Liberals unhappy with healthcare overhaul bill
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Some liberals today continued to be unhappy about the healthcare overhaul bill, though it was unclear whether the discontent would have any effect on the bill slowly working its way through Congress.Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, which strongly backed President Obama during the election, posted an open letter to his 2.2 million members outlining the union’s frustration that it appears that meaningful healthcare reform was in jeopardy.
Referring to, without naming, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), whose opposition forced a rewriting of the healthcare bill, Stern wrote:
At the very moment that we saw real and meaningful changes within our grasp, one Senator came forward to say ‘no we can’t.’ He can’t let the Senate have an up-or-down vote on health insurance reform.And the result of this Senator saying ‘we can’t?’ The public option is declared impossible. Americans cannot purchase Medicare at an earlier age. The health insurance reform effort we have needed for a century is at risk.
Stern, whose union represents healthcare workers, did not oppose the current version of the healthcare bill, now being fought over in the Senate. He asked Obama and other leaders to continue the fight for reform.
But some Democratic critics have been less charitable.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean continued his campaign urging that the Senate bill be killed.
“If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health care bill,” Dean wrote in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post. “The winners in this bill are insurance companies; the American taxpayer is about to be fleeced in a situation that dwarfs even what happened at AIG.”
Dean’s comments echo what he has been saying for several days on the cable news shows. Dean is a former Democratic Party chairman and unsuccessful presidential candidate. Dean was also touted as a possible Cabinet member in the Obama administration but he was never nominated.
It is unclear how much influence Dean has, but the White House was taking no chances. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs criticized Dean on Wednesday and White House political adviser David Axelrod continued this morning.
Dean’s complaints are “predicated on a bunch of erroneous conclusions,” Axelrod said. Nancy-Ann DeParle, who handles healthcare issues at the White House, talked with Dean, but “he simply didn’t want to hear that critique,” Axelrod said on MSNBC’s ’Morning Joe.”
Meanwhile, as Senate Republicans noted this morning, polls show Americans are increasingly dubious. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 47% of Americans said the plan was a bad idea while just 32% said it was a good one.
--Michael Muskal
RELATED
Obama 2010 challenge: waking up liberals
