In 1965, I was a Junior in High School. Four days after I turned 17, the House passed the Voting Rights Act. Two months later, The Senate passed it’s version. Three months after that the conference report was approved by both parties, and President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law on August 6. Despite my tender years, I sensed that I was a witness to and a participant in history, because I had already travelled to the south to protest for civil rights. I have had that sense only twice since then. The first was the historic election of a minority President. The second was the passage of Health Care Reform yesterday. Not since 1965 has Congress passed such significant legislation. My friends, we are witnessing historic events, and we are part of them, so here are some of my observations on the day.
Early in the day, much of the attention was focused on Republicans and their Teabagger storm troopers. GOP politicians and pundits kept repeating the same tired lies, claiming that it is socialism, a government takeover of health care, too expensive, contains death panels, etc. One of the most ridiculous claims was that Democrats allowed no input from the GOP, when time and time again, Obama reached across the aisle and tried to draw them into the process. The bill included over 150 amendments offered by Republicans. The final bill looks more like Nixon’s proposal that Obama’s original proposal, and it’s problems stem mostly from the inclusion of GOP requests. Meanwhile the Teabaggers continued their protest, egged on by Republican Representatives, who left the House chamber to whip-up their minions from the balcony. The Teabagger storm troopers threatened violence. The yellow sign in the graphic reads, “If Brown can’t stop it, Browning can.”
Bart ‘coat hanger’ Stupak finally caved in and agreed to vote for the bill in return for the promise of an executive order that guarantees nothing more than enforcement of the Hyde Amendment provisions that were already in the bill, and for some time in the spotlight. He got to do a colloquy on the House floor. At one point during his speech, someone in the chamber yelled, “baby killer”. Now, if you haven’t guessed, Stupak is so low on my list that I would happily support any Democrat challenging him in his upcoming run to become Michigan’s Governor. But even he did not deserve that. Republicans have tried to say that it may have come from the gallery, but one Republican Representative admitted that it came from where the Texas delegation sits. I have no doubt that the GOP knows who breached decorum, but won’t give him up. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s in character for Louie Gohmert (R-TX), but I have no evidence to support it.
In the House debate, which seemed endless, I heard nothing new from either side, and finally, the Senate bill passed 219 – 212 and the reconciliation bill, 220-211. Not one single Republican voted for either. Obama plans to sign it tomorrow. When I know which Democrats voted No on the bill, I shall post it.
Here is a timeline for the bill:
Here are the effective dates of major provisions of the health care overhaul legislation approved Sunday:
WITHIN A YEAR
– Would provide a $250 rebate this year to Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries whose initial benefits run out.
90 days after enactment:
– Would provide immediate access to high-risk pools for people with no insurance because of pre-existing conditions.
Six months after enactment:
– Would bar insurers from denying people coverage when they get sick.
– Would bar insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.
– Would bar insurers from imposing lifetime caps on coverage.
– Would require insurers to allow people to stay on their parents’ policies until they turn 26.
2011
– Would require individual and small group market plans to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services. Large group plans would have to spend at least 85 percent.
2013
– Would increase the Medicare payroll tax and expand it to dividend, interest and other unearned income for singles earning more than $200,000 and joint filers making more than $250,000.
2014
– Would provide subsidies for families earning up to 400 percent of poverty level, currently about $88,000 a year, to purchase health insurance.
– Would require most employers to provide coverage or face penalties.
– Would require most people to obtain coverage or face penalties.
2018
– Would impose a 40 percent excise tax on high-end insurance policies… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <McClatchy DC>
Bear in mind that this applies to the Senate bill. The reconciliation bill has several improvements, but before I include them, I’m waiting for the reconciliation bill to clear the Cesspit Senate. On that note, MoveOn is sponsoring an online petition for the Senate to keep their promise. Even if you opposed this plan, I hope you will now support it, because choice has changed. The Senate bill will become law, as is, the moment Obama signs it. The choice is now only on whether or not the reconciliation fixes will be included. To sign the MoveOn petition, click here.
I just heard a GOP pundit say that Obama is a fool, because he has spent all his political capital on getting this passed. That is another GOP lie. Obama would have lost his political capital, only if the measure had failed. The passage of this historic measure is an achievement that took 100 years of failures before its final success. This success can only increase Obama’s political capital. The more time that passes, the more that people realize that all the GOP lies were exactly that, the more people see that this will benefit them, the more Obama’s political capital will increase. That does not mean we are done. This is only a step toward universal, single-payer health care.
In closing, I heartily congratulate President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all the Representatives who worked to deliver reform, and all of us who made our own contributions to changing future history. Together, we made it happen.
35 Responses to “Editorial: Not Since 1965”
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It is a great accomplishment, certainly. I do worry about the mentality expressed in those signs in the photo. The tone on some of the right-wing blogs has been so frenzied and hysterical lately, with talk about uprisings and revolution and so forth, that I suspect we’re going to be at an elevated risk of terrorism for a while. The Voting Rights Act and civil rights in general didn’t get through without violence from the other side, either.
What I would hope can be fixed are those weird and pointless delays in enacting some of the provisions. Why should we have to wait 90 days or six months before an end to the pre-existing condition and other denial-of-coverage scams?
But for now, yes, time to celebrate a tremendous step forward in the face of daunting obstructionism.
Infidel, I could not support this bill without holding my nose. There is plenty of work still to do. The two delays you mentioned aren’t that bad, considering that it will take time to translate the new law into a regulatory framework that can be implemented.
Well done, President Obama!
Tom, thought of you as soon as I heard that the Senate bill passed!
This is a brilliant start. A project of this magnitude isn’t done in one day. I have no fear that the American people en toto (yes, even the unreasonable Republicans) will be thankful that it’s there. It will take time to make it the ideal health cover but with the cooperation of everyone in America, it will get there.
France, considered to have the best health care in the world, didn’t find it easy and went through gargantuan upheavals for its health coverage system to get to where it is today. We in France remain vigilant to make sure it stays. It won’t be easy; eg., taxes continue to increase, but while we whine about it all the time, we accept that an excellent universal health care is a right.
Congratulations, America!
Anna, I thought of you as soon as I heard of Sarkozy’s conservatives’ provincial election defeat. I agree. Ten years from now, Americans of all political persuasions will scratch their heads and wonder what took us so long to realize what Europe has known for years.
Ah… yep, Sarkozy’s UMP party lost to a left-wing alliance of the Socialist Party, Communist Party, Green Party, and radical left.
Nothing unusual really. Almost a political tradition in France. The party in power always loses the regional (provincial) election to the opposition. Had Sarkozy been left-wing, the right-wing party would have won the provincial votes. It’s to keep the president on his toes. 🙂 Most important is the legislative election. If Sarkozy’s party loses the parliamentary majority, then we’ll be in deep s…t. Expect taxes to increase 100 fold. If that happens, I might move to America for a while 🙂
A monumental achievement for Congress and the President, to be sure! Looks like that mouthy Jim DeMint, rather than President Obama, met his Waterloo. Now we’ve got to keep chipping away toward sculpting a beautiful new public option! THEN and ONLY then will we have created a magnificent new Michelangelo’s David! We’ve also got to redouble our efforts to make sure thjere are no GOP or teabagger gains in Congress this fall!
Jack, even now the GOP noise machine is in full swing in a futile attempt to reverse spin the achievement. Every Republican in any position from dog catcher up is one Republican too many. On to single payer!
I .think Infidel is right and Holte Ender has an excellent historical perspective on Social Security as it was originally and how it evolved into what we have today.
I’m thrilled this passed and I’m not really in the mood for negativity from the right and least of all from the left.
Tnlib, negativity from the left at this point id foolishness in the extreme. But your mood will not be improved by the right.
I agree with everyone here, but shit, that took freaking forever! Well done Dems and Obama!
Gommer can bite me – hypocritical ass!
Lisa, like Jess said below, it turned out to be Neugebauer. It’s hard to tell those dang Texas Repuglicans apart!! 😉
Can anybody tell me if this bill and/or the reconciliation bill will prevent insurance companies from increasing our premiums to ridiculous heights. While I see there is a subsidy for families up to the 400% poverty level, if the insurance companies raise the premiums by 100%, then they’ll still be stuck with a crushing burden on the family finances and will BE REQUIRED to pony up.
In some ways, I see this as a huge gift to the insurance companies, giving them captive consumers.
This year, my premium went up about 21% over last year with fewer services. I fear this will happen every year. Is there a cap on how much they can gouge us?
I absolutely wanted this bill passed, but I hope Congress will immediately start fixing the huge loopholes. And Obama should have told Stupak to shove it. Abortion is a legal medical procedure and should be covered like any other medical procedure. He’s just made abortion out of reach of most women. I remember the bad old days of back alley abortionists. This is a step backward to that time.
Marva, with that handle, folks will see right through you. 😉
Direct premium control could not be included in the reconciliation bill, because it is regulatory, not budgetary. Therefore it could not pass the Byrd Rule on reconciliation. However, because yours is a large group, starting next year they will be requires to pay benefits of 85% of what they collect in premiums.
On abortion, the status quo going in was the Hyde Amendment, which outlaws spending federal funding on abortion. Some on the left wanted to use this bill to back-door federal funding. Some on the right, the Stupak coat hanger crowd, wanted to use this bill limit abortion beyond the status quo. The status coming out is the Hyde Amendment. It is not a step backward, because nothing has changed.
I completely agree with you that abortion should be covered like any other legal medical procedure. But rather than see the bill defeated to change the status quo, I think that is best taken up separately.
Cellophane is acknowledgement of my seeming invisibility to publishers and agents.
Still, it just erks me no end that a proclaimed Democrat is so willing to ignore the rights of a segment of the population. Let Stupak run as a GOP nutcase if he acts like one.
Maybe some real progressives should switch to Republican and run for office as a Blue GOP.
Dang! That’s not good! 🙁
Stupak will be running to be Michigan’s next Governor. I shall oppose him.
Tn this climate, there’s a word for Blue GOP: lynched
Tom Cat, TPM is saying it was TX rep Neugebauer and of course, he didn’t say baby killer, he said it’s a baby killer according to him. Being a pro choice woman, I am about sick of these tired old men trying to decide what I and millions of other women get to do with our bodies.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/texas-rep-neugebauer-i-exclaimed-the-phrase-its-a-baby-killer.php?ref=fpa
Jess, thanks for the info and the link. I personally think that the best way to limit abortion is through education on and the availability of effective methods of birth control, not through restrictions on a woman’s right to control her own body. In my ideal world, abortion would be freely available, completely covered, a decision for women to make with no interference from anyone, and very rare.
Congratulations, Tom. This is definitely a step in the right direction. I think the three main thing you folks need is to completely get rid of the so-called “pre-existing conditons”. There is no such thing here in Canada. Medicine is not always an exactly science, and it’s not always possible to tell if someone has had a “pre-existing condition” when they present at the doctor’s office or the hospital. That is just insurance jargon, used to keep people from being covered. Second, you folks need to make sure the insurance companies are prohibited from raising their rates or lowering their coverage during the interim period. Third, you need to make sure every man, woman and child is covered by health care and gets the health care they need, as soon as they need it.
It’s sort of too bad that the anti-abortion / pro-abortion issue clouded the main issues so much. I am anti-abortion, but pro-prevention. This is the 21st Century. If people want to prevent a pregnancy, there are ways to do it — lots of ways. Pregnancy is not an illness. In the meantime, people are getting chronically ill or going bankrupt because they cannot get medical care.
This is indeed history…!
Thanks, Josie. You have to admit it. Obama accomplished what half a dozen Presidents couldn’t. For rate control, any insurance company that gouges on rates will be excluded from the exchanges. This is not a finished product. It’s not the bill I wanted. But it is a good foundation on which to build. While, I fully support women’s rights over their own bodies, I agree that prevention is a far better solution.
What makes it all the more worthwhile is that not only was Obama fighting an immovable object in the GOP, but 3 or 4 dozen Democrats, 34 of whom he couldn’t win over.
I look forward to posting the names of the 34.
For a moment, just for a moment, I thought “yes we can” was just a shibbloleth, like something in a self-improvement book. For the HRC bill to clear the house, impossible!
But they could. And did
My nihilism about politics is beginning to ebb.
Ivan! You need some free Canadian health care!! You have nihilism displasia! 😉
I agree with what I heard David Frum say tonight on Hardball. This bill will in a few months will be the GOP’s Waterloo. The provisions that protect children alone can cost the GOP huge points in the coming mid-terms. If I was a democratic strategist I would be looking for kids whose lives were saved because preexisting conditions for them are now banned and have sound bites of our favorite GOPers talk trash about killing or repealing this bill. I almost bet it could get Bachmann to shut her mouth.
Beach, that is an excellent strategy. While I disagree with Frum’s policies, his analysis of what the GOP did wrong is dead on.
Wonderful editorial Tom! As a Canadian, you know that I am biased when it comes to health care. I consider health care a right, not a commodity or a privilege. Since December 30th, I have had 3 surgeries for a detached retina. Other than enduring the discomfort of the physical problem, I have NOT had to sell my home – go into massive debt – (or worse) go blind in the eye for want of the cash to pay for the surgeries. I have paid attention over the years to the fact that the number one reason for personal bankruptcy in the USA is inability to pay for medical bills.
The lunatic antics that the teabaggers and other radical Right displayed have been noticed around the world. Props to your President and all citizens and elected officials who have stood fast in the face of such a loud, lunatic and dishonest performance by those who simply do not understand the words of one of your great Presidents … ‘government OF the people, BY the people ……….. F O R the people!
Take care!
Come to think of it, Palin and family no longer have to cross to Canada to avail of health cover!
Anna, what I love about this is that the Tundra Twit gets a tax increase.
Thanks Dawg! We still have a long way to go to catch up with you folks in this area.
When I watched Obama sign the legislation, I noticed that immediately after, all Fox News could seem to mention was that Biden said “This is a big f*cking deal”…
They kept focusing on that for a few minutes… I guess they were dumbstruck…
For Faux Noise to be dumbstruck is like the Pope being Catholic-struck. 🙂
Beach Bum,
You’re right on this important bill being Mr. Obama’s defining moment.
…er, David Frum? Dubya’s speechwriter turned Demo fellow traveller?
The cipher of the “Axis of Evil” phrase so often mouthed by Bush?
For a while there, Canadians were almost embarrassed by Mr.Frum. Hertz Rent-a-neocon from Canada? His mother Barbara, whom I knew, would have given him a spanking.
But we seem to see a new David Frum. The family brains seem back.
Ivan, I wouldn’t call it a new Frum. He shares the GOP’s lack of substance. His argument is against their strategy.
In closing, I heartily congratulate President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all the Representatives who worked to deliver reform, and all of us who made our own contributions to changing future history. Together, we made it happen.
I’m sorry, but I could not disagree more. A mandate that I support the bloodsuckers in the insurance industry who will give me the same crappy coverage I buy now, but this time with crippling deductibles?!
Let’s be clear: Mandatory insurance *IS NOT* universal coverage. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid sold us down the river and gave the insurance industry more than they could have ever gotten from the GOP. And now… I find myself in the ironic position of being in the ‘Thuglican camp, hoping that the States’ AGs get this miserable debacle thrown out so we can work on real reform–state-proof, GOP-proof, and maybe even Obama-proof, reform!
Kvatch, I do not disagree that this bill has problems. However, the mandate does not kick in until 2014. That gives us 4 to 5 years to use to build on the present reform and institute a single payer option open to all. Furthermore, the house fix sets the penalty for failure to comply with the mandate at zero.