Dennis Kucinich called a press conference this morning and announced that despite really pretty much hating the health care bill that he will vote for it both because it moves the ball forward and because the president needs this to be effective on every other pressing issue facing the country. I think this is the first time in a while that I’ve seen eye to eye with Kucinich. I do hate the health care bill. I support H.R. 676, the Medicare for all bill. I dislike the entire concept of for-profit health insurance. I wanted a robust public option at a minimum. The Ben Nelson language that requires women to write two checks to get coverage for abortion is a threat to the availability of abortion coverage in both the individual and the employer-provided insurance markets, because insurers will not want to provide multiple products. I think the Republicans will get great mileage in attacking the mandate which, in the absence of a public option, requires people to buy insurance from justly vilified corporations. But, it’s clear that with the Congress we have, this bill is the best we can do, and failing to make these reforms would be catastrophic both for nation’s budget and for the Democrats’ political fortunes, including the president’s. I’d like to say that supporting this bill is a difficult decision, but it’s not. It’s a no-brainer. It is designed to cover 30 million people who currently lack any health insurance at all, while protecting people from losing the coverage they have. There are many fine provisions in the bill, including money for clinics and regulations of the insurance market that end caps of lifetime coverage, the practice of recissions, and the practice of denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.
This bill is going to help poor people and improve the nation’s health dramatically. And it’s this bill, or it’s nothing. Given that choice, the decision is easy. And, now that Kucinich is on board, it’s pretty lonely on the left for people who are still holding out for something better.
