Democrats: Stop Kissing Elephant Trunk and Reform Health Insurance Right

The meeting got testy. Voices rose last Thursday among Democrats over differences in the Senate Finance and Health committee versions of insurance reform.

Max Baucus defended his committee's bill, voted out last week with one Republican, but lacking a public option and burdening the middle class. He said, according to reports by Sen. Evan Bayh:

"We are doing the best we can."

Maybe Baucus is doing the best he can, considering the fact that his committee, in search of Republican support, has been kissing elephant trunk so long it doesn't know which end is up.

Democrats must stop appeasing elephants whose intent, frankly, is to squash health care reform. Dems have a supermajority in the Senate. They have the support of the American people for health insurance reform - with the latest polls showing more than 60 percent back the public option. And the power of opponents is waning, as last week's failed attempt by the insurance lobbying organization America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to scuttle the Senate Finance Committee bill showed.

On Tuesday, as the Senate Finance Committee moved toward a vote, Baucus admonished:

"Colleagues, this is our opportunity to make history. Our actions here will determine whether we extend coverage to more Americans . . . Now is the time to get this done."

That's all true. Except there's one more thing: it must be done right. There's no "best we can" when Democrats have a supermajority in the Senate and massive popular support for reform.

Right includes a public option. This is crucial to lower costs. Don't take my word for it. Take that of Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. He noted in his Oct. 16 column in the New York Times that AHIP objected to the public option because the public plan officials would negotiate for better prices. "Isn't that an argument for, not against, such a plan?" Krugman asked. The public option, which is offered in the Senate Health Committee bill and House versions of reform, would create competition where there is none. Competition would drive down costs, which have risen exponentially, inexorably and annually - prompting too many companies to drop coverage for workers or increase fees and co-pays to the point where coverage is unaffordable.

The right way means passing reform without burdening the middle class. The Baucus bill smacks a 40 percent tax beginning in 2013 on plans valued at $8,000 for individuals or $21,000 for families, with some adjustments. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that this would quickly affect 40 percent of all plans. Officially, this tax would be levied on insurers, but there's no question that they would pass that cost forward to the insured- further hiking up the price of insurance. The House legislation offers a much better approach - a surcharge on millionaires. They've gotten eight years of huge tax breaks under the Bush administration. It's time for them to give a little back.

The right way also means that all employers must pay their share of costs. More than 160 million Americans receive health insurance as a benefit at work, but more than $1,000 of the cost of those family plan premiums goes to cover the cost of the uninsured. And those uninsured are mostly people whose employers fail to provide health insurance. The only way to apportion these costs fairly is to require employers to provide health insurance or, alternatively, contribute a meaningful sum toward the cost of workers' coverage.

The right way to reform does not penalize individuals who cannot afford to obtain coverage more than employers. Health care reform must ease the burden on workers and families, not worsen it.

Baucus is correct about one thing. This is an historic moment. But the "best we can" must include the public option. It must mandate that employers pay their fair share of costs. And it must not further burden workers. Forget the elephants and serve the Americans desperate for real health insurance reform.

Comments

[bruja]

Gerard of the USW is correct. It is past time for the Democrats to take a firm stand and do health care right. Baucus and the other turncoat Democrats need a swift kick in the backside with the garbage they have so far put forth. The AFL-CIO, at their recent convention, endorsed single payer. That is the correct choice. The health insurance industry can provide supplemental coverage to a universal basic plan that covers all Americans. No one would lose that much and it is a simple, logical fix. It would help the US be more competitive in the new global economy. What part of that is difficult for Congress, the far right, the Republicans and just lots of folks to understand. Capitalism, as it has been practiced since the 1800's, is dead.

[acholger]

Leo knows that no one in the Labor community would have entered any negotiation by compromising our position, anticipating where the opposition would be willing to "meet us". Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Dem's have done with Healthcare. I'm unconvinced that it is a naive mistake. The transparent money trail from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to many if not most congressional leaders convinces me this is a charade. The job that we have before us is to reunite a movement to fight for real reform. I don't have any expectations that will come from this congress. There are legions of activists willing and ready to be unleashed from this farce and to be lead into a militant fight for real reform. Failing that we are about to enter 15 more years of bankruptcies, denials and deaths all related to lack of access to healthcare.

[stack]

We can't tolerate another 15 years without reform. The untold unnecessary deaths that would entail would be immoral. The bankruptcies caused by medical debt would be outrageous. We need reform now -- with the public option and no tax new tax on insurance benefits. Tax the wealthy!!!!!