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HCR History, Chapter 4: Medicare’s message for today

by Karoli on March 18, 2010

[Note: The current HCR debate has gotten so contentious within the various 'liberal/progressive' factions that it felt important to me to amplify my position about the importance of breaking through this first barrier with an imperfect bill, and why I believe the prospects for improving it over time are stronger, not weaker, if this bill passes.]

Enacting health care legislation is like threading 3-ply thread through a tiny needle eye

In the days before the filibuster was abused with regularity, Hubert Humphrey counted the number of obstacles before a bill became law. His conservative total was 28. At any one of those 28 intersections, it could die. In fact, most do. They die because someone wants something they didn’t get, or because there’s just a fundamental philosophical difference that can’t be surmounted. When a bipartisan effort is impossible, the odds of death increase exponentially. Humphrey went on to observe this: “At each stage of the legislative highway, a few legislators lurk, like the pirates of Tripoli and take toll of the passing traffic…”
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HCR History, Chapter 3: The Great Medicare Debate

by Karoli on March 17, 2010

A look down the timeline of social legislation is mind-boggling. Unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and retirement benefits were all in place and yet, access to health care for all Americans remains the elusive prize, even today. No matter how many years pass, arguments for universal health care are the same, as are arguments against. Here are two excerpts, both from opposite sides of the timeline.

September 9, 2009

Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

President Barack Obama, to a joint session of Congress

April 25, 1928

For some time the statement has been made that only two groups of persons can afford to be ill, the wealthy and the very poor. The former are able to pay for what they get and the latter get a rather good type of service without charge.

The group that gives the greatest concern to students of the situation is the middle class. This group has been the victim of exploitation since the earliest times. It exists in one-room kitchenettes in the cities and must perforce go to the hospital in times of sickness. In the country and in the villages it is far removed from the available hospitals and pays mileage charges in addition to medical fees for medical attention. Because of its transient character it has fallen out of touch with the old-time family physician.

Morris Fishbein, “Socialized Medicine” April 25, 1928 to the American Medical Association

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HCR History, Chapter 2: Women, Children and the Disabled Win

by Karoli on March 17, 2010

1949

Fast forward our HCR time machine to 1949. World War II is in the past, a new decade is just beyond, the first Social Security benefits are being paid to retired workers, and the future looks bright.

Well, it looks bright for some, anyway. For others, not so much. President Truman has sent a budget to Congress on three occasions with expansions in Social Security coverage, addition of a medical benefit covered by a small increase in the payroll tax, and increased benefits to Social Security recipients.

Some specifics:
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HCR History, Chapter I: Everything old is new again.

by Karoli on March 16, 2010

I’ve been entertaining myself with a walk down memory lane on the legislative history of Social Security and Medicare for a few days. The more I read, the more familiar it all sounded. It’s a little like seeing bellbottoms and skinny jeans come back into style: fundamentally the same with small tweaks. By looking at these arguments, though, a better perspective comes through on this current effort to reform health insurance and expand access for all. From the CRS Report to Congress1, some choice excerpts:
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Is AAPL really a lemon?

03.13.2010

(voice over) and now a break from politics, while I bring you the sad story of how Apple’s sterling reputation is being tarnished by their own customer service department. The Apple doesn’t fall far from the Dell tree…
Ask anybody and they’ll tell you: Apple is cool. They make cool products. The iPhone rocks. The iPod [...]

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Mean people, late night edition

03.11.2010

Just pass this right on by if you’re not in the mood for musing. I’ll totally understand. I’m not writing this for sympathy or concern or anything else. More really just to work out my own incredulity at the depth and breadth and length that people will go online to make themselves seem somehow superior [...]

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