Chump Change

After a year-long abdication of the leadership for health care reform to a dysfunctional Congress, the President has unveiled the White House’s own proposal. In a nutshell: “too little, too late.”

The Medicare-for-All “public option” is the only way this nation would be able to effectively increase competition and provide the Americans with the type of health care that this great nation deserves. All of the other gimmicks will at best provide some incremental improvement, but there is no doubt that the insurance profiteers will still be able to game the system to their benefit.

If Lyndon Johnson were president today, he would have successfully jawboned 51 Senators into passing an effective Medicare-for-All system. President Obama’s timidity and his blindness to the Republic party’s stated goal of doing nothing that even remotely shines light on a governmental success are a major disappointment.

Now, after one year of Republican obstruction, some of the Democrats are starting to drink the Fox/GOP kool-aid (or is it tea?) and are backing off of their previous Medicare-for-All commitment.

No doubt, if Congress can get its act together, the President may be able to sign a bill with incremental improvements such as removal of pre-existing conditions as a qualifier, or caps on rates. But why should we hope that the administration will do better with the insurance companies after its debacle in controlling Wall Street?

This isn’t “Change we can Believe in”. It’s chump change.