Since the moment, I received a text last evening that the House had approved the Health Care Reform  bills, I’ve been pondering what to write about it. Surfing around the web this morning, I’ve been looking for some hook to pick up on, but haven’t found one that really gets me interested. Seems we are still seeing little more than partisan misinformation from the Conservatives, and little more than jubilation from the Democrats.

Historic, Really?

I can buy into the fact that presidents have for decades now, been trying to do health care reform. For this reason alone- the vote was historic, although I’ll feel better when the reconciliation bill clears the Senate too. But is that the only reason it is historic? Seems to me that what this process has shown us, is just how broken our system of government really is. The degree to which this is so blatantly visible is frightening. To me that, is historic. But will the American people see this and can they do anything about it, even if they do?

I realized a while ago, that an expectation of great legislation may be to big. Most often what we are going to get is mediocre legislation. Stuff that is either in the middle enough to get enough folks from both sides of the aisle, or stuff that is so partisan that it is rammed through by the slimmest majority. On one level, neither of these is a bad option. But great legislation would be a better one. To get it, our system would have to change dramatically, so I’ll settle for these two options for now. Critics are calling the HCR bills and example of the latter- a partisan package rammed through, but this is so disingenuous. Conservatives have had plenty of time to be a part of the legislative process, and their intention has been to do nothing except stop Obama from passing HCR. They can’t in any way be seen as being active players at the table, nor can they blame that on the Democrats. They will have to own that entirely on their own. If anything, the Blue Dog Dems are the only group in Washington who really worked the system, and for it, they got a lot of concessions in the final legislation. I hope the progressives can learn a thing or two from them, so that in future bills, progressives can end up with more.

Any Wrong Moves?

If the Dems made any wrong decision from the start, was thinking they would have any bi-partisanship on this. When Demint called HCR “Obama’s waterloo” it should have been clear that this was going to be a tough battle that had little to do with fixing a broken system so that it works for everyone. Maybe Obama and the Democratic leadership has been playing it right from the start. Maybe looking to most Americans, as if they wanted bi-partisanship  will pay off in November. Time will tell. I tend to think they have been reading this wrong all along. Last September, after the raucous recess of town hall craziness, would have been the right time for Democrats to come back and put their collective foot down and pass this bill. It was at that point, they could have really made some headway, even if the final bill was no better than what we finally got, they would have received far more from the win. As it stands, it looks as if they did what they did, not because they believed it to be the right thing, but because they felt they had no other choice. But maybe I’m being too hard on them. Maybe it was such a huge step forward- such a massive change- that it couldn’t have gone any other path than the one it did take.

LGBT Health

I think one of my biggest disappointments is the failure of the LGBT community to have been a more active participant in the HCR process, so that a final bill had more for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders. And not only was there a lack of leadership to get our health issues in there, there was no real journalistic reporting about it in the gay press. Last I knew, there were 4 or 5 provisions that speak to the needs of LGBT’s and I think all were stripped out of the final package, but I’m not sure. Why is this? Why don’t I know? Because the queer press did a poor job covering this. Marriage Equality has entered our discourse, and few other issues are getting enough attention. This in a Country, where clearly a majority of Americans support Civil Unions but do not support Same-sex marriage. So, most any other issue is being ignored as we fight tooth and nail to change public opinion about same-sex marriage.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to stop fighting for full equality, which includes marriage. I just don’t want that single issue to suffocate any/al other LGBT needs. and, I want to see national organizations taking a lead and helping to make sure all of our needs and issues get adequate attention.

What Do We Learn From Stupak?

It isn’t just LGBT health issues that have struggled. Women’s health needs in a much broader way took a big hit in this process. I think if we have any big take away message is that all minorities are still that- minorities, and we have to all continue to work together or see the rights of any of us whittled away, further and further. It is kind of a “glass half empty or half full” question. Depending upon one’s mood, it is possible to say that the LGBT community is pretty good at coalition building, and at another moment, see it as just the opposite. No matter, we will have to keep working to build better coalitions with others, if any of us expect to see real change over time.

The Role of Big Business

Some will say that the real winners in this battle have been the big health care providers, and that may or may not be true. but it is clearly true that we as a country chose to continue a system where private for-profit companies are responsible for our health because the conservative fear mongering about socialism worked. Profits won over real health for all. What is most astounding is that the free market system has had a few huge examples of how it fails, yet we have chosen to keep allowing it to be the primary guide. The push for most on the left was about universal coverage, which is counter-intutive. Why wasn’t cost reduction the bigger focus, with universal coverage coming as a result of big businesses ability to save money? Either way, the needs of minorities are never the primary focus so that women’s health care needs, the needs of the under and uninsured, and the role of poverty, and lack of access never take center stage.

A Good First Step

So, we have, or are close to having a bill that is a first step towards an improved system. Time to keep working to improve it one little step at a time.