I was not surprised, but very disappointed, to read that a key Senate Committee has defeated attempts to retain a public option for health care in the proposed health care reform bill moving through Congress. You can read about it HERE.Five Democrats voted against amendments to the bill to keep the public option as part of the package. Florida Senator Bill Nelson voted FOR one amendment (Schumer's) but against another. To the left, is Nelson's official NASA photo. Perhaps he left behind something in outer space. A spine, maybe?
Or at least least his thoracic veterbrae!
I'm not surprised that he did this. He was our Insurance Commissioner here in the Sunshine State. And, in fact, I recall arriving at his Tallahassee home one election night where he was holding a victory party. There in the doorway with me were men who I recognized as being lobbyists for the insurance "industry" in Florida, the very "industry" he would be regulating. The warm greeting between Nelson and these gentlemen told me that they had a "good relationship." And that, my friends, made my skin crawl.
So Senator Bill Nelson has done a favor for his friends and thrown a roadblock into the way of any real competition to force greedy insurance companies with their "fat and gross hearts" to do anything to extend health insurance to the working poor... an ever increasing class of people in the United States.
Honestly, if Congress fails to offer a public option, then I think the only remedy is to revoke the cushy health care benefits package enjoyed by members of Congress and their families and all federal employees, and make them buy private insurance themselves. They can afford it. They make plenty of money. I refuse to have my tax dollars subsidize wealthy people's health insurance. It's one thing to pay for the poor, but I shouldn't have to pay for the rich. And I certainly don't want to buy Viagra for the impotent men of Congress!
(*This post has been updated to reflect the correct vote information.)
3 comments:
"Perhaps he left something behind in outer space? A spine, maybe?"
calls to mind a Paul Keating (the former Prime Minister of Australia) remark. "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up". But who would have thunk that a politician would be in the pocket of a special interest group?
I love the quote, frdougal!! I had to correct for "bad intell"; hence he may have at least kept his lumbar, or his cervical vertebrae. Definitely lacks a strong middle!
I understood they voted this way to get something through the Congress and then they will look to do a Public Option. I think they are trying to get something changed. I think it is a real mess and if you want to take away the insurance you were talking about it will affect me as well.
Peggins
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