Wednesday, December 16, 2009

"The Bill is Demonstrably Better"

The Senate health care bill, that is.

Unless, of course, you are one of the bottom half of the middle-class who aren't currently buying insurance, in which case it's a huge expense. As far as anyone can tell, this will buy insurance with huge co-pays and no out-of-pocket expense caps, so you'll only use it when you're desperate and it may leave you high-and-dry--and on Medicaid--after a really bad illness. Meantime, it's harder to meet the rent and put food on the table.

The bill is  better if you're already well-off, seems to be bottom line. Classic US appeal to the people who already have. I am yet again reminded of the disaster of low-income housing in the USA, where people's houses, businesses, and neighborhoods were destroyed, and people were made to pay for the apartments that replaced them. Housing policy-makers have worked out better alternatives, but a generation was uprooted to satisfy--what, exactly?--greed, vanity, and bigotry, I suppose. And I suppose it will be the same with "health" "care." 5-10 million families, maybe, will be bankrupted, and in another generation the law will be fixed.

Croak!

[minor editorial changes made on day of posting for clarification]

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