You Know Why Americans Are Unhappy About The Healthcare Bill, Right?

Yesterday's biggest news-- biggest news the mainstream media buried so they could continue talking more about how minority rights champion Harry Reid should resign for using the words, "light skinned Negro"-- isn't something Obama, or Reid for that matter, should feel very good about. In fact, both Democrats-- and their advisors and colleagues-- should hang their heads in shame. Greg Sargent's Plum Line broke the story early in the morning. It's nothing progressives following the healthcare debate didn't already intuit but it's far from what is constantly insinuated in the mainstream media.

You see, most people who don't like the healthcare reform bill, are disgruntled for the right reasons: the bill doesn't go nearly far enough to provide healthcare coverage, to control costs or to regulate the avaricious insurance gangsters. This is the most tepid and insubstantial reform imaginable, something designed-- unsuccessfully-- to get Republicans to not make such a godawful ruckus.

Well, it wasn't only designed for that. It was also designed to please the Big Insurance Giants and other bad players in the Medical Industrial Complex who Obama and the Democrats are counting on to keep funding their political careers. Is that working, you ask? Well... Since 1990 Big Insurance has given 62% of $325,222,386 in bribes to Republicans and 37% to Democrats. Last year it was 55% for the Republicans and 45% for the Democrats. But in the current cycle-- lo! and behold!-- Big Insurance is suddenly supporting more Democrats than Republicans! So far this cycle has seen 53% go into Democratic coffers and 47% accrue to Republicans. What a coincidence! And who's getting the big money from Big Insurance this cycle? Powerful players in the reform game:

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) $197,600
Chris Dodd (D-CT) $165,750
Earl Pomeroy (Blue Dog-ND) $135,400
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) $130,700
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) $126,450
Melissa Bean (D-IL) $123,550
Barney Frank (D-MA) $120,099
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) $113,450
Eric Cantor (R-VA) $111,450
Robert Bennett (R-UT) $107,400

It's much the same story at the Medical Industrial Complex. Since 1990 their $869,112,200 in bribes allocated to members of Congress went largely to Republicans-- 56% as opposed to 44% for Democrats. The current cycle sees a complete turn around. Either the Medical Industrial Complex has turned progressive or the Democrats have sold out. You be the judge. In the 2010 cycle the Democrats are getting 59% of the loot and the Republicans are down to their lowest percentage in recorded history: 41%. And whose palms have been the most generously crossed?

Harry Reid (D-NV) $649,975
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) $478,550
Arlen Specter (D-PA) $471,810
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) $456,500
Ron Wyden (D-OR) $361,821
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) $340,510
Richard Burr, (R-NC) $330,132
Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ) $321,300
Kendrick Meek (D-FL) $311,550
Chris Dodd (D-CT) $295,570

One name you'll never find on any of those lists of members of Congress getting megabucks from corporate interests is Raúl Grijalva, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and one of the most tireless and unrelenting fighters for the kind of healthcare working families are asking for. He seemed frustrated with new polling from CBS. A few hours ago he told DWT that “It’s unfortunate that this reform effort has gotten away from the common sense of the American people. At this point, the convoluted response we seem to be pursuing could end up leading to a weaker system.”

The CBS poll shows that among those dissatisfied with the healthcare reform legislation "more people think reform doesn’t go far enough in multiple ways than think it goes too far."

The CBS poll finds that Obama’s approval rating on health care has dipped to 36%. But the poll also asked whether people think the reform proposal, in various ways, goes too far, is about right, or doesn’t go far enough:



In every one of those polled-- covering Americans, controlling costs, and regulating insurance companies-- more think the bill doesn’t go far enough.

Do you know any progressive blogs that haven't been shouting that from the rooftops for months? Many Democrats don't seem to want to hear it though... do they?

Since I first met him in 2005 Eric Massa (D-NY) has never wavered from his insistence that what American families need and want is single-payer healthcare. He was one of only two progressives to vote against the bill because he felt-- like most Americans seem to-- that it doesn't go nearly far enough. When we told him about the CBS poll he said, "Our current healthcare system is beyond flawed and I'm deeply concerned that the reforms being offered do not go far enough to cut costs and improve healthcare for all Americans. For Healthcare reform to truly be reform, we can't have a series of half measures which fundamentally alter the process to buy the support of a handful of Senators. The last W.H.O. survey showed that the United States had the highest per capita costs, but only ranked as the 37th best overall care in the world. Strengthening the monopolistic powers of the for-profit HMOs is not the right way forward and that's why I have been on record supporting Single Payer healthcare as the best option for almost half a decade.”

Unlike Massa, Donna Edwards (D-MD) voted for the legislation in the House, after fighting as hard as she could-- something she's continuing to do on a daily basis-- to improve it. She tells me that she thinks the House can succeed in making it more affordable with better subsidies for less fortunate families. She is also clear that this is just step one and that Congress will be working on healthcare reform next year and the year after and the year after that. This poll didn't come as a surprise to her, not in the slightest. I spoke with her last night and she said "[The CBS poll] is further evidence of what many of us in Congress already know-- Americans want bold action when it comes to health care reform that will expand coverage, control costs, and hold insurance companies accountable. The American people understand the importance of this opportunity, and I will work to convey this message to my Congressional colleagues as we navigate the process to achieve health care reform for the first time in decades. It is a call for us to do more, not less."


UPDATE: Today's Bonus Video

This is why Alan Grayson is the most beloved member of Congress... well, most beloved among regular Americans, not among the people who wish our country will fail: