The Stress Of The Healthcare Vote

I don’t spend a lot of time around politicians, but I had the chance this week to spend some time with lobbyists and people working with the lobbyists. One of the interesting things I heard about the healthcare vote is that politicians (especially the Democrats) were unusually stressed out about having to vote.

Basically, they’ve been told that they’ll be blackballed and unable to get any of their own initiatives pushed thru if they don’t vote for the bill.

And, many of them are seeing numbers that show only 50% of their constituents (at best) support the bill.

Therefore, it’s a lose-lose proposition. You’ve been elected to represent the people so you should do what they want. At the same time, we know that consumers are swayed by all the propaganda by both parties and multiple other groups. Do you know better?

It’s a great question. I haven’t been a big supporter of this reform while I 100% agree that our system is messed up. My recommendation continues to be to parse it up. First, solve coverage for the uninsured. Second, begin to address things like previous conditions. Third, focus on prevention and the payment / incentive systems.

And, I’m in the industry and don’t have time to keep up with all the changes and nuances to the legislation. I had finally resolved myself to reform and thought the bill(s) on the table right before the MA vote were probably ok (not great). But, I don’t know what’s changed since then and the meaning of those changes.

I saw some article about all the pork being put back in to the bills to get the vote. That makes me annoyed as a taxpayer.