How Soon We Forget - Health Care Bill is a FAILURE!

Steve Williams · Wednesday, March 24th 2010 at 1:37PM · 195 views

President Obama:

"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family."

Tell me where I am wrong. President Obama said any plan he signed would have to include a public option. He has signed a bill that does not include the public option. President Obama is not a man of his word. Make what excuses you want, it does not change the FACT.

About the Author

Steve Williams Coatesville, PA

Posts Subscribe Profile Email

Report

Share This Article

Comments (17)

Siebra Muhammad Wednesday, March 24th 2010 at 6:10PM

Steve, I don't agree with the Democrats omitting public option from the health care plan either, but you know there is also the case that could be argued, that all Presidents are being told what to do by the real people behind the curtains.

All I have to say about this is we all better start praying more, for all our sakes.

Steve Williams Wednesday, March 24th 2010 at 8:54PM

Siebra and Irma,

I have no disagreement with anything you said, and especially Irma about hate being at play. However, the choice to sign or not sign was entirely the President's. He said he would not, but he did. As the leader of our country, he does not have total power, that we all know. But he does have power, and responsibility, to do what he said he would do. And that was to not sign this bill if he said he would not sign it. Nobody but himself said he would not sign it, nor was he coerced into saying he would not sign it, nor coerced into signing it.

Steve Williams Thursday, March 25th 2010 at 10:51AM

Irma,

First of all, thank you for your good wishes for my being home from the hospital, which I failed to say yesterday. I am grateful to be back.

At the same time, I received the disappointing news yesterday that I was turned down for this teaching program I was so looking forward to, as being able to help with this crisis in education. That is a story for another day but suffice to say the School Board of Philadelphia is itself a political organization, and I now have an insight as to why our children are failing and suffering so.

This disillusionment was compounded by the jubilation I see over this bill, reflecting the polarization in our political system, i.e., that it is little different than the Super Bowl or the World Series. Pick your team, the Elephants or the Donkeys. The majority of the population of this country are wing-nuts (I like Clark's term). They may be left hand wing-nuts, or right hand wing-nuts, but they are wing-nuts just the same, and inevitably wing-nuts get screwed. I am not a wing-nut. I don't like getting screwed.

http://indopedia.org/United_States_Democra...

Hence the tone of outrage expressed in my blog. Now let me try now to be more objective.

First, as to the political division of Congress and the Presidency. The Congress makes laws, and the President approves them. It is not forbidden for the President to propose a law, but as you noted, it is Congress that makes the law. In the case of the Health Care Bill, this is Obama's baby, and he stated clearly what he wanted it to be, what was acceptable to him, and what was not. And he used this to gain public support. Once he had that public support, he did not follow through with his promise, but settled for less. Now if it was less than his vision required, he should have vetoed the bill and sent it back to Congress, who could then modify it to conform to his vision, or override his veto by a two-thirds majority.

Why is the Health Care Bill what it is? Because the President is driven by the desire for fame. He is a man who has reached the pinnacle of his career at a young age, who has made history, will go down in the annals of history, but whose political career will end with the end of his Presidency. After that he will do no more good, in terms of the governing of this country. But he will have his fame. Congress, as you say, is driven by the lobby money. But so is the President. So the governing of this country, for the most part, is not motivated by service to the people, but by self interest of the politicians. The people are manipulated into believing that the government cares about them. It is a lie, it is showmanship, but sometimes the people benefit as a by-product.

Here is the fact. We already have public welfare in place. I have a DVT (Deep Venous Thrombosis), a blood clot, most likely caused by sitting at my computer so much. Untreated, a DVT can result in a Pulmonary Embolism, which can lead to death. Fortunately, I have state assistance which pays all my medical bills. I would be in dire straights if I had not gotten into this program this past January.

While in the hospital I became good friends with an African-American lady, who has Lupus, another life threatening disease. She has been in the hospital a month, the doctors cannot agree on treatment, she was released yesterday also, but may very well have to go back to the hospital again. She is on dialysis three times a week. She is also on public assistance, which pays all her bills. An interesting fact about Lupus, it strikes mostly women of child-bearing age, and African-American women are at 2-3 times greater risk.

What I'm trying to say is this bill is a failure because it did not defeat the lobbyists. I am in agreement with Clark, it is a proper role of government to provide health care for the people. But in the case of this bill, it is convoluted to the extreme, it puts an excessive burden on the people, and leaves the insurance industry in place. The government should simply impose a tax to support direct government provision of health care to the people. The people's interests are not being served, rather it is the politician's and insurance industry's interests that are being served. I had hoped for more integrity from our President Barack Obama, as well as from our Congress, donkeys and elephants alike.

Steve Williams Thursday, March 25th 2010 at 11:47AM

Irma, I have the greatest respect that our President is the bravest of the brave, and I take back my words of cynicism.