BRING CHANGE!! ONLY THEN CAN WE BRING HOPE!!

The wheeling, the dealing , the arm bending on the left and the right of the Democratic Party, the absolutely disgusting and uncaring fillibuster attempt by the Republican Party – it’s incredible that Senator Reid can talk about a health care bill and for others within his own party to know which one he’s referring to.

Having been savaged by Senator Leiberman of a public option and expansion of Medicare to 55 year olds, having made concessions to Senator Nelson on abortion and medicaid, having got other Democrats on board with their own State black male requirements, deep divisions within the Democratic Party are threatening to derail the Bill at the very same time the White House is lauding it as the most comprehensive piece of  health care legislation since social security.

And these divisions are coming from the base of the Democratic Party, most notably spearheaded by Vermont Governor, Howard Dean, who up till last night was stating quite publicly that he would kill the bill if he had the vote.

So , what exactly is in this Bill that has allowed (so far) for a yes vote from the 60 Democratic and Independent Senators?

Ezra Klein, a columnist at the Washington Post neatly hi lites the changes, and to me looks like a decent start to health care change in America.

In fact it is so decent, I believe that Howard Dean has finally caved under pressure from the White House to get the legislation through.

Until just a couple days ago Dean stated “This is a bigger bailout for the insurance industry than AIG, & a very small number of people are going to get any insurance at all, until 2014, if the bill works.” “This is an insurance companies’ dream, this bill,” Dean added. “This is the Washington scramble and I think it’s ill-advised.”

And John Gibbs, White House Press Secretary attacked Dean and said that he did not know what piece of legislation Dean was reading.

Now things have gotten a lot more cordial between Howard Dean and the White House

The White House  is now praising Howard Dean with a “we respect him so much” op ed by Joe Biden in the NY Times and in remarks by David Axlerod on NBC this morning cooing “I respect Howard Dean,” describing him as “passionate” about the issue.

Meanwhile, also on NBC, Dean conspicuously declined to say that Obama had failed to fight hard enough for core liberal priorities. Asked about this line, Dean reiterated his substantive criticism of the bill, but added: “He certainly tried very hard.” And he declined to call outright for the bill to be killed.

The bottom line is that I sadly support the Bill, even though it won’t stop discriminatory practices against my pre-existing condition by the insurance industry for another five years. Which is practically a life time for those people with chronic and progressive disorders such as myself.

But having read the latest bullet points, I cannot say – “all or nothing” . When the Bill calls for immediate halt to discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions, I cannot say – no, children with pre-exiting conditions may have to ..wait forever possibly,  if no new legislation gets passed and the insurance industry wins.

The Bill calls for accountability for excessive rate increases. A health insurer’s participation in the Exchanges will depend on its performance. Insurers that jack up their premiums before the Exchange begins will be excluded – a powerful incentive to keep premiums affordable.

Again, this must surely be a good thing. Some oversight and accountability has got to be better than no oversight and accountability at all.

The biggest tragedy is that Progressive Liberals dared hope for real change, the very mantra that got Barack Obama elected. But not doing anything about health care would play right into the hands of the insurance industry and Republican objectives, which we know would be tantamount to political suicide and the dashing of hopes of the silent majority, who are dying and going bankrupt because of the current state of our health care system.