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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, March 22, 2010 10:33 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> An attack on health care in the guise of reform
</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial color=black size=2><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT><FONT size=3>The main features of the
bill include hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, and the
requirement that individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a fine, thus
providing a new influx of cash-paying customers for <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_5>private insurance companies</SPAN>. Businesses are under no
obligation to provide their workers with insurance, paying only minimal fines if
they do not.</FONT><BR><BR><BR>
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<H2>An attack on health care in the guise of reform</H2>
<H5>22 March 2010</H5>The vote Sunday night by the US <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_0>House of Representatives</SPAN> to
approve Obama’s <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_1>health care
overhaul</SPAN> was accompanied by declarations that the measure
represents the greatest social reform in generations.<BR><BR>With
predictable demagogy, Obama, in a statement following passage of the bill,
hailed the measure as a historic reform a century in the making, a
vindication of the “American dream” and proof that “government of the
people and by the people still works for the people.”<BR><BR>After months
of closed-door negotiations with insurance CEOs and pharmaceutical
executives, Obama made the absurd claim that the measure came “from the
bottom up.” In fact, the legislation was entirely dictated from the top.
It represents the opening shot in a sweeping attack on health care for
working people.<BR><BR>A staggering level of cynicism has been exhibited
throughout the so-called <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_2>health
care “debate</SPAN>.” Evasions and outright lies have been utilized to
conceal the real content of the bill. With its final passage, a media-led
orgy of self-congratulation will no doubt follow.<BR><BR>In the end, what
decided the bill’s passage was pressure brought to bear by the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_3>White House</SPAN>, acting on behalf
of the most powerful sections of the financial elite.<BR><BR>There has
always been a stark difference between the public appeal made by the Obama
administration, accompanied by phony populist attacks on the insurance
companies, and the fundamental strategic aims guiding the health care
overhaul, which were worked out by Washington think tanks behind the backs
of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_4>American
people</SPAN>.<BR><BR>Details on what is actually included in the
legislation have deliberately been left vague. The public presentation by
the administration and congressional Democrats is designed to conceal far
more than what it reveals. Through no fault of their own, most people are
largely in the dark as to what the implementation of the bill’s provisions
will mean for them and their families. For all of Obama’s talk of the
great debate over health care, there has been no serious or honest public
discussion.<BR><BR>The main features of the bill include hundreds of
billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, and the requirement that
individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a fine, thus providing a
new influx of cash-paying customers for <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_5>private insurance companies</SPAN>. Businesses are
under no obligation to provide their workers with insurance, paying only
minimal fines if they do not.<BR><BR>The government and the corporations
are to a large extent absolved of any responsibility for <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_6>funding health care</SPAN>, and the
working population made to foot the bill.<BR><BR>Those elements of the
overhaul which, within the framework of American liberal politics, were
proclaimed to be absolutely essential—such as the public option—were
abandoned long ago. They were initially included as a fig leaf, to make it
easier for Obama’s liberal supporters to sell the scheme to the American
people.<BR><BR>Concession after concession to the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_7>Republican Party</SPAN> was said to be necessary in
order to obtain bipartisan support. But after it became clear that no
Republican support would be forthcoming, rather than restoring the
discarded provisions, new regressive measures were added.<BR><BR>A
shameful agreement was reached with the most right-wing sections of the
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_8>Democratic Party</SPAN> itself
to further restrict abortion coverage. Final passage was secured through a
deal with <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_9>Democratic
Representative Bart Stupak</SPAN>, an anti-abortion advocate from <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_10>Michigan</SPAN>. Obama agreed to sign
a last-minute <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_11>executive
order</SPAN> confirming that no federal funds would be used for abortions
under the terms of the bill.<BR><BR>The executive order, as well as
language in the bill itself, means that individuals receiving <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_12>government subsidies</SPAN>—that is,
the working class and the poorest layers of society—will be prevented from
purchasing insurance that covers abortion.<BR><BR>This testifies to the
political bankruptcy of the liberal and so-called “left” supporters of
Obama. What they claimed for decades was the central issue necessitating
support for the Democratic Party—the right to an abortion—was abandoned
without a protest.<BR><BR>Comparisons to the passage of <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_13>Social Security</SPAN> (in 1935) and
Medicare (in 1965) proliferate in the media and in statements from the
White House and congressional Democrats. When these landmark reforms
became law, however, people were clear on their
implications.<BR><BR>Enactment of Social Security meant that retirees
would receive a monthly check in the mail. With Medicare, people knew that
when they reached the age of 65 they would receive medical coverage under
the government-run program. With this so-called “reform,” by contrast,
nobody knows what to expect.<BR><BR>The earlier measures, like every
social reform wrested from the American ruling class, were connected to
broad social struggles. Enactment of Social Security came as a response to
the mass movement of the working class for <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_14>industrial unions</SPAN>. Medicare coincided with the
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_15>civil rights movement</SPAN>, a
wave of militant strikes, urban uprisings, and the initial stirrings of
popular opposition to the war in Vietnam.<BR><BR>This measure has been
drafted and imposed from above. It is entirely in line with the overall
policy of the Obama administration.<BR><BR><SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_16>The White House</SPAN> and Congress have responded
with indifference and contempt as millions have been made jobless, lost
their homes, and struggled to pay their rent and utility bills. While
trillions of dollars have been allocated to bail out Wall Street, no
meaningful measures have been taken to alleviate the catastrophe facing
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_17>working class
families</SPAN>.<BR><BR>All of Obama’s policies have been geared toward
<EM>increasing</EM> <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_18>social
inequality</SPAN>. School closures and privatizations and mass teacher
firings have been endorsed by his administration. General Motors and
Chrysler were driven into bankruptcy in order to create conditions where
the wages, working conditions and health benefits of auto workers could be
savagely attacked.<BR><BR>The claim that the health care overhaul is an
oasis of progress in this desert of social reaction is simply a lie. The
experiences of millions of people—who have seen no sign that the
government is in any way responding to their needs—have fueled
well-deserved skepticism and outright opposition to the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_19>health care legislation</SPAN> within
wide layers of the population.<BR><BR>The bill aims to deal with what is
seen as a pressing problem for the ruling elite. While corporations, with
the collaboration of the unions, have been able to drive down wages and
increase productivity, they have not been able to put a brake on spiraling
medical costs. These come in the form of increased costs for employee
insurance coverage, as well as care for the poor and uninsured who seek
medical treatment at emergency rooms and public clinics, thus driving up
costs overall.<BR><BR>A solution to this problem for big business—one
which is addressed by Obama’s health care restructuring—is to dump these
more vulnerable sections of the population into bare-bones plans, where
limitations are placed on more expensive and “unnecessary” tests,
treatments and drugs. These will include stripped-down Medicaid plans, a
gutted Medicare program where care is rationed according to “cost
effectiveness,” and substandard plans available for purchase on insurance
“exchanges.”<BR><BR>The health care legislation sets a dangerous precedent
for a far broader assault on social programs, elements of which have
already been put in motion by the administration. Last month, Obama
established by executive order a bipartisan commission on deficits, which
will propose measures to slash government spending on Medicare, Medicaid
and Social Security.<BR><BR>In the coming period, when millions become
clearer on the real implications of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_20>health care bill</SPAN>, the brutal reality will
inevitably provoke an enormous sense of betrayal and anger. This will set
the stage for the emergence of new forms of struggle as people begin to
consider the alternative to a corporate-controlled <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_21>health care system</SPAN>—that is, one based on a
socialist program that begins with <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_22>basic human needs</SPAN> rather than corporate
profit.<BR><BR>Kate Randall<BR><BR><EM>The author also
recommends:</EM><BR><A
href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/heal-m20.shtml"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1269271612_23>US
Congress poised to pass Obama’s cost-cutting health plan</SPAN></A><BR>[20
March 2010]<BR><A
href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m17.shtml"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_24>Obama’s cynical pursuit of health care
“reform”</SPAN><BR></A>[17 March 2010]<BR><A
href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f27.shtml"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1269271612_25>Obama’s health care agenda and the case for a
socialist alternative</SPAN><BR></A>[27 February
2010]<BR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_2_b803cf95-df28-45dd-8f55-014627b43864 -->
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