"J. Clarke" wrote in message
in.local...

The thing is, the American public doesn't want the government to be
running medicine. If they did it would already be a done deal. So
instead we get cosmetic lunacy like Obamacare.

Before the Republicans and their sponsors in the health care industry fired
up their propaganda machine, public opinion in favor of the "public option"
was as high as 70%. And then came the flood of fabricated nonsense about
"death panels" and so on, and the significant percentage of the public that
rarely reads past the headlines (if that) allowed themselves to be
stampeded, again.

It's interesting to see where the funding for anti-reform advertising and
agitation came from--guess what, the heads of big health care companies were
enthusiast contributors to that noise campaign. Why it almost looks like
they were protecting their profits, doesn't it.

The health care reform legislation passed recently is badly flawed, but on
the other hand the Republican version back in 2005 consisted of unfunded
prescription drug legislation that added billions to the national debt and
also prohibited Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices with the
pharmaceutical companies the way the VA does. So leaving health care reform
up to the Republicans is kind of like giving used car salesmen control over
consumer protection legislation--it will be good for somebody, just not for
the public.