Obama is neither a socialist nor even a liberal

I have to laugh at tea-bagger signs that President Obama is a communist or socialist. Any reality-based view of him and his policies argue that he’s quite middle-of-the-road, much to the disappointment of us liberals. I hoped healthcare reform would be Medicare for all – single-payer.

Health insurance is simply sharing risk, collecting payments and paying for medical services. The nonpartisan CBO estimates that public option administrative cost would be about two percent.

The private health insurance companies that offer policies to private company have administrative costs between seven percent (for companies with 1,000 or more employees) and 26 percent (for companies with less than 25 employees).

That extra money could be used to greatly improve actual healthcare in America – or, if you’re under the delusion that we already have the best healthcare in the world, go back into our pockets.

The AMA and AARP both endorsed the House version of Health Care Reform (with the public option) and I’m pretty sure they’re not communists or socialists.

Republicans passed the Medicare Prescription Bill without providing any means to pay for it ($800 billion) and blocked Medicare’s right to negotiate prices with the Pharma companies.

Democrats are passing a bill that shows how it’s paid for, lowers the cost to Americans, covers more Americans and eliminates industry practices such as preexisting condition exclusions and lifetime caps on payments. It’s better than nothing.

Jon Monday