True North

Oh goody, another email from his holiness.  It's so nice when he takes time from frivolously spending my money to actually talk to me via a mass email.

Kevin --

What up O-dog?

Early this morning, the Senate made history and health reform cleared its most important hurdle yet -- garnering the 60 votes needed to move toward a final vote in that chamber later this week.

They certainly made history all right.  This is the first time something this big has been passed on a party-line vote.  This is the first time that it's so blatantly obvious that votes have been bought and sold.  It's the first time that Congress has so completely ignored the will of the public.  It's the first time (that I know of) that cloture was passed on a bill that nobody has actually read except for the majority leader and a few of his staff.

I'm not sure this is the type of "history making" you want to brag about.

This marks the first time in our nation's history that comprehensive health reform has come to this point.

That's a feature, not a bug.

And it appears that the American people will soon realize the genuine reform that offers security to those who have health insurance and affordable options to those who do not.

That would be great if ANY of it were true.  People who have health insurance will lose it because the penalty for employers to NOT offer insurance is less than the cost they pay to provide insurance.  And there are no "affordable options" because this will artificially raise demand, while capping supply.  This will cause prices to skyrocket and rationing to happen.  As evidence of my assertions, please reference any and every time ANY government has ever tried this sort of approach.

I'm grateful to Senator Harry Reid and every senator who's been working around the clock to make this happen.

Ever stop to think they wouldn't have to work so hard if this were truly a good piece of legislation? If this is what would truly fix the problem, and if this truly was what the public wanted, legislators would be climbing all over each other to support it and be seen as the person that fixed health care.  That not being the case.....

And I'm grateful to you, and every member of the Organizing for America community, for all the work you have done to make this progress possible.

Heh, don't blame me, I did what I could to stop this piece of shit.

After a nearly century-long struggle, we are now on the cusp of making health insurance reform a reality in the United States of America.

The word "reform" usually refers to an improvement.  This is more of a clusterfuck.  Congrats by "reforming" health insurance, you just killed the "health care" industry in this country.  You did realize there was a difference.......right??

As with any legislation, compromise is part of the process.

And apparently so is bribery, backroom secret deals, bigotry, and threats if your parties conduct so far is any indication.

But I'm pleased that recently added provisions have made this landmark bill even stronger.

How exactly did the $100 million bribe to Nebraska make this bill stronger?

Between the time when the bill passes and the time when the insurance exchanges get up and running, insurance companies that try to jack up their rates do so at their own peril. Those who hike their prices may be barred from selling plans on the exchanges.

Ahhh, I can already see this is going to be a positive relationship between the government and what little private industry you've allowed to survive.  Don't you DARE try to cover your costs so you can stay in business, or else Uncle Sam will put you out of business himself!!

And while insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions once the exchanges are open, in the meantime there will be a high-risk pool where people with pre-existing conditions can purchase affordable coverage.

Please explain who you plan on making that financially sustainable.   They are high-risk because they are likely to incur huge health care bills, which is why they are charged higher premiums, to offset that risk.  If you make those premiums "affordable" you're not offsetting the risk (read : LOSING MONEY).  Of course with people like you in charge, using this type of logic, perhaps that explains why Medicare continues to go broke.

A recent amendment has made these protections even stronger. Insurance companies will now be prohibited from denying coverage to children immediately after this bill passes. There's also explicit language in this bill that will protect a patient's choice of doctor. And small businesses will get additional assistance as well.

You realize all this could be done without hijacking one-sixth of our economy and replacing it with an economic model guaranteeing failure, right???

These protections are in addition to the ones we've been talking about for some time. No longer will insurance companies be able to drop your coverage if you become sick and no longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for treatments that you need.

If this was such a common occurrence you'd think you'd be able to provide an example.  But so far, every time you try, it turns out to be complete bullshit you made up.

Under this bill families will save on their premiums; businesses that would see their costs rise if we don't act will save money now and in the future. This bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. Because it's paid for and gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

You do realize you can't just legislate unicorn farts into existence right?

And it's not paid for, the CBO has repeatedly shown that this program saves money only in the very short term.  After that the extra costs skyrocket.  It doesn't strengthen Medicare, in fact it slashes huge parts of it.  And the CBO has shown that premiums for most people would stay the same, for everyone else they would go up.

So in short, nothing you said is actually true.

Finally, this reform will extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans who don't have it.

Please explain why we have to screw up health insurance for the majority of the country that already has it, to pay for the few that don't.  And that 30 million number has been repeatedly shown to be untrue.  Most of those people could get health insurance affordably if they wanted to, they choose not to because it doesn't make sense for their situation.

These are not small changes. These are big changes. They're fundamental reforms. They will save money. They will save lives.

Clusterfucks remember, not reforms.

They will not save money and it will likely cost lives because by artificially raising demand while capping supply you are virtually insuring that rationing will happen.

And we could accomplish most of your goals without hijacking one-sixth of the economy.  Simple things like allowing people to shop across state lines.

And your passion, your work, your organizing helped make all of this possible. Now it's time to finish the job.

Not to mention your bribery, threats and misinformation.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

No problem Larry

[Crossposted at EckerNet.Com, comments welcome]