I had a brief conversation yesterday with a conservative relative about health care reform. The concern that my relative had over Obama's plan was that surgeons might just stop practicing surgery, or go elsewhere, if their fees were limited in any new way.
The point I took away from the conversation is similar to the larger point being blanketed by the corporate media over discussions about health care reform: very rich people will not be quite as rich if all Americans have affordable health care. That, to conservatives, is a very, very serious problem.
Here's a prime example,……this time from a July 16, Washington Post piece by Villagers, Ceci Connolly and Lori Montgomery. The following paragraphs make up about half of the article. Notice the theme….
President Obama's ambitious drive to overhaul the nation's $2.3 trillion health-care system cleared a key Senate committee yesterday. But the administration was promptly buffeted by criticism from some of the industry players and moderate Democrats it has courted for months, calling into question the prospects for a bipartisan landmark bill.
…….But the 13 to 10 party-line vote, after rancorous comments by the top Republican on the committee, underscored the mounting tensions in Congress and the country over the president's signature item.
……The lobbying group America's Health Insurance Plans warned, however, that "a new tax on health-care coverage is the wrong approach and will make coverage less affordable for families and small businesses."
A spokesman for WellPoint, the nation's largest publicly-traded health benefits firm, voiced similar objections.
…….But the bill provoked sharp criticism from the corporate world and an uprising within the Democratic ranks by moderates who want to see greater efforts at controlling soaring medical costs.
…….Business leaders issued several critiques of the House approach. Both the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce weighed in forcefully against proposals requiring employers to contribute to the cost of health care.
About 1,000 insurance agents fanned out across Capitol Hill, lobbying against creation of a government-sponsored health plan that would compete with private firms.
"This scares the heck out of me," said Tom Minkler, president of the Clark Mortenson Agency, an insurance and financial services agency in Keene, N.H. On visits to congressional offices, he expressed fear that the so-called public plan would lead to a European-style, single-payer system.
Now that the estimates are coming in on the Democratically-led health reform plan demonstrating that the reform will be revenue neutral…..there's only one place for corporate media whores and dishonest-Congressional-shills-for-big-insurance to flee…..to arguments similar to my family relative's…..Some rich people won't be quite as rich.
The "debate" over health care reform is actually not a debate at all. What it really is, is a shouting match. Those in corporate-whore media-land have the biggest megaphones. They plan on using those megaphones to airhorn out what's been reduced now to a singular message:
If Americans get universal health care, even if paying for it is revenue neutral, some very rich people in and out of the health insurance industry will not be quite as rich.
This pathetic "argument" is all that's left for status quo Villagers and their GOP sponsors.
Expect the volume from Shill-land to increase to death-metal levels the closer the Congress gets to a vote. Those in the corporate media will race right down to the wire advocating for a tiny group of rich Americans. That's how they keep us "informed."
