After a year of heated national debate and decades of failed attempts to achieve universal health coverage, it was all coming down to one moment in the US House. The Democrats needed every vote they could get.
Smart money said the Massachusetts delegation was a lock. All 10 members had supported an earlier version that narrowly passed the House. They hailed from the same state that had crafted the landmark law which provided the template for health care reform, the home of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy, who made universal coverage his life’s cause.
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You make your bed.... you sleep in it. it was a selfish move that will prevent him from any serious consideration by most voters. If he sided with republicans on this issue whats to say he won't vote republican on other issues. Perhaps Steve should run as a republican? He has no chance of beating Ed Markey.
How about we have a senator that studies every bill and votes on its merits instead of the party who proposed it. If you believe that either party is right 100% of the time you are a fool and contribute to the problems we have.
Perhaps the only vote I would ever agree with Lynch on....
Hopefully Mr. Lynch will come to appreciate the consequences of his actions at that pregnant moment in a historic legislative struggle. Turnabout is fair play.
Well, as a good liberal, steve can ask for an abortion during that pregnant pause (regardless of the age of the action)
He's a Bulger toady and should not even be where he is let alone the senate. The best that can be said of him is that he's probably better than Brown.
As time goes on, many will come to see the wisdom of Congressman Lynch's stand - especially as they come to know the negative consequences of this legislation on Massachusetts. The hidden costs, the elimination of options, especially for smaller businesses and the complete lack of cost control will slowly come out and thoughtful people will acknowledge that the hype and the reality of the ACA are two different things.
Even this paper has started to suggest that MA be given "waivers" to avoid the negative impacts of the bill.
Saying the law is imperfect and needs to be fixed is wholy different froim the question of whether we are better off or worse off without it in its current form. Especially given that you can amend it or work around some issues after it passes.
The law isn't imperfect, its a power grab by thugs.
We didn't send Lynch to go to Washington to be a sheep following Pelosi. We should support candidates who vote based on the facts and with some conviction. How nice would it be if Mass. voters and the Globe endorsed men and women of principle and who do not somply follow party loyalty. Perhaps such men and women could get together on a Grand Deal. Want more of the same, Markey and others are the candidates.
The point is that it wasn't a principled vote at all. At the time, with Brown apparently ascendant, it was a politically expedient hedge bet.
FACTS! What do facts have to do with republicans?
He is far from a Bulger toady, and the two have not spoke since he beat his son so do a little fact checking before you issue your typical uninformed opinion on something you don't know. Yes, tough vote which will hurt him with the far left in this race, but will help him with more level headed voters who reside closer to the middle like 70% of registered voters. The liberal icon in waiting from Malden is a light weight, always has and always will be.
Mr. Lynch seems to have taken the Far Left, Ultra Liberal view that a public option should have been part of the Affordable Care Act. Good for him! Personally, I was even further to the left than that, believing that medicare should have been slowly expanded into a single payer plan over ten years. BUT, to have voted against ANY progress was not prudent vote.
It's NOT the "far left". It's the left and center-left who are the level headed voters. Markey's record distinguishes him far above Lynch's who is out of touch. Lynch along with Sullivan resembles a "Southern Democrat".
Mr. Lynch seems to have taken the Far Left view that a public option should have been part of the Affordable Care Act. Personally, I was even further to the left than that, believing that medicare should have been slowly expanded into a single payer plan over ten years. BUT, to have voted against ANY progress in providing healthcare to all and controlling costs was the wrong way to go. The rest of the delegation made the more prudent vote.
Whe conservative pushes a bill that will hurt some the press will highlight the perceived victims. When liberals hurt people through legislation they tout the "greater good" For once his career, Markey did the right thing.
When the health care bill came out went to a town hall meeting run by Lynch....I would vote for him anyday....imagine someone reading a bill before voting on it...something most of the democrats didn't do and now the people are finding all the errors and very expensive tax increases etc. remember when Nancy Pelosi said "we will find out what is in the bill after it is passed" something like that.....how stupid can anyone be? When thousands lose their jobs or have their hours cut because many businesses cannot afford the pie in the sky healthcare bill....Good for Steve Lynch...we need more like him and not sheep that jump when the white house says so and so wrong for the people....that bill was jammmed through democrat congress with kick backs & bribes...that is how bad this bill is.......now the unions are crying because of the 40% tax on premiums, well they got what they voted for....cry me a river....and when the hospitals & doctors start refusing patients or closing we know who to blame, Pres. Obama & the blind voting democrats. Go Steve go....and I vote as an independent.
If Lynch is to be believed on his public option stance, then that would make him the most liberal member of congress in the nation. And if you believe that, I can sell you the Tobin Bridge for a surprisingly small cash payment.
Lynch actually read the bill and realized it would ultimately hurt healthcare in the USA. The bill protected the monopoly insurance companies have and did not create any competition which would have led to lower costs and improved care. If he wanted to take the politically expediant route he would have joined the rest of the lemings and been the senator in 2010. Lynch is not the favorite of the National & Mass Democratic heiarchy or Boston Globe due to his failure to toe the line. The Globe should endorse Markey and get it over with showing their true colors.
If the "Affordable health care Act" were so "Affordable", why did the Globe ask for a WAIVER a few days ago?
Both Markey and Lynch are lightweights and will falter during the debates if their opponent is Winslow. It's too bad that other democratic candidates aren't running for this seat. What about Tom Conroy? He'd be a much stronger candidate than Markey or Lynch and would attract more younger voters.
Thanks for the great reporting. This is good information.
History will prove Lynch 200% right in voting against the Obamacare legislative mess.
Just give the law one more year to really bite, and an alful lot of peope around here will be screaming. For most of us, say goodbuy to your current insurance, hello to a lot more costs...
And the alternative Republican Healthcare Plan, real plan, not NO, at that time was? Remember this discussion of healthcare went on for about two years not counting the run up to the election of 2008. Don't forget the recession caused millions of hard working of people to not only lose their jobs but healthcare. A dose of reality for too many Americans. Even with COBRA there is a cost and a fear especially with families. We are the only industrialized country up until the Affordable Care Act ( and I repeat from previous statements of mine ) not to have universal healthcare for its citizens. All the "citizens" we elect to Congress ( and most state legislatures ) get a healthcare plan, some even have a smorgasbord from which to choose. IMO Mr. Lynch was too parochial to envision the larger impact of his vote. It was not all about his district. An added observation for those who repeat the mantra that the media was all for President Obama, I point out that he was hammered for months throughout the healthcare process and for months after it was signed into law. This was supposed to be his achilles heal in this election. The voters spoke very clearly on November 6, 2013. And oddly they approved of Governor Romney's first stance on healthcare, namely the current Affordable Healthcare Act. They rejected his various rejection stances. In Massachusetts the GIC offers similar healthcare choices to BC/BS, Harvard Pilgrim and other insurance plans and the people being covered are paying premiums for that coverage, not getting it for nothing. People have figured this out. Steven Lynch, Ed Markey, Dan Winslow, Gabriel Gomez and Michael Sullivan should as a matter of transparency reveal their healthcare plans especially if a government offered healthcare plan.
I keep saying that the money is available for all entitlements but it is squandered on other projects such as needless wars, Black Ops etc.
Lynch's health care vote reminds me of his vote against the bailout of the US financial system - so we have a pattern here. Lynch would sacrifice the good (expansion of health care and preventing collapse of our economic system) because he can't have the perfect expecially when those votes shore up his right flank bona fides. Not the strong principled leader I want in the Senate.