I was referring specifically to public option. Other Republican opposition was, at least in principle, perfectly understandable. Some was well advised and if it was me I would have been among the opposition myself. My preference was Rahm Emmanuel's approach. Put together a genuinely bipartisan bill with actual Republican input It would not have been comprehensive but it would have , by design, had GOP support since Republicans would have helped design it. That would have been Part # 1. Part # 2 would have been the partisan stuff, including public option For that part of the process there could have been all the fights that anyone might have wanted. But Emmanuel's idea was killed by his boss. Now we have 14 states that are acting to take the bill to the Supreme Court because, so they say, the "buy in" clause is unconstitutional. As I said, what could anyone have expected when lawyers do all the drafting of legislation ? Is there a class of more short sighted people alive in this world ? As the NYT article said, and that paper is as pro-Obama as any paper gets, the admin has "officially" abandoned all pretense of bipartisanship and did so many months ago. For all the talk about the presumed "sorta RC" character of the BHO WH, it actually is Left partisan not quite 100%. Billy ============================================== In a message dated 3/22/2010 9:06:04 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Republican opposition was perverse? Really? Obama stuffed them early and often and only toward the last few months did some head fakes in their direction. The Democrats on the Hill locked them completely out of the closed door meetings. Their input was ignored totally on ideological grounds. This bill is the first step on the Road to Serfdom. Nothing is infinitely preferable to this bill from where I sit. David "A pleasant natural environment is a good - a luxury good, philosophical good, a moral goody-good, a good time for all. Whatever, we want it. If we want something, we should pay for it, with our labor or our cash. We shouldn't beg it, steal it, sit around wishing for it, or euchre the government into taking it by force."--P. J. O’Rourke On 3/22/2010 1:07 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: Ernie: Token "socialist," yes, but a Saint-Simonian not a Marxist ( "neo" or anything else ). Saint-Simonianism refers to what might better be called Capitalist-Socialist, a hybrid system that seeks public good through a blend of private enterprise and elected officials who take their responsibilities for the people they represent seriously ( objectively ) rather than ideologically. But about the current bill, to be candid about it, it seems to me to be excessively partisan. Do we need health care reform ? We have needed it since the era of FDR. But it would have been far better to seek market solutions as much as possible instead of essentially as Democratic concessions to the GOP. Such as creating competition among insurance companies by allowing choice of health plans across state lines. This seems so totally obvious that it boggles the mind that it wasn't done. But where was discussion on the objective merits ? The Democrats didn't seem able to do any such thing because of their mindset. This said, a public option was also called for, which I have always regarded as absolutely necessary, and about that the Democrats fought each other to such an extent that it became impossible given Republican opposition. That opposition struck me as utterly perverse. Bottom line, along the way I became so disgusted with the whole process that I eventually tuned it out almost completely since whatever came of the debate it would be capitulation to special interests , little conservative input, and what you'd expect from lawyers. And what the hell do student loans have to do with health care ? Is the bill better than nothing ? I suppose so, but is that the best that could be done ? What a joke and what an insult to the whole country. But you'd never know it from media accounts which, true to form, are praising the result as salvific. We got a compromise .A bad compromise at that. Essentially Congress makes me sick --for which the health care bill provides no remedy. Billy ======================================================== In a message dated 3/22/2010 10:01:45 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) writes: I tend to agree that whatever its political significance, the current bill is a non-event in terms of truly transforming health care delivery. We can only hope that whatever happens will encourage rather than discourage innovation. Billy, you're our token socialist -- what do you think of the bill? -- Ernie P. Health Care Reform Passes--Now Let's Start Health Care Innovation Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on March 22, 2010 To the surprise of many, Congress passed legislation this weekend that extended US healthcare to nearly everyone in the country. Bravo. The US joins the 19th century. The next trick is to try actual innovation in health care that lowers costs and increases the healthcare experience for Americans. There is almost nothing in the bill passed that does that. The _US already spends far more on healthcare innovation than any other country_ (http://innovationandgrowth.wordpress.com/category/health/) . But government healthcare R&D has gone into life sciences that haven’t paid off (genome) or advanced medical procedures that are extremely expensive and help extremely few people. In terms of longevity, the US lags Europe and Asia. US healthcare needs platform innovation that uses social media to connect people to the medical system in new, cheaper, more personal and more productive ways. _Hello Health is one way to go._ (http://hellohealth.com/patient/) It’s founder, _Dr. Jay Parkinson_ (http://jayparkinsonmd.com/) , has just launched_ The Future Well_ (http://thefuturewell.com/) , a design consultancy that promises to extend the new social media model for wellbeing across the country. US healthcare also needs the kind of demassing and decentralization that design and innovation consultants can provide. _Memorial Sloan- Kettering (MSK) did workshops with students at the Parsons School for Design to come up with small, inexpensive, neighborhood chemo centers _ (http://www.interiordesign.net/article/CA6714455.html) and it just completed the first in Brooklyn. The _Mayo Clinic is innovating broadly_ (http://centerforinnovation.mayo.edu/transform/2009/index.html) in health care. _Clayton Christensen has a great book on The Innovator’s Prescription_ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071592083?ie=UTF8&tag=claytonchrist-20&lin kCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0071592083) that calls for disruptive innovation in healthcare based on new business models. This is a very important book. Now that the US has extended healthcare to all its citizens, the next step is to cut costs and improve outcomes and experiences by harnessing the best thinking of designers and innovators. Most of the concepts and tools are already at hand. = _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) _http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com_ (http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com) Archives at _http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/) _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) _http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com_ (http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com) Archives at _http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/) _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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