And the Beat (and Fight) Goes On
When you get down toward the end of a legislative fight as big, complex, messy, expensive, painful, and politically and economically significant as health care, every day is a wild ride with highs and lows. You never know where you are going to end up on that day, let alone at the very end of the battle. The latest developments in health care are just the latest in this long saga.
The worst moments of the last few days are diving into the details of this godawful Senate Finance Committee bill. It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, I knew the bill coming out of Finance would be the lowest moment in the debate. I (and everyone else following this debate) have been predicting that since this fight began. But when you look at how bad this thing truly is, it makes your head swim. The bill makes it harder for women to be covered for abortions and legal immigrants to be covered at all. It penalizes employers for hiring poor people. It makes health insurance coverage unaffordable for many middle income people. It taxes high quality insurance plans. It provides no actual competition for private insurance plans, and no check on insurance companies' power. It is just a rotten, rotten bill all the way around, almost certainly worse than existing law, which is hard to do.
On the other hand, a lot of good things have happened this week. The AFL-CIO convention was one big strong pushback against the Baucus bill and in favor of the public option, the highlight of which was AFSCME President Jerry McEntee leading a chant of "Bullshit!" on the convention floor in response to the Baucus bill. At Obama rallies in Minneapolis and College Park, MD, the mere mention of the public option brought waves of uproarious cheers, while the mention by the president of the Baucus plan at the MD rally brought a massive round of loud boos. In the Senate, progressive members of the Finance Committee rebelled against the Baucus bill, likely forcing him to make changes, while a Senate Democratic caucus last night had Baucus retreating. And in the House, Nancy Pelosi once again made clear the importance of a very strong bill including a public option.
One final note I might add. At times in this long and ugly debate, the collective weight of the traditional media's conventional wisdom and signals by various political insiders have made public option advocates a little (or more than a little) discouraged. But I see new life and drive in their efforts -- new ads going up by a variety of groups, some big direct action efforts being launched next week, grassroots lobbying efforts picking up steam. And some of them, by the way, are by organizations with very close ties to the White House, like Americans United for Change -- if the White House thought the public option was dead, I doubt if AUFC would be making this kind of push.
The Baucus bill is an unmitigated disaster. In the 20-plus years I have been working on the national health care issues, it is easily the worst single bill I have ever seen introduced by a Democratic member of Congress. But it feels like a whole lot of people are beginning to understand that, and that the drive for a good health care bill is alive again.
Proposing a Public Health Option as a 'Safety Net'
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The current US health system in 3 acts:
The Military get British Health Care,
The Elderly get Canadian Health Care,
The Rest of the US get Third World Health Care (pay as you go...)
Thanks for the hopeful words, Mike. I hope your excellent record of political prognostications continues.
One thing that conservatives and the blue dogs have not explained or even been compelled to address is why financing health care delivery should be based on greedy corporations DENYING people access to the health care system.
The hearings that Congressman Waxman wants to hold should have been at the beginning of this process. We should have started with insurance corporations defending their role in health care delivery and the CEOs defending their padded bonuses.
There needs to be a movement within the Democratic Party to refuse all corporate money. Even for the ones who don't vote with corporations, that money causes them to be less zealous in their pursuit of a progressive agenda.
One note on this line: "At times in this long and ugly debate, the collective weight of the traditional media's conventional wisdom and signals by various political insiders have made public option advocates a little (or more than a little) discourage
Forget about how the MSM have discouraged reformers; the more important thing is that they have been consistently, and almost intentionally, wrong throughout this debate.
My constant refrain for people depressed about the health care legislation (and tempted to hate on Obama like some of the commenters in this thread) is to remind them that whatever they've heard or read about the prospects of the bill is probably the opposite of right, and likely the product of people feeding an anti-health care agenda to the press. You yourself have been harping on this fact for weeks now, which is why I'm a little surprised that you seem to be operating with the premise that things are starting to look up after they once seemed bleak.
You can chart a course for this bill from June to September in Congress, and we're pretty much on track. The press didn't report it that way, but here we are.
I hope and pray that you are right. Americans are dying and going bankrupt every day. This is a national disgrace.
For months, special interests and their Republican allies have been smearing health insurance reform to try to defeat it. Enough! ... If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out."
So we're starting a new campaign called "Call 'em out!" When a Republican official violates the public trust by lying about reform, we'll be right there to expose the lies and hold them accountable.
First up? Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who has claimed that health reform will lead to death panels -- a claim so thoroughly debunked that even former Republican Congressman and conservative pundit Joe Scarborough spoke out about Pawlenty's false claims. Now it's time for us to call him out.
Get started at the new "Call 'em out!" action center.
Read more at: http://www
The Maximus Baucus healthcare bill is the Obama bill.
Baucus is a stooge of the White House, not an opponent. Obama is keeping his hands clean by having others do the dirty work. He pulls the strings and then blames others.
We are urged to support the President in his "struggle" for healthcare, but he has no announced plan, except he that has "smiled upon" the maximum ass and his lackey efforts to please the drug and insurance companies.
Remember, it was the White House (the President), who first made the deal with big pharma, which later showed up in the big ass bill.
New Internet Meme:
"The Baucus Bill is so bad that..."
For example:
"The Baucus Bill is so bad that..."
"...Sarah Palin is starting to see if she can make any money out of being for it."
“But I see new life”
Isn’t that what its all about?
Chip rock into some semblance of a statue and you needs must get it right first time. Because that’s the best its ever going to be.
But assemble an entity (healthcare) replete with the virtues of life itself, and it can develop and mutate continuously. Almost ad infinitum.
http://www
Are you gonna mandate me into the poorhouse as you bail on the public option Mr. President? Oh, and I hope you and the Congress and federal employees enjoy your health care. Why bother voting?
Mr. L. --
Thanks for another informative piece.
I find it disgusting that the fourth estate is only too happy to pick up the latest cutsey slogan dreamed up by Frank Luntz in the healthcare reform debate . . . while completely ignoring -- and refusing to report -- the fact that Big Healthcare's own lobbyists WROTE the Baucus bill!!!
Everyone in the MSM is getting their panties in a bunch over whether the Baucus scam is worth voting for or not -- and never mentioning that it was shopped around K Street for "approval" before it was ever released to the public for consumption!
It's the details, stupid!
The most P0WERFUL Line in your article:
In the 20-plus years I have been working on the national health care issues, it is easily the worst single bill I have ever seen introduced by a Democratic member of Congress.
Republicans have it RIGHT! We need Health Care Competition with Internet Exchange so we can all compare 1,300 Insurers on Total Cost, deductibles, coverage, co-pays, etc. 100% of Citizens the Internet Exchange that shows Private and Public Plans ranked by cost, benefits, deductibles, or co-pays to select best plan for them!
Democrats have it RIGHT! We need a STRONG Medicare Public Option as part of that Internet Exchange!
Baucus has it WRONG! Isolates 180 Million people from having a CHOICE of employer Coverage or buying through the Internet Exchange!
If 0BAMA agrees with Baucus then 0BAMA is also WRONG!
If Medicare is ranked with the 1,300 Insurers by ANNUAL COST then Medicare will more frequently than NOT be the Best Plan (Top in the Sorted List) so competition will be the key to having a market!
_______________
COMPETITION with Private & Public Options = Lower COST Health Care for ALL
Insurers will have to lower prices and increase coverage to compete! That will be the best way to insure Innovation and lower costs!
NO Rejections of any kind by Insurers!
The thought of having to compare 1300 private insurance plans to pick the one that works for me makes my head explode.
The whole strategy of the medical industrial complex, allies, and surrogates (Baucus, Rahm,...) is to kill any meaningful healthcare reform by lies and misinformation; case in point they are often pronouncing public option dead to confuse and discourage advocates from making their voices heard by the public and the law makers. The truth is that a robust public option is enormously popular and must be a part of the final bill, or else the whole reform is a sham. Never beat, always fight on; just do not trust the WH so.
Excellent post! The Baucus bill is an unmitigated POS that needs to be flushed. I'm am so much more heartened now given the universal panning of this bill. Now I think people are finally starting to realize how central the Public Option truly is.
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