SOURCE: OpEdNews

January 6, 2010

Maggie Mahar Untangles Health Care Legislation For OpEdNews

By Joan Brunwasser

Maggie Mahar is a Century Foundation fellow and expert on American health care. She is the author of the ground-breaking book, Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much. Welcome to OpEdNews, Maggie. Well, the Senate finally managed to pass a health care bill on Christmas Eve. How should we regard it? Is it a holiday gift or another boondoggle masquerading as meaningful, far-reaching reform?

This bill is a start. Over the next three years, there will be amendements and more legislation. This is not the final word on reform. For low-income people and people suffering from pre-existing conditions, this legislation offers much-needed help. This is important. But healthcare will remain too expensive for most of us unless the Independent Medicare Advisory Board (formerly called the Independent Medicare Advisory Council -- or IMAC) is given the power to change what Medicare (and other payers) pay for, and how they pay for it.

Some hospitals are overpaid -- they are being rewarded for being inefficient. In hospitals where more patients contract infections or fall victim to medical errors, they stay longer and undergo more procedures. As a result, Medicare winds up paying those hospitals more. Medicare needs to begin using financial sticks to encourage hospitals to pay more attention to patient safety. Medicare can also use financial carrots to reward hospitals with good safety records.

I've long held the opinion that when it comes to environmental degradation our public agencies are some of the worst offenders. Much slip-shod waste disposal and contamination has been tolerated in the name of "balancing the public interest." Not to mention that some of our public servants consider it a benefit of their employment to impose, rather than follow regulations.

And our military agencies have been among the worst offenders, as evidenced by the fact that every site they vacate is in need of environmental cleanup and remediation. So, it's not surprising that eight years of occupation have left Iraq in a mess. Some of which our own Congresswoman has tried to address by outlawing burn pits and insisting on proper waste disposal. But, who's going to pay for it?

SOURCE: www.realclearpolitics.com/

December 20, 2009

David Axelrod & Howard Dean on "Meet the Press" By Meet the Press

MR. GREGORY: What's next? And what is the political impact of this legislation in 2010 and beyond? Joining us, the president's senior adviser, David Axelrod; and then the man who helped ignite a debate over health care within his party, former DNC chairman and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. Our roundtable weighs in as well on the politics of health care and the huge political challenges facing this White House in the new year as it tackles high unemployment and a sour mood in the country. With us: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, the Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas, former RNC chair Ed Gillespie and PBS' Tavis Smiley.

SOURCE: washingtonpost.com

Health-reform legislation would accomplish more than critics admit

By Henry J. Aaron
Friday, December 18, 2009; A31 

In recent columns, Robert J. Samuelson has argued that extending health insurance to 25 million to 35 million uninsured Americans is undesirable unless and until health spending is controlled ["Obamacare: Buy now, pay later," Nov. 16; "A savings mirage on health care," Dec. 14].

The simple fact is that insuring tens of millions must initially raise health-care spending. How else could the previously uninsured enjoy an increase in health-care services? It is, however, fair to ask whether the bills under consideration pay for those added costs and promise credibly to slow the long-term growth of health-care spending.

SOURCE: NYT

December 18, 2009
OP-ED COLUMNIST

Pass the Bill
By PAUL KRUGMAN

A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy. Declare that you’re disappointed in and/or disgusted with President Obama. Demand a change in Senate rules that, combined with the Republican strategy of total obstructionism, are in the process of making America ungovernable.

But meanwhile, pass the health care bill.

Yes, the filibuster-imposed need to get votes from “centrist” senators has led to a bill that falls a long way short of ideal. Worse, some of those senators seem motivated largely by a desire to protect the interests of insurance companies — with the possible exception of Mr. Lieberman, who seems motivated by sheer spite.

But let’s all take a deep breath, and consider just how much good this bill would do, if passed — and how much better it would be than anything that seemed possible just a few years ago. With all its flaws, the Senate health bill would be the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare, greatly improving the lives of millions. Getting this bill would be much, much better than watching health care reform fail.

SOURCE: OpEdNews

December 17, 2009

Healthcare: First They Came for the Banksters

By Thom Hartmann

With apologies to Pastor Niemoeller:

First they came for the banksters, and showered them with money and put them in the Administration in a way that was not change we could believe in.

Then they came for the military industrial complex, and sent more and more of our children to die in faraway lands that had never attacked us in a way that was not change we could believe in.

And now they've sold out our hope for a national health care system not run by millionaire gangsters in suits. And who is left to speak for us?

President Obama is playing the Bill Clinton game of throwing people a bone and telling them it's steak. Perhaps he's doing it because he thinks it's his only choice; perhaps it's because he's surrounded himself with Bill Clinton advisors (and Hillary as Secretary of State); whatever the reason, while it worked for Clinton, it won't work for Obama.

SOURCE: Borowitz Report

Senate Unveils CompromiseCare

Details of Healthcare Plan Revealed

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - The United States Senate today unveiled details of its health care plan, tentatively called CompromiseCareTM:

-- Under CompromiseCareTM, people with no coverage will be allowed to keep their current plan.

-- Medicare will be extended to 55-year-olds as soon as they turn 65.

-- You will have access to cheap Canadian drugs if you live in Canada.

-- States whose names contain vowels will be allowed to opt out of the plan.

-- You get to choose which doctor you cannot afford to see.

SOURCE: Balkinization

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Barack Obama's Constitutional Moment

JB

My colleague Bruce Ackerman's theory of "constitutional moments" is designed to explain how large scale constitutional change occurs. This theory is actually a collection of different mechanisms, which, together, show how a mobilized public gives its support to constitutional change.

One of these components is the idea that politicians, in desperate political circumstances, engage in what Ackerman calls "unconventional adaptation" to political impasse, leading to a "switch in time" by a recalcitrant institution that is threatened by the unconventional adaptation. If the unconventional adaptation succeeds, if the recalcitrant institution backs down, and if the public supports reform in subsequent elections, a new set of constitutional customs and understandings is created.

We are at such a moment now. The political impasse is over health care reform. The institution is the United States Senate.

SOURCE: Flesh and Stone

by Michael Collins

Dr. Howard Dean, MD, just said pull the plug on the current health care reform effort. The cure is worse than the disease, according to the good doctor.

Why the surprise?

Last week the president announced that he's sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan without a declaration of war by Congress and without Afghanistan posing a direct threat to the United States violating both the United States Constitution and international law at the same time.

"Throughout it all, not one member of Congress or the financial elite will miss a meal, worry about their health care, lose their house, or ever face prosecution for destroying the economy of the United States."

SOURCE: WaPo

Health-care bill wouldn't bring real reform

By Howard Dean
Thursday, December 17, 2009; A33

If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. Any measure that expands private insurers' monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform. Real reform would insert competition into insurance markets, force insurers to cut unnecessary administrative expenses and spend health-care dollars caring for people. Real reform would significantly lower costs, improve the delivery of health care and give all Americans a meaningful choice of coverage. The current Senate bill accomplishes none of these.

Real health-care reform is supposed to eliminate discrimination based on preexisting conditions. But the legislation allows insurance companies to charge older Americans up to three times as much as younger Americans, pricing them out of coverage. The bill was supposed to give Americans choices about what kind of system they wanted to enroll in. Instead, it fines Americans if they do not sign up with an insurance company, which may take up to 30 percent of your premium dollars and spend it on CEO salaries -- in the range of $20 million a year -- and on return on equity for the company's shareholders. Few Americans will see any benefit until 2014, by which time premiums are likely to have doubled. In short, the winners in this bill are insurance companies; the American taxpayer is about to be fleeced with a bailout in a situation that dwarfs even what happened at AIG.

THE KABUKI THEATER OF HEALTH REFORM (OR, KILL THE BILL)

SOURCE: Frankfurterschool.com

Senator Joe Lieberman has refused to support Healthcare reform in the Senate if it includes any provision that actually reforms healthcare. Cue the outpouring of liberal grief and then the
resigned helplessness of better-this-watered-down-bill-than-nothing that will inevitably follow.

Listen guys, I hate Joe Lieberman as much as the next guy but if you're upset about him, you're a dupe, and you're being manipulated by characters in a holiday pageant. He's not the problem; he's the designated villain.

His seat is perfectly safe, he can't be recalled, and you'll all forget about this in three years when he's up for re-election. It's much more fun to be angry at him than the real villains, because the truth is really depressing. President Obama and the Democratic leadership are handing billions of dollars to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and have scripted a drama to carefully shape public opinion to believe that this was the best they could do.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Jim Dean:

I'll get straight to the point.

If Democrats remove the choice of a public option, they can't force Americans to buy health insurance.

Here's the deal, Senate leaders are all over Washington claiming they finally have a healthcare reform bill they can pass, as long as they remove the public option. After all, they say, even without a public option, the bill still "covers 30 million more Americans." The problem is that's not really true.

What they are actually talking about is something called the "individual mandate." That's a section of the law that requires every single American buy health insurance or break the law and face penalties and fines. So, the bill doesn't actually "cover" 30 million more Americans -- instead it makes them criminals if they don't buy insurance from the same companies that got us into this mess.

A public option would have provided the competition needed to drive down costs and improve coverage. It would have kept insurance companies honest by providing an affordable alternative Americans can trust. That's why, without a public option, this bill is almost a trillion dollar taxpayer giveaway to insurance companies.

We must act fast. Both Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Senators need to hear from you. Please stop whatever else you are doing and make the calls right now.

Senator Harry Reid
DC: (202) 224-3542
Carson City: (775) 882-7343
Las Vegas: (702) 388-5020
Reno: (775) 686-5750

Call your Democratic Senator too -- Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 

REPORT YOUR CALL AND TELL US HOW IT WENT

Without the choice of a public option, forcing Americans to buy health insurance isn't just bad policy, it's political disaster for Democrats -- a ticking time-bomb for years to come.

Does anyone think Republicans won't use this against Democrats in 2010?

What about in 2014 after the mandate goes into effect and the press reports all the horror stories of Americans forced to choose between paying their monthly health insurance bill to Aetna or paying rent?

The mandate is toxic and Democrats will own it. By the 2016 presidential election, is there any wonder how this will play out for Democrats?

CALL SENATOR HARRY REID NOW AT (202) 224-3542 THEN REPORT YOUR CALL HERE

The message is simple: No public option? No Mandate!

Thank you for everything you do,

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America

SOURCE: Care2.com

How does the latest health-care proposal in the U.S. Senate measure up on Progressive principles?

The Progressive movement has rallied behind single payer and public option reform proposals in the belief that not only is universal coverage a fundamental right, but not-for-profit medicine is a better way to get quality health care at a reasonable price.

Unlike most developed nations, the United States has a sizeable part of its population that goes without health insurance.  President Obama took up the cause of greatly expanding coverage in his presidential campaign. He also spoken firmly of reform in terms of bending the cost-curve, making insurance and medical care more affordable to individuals and to the nation, in light of fast-rising health-industry costs.  However, Mr. Obama stopped short of embracing single payer, leaving in question what type of structural changes would be used to achieve reform goals.

SOURCE: Vermont Public Radio

(Host) Former Governor Howard Dean helped broker a health care compromise that Senate Democratic leaders say could move the bill forward.

Dean's proposal is designed to satisfy both supporters and opponents of a "public option" health plan.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports.

(Kinzel) While the vast majority of Democrats support the public option, all the Republicans and a few Democrats do not, and this group has threatened to filibuster the bill if the public option is part of the final package. And it appeared very unlikely that Democratic leaders could find the 60 votes that are needed to break a filibuster.

So Dean outlined a compromise plan to Senate Majority leader Harry Reid as a way to break the deadlock.

The compromise includes a plan that Dean proposed during his 2004 presidential campaign: allowing people between ages of 55 and 65 to buy into Medicare.

SOURCE:Yahoo News

Obama directs $600M to health centers, med records

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 9, 1:46 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday the government is spending almost $600 million for community health centers and for a push to transfer medical records to electronic formats.

The White House painted the spending — part of the $787 billion stimulus bill the president championed during his first days in office — as a way to add jobs to a struggling economy. Officials also linked it to the administration's broader push for an overhaul of the nation's health system.

Gregg's a deprivator. His impulses towards greed and pride are gratified when others are deprived of the necessities of life.

Comparing himself to a postal worker is a bit disingenuous, since the postman actually delivers. Gregg has made a career out of being a Bartleby the Scrivener--a hirling who "prefers not to" do what he's asked.

The rallying cry for 2010 should be

*****NO MORE BARTLEBYS*****

SOURCE: Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Press Release

Washington, D.C.-U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen today applauded the passage of two measures she cosponsored to improve health services for women and secure Medicare benefits. The first measure would provide free preventive health services for women, and the second ensures that guaranteed Medicare benefits cannot be cut. Both amendments will now be included in the Senate's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is currently before the Senate for debate.

SOURCE: Huffington Post

Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform -- and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.

Insisting that it is "critical that Republican senators have a solid understanding of the minority's rights in the Senate," Gregg makes note of all the procedural tools the GOP can use before measures are considered, when they come to the floor and even after passage.

He highlights the use of hard quorum calls for any motion to proceed, as opposed to a far quicker unanimous consent provision. He reminds his colleagues that, absent unanimous consent, they can force the Majority Leader to read any "full-text substitute amendment." And when it comes to offering amendments to the health care bill, the New Hampshire Republican argues that it is the personification of "full, complete, and informed debate," to "offer an unlimited number of amendments -- germane or non-germane -- on any subject."

Dumping of 15 million low-income Americans into a medical ghetto called Medicaid that none of us or any of our families would ever want to be a part of for our health care...

..Moving 15 million Americans into this medical ghetto...

...Moving 15 million low-income Americans into a program called Medicaid which is a medical ghetto is not health care reform.