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Health Care Reform: It's go time.
Author: Raine    Date: 03/11/2010 13:29:43

Dennis Kucinich is a good guy and he DOES look out for people. He's a fighter. I will never take that away from him.

But here is my personal bottom line: he is voting against HCR, and when history is written, his *no* vote will not come with a disclaimer. A nay is a nay vote. This goes for any Democrat who votes against this bill, but for Mr Kucinich in particular.

Bill Clinton said the following, and I think it applies to far more than the primaries:

"Folks, go ahead and fall in love, be for somebody, but when the primaries are over, let's fall in line."


It's time for people to fall in line. This is politics, and politics is about the art of compromise. I consider myself a progressive, but that makes me part of a big bowl of other political ideologies (some good, some not so good), but it's what makes this country diverse. When he casts that vote, he will be left casting a vote no different from the Republicans.

Mr. Kucinich has stated that he will vote no because this bill has no Public Option. In November he voted no on a house bill that HAD the Public Option. He still says he will vote no even tho part of his single payer desire is IN the Senate bill:
In a meeting at the White House on Thursday, President Obama directly addressed the congressman's concerns by pointing out that the Senate bill does, in fact, include single-payer language. His reference (which Kucinich wrote down on paper) is a provision in the bill that Sen. Bernie Sander (I-VT) introduced, which would allow states to use federal money to set up a single payer system years down the road.

On Monday, Sanders told the Huffington Post that he had talked to Kucinich about the topic - albeit "a while back."

"He was coming from a slightly different angle on this," Sanders said. "But we did talk to Dennis and I've talked to [Rep.] Anthony Weiner and other" single-payer advocates.

The time to fight for a more progressive bill is about over. I myself fought hard for a progressive bill. Many of you have too. We have a glimmer of hope regarding the Public Option, but in the end, it all comes down to a yes or no vote from our representatives.

Doing nothing is no longer an option. Letting the Bill die will help no one that is not considered the upper class. Even they too will feel the economic strains of doing nothing. I mean that when I say NO ONE.
Even those families that enjoy generous insurance now are likely to see the cost of those benefits escalate. The typical price of family coverage now runs about $13,000 a year, but premiums are expected to nearly double, to $24,000, by 2020, according to the Commonwealth Fund. That equals nearly a quarter of the projected median family income in 2020.
.....
There will be a cost in lives, too. Mr. Pollack’s organization estimates that as many as 275,000 people will die prematurely over the next 10 years because they do not have insurance. Even people with insurance will find their coverage providing much less protection from financial catastrophe than it does now. Individuals will pay significantly more in deductibles and co-payments, for example. “More and more families will experience huge debts and bankruptcies,” Mr. Pollack said.

Federal and state governments will also feel the squeeze. Medicare, the federal program for the elderly, is already the subject of much hand-wringing as its spending balloons. Medicaid, a joint program of the federal government and the states, is already struggling as states try to balance budgets hit hard by the economic downturn. Many states may be forced to cut benefits sharply as well as reduce financing for community health centers and state hospitals that serve the poor.

I cannot stress this enough: Doing nothing will be worse than this bill getting passed. I wish Dennis would see that. HE, along with thousands of others, fought the good fight, but WE have to deal with the reality of things now.

So -- we need a yes vote from him. His principles are admirable, but those principles aren't going to help the many, many people who will suffer or die if we don't get health care reform passed into law.

His principles won't change the very basic fact that a majority of people are asking for the what Dennis has. While he stands on principles he should offer the things he has.

He has good health care -- too many Americans do not.

&
Raine

Bonus Click: It's not just Dennis, see if your representative is on the NO list, and call them. Today.


 

24 comments (Latest Comment: 03/12/2010 00:40:18 by Mondobubba)
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