The Fatal Four

With the final vote on the healthcare bill approaching slowly but surely, a nation is on the edge of its seat.

After months of debate and full-blown argument over whether or not to reform our broken healthcare system, the time is coming where history will be made one way or the other.

It seems for democrats that a healthcare reform bill with a government-run public option will either be a historic victory that will better change the way we care for our fellow Americans, or it will be yet another embarrassing loss just like the time before that and the time before that. It will be their defining moment or their Waterloo.

While the momentum feels slightly on the democrat's side (at least to me anyway), predicting how this will ultimately play out is nothing more than a guessing game at this point.... or just wishful thinking.

After months of debating and arguing with the republicans on this issue, it turns out that if healthcare reform does not pass it will not be because of republicans. They do not plan on helping democrats pass healthcare reform but if this bill does not pass it will be because of a few people, maybe even one. And not a one of them are republican.

When it comes to the healthcare debate that raged on this past summer, the democrats had their guns pointed at an enemy that didn't even have a sling shot. The democrats biggest threat for healthcare reform are the democrats.

The republicans have made it loud and clear that they do not want anything to do with this bill.

So let's oblige them!

Let's shift our focus to the ones who actually could nix this and have threatened to stop us dead in our tracks on healthcare reform.

I bring you.....

The Fatal Four!


It sounds like an action movie about four deadly ninjas or kung-fu badasses.

But in reality it is about four well bought, handsomely paid senators who have the power to give our healthcare reform bill a lethal one inch punch of death.

This movie could also be called "Three Bluedogs & a Weasel"

Anyway, here are the stars of our motion picture.....


First on the list is Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson.

Ben Nelson is a democrat in a traditional red state. While he voted to allow debate and has shown slight interest in a state "opt-out" public option, he has repeatedly slammed the idea of a public option in the healthcare bill and said he has no problem being the only democrat to vote against it.

And while I'm sure this has nothing to do with his stance on healthcare reform, it seems Ben Nelson has received over $1 Million from big insurance over his career and has received $452,586 this year alone for his campaign committee. A number of Nelson's staff are former healthcare lobbyist and many have left Nelson's team to go work for big insurance. - campaignmoney.org & OpenSecrets.org

But I'm sure this has nothing to do with why Ben Nelson would not want private insurance to have any competition....

Because it certainly is not his constituents influencing his decision.

Recent polls show that Nebraska slightly supports the public option. Since he is a democrat in a red state, he may face political backfire anyway he votes. Although I would take into consideration that in that red state, a slight majority supports the public option.... in a red state!

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it says something when a red state backs a blue initiative? Even though this is only stated in a few polls. Even if it were 50/50, that would still speak volumes that the public option is a popular idea, even in Nebraska.

Also, 11% of Nebraska have no health insurance.

But I guess that 11% also can't afford to give Senator Nelson hundreds of thousands of dollars so that he would actually represent them.


Next on the list is Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. She is not as intense in her dislike of the public option as Ben Nelson, but she is still very shaky on the idea.

Now when it comes to taking money from insurance, Landrieu does have Nelson beat at $1.6 Million to his $1.3 Million. But a few hundred thousand is chump change amongst these millionaires. It's just that we're the chumps.....

Senator Landrieu's staff is also riddled with insurance lobbyist. Another stunning fact is that 64% of her campaign fund are from out-of-state donors. Louisiana, the state she is suppose to be representing only gives her 36%. - campaignmoney.org & OpenSecrets.org

When Landrieu was asked about many polls showing support for the public option in her state, she said that the polls were faulty because its in how you ask the questions. The she went on in the same interview to say that the public was confused about the public option because they think it is free healthcare and that could be the reason for it's support.

So the polls are all fake and we are too stupid to understand the public option?

Since it's all in the questions, I have one for you Senator Landrieu......

Do you want to get re-elected?

Senator Landrieu has said she may be open to a "Opt-out" or "Opt-in" form of the public option, but of course we are too dumb to understand it!

21% of Louisiana are uninsured


Third is Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln. She has been pretty stern about her opposition to the public option. She has taken the less money from big insurance than anyone else in the fatal four. However, the measly half a million dollars she received from insurance was enough to buy her complete loyalty to them. - OpenSecrets.org

Her loyalty runs so deep that she even thinks competition would be bad for the insurance companies.

“One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,”

The fact that we now have a totally private-run monopoly does not concern Senator Lincoln. How dare we suggest that these "health" insurance companies that are increasingly responsible for their customers deaths and raise costs every chance they get be burdened with a competition that keeps costs down and won't deny you when you get sick.

When Senator Lincoln was expressing her concerns about government-run competition, i wonder if she thought to ask the whopping 34% of Arkansas with no health insurance about their concerns? Concerns that they don't get sick or injured?

With polls showing very strong support for the public option in Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln should be more concerned about her political future if she continues to shill for the insurance companies instead of her constituents.


Last and least..... Joe Lieberman. This one is the most interesting case because this could all possibly be a game and a publicity stunt. He has done this sort of thing in the past.

If it's not a stunt, it's political suicide.

Joe Lieberman is from Connecticut where an overwhelming majority support the public option. in fact, every district in Connecticut supports a public option. Connecticut is fairly liberal and if Lieberman is trying to get re-elected, he is going about it the wrong way. Supporting McCain during the last presidential election was one thing, but if he puts his money where his mouth is and blocks healthcare reform.... he's done in 2012. This is not an opinion, this is fact.

Speaking of money, Lieberman has received roughly $800,000 last year from big insurance. Not the highest paid by the insurance industry but he is the most vocal and prominent senator against a public option in healthcare reform.

The funny thing is though........

Connecticut ALREADY HAS a PUBLIC OPTION!

"Charter Oak Health Plan is a state-run program that is designed to compete in the market for individual insurance policies. That means people who are buying individual health care plans — the unemployed, young college graduates, early retirees — can get coverage under Charter Oak. The state has contracted with three insurers to offer a variety of coverage options. Premiums and deductibles depend on household income. " - Politifact.org

This plan insures 10,000 people in Connecticut.

So let me get this straight, Joe Lieberman says that a public option will destroy healthcare and that he will not support any sort of government option. Yet his state has a form of a public option that successfully covers 10,000 citizens in Connecticut?

Do you see why I think this is all a show being played by Lieberman?

I think that he has bolstered himself as the ringleader of anti-government healthcare on the left side of the isle because there is money to be made. He will be offered deals from both sides. His arms being pulled from both directions until he is bought by the highest bidder. While I do believe that if he even votes against the healthcare reform bill, let alone is the one that puts a stop to it; he will have a primary challenger so fast his head will spin, he is on some political safe-ground for one reason......

He is, after all, an independent.

But not even that will stop the firestorm that will reign upon him. He will hopefully be stripped of his chairmanships that he has with the democratic party (Still not sure how he backed McCain in 2008 and still has chairmanships with the democrats?) and face a primary challenger that will most likely beat him in 2012.

Joe Lieberman is either an idiot or a genius.

We'll find out soon.


Many are shaking in their boots over what these 100 senators are going to do to our healthcare system. Some are afraid the process will politicize and compromise away any hope of getting REAL healthcare reform to America. While critics are afraid of a so-called government takeover of our healthcare system that will slowly strip away freedoms and bring about red socialism that will kill your pets.

There is no raving confidence coming from either side right now, but I am rooting for this and continue to remain an optimist.

I think we are all good-hearted people and it is in our blood to help others in need. I think that since the beginning of time we have revolted against suffering, injustice, corruption, and greed. Even though there have been certain periods where this idea, this philosophy has been muted and smothered, it has never died. While there is still so much work to be done, we have came a long way as human beings in our fight for fairness, tolerance, and peace. As people, we will always differ and view the world through different lenses, but when we lose our ability to care for all people equally and keep close to heart the principals of "United we stand, Divided we fall" and "I am my brother's keeper". When we let ourselves be convinced by opportunists that the kindness in our hearts is a weakness, that is when we lose everything.

I don't want to walk away from this learning and accepting more and more that we are just a country where our leaders are nothing more than corporate players in disguise as public servants and a country where money talks louder than it's very own people.

I refuse to believe that.

I believe that the voice of the millions of uninsured, who pray everyday that they do not get sick, speaks far louder than lobbyist money. The ones who have NO option. Some lost their jobs and therefor lost their coverage. Some are poor and can't afford insurance. Some of them were not eligible because they were not healthy enough and would cost the insurance company too much money. Whatever the situation, these people have no healthcare in the richest country in the world.

I think we need to start realizing that just because you are insured, does not mean you are covered.

I don't believe that money talks louder than the millions that have insurance but were not covered when the chips were down. Paying customers denied care because the insurance companies didn't want to part with the money that they got from customers who were tricked into thinking the health insurance industry was actually healthcare, and not just another corporation out to make a buck.

To call what we have now a healthcare system is laughable.

If the Fatal Four stop healthcare reform with a public option, they may prove more fatal to themselves than anyone else. They may be able to deny us a public option and our freedom of choice, but they will never be able to take away one option from us, one choice....

Our vote.

If they opt-out on us, we will opt-out on them!