Only a day after Senate Democrats voted to move into a historic debate on overhauling the nation’s healthcare system, key centrists made it clear today that the party is still a long way from delivering on its promise to provide near-universal insurance coverage and contain medical costs.
Faced with the prospect of Republican filibusters, Democratic leaders must deliver the same kind of total unity they managed to achieve in Saturday’s vote to begin debate: Every Democratic senator, plus two independents who caucus with them, supported the key procedural motion.
But several of those senators spoke out today to say that they will not support the healthcare bill itself unless major changes were made.
For starters, any bill that assesses a stiff penalty on 16 – 20 million uninsured American citizens, but provides no such penalty for 8 – 12 million [i]illegal[/i] residents … is completely insane.
More importantly I absolutely reject the two fundamental premises of this entire attempt at ‘reform’ — a) that government should have any role in medical insurance and care, and b) that healthy lifestyles should subsidise the costs of unhealthy ones; or that people here illegally should continue to get a free ride at the expense of Americans.
I voted for the bill before I voted against it …
#1 Bart perhaps you would be willing to explain exactly how it is that “people here illegally . . . continue to get a free ride at the expense of Americans” with specific reference to how this legislation has anything to do with that? I encourage you to cite relevant portions of either the House or the Senate bill in your response. I’m not being snarky here – I truly want to understand your concern.
The operative legislation dates to 1986 — 42 USC Sec 1395dd — which requires all hospitals to treat all patients, regardless of ability to pay, citizenship, or legal status in the US. That remains completely unchanged.
That is, I think, the piece you’re looking for, as the required coverage provisions of both House and Senate bills have received ample publicity.
Our family, however, has lived with this dilemma for decades. My father-in-law practiced as a pathologist until a few years ago. It was four years after he retired that the last of his Medicare invoices was finally paid. My mother-in-law still works as a front-line nurse, and struggles regularly with how to give appropriate care to numerous patients who speak no English, have no official ID, and refuse to state even their name.
In practice, we’ve been covering the illegals for almost a quarter century. What’s new is the idea a penalising American citizens if they choose not to carry insurance. Pelosi herself has said that they can, and should, go to jail if they don’t sign up.