BlackPerspective.net
Discussing the Diaspora as seen through an internal Black lens
Healthcare Debate Dominated By The Extremes: Nothing For The Majority In The Middle
September 9th, 2009
This is a piece I’ve been planning to write for more than two weeks, and with President Obama addressing a joint session of Congress tonight about the issue, it’s imperative that I go ahead and get it up.
I noted in piece entitled How The Healthcare Debate Is Poisoned By Both The Left & The Right Fringes, Pt 1 (that was always meant to lay the foundation fort his one); that I and the quote I used pointed out how the whole debate swirls around the false left-right political dichotomy, where concerns that are not those of the fringes are ignored, and ones character is simply assassinated by either or both sides if you and your thoughts do not fit into one of the two predefined ideological corners.
The great failure with Obama’s approach to trying to push healthcare reform is that he left most of us out of it. The whole debate has simply been encompassed and polarized by the fringes. It’s either the no reform, anti-socialist, screaming mobs; or the blind taxation, government solves everything, your either for public option or your evil, assassins; who dominate the conversation.
I supported Obama’s healthcare position on 3 or 4 major factors as a candidate. For instance: when Obama ran for president he constantly stressed, especially in the debates, “aggressive cost reduction”. He stressed how independent studies concluded that his plan had more aggressive cost reduction than any of his political rivals. This was one of my key reasons for supporting Obama on healthcare.
Now he puts forth healthcare reform as president, and he doesn’t even have a plan; just some principles; and for three months I’ve scarcely heard a word about cost reduction, not to mention the other key factors I supported him on.
The whole debate only surrounds two things, two groups of ideologues: those who don’t want to change anything and don’t really care about others getting healthcare, and just want to be able to keep their coverage the same; and those who want a general public healthcare system (almost universally, single payer proponents, who will politically settle for a public option)
But what about the concerns and needs of the rest of us? They’re scarcely addressed at all. Issues such as (in no particular order):
1. Reducing premiums and out of pocket expense for those already with insurance
2. Not incurring a new tax burden from public financing of a new healthcare entitlement
3. Curbing overall rising health insurance cost (and don’t just simply tell me that’s what a public option does, because that’s not close to necessarily true. It all depends on it’s construct and other adjacent factors. Nations with single payer even have rising healthcare cost problems)
4. Portability so that one is not dependent on a particular job for healthcare, and can make career decisions without that concern being a looming factor holding them back
5. Freedom for insurance programs (including the Medicare) o negotiate with drug companies on drug prices.
6. The ability for employers, insurers, groups or individuals to by drugs from anywhere in the world they want; particularly when they’re made by the same companyies that approved American sold drugs are made by.
7. Why healthcare procedures cost so damn much, and doing something about it.
These are the types of concerns and needs of the majority of the people in between the two polar fringes; but they are hardly addressed. The key to selling healthcare reform is considering and solidly addressing these sorts of concerns and needs; and showing the majority of the people that they will benefit too.
Most people want there to be a way for everyone to get healthcare coverage; but at the same time their natural self interest is not going to allow them to sit idly by supporting that which torpedoes their own health and financial wellbeing.
If you’re going to reform healthcare coverage, but completely at their expense, with either little to no benefit; or only with benefit that is outstripped by negatives, you’re going to lose them.
If healthcare reformers want to get majority of public support for some kind of significant reform, they had better start showing how the 85% with insurance will also get some benefits, not just the 15% without. Fifteen percent uninsured, plus the additional 15 to 20% far left ideologues, does not a winning coalition make.
Further to the issue of the public option, what no pro-public option person ever addresses is how will what they’re proposing work in particular (not generalities); and most specifically how will the public option keep employers from simply dumping all their employees onto the public system (example here of the problem with the 8% payroll tax, 6th paragraph). Also, how will this not become a massive new tax payer entitlement even if employers somehow are kept from dumping everybody on it. A tax payer entitlement that would dwarf the two near bankrupt entitlements that we already have, Medicare and Social Security (and that take huge chunks out of peoples paychecks). So can we look forward to the doubling of our payroll taxes to pay for this?
If the president and other politicians are serious about getting reform passed, they out to stop playing to the two fringes. The left fringe will ultimately be satifisied if not happy if there is any significant progress towards broader and fair coverage. The right fringe will just howl at the moon no matter what you try to do, so arguing with them is simply pointless.
One more thing, tort reform should absolutely be apart of this debate, as a significant piece in lowering healthcare cost. President Obama’s almost outright dismissal of this factor is disappointing. While the right wing has long overused and far overplayed torts portion of the problem; and has used it to mask dealing with the issues of big business profiteering in healthcare; there are extremities in punitive damage awards that need to be brought back in ling with reasonability, and too much allowance of frivolous claims. Which if reduce would play A role in reducing our cost.
posted in Health, Uncategorized | | | View blog reactions |
3 Responses to “Healthcare Debate Dominated By The Extremes: Nothing For The Majority In The Middle”
Leave a Reply
About The Blog
Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
I created this site to give new voice to socio-political issues that are in need of thoughtful consideration and redress.
Click the "More About The Blog" link for rest of this statement.
Also, if you like what you see, subscribe for a once a day email to be sent on days when we post by entering your email address in the feed burner subscription box below.
- More About The Blog...
Subscribe via email
Blogroll
- Abagond
- AfroSpear Blogs & Info
- All About Race
- All Africa
- BlackPerspectivenet @ Youtube
- BlackPressUSA.com
- From My Brown Eyed View
- Redding News Review
- Sojourner’s Place
- Tasiaxm.com
- Trini Gourmet
- UltravioletUnderground
Site Meter
Meta
Subscribe Via RSS
My Twitter
Recent Posts
- African Women Win Nobel Peace Prize
- How Black Colleges Are Turning White – The Ethnic Cleansing Of African Americans in the Age of Obama
- Social and Cultural Causes Also on Display At African Street Fest
- Video of Obama’s Jobs Speech
- Eric Cantor Two-Faced on Offsetting Disaster Relief
[...] dramatic, intellectually devoid, black mail/knife in the back style” of politics. Yet another example of how the health care debate is poisoned. His attack was specifically aimed at Rep. Author Davis of Alabama, the only Congressional Black [...]
[...] Healthcare Debate Dominated By The Extremes: Nothing For The Majority In The Middle [...]
[...] See also: Healthcare Debate Dominated By The Extremes: Nothing For The Majority In The Middle [...]