TheNextReport

Plugging a Leaking Waterloo It didn’t take long. In spite of ascending to office on a wave of public sentiment and hope, in spite of surrounding himself with a cadre of experts, in spite of being one of the most intelligent men to ever inhabit the White House, Barack Obama may be proving himself to be a political neophyte. Over the weekend, the White House dropped some clear hints that the government-run health care proposal known as the "public option" would not be considered mandatory for an Obama signature on a health care bill. The statements ignited a political firestorm within the Democratic party. It is a conflagration that should have been anticipated. Coming on the heels of a series of shameful distortions by the very Republican leaders the White House had been carefully cultivating for a bi-partisan agreement, the apparent policy shift had the hallmarks of a bona fide political disaster. Rather than boldly and unequivocally backing up what was widely considered to

Disruptive Arguments: Congressional representatives holding town hall meetings have begun to employ a good tactic in response to disruptive audience members who rant against President Obama's health care reform plan as "socialized medicine." Supporters of the president's plan ask the disruptors if they have Medicare and invariably a large number of people raise their hands. The hands quickly drop when the attendees are asked how many would be willing to give up their Medicare. The simple fact that Medicare is socialized medicine is lost on these participants, as it is on the Republican members of Congress who know that it would be political suicide for them to declare themselves against the popular medical care program for the elderly. It is clear that such blatant hypocrisy doesn't register with the disruptors; they are either hired political functionaries, rabid ideologues or are simply tragically uneducated. In spite of this, the noise makers seem to be having

Health Care: Your Money or Your Life Having lived in France, where health care for all citizens is viewed as a fundamental human right, I have been witnessing the debate over health care reform in the U.S. with a mixture excitement and horror. It seems that at the very least, the United States - which is ceaselessly referred to as "the greatest country on the face of the earth" by its politicians - may finally bring a measure of control to the health insurance industry and its obscene practice of making profits through manipulation of human suffering. One would hope that the White House and the Democrats in Congress would finally stop pulling their punches in their drive to secure bi-partisan legislation. One might expect that with the publication of information detailing health insurance industry profits Americans would finally recognize the current system for what it is: a publicly sanctioned form of racketeering. Over the last several years, CEOs at the top health insuranc