I should say clotures, because there's lots.  The Senate, my darlings, is nothing more than a glorified political obstacle course.

So that means he's got the votes, right?  Well, mebbe.  If King Lieberman doesn't pitch another fit, and they'd better hope he doesn't, because Queen Snowe still thinks things are moving too fast for her poor little self to handle, and has therefore refused to answer the call of history.  That's it.  The sum total of her excuse.  "It's all happening so fast!"  The poor dear - apparently, debating health care reform since the days of Truman, and debating it in its current incarnation for nearly a full year, is just too much for her.

At least Lord Nelson's finally decided to vote for cloture - as long as none of those dirty peasants in the House muss up his shiny little abortion compromise.

Meanwhile, Stupak's working with Cons in an attempt to murder health care reform in its cradle.  Cons just want it dead.  Stupak cares more for blastocysts than living (or, for that matter, dying) people.  It makes for a rather strange and disgusting marriage, especially since the Rabid Religious Right's been invited into the marital bed.  I'm with Susie: "I am so tired of living in a country where a group of religious extremists get to hold our rights hostage..."

Cons are awfully damned proud of themselves for digging in their heels.  Why, Tom Coburn thinks they're just doing what Americans want - being the Party of No.  They must only be listening to "real" Americans, because that vast majority of folks who're pissed off because they wanted single payer or the public option or at the very damned least the Medicare buy-in can't possibly be real.

It turns out they're such piss-poor chess players that they're responsible for getting us something far more progressive than we might have ended up with.  Awesome, eh?

So, what will we get with the Senate bill?  Steve Benen sez it's no mansion, but at least it's a halfway decent starter home.  Digby weighs in with a somewhat different, thoughtful opinion.  The CBO gives it a middling-passing score.  Howard Dean hopes that the conference committee can fix what the Senate fucked up.  It ain't great, but it's something, and it can be built on - if we stay on top of it. 

And on that subject, what both Steve Benen and Matt Yglesias said is important, so I shall quote it here:

Matt Yglesias had a good item on this, noting that "the crucial question going forward is whether it will be possible to further improve this legislation."

I think it's very possible, but only if the people who are disappointed by the shortcomings of this bill take appropriate action. First and foremost, that means working as hard as possible to produce as good an outcome as possible in the 2010 midterm elections. Recall that before 2006, SCHIP expansion couldn't pass the Senate. And before 2008, SCHIP expansion could pass the Senate but couldn't get signed into law by the President. Elections have consequences. Starting in January 2011 we might have new progressive senators representing Ohio, New Hampshire, and Missouri or we might have new conservative senators representing Nevada, Delaware, and Connecticut. This is a very big deal. Has Ned Lamont been able to beat Joe Lieberman back in 2006, this might have had a happier ending this year. Elections have consequences. [...]

[Y]ou accept compromises and then keep on working to build more political power. You do it by contacting members. You do it by urging friends and colleagues to contact members. You do it by donating to and volunteering for good candidates. You do it by turning out and voting for the better candidate in the race even when that candidate is disappointing. You do it by urging viable candidates to mount risky primary challenges against incumbents who don't reflect the real possibilities of their constituency. You do it by staying engaged, and working hard.

I think this is an excellent bill, all things considered, but whether you agree with that or not the most important thing is what does the progressive community do going forward to enact even better bills in the future.

The country can either go forward or backward. Those who wanted key provisions in this health care bill that were ultimately scuttled -- a public option, Medicare expansion, etc. -- can still achieve those goals, but not by throwing their arms up in despair or by deciding to register their frustration by staying home.

Got it?  If not, read it a few more times.  We are not going to win progress if we give up in disgust, folks.  

And now, on a lighter note, clowns.  More specifically, the spectacular clownishness of Rep. Tom Price.  Enjoy.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Same ol' suspects are being dumbshits.  Ben Nelson's apparently jealous of all the attention Lieberman's getting, so now he's digging in his heels.  Again.  Expect histrionics from Lieberman, but they won't be on Al Franken's watch - Al isn't putting up with his bullshit.  I wish more Dems would shut Lieberman down like that.

The Senate had better not make any plans for Christmas.

If anybody's wondering why so many women hate Rush Limbaugh, here's a clue.

The Big Dog's come out in favor of reform.  Let's see if his bark is loud enough to make Lieberman and Nelson roll over.

And, if you click on no other link in this paltry post, click through and read this one.  Seriously.  Just do it.  In fact, I'm going to stop right here so you have time to go and read.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

This shit's a huge mess.

I'm too tired and frustrated to sort through this shit.  Today's takeaway lesson is this: Dems have managed to strip everything the public liked about the bill, all to satisfy King Lieberman, who is now trying to talk the progressive talk with Dana Bash and sounding just like a ratfucking Con instead.  There's a huge argument right now over whether the bill's worth passing or not.  Whichever you believe is right, we know what Bernie Sanders thinks: he's out.

So then there's the individual mandate, which a good argument can still be made for.  A good argument against it can be made, too.  I'm sorry, but without the public option, the Medicare buy-in, or some fucking form of competition, I see it as an undeserved reward to insurance companies who, even now, are determined to fuck over their customers.  One can understand why Howard Dean dressed Mary Landrieu down so thoroughly for forcing us to suck up to the insurance companies.

One thing to remember, though, my darlings: none of this bullshit would've been possible without the Cons.  They are the ones whose obstructionist tactics have caused a 60-vote requirement.  Without that, King Lieberman and his merry bunch of fuckwits would have no power.  And now, of course, the Cons are willing to harm the troops for the sake of delay.  They're willing to fuck every soldier so they can relive their glory days of August.  I thought that was tantamount to treason?  IOKIYAR, I guess.

And really, what else can we expect from the party of Glenn Beck?  It's not as if they feel the need to be honest, after all.  In fact, repeating outright lies is utterly fine with them.

So, yeah.  Democrats are hapless idiots, Conservadems are bloody stupid, but they're not the gist of the problem.  No, it's Joe "Closet Con" Lieberman and the entire fucking Con caucus who are the truly evil little shits in this battle. 

Now we wait to see just how far Dems have to be pushed before they go to war. 

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Now that the Senate's managed to murder both the public option and the Medicare buy-in, Reid's tugging his forelock to Queen Snowe and asking if she could maybe, possibly, see her way to actually voting for the bill.  Queen Snowe, however, has "misgivings."  I wonder when she and King Lieberman will officially announce their nuptials. 

Meanwhile, Howard Dean is shouting "Off with its head!"  It appears he doesn't believe that a bill without a Medicare buy-in to replace the public option is worth fighting for.  I suppose this puts him on the "operative" side of the wonks vs. operatives equation.  So is Digby, who's rather a bit steamed.  I lean wonkish, myself, but still don't think that giving in to Lieberman is a good idea, and so am currently eyeing Digby and Dean's position.  I don't know about killing the bill, but killing Joe Lieberman's career is definitely a cause I can get behind.  Too bad there's no recall for Senators.

Sen. Lieberman doesn't realize this, but the end of the world predicted in the Mayan calendar is actually the end of Lieberman's career.  Sorely tempted to move to Connecticut for that year.  Being able to cast an actual vote against that little ratfucker rather than merely donate money to his opponent would somewhat assuage my anger.  Alas, I might have to become a Con if I want to vote against him all the way - the little shitheel hasn't ruled out a run as a Con.

He did, however, manage a half-assed apology that he refuses to acknowledge is an apology.  That's okay, Joe.  We don't need your apologies. We need your Senate career, freshly killed, on a silver platter.

Meanwhile, Steny Hoyer might think the House will swallow a reform bill without a public option, but Rep. Grijalva is breathing fire:

Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) lays it on the line. If Senate health care legislation doesn't move significantly to the left when House and Senate negotiators meet to resolve the differences between their bills, he's a "no."

"The Senate has somehow managed to turn the House's silk purse into a sow's ear," Grijalva says in a statement. "If what the Senate is doing isn't corrected in conference with the House, I will not support the bill. Since the Senate won't use reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes, it doesn't look promising for any real change."

Not too sure I'd be counting on his vote, there.

And, finally, I'm not sure how much I believe this will happen, but there's some talk that health care reform might end up killing SCHIP.  And if that's the case, with no public option, no Medicare buy-in, and blessed little else, it might be time to join voices with Howard Dean and demand the bill be killed.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

It's official.  Joe Lieberman is a sociopath.

There's no other conclusion possible.  He announced to Harry Reid that he's filibustering health care reform because of the Medicare buy-in.  This is something that he campaigned on in 2000.  This is something he endorsed three months ago.   And yet, now that Democrats have included it in their bill, he's suddenly decided he can't stand it. 

There's really only one explanation possible:

To put this in context, Lieberman was invited to participate in the process that led to the Medicare buy-in. His opposition would have killed it before liberals invested in the idea. Instead, he skipped the meetings and is forcing liberals to give up yet another compromise. Each time he does that, he increases the chances of the bill's failure that much more. And if there's a policy rationale here, it's not apparent to me, or to others who've interviewed him. At this point, Lieberman seems primarily motivated by torturing liberals. That is to say, he seems willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score.

And so, here we are, with very few options for passing decent reform, all because Joe wants to feel relevant and fuck over his former colleagues.  Steve Benen said it best:

It's the leverage trump-card dynamic that's been apparent throughout the debate -- the left doesn't want reform to fail; the right doesn't care. The left knows that if reform falls apart, thousands will die and millions will struggle. The right knows the same thing, but is indifferent to preventing such a scenario.

For the left, failure is not an option, because the human, political, economic, and fiscal consequences are too severe. For the right, failure is entirely acceptable, if not preferable. Both sides know what the other side is thinking.

The result is less of a negotiation and more of a hostage standoff, with Joe Lieberman playing the role of the proverbial gunman who isn't bluffing. If progressive Dems refuse to pay the ransom, Lieberman pulls the trigger and we get to spend the next decade arguing over who's to blame for what happened, while the systemic problems get worse, the human suffering expands, and the status quo bankrupts businesses, states, and the federal government.

And you know what the worst part is?  It's not Holy Joe's propensity for stabbing people in the back.  We all knew he was capable of it.  It's the fact that instead of taking the knife away, the White House and Reid seem not only interested in letting him keep his knife, but giving in to his demands.  Somehow, they believe that a sociopath like Lieberman can be negotiated with.

Newsflash: he can't.  Give in on this, and he'll think of something else that makes him want to filibuster.  Digby's right:

Since a Lieberman bill is unlikely to stop at the gutting of the Public Option, Medicare buy-in and the CLASS Act (he will in all likelihood insist on cuts to the subsidies and Medicaid expansion as well) it's finally possible for me to see a bunch of Democrats voting against health care reform. After all, it would no longer be a Democratic bill and it's no longer an Obama bill. They will be asked to vote for a Lieberman Republican bill and that isn't so difficult. And since no Republicans will vote even for a Lieberman bill, the bill dies. That leaves reconciliation which I'm sorry to say probably requires more guts than the Democrats and the White House have.

Here's what needs to happen. 

Now, mind you, I understand why Reid doesn't want to go for reconciliation.  Steve Benen laid out the pitfalls nicely:

Reconciliation continues to bring its own complications, most notably months of additional delay (limiting Congress' ability to move on the rest of its agenda), the likelihood of having to break the bill apart, the unpredictable whims of the parliamentarian, the need to still get 60 votes on non-budget-related provisions, and the expiration date that comes with reconciliation (the notion of doing all of this again in 2015 is unappealing).

So reconciliation is a poor substitute for passing a good bill outright, but here's the thing: it's a credible weapon.  It could be used.  It should be used if sociopathic foot-stompers like Lieberman and Nelson keep throwing tantrums.

And so, what Reid needs to do is slam reconciliation down on the table.  Then, if Cons and their good buddy Lieberman still insist on filibustering, by all means, force them to filibuster.  Forget cloture.  Forget cute little parliamentary procedures designed to overcome all that unpleasantness.  Once Reid has reconciliation sitting front and center on the table as a nuclear option, he needs to explain to Lieberman and Co. that a filibuster will be just that: an opportunity for them to spend their Christmas holiday wearing diapers and reading the phone book on the Senate floor.

There has to be some point at which we say, "This far, no further."  The Progressives in the House aren't ready to accept the Senate's bullshit, and have made that abundantly clear in a letter to Obama requesting a meeting.  The American public's fed up.  Do these fucktards realize that voters overwhelmingly support primaries against Dems who vote against the public option?  Do they understand that 81% of Dems want to see Lieberman's ass kicked? 

It's time to stop cowering in terror.  Yes, reform must be passed.  No, that does not mean quaking in terror and giving in to every demand Lieberman makes.  Fuck Lieberman.  Fuck the Cons - Michael Steele let slip that they're just there to stonewall, so fuck them.  There are other options for getting this done.  Even if they're not ideal options, they fucking well prove a point.

Reid: grow a fucking backbone.  Rahm: butt the fuck out. 

You've got the public behind you (except for the Teabaggers, who have an even more reflexive hatred of Dems than Lieberman does, so who the fuck cares what they think?).  Go forth and kick some sociopathic ass.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Sometimes, only sometimes, Harry Reid makes me wish I lived in Nevada so I could vote his arse out of office.  His removing consumer protections from the health care bill is one of those times.

And Ben Nelson's dumbfuckery over abortion language has me tempted to move to Nebraska just for the pleasure of primarying his ass.  The fact that Cons, who are offering amendments solely "as a parliamentary maneuver to "flush out" Democratic centrists Ben Nelson and Jim Webb, and to try to peel them away and thus stop the bill" should be a clue to him that he's on the wrong fucking track.  Alas, he is utterly fucking clueless.

Those of you who still believe that Cons are obstructing health care reform because they love the common folk and want the best for them really need to read this memo.  Alas, it seems it's all about political gain for them.  Sorry to shatter your illusions, there.

And if Snowe was serious about reform, she wouldn't be telling Dems she can only support the bill if they slow it down.  Delay is a Con tactic to kill health care reform, not a measured, sober response to America's desperate need.  We've been at this for years.  There's no fucking reason at all to slow down.

Finally, will somebody please make sure that all of the Dems who keep jerking this thing to the right out of some absurd notion that Americans want a right-wing bill see this assessment from Nate Silver that shows rather precisely the opposite?  Thank you.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

There's a lot of substance to be said about the health care reform battle in the Senate.  I haven't got anything of substance for you.  All I've got is bags full of utter dumbfuckery.  Well, maybe there's a pinch of substance, but mostly dumbfuckery.

Take Joe Lieberman.  Please take him on a long trip and never bring him back.  Could there maybe be an Appalachian Trail somewhere he'd like to go hike?  He sure as shit doesn't belong in the Senate.  He thinks a public option trigger that's nearly impossible to pull is an unacceptable irritant.  And yes, he's willing to filibuster over an irritant.  Oh, and remember when Joe used to love the idea of a Medicare buy-in?  Apparently, he doesn't.

He seems to hate things simply because Dems love them, or at least like them enough to go with them.  He's got plenty of company, because Cons seem to be living by the same philosophy.  The nutballs who didn't want to debate the bill at all are now howling because the Dems thought it might be nice to take the weekend off.  I don't think they expected Harry Reid to be all for staying in to debate, or they wouldn't have thrown the tantrum.  Oh, and remember how they've been wailing and crying that the bill's too long?  Now they're wailing and crying that it's not long enough.

I ask you.

They're probably a bit discombobulated.  After all, their failure to negotiate has resulted in a far more liberal bill than we'd otherwise be discussing.  Poor dears - their feet must really ache, considering how many times they've shot themselves in them.  They're so flustered they've chosen John "I Lost in '08 Because My Judgement Sux!" McCain as their point man on obstructing health care reform.

Keep on eye on Capitol Hill on December 15th.  The Teabaggers plan to engage in a little melodramatic performance art.  Maybe they'd like to go do that at an actual health care clinic.  I'm sure they'd be very popular among the people who already suffer long waits and sometimes drop dead waiting for health care.

Meanwhile, Missouri Cons would rather their citizens suffer than accept health care reform.

Attention, American public: Stop giving Cons incentive to lie.  Thank you.

Speaking of the American public, the majority still wants to see the public option pass.  This might be a good thing to tell Congress, although it seems most members of Congress can't hear Americans' voices over the roaring of their own stupidity.  Rep. Grijalva hears loud and clear, however, and finds the Senate's compromises unacceptable.  He doesn't seem to care that the godfather of the public option thinks the Senate compromise actually includes a pretty good public option of sorts.  Can't say as I blame him.

And that's about all I can take for one day.  It's enough, innit?

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

So.  Here's where things stand at the present moment: we've got a flurry of wheels and deals going on behind the scenes, while, oddly, Lieberman's chosen to sit in a corner and pout.  Meanwhile, the Team o' Ten (not to be confused with the Gang o' Six) is busy hashing out a deal that wouldn't include the public option, but would give liberals quite a bit in return for the sacrifice.  Some of it - Medicare buy-in, Medicaid expansion, OPM Plan - doesn't sound too terribly horrible, especially not since some of the reform provisions would kick in a lot more quickly than the public option.  Howard Dean likes the Medicare buy-in idea.  Lieberman's maybe possibly okay with it.  But Queen Snowe has put her foot down.

This means that health care reform in the Senate may rest in Ben Nelson's incapable hands.  Yes, that's right.  Mr. "I'll filibuster if I don't get to deny women abortion coverage!"  A man so stupid he has no idea how war bonds work.  A man who is the apple of Orrin Hatch's eye because he's played so easily into Con hands.  And now, with his abortion amendment shot down like a rabid dog, he shall have to make a decision: how stupid does he really feel like being?

The good news is, he's now leaving himself some wiggle-room on the whole "my abortion language or I filibuster!" thing.  I wonder if it's the shock - he seems just arrogant enough to believe he could get his obnoxious way by stamping his little feet.  Alas for him, foot-stamping only worked on the public option because he wasn't stamping alone. 

Meanwhile, Barbara Boxer uses Viagra to illustrate a point.  Ben?  Do you rely on Viagra?  Better listen up, boy.

And, lest you think most landmines have been tripped, keep an eye on pay-to-delay.

House liberals, by the way, aren't interested in all these Senate compromises.  And Nadler thinks it wouldn't have come to this is Harry Reid had just showed some actual leadership.  He's got a point, you know.  This probably means they won't be playing Ping-Pong with the Senate, although the idea's an intriguing one.  That's certainly one way to do an end-run around the Cons.

And speaking of Cons, just when you didn't think they could get any more ridiculous, here comes Gohmert saying he wants to rid us of all insurance.  Public, private, Medicaid, Medicare - all of it.  But gods forbid we replace it with, oh, say, universal health care.  No, he's got some bizarre idea that with insurance done away with, everybody will magically be able to afford paying their astronomical health care bills all by their lonesomes.

I have no idea how these people function.  I really don't.

Finally, here's some news that may end up changing some equations. If not this year, than certainly in the future.  Remember when the Ents marched to war?  That ain't nothing compared to the March of the Nurses.