This current bill is a down payment on healthcare reform

[supernova]

This is what I've taken away from it.

We have to, due to pigheadedness from both leaderships in congress, try to reform the insurance market first. No, it won't be single payer or even a publicly funded option for now.

But, here's the thing. Congress is so out of it, they have to see that what they enact will not be nearly as far reaching as needed, nor as successful as they thought it would. It will be playing around with the margins.

Sure, reforming insurance will help some, but it won't bring about a sweeping change in the shape of healthcare in the US.

When they see that it isn't working, we will be right back here having this same discussion some years from now. And then it will be time to talk about HR 676 and whatever its future incarnation will be.

Meanwhile, I think those of us on the ground need to continue pushing for single-payer as a right. We will fight on as we always have done.

[Eric J in MN]

1. but the insurance companies will be even richer and more powerful

...in several years if Congress passes a bill this year for mandates with no public option.

[supernova]

3. Not if they are legally bound

to pay out claims instead of salaries or profits to shareholders.

I'll be watching to see how they manage to rake it in the coming years, or if they have trouble. If they have trouble, that's good for us.

[Lifelong Protester]

2. I say keep fighting

[supernova]

5. Yes,

:thumbsup:

[flamingdem]

4. WE WIN WHEN OBAMA WINS.. and he knows he owes us nt

[sharesunited]

6. You are sugar coating abject retreat and surrender. But I won't begrudge you that.

[supernova]

8. LOL!

It's only retreat for you if you think it is.

I'll keep to my path, thanks.

[patrice]

7. We still have Kucinich's amendment out there.

and I'm going to start studying "triggers".

[supernova]

10. Yes, exactly

We can still use it.

[patrice]

12. There are other things too, Q.what exactly is the end of Defensive Medicine?" A. Preventative

and Complementary Medicine, Horticulturists, Herbalists, Nutritionists, CNAs, Acupuncture, Yoga, Masage Therapists, Artisanal Craft Schools/Teaching Guilds . . . .

[ddeclue]

9. NO: This bill is a total sellout to Republicans and Insurance Companies.

:nuke:

[supernova]

11. Well, if you'd just rather give up

go right ahead, I won't stop you.

Women campaigned at least since the 1880s, as an organized force, for the right to vote. We finally got it in 1920.

I can't see UHC being any different, frankly.

It's gonna be a long ride, settle in.