But we won't.

There are those that cling to or have given in to some mythic "inevitabilty" that we're doomed to be fed the toxic soup-salad-sandwich that is called healthcare reform by the elites in D.C. and crafted for the benefit of Wall Street and the rich. But we know this to be another transfer of wealth from the middle class to the corporate welfare sycophants in finance. And not to the the benefit of any of the people that do need help. This is not even a debate anymore. Just what is right and what is continuing, from preceding decades, to be wrong.

So, now we're debating an excise tax? How far we have fallen

So, now we're arguing about an excise tax. Apparently, the unions don't
understand. Apparently, the unions are anti-Democrat, and promulgate
right wing memes. Such is the death spiral of political discourse.

We never got to argue about single payer. It was seen as impossible, so
aiming for it was seen as pointless. Even though doing so might have
reframed the entire debate, by allowing us to negotiate down from it to
a public option, which would have been seen, from the start, as the
compromise it was.

[snip]

There is so much wrong with the bill, and there has been so much
wrong with the process. But it really can be summarized thusly: once
upon a time, we were debating the will to pass a public option; now,
we're debating the efficacy and fairness of an excise tax.

We're going to get a health insurance bill. We're not going to get a
health care bill. The difference between the two defines what has gone
wrong.

The discussion has broken down into two basic groups.

Those that want a political win and are willing to take it out on all of the wrong people to get that win. And the rest of us that are still waiting for real reform. In the case of the "go alongs to get alongs" that pretend there is something good out there to celebrate, or even worth debating at this point, or think we can fix it later...

It's NOT a Cadillac tax, it's a junk insurance tax

We should also be immensely troubled by the fact that most of these
reforms won't be available for many years, yet Democrats will hit the
ground during this election year, extolling the virtues of just a
little more patience.  How Obama runs on this in 2012 is beyond my
ability to understand.

And if you care to face the truth, these so-called reforms, will not be at all affordable to the millions of Americans who won't benefit form the Medicaid expansion.
 Once again, the political class responsible for this legislation,
doesn't have any idea that most Americans don't have an extra $200-$300
at the end of the month for health insurance. And then to add myriad
co-pays and deductibles on top of that, oh well, good luck to the IRS
trying to collect the fines from all these hard working people.

[snip]

And here's the take home message on healthcare. I was with a group
of doctors last weekend. To a person, they all said, this whole
enterprise is bound to fail.  What was most interesting is that this
group of quite affluent doctors, none of whom were champions of single
payer all knew and  recognized that the only solution for our collapsed system is a single payer system. This is true.

What we're getting, is a transfer of wealth from the middle class to
the private insurance industry. And for this, they will be required to
"insure" us, though there will be all sorts of loopholes for them to
weasel around. For Americans who make the Medicaid cut, it will be a
good day, but for the rest of us, and those working poor who make just
a bit too much to qualify for the Medicaid expansion, the reforms will
be hard to fathom.

And in times like this, my thoughts always, without fail go to Dallasdoc's
admonition for the last God knows how many years. Dallasdoc predicted
this sort of outcome on healthcare. He said we wouldn't get any real
reform until we demanded publically financed campaigns.

If even I'm angry, Democrats should be worried.

No. We will not get a chance to fix it later.

This bill, in fact, is already only "a later" (2013? 2014?) and by then it will already be too late for too many people. And it will mean a collapse of the Democratic party's control of the Senate (maybe even the House?), virtually guarenteeing that there is no going back to fix all of the junk in their legislation. There is just too much of it and, obviously, no political will to do the right thing in D.C. from our current politicians. Even the supposed "good ones" are too corrupt to do what is really needed, as evidenced by what they have tried to shove down our throats in this debate.

We have reached a boiling point, IMHO, and a heck of a lot of politicians in power now will either leave or be shown the door. The fact is, the idea of opening up Medicare to all is more popular than all of the politicians out there and in leadership. Obama included. The same can be said for any real Public Option available to everyone. But they can't even give us that. They absolutely refuse to do what is best.

Is that an argument to get what we can now? I don't think so.

Not based on any of the legislation I have seen. They would do better, IMHO, to just expand Senator Sanders' legislation and pass only that. Maybe toss in some hard ERISA outs so, at least, states will have a chance to honestly fix the real problems on their own. They can't do any worse than the piles of corporatist dung being tossed around in Congress. Can they?

From Vermont:

Progressives Introduce New Single Payer Bill

This week Progressive legislators introduced a new Single Payer bill (H.491).
This bill proposes to create a single-payer health care system in
Vermont to promote health, to prevent chronic health conditions, and to
contain costs.

From Pennsylvania:

Welcome to Health Care for All Pennsylvania. We are a
501(c)(3)/(c)(4) nonprofit whose purpose it is to both educate citizens
about the Single Payer Solution in Pennsylvania, and to see that the
"Family and Business Healthcare Security Act of 2009" becomes the law
of Pennsylvania so that ALL of our citizens are guaranteed quality,
comprehensive, affordable, single-payer medical care.

From California: