Comments on: How Would Enron Design Health Care Reform?

By: esseff44

esseff44 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:56:04 +0000

I thought of that conversation as soon as I saw the title of the post. My electric bills during that period were about 8 times what they are now. That was just one of the many forms of legalized theft foisted on the public under the ruse of deregulation and free market schemes that turn out to be scams.

By: KayInMaine

KayInMaine — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:29:39 +0000

The republican amendments to the health care bill:

http://www.slate.com/id/2223023/

By: marchan1940

marchan1940 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:39:22 +0000

Can we somehow make this article required reading by the president and all the persons involved in writing and promoting the legislation now being formed?
Incredible, Scarecrow, not only the essay but the comments that follow.
Thanks for all you do.

I have to thank God that you gave up in disgust so many years and left CA. Otherwise, you would never have been part of FDL and provided us with your great essays on health care reform and lots of other issues that matter in our times.

Blessings

By: Scarecrow

Scarecrow — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:39:24 +0000

Enron is responsible for many things, but not California’s budget mess. The long run contracts were negotiated in 2001 (against expert advice) by the state but on behalf of the utilities, two of which the state regulators had foolishly pushed into bankruptcy. Most of the financial fallout was picked up by California electricity customers and/or settled against some of the suppliers, with little impact on the California budget.

Arnold and the Republican legislators who refuse to raise taxes in any way — and those who put them there and voted for Prop 13 many years ago, have no one to blame but themselves.

By: Jason Rosenbaum

Jason Rosenbaum — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:23:13 +0000

indeed. Excellent post and goals worth fighting for.

By: PPDCUS

PPDCUS — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:51:02 +0000

Thanks, Scarecrow. Excellent post.

California wouldn’t be $26 billion in deficit if FERC had invalidated Enron, etal.’s fraudulent market manipulated contracts with the state energy authority.

But Rove knew this was the sure route to recalling Davis and installing Arnold as governator. California’s 2/3’s rule on passing a budget only makes the corpse look worse, not any less dead.

As for real national health care reform — when the parasites have killed the host, they’ll have to feed off each another.

By: ralphbon

ralphbon — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:02:18 +0000

Thanks for the heads-up on that Kip Sullivan comment. Valuable context and insight.

By: Scarecrow

Scarecrow — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:43:33 +0000

There are no “free transmission lines” in California. I don’t even know what that means.

By: selise

selise — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:42:57 +0000

p.s. re the denial of care model. kip sullivan left this comment in epu land on what he calls Managed Care 2.0.

http://campaignsilo.firedoglak.....ment-32145

this makes my head hurt. going to find some advil…

By: selise

selise — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:37:25 +0000

I don’t have a problem in the abstract with paying insurers to perform an accounting function — collecting premiums and paying claims to providers.

i agree. and as i’ve said before, i’m ok in theory with the gradual transition via this method also. i’m just still trying to see how it would acutally work in practice in the real world… and not end up being a dead end. the massive transfer of $$ makes all the other parts of the reform that much more important, because if the reform is screwed up this time, it could be much harder to get it right next time if we’ve made ~~enron~~ the insurance companies even more powerful.