A Short Note, On The Health Care Bill, Sort Of
It’s Monday, and I’m sitting in a computer lab that is, as usual, on any day that isn’t beach weather, absolutely insane. That means I’m really not going to be able to write much that’s coherent. So I’m not going to go back to the thing about Martin Luther and Protestantism and the Enlightenment until tomorrow. The idea of the autonomous individual starts with Protestantism, too, but that’s a longer and more complicated story than I’m capable of right this second.
I just want to note two things. First, the health care bill passed. At the moment, just what is in the bill that passed and what it’s going to look like after reconciliation and executive orders and I don’t know what else is not clear, but I find myself thinking–for the first time in my life–that I really hope Michael Moore is right on this one.
Moore is one of the people who thinks that this is a sort of first battle in a longer war, and that the bill is bad enough to cause “fixes” to it soon, and most especially the fix of at least a public option, if not a full blown single payer. As the bill stood the last time I took a good look at what was supposed to be in it, there was still the problem of mandated coverage to be bought from private insurance companies that are pretty much allowed to raise their rates as high as they like. Meaning a lot of us are going to be required by law to buy something we may not be able to afford.
On the other hand, at the time that thing went to a vote, there were at least some subsidies built into it for people making up to either $80,000 or $90,000 a year, depending who you talked to. So we’ll have to see.
But I did come out of the experience of this debate with one thing: whether this bill passed or failed, I would have been completely committed to voting to re elect Barack Obama in 2012.
I’d probably have done that in any case, but I was impressed as hell by the fact that the man went out there and made his case, over and over again, in a way I haven’t seen a President do in decades.
I’d gotten so used to The Great Man Isolated In The Olympian Confines of the Oval Office that I’d forgotten it could be done any way.
I like some of Obama’s policies and dislike others, but I like the man more and more the more I see of him.
And I’ll bet I’m not the only one.
More on the Protestants, and maybe the Byzantines, tomorrow.
2 Responses to 'A Short Note, On The Health Care Bill, Sort Of'
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Best joke on the Health care bill so far:
“Well, at least now that it’s passed, we get to find out what’s in it.”
But I very much fear this is a “Be careful what you wish for” moment for America. The IRS in charge of making sure everyone is insured?? OR ELSE? Who thought that would be a good idea?
Lymaree
22 Mar 10 at 12:24 pm
Our positions on the health care bill differ significantly but like you I admire and respect President Barack Obama. President Obama is biracial, if race has to be considered at all. He identifies with black people, African Americans. I think it takes a lot of courage to do this. Racial slurs were expressed often during the campaign for the presidency, the campaign for the health bill and even extending to last night when the bill passed. Vestiges of the antebellum “one drop rule” apparently still linger. This president can engage himself in the issue at hand without a reactionary response to the emotional outbursts of others. No one can be absolutely certain about the success or failure of the health reform bill in improving healthcare in the U.S. But President Obama has done what so many previous administrations failed to do and I admire him for that.
jem
22 Mar 10 at 12:43 pm