Where healthcare reform stands June 24

President Barack Obama vows that he “absolutely” will get healthcare reform done but refuses to discuss details.

Perhaps that’s because Ted Rall, who calls Obama a “militant moderate (like) Bill Clinton” says that what Obama has on the table will only insure about one-quarter of the uninsured, per Congressional Budget Office scoring of the Dodd-Kennedy plan. So far, The One has remained quiet on the Wyden alternative, which is disliked by big business (no surprise) and by the unions that have killed every real move toward national healthcare since Harry Truman.

(Many liberals and conservatives alike are ignorant of this simple fact. But, since World War II, unions have viewed their level of union-negotiated healthcare as a recruitment tool to get more workers. Well, with private-sector unionization pushing down toward the single-digit level, that’s obviously been a huge success).

In clear short-sightedness, unions don’t get that they would still be free to bargain for supplemental additional coverage, or other benefits, if we get single-payer national healthcare. Canada and Great Britain still have plenty of unions, don’t they?

Meanwhile, various medical-related lobbying groups, like the one for MRI operators, along with rural doctors and others, are starting to go into opposition over worries about reimbursements, etc.

Odds of comprehensive healthcare reform, including single payer, at this time? I’d say 60-40 against. Odds that major unions will, once again, dodge their deserved share of blame if we fail to get real healthcare reform? About 70-30 in favor.