Gray Tribe

A new day dawned, Luigi took his shot
and fled the crime-scene on a city bike.
The media were quick to miss the plot
as if downtrodden proles would never strike.
A man falls dead; none can repair the loss
He leaves a world uprooted and bereft.
For life, like health, who can compute the cost?
A human value's not pure 'Right' or 'Left'.
Two parties, each indebted to the few,
instead of working for the public cause,
do only what insurers want them to,
pretending that they're just enforcing laws.
As we embark another gilded age,
a bandit-hero vents the people's rage.

what we know

Joe Biden--quite unprompted--gave his word:
he'd veto SinglePayer if it passed
both Houses. 'Though it's patently absurd,
he's loyal to Insurers to the last.

No PublicOption scheme can fix health costs
the overhead alone dwarfs what Danes pay!

Insurers profit on each dime we've lost

and for donations, Joe does as they say.

Obama knows he took a compromise
'cause RomneyCare was all that he could get.
Joe Biden's more devout, but not as wise.

He means to honor every donor's debt.
We don't know much of what Joe means to do
Whatever it is, won't upset the Few.

technical difficulties

Mick Jagger's mitral valve no longer seats;
what should surge one-way sloshes to-and-fro.
'though myocardium's not missing beats,
Jack Flash can't jump with diastole so low.
Replacement parts, of plastic, or of pork,
are on the shelf and at the surgeons' choice.
Just as sir Mick gets healthcare in New York,
vast resources attend a rich man's voice.
Keith Richards stops to wish his brother well;
a lifetime they've been yoked, through thick, and thin.
Not ready to slough off this mortal shell,
the tour's on pause without his glimmer twin.
To miss one concert's date's a trifling loss;
this Stone's too busy to be gath'ring moss.

shake-down

He paid his premiums, and exercised
and trusted his insurer had his back,
not dreaming what he'd purchased was a lie
until his all-but-fatal heart attack.
He'd never read his policy's last clause--
the fine-print all alone comprised a book--
Insurers' lobbyists write their own laws
ensuring that they're never on the hook.
But someone wanting no part of this mess
erased the last two zeros on this job.
The racketeers know if they get bad press,
they could be prosecuted as a mob.
A bill that can be slashed to placate scribes
invites abuse by those who'd chase a bribe.

damned right I feel faint

The doctors called it "vagal syncope"
"we're unconcerned; it's  just a neural quirk
but--since you're here, we'll take an EKG
you'd better plan to take the day off work"
The ambulance ride's daunting to afford
Americans routinely come up short.
No bleeding here; the EMTs look bored.
The billing's for another day (in court).
The UniversalCare the FirstWorld's got
we're told "is not for us" because we're free.
But bankruptcy's too often free men's lot; 
insurers profit on insanity.
What Truman ran on back in '48
might yet save $trillions--at some far-off date.

who counts

Emanuel proved ineffectual
coercing Congress to Obama's will.
It's cash, not threats that grants a player pull;
Chicago's games don't play Capitol Hill.
His vision of a world post-partisan
relied on folks to whom such things appeal
But Gingrich coached his choir in unison.
Barack was never gonna get a deal.
The senator from Hartford played his role,
defeating his own party by a hair.
His donors own his soul, and kept control
of what Americans "choose" in healthcare.
The Universal Care the world enjoys
can't buck the tide of Donors' cash and noise.

bluffing

Just fifty votes'd suffice to reconcile
this version to the one the House has passed.
But Democrats ain't gonna cross that aisle,
and senator Murkowski's standing fast.
Trump needs a token victory to show;
Republicans nurse doubts he's one of theirs.
The easy wins he promised long ago
look empty as Atlantic City shares.
A charlatan needs sense enough to quit
and try to find another sort of job
before the marks catch on he's peddling shit
and he gets torn to pieces by the mob.
A smarter politician'd blow this town
before his house of cards comes tumbling down.

This shall not pass

Murkowski stood, McConnell took the fall
like Gandalf hurled the balrog off that span
when citizens were up against the wall
our Senate voted with the better man.
In thrall to causes banished, but undead
Mitch fought against his own constituents
Sue Collins handed him his shriveled head
by bridging the inane Two Party fence.
McCain played up his moment on the stage
but--just as much--two women killed this bill.
He spared his colleagues from the turtle's rage
but when he's gone, they'll carry the torch still.
Our HealthCare's still the joke of the Free World
but what we've got, we owe to two tough girls

Horatio

Murkowski stood, square in McConnell's path
determined to do what she knew she ought
unbent before the shriveled turtle's wrath
three senators, at least, could not be bought.
Beside her, John McCain did what he'd said
and voted with the Arizonans' will
it's hard to bribe a man who'll soon be dead
to vote against his conscience for your bill.
Sue Collins proved repeal's ultimate bane
the snow-job couldn't make her bend or blink
she serves the upright citizens of Maine
a lot of whom are living on that brink.
Until health's guaranteed in every state
there's work to do to make our country great.

You shall not pass

Murkowski stood, square in McConnell's path
determined to do what she knew she ought
unbent before the wizened turtle's wrath
three senators, at least, could not be bought.
Beside her, John McCain did what he'd said
and voted with the Arizonans' will
it's hard to bribe a man who'll soon be dead
to vote against his conscience for your bill.
Sue Collins proved repeal's ultimate bane
the snow-job couldn't make her bend, or blink
she serves the upright citizens of Maine
a lot of whom are living on that brink.
Until health's guaranteed in every state
there's work to do to make our country great.

backlash

The SinglePlayer plan she swore was dead
is back, now Hillary is off the scene
'cause Congress, 'though it's  uniformly Red
rejects the plan that Trump concedes is mean.
The Gilded Age that sounds good to the Kochs
when life was cheap, and contracts unconstrained
has scant appeal for ordinary folks
where thousand suffer for each fortune gained.
This plan designed to fail, based on known facts
would throw twenty-four million in the ditch
to spare the One Percent from paying tax
ensures Insurance CEOs stay rich.
A nation waking up to Donald's lies,
will have to learn again to unionize

sick

a bold display of his hypocrisy
to curry favor in his daughter's case
Joe Manchin voted Sessions for AG
one scandal blending drugs, and cash, and race
there's no competitor to EpiPen
for now, it owns a corner in its niche
but FDA will license one, and then
the window slams on this scam to get rich
for Bresch, like Shkreli, Healthcare's just a game
in which the goal's to maximize for cash
they never know a patient's face, or name
and think they're being praised when they're called brash
these parasites prey on the nation's health
because they worship at the cult of wealth

utility function

our fee-for-service healthcare's a bad joke
that makes insurers rich at our expense
providers do ok, but common folk
would only opt for this if we were dense
developed nations recognize vaccines
deliver the best value for our wealth
but here the drug-industrial machine
is optimized for profits, not for health
Joe Lieberman shot down Obama's plan
to keep his Hartford masters in the pink
the Big Insurers bought and owned their man
a contract on our blood, signed in their ink
while Clinton whines we're helpless in our plight
a hundred other nations got this right

fear-mongers

the Wakefield fraud keeps killing innocents
believing what's once printed must be right
but the retraction cannot make a dent
they've made their minds up and resolved to fight
no reasoned arguments can penetrate
an anti-Vaxxer's victim-narrative
convinced they're saints to stand against the State
as well to carry water in a sieve
the Media are there to entertain
their masters fund them to increas their wealth
and anecdotes of death, or loss, or pain
sell more air-minutes than does Public Health
and now he's got a movie out called "Vaxxed"
as if there weren't such a thing as "facts"

is my blood more red than his?

five Acts of God befell Dick Cheney's heart
His will made manifest to those with eyes
the punctuality of each crash-cart
made all the difference who lives or dies
our sons and brothers die on foreign sands
or rehabilitate at the VA
mere pawns in Vice's bloodless undead hands
enlisted men just serve without a say
the resources expended on Dick's life
have consequences year by bloody year
sustaining one who profits from world strife
has sundered millions from all they held dear   
no Benthamite would sign a deal so odd
impious cardiologists play God     

keter shem tov

for Bernie Sanders an overt display
of Judaism's not the way he rolls
religion's not a card he's apt to play
to motivate his backers at the polls
haShomer haTzair formed his world view
'though some Americans will find it odd
they taught that what it means to be a Jew
is not dependent in belief in God
prophetic'ly, he speaks out for the poor
and rails at userers for hoarding wealth
and Hartford corporations charging more
than anyone should pay to guard their health
no price is high enough for his good name
'cause Bernie doesn't play the donors' game

retrograde

Joe Lieberman was Big Insurers' man
'though Democrats had given him the boot
who told Obama what he can't and can
to fix health care dysfunction at the root
the Public Option would improve our health
but Hartford's revenue stream would have crashed
if doctors focused less on making wealth
not everything should be expressed as cash
the Market's not a god to socialists
who seek instead the community's good
financiers shouldn't wield so big a fist
to keep forever the way things have stood
what Europe's got, the State can have as well
when we throw off this cabal wrought in Hell