H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
ELIOT KATZ
How
the Congressional Health Care Plan Was Developed
In the bowels
of Congress, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller encountered Republican
Senator James Imhoffe on the way to the cafeteria.
Senator Imhoffe thought this would be a golden opportunity to
reshape the national
debate about health
care reform: "My distinguished colleague and good friend, Senator
Rockefeller,
the American people do not want to add to our nation's deficit during these
times of recession,
and they do not want the government taking over any part of our
health care
system."
Senator
Rockefeller responded: "My longtime friend, Senator Imhoffe,
have you
forgotten Medicare? And
as I know you are aware, there are over 50 million Americans
uninsured, and we have
to pass a plan that will help a small number of them."
The mishmash
plan Senator Rockefeller was proposing would force millions of
Americans to
buy private, for-profit health insurance they couldn't afford. It would
slightly expand
government insurance, either by creating an expensive and inefficient
"public option" or by allowing people over 55 to buy
into Medicare for an exorbitant
monthly fee. It would
also allow the insurance companies to set an annual coverage
ceiling for those with
serious health conditions. Under either Senator's plan, health
care
"reform" was mainly going to be a big gift to the private
insurance industry since a
national, non-profit,
single-payer "Medicare for All" plan had been taken off the table by
Congressional
Democrats a long time ago.
"Rockefeller,
my buddy" Senator Imhoffe retorted, "we in
the Republican aisle are going
to torpedo your
fucked up plan and make sure the American people know that the
Democratic
senators are mostly a bunch of pussies."
"Imhoffe, my out-of-touch pal, get off your pro-global
warming space ship and join us
here on
Earth."
The highly
distinguished Senator Imhoffe answered by taking a
pen from his suit jacket
pocket and stabbing
Senator Rockefeller in the knee with all his might, drawing a thick
spurt of blood and
breaking Senator Rockefeller's left knee cap.
Senator
Rockefeller grabbed the briefcase he had temporarily placed on the floor and
smashed Senator Imhoffe in his right ear, causing Imhoffe
to go deaf in that ear for an
unknown period of
time.
Weeks later, a
health care plan passed Congress and was signed by President Obama. It
included some helpful
elements, including expanding Medicaid eligibility, allowing
young people to stay
on parents’ insurance plans until age 26, and prohibiting insurance
companies from denying
coverage based on pre-existing conditions—although the
penalty for insurance
companies violating that prohibition was a relatively small fine of
$100 per day. The final plan
also included a mandate that all Americans buy private
health insurance that
many folks without employer-provided coverage would not be able
to afford, given
people’s already exorbitant rents, mortgages, student loans, car repairs,
child care, or
credit card debts. It placed very few meaningful regulations on the private
insurers, included no limits
on how much they could charge for premiums or copays,
but
it did require
them to cover injuries caused by a pen stuck in the kneecap or a briefcase-
thrown ear injury.
[Originally
published in NHS 2010, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs10/index.html.]