Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Friday, December 18.
1. Jon Walker is concerned that Ben Nelson could get his way and gut "the single best remaining piece of reform, Medicaid expansion." Walker concludes that "If using reconciliation is the only way to protect the Medicaid expansion, the decision to use it should be a no-brainer for every real Democrat."
2. Jon Walker suggests that "if you are are going to tax 'Cadillac' plans, you need to index it to make sure it only ever taxes actual 'Cadillac' plans." To accomplish this goal, Walker suggests "index[ing] the cap to roughly 165% of the average premium on the Federal employer health benefit (FEHB) exchange."
3. Jane Hamsher points to a new poll indicating that 38% of Americans favor the individual mandate to buy insurance, while 51% oppose it. Hamsher adds, "When it appears in the ads of a Republican challenger who notes that the IRS will act as Aetna's collection agency, I bet those numbers get dramatically worse."
4. Jon Walker calls Ben Nelson's latest idea - to make states "opt in" to health reform - "literally and completely insane." C'mon, tell us how you really fell about Ben Nelon's stupid idea, Jon. :)
5. Jon Walker writes that "Ezra Klein has a new, strange, and incorrect defense of the individual mandate in the Senate bill." Walker argues that "[t]he argument that removing the individual mandate would price unemployed people, like the reader, out of the individual market is not true."
6. Jane Hamsher discusses "the impoverished left/right dialectic that dominates the media coverage of politics, and its inadequacy when it comes to discussing the dynamics of the health care debate." It's a fascinating discussion; here's a sampling. "With unemployment at 10%, the idea that you can pass a bill whose only merit is that 'liberals hate it' just because the media will eat it up and print your talking points in the process is so cynical and short-sighted it's hard to comprehend anyone would pursue it. It reflects a total insensitivity to the rage that is brewing on the popular front, which is manifest in every single poll out there." Good stuff.
7. Jon Walker goes after Ezra Klein again, this time for "[doing] the discussion on health reform a big disservice by making false claims about what could, in fact, start a race to the bottom in the insurance market."
8. Jon Walker argues that the fact there is a "hardship waiver," as well as restrictions on undocumented immigrants to buy insurance on the new exchange ("even if they were willing to pay full price with no tax credits") both "undercut arguments for an individual mandate."
9. Finally, I've got a state blog roundup, including lots of discussion about "Liebercare," "Loserman," and Jane Hamsher taking "a corporate conman to the woodshed."
This was a fascinating, sometimes infuriating, occasionally highly entertaining week in health care reform. Next week promises to be more of the same. Stay tuned!
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Thursday, December 17.
1. Jon Walker discusses "The Unholy Trilogy For Insurance Profits: Individual Mandate, Broad Age Rating, And Hardship Exemption." According to Walker, "Forcing the young to buy coverage with huge government subsidies, but having a way to price the old out of the market, is in fact the health insurance companies' dream." Is that the way to keep them from running a 2009 version of "Harry and Louise," to make their "dream" come true? Hmmmm.
2. Jane Hamsher reports on her MSNBC appearance this morning with Dylan Ratigan, at which time he made her argument for her, that "40 million new customers forced to buy your product with no competition and no regulatory body to oversee it is a pretty sweet deal." For more, see item #1, above, on the "health insurance companies' dream."
3. Jon Walker continues his back-and-forth on whether or not to "kill the bill" with Nate Silver of 538.com. In this installment, Walker accuses Silver of responding to his answers, "but only to a straw man, crib notes version of my answers." Who knew that dueling, wonky, blogger diaries on the intricate details of health care reform legislation could be so enthralling? :)
4. Speaking of exciting, I definitely recommend that you check out the heated exchange between Mary Landrieu and Howard Dean last night on Hardball. Jane Hamsher transcribes it, which is particularly cool given that it's not easy to transcribe spittle flying around a TV studio. Heh.
5. Jon Walker responds to an article by Jonathan Cohn, which tries to "defend the individual mandate in this bill by claiming the Netherlands also has an individual mandate." According to Walker, "The problem is the health care system produced by the Senate bill would be nothing at all like the health system in the Netherlands," and he lays out exactly why that is the case.
6. Jon Walker reports that Ben Nelson "has rejected Harry Reid's latest compromise on the abortion language," and that Nelson "is trying to go for the full Stupak amendment." Walker adds that "[w]e wouldn't need to be worrying about Ben Nelson's mountain of demands right now if they would just go with reconciliation." So true.
7. Jon Walker rebuts one of the "better-sounding arguments for passing the Senate bill", that "we can fix it later." The problem with that argument, of course, is that Walker "can't imagine there being a time anytime soon where the Democrats have more power." Neither can anyone else, which is why they need to get as much done now as possible, on health care reform and on a whole host of other issues. But they won't get those things done if they keep letting John McCain's Best Friend Forever pull a "Liebercare" on everything. Once again, if this hasn't been stressed enough, it's time to go to reconciliation and pass strong, progressive health care reform legislation now, not "later."
8. Last but not least, do NOT miss Scarecrow's post on the confrontation between Lanny Davis and Jane Hamsher on the Ed Show this evening. According to Scarecrow, "After just one round with Jane on the Ed Show, Lanny's credibility was in need of a waaaambulance. He was last seen being wheeled out on Joe Lieberman's gurney, on the way to the emergency ward." Ouch!
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Wednesday, December 16. We'll call this the "Joe must go" edition.
1. Jon Walker writes about the "sad defeat of Dorgan's drug re-importation amendment, which would have saved American consumers billions on their prescription drugs." Walker notes that "[a]llowing Americans to buy cheaper drugs from Canada or Europe was one of Obama's campaign promise on health care," and also that this is a "very popular, bipartisan idea that would actually help 'bend the cost curve' on our health care spending." But now, it looks like it's not going to happen, and that's extremely unfortunate.
2. Jane Hamsher comments on the story that the White House is "very not pleased...with Dr. Dean speaking out about health care reform and this plan." The amazing thing is that the White House isn't upset with Joe Lieberman for all the bad stuff he's been doing, but is upset with Howard Dean for saying that we should scrap the current Senate bill, go to reconciliation and get a much stronger bill with public option, Medicare buy-in, etc. It's surreal.
3. Jane Hamsher reports on remarks by Sen. Russ Feingold, who said, "This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don't think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth."
4. Jon Walker demolishes the "great big myth that reconciliation would not work for health care reform." According to Walker, "That is pure nonsense," as "reconciliation would still protect the guts of reform." In addition, "provisions [not related to the budget] will only be removed if they fail to get 60 votes to wave the Byrd rule for those provisions." So why aren't they doing this?
5. Jon Walker argues that the health care "bills could easily be redesigned to increase insurance coverage by roughly 30 million Americans at a fraction of the cost if we drop the massive giveaway to the insurance companies, and the individual mandate." A new, revamped bill would contain "insurance market reforms," "the House's employer mandate and slightly increased small business tax credits," "Medicaid expansion to 150%-200% FPL," "Maintaining or expanding CHIP program," and a "permanent COBRA expansion with subsidies." According to Walker, such a bill, "depending on design, should cover close to 30 million more Americans, and for less than a net cost of $500 billion" - "a fraction of the cost to the government (with a bill done through reconciliation), and without enriching the health insurance companies trying to kill real reform." Again, why aren't they doing this?
7. Michael Whitney comments on "Jello Jay Rockefeller's rant against Howard Dean on MSNBC this afternoon," in which he asked, "So what do I do? do I take my football and run home and sulk?" Whitney's punchline: "No, you're going to kick it!" Heh.
8. Jane Hamsher notes that Robert Gibbs never called Joe Lieberman "irrational," as he essentially did about Howard Dean earlier today.
10. Jon Walker explains "How CBO Director Doug Elmendorf Wrote The Health Care Bill." In brief, Elmendorf put together a memo last May which "basically put the absolute limits on what Democrats would even attempt in health care reform." According to Walker, "There is no real logic to it, he simply decided what he thought was enough regulation to make something part of the budget." Somehow, given where we are right now, ending today's health care update with the words "no real logic" seems highly appropriate.
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Tuesday, December 15. We'll call this the "Joe must go" edition.
1. Jane Hamsher writes about the "manufactured outrage of Joe Lieberman" regarding criticism over "money paid to his wife Hadassah by the Susan B. Komen 'Race for the Cure.'" Hamsher adds that "if Senator Lieberman is 'deeply offended' by the suggestion that his wife is a lobbyist, one has to wonder what he did for all those years when she was working for the biggest lobbying firms in Washington DC."
2. Jon Walker comments angrily on the message from the White House that Democratic Senators should "do anything to pass a bill with the title of "health care reform," even if that "health care reform...helps almost no one for four years, will not lower drug prices, will not slow down the out-of-control growth of health care costs, will make most Americans health insurance worse, will leave millions uninsured, provide no competition for the insurance companies, and not end medical bankruptcy in this country." Getting excited yet?
4. Jon Walker argues that "Without the option of a government-run insurance entity or extremely tight regulations to guarantee everyone has access to quality, cost effective health insurance, an individual mandate is both immoral and bad policy." Other than that, it totally rocks! (snark)
6. Jon Walker points out that "Joe Lieberman has never made a secret about his desire to bring down the public option," and that "Harry Reid must have known this whole time that he would never get Joe Lieberman's magical 60th vote on a bill with a public option." The bottom line is that if "Reid had gone with reconciliation, Joe Lieberman would not be writing the bill as we speak." So why didn't he? Did he actually trust Joe Lieberman to do the right thing here? If so, all I can say is "wow, just wow."
7. Jane Hamsher says she agrees with Howard Dean's call to kill the Senate health care bill. Hamsher concludes: "If I wanted Joe Lieberman writing a health care bill, I would've voted for John McCain. Howard Dean is right. Kill LieberCare."
8. Jon Walker notes that "While everyone has been fretting about Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson has remained an equally big hurdle to get 60 votes for cloture." Believe it or not, even though Nelson "has already played a big role in removing the public option, preventing the bill from ending the anti-trust exemption for health insurance companies, and possibly killing the CLASS long term insurance program," he also wants abortion language that "will likely end up one of the biggest rollbacks of women's reproductive rights in a generation." In short, with Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?
9. Jane Hamsher reports that even though Byron Dorgan "had the votes to pass his drug reimportation amendment, which would have saved the public over $100 billion and the government $19 billion," it's not going to happen because...you guessed it, "Joe Lieberman says it can't be part of LieberCare!" So here's the bottom line choice for the White House and Harry Reid: either tell Joe Lieberman to take a hike and go to reconciliation, or pass a watered-down health care "reform" bill without its best, and also most popular, elements. I believe this is what's known in the vernacular as a "no brainer," but why does something tell me the great brains in Washington, DC won't be able to figure it out? On second thought, maybe it's not their brains as much as it's their spines, specifically their willingness to stand up to bullies like Joe Lieberman?
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Monday, December 14.
1. Jon Walker declares that "There is no longer a Democratic party in the United States Senate" and that "All the senators who were formally members of the Democratic party have switched to the Liebocratic Party." Yes, today was a frustrating day, to put it mildly.
2. Jon Walker reports that "health insurance stocks are up dramatically today after Joe Lieberman's threat to filibuster health care reform." Well, doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3. Michael Whitney asks everyone to sign the petition "asking Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) to call on Susan G. Komen for the Cure (@KomenfortheCURE) to dump Hadassah Lieberman as a compensated 'Global Ambassador.'"
4. Jon Walker believes that "[t]he White House's reaction to Joe Lieberman's repeated betrayals is to grant him completely and total power." Walker concludes, "This is a very dark day."
5. Jon Walker writes about "sausage-making at its most ugly," namely "Democrats filibustering their own [health care reform] bill to stop Republicans from voting for an amendment" on drug reimportation "that would blow up Obama's deal with PhRMA, possibly scuttling the whole bill." Is your head spinning yet?
6. David Dayen asks "When Will Democrats Embrace Reconciliation As The Only Path To A Health Care Bill?" Dayen adds, "Democrats in the leadership seem to be content to explore every alternative available before turning to reconciliation, but it looks to many like every avenue has already been traveled." Message to Democrats: if Republicans were in charge, they'd have gone to reconciliation or even "gone nuclear" a long time ago. And guess what? That's right, they would have passed their legislation. What a concept.
7. Gregg Levine wonders if the Senate health care bill has gotten so bad that it might not even be worth passing anymore. It will be very interesting to see how House Democrats react to what's happening in the Senate, whether there's a conference committee or not, and what happens in conference if there is one.
8. Finally, Jon Walker says that "With Joe Lieberman flip-flopping on his support of the early Medicare buy-in and [CBO director Doug] Elmendorf's decision to single-handedly sink the new MLR standard, almost every part of Reid's grand compromise is gone." Other than that, things are looking great right now! Or not. :(
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Friday, December 11.
1. Jon Walker says that the "'Medicare buy-in' idea might not really be Medicare at all, it might in fact be fake Medicare, one which "would lack almost all the benefits of Medicare." Walker adds, "A Medicare buy-in program that does not actually allow people to fully buy into real Medicare is a farce."
2. Jane Hamsher writes that Harry Reid, "who is solely responsible for crafting the bill that he introduced in the Senate, decided that there should be a limit on lifetime benefits." Meanwhile, "Reid is also manipulating procedure to keep the Dorgan drug reimportation amendment, which would save both the government and consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, from coming to a vote." Hamsher wonders why "Reid never uses the powers he has against Joe Lieberman."
3. Jon Walker believes that, "For the past few days, Obama and Reid have rather publicly fought against bringing down America's health care costs."
5. Jon Walker writes that Harry Reid has "quietly gutted one of the most important consumer protections in the bill, the ban on annual limits." Walker argues that by adding the "'unreasonable' qualifier {Reid} added is a loophole you can drive a school bus through." Jane Hamsher adds that the Department of Health and Human Services knew about this and even has been "quietly promoting" it for a while now.
6. Jon Walker reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has concluded that the "new excise tax on employer-provided health insurance will result in most people getting worse health insurance from their employer, insurance that covers less." Walker adds that if "this excise tax is the core of the plan to 'bend the cost curve,' it is a failure."
7. Jon Walker argues that the "reason Reid dropped the annual limit from the Senate bill was to make his bill appear cheaper in the CBO score, and make insurance premiums appear lower." "Of course," Walker points out, "eliminating the ban on annual caps makes a mockery of the entire idea of 'insurance.'"
8. Finally, Jon Walker has highlights of CMS' analysis of the Senate health care bill. Overall, Walker concludes, "the report is a mixed bag," with "very slightly higher" national health expenditures in 2019, but on the other hand it "shows a bad bill can still greatly expand insurance coverage without noticeably increasing our national health care spending." Ergo, Walker concludes, "Imagine what could be done with a good bill that is not full of massive corporate give aways."
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Thurssday, December 10.
1. Marta Evry says that Rep. Bart Stupak's New York Times op-ed is not harmless, as Stupak claims, but "would effectively ban reproductive choice services coverage in the exchanges." According to Evry, "We can't let that happen. We just can't." Evry urges that everyone join a "One Voice for Choice" phone bank or start one of your own: "It's easy, it's fun, and best of all, you will make a difference."
3. Jane Hamsher points out that Harry Reid claims he has no time for a House-Senate conference, but that he has time to attend a "$1,000 plus per plate fundraiser" this weekend. Hamsher encourages people to call likely Nevada Democratic voters and let them know what Reid is up to.
4. Jon Walker says that the Senate health care reform deal is actually "less a health care deal, more an agreement on vague parameters for a possible deal." As Walker notes, "It is always easier to reach agreement on vague ideas," but as "with all things in this health care reform effort, it will all come down to details, details, and more details."
5. Jon Walker believes that nobody should be "shocked when the Democratic base doesn't turn out in 2010." Walker asks, "Who would want to support a party" in which "a simple temper tantrum by Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, or Ben Nelson really cause the other roughly 300 elected Democrats in Washington to abandon every promise they made and every principle they claim to stand for?"
6. Jane Hamsher writes about Nancy Pelosi saying "that a bill without a public option is now possible in the House." Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, apparently isn't going to be one of those votes, as he told Mike Stark that "what the Senate is doing is effectively emasculating an opportunity to have a public option."
7. Jon Walker reports that Joe Lieberman, "the biggest champion of the health insurance industry in the Senate, will chair the committee that oversees [the OPM-run] 'alternative' to the public option." Can we say "foxes and henhouses?"
8. With signs that the Senate health care bill might just "ping pong" straight past the House of Representatives without a full conference between the two chambers, a frustrated Jon Walker asks, "Why Don't We Just Go A Step Further And Abolish The House?"
9. Jane Hamsher asks, "what kind of a platform we should ask Medicare for All candidates to agree upon?" Hamsher adds that "[i]f you'd like to volunteer to lead a search committee in your district for a single payer candidate, you can do it here."
10. Finally, check out Jane Hamsher on the Ed Show as she invites Progressives to recruit primary challengers for any "Democratic member of Congress [who] decides to support the corporatist agenda and vote for a health care bill that makes the insurance companies say 'we won.'"
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Wednesday, December 9.
1. Marta Evry points out that it's far too early to "fold up our tent and start our Christmas shopping early" with regard to protecting women's reproductive rights in health care reform legislation. Evry notes that, "so far, One Voice For Choice is the only campaign going on out there that's targeting the Stupak coalition of conservadems" on this issue. She encourages everyone to join a "One Voice for Choice" phone bank or start one of your own. Thanks.
2. Jane Hamsher says that "despite the fact that the country wants a public option, the President campaigned on one and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid both promised there would be one in the final bill, the woman who took $763,000 from health care interests for her upcoming Senate race is allowed to dictate what happens." And that woman's name is...you got it, Blanche Lincoln, who until recently claimed on her website that she supported "a quality, affordable public plan." And if you believe that one, I've got some awesome, low-priced private insurance I'd like to sell you. :)
3. Jon Walker writes that, at this point, "it is impossible to even evaluate this pile of vague ideas that may or may not be part of this 'deal.'" Walker concludes, "Fancy names like 'Medicare buy-in' sound good, but it could easily be worthless subterfuge, just like the trigger. I recommend everyone stay very skeptical and hold judgment for a day or two until we actually know what we are dealing with."
4. Jane Hamsher is incredulous that OFA is fundraising off of a health-care reform package that she sees as - to put it mildly - subpar.
5. Jon Walker warns Howard Dean that the "Medicare buy-in" he is talking about "might not at all resemble the Medicare buy-in that [he] wants." Or it might. The main thing right now is to "wait until you hear details" of this plan; until then, "we are simply chasing vapor."
6. Jane Hamsher urges everyone to sign a petition urging President Obama to "save the public option and make these statements more than mere campaign promises."
7. Jane Hamsher reports that she contacted Physicians for a National Health Program to see what they thought about lowering the Medicare age to 55. The response was that it "only works if it is mandatory...Otherwise it becomes the place where all the sickest patients get dumped."
8. Jon Walker asks, "Why Did Snowe Not Demand Giving Americans The Freedom To Buy Cheaper Drugs From Canada?" More broadly, Walker finds it "very unfortunate that Snowe decided to use her new-found power for evil instead of good."
9. Jon Walker notes results from a new Quinnipiac poll indicating strong support for a public option, "even as Senate Democrats look to kill the idea."
10. Jane Hamsher provides a timeline indicating longstanding support in the Obama administration for a "trigger," stating that this is "something that Rahm Emanuel has been fighting for all along."
2. Jon Walker writes, "As a substitute for the public option, this OPM exchange is worthless, but I strongly hope this OPM exchange is structured to at least help fix the terrible, state-regulation-gutting "nationwide plan" idea."
3. Jon Walker says that the "grand compromise possibly being discussed is frighteningly similar to my theoretical compromise, although it is noticeably weaker," and that "Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Senate Democrats could have saved themselves lot of heart burn by hiring me four months ago." Yes, but then what would they do with all the time they would have saved? Focus on the economy and jobs? Deal with climate change? Pass comprehensive immigration reform? Pass appropriations bills so that federal agencies don't have to operate for months on continuing resolutions? What ARE you thinking, Jon Walker? (snark)
5. Jon Walker explains how Medicare expansion can be "done right" ("Simply dropping the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 50 would help tens of millions of Americans, and be a win for progressives.") or "done bad" ("Conversely, I can imagine a convoluted set of restrictions that would prevent the proposal from helping basically anybody."). Unfortunately, Walker concludes, "it sounds like the negotiations are much closer to the latter than the former."
6. David Dayen reports that a motion by Barbara Boxer to table Ben Nelson's anti-abortion amendment has passed with 54 votes. According to Dayen, "So the question becomes, what now?" Good question.
2. Jane Hamsher says sarcastically that there's "[n]othing like having Joe Lieberman running the country." Except maybe John McCain or George W. Bush running the country?
4. Jon Walker warns that "Sen. Debbie Stabenow is prepared to kill the public option to make Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln happy." As I always say, anything to make Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln happy! (snark)
6. Jon Walker reports that "Senate Democrats are considering a possible early Medicare buy in for older Americans." Walker believes this proposal on its own could have merit, but "without more concrete details about exactly what the proposal is, I will not really know if it has value."
7. David Dayen believes it's possible there might not be a conference committee for health care reform, "with the House expected to accept whatever the Senate passes." Dayen believes this is ominous, particularly when one considers "the recent history of the credit card bill."
8. Finally, Jon Walker agrees with the health insurance industry that if "the Senate bill ends up like I fear: no public option, no serious regulation on insurance, no real medical loss ratio, very low insurance standards, and an individual mandate the private insurance companies will have truly won." Let's make sure that doesn't happen.
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Friday, December 4.
1. Jane Hamsher points to a new Mason-Dixon poll indicating that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid trails two potential GOP opponents. This doesn't make Hamsher particularly sad, to put it mildly, given that she believes Reid "is doing what he always intended to do - take the public option out of the bill."
2. Jon Walker warns that "unless we do health care right, every private sector union will be dead in nine years." The reason? "Manufacturing in this country will not expand or even survive as long as health care insurance is an ever-growing overhead cost," which means "there simply will not be a manufacturing sector to unionize." I'd add that there won't be a healthy economy in general if health care costs continue to rise and health care expenditures make up an ever-growing portion of our GDP.
3. Jon Walker has Part 5 of his series on "what the Senate bill does better." In this episode, we've got the fact that "the risk adjustment mechanisms in the Senate bill (page 226 - 238) are slightly better [than in the House bill]." Well, that's something at least. :)
4. Jane Hamsher announces that "Blue America is going to be working to get single payer candidates on the ballot in every Congressional district across the country." Also, "Tomorrow at noon ET, Blue America will host Jonathan Tasini, a long time single payer advocate who is running for the US Senate in New York." That should be interesting, check it out.
5. Jon Walker writes that he has been "watching the debate on health care reform for the past five days, and it is amazing how much time and effort the Republican party has dedicated to defending massive government waste and huge corporate giveaways." Walker is talking, of course, about Medicare Advantage, "a network of private plans that the government pays to provide Medicare-eligible seniors with health insurance instead of covering them with traditional Medicare." The problem is that "[a]s the result of a broken payment formula (put in place by the Republicans), the government overpays these private insurance companies by roughly 12%." It's a huge corporate giveaway, in other words, which certainly helps explain why Republicans are so enthusiastic about it!
7. Speaking of Blanche Lincoln, Jon Walker says that she's trying to "shake her corporate shill image with [a] faux-populist amendment," but that "it is unlikely that most insurance companies will even be affected by this amendment." Walker concludes, "Sorry Blanche, but no amount of meaningless symbolic amendments will change the fact that you are doing everything you can to defend the profits of the private insurance industry."
8. Finally, Jon Walker predicts that the Senate "like all entrenched institutions, will only change when there is a crisis." And, Walker believes, "[t]his is the perfect moment for the progressives to force the crisis needed to change how the Senate works." Walker believes that if this doesn't happen, it "will pretty much guarantee not a single piece of really progressive legislation is passed during Obama's presidency." On that cheery note, have a great weekend! :)
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Thursday, December 3.
1. Jon Walker reports that "Thomas Carper's terrible new "alternative" to a public option is not winning over progressives in the House," with Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona saying, "I think that compromise is totally unacceptable...It basically emasculates the public option." Jon Walker adds, "If there is a choice between Carper's worthless fig leaf and no public option at all, I would choose the latter." Yes, it's that bad.
2. Jon Walker writes about a report in Politico that " Snowe, Lincoln, and Landrieu have submitted an amendment that would effectively eliminate all state regulations concerning what insurance companies must cover." According to Jon Walker, "This is a very bad amendment that will make health insurance worse for millions and millions of Americans." Uh, guys? That's not what we mean by "reform."
3. Jon Walker reports that a new poll by Thomas Reuters finds that "59.9% of people favor reform containing a public option." In other words, the part of health care reform that's supposedly the most "controversial" is also the part which polls strongest among the American people. And we wonder why people are cynical about politics and politicians?
4. Michael Whitney asks for help to "raise money to make a big move against Harry Reid in his home state of Nevada." If you would like to contribute, please click here. Thanks.
5. Jon Walker reports that Sen. Barbara Mikulski's "relatively uncontroversial" amendment dealing with cost-sharing for women's preventive care passed earlier today by a vote of 61-39. Three Republicans (Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, David Vitter) voted yes, while two Democrats (Ben Nelson, Russ Feingold) voted no. Walker believes that "Vitter's yes vote is a big surprise," but that perhaps he is "hurting with women in his re-election polls." Apparently, the diaper and prostitutes weren't bad enough to lose him a chance at reelection. Sigh.
6. Jon Walker remarks that Sen. Mary Lasndrieu (D-LA) "has created the unholy grail of terrible gimmicks meant to cripple the public option...a several-year-delayed, triggered, state-based, non-public co-op limited to the exchange option." This may sound funny in a way, but according to Jon Walker, "If Senate Democrats think they can pass a bill forcing Americans to buy extremely expensive junk insurance from for-profit corporations, with only the vague promise that possibly, after five more years of abuse, they might get the to choose a completely unworkable, state-based, non-public 'alternative,' they are in for a rude awakening."
2. Jon Walker reports on Day #3 of the Senate "debate" on health care reform, with not "a single vote on any amendment." Given this snail's pace, Walker concludes that a final vote by Christmas is "highly unlikely."
3. Jon Walker says we can "get ready for Carper's non-public non-triggered co-op non-option." Walker believes that Carper's proposal "will serve none of the goals of the public option, and will be completely worthless." Other than that, he loves it. :)
4. Jon Walker writes about Republicans spending the last three days "defending the massively wasteful corporate giveaway to private insurance companies," also known as the Medicare Advantage program. According to Walker, you "can't be a defender of the broken Medicare Advantage program and still be a fiscal conservative." And yet Republicans will do just that and claim to be fiscal conservatives. Of course, these are the same people who racked up much of our national debt, so what else would you expect from them?
5. Jon Walker notes that "Ben Nelson is currently threatening to filibuster reform if it does not contain a version of the anti-choice Stupak amendment." Of course, as Walker points out, "for months now, Reid has had the option of using reconciliation to pass a decent bill without the Stupak language and with a public option." Apparently, that would be too easy.
6. Jon Walker believes that "Democrats made a huge mistake not pushing the bill through months ago using reconciliation" and that now, having failed to do so - and given Republican obstructionism and delaying tactics - "this is going to be an extremely long debate." So, pull up a chair, grab some popcorn, and "enjoy" (or, more likely, not)! :)
7. Finally, Jon Walker advises that we should not "confuse capitulation with compromise" when it comes to the public option, especially since a "handful of conservative Democrats" -- Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Mary Landrieu -- "have all the power." What's that saying again about Democracy being the worst system ever invented, except for all the other ones?
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Tuesday, December 1.
1. Jon Walker has some advice "for every potential manufacturer and transnational company looking to expand...don't start a single business-or expand an existing one-in this country until we really try to rein in health care costs." Walker elaborates, "As a nation, we will not be able to compete going forward if we are spending upwards of an extra $6,000 on our workers health care compared to Germany, Japan, Canada, the UK, etc." But wait, aren't those all "socialist" countries? (snark)
2. Jon Walker takes issue with Peter Orszag's assertion that "basically everything that has been put forward in health policy discussions for a decade is in this [health care reform] bill." To the contrary, Walker writes, "This is not true at all, and Orszag knows it. The Senate bill does not even contain many of health care reforms championed by Obama on the campaign trail last year." The result, in Walker's view, is that the "bill does not do is take the serious steps that could reduce our national health expenditures by trillions of dollars in this country."
3. Jon Walker argues that "We will never see a Washington not run by lobbyists until we make a commitment to hiring sufficient numbers of highly qualified staffers committed to doing the job long term." Excellent point.
4. Jane Hamsher reminds us that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) "wasn't always so enamored of Medicare Advantage," a program "which Jon Walker recently said 'may have the dubious distinction of being the biggest and most wasteful form of corporate welfare in the country.'" Wait a minute, a Republican is being a liar and a hypocrite? I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you! :)
5. Jon Walker writes that even Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), author of the terrible "non-public triggered co-op" idea, says that "the decision to add his worthless idea to the bill is completely up to Harry Reid."
6. Continuing his series of "what the Senate bill does better," Jon Walker points to SCHIP, which will be eliminated under the House bill but, "[t]hanks in large part to the efforts of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)," will remain intact under the Senate bill. According to the CBO, "maintaining the SCHIP program would be roughly $15 billion cheaper than eliminating the program and moving the children into the new exchange." Can we say "no brainer" on this one?
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Monday, November 30.
1. To put it mildly, Jon Walker believes that the Urban Institute's new report "endorsing the idea of a super-hard trigger for a robust Medicare-style public option" is off base. Walker argues that the idea of a "magical robust theoretically super-awesome trigger" is "purely a fantasy of health care wonks that does not have a prayer of ever becoming law." And Walker has a great punchline to all this, apparently riffing off of Prince's "When Doves Cry": "This is what it sounds like when veal moos." Wow, what did Jon Walker eat for Thanksgiving anyway? LOL
2. Jane Hamsher argues that the opt-out provision "was a trojan horse, championed by liberals who were negotiating against themselves," and that in the end, it failed to pick up a single Republican vote. Now, we're going to get the same charade with "the sequel, 'The Return of Trigger,' starring the Urban Institute and other featured players." Something tells me this is a sequel we don't want to see, but may be forced to anyway.
3. Jon Walker has some good news, "What The Senate Bill Does Better, Part 3: Starts With Greater Access To The Exchange."
4. I've got a post pointing to excellent framing by The Pennsylvania Progressive, who writes, "Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana says we should stop reforming health care so we can concentrate on killing Afghans...killing is a higher priority than healing." Wow, it sounds so...Republican!
5. Jane Hamsher asks, "Why Continue to Fight For a Public Option?" The answer: "The public option battle has become a proxy war over who controls government, whether Congress has the slightest responsibility to reflect the will of the public, whether Democrats from Obama on down can just casually abandon their campaign promises in the wake of unrelenting influence peddling and whether progressives are going to take a stand for something and refuse to back down." Those sure sound like fighting words to me.
6. Jon Walker riffs off of an article by Ezra Klein which argues, "If you had tuned in six months ago for 10 minutes, you would have had all the information necessary to predict exactly where we'd be today." Walker concludes that the Senate "just spent almost half a year working on health care reform, and didn't accomplish anything that couldn't have been done in three weeks if they were a functioning legislative body." In other words, health care reform could have been completed last spring, leaving Congress free to turn to other matters, like...uh, the economy perhaps? Clean energy and climate legislation? Comprehensive immigration reform? A million other things? Nah, much better to have spent the better part of a year negotiating against ourselves and chasing the ever-elusive "bipartisan" support. Great.
7. Jon Walker live blogs the Senate debate over health care reform, which began at 3 pm earlier today.
8. Jon Walker summarizes the new CBO report on the Senate health care bill and its effect on premiums, writing that "reform would do basically nothing to reduce or increase premiums for most Americans." According to Walker, this will largely keep U.S. health care costs "nearly twice as high as any other industrialized nation," an outcome that "should not be a surprise" given the "sweetheart deals with all the concerned health industries." And on that happy note...
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for "Black Friday" (November 27).
1. On Wednesday, Jane Hamsher asked, "Why is HCAN Defending Blanche Lincoln From A Primary Challenge?" The answer: "[HCAN] will continue to operate as part of the Democratic party infrastructure, try to kill primary challengers and move to protect their 'own.' And that means Blanche Lincoln. If health care reform happens in the meantime, well, what a happy coincidence." Or "unhappy," as the case may be.
2. Yesterday, Jane Hamsher wrote about "The PR Push That Helped PhRMA Buy the Government." Included in "Government" are "the 42 members of Congress who helpfully inserted lobbyist language into the Congressional Record in favor of endless patents on biologic drugs on behalf of the prescription drug industry." So nice of those 42 members of Congress, huh?
3. Jane Hamsher wonders, "How is Newt Gingrich Not a Lobbyist?", and concludes that the "definition of 'lobbyist' seems a bit too flexible to prohibit the biggest of the professional influence peddlers from getting their claws in." Not that we'd ever think Newt Gingrich had claws or anything. Heh.
4. Jon Walker provides "13 very specific proven solutions" for OMB Director Peter Orszag, who had "defended the Senate health care reform bill's minor cost-control measure" by suggesting that critics had no ideas of their own for controlling costs. Among the 13 ideas Walker presents: "Turn all health insurances companies into non-profits;" "Allow Medicare to directly negotiate lower drug prices;" "create a much stronger risk adjustment mechanism [on the new exchanges];" and "Create a robust public option that can use Medicare rates and Medicare's provider network." I believe the ball is now in your court, Mr. Orszag! :)
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Tuesday, November 24.
1. Jon Walker explains "the difference between really trying and pretending to try" by Majority Leader Harry Reid on the public option. Walker quotes Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal, who writes, "Maybe Mr. Reid plans to push as far as he can with a bill including a public option, to show his party he has done all humanly possible, before yanking the public option just before the whole effort goes off a cliff." The problem for Reid, though, is that such a maneuver is not likely to fool anyone. Or, as Walker puts it, "his party's base will not buy it." So much for that idea.
2. Jon Walker has the second part of his series on what the Senate health care bill does better: "the Cantwell basic health program," which Walker argues "is much closer to how sensible countries have designed their regulated health insurance marketplace or exchange." Wait, we're gonna start being "sensible" now? Ha.
3. David Dayen predicts that immigration could become a new sticking point for health care reform legislation, with "Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a key ally of Barack Obama's from Illinois, [saying] today that he would find it 'extremely difficult if not impossible' to vote for a health care bill that included the restrictive and discriminatory measure on undocumented immigrants that appears in the Senate's version and has the White House's support." If it's not one thing, it's another...
4. Scarecrow explains why there needs to be a viable public option, arguing that "[w]ithout it, health insurance reform will be just a very bad, very foolish, and very expensive experiment - and clearly not the platform Democrats should want in 2010."
5. Jon Walker asks, "Is PhRMA Afraid Of The Progressive Block?" The question is prompted by the fact that PhRMA is running ads in Connecticut urging Joe Lieberman to support the current Senate bill. Verrrry interesting.
6. Michael Whitney points to a powerful new video contrasting Blanche Lincoln vowing on the Senate floor to oppose a public option with thousands of uninsured Arkansans in Little Rock for a free health care clinic. It's powerful stuff, and if you'd like to help us run the ads, please click here. Thanks.
7. Finally, Jon Walker compares the Senate filibuster to a game of "Shoots and Ladders" with "made up rules." Walker concludes that "Senate Democrats have to decide if keeping their fun, made up rules is more important to them than helping millions of Americans in need." Why does something tell me they're going to go with the "fun, made up rules?" Sigh.
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Monday, November 23.
1. Yesterday, Jon Walker took on Nate Silver, who "believes progressives should trade the public option away, but what he wants in return is far more useless and an even tougher political battle."
2. Jane Hamsher says it all "comes down to a simple question: will Harry Reid allow for majority rule? Or will he let corrupt members of his own caucus block a majority of the public and Congress who want a public option?" Hamsher urges everyone to sign the petition to Harry Reid to pass the public option.
3. Jon Walker writes that Sen. Blanche Lincoln "is willing to force tens of millions of Americans to pay higher premiums for the small possibility it could gain her some political advantage," and that this constitutes "the trifecta of awfulness." For those keeping score at home, that's a lot of awfulness! :)
4. Jon Walker points out "what a difference a serious primary challenge can make." Specifically, "{Sen. Michael} Bennet is currently facing a serious primary challenge from Andrew Romanoff, while {Sen. Blanche} Lincoln is not currently facing a primary challenge." Walker concludes, "It is amazing how quickly a serious primary challenger turns a senator into a reliable vote on the important issues." Sounds like we need a lot more primary challenges from real progressives.
5. Speaking of progressives, Jon Walker argues that "you can't be a progressive and support the filibuster," which he calls "a tool to thwart the will of the people" and "the great maintainer of the status quo." It's not like the filibuster is in the Constitution or anything, it's just an internal Senate rule, and those rules can be changed. Is there any good reason not to change it?
6. Jon Walker warns that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) may be "jumping on the trigger bandwagon." Even if he's well intentioned, the problem is that any trigger in this case will likely "be designed to make sure it is never pulled, so there will never be a public option." Obviously, that's not an outcome we - or hopefully Sen. Menendez - find acceptable.
7. Jon Walker analyzes "what the Senate bill does better," focusing in this post on the "waiver For state innovation." Given many progressives' frustration at this point, it's good to know that the Senate bill "is not all bad," as Walker puts it.
8. Finally, Jason Rosenbaum reiterates that "triggers are nothing but a plan to kill the public option." Other than that, they're a greeeeeeaaat idea. (snark)
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Friday, November 20.
1. Jon Walker asks, "Is Harry Reid Laying The Ground Work To Betray Progressives For Snowe's Vote?" In the end, Walker concludes, "Reid does have the power to get a public option passed, there is no good excuse for failure." Cool, so don't fail! :)
2. Jon Walker says that "the crack team of reporters at the Washington Post don't know how to read" and that they "make the ridiculous claim that the public option would not be able to keep down costs." Other than that, they totally know what they're talking about. Heh.
3. Jon Walker discusses why the House bill is much more "small c" conservative than the Senate bill. In short, the House bill "would do a better job of maintaining a health care system similar to the one we currently have" and the "reason for this is the employer mandate."
4. David Dayen reports that "Ron Wyden has reached agreement with the leadership to get an amendment into the bill which would allow as many as 1 million additional individuals who get health care from their employers to participate on the insurance exchanges, including selecting the public option." Dayen believes that this could "lead to significant changes in the current health system by expanding the risk pool in the exchanges, strengthening them, and setting a precedent for moving away from the employer-based system." The Republicans' worst nightmare, in other words.
5. David Dayen reports that Bill Clinton told FDL's Eve Gittelson that it would be problematic for him to attend a free medical clinic being held in Little Rock, Arkansas tomorrow because MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had 'politicized" the event.'" Huh?
6. David Dayen says that while "{e}veryone's talking about the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and their imposition into the legislative debate over health care, particularly abortion," the there's also their "opposition to a restrictive provision in the Senate bill that would ban undocumented immigrants from purchasing health insurance on the exchange with their own money." Go Catholic Bishops on this one!
7. Jon Walker asks, "Why Does The Senate Bill Create Two Exchanges?" The answer: "I have been unable to find a good reason why the decision was made to create two separate marketplaces." Well, that's comforting! :)
8. Finally, tomorrow (Saturday) at 8pm eastern time is the big vote to proceed to debate on health care reform legislation in the U.S. Senate. We'll see how it goes, but there's little doubt that conservadems love their leverage in this process. Thrilling, no?
Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Thursday, November 19.
1. Jon Walker lays out "eight things wrong with the Senate health care bill," beginning with "Delays Start Until 2014" and including "Nationwide Plans Gutting State Regulation." Definitely a few things that need to be fixed here.
2. Jane Hamsher has a statement from FDL on the Senate health care bill. The statement concludes, "If Harry Reid truly cares about fighting for the good of the country over the good of Wellpoint, he will immediately dispense with the opt-out and move to reconciliation and allow a majority in the Senate to deliver to Americans what they want and desperately need." Unfortunately, it doesn't appear at the moment that Reid is so inclined.
4. Jon Walker identifies the "most frightening line in the CBO report," regarding risk adjustment mechanisms in the Senate bill that are "dangerously weak." According to Walker, "that might not sound scary, but that line should strike fear in the hearts of any health care policy expert." Find out why by clicking here.
5. Jon Walker writes that "at the request of AHIP, [the] Senate bill guts state health insurance regulations." Walker says that this "is a dramatic move by the federal government, forcing states to deregulate their health insurance markets," and that it could "gut state health insurance regulations and create a race to the bottom." Other than that, it's great! (snark)
6. Jon Walker examines the House and Senate health care bills and concludes that the House bill is 12% more cost-effective than the Senate bill.
7. Jon Walker analyzes "how the Senate abortion language differs from Stupak". In short, the Stupak amendment "would make it practically impossible for any insurance provider to offer abortion coverage on the exchange for a variety of financial and legal reasons."
8. Jane Hamsher contrasts Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) "hold[ing] health care...hostage" while Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter "brings Olbermann clinics to Arkansas." Quite a contrast.
9. Finally, Jon Walker reports that, "{l}ike a monster in some B horror movie," Tom Carper is now working with Olympia Snowe "to bring back the trigger, which [Carper] has comically named the 'hammer.'" The hammer? What, is this named after Tom DeLay or something? Weird.
Here are the 
