In Case You Missed This... Confirmation On What Many Of Us Believed Re: The Publc Option Fight

[FarLeftFist]

21. You don't see the parallels? FDR backed down from health care reform because...

Roosevelt so feared attacks by the American Medical Association that he dropped health coverage completely from his New Deal agenda. And here's Obama fearing losing the American Medical Associations endorsement. Also, Max Baucus (D-MT) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) killed any chances of the public option. Baucus, the chairman of the Senate committee that drafted the law, received a $1.5 million “donation” from the health insurance lobby from 2007-2008, and another cool $1.5 million in previous years. Lieberman was the deciding vote at the time between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and he vehemently and explicitly said he would vote against any health reform bill with the public option. Another strange similarity? FDR invited a group of physicians and private interests to work with his other appointees on a proposal to add health care to the Social Security Act. The invited special interest group, called the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, worked mostly in secret, isolated from public input and debate. The committee ultimately recommended a watered-down proposal of giving federal subsidies to states for health care programs. Obama’s plan covers 32 million previously uninsured Americans. Obama also invited industry to the bargaining table, but unlike FDR, Truman, and Clinton, Obama didn’t walk away empty-handed.

Personally I would love to see single-payer.