Inevitable Democratic Party Sellout On Health Care Reform Almost Complete

Towards the end of The Big Lebowski, there’s a scene where The Dude, Walter, and Donny leave the bowling alley and find that the nihilists have set fire to The Dude’s car in the parking lot, and The Dude, in a calmly accepting tone says, “Well, they finally did it. They killed my fucking car.” That pretty much sums up my feelings about the inevitable death of the public option and any meaningful health care reform.

To review, here’s how the Senate Democrats—the so-called party of working class people—have handled health reform:

• Took the prospect of a single-payer system off the table before the debate even began

• Advanced the idea of a government-funded public insurance option as an alternative to the more expensive private plans

• Withdrew said public insurance option

• Briefly advanced the idea of lowering the Medicare age from sixty-five to fifty-five

• Withdrew said idea of lowering the Medicare age from sixty-five to fifty-five
  
  
• Now want to force Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, even though there is no cheaper public option. There is an expansion of Medicaid, but even with this you’ll still have to be piss-poor to qualify.

• Rejected the Dorgan amendment, which would have allowed reimportation of less-expensive pharmaceuticals from Canada, despite the fact that the United States has the highest drug prices in the world

• Have proposed no measures that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare

Jesus Christ, Democrats. Do you think your health insurance industry masters will be satisfied and let you vote for this water-downed horseshit legislation now? I mean, there’s no public option to compete with private HMOs, you’re forcing all Americans to buy health insurance, you’re disallowing the possibility of importing drugs from Canada, and will not allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on pharmaceuticals. This whole health care “reform” process has been like a seven month-long abortion.

I’m with Howard Dean. This bill sucks and should not be passed. Of course, it will get passed because it’s a big fucking giveaway to the health insurance industry and Big Pharma. And they generally get what they want. Congratulations, Senate Democrats. You have gotten me to side with the Teabaggers!

- Max