Editor’s note: Ron and Rosie are sure to keep you informed and up to date on the progress of single payer everywhere in the pages of CommonSense2. This month is no exception. When you are finished with this article please check out PA Single Payer Gains New Co-Sponsors.

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While the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not yet released a list of contenders for the next Academy Awards, it is not too early to recognize the contributions of some of the actors involved in the drama surrounding the national effort for health care reform - performances worthy of appearing in a theater near you. Without further ado, let’s get right to it.

The Oscar for Best Display of Crocodile Tears goes to the Health Insurance Industry. The folks that give us ever escalating premiums and denial of claims spent tons of money on ads painting reform with terms such as ‘a government takeover’ and claiming that a public option would unfairly put them out of business. It’s a very clever ruse designed to make us think that if the insurance companies are against the legislation, there must be something really good for ‘We the People’ in it. Do not be fooled by their gifted performance. The legislation is corporate welfare for insurance companies. They’ll be crying all the way to the bank. The Democrats declare victory and the insurance companies win.

In many cases you won’t find the insurance industry’s fingerprints on the multi-media propaganda. That’s because they cleverly hide their involvement via the use of front groups. Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive turned whistle blower and single payer advocate, admits it is a strategy he used when he worked in the health insurance industry. The Associated Press recently reported on a group called Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare (AQAH) whose goals include opposing a government-run public option and supporting the requirement that all Americans buy private insurance. It practically screams insurance industry involvement.

The Oscar for Best Portrayal of Pulling a Fast One on the American People goes to Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who could barely contain her glee at the passage of HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Implying that this bill contains a robust public option is the epitome of disingenuousness. What an outstanding performance, but gosh, Madam Speaker, don’t insult our intelligence. Gush all you want, but the people know corporate welfare when they see it.

A Kaiser Health News report notes that because the legislation contains a considerably less than robust public option, the cost for that choice to consumers escalates. Kaiser Health News states, “The Congressional Budget Office says a version of the so-called public option backed by House Democrats would charge ’somewhat higher’ premiums than the average private insurance policy offered  on a government-sponsored exchange to be set up to sell coverage to small businesses and individuals.”

Healthcare-NOW offers an excellent summary of the shortcomings of the legislation and why the bill is nothing to crow about. “What the Democrats fail to mention is the bill leaves millions of people uninsured, allows medical bankruptcies to persist, criminalizes and fines the uninsured, increases the number of underinsured, does nothing to contain the skyrocketing costs, blocks women from their reproductive rights, transfers massive public funds to private insurance companies strengthening their control over care, protects pharmaceutical companies’ super profits at patient expense, fails to reclaim the 31% of waste in our system…Those who have coverage will increasingly find care unaffordable and will go without. The whole system will inevitably fail from being fiscally unsustainable.”

For those who claim that the House bill is at least better than nothing, Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, begs to differ. She said, “It simply throws more money into a dysfunctional and unsustainable system, with only a few improvements at the edges, and it augments the central role of the investor-owned insurance industry. The danger is that as costs continue to rise and coverage becomes less comprehensive, people will conclude that we’ve tried health reform and it didn’t work. But the real problem will be that we didn’t really try it. I would rather see us do nothing now, and have a better chance of trying again later and then doing it right.”

The Oscar for Best Portrayal of Twist My Arm and I’ll Cave is awarded to Representatives Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Anthony Weiner (D-NY). In their starring roles in multiple appearances in the lead-up to the vote, both took no prisoners in their insistence on a strong government role in health care, putting the interests of the people over corporate interests. We don’t know what form the arm-twisting took, what they were promised, or what their reasoning was for the abrupt abandonment of their principles, but whatever it was was enough to convince Grayson and Weiner to forget their lofty ideals and rhetoric and join the majority of their Congressional colleagues in voting for the bill. For shame.

The Oscar for Best Portrayal of Ostriches goes to the large business community. With their heads in the sand, they allowed legislation requiring that they purchase health insurance for their employees to pass without a whimper. In most cases, the cost will represent 20% or more of their payroll. Had the ostriches taken their heads out of the sand, they would have realized that a single payer (improved Medicare for all) system would cut that cost to only 10% of payroll. To learn more, see HealthCare4AllPA.

The Oscar for Best Portrayal of Ethics and Integrity was an easy one to decide since there were only two contenders. Therefore, we award the Oscar to both Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Representative Eric Massa (D-NY). By voting against the legislation for all the right reasons (as opposed to those such as Blue Dog Democrats who voted no for ridiculous reasons), they come down on the side of the people. That’s what being a Democrat should mean. Kucinich and Massa are real Democrats.

Representative Massa said, “At the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period. There’s really no other way to look at it.”

Representative Kucinich explained, “We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system. Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution.”

The health care reform season is not over. Our attention now focuses on the U.S. Senate where the debate rages on. There are sure to be more award-winning performances in the coming days, weeks, and months. We’ve already seen over-the-top performances worthy of the Pull a Fast One on the American People award from Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as they unveiled the Senate’s disappointing version of health care reform legislation. The question is, will the American people emerge as the winners. Probably not. Stay tuned.

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