Inaction is not an option

It’s been repeated over and over, and by several well-known liberals--inaction is not an option.

When the healthcare bill passed the House on Saturday, I was excited; at last, I thought, finally, these Democrats managed to pass something, and the healthcare bill, no less. Now, I’ve seen the original bill and I agree wholeheartedly with it, but since I last read it, it’s been abused, and abused, and so badly changed, that I no longer know what it is.

Let me specify, I, for the most part, agree with the current healthcare bill, but I do disagree with this arrogant belief that we should allow some very important reforms go away in the name of the public option. I know that the provision in this bill that say’s insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, could help a lot of families. And removing the health insurance industry’s exemption from anti-trust laws would help to bring prices down. Along with several other really important reforms.

But for some in the senate as well as the house, the public option is a do or die provision. And this is true for both sides. For Lieberman, that clear attempt at maintaining the healthcare revenue stream that flows so well from his home state insurers is of the utmost importance, and as such, he is poised to insure it remains that way. And he has a great deal of power right now; with a single deviation on a procedural vote, he can bring this reform to a complete stop, all because of the public option. So, what we can have is nothing, and the insurance industry keeps on abusing customers.

Now, if we dump the public option, Lieberman has no real reason to complain, and any complaints will be clear cut greed.. Not that his objection to the public option can’t be supposed greed, but at least it is defendable, and with the nation so evenly split, it is defendable. But, none of the other major provisions can be deemed overly controversial; I would love to see him defend the insurance industries exemption from the anti-trust laws, or see him defend pre-existing conditions.

Now, if we do dump the public option, it would behoove us to also remove the mandate, not the employer mandate, but the personal mandate. I can understand the frustration, people run to the emergency room because of a lack preventative healthcare, and we the tax payers are forced to subsidize, but mandating that we get insurance is at best laughable. Perhaps a better solution would be enforcing hospital pay the same way we mandate federal loan repayment, by force.

Now, the republicans have been touting this portable insurance idea, allowing all insurance companies to cross state lines, and I agree, but only if we agree on a federal standard that must be met, and allow states to keep whatever standards they have, which any insurer doing business in that state must abide by.

This is hardly a cure-all, but at least it gets us moving in the right direction, and until we get a more liberal senate, it’s as good as it gets. And at the very least, it’s action.