No facts here. Go to the other post for actual content. This is just a list of emotions I've gone through in the past 36 hours.
Relief: Upon figuring out Sunday afternoon that Pelosi had the votes to pass the bill, I let out a deep sigh and waited for the moment.
Excitement: Knowing that history was in the making, I got a little tingly following the news, checking my phone every 15 minutes to see if the vote had been tallied yet.
Energy: As befits the moment after a political victory. Hasn't been a stellar winter for my side of the aisle.
Dread: What if the bill has some really really sucky yucky stuff inside of it? What if this great legislative victory is bad for the country? Bad for me? Bad for my kids?
Impatience: With those who interjected abortion into the debate. (Newsflash: Ending a pregnancy is a medical procedure. A legal one. Its elective nature may vary. It may be highly objectionable in certain cases. Call it what you want, it still falls under the umbrella of health care.)
Shame: For letting myself be duped into believing the bill was virulently anti-business. It's not. Go to the other post for details. For letting myself believe the individual mandate would be an unfair hardship. It's not set up that way. For listening to people tell me this bill wasn't liberal enough. Hey. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Somebody said that once.
Impatience Renewed: With how easily people accept the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine. At least when we Dems are lied to by our politicians, we know it and roll with it, or we rebel and turn on them mercilessly.
Shame, Part Deux: For not having blogged in two months. (There are extenuating circumstances, but to all my countless fans - 11 - all over the world, I'm truly sorry. And not Tiger Woods sorry. Sorry sorry.)
Relief, Part Deux: That my kids, both of whom have a better than even chance of inheriting my very serious heart condition, will be able to obtain coverage if they need it, and can stay on the family plan until age 26.
Relief, Part C: That should my wife, for some glopfaloobaloogurglespurk reason, lose her job or her coverage, then my family will still be able to get us some 'surance.
Pride: In my country, which could now start to pull itself, one piece of legislation at a time, from the clutches of crippling health care costs. Much work remains to be done, but the end result, whatever it is, would have been impossible without this step.
Thankfulness: Without a D President and a D Congress, this doesn't happen. Thanks voters.
Sheepishness: That I don't know everything that's in the bill, that I can only recite about half of it off the top of my head, and that I'm pretending to be some sort of expert on it.
Hope: Self-explanatory.
First: It is good to see you back in the ring. Hope things are well on the homefront. Now to the reply. I'll try to keep feelings to this one and other thoughts to the other post.
ReplyDeleteI am more than unimpressed by the proceduring on both sides. If it is truly good legislation, it should be able to stand on its own and not need endless broken promises. Promises of passage by this date. Promises to this state or that state for their vote (Nebraska which was bought off for no reason if the fix bill passes). There are good parts in the bill. Suck it up and accept it Republicans and try to act like your there to search for solutions not just to bat it down first because the other guy said it.
The abortion part bothers me not for what it is or isn't but for the representatives that made this their stand but bent over for an executive order. If your going to make a stand stick with it. An executive order can be repealed by a vote of one. Or just not signed at all.
I hope that the bill is regulated to the confines of the bill but with 2700 pages that really no single person has truly analyzed all of it is pretty near impossible to be sure.
I am afraid of the cost. Plain and simple. .942 Trillion before the fix and an estimated 1.2 trillion after? We are to ready to swallow that number. When I have to start using my toes to count the zeros, I am scared.
I am scared of Microsoft. This bill reminds me of Vista and a major patch coming out three weeks after release. I'm not saying things have to be perfect. But if you have a patch already under way before you go to market, that is bad business. Unfortunately, government has no competition with it. No Apple in the background to worry it. Just the next election cycle.
And finally...Be honest with the name. This is not healthcare reform. It is insurance regulation. Good, bad, or indifferent I will be more open if we start with the truth.
Thanks Andy. The family is fine now - this winter, we wrecked a car, we've been constantly sick, and now my brother's cancer has returned... the last two months have been a trial all around, and blogging has been the furthest thing from my mind. I will toss some Mariners news out there when it's warranted. You should totally visit ussmariner.com, that's a solid blog.
ReplyDeleteHCR-wise, now. 2,700 pages sounds about right to me. A bill that checks in at fewer than 2,000 pages would be irresponsible. We're reforming a sixth of the total economy of the alrgest economy in the world. The paperwork is bound to be staggering. Have you ever seen what it takes to change a single law on a state level? Hundreds of pages sometimes. And this is, er, a slightly more ambitious project. So the folks who brandish that big number as if the Democrats are trying to pull a fast one, that's preposterous. Please. We D's WANT everyone to know what's in the bill. It's the opposition that's trying to keep it all vague.
And yes, this IS insurance regulation. Stupid Democratic leadership should have made that perfectly clear from the get-go. A bill that redoes the way insurance companies do business, centered on forcing those companies to cover people, remove barriers, share profits and pay fees - that bill would be overwhemingly popular. (Oh, if only such a bill existed. Oh, if only.) Why didn't they pass that portion of things last year, then gun for another step in 2011, like the mandate or the public option, once they'd gained people's trust? It's inexplicable. Mmmmm. I feel another post coming on.