The Evolution of a Health Care Bill

I’m not sure if this is Social Darwinism in action, or what.

When candidate Obama was campaigning last year, he was very much in favor of a government run, single-payer health care option, similar in nature to what works for nearly every other first world country on the planet.

As the health care debate unfolded after his inauguration, President Obama’s team was lobbied for, and moved toward, the availability of a “public option” health care bill that would cover a majority of the uninsured in America.

And as the right wing (and libertarian) noise machine has cranked up, the administration now appears to be moving in the direction of supporting privately run “heath insurance cooperatives”. In other words, another gift and capitulation to the health insurance industry that ultimately won’t result in anything close to universal coverage.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on CNN’s “State of the Nation” this morning:

…The White House is ready to accept [private] nonprofit insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run public option…

…Sebelius says Obama still believes there should be “choice and competition” in the health insurance market, but that a public option is “not the essential element.”

So, there it is. If you don’t currently have health insurance, at the end of this debate (and when a bill is finally offered for the president’s signature), you probably still won’t have access to affordable health insurance. Billions of dollars will be sunk into whatever program finally emerges, but again, you probably still won’t have access to affordable health insurance.

The audacity of hope. Yeah.

Does the Obama

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