Alan Grayson on Countdown Discussing the Urgency of Health Care Reform

- "You can NOT beat a Republican by being one"

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Quinnipiac Poll: 61% Want a Government Run Health Plan

From The Washington Monthly:

[T]oday, Democrats can find some encouraging poll data in the latest Quinnipiac survey on national attitudes on the health care overhaul.

Including a government-run insurance option -- the most controversial part of the debate -- is supported by a nearly two-to-one margin, 61%-34%.

Medical Malpractice Insurers’ Profits Higher Than Nearly All Fortune 500 Companies

The American Association for Justice — the trial lawyers’ lobby group — has just released an astounding statistic: medical malpractice insurance companies’ average profits are higher than those of 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

AAJ’s report released today finds that the average profit of medical malpractice insurance companies is higher than 99 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and 35 times higher than the Fortune 500 average for the same time period; and malpractice insurers have seen their profit margins range from 5.9 percent to 74.8 percent, with an average of 31.2 percent. The report also finds that malpractice insurers have publicly overestimated their losses and underestimated their profits in an attempt to suggest the insurance business and medical practice in general faces a crisis that must be resolved by so-called “tort reform” — i.e., making it harder for patients to sue and to collect damages for their injuries.

Read it all at The Washington Independent

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment On Health Care Reform - Wed. Oct. 7, 2009

Keith Olbermann dedicated his entire program tonight to Health Care. It was an outstanding hour of programming. As DarkSyde at Daily Kos said, "It is tragic, it is raw; the intense, personal emotional honesty this newscaster shares with his viewers is nothing short of riveting. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is something you are going to want to watch from heart rending start to sobering finish."

If you missed it watch it at Daily Kos TV:  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Or watch at MSNBC.  Read the Transcript here.

The following 3 clips show much, but not all of the program:

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Transcript about the "plan"

So I propose tonight one act with two purposes. I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them, they conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a mass health care free clinic every week in the principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate.

I want Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock. I want Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte. I want Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln. I want Sen. Landro to see it in Baton Rouge. I want Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas.

I'll donate. How much will you donate? We enable thousands of our neighbors to have just a portion of the bounty of good health, and we make a statement to the politicians, forgive me, William Jennings Bryan, "you shall not press down upon the brow of America this crown of insurance, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of blue."

We think these events will be firmed up presently. You will be able to link from our website.

Trust me, I'll remind you. Because in one party, in one demographic, in one protest movement, we are all brothers and sisters. We are united in membership in the party that insists that every chance at life be afforded to every American seeking that chance.

We are united in membership in the party that insists on the right of everyone to the startling, transcendent blessings of the technological advance of medical science. We are united in membership in the party that is for life, that is against death, that is for lower premiums, that is against higher deductibles, that is for the peace of mind that can be provided only by the elimination of the fear that cost will decide whether we live or we die!

Because that's the point, isn't it? It is hard enough to recover, to fight past pain and to stave off death, if just for a season or a week or a day. It is so hard, that eventually for you, for me, for this president, for these blue dogs, for these protestors it is so hard to recover, that for all of us there will come a time when we will not recover. So, why are we making it harder?

Keith will be providing information about how to donate in this cause as they get set up.  

National Association of Free Clinics   

The National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) is the only nonprofit 501c(3)
organization whose mission is solely focused on the issues and needs of the
more than 1,200 free clinics and the people they serve in the United States.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the NAFC is an effective advocate for the issues and concerns of free clinics, their volunteer workforce of doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, technicians and other health care professionals, and the patients served by free clinics in communities throughout the nation.  Learn More.

Bob Cesca: The Health Insurance You Have Now Sucks

The president likes to say, "If you like the health insurance you have now..." The problem is that much like your utter lack of financial security in a system that's been gamed by corporate criminals, the health insurance you have now... sucks.

From the early 1980s, when Reagan began the systematic deregulation of corporate America and declared war on the middle class, and lasting through and including the 2008 economic meltdown, the American economy has always been a ticking time bomb held together mostly by trickery and gambling. We were always meant to pick up the filthy mess when the meltdown occurred. And we did. Not just through the bailouts, but also through the loss of our jobs and the loss of our personal financial security, both of which helped to keep the culprits in business -- bonuses and golden parachutes included.

Likewise, the health care system is in the process of melting down, and for too many Americans it already has. And as for the rest of us who think our health insurance policies are excellent and secure are, in reality, in serious denial. Even now, we're paying more and more of our own money towards keeping this broken system afloat, and when the health care crisis kicks into high gear soon, who do you think will be obligated to pay for the greed and corruption responsible for the crisis?

Meanwhile, your premiums are being systematically jacked up until, one day, they'll extend beyond your financial means. It's only a matter of time before an injury or illness isn't covered due to, perhaps, a mistake on your application or the whim of a corporate bureaucrat. It's only a matter of time before your policy is suddenly rescinded in lieu of your insurance provider's profit margins which, by the way, have increased by upwards of 350 percent in the last decade. Your premiums, meanwhile, have more than doubled over that same ten years while middle class wages have remained flat. Reaganomics illustrated. Health care costs are destined to finish off what remains of the American middle class. Around 60 percent of all bankruptcies are due to health care debt with 78 percent of those bankruptcies filed by people with health insurance. Again, the insurance you have sucks and it's only the beginning of the bailout. We're nowhere near the high water mark.

At the very least, and at this very moment, we're all paying a 30 percent private tax to our insurance companies. This tax isn't being spent on our family's medical care and general wellness, but instead on corporate bureaucracy and profit. For the average family contributing to around half of an annual $13,000 employer-based premium, this private tax amounts to more than a thousand dollars a year (and rising) for nothing. No guarantees against rescinding our policies. No guarantees of coverage in the event of a serious illness. No guarantees that we'll be covered for a pre-existing condition. No guarantees that our rates won't be randomly jacked up for no reason. Nothing.

Even if you work for a health insurance company, your health care sucks. WellPoint is in the process of entirely stripping a "small number" of employees of their health insurance via pink slips, and the remaining employees will have to kick in more of their paycheck towards their monthly premiums (along with the obligatory 30 percent private tax, of course). It's worth mentioning that WellPoint is under investigation for coercing their employees into lobbying Congress against health care reform. Oh, and the CEO of WellPoint earned $10 million last year. Good people.

...Oh, and the Supreme Court is poised to allow corporations unlimited financial access to political campaigns -- a move that will surely exacerbate the health care crisis, among other things.

This is about as serious as it gets. The health insurance you have now sucks. And it's only going to get suckier as time wears on unless serious change happens now.

Read it all at Huffington Post

ACTION TIME: Upcoming votes on single payer

From PNHP:

While media coverage of the health reform debate is focused on the Senate Finance Committee's bill (which was largely drafted by current and former executives at Wellpoint, the nation's largest private health insurance company), several portentous congressional votes on single-payer Medicare-for-All loom on the horizon.

You can help determine the outcome of these votes, which are truly without historical precedent.

Quick Actions:
[Note that the text in the messages needs a bit of updating since it is now Oct. and we need to add a request for a CBO scoring of HR-676 in the one for the Weiner Amendment]

1. Write your representative in support of the Weiner amendment
2. Write your representative in support of the Kucinich amendment

Detail:

1. In the House - Ask your representative to support the Weiner and Kucinich amendments

Sometime in the next two or three weeks, Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) amendment to substitute single-payer legislation (along the lines of Rep. Conyers' H.R. 676) for the House leadership's bill, H.R. 3200, will come up for an up-or-down vote on the House floor.

This is the first time single payer will have been put to a full floor vote in our nation's history, and it presents us with a unique opportunity to hold our representatives accountable on this issue. While the individual mandate approach to reform embodied in the Senate Finance bill would leave 25 million Americans uninsured, single payer would assure coverage for every American, as even President Obama has admitted. (You can find the number of people uninsured in your congressional district here.)

Additionally, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has secured a provision in H.R. 3200 that would allow individual states to adopt their own single-payer systems.

• Join the Facebook Group to support the Weiner Amendment.
• Contact your representative today and ask him or her to vote "YES" on the Weiner Amendment for single payer and insist that the Kucinich amendment remains in the final House bill..
• You can find out more about the amendments and take action at www.pnhp.org/amendment. 
• The Congressional Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.

2. In the Senate

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will introduce two single-payer amendments to the Senate bill, one to create a national single-payer plan (along the lines of S. 703), and the other to allows individual states to adopt single payer.

• Urge your senators to vote "YES" on the Sanders' single payer amendments. 
• The Congressional Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.

Talking points and lobbying materials are located at www.pnhp.org/change.


Some recent media highlights

1.  A new study estimating that lack of health insurance causes 45,000 deaths annually, by Dr. Andrew Wilper and PNHP co-founders Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, was covered by the New York Times, CBS Evening News, Reuters, Amednews, and more. Dr. John Geyman wrote an opinion piece about the study at The Huffington Post. Dr. Deb Richter's op-ed citing the study appeared in The Progressive.
   
   Political figures, commentators and editorial writers are now routinely citing the study's finding of 45,000 deaths annually in their discussions of our health care crisis. Even Sen. Max Baucus has cited it, erroneously asserting that "[my] bill would fix that." (Actually, his bill would leave some 25 million uninsured, which translates into about 25,000 deaths annually.)
   
   
2. PNHPer and "Mad as Hell Doctor" Dr. Paul Hochfeld was admitted at the last minute to Obama's press event with physicians Monday and appeared on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show on MSNBC. The Mad as Hell Doctors, led by Hochfeld and Dr. Mike Huntington, wound up their 26-city, nationwide tour with a rally in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30. They received extensive regional press.
   
   
3. Finally, an excellent article by Michael Moore and the California Nurses Association's Rose Ann DeMoro explains "Why the current bills don't solve our health care crisis," and why an improved and expanded Medicare for All is the only effective Rx. Activists are encouraged to use the article's talking points for their own op-eds and letters.

Register today for PNHP's Annual Meeting on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Cambridge, MA, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Guest speakers include Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine; Harvard health economist William Hsiao, Ph.D.; journalist T.R. Reid; Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Anthony Weiner and more. You won't want to miss this extraordinary gathering!

Grassley: If CBO Analysis Looks Bad, It's 'Back To The Drawing Board' On Health Reform

From TPM LiveWire:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), formerly of the ill-fated Gang of Six senators on the Senate Finance Committee that had been charged with crafting health care reform legislation, said on Fox News this morning that his committee's health reform bill might have to be scrapped and created again from scratch.

We're expecting a preliminary cost estimate on the package from the CBO later this afternoon. But Grassley said that if CBO's analysis shows that the health care package won't be deficit-neutral and won't reduce health care inflation, then the proposal is in trouble.

"If we get figures back today that don't do that, then we're going to have to go back to the drawing board as a committee and make changes that accomplish both of those things, otherwise we've wasted a whole six months."

Grassley also took a shot at the White House, saying the Obama administration broke up the Gang of Six.

"The White House pulled the rug out from under us," Grassley said.

At YouTube

Wyden and the Baucus Debacle

When the Finance Committee eventually gets around to voting on the bill they cobbled together last week, it's still not entirely certain that it will pass...

To put it more directly, the exchange as set up in the Baucus bill will be open to just 25 million people, most of whom have been uninsured, un-doctored, untreated for a long time. It's enough to make one think they're setting not just the public option but the exchange to fail.

The hostility among the committee's senior members, particularly those on Baucus's Gang of Six, to the Wyden Free Choice amendment just reinforces that impression. Jon Walker at FDL has the whole sordid story of how Baucus blindsided Wyden on that late night of markup, when Baucus ruled his amendment out of order because it hadn't been scored by the CBO. Except that the amendment that Wyden offered had been scored, more than a week before the markup.

To put it more directly, the exchange as set up in the Baucus bill will be open to just 25 million people, most of whom have been uninsured, un-doctored, untreated for a long time. It's enough to make one think they're setting not just the public option but the exchange to fail.

The hostility among the committee's senior members, particularly those on Baucus's Gang of Six, to the Wyden Free Choice amendment just reinforces that impression. Jon Walker at FDL has the whole sordid story of how Baucus blindsided Wyden on that late night of markup, when Baucus ruled his amendment out of order because it hadn't been scored by the CBO. Except that the amendment that Wyden offered had been scored, more than a week before the markup.

There are two issues at play here--Baucus's actions as committee chair which have shown him essentially incompetent to achieve a decent bill of this scope and dishonest in dealing with his colleagues. But the more important issue for the moment goes back to Rockefeller's problem with the bill--the half trillion dollar gift it is to the insurance industry, made an even bigger gift by the crippled exchange it creates.

There's going to be tremendous pressure on Wyden and Rockefeller, from Baucus, from the White House, from Reid, to vote for this crappy bill to get it out of committee so the process can move on (pressure that should have been on Baucus months and months ago, since it's his fault we're now well into October with no bill). As long as there's a Snowe-inspired delay why the CBO does it's work on the crappy bill, Wyden and Rockefeller should hold out on saying how they'll vote. They should be using this time to extract as many concessions as possible from Reid and the White House before agreeing to anything.

Read it all at Daily Kos

Stocked Exchange

From Jonathan Cohn:

Ten years from now, if health care reform is a boondoggle, you might be able to trace that failure back to a decision in the wee hours of last week's Senate Finance Committee hearings.

It happened on Thursday night, just before midnight, when John Kerry put forward an amendment. It was amendment C-8: "Empowering State Exchanges to be Prudent Purchasers." The title may sound innocuous, if a bit arcane. But if you've followed the health care reform debate, then you know (or should know) that anything involving the insurance exchanges is important.

And Kerry's amendment is very important.

The bills moving through Congress all set up exchanges modeled more or less on what Massachusetts has done. But there are a few critical differences. Among the most important is a difference in how the exchanges would select which plans to offer people.

In the bills that passed three House committees and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the exchange would be a "prudent purchaser." In other words, it would have a staff that bargained with insurers to bring down premiums--and that made sure all plans lived up to strict guidelines for coverage and customer service. In effect, any insurer that wants to offer coverage through the exchanges has to get the equivalent of a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" from the administrators. This is precisely how it works in Massachusetts.

By contrast, the Senate Finance bill envisions much weaker exchanges. Instead of choosing which plans to make available, the exchange administrators would, by law, have to accept any plan that meets a relatively minimal set of standards.

Jon Kingsdale, who runs the Massachusetts exchange, calls that a recipe for "policy disaster," as consumers faced a dizzying array of more expensive, less regulated choices. "It would be like telling your grocery store they have to offer every single kind of bread baked by every single bakery. ... The exchanges would be nothing more than an automated Yellow Pages."

Kingsdale is among several Massachusetts-based policy experts who have been ringing the alarm bells about this flaw in the Finance bill. And it's no coincidence that it's a Massachusetts senator, Kerry, who now proposed to fix it by giving the exchanges the same powers envisioned in the House and HELP bills.

But when Kerry introduced his plan last week, he couldn't get the votes to pass it. The reason, several sources on Capitol Hill say, was opposition from Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican who also sits on Senate Finance. Snowe seems to be concerned that a more aggressive exchange would amount to more government--which, in fact, it would be. But, as Massachusetts has shown, sometimes more government is exactly what health care needs.

Chances are reasonably good that Kerry's vision of reform will prevail, if not during the Senate floor debate then afterwards, when a conference committee merges whatever passes from the two congressional chambers. But it's not a sure thing, which is why this seemingly narrow question deserves a lot more attention.

Exchange design doesn't get the attention of controversies like the public option, abortion, or supposed death panels. In the long run, though, it could be far more decisive in whether reform works.

Read it all at The New Republic

Health Care Progress Report:

As Obama's Deadlines for Health Care Reform Near, CBSNews.com Tracks the Status of Reform on Capitol Hill. Check it out.

Freshman Democrats Get It on Health Care

Members of the United States Senate stand for re-election every six years. Only one-third face re-election every two years. Out of the 33 senators who went through a rigorous campaign and heard from their constituents on a daily basis, eight are freshman Democrats. (Five more are freshman, but were appointed and did not campaign.)

The perspective of these freshman senators is valuable since they recently were out campaigning in their states and thus have a fresh perspective on what their constituents want. I would urge all senators to listen to what they are saying about the public option.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota), Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado), Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Sen. Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) are all on board for a public option.

One freshman senator opposes a public option, but would vote for a bill with a public option in it. A spokesman for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo that, "Warner would vote for a health care bill with a public option. It's not a make or break thing - he wants to see a health reform bill that contains costs, and if it includes a public option ... he would vote for it."

One freshman senator, Mark Begich (D-Alaska), is not on the record and his staff has indicated to Truthout that he would not come out in support or against a public option until he saw how it would be paid for in the final bill.

The five newly appointed senators are all on board for the public option with Sen. Roland Burris (D-Illinois), even threatening to not support a bill that does not include a public option. Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Massachusetts), the newest appointee, is carrying the torch of Ted Kennedy.

Every senator, especially those up for re-election, should heed the call of these senators who just went through hard-fought elections. Some of these senators come from traditionally red states, many from purple states, so the Blue Dogs should follow their lead. Senators Pryor, Lincoln, Lieberman, Landrieu, Bayh and Nelson (Nebraska), you, more than any other senators are standing in the way of real change. The other Blue Dogs, like Senator Warner and Senator Hagen, are putting the country first. At least commit to Senator Warner's position and pledge to not vote against a bill with a public option. If you can't do that, pledge to not support a filibuster, and vote your conscience when the bill goes up for a final vote.

Read it all at Truthout.

Health Insurance Companies Want Severe Penalties For People Who Do Not Buy Coverage

Determined to get as many people as possible covered, lawmakers first proposed fines of as much as $3,800 per family for health insurance scofflaws. But they have been steadily scaling back the penalties, with the Senate Finance Committee last week dropping them to $1,500 maximum per family in their version of a health care bill. The committee also phased the penalties in over five years with no fines at all in the first year and eliminated all criminal and most civil punishments for failure to pay.

The industry -- counting on millions of more Americans buying insurance -- says the penalties are now so weak they practically beg to be ignored. The result, the companies warn, is that people would wait until they get sick to buy coverage. That would raise premiums for everyone else, since Congress' health care overhaul would also require insurers to take all applicants.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/health-insurance-companie_n_310591.html

Reid, Baucus ready to split on public option for healthcare as vote nears

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), once in polite disagreement over the idea of a public option component in healthcare legislation, are approaching a breaking point over the issue.

Reid and Baucus have staked out opposing positions on the central question of a government role in health reform — Reid has consistently stood in favor, but Baucus has consistently said the idea doesn’t have enough Senate support.

Having deferred the issue to Baucus this summer, Reid signaled on Thursday that he is prepared to join Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who both pushed a public option amendment that failed in a committee vote last Tuesday.

“We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk," Reid said in a conference call with constituents on Thursday, as reported by the Las Vegas Sun. “I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us.”

On the same day, Harkin gave The Des Moines Register the same message, suggesting clearly that he will side with Reid against Baucus.

Read it all at TheHill.com

WellPoint sued an ENTIRE STATE to increase profits

Netting $2.5 billion in profits last year wasn't enough for WellPoint, the nation's largest insurance company. Now, WellPoint's affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is suing the state of Maine for refusing to guarantee it a profit margin in the midst of a painful recession.

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"Big Insurance: Sick of It" Rally

"Big Insurance: Sick of It" rally on September 22, 2009, held in front of Blue Cross Blue Shield's offices in Chicago.

"Big Insurance: Sick of It" Rally from Justin Jach on Vimeo.