Written By: Garry CooperCongressional negotiators moved closer today to agreeing on a health care reform bill. Final details were still being discussed, but the broad outline of the bill calls for an $8 billion ransom payment to the insurance industry in exchange for returning health care to the American people. Although many Democrats expressed reservations about the large cash outlay, they appear likely to agree to the deal.
“Millions of Americans had given up hope, especially with the death of Ted Kennedy, and my increasing vacillation about a public option, that they would ever see health care again,” said President Obama.
“This is a good bill, a fair bill,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “Surely no one expects the insurance industry to give up its annual billions of dollars in profits in exchange for nothing.” But McConnell cautioned that there was still disagreement with Democrats over a key provision of the ransom payment. “We believe the payment should be yearly and not a one-time payment,” said McConnell, “If there’s any money left over, the people who are really sick and not just trying to get something for nothing will get a little of it in the form of low-interest loans.”
McConnell characterized the tentative bill as a “win-win” situation. “People who have complained about their health care coverage can soon rest assured that the insurance industry will now just take the money and not provide anything,” he said, “So they won’t have to fight with insurance companies any more. And those who’ve complained that the American health care system has the highest administrative costs of any health care system in the industrialized world will see those costs virtually disappear. And now we can give the insurance companies a well-deserved rest after their years of service to the American people.”
Other worries remained however. After years of captivity by the insurance industry, many experts fear that the health care has suffered so much that when it returns, it will be only a weak shadow of the Canadian and British health care systems. And it remained unclear, after the several billion dollar ransom payment, how much money would be left over to bring it back into any viable condition.
“If it’s too weak to survive then it’s too weak to survive,” said McConnell, “As Republicans, we’re willing to give it the same opportunity we give everyone in this country—a chance to survive on its own.”
President Obama however sought to reassure the American people. “Yes, the health care system will be weak for a while,” he said, “But I intend to infuse it with strong doses of flourishing oratory and robust promises, and that’s as good as chicken soup any day.”
