dropdeadpolitics

Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category

In one of the more ironic developments, former Bush speech writer David Frum was terminated from the American Enterprise Institute for daring to speak ill about the GOP tactics to obstruct the health care bill leaving him and his family without health care. While he appealed to the GOP to act in a more constructive manner, Frum still did not agree with the bill. Now Frum may be in a position to reap the benefits of the new reform bill that his ideology is strongly against.

Could the Dems have found a Neo Con ally with a strong voice to help sell the bill that was passed? As the provisions roll out and people reap the benefits of the bill while seeing the lies the GOP has been parroting for months as false the bill will certainly gain in popularity.

Representative Paul Ryan, a rising star in the Republican Party has been attacking the recent health care reform bill as a deficit killer. He claims that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) numbers mask greater costs therefore Obama’s pledge to only sign a deficit reducing bill was broken. Ryan, known to be a budget expert and fiscal hawk is clearly playing politics and I will debunk his entire argument while putting the numbers into perspective. The GOP has a habit of distorting the truth so with just a little digging it is easy to expose their tricks and knock down their house of cards.

Ryan claims that the infamous “doc fix” should be addressed in this bill and added to the total cost of the bill. The “doc fix” is an issue that predates this bill and has nothing to do with the reform that was passed. This is an obvious attempt to conflate two separate issues and trick the American people into thinking the two are one in the same simply because the word “doctor” is referenced.  The doc fix originally came out of negotiations with the American Medical Association. The maneuver would “fix” payments to doctors at a single level or increase them over 10 years.  In 1997, a law was passed that mandated the payments Medicare makes to doctors be cut every year. The doc fix did not pass the Senate in 2009, though it has been suggested that the Democratic Party made a deal with the AMA that the doc fix would eventually be passed; in exchange, the AMA supposedly threw its support behind the health care reform bill. The doc fix has been estimated to cost several trillion dollars over 10 years.

How can Ryan say that a $208 billion dollar problem, years in the making should be added to the costs of a completely separate and new initiative to reform insurance and expand coverage? If the bill never passed then the $208 billion would still need to be addressed so that cost is a constant that can’t be added into a new bill that does not address the issue. If you took the “doc fix” out of the equation like it should be then the program still lowers the deficit using his own numbers but less than the Democrats claim. The whole deficit argument hinges on tricking people into thinking the “doc fix” has anything to do with this bill.

Ryan claims that if you included the “doc fix” along with other accounting discrepancies in the bill that the real 10 year deficit of the bill would be $59 billion or $5.9 billion per year for the next ten years.  (As if $59b to expand coverage to 95% of Americans wouldn’t be worth it anyway) Since the “doc fix” is estimated to cost $208 billion over 10 years yet Ryan claims if it were included in the bill that it would result in a $59 billion deficit over the same 10 year span it is easy to see that the bill does indeed cut the deficit evidenced by it mitigating the $208 billion dollar costs.

Lets for arguments sake concede that it should be part of the new bill and the costs should be folded in and that all of Ryan’s other objections to the accounting are correct. Ryan inadvertently proves with his own numbers that the reform bill does indeed lower our deficits. Let’s examine addressing the “doc fix” with and without the health care bill. Either way it costs the same $208 billion but because of the other deficit reducing factors of the reform bill the overall deficit per year is smaller.

Included with health care reform:

10 year deficit: $59 billion
yearly deficit: $5.9 billion

Without health care reform just fixing “doc fix”:

10 year deficit: $208 billion
yearly deficit: $20.8

This little kindergarten math proves several things:

1. The “doc fix” is an issue either way
2. The reform bill does bring down the deficit offsetting the cost of the “doc fix”
3. Ryan and the GOP are full of crap

As you can see the “doc fix” issue needs to be addressed either way but the deficit reducing properties of the health care reform bill(using Ryan’s numbers) actually helps to pay for that preexisting condition lowering the yearly deficit but close to $15 billion a year!

It’s clear that the GOP and Ryan are politically motivated to attack and discredit this historic reform at all costs. Many of their supporters have bought this political trickery hook, line and sinker.  It’s a shame that so many are fooled by such a transparent political gimmick but my above critique easily exposed it for the nonsense that it is. I also find it beyond funny that the GOP just had the reins of power and passed every single major initiative without even the attempt to pay for it. A trillion dollar entitlement program, 2 tax cuts and 2 wars all on the credit card all supported in lockstep by the GOP. Now they want to take a bill that is paid for and parse it to death trying to distort its costs. How anyone can take these guys seriously amidst their record and obvious political motivations is beyond me.

In conclusion, the bill is now law and while not perfect it does move us in the right direction. The “doc fix” issue will be addressed either way but the passage of the deficit reducing insurance reform bill has gone a long way towards paying that problem while expanding coverage to nearly 31 million Americans. It banned insurance companies from dropping coverage and excluding people with preexisting conditions all while lowering our deficits. It’s an historic bill and monumental achievement for President Obama and the Democrats and the GOP can go into the 2010 midterm elections as the bitter do nothing party to their own peril.

Did the Republicans peak too soon? Time will tell but their momentum going into the 2010 midterm elections was certainly stifled by the tremendous political victory Obama and the Democrats achieved with the passage of the historic health care reform bill. The GOP had been taking advantage of the sour mood most of the country is feeling due to a weak economy and anemic job market.  They decided to play defense and try to stop every piece of the Obama agenda in order to claim he is a failed President.

The GOP has enjoyed political momentum and poll numbers for months but that is all changing now that the Democrats have achieved the biggest political victory in decades. America likes winners and likes ideas, two things the GOP is devoid of.  The GOP will pay a political price for their attempts at obstruction and demonization of a bill the majority of Americans now favor. The GOP was banking on successfully stopping the Obama agenda but that is not how it played out and they were left holding all the political liability. Now the GOP vows to run on “repeal, replace and reform”. History shows that once a bill is passed it becomes more and more popular leaving the GOP on the wrong side of history…once again.

This obstruction has been combined with the GOP’s willingness to play to their angry and radical base further moving them out of the American mainstream. They have allowed their party to be hijacked by a small fringe group partially comprised of racists and xenophobes. The GOP has not spoke out against this small but vocal minority allowing their rhetoric to ostracize many moderates.  The overblown rhetoric about death panels and Communist takeover will be shown to be outright lies now that reform has passed.

Obama seems to be a master at peaking just at the right time. During the Democratic primary everyone thought Hillary Clinton was going to take the nomination easily. Many of the Obama supporters including myself got a bit worried asserting that Obama was not fighting hard enough. Obama just sat back and made his move right in time to win the Iowa caucus propelling him to the eventual nomination. Once in the general election, Obama sat back and allowed McCain to waste his political momentum after the pick of Sara Palin only to turn up the intensity once again at the exact right moment to sustain him through the election. President Obama laid forth an ambitious agenda that included comprehensive health care reform, something his own advisors thought was political suicide. Obama waited and allowed the GOP to work itself into a frenzy during the summer knowing that the intensity could not be sustained. Once the opposition had lost their momentum Obama went to work in series of political events designed to recapture the momentum. One State of the Union, several town hall meetings and a health care forum later and we have comprehensive health care.  Obama’s rope a dope strategy once again worked to perfection, pouncing just as the opposition lost its steam.

It appears this strategy will be employed just in time to stem the losses in the 2010 midterm elections. History shows that this should be a huge year for the GOP but they may have squandered any chance of retaking the majority.  Combine that with a weak economy and the GOP should have a cakewalk this November. I ask again…has the GOP peaked too soon? Obama and the Democrats plan on riding this victory into November and in all likelihood have saved their majority.  The can credibly appeal to the American people on actual legislative victories that have expanded coverage and protected the rights of millions of patients all without the help of a single Republican.

In conclusion, Obama seems to be a master at picking and choosing the right time to put the political pedal to the floor.  While the GOP may pick up seats it will pale in comparison to what they hoped and what history shows they should have achieved.  The GOP is in danger of having a complete failure on their hands if they are not careful how they proceed the next few months. America does not like angry pessimistic politicians and for months that is all the GOP has offered. It is impossible to know exactly how events will unfold by November but it is clear that 2010 has started off great for Obama and the Democrats.  Obama’s rope a dope strategy has once again scored a knockout and it remains to be seen whether the GOP has the ability for a rematch.

In a landmark agreement the pro life Democratic caucus led by Congressman Bart Stupak agreed to switch their vote in favor of  health care, pushing past the 216 votes needed to pass the bill. The deal was brokered directly with President Obama and the White house, structuring an executive order to reinforce the existing Hyde amendment that prohibits federal funding of abortions. Stupak and other pro-life Democrats were concerned about the possibility of loopholes and the executive order put their concerns at ease.

The executive order seems to be going over fairly well with the pro-choice caucus and should not bubble into an internal debate within the Democratic party. The order only reiterates existing laws and by no means steps on the existing rights woman have over their bodies. This was a savvy, pragmatic move by President Obama to secure the needed votes.

This is the difference between the two parties and clearly shows the Democratic party to be the big tent party. The Democrats have positioned themselves well and can credibly offer a sensible alternative to the GOP with regards to pro-life politics. While the GOP is narrowing their base and playing to the extremes the Democratic party is quietly moving to the middle with a centrist health care bill.

The bill being passed is not perfect but clearly moves us in the right direction. It expands coverage to 95% of all Americans or roughly 31 million additional people. It strengthens insurance regulations by protecting the patient from annual and life time caps awarded. It ends the insurance company practices of banning people with pre-existing conditions or rescinding policies the minute you become an expensive liability.  The bill has many other great provisions like increasing the age a student can stay on their parents insurance from 21 to 26 provided they are still in school as a full time student.

This is a major victory for Obama and the Democrats setting the stage for a reconciliation vote in the Senate to make amendments to the bill they already passed. The GOP will undoubtedly attack the Democrats on a completely legal Senatorial procedure to no avail. Health care reform is closer to passing now than at any point in the last several decades. Obama’s primary policy is all but certain to pass regardless of the GOP’s objections handing them a stunning political defeat. Once the bill is passed and the country realizes that all the scare tactics by the GOP were lies and actually feel the benefits history shows that the bill will become very popular. This victory by the Democrats and Obama may have squelched the political momentum the GOP was counting on going into 2010. The GOP will run on repealing this bill to their peril and may have already painted themselves into a political corner to which there is no escape.

Senior Democratic aides Thursday provided a snapshot of what they say the Congressional Budget Office has found after evaluating the latest revised version of the health care bill — including the package of fixes.

House Democrats say the legislation will cost $940 billion over 10 years and will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion in that first decade.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the legislation will deliver the biggest reduction in the federal deficit since the 1990s, while providing access to health care coverage for nearly all Americans and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to the sick.

Hoyer also said Thursday that the chamber is on track to vote on the overhaul bill on Sunday.

It’s the same day Obama plans to leave for an overseas trip. The president has already delayed the trip once so he can be present for the vote and help with the 11th-hour arm-twisting that inevitably will precede it.

“You’ve got to realize how complicated this is and how focused we are on getting it right,”  Hoyer said Wednesday near the end of a long day of meetings on the legislation. “We’re waiting to get a real confidence level.”

Obama expressed optimism in an interview with Fox News Channel. “I’m confident it will pass,” he said. “And the reason I’m confident that it’s going to pass is because it’s the right thing to do.”

Democrats are seeking to make sure the legislation would reduce federal deficits annually over the next decade and are revisiting details of a planned tax on high-cost insurance plans that’s been a sticking point for organized labor. Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, met with Obama at the White House on Wednesday, and officials said the labor leader raised concerns. Obama has proposed significantly softening the tax in keeping with an earlier deal with organized labor, and labor leaders want to preserve that accord, at a minimum.

Trumka was to brief members of the AFL-CIO’s executive council on Thursday, and the federation was expected to announce whether it would support the legislation.

The long-anticipated measure is actually the second of two bills that Obama hopes lawmakers will send him in coming days, more than a year after he urged Congress to remake the U.S. health care system. The first cleared the Senate late last year but went no further because House Democrats demanded significant changes — the very types of revisions now being packaged into the second bill.

Together, the measures are designed to extend coverage to more than 30 million who now lack it and prohibit insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. Obama also has asked lawmakers to slow the growth of medical spending generally, a far more difficult goal to achieve. The total cost is around $1 trillion over 10 years.

After heavy lobbying from Obama, liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, announced his support Wednesday, becoming the first Democrat to declare he would vote in favor of the legislation after opposing an earlier version. Shortly after Kucinich’s announcement, a letter was released from 60 leaders of religious orders urging lawmakers to vote for the legislation.

The endorsement reflected a division within the Catholic Church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes the Senate-passed legislation, contending it would permit the use of federal funds for elective abortions.

Late Wednesday, however, retired Bishop John E. McCarthy of Austin, Texas, told The Associated Press he was urging approval of the legislation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35928063/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

While the bill is not perfect it is a step in the right direction. The Health care bill will make major steps towards ending the bad practices the insurance companies are know for. The plan will take several years to fully implement but by 2014 we should see the full effects of the bill. It will help control the long term debt while insuring millions of new people. Hopefully this will be followed with stronger reforms in the years to come.,

The proposals Obama mentioned are: sending investigators disguised as patients to uncover fraud and waste; expanding medical malpractice reform pilot programs; increasing payments to Medicaid providers and expanding the use of health savings accounts.

Obama’s announcement is not likely to win any votes from Republicans, who want the president to tear up the existing bills and start over. Nor is there any guarantee that Democratic leaders will agree to incorporate the administration’s suggestions in revised legislation. But it could give wavering Democrats political cover by showing the White House has been willing to compromise in the wake of last week’s televised bipartisan health care summit.

Obama’s letter was in keeping with the spirit of the summit. As expected, Republican leaders continued to assail the president’s health care agenda, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky arguing that “Americans don’t want the one-party bill Democrats in Washington are planning to force on them, or any variation of it — and they certainly don’t want Democrats to push it through with even more backroom deals.”

Democrats said it furthered their argument that Republicans have been unreasonably opposed to almost any compromise, justifying the White House decision to push for passage with no GOP help at all.

Obama is also expected to offer more details Wednesday on how he wants Congress to proceed, though White House press secretary Robert Gibbs indicated that the president wouldn’t delve too deeply into the process of passing the legislation.

A small number of House Democrats who opposed the legislation on the first go-round may be Obama’s most important constituency when he unveils his revised proposal.

At least nine of the 39 Democrats who voted “nay” when the House passed sweeping overhaul legislation 220-215 in November are now undecided or withholding judgment until they see Obama’s final product, according to an Associated Press survey.

“Do I think there’s a possibility of some people changing? Yes, I do,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday. “I think that’s because it’ll be a different bill than either the House or the Senate bill; it will hopefully take some strengths of both.”

It may seem improbable that any lawmaker would want to switch his or her vote on the measure, courting the flip-flopper label after a year of controversy over legislation that’s slid ever downward in polls.

But it will almost certainly have to happen in order for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to round up the votes necessary to pass the Senate’s version of the legislation, along with a package of changes that Obama proposes. The changes — designed to make the Senate bill more palatable to House Democrats by rolling back a tax on high-value insurance plans, among other things — would get through the Senate under controversial rules allowing for a simple majority vote.

That’s the only option for Democrats because they no longer control a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, and Republicans are unanimously opposed.

With four vacancies in the House, Pelosi will need 216 votes. She would command exactly that many if all the remaining Democrats who voted “yes” in November did so again. But many lawmakers expect defections, especially of members who oppose federal funding for abortion and feel the Senate language is too permissive in that regard.

For every yes vote that switches to no, Pelosi and the White House must persuade one of the 39 Democrats who voted no in November to switch to yes.

Some of the top targets may be the nine lawmakers who told The Associated Press directly or through spokesmen that they’re undecided or undeclared. Three are retiring and don’t have to worry about getting punished by voters, and five others are freshmen, mostly in competitive districts — lawmakers whom Pelosi will give a pass on tough votes when she can, but might call on when a major piece of legislation hangs in the balance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35656271/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

This is a great move by Obama to call the GOP bluff. He lured them to the health care summit and now is adopting 4 specific measures that the GOP called for. Once they inevitably refuse to vote for the bill even with these additions Obama and the Dems should be freed up to pass health reform with 51 votes.

If the Democrats end up passing health care using reconciliation they should make it a truly Progressive bill which includes a public option. This is the only way to break the insurance industry’s grasp on our health care system and instill choice and competition into the market. This is home stretch and we are closer to passing reform than we have been in decades. This is the time for the Democrats to make good on their promise even if the bill is imperfect. This should be the first step towards real reform, not the last.

I have a doctor’s appointment this month on the sixteenth.  I scheduled it in December.  I have excellent insurance that is mostly paid by my employer and covers everything from open-heart surgery to the sniffles.  I can choose acupuncture and have ninety percent of it covered.  My deductible is one hundred and fifty dollars and my co-pay is fifteen dollars to see a doctor and twenty for a specialist.  I pay seven dollars for most prescriptions and at most fifty for experimental medicine.  I have it very good when it comes to health care.  For all of this, it costs me about forty dollars a paycheck before taxes.  My company kicks in another two hundred and fifty dollars a paycheck.  Most would say I have it very good when it comes to health care.

Despite this, I have few good things to say about my health care.  Most concerning to me is how I had to wait two months to see a general practitioner whereas I could see a dermatologist this afternoon if I needed to.  That’s great if I have deadly zits, but it’s not so good for catching the things that tend to kill most Americans.  Consider it similar to a problem with your car.  It appears to be a transmission problem but you aren’t certain.  If you take it to a shop that does nothing but transmissions, they will likely tell you it needs to be rebuilt to the tune of $1,500 dollars.  If you take it to the dealer, they will run a wider range of tests and typically won’t do any work if they can’t diagnose the problem.  Primary care is that kind of care and the kind that saves lives more often than not.  And yet, I wait as long as in Canada or the UK for it.  For this privilege, I contribute to the most expensive health care system in the world.  And I settle for, at best, being just below or near the bottom of the top ten countries in quality of care. Continue reading “We’ll Get What We Give…A Health Care Tale” »