What I didn’t get from Maher’s show were the responses from Bartiromo and Watson. When Weinar says he’s not on Medicare because he is not 65, Bartiromo says, “Come on.” showing the world that with regards to the health care debate she is a completely ignorant slut on the take. And Watson is not much better as he starts laughing as if Weiner was caught with his pants down. Where do they find these idiots?

That Medicare is so much better than private insurance is known to everyone who has had to deal with both. The term “public option” is what scares the shit out of insurers. They cannot win a debate comparing themselves to Medicare, so they take out the option part and parlay themselves as freedom fighters against government expansion. The reality is the insurance companies are greedy fuck middle men who provide no care at all and are afraid of government competition.

That the Republican Party has become the party of whores to corporate America is why they no longer represent me. A real Republican would say, “If you can’t compete with government, then you shouldn’t exist in the fist place.”

The Republican alternative should be that people pay for their routine care out of pocket and carry insurance for unexpectedly high costs. The model should be like auto insurance.

The ultimate irony is that not only do a majority of Americans favor the public option but a majority of Republicans do as well. If the public option is not going to be a reality it will show how badly both parties are on the take.

I think Obama has badly miscalculated why his approval ratings have been down. It is because he has not fought harder in getting the public option.

I personally hope that Obama is pulling a rope-a-dope here. The only people fighting for the status quo in this debate are either corrupt, idiots, or in Bartiromo’s case, both.

What has become the healthcare debacle can be attributed to one thing: Congress is acting like Octomom. I’ll tell you why in a minute. If I’m going to take the time to write this thing, you have to read all the way to the end, and no fair peeking.
So what President Obama asked Congress to do was really pretty simple. Fix healthcare. It’s too expensive, too complicated and everybody’s pissed off about it, including me, although you can’t tell it by the way I talk about it in speeches and stuff.
So instead of writing a one-pager that any summer intern could have done on his latte break, Congress acted just like Octomom. (I’ll tell you what the one pager is in a minute. Be patient).
For example, she could have had one child, which would have been affordable, easily understood and ultimately self-correcting. Instead, she had eight children in addition to the five or six (I forget how many) she already had at a hideous expense to the California taxpayer in a complicated procedure that no one had ever done before, nearly killing the poor babies.
Remember that picture of Octomom just prior to giving birth that we saw broadcast throughout the solar system, burning itself in every living being’s brain forever?
Well Congress is just like that picture. (mental eeyyeewww here)
They took the intern’s one pager and turned it in to what the detractors on both sides are saying is the crime of the century.
If Congress had done what was asked of them, this could have been settled in a week. Instead, people are getting their thumbs bitten off in town hall meetings, old people are standing in lines for their last rites to get the early bird discount, and we could all go on vacation on what the lobbyists are spending.
So what would the intern write? It would go something like this: Anyone who wants to can buy in to the Medicare system. Premiums for basic plans would be based on age and income.
Before you freak out, let me explain using some examples.
First off, everybody pays something. If you’re working, you pay. (see sliding scale on the one pager).
A big objection to this option, which has some validity, is that only the old and sick people would go in to the program and the insurance companies would cherry pick the healthy and besides, private enterprise can’t compete with government, especially with Congress writing a thousand pages of new rules that will take decades for the rest of us to read and understand, if ever.
That can be overcome.
Let’s look at the 25 year-old couple. I’ll use my cousin and his significant other. He is a bright, hardworking guy in a blue-collar job. He’s physically active, takes good care of himself, but his job could entail a serious injury if he’s not careful, but that would be covered by the state’s Workman’s Compensation program. He gets insurance through his employer, but it costs him and his employer more and more for less and less.
She’s bright, hardworking, has an entry-level job in the school system while she’s working her way through college to get a better job in the school system. She does not have health insurance because it would cost half her monthly salary to go in to the state employee’s self funded pool and that means she couldn’t pay for college.
Instead, they could both buy in to the program for say, $150 per person per month, thereby having basic coverage should the unusual for their age group occur. He would save about $200 per month, which is a concert ticket. His employer would save a bunch of money, maybe even creating another job, and she could afford both school and health insurance and her mother could sleep at night.
The program would have the needed young, healthy people to satisfy the geeks who track this kind of stuff, and they would pay for it throughout their working life in (rational and fair) increasing amounts as their income goes up, thereby balancing the old sick people who the death panels would kill off early anyway. (kidding)
The insurance companies would have to behave themselves and offer competitive rates on basic plans, charging more for the extravagant plans, without Congress breathing down their necks. Makes everybody happy; except maybe the lobbyists.
Let’s take me. Fifty-four, self-employed, healthy and forced to buy an expensive, crappy policy that goes up every six months no matter whether I have claims or not. I don’t know how good or bad the policy is because I’m too scared to file a claim.
I carry this policy because my generation has been taught to live in terror of the big C or a heart attack and subsequent bankruptcy. I would pay, say, $350 per month for a little better plan. It would cover things like simple preventive tests I should be getting, but don’t because of the cost, and treatment, should my worst fears come to pass. I would pay that $350 or so (with rational, fair increases) until age 65, or when I retire, which at the rate my insurance is going up, will be never.
If I want and can afford it, I’ll go with the private, boutique plan.
The objections here are that hospitals and doctors don’t get enough reimbursements for Medicare as it is, especially for expensive illnesses, which again, has some validity. So here’s the caveat. I get the preventive care I need to hopefully head off serious illness. According to the plan, I must shop around for the best deal at the best price because doctors and hospitals now have to tell us what stuff costs. If I want a more lavish approach, I pay the difference myself.
Because I am an informed consumer, I am unlikely to sue anyone for malpractice, and am precluded from doing so if I choose the doctors and treatment from the Medicare plan.
Also, because I am an informed and motivated consumer, I don’t demand the very latest technology available only on the Mars Rover at the fanciest hospital on the other side of the world unless I am willing to make up the difference.
That leaves the 75-plus Warren Buffets of the world. They pay a lot more on the Medicare plan than me because they are a) old and b) rich. They don’t get the free ride of Medicare as it exists today that does not draw distinctions in rates between rich and poor people. If he doesn’t like it, he can go to the private market. I’ll even give him my insurance agent’s contact information.
Here is the caveat for Warren. He still gets Medicare deducted from his retirement check on a proportional basis. He’s going to be paying a lot, or he’ll be building a lot of medical wings with his name on them. Either way, we win.
Let’s cover some of the other objections to such a program. For instance, those complicated medical coding forms that Medicare uses that cost providers so much money.
Again, one pager. Four categories. Not so Sick, Sick, Really Sick and Call the Undertaker. The program would pay 80%, 90%, 100% and 100% plus Final Arrangements respectively. See, we can even make the funeral homes happy. The private insurance companies have to take care of their own billing forms. I can’t solve everybody’s problems.
How about the illegal immigration question? I think it’s already been answered in Medicare, but how about this? “What’s the name and address of your employer so we can send them the bill for your care.”
Abortion? Seriously, how many people do you know on Medicare get abortions? But if it comes up, see above. “What’s the name and address of the daddy so we can send him the bill.”
Now for the payoff. So why is Congress acting like Octomom, the woman who misled her doctors and sperm donor(s) and soaked the medical community, the taxpayers and the media?
Three reasons, depending on whether you watched Dr. Phil or Oprah during that time.

1. Octomom did it because she wanted the attention. This reason applies to members of Congress who have appeared on Fox News more than once, blog regularly for the Huffington Post, have a YouTube video or a Twitter account. You know who you are and so do we.
2. Octomom did it because she wanted the freebies like houses and diapers and money from the tabloids. Applies to all members of Congress (and that’s everyone) who are on the receiving end of the $1.5 million the insurance and pharma oligarchy are spending each and every day to ensure nothing passes that is counter to their interests.
3. Octomom did it because she could. Applies to the Gang of Six and Nancy Pelosi. Does not apply to Harry Reid because he is invisible at present.

There you have it. One pager or Octomom. Which do we want?

Face it, CNBC is Fox Light. She, for all intents and purposes, can be thought of as Bill O’Reilly in drag.