"Politics of the possible"
Tuesday, September 1, my SO and I had a face to face meeting with our congresscritter, Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
I had emailed her office last week, asking to set up a meeting. They called me Monday, said she'd had cancellations, could I come the next afternoon for a ten minute meeting. Of course I said yes - I'm unemployed, and live a few blocks away, but even if I'd been working I would have taken time off.
Knowing full well that ten minutes just wouldn't be enough to cover all of the issues I was concerned with, I typed up a list - my own words, the real concerns I had.
At the top of that list was healthcare. Then came GLBT issues. Then economy and finance, and more.
We brought copies, one for us, one for Zoe, one for her aides.
Yes, she has to be diplomatic, she has to negotiate with the rest of the House. She declined to comment on my sentiment that Grassley and Baucus were a waste of space. I felt like she was trying not to chuckle.
But I also felt that she needed to hear from the little people - the working (or unemployed) person, the woman trying to start a small consulting business, the people paying the highest tax rates when working because they're gay, childfree renters without tax shelters.
If people like me are willing to fork over for singlepayer, or at least a strong public option, then the rest of the contry can give up a little for the assurance that they and their children will have healthcare regardless of their economic circumstance.
She agreed with me on the GLBT items, talked about trying to get some of the more strident religious folks to see how gay marriage really isn't a threat to their religious freedom.
She told me, she has to be diplomatic, but as an activist, I don't.
Activists and advocates don't need to put their positions in terms of compromise, and we shouldn't.
The right wing knows this, and is ready to fling shit.
We need to push, and hard. We need to let our congresspeople know what we need.
Believe me, Rep Lofgren will be seeing me again. I'll be keeping track, and there will be praise given or questions asked.
Your Reps work for you. Make the time to go see them. Write down your concerns, so they have stuff to take back to Washington with them.
People whine about "How will we pay for Single Payer health care?" Well, I sat down and did some numbers.
The best guess is that a 5% tax on all payrolls will fund an efficient single payer system. That number seems to freak some people out.
Let me put it in perspective, though. My full Cobra premiums are $1,136 a month for two people. Assuming that my company was paying that previously for medical, dental and vision only (not short term disability - that's extra). Doing the math, I see that works out to 15.5% on top of my monthly income! That's right, a private insurance company "tax" on my employer's payroll of 15.5% This doesn't even count the labor required for the employer to administer this and deal with the damned insurance company, which for about 200 employees is a full time job!
Now, for people who made more, the tax rate is lower, but a salary of $136,000 would still be about a 10% health tax! For people making a more modest salary, the private tax can be upwards of 20%!! No wonder American companies aren't competitive - they've got a private insurer monkey on their back!
Compared to this, a 5% across the board payroll tax for universal healthcare is an effective cost reduction. Even CEO compensation would be taxed, but all the company has to do is trim their overblown salaries by 5% and they would break even. Single Payer Saves Money!
“I understand the Committees are moving towards a principle of shared responsibility — making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost,” Obama wrote.
No, no, no, No, NO!!! The idea of requiring, by law, that we buy "insurance" from the very companies that are the primary cause of our current disaster of a health care system is utterly abhorent!
If Obama signs this shit, he'll be a one term president. This is the kind of excrement that I expect out of Republicans - forcing people into economic servitude to rapacious corporations that field armies of lobbyists!
Oh, gee, he wants a "waiver" if you can't afford to pay the scumbags (read "A ton of humiliating paperwork."), and if you work for a small company that can't afford the toll, too bad, you have to pay it yourself. So much for small business competitiveness.
Seriously, they've tried this "Government Requires Purchase of Overpriced Crap Product" in Massachussetts. It has not worked there at all!
No, no, no, no, no!
No goddamn "mandate" of profits for the blood-sucking health insurance leeches that have helped drive our economy into the ground and drive 62% of all bankruptcies.
Just Say No!
As a worker in silicon valley who has had unemployment spells of over a year at a time (and couldn't afford COBRA because the premiums plus my rent exceeded my UI income) I know what kind of terror comes with being middle aged and uninsured. I have exchanged horror stories and complaints with many of my friends and peers. I know dozens of people whose family members have died due to "managed care" and HMO abuses, or inadequate public coverage. I lost a roomate to underfunded public care - she didn't have a kid, so she got short shrift - she died of a heart attack at 40! In California, you can't get real public coverage unless you're over 65, disabled, or have a child under 18. It's worse in other states.
These aren't someone else's "talking points". Yes, they are similar to what's out there, but I've actually thought about the economics of this for years.
