Each day the healthcare debate drags on without a bill is one more day for Insurance Co's to kill it

[Vinnie From Indy]

At some point, one has to question Democrats as to why they keep dragging their feet. It seems obvious that each day Big Insurance, Big Pharma and their allies in the gargantuan right wing hate machine have to muddy up the debate with lies and nonsense the chance for a meaningful bill dies a bit more.

[Laelth]

1. The insurance companies WANT this bill. They are not trying to kill it.

They want the individual mandate. The want a law that says we must buy their products or else become criminals. That's why they're not running ads against it.

The Republican Party, otoh, doesn't want Obama to succeed at anything. They will oppose whatever we try to do (unless there are not enough voted to pass the law that their insurance masters want), in which case just enough Republicans will vote for the bill to make it pass.

Make no mistake. The insurance companies want us to pass the individual mandate. They do not want the public option, i.e. competition. They will fight that tooth and nail. In the end, we will almost certainly get the individual mandate, but we will get a pathetic public option that does not create real competition. The Democratic Party will call this a "win," but it will actually hurt more than it helps, and we will have established a massive, Federal bail-out of the insurance industry.

I hereby dare the Democratic Party to prove me wrong on this.

:dem:

-Laelth

:dem:

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. To be more clear

They wanted the delay to SHAPE or kill it. It turns out they might get a huge windfall from the mandate. Totally agree on that point. Cheers!

[Laelth]

3. They certainly wanted to shape it.

Of course, they didn't have to work very hard on that. Obama invited them to the White House to discuss what they can "accept." He is unlikely to stray far from the deal he brokered with them. I think they trust him.

:dem:

-Laelth