Dan Cromar / Roundup
When the whole healthcare overhaul began, the thing that really got my (and I’m sure just about everyone eles’s) attention was the issue of the public option.
Now, here we are, with the bill passed, and guess what?
No public option.
But my favorite part of it is that, in 2014, people without health insurance will have to pay a hefty fine to the federal government.
How can this be justified if there is no cheap alternative for people who can’t afford health insurance of the private variety?
Answer: It can’t.
We’re spending almost a trillion dollars on this bill, and bringing tensions between the right and the left to extreme highs.
How is all of this worth it when we don’t even have what would have been the most significant change?
It was no secret that Republicans would never support the bill, and no matter what, would fight it until the end.
If there’s anything that even has a hint of socialism, it suddenly becomes a sign of the apocalypse. I find it amazing that our socialist public school system hasn’t been torn down by fear mongering commie purgers.
And I understand the whole “Let’s all hold hands and work together and give hugs and sing songs” mentality, but there is a time for that, and a time to stand up and fight for the big change.
This was the latter, and the Democrats, especially President Obama, failed to recognize that.
Instead, they made compromises and cut deals, and killed the public option.
Unacceptable.
If the bill wasn’t going to pass with the public option, it shouldn’t have passed at all. It’s not worth all of the fighting and spending if we can’t find a way to make the big changes.
People can talk all they want about how this is such a huge deal, and a great step forward, and blah blah blah, but the bottom line is that it could have been so much more.
We can only hope that if this issue comes up again, that whoever is leading the charge will have the strength and willpower to stand up against the opposition, rather than folding to their demands.
—
dcromar.roundupnews@gmail.com