Health Care Reform redux
This quick final twist in the odd circuitous path of Health Care Reform Politics has the Conservative Democrats extracting the painful concession from the Liberal Democrats of dumping a badly beaten into submission “Public Option” in favor of expanding the government’s Single Payer System, Medicare, down ten years. Do I got that one right?
There is a whip lash with this one. Where did that one come from? I guess it’s the generally beneficial product which stokes the Insurance Industry, and thus comes out acceptable to all sides on the Democratic Aisle — taking the next group of Health hang ups out of the Insurance Industry’s coverage pool. Though, it does seem to suggest a few possibilities of — should I call it social engineering? Consider that a company will have one less bottom line reason to cut from their more tenured (and thus highly salaried) employees when looking to “downsize”. And consider that this probably would lead to an upsurge of some kind in terms of 50 plus year old entrepeneurs (in their next or final career) — “Unleash the full Entrepenual Spirit” as the Supply Siders always put it in defense of tax cuts.
Looking at this for curious signs of our society — it is interesting to note another item in the Health Care Policy — we see a bending down from age 65 to 55 on that end of the scale, and on the other an offer for an extension of keeping a young lad or lass on their parents’ Health Policy up to the age of… 27, I think? A curious quilting toward “Cradle to Grave” (of a peculiar sort) — the other 28 years in this equation have to fall into place. (Mandatory Requirements for them to the Insurance companies!) A brisker division of stages, reminds me of the old Seinfeld monolouge about a movie theater ticket-seller being 15 and the usher being in their 70s, probing the contemplation that you start off there, go to your career’s work, and end up 20 feet over — the 27 one probably irks Newt Gingrich as running the opposite direction in his long held desire to destroy Adolescence — the new 55 age range — well, that’s something on the order of realizing the age tilt for the upcoming mid term elections.
So we see how the Congressional Process works circa 2009. In a highly partisan era. The most partisan era in terms of pure Democratic versus Republican since the Woodrow Wilson era. With that, it may behoove everyone to look back to see how the legislature ran during the Wilson Era. Wilson held this strong hankering for various European Parliamentary systems, and the House took up after that. The Democratic Congress members were bound by a rule that once 2/3 of the Caucus under Speaker Champ Clark agreed to something (or was it 3/4?), they would have to vote party line for the agreed to bill. This was a surefire road to brisk legislative accomplishments, as well a short lived Democratic Party Era. I can’t say this item of whipdom is anything anyone would want — but the partisan divisions have been reshuffled in the interim anyways.