From the beginning, the Senate bill has been marketed to progressives as a "first effort", a unfinished project. Only pass the bill, we are told, despite its many problems and lack of affordable options for the middle class and poor, and we can improve on it "later".
However, the more I find out about the multilateral treaties we have signed over the last few years, the more I realize that the writers of this bill have inserted traps in the bill that absolutely must be removed in order to preserve future options to "improve" the Senate bill and health care-
The traps need to be removed and any ambiguities - for future reference clarified BEFORE we accept ANYTHING.
In this case I am specifically talking about things like selling across state lines that TRIGGER the WTO and GATS treaties, a subject few Democratic voters know much about.
Senators do, but DON'T EXPECT THEM TO TELL US.
As far as I can tell, if the bill is passed we will not be able to ever have a public option or single payer. Is this coincidental? Or is this another PhRMA deal - even worse than the PHRMA deal?
In WTO court, under the exact set of circumstances being thrust upon us in the Senate Bill, we wont have a chance. I think its obviously NOT SOMETHING WE WANT TO HAVE TO TEST.
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