“I’m not happy — this is too flawed a bill for joy — but I am relieved ( or will be once I’m sure that Joe Lieberman isn’t going to pull a double-cross). You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.”
Paul Krugman with an assist from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Krugman writes:
“If the bill is passed, it will make health insurance available to millions of people who can’t get it now either because of preexisting conditions, or because they just don’t make enough: community rating and the subsidies — remember, we’re talking about almost $900 billion in aid — will make a huge difference. Yes, there will be some people forced to buy insurance by the individual mandate; everything I’ve seen says that the number of people for whom this will be a real hardship will be far less than the shouting suggests.”
-snip-
An ominous sign that we’re all going to get screwed is that insurance stocks have been soaring lately. They’re just rubbing their hands together thinking about all the money they’re going to get out of this. I understand there is no cost containment, so if you have a pre-existing condition, or if you are older, your premium will simply cost more. Which brings us to the individual mandate. So, the people caught in that scenario are going to face “a real hardship”? That’s just swell. This Senate bill is just another bailout, just some more corporate welfare paid for by the class of people the corporatists seem to be out to destroy. There is another part of the Rolling Stones song that to me seems more appropriate:
“I saw her today at the reception”
“In her glass was a bleeding man”
“She was practiced at the art of deception”
“I could tell by her blood stained hands”
My only hope is that after the government sees this bill in practice, they can rein in the abuses that will result. I hope that happens before the “healthcare” industry pummels the middle class to death.