Americans, Not Washington, Will Determine Health Care. So Where's the Grassroots Movement?

When President Obama takes his case for health care to the American people tonight, his job is this: re-energize the large base of Americans who were adamant about the issue a year ago.

Senator Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi can talk about health care until they are blue in the face, but only a contract between the President and the people will lead to meaningful reform. As the Congressional Budget Office spelled out last Friday, Congress isn't there yet in drafting cost-effective legislation. Perhaps the numerous groups with a vested interest in turning a profit have too much influence. Or perhaps Congress isn't thinking outside of the box. One thing is for sure: if the legislation is as ambitious as the 1993 Clinton legislation, a backlash will occur. That was a primary reason for the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress after Democrats ruled the Hill for 40 years.

But Democratic proposals on the Hill don't show the fiscal discipline or push-back against the powerful forces that make up the current non-system of unlimited corporate profits on the backs of people seeking care. Republicans don't want the same scale of reform as Democrats, but have a vested interested in passing some form of health care legislation: they can't go home to their constituents empty-handed and expect to get re-elected in 2010 and 2012. Most Americans want cheaper, better coverage, and do not want to be part of the 60% of people whose personal bankruptcy occurs because of an uncovered illness or accident.

Independents are a good test of whether legislation goes too far. Washington Post-ABC and Gallup polls show a clear pattern here: The bills on the Hill are not refined or targeted enough. They need a red pen and clear priorities. An emergency stimulus bill may not have created a huge public outcry, but health care entitlement with long-term unfunded costs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security is a prescription for trouble. As it is, Medicare becomes insolvent in 2050.

Republicans can't get traction so far on gridlock. Public appetite for a party of no isn't there. Stimulus bills and Sotomayor are evidence of that. But health care is different. The best way for the Administration to achieve its goals on health care is to give Congress unambiguous guidance on what the legislation should include, and what should be left out. That requires tough choices and guts. It requires what Obama promised in the campaign: standing up to lobbyists and special interest groups to work the best interest of the only folks who should count on this issue: a health care system that benefits citizens at the cost of any other interest.

As Obama also said in his campaign, change comes from the people. He can't do it alone. If he loses this battle, it will be easy but wrong to blame Washington. If Americans want health care reform, they have to ask for it loudly. Demonstrations, letters, petitions, and visibility is the way Americans have ended wars, created civil rights legislation, and had their voices heard on issues of every type. Without that kind of civic action, meaningful reform will be defined by the powers in Washington, not the power of the people.

Comments

[Crumbx]

"As it is, Medicare becomes insolvent in 2050". 2050? I thought that was Social Security, not Medicare. Medicare becomes insolvent in 2015. And Congress's solution? Cut funding to Medicare. The employers and employees and the few able to afford individual policies already subsidize Medicare by charging the former more to make up for the low reimbusement rates of the latter. When will this madness end? You have 40 Senators that are philosophically opposed to Medicare to begin with. Perhaps we need a generation (particiularly the Baby Boomers) to get a taste of what it was like before Medicare, i.e. the children had to sign agreements to pay for the hospitalization of their elderly parents. . We'd get some action quickly if the hospitals were willing to leave their parents in the emergency room until they signed on the dotted line for promises to pay them, like 1964.

[hsr0601]

Let’s score this SECRET, KEY and GAME CHANGER first, CBO !

The House leaders reached a deal on Medicare payments: A "Pay for Value" reimbursement system that rewards doctors and hospitals that achieve the best outcomes at the lowest cost.

As a result, The House gained a lot of votes, a lot of people who were withholding support.

The federal Medicare program insures some 44 million elderly and disabled Americans at an annual cost of $450 billion, almost one-fifth of total U.S. health care spending.

Supporters of the agreement say it could save the Medicare System more than $100 billion a year and improve care, that means $1trillian over a decade. (Please visit http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=820455&catid=391 for detailed infos)
The Times in a July 7 editorial argued “As much as 30 percent of all health-care spending in the U.S. -some $700 billion a year- may be wasted on tests and treatments that do not improve the health of the recipients,” Thus the remaining $239 billions over a decade do not matter.

And private insurance, too, will be greatly influenced by this change with the focus on value over volume. !

Dr. Armadio says, "If we got rid of that stuff, we save a third of all that we spend and that is 2.5 trillion dollars on health care. A third of that and that is 700 billion dollars a year. That covers a lot of uninsured people."

[Chazet2]

I see people daily who have had the rug pulled out from under them. Their anger and frustration could serve to fuel positive change. So who will stand up and lead?
There are thousands and thousands who are unemployed, who have had health care taken away from them, not by callous employers, but employers who had to choose between offering healthcare or keeping the doors open.
Many are even today losing their jobs to overseas suppliers while their companies get aid to stay in business from the federal government. They feel betrayed twice. Anger becomes helplessness when the institutions that you trust talk, but deliver no solutions, perhaps even make the situation worse, including the President. So who will lead?
Its easy to find excuses for not acting, but leaders are those who can effectively channel enough initiative in a society to make change happen. So who will lead?
I know that most of us will stand on the sidelines and let others do the heavy lifting. That is human nature here and everywhere. Great potential will be wasted as we stand on the sidelines and speak the truth with indignation, only to be quietly victimized. So who will lead?

[donnajr]

it is called the free market, Jenny. not govt. owned.

[escorpion]

Evidently, "free market" means a place where insurers are "free" to raise rates without reason or notice; where they're "free" to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions; or where millions of people are completely "free" of health care coverage because they lost their jobs or their employers couldn't afford to cover them. I wonder if you'd still be so enraptured with your "free market" if any of these things should, God forbid, happen to you or a loved one?

[spirithaven]

It really is "we the people" and it seems to me that there is a push to "make it as complecated as possible with fear, not facts". I hope that this does not happen as we are paying for greed in healthcare now.

We can do it now. The lobbysists and other individuals profiting from the situations happening need to be stopped. In one comment made and I did not write it down as to who said it but we, the american people, didn't have the education in real matters and unless they got the education, back off and "they" with the financial education would keep taking care of the problems.

That is what got us here, keeps us stuck, and makes us always being abused. Fight back.

[Torita]

"Where's the grassroots movement?!" It's called "Change that Works" - google it. You don't have to look very far - just maybe outside the walls of your own think tank. I was recently at a major health care rally in Portland, Maine that they sponsored and we had at least 500 people (the largest health care rally in Maine history - it is, you know, Maine, and 500+ people is a big crowd for up here), and there were people joining our march from off of the sidewalks and walking/chanting with us as we took over the downtown area on our route. At that rally, Senator Olympia Snowe made a public statement endorsing some type of public option to ensure affordable health care for all Americans, and now she's retracted it. The people of Maine are far from apathetic, and I'm sure other states are the same. Congress KNOWS how badly the vast majority of American people want and need health care reform, they are just cowards. They rubber stamped the war, and now they're doing everything they can to stymie real reform. It is so easy to get involved , just go find an organization that's involved in this issue and do it! We can't let them screw us on this issue - the insurance lobby must not win.

[TheStreamAlwaysWins]

Health Reform is needed now!
Sometimes when I hear chatter based on no real-world examples I wonder what world do these people live in. Talk to nurse, especially those who serve mostly people who earn less than say $70,000 annually. I see it every day: The man who refuses to go home after being discharged because he cannot afford his meds; the twenty year old who delay coming to hospital because he works part time but being diabetic with a sore may have to lose a foot; the high rates of decaying teeth because an extraction costs anywhere from $150 to $210.
These are Southerners who feel that the "government health care is bad".
As a nurse, you look past the fear and beg then to stay in the hospital, make use of the care, educate them on how to take care of themselves. The $10,000 hospital be damned. Who pays? The other person coming in pays the inflated costs to cover the one who is working but unable to get health care. Is this smart?

[TylerRose]

There is going to be a single-payers health insurance rally in Washington D.C. on July 30 for all who wants to go or help others go to speak for you. Link:

http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally/

It is obvious that Congress is not acting on behalf of the American people and is using their elected power to pander to the rich insurance companies and fight against the President for political points so we, the American people, need to remind all of them who they work for - US!!!! Spread the word.

[Jennifer Donahue - Huffpost Blogger]

It seems as if reading and writing blogs has become a form of activism in itself but escapes media attention. It is a powerful dialogue and perhaps the next phase of journalism, but MSM does not see the medium as reliable and measurable. Perhaps also the media needs a visual of people protesting, and the internet as a tool of social expression is not made for pictures or cameras.

[minerva117]

Back in 2003, the MSM managed to IGNORE millions of protesters around the world, as people, not just Americans, tried to stop the folly of the Iraq war. Bush called the protesters a "focus group" and the MSM in its infinite wisdom, did not challenge the comment.

[PStefano]

I believe the discussions of politicians is only part of the story. Letters to the editor, public rallies etc. need to occur in massive numbers. The call for reform has to be overwhelming and become the news story itself.

[lwaxanatroi]

Sorry, but you're wrong. Not about what it will take to reform health care; in this I am in total agreement. But I live in California, home of the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. What the initiative and the referendum do is take the complex business of lawmaking and outsource it to the voters--with disastrous results. Of course, the people and what they want are paramount in a democracy, but as we all know, the devil's in the details. Details matter, and masses of people are simply not capable, en masse, of dealing with the details. This is why we have elected representatives whose job it is to take the incohate "here's what I want" and turn it into workable laws. I think we have a pretty decent sense already of what this country needs health-care-wise and what most people want. Parsing out the details in a too-inclusive, too-public way is going to lead to as much of a disaster as Hillary's closed-door dealing did.

Because, keep in mind, the scattered voters and their attention span, their knowledge of the issues, their ability to focus on one tiny part of the whole (abortion) and kill the whole thing over it are not shared by the the other side. Those profiting from the current state of our health care system are in no doubts about what they want.

You're asking a herd of cats--nay, kittens--to go up against a wolf pack.

[angeljc]

What has held me back on this issue is the fact that while supporters and opponents alike point to the $1 Trillion price tag (over ten years) and the $500 Billion will come from savings and $500 Billion from taxes on the "Rich". No one has an answer to the question "What if the estimates are wrong?" What happens if the $500 Billion expected savings only comes in at $200 Billion? Where will that other $300 Billion come from?

Also, what about the costs and needed revenue in year 11 and beyond? How will those numbers balance? How will the current commitments of Medicare in 11+ years be met?

Personally I would welcome a solid, public health insurance plan if I knew (and was comfortable with) the answers to these questions.

[TN60]

Were you comfortable with the 3 Trillion wars that Bush started? That's what it will add up to when we rebuild our military and equipment. Were you uncomfortable when the Republicans hid the real costs by adding them as an off line item from the budget?

Real reform will save enough in waste in the Health Industry to pay part and just what, in the name that is holy, is wrong with the rich start paying their fair share of taxes since they have had 30 years of the "old trickle down"mantra and syphoned off all the revenue in this country.

Who cares what it costs. You have been listening to Faux news too much.

[pfrogger]

you're uncomfortable? well, I'm sorry you are uncomfortable.
millions without health insurance, thousands of them die each year due to not having healthcare.
millions WITH insurance going bankrupt. so what good was the insurance?
insurance companies deny coverage, ie. ration care, override a doctor's medical opinion, and if you have a serious medical issue, they are legally allowed to dump you immediately so they don't have to pay, even if you paid premiums regularly for years. it's called rescission, and it's legal.

but you're uncomfortable by vague numbers? every other industrialized country has a universal healthcare and they pay less per capita than we do by at least a half, and they have better healthcare for ALL. think about it. if you have to pay 12000 - 16000 per family per year in premiums, which are rising every year and killing small businesses, or 5000 per family per year in health taxes, which would you choose?

this is just an example, but it will always be cheaper to be in a national plan, and you will never be denied coverage even with preexisting conditions. no private plan will promise that. they do the opposite.

[angeljc]

pfrogger, TN60:

Thank you for your responses.

I understand the arguments you make and I don't disagree with any of the statements you make (other than "Who cares what it costs", I think we all should care what it costs).

However, I didn't see an answer to the original question I posed. "What if the estimates are wrong?" What are the consequences to all of us if we don't get enough savings and we don't raise enough tax revenue? Will we continue to borrow? Raises taxes more? Reduce payments to providers?

As I said originally, I would welcome a public insurance plan if a straight answer could be delivered on what contingencies would be in place to deal with either shortfalls in savings or revenues (or both).

[TN60]

I'm, ready,willing and able to go anywhere at any time to take to the streets and march for health reform, real single payer health reform, real robust public option reform, real put the insurance and drug companies out of business reform. This particular time is the first time in many years that I have been free of responsibilities so that I could march.

I must get 10 emails a day from various progressive institutions and others that ask me to sign a letter, the next is asking for donations. No one mentions a really big march on Washington or NY or LA for health reform.

No one yet has said, be at a certain place and we are going to show these corrupt congressmen/women that we mean business.

I'm old enough to remember the Veitnam War marches, the civil rights marches and somehow this time the American people want to sit on their butts and not help this President.

We are the ones who can make a difference. If we are not willing to raise some H..E..L..L then I guess we don't want it bad enough.

[dayala]

THANK YOU!

my exact sentiments, I'm tired of the emails telling me to call/write/email my reps and give $$$.
I have a job and healthcare but I may not be so lucky in 6 months or next years...it's time to ratchet up the stakes and take to the streets.

I remember the V-War marches in the '60's...come on people...where's that fire!

[TylerRose]

There is going to be a single-payers health insurance rally in Washington D.C. on July 30 for all who wants to go or help others go to speak for you. Link:

http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally/

It is obvious that Congress is not acting on behalf of the American people and is using their elected power to pander to the rich insurance companies and fight against the President for political points so we, the American people, need to remind all of them who they work for - US!!!! Spread the word.

[Jennifer Donahue - Huffpost Blogger]

What I don't understand is how the largest generation in the history of the country, the boomers, making up 79 million Americans, changed their ways so much since the 1960s and 1970s. Not that other generations have not been active in advancing issues they believe in, but that willingness to get out and rally defined the boomers. So what made them stop? And how is it that they didn't pass their example on to their children, a generation of 54 million people who turned out for Obama but do not seem to feel empowered on a civic level.

[Saxton]

My sister protested against Vietnam and I remember that the news organizations were not afraid to cover the horrors of the war or the protests - it seems there were some journalists and news organizations that did not pander to the corporate elites who found the war to be very profitable. Plus the sight of body bags being displayed on the evening news and on the front cover of major newspapers also told the story of what was happening.
Having family overseas living in Europe and in Canada they shake their heads at the inability of this country to put forth an effective universal health care plan for all Americans and how corporate profit overshadows the value of human life.
Americans have grown complacent and the act of protesting has been relegated to extremist groups that exist on the political and social fringe of society and are portrayed as too radical and not to be taken seriously.

[Mnemanth]

I love the "sign here...with your donation" business. Organized religion, lobbying groups, unions, etc... there's no end to the "special interest groups" out there, purporting to be working for "real Americans!" Meanwhile, it appears they spend an aweful lot of money on expensive clothes, cars, homes, buildings, and beaurocracy...just to come back looking for your next donation.
Too funny.

[Mnemanth]

"Americans, not Washington..."
I stopped with you headline. Sorry.
Maybe you're a little out of touch. American's have been voicing their desires for some time now, and Washington decides policy not based on those desires, but rather on the desires of their corporate sponsors.
We, the informed and observant sector of this nation, are disillusioned and a bit frightened. The idea that the average American has a say in steering our country is way outdated, and it's about time the facade was dropped and the truth just thrown out there.
Americans will not decide on health care policy. The health care industry will decide health care policy.
Thank you.

[TN60]

I guess I agree with you, and silly me still clings to the idea that Americans banding together can get things done. But, alas, the loons who will vote on this reform bill are more interested in someone's birth certificate or if the President meets his Waterloo. Sigh !!

[Mnemanth]

Americans banding together? I'd love to see it, and can only hope that country-wide protestations, uprisings, and demands for service from public servants- illustrated in other countries world wide- will be an example for America.
Now, if we could just kick this national apathy....