Obama's Last Stand

Seems like the President is finally taking the gloves off over healthcare reform, and it's about damn time if you ask me.  Kenneth T. Walsh reports in U.S. News and World Report:

President Obama has begun his last stand on healthcare. "Every idea has been put on the table," he said last week. "Every argument has been made. Everything to say about healthcare has been said, and just about everybody has said it. I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform."

Obama has taken a year to reach this point. He has long argued that without massive change, the public will face higher premiums, the government will amass more debt, and tens of millions of Americans won't have any health insurance at all. What is new, White House officials say, is the president's acknowledgment that he needs to get a bill passed now or nothing will be done anytime soon. He also has accepted the idea that there probably will be no Republican support so he will have to win passage with only Democratic votes. . . .

"The United States Congress owes the American people a final up or down vote on healthcare," he said. "It's time to make a decision. The time for talk is over. We need to see where people stand. And we need all of you to help us win that vote. So I need you to knock on doors. Talk to you neighbors. Pick up the phone. When you hear an argument by the water cooler and somebody is saying this or that about it, say, 'No, no, no, no--hold on a second.' And we need you to make your voices heard all the way in Washington, D.C."

He added: "They need to hear your voices because right now the Washington echo chamber is in full throttle. It is as deafening as it's ever been. And as we come to that final vote, that echo chamber is telling members of Congress, wait, think about the politics instead of thinking about doing the right thing."

And in a speech at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, the President ripped the insurance companies for being the greedy bloodsucking bastards they are - those are my words, here are Obama's:

"Every year, insurance companies deny more people coverage because they have a preexisting condition. Every year, they drop more people's coverage when they're sick and need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher."

"These insurance companies have made a calculation," Obama said. "Listen to this, the other day, there was a conference call organized by Goldman Sachs; you know Goldman Sachs," he said to laughter.

He continued, "An insurance broker told Wall Street investors that insurance companies know they will lose customers if they keep raising premiums. But since there's so little competition in the insurance industry, they're okay with people being priced out of health insurance because they'll still make more by raising premiums on the customers they have. And they will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it."

In his remarks, Obama cited the move last month by Anthem Blue Cross in California to raise rates by nearly 40 percent. He also mentioned his home state of Illinois where, he said, rates are going up by as much as 60 percent.

"So how much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something about it? How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance?" Obama said. "How many more businesses have to drop coverage? How many more years can the federal budget handle the crushing costs of Medicare and Medicaid? When is the right time for health insurance reform?"

I well recall when my best friend Tommy was dying of AIDS back twenty years ago, and how he had to argue, beg, and plead with the insurance company over the phone from his hospital bed to please approve this drug or that procedure, every single new thing the doctor ordered: the insurance company put him through flaming hell at his weakest, most vulnerable time.

And I could go on to talk about other friends and relatives, but the bottom line is this: it's simply immoral to be making a profit out of people's illness and injuries, period. And all that has to stop. Now.