Obamacare Passage: Politics Over Functional Legislation
Remember how they had to pass it to figure out what was in it? Seems a number of legislators realized what was in it but passed it anyway. They're now beginning to admit that.

Like Senator Charles Schumer, retiring Senator Tom Harken (who helped write the law) has admitted what crap legislation Obamacare was and is. Jonathan Turley, who spoke about it on Capital Hill before its passage, notes the same, blogging:

Harkin's criticism was a bit different from Schumer, who indicated that he would have preferred not to have passed health care in the first term at all. Harkin told The Hill newspaper that ObamaCare that the leadership and White House blew it when they had the majority and should have gone all the way to guarantee funding and a more logical structure to the program: "We had the power to do it in a way that would have simplified healthcare, made it more efficient and made it less costly and we didn't do it. So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all."

I spoke on Capitol Hill before the passage of the ACA and remarked that the legislation was in the worst condition that I had seen in 30 years in terms of a major piece of legislation. As someone who supports national health care, it was very disappointing, if not alarming, to see the condition of the law. The few sections that I reviewed read like a first draft from a LA's computer. Democratic staffers told me later that they agreed and that the legislation was not ready. However, with the death of Kennedy (and the replacement by Brown), the Democratic leadership and the White House decided to push through the poorly crafted law on a muscle vote -- which led to a number of Democrats being defeated on the marginal vote. The result is that the ACA has been a continual struggle as hundreds of serious drafting errors and flaws have had to be addressed.

Harkin is the retiring chairman of the Senate health panel and helped write the law.

Well, gee, Senator, thank you so much for your honesty -- years too late.

I've paid for my own healthcare for decades, through an HMO. My care was affordable for all those decades. Not Cadillac care, but good care, and sometimes wonderful care (my Kaiser psychiatrist, who really knows his stuff). But now, because Obamacare not only made the cost go up but imposed a huge deductible, I can no longer afford to get the care I need (like the breast MRIs a Kaiser surgeon ordered me to have every two years), since I'd have to pay hundreds of dollars for procedures or tests beyond the price I'm already paying monthly.

I'm still working to rework how I earn a living -- and to do speaking engagements -- and my radio show will soon start carrying ads, but right now, I just have to hope my health is all hunky dory, and I'm resorting to writing to researchers to beg to be a test subject for my increasingly serious motion-sickness issues. (I can get a wee bit carsick from short trips when I'm behind the wheel, and worse on longer trips. We have to be in Pasadena soon, just across town, and I'm going to wear a Scopolamine patch to get there.)