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With health reform looming, health insurance companies have mapped out various battle plans to protect their profits. And they have shown they are not above committing fraud to keep the money pouring in.
Rick Scott, the Bernie Madoff of health care, has a long screed in The Hill today, encompassing pretty much every conservative lie on health care reform today: socialized medicine, rationing, putting price tags on human lives.
The best line, though, come near the end, when Scott begins talking about paying for health care:
In fact, the next steps are so big, so massive and so unaffordable that some Democrats in Congress are already talking about changing how they do the math on healthcare reform so the numbers will work. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) even had the audacity to order the Congressional Budget Office to be “more creative” to “get the savings — both practically and politically — to get healthcare reform.”
Translation: “Cook the books.”
Never mind that President Obama is looking to pay for reform by raising taxes on rich people like Rick Scott, it's beyond hilarious that Scott would object to cooking the books, seeing as Scott himself based his entire business model on which he made the millions he's using to oppose health care reform on cooking the books:
Columbia "Hospitals Were Knowingly Inflating The Numbers Reported To The Government." The New York Times reported: "In particular, these people said, investigators are examining accusations of significant differences between the cost reports submitted by certain Columbia hospitals to the Government and separate reports — known as reserve cost reports — that were kept at hospitals. Investigators were said to believe that these second reports, along with work sheets prepared by analysts working with the company, provided evidence that at least some hospitals were knowingly inflating the numbers reported to the Government in the cost report to improperly raise total compensation." [New York Times, 7/17/97, emphasis added]
This massive fraud, perpetrated while Scott was running Columbia, resulted in $1.7 billion in penalties, the largest payment in history.
So, again, I ask the question, why would anybody listen to what Rick Scott has to say?
The answer, I fear, is because he has a lot of money, and he's using his ill-gotten gains to spread his message against health care reform, complete with lies, distortions, and outright falsehoods. The Media Matters Action Network has the full rebuttal.
Just because Scott has money doesn't mean he has ideas. And he's making that more and more clear every day.
The Senate was set to vote last night on whether or not a minority of Senators could block health care reform using a process called budget reconciliation.
The way it was supposed to work was this: Republicans were going to offer an amendment to tell the Senators negotiating a deal on the budget with the House not to use reconciliation for health care, just like they offered similar amendments around global warming. The vote was going to be a referendum on reconciliation - if it passed, the Senate would have clearly stated that it wants to allow a minority to filibuster health care reform. If it failed, the Senate would be declaring its intention to allow health reform to move forward on a simple majority vote.
This vote was supposed to happen late last night, but Republicans caved.
They caved under intense grassroots pressure from progressives across the country, with groups like Health Care for America Now, MoveOn.org, and the Rebuild and Renew America coalition asking their supporters to make thousands of calls to the Senate. As a result, the amendment was never offered because the GOP knew they didn't have the votes to pass it.
Instead of letting the Senate vote on whether a minority of Senators should be allowed to block health care reform, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), who's received over $1.4 million in donations from the health care industry, dodged the question and wasted the Senate's time by offering a pointless amendment opposing "socialized medicine." Here is what the DeMint amendment called for:
Of course, all of this rhetoric is meaningless after you realize that every health care plan being proposed offers people a choice between keeping the health insurance they have or choosing a new public health insurance option. Choice of doctor and health plan would be preserved, and nobody would be shifted to any health care plan against their will.
Despite DeMint's time wasting, the House and the Senate have reportedly announced a deal on the budget that includes reconciliation for health care, under intense pressure from Senate leadership and the White House [via CQ, no link, though Washington Post is now reporting the same deal]:
The inclusion of reconciliation instructions for the health care and student loan initiatives will be a sore spot for Republicans. The fast-track procedure will make the resulting bills immune to filibuster in the Senate, significantly reducing the GOP's leverage.
Democrats contend they only want to use reconciliation as a fallback option and would prefer to move health care through the regular order. Republicans are highly skeptical the fast-track process won't be used if available.
Republicans are threatening to shut down the Senate if reconciliation is used, though yesterday, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) undercut the entire GOP argument that reconciliation is unfair, saying Democrats have a "right" to use reconciliation for health care because Democrats won the election.
It all comes down to this: Because of grassroots pressure, Republicans didn't have the votes to block reconciliation for health care. Republicans are threatening procedural war, but it looks very likely that a minority of Senators will not be able to block health care reform this time. And so the GOP has a choice: They can work with Democrats in good faith (something they have declined to do so far), or they can be ignored as Democrats pass the health reform this country so desperately needs with a simple majority vote in the Senate.
Either way, progressives won a victory last night, and we're one step closer to winning quality, affordable health care for all.
The Main Street Alliance sends word that some of their small business supporters will be at a small business and health care roundtable this morning at the White House.
Dems push for budget plan by day 100 - Politico
Prodded by the White House, Democrats stepped up their efforts Thursday night to put a budget plan in place by April 29 so as to give President Barack Obama another victory within his first 100 days-and a better shot at winning healthcare reform later this year.
The president's top advisers came to the Capitol for the talks, hours after the president himself made clear to congressional leaders that he wants the agreement to allow healthcare reform to move through the Senate free of any filibuster threat.
Wellpoint criticized for calling members about health care reform - Associated Press
WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer, has launched what could be the start of a campaign for the hearts and minds of the American public as the country prepares for debates over reshaping its much-maligned health care system.
Senate Leader Wants Budget Maneuver That Riles Republicans - New York Times
Senate Democrats have been a bit cagey about whether they would adopt language in the House budget resolution calling for a procedural step known as reconciliation that could turn the must-pass budget bill into a vehicle for major legislation, including an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
GOP Stymies Vote on Sebelius - Washington Post
President Obama will have to wait a bit longer to round out his Cabinet. Senate Republicans refused today to allow a confirmation vote on his health secretary nominee Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.). She is the last Cabinet member awaiting Senate approval.
Malpractice - Dean Baker
When it comes to health care, economists ignore their own rules
Today there is a crucial vote in the Senate. Can you make a call?
Your Senator will make a crucial decision: Will a small minority of Senators be allowed to block health care reform?
Your Senator will have to decide whether to pass a budget with rules (what they call "reconciliation") that would prevent a minority of Senators from blocking a vote on a health care reform bill even if a majority want it to pass.
The question is: Should a minority of Senators be allowed to block health reform? The answer is "No!"
GOP Plots Revenge - Roll Call
As Senate Democrats move closer to using reconciliation to pass health care reform this year, key GOP Senators are signaling plans to avenge the move by employing parliamentary tactics to trip up even the most noncontroversial of agenda items.
Drug Deals Tie Prices to How Well Patients Do - New York Times
Pressed by insurance companies, some drug makers are beginning to adjust what they charge for their drugs, based on how well the medicines improve patients’ health.
Democrats want speedy health care debate - San Francisco Chronicle
Democrats controlling the House went on record again Wednesday in favor of advancing health care legislation while allowing only limited debate, which would minimize the ability of Republicans to wrest concessions on one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities.
Democrats may have the votes to pass the budget with reconciliation language for health care, so says The Hill:
Democrats appear to have the votes for a budget measure that would allow reform of the nation’s healthcare system with just 51 Senate votes.
Centrist Democrats said they could support the special reconciliation budget process to push ahead healthcare reform, even though many of them voted to ban the use of reconciliation rules for climate change regulations earlier this month.
If true, this means the option of using reconciliation will be on the table, and a minority of Senators won't be able to block health care reform. To say this would be a huge victory would be an understatement. Bill Clinton, for one, has called not using the reconciliation process his biggest mistake during the doomed health care fight of 1993.
As The New Republic explains, reconciliation has been used by Republicans to do all sorts of things over the last 20 years, which means health care fits in the mold quite well:
Whether reducing or increasing deficits, many of the reconciliation bills made major changes in policy. Health insurance portability (COBRA), nursing home standards, expanded Medicaid eligibility, increases in the earned income tax credit, welfare reform, the state Children's Health Insurance Program, major tax cuts and student aid reform were all enacted under reconciliation procedures. Health reform 2009 style would be the most ambitious use of reconciliation but it fits a pattern used over three decades by both parties to avoid the strictures of Senate filibusters.
…
The best path would be to have reconciliation as an implicit or explicit threat: if Democrats can employ it to accomplish the policy goal with only a simple majority, Republicans may be persuaded to abandon efforts to use their 41 votes to just say no and instead engage the majority constructively to find common ground. But if that is not feasible, it is perfectly reasonable for Democrats to use the process for health care reform that both parties have used regularly for other major initiatives. The result might be more piecemeal and imperfect, but it would be better than the alternative of no bill at all.
It seems this idea has broad support from Democrats, even the more conservative members. The Hill's reporting is filled with quotes from the likes of Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Sen. Jon Tester, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Sen. Charles Schumer supporting the option of reconciliation, and even people like Sen. Mark Pryor and Sen. Evan Bayh, who harshly criticized Obama's budget, are not ruling out the suggestion.
And, if the nearly party-line vote on Kathleen Sebelius's HHS nomination in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday is any indication, we may need the option to overcome Republican obstructionism, as Schumer hints:
"I was surprised by the fact that so few Republicans supported a moderate, qualified candidate like Governor Sebelius. It's an ominous signal of the level of cooperation we can expect from the Republicans on health care. Maybe the Republicans are telling us they want us to pass healthcare reform through the budget reconciliation process."
We've only seen obstructionism from Republicans thus far, and they don't have an alternative health care plan to add substance to their objections. I think it's safe to predict obstructionism over health care, which is why we need the reconciliation option.
Update: The New York Times is hearing similar things. Looks like reconciliation is definitely a possibility.
Rick Scott: Fighting For Health Reform Without A Clue - Media Matters
Summary: On April 21, 2009, the Politico interviewed Conservatives for Patients' Rights' founder Rick Scott. Secretly funded by big business, "Conservatives for Patients' Rights" is intent on preserving the insurance industry's ability to hold Americans hostage. As a former health care CEO, Rick Scott demonstrates that the conservative movement's opposition to health care reform is out of touch with the needs and desires of everyday American patients.
Healthcare provisions would not derail budget legislation - The Hill
Democrats appear to have the votes for a budget measure that would allow reform of the nation’s healthcare system with just 51 Senate votes.
The Routine Spiral of Health Care Costs - New York Times
The bill was $2,306.88; or, put more accurately, the bill was $2,848.00, but $2,306.88 was the amount my insurance company paid my son’s pediatric cardiologist.
Truth and Reconciliation - The New Republic
Are Democrats making an egregious power grab by sidestepping the filibuster? Hardly.
Medicare called key to overhaul of health care - Associated Press
The program should be the test lab for making the system less wasteful, experts told senators.
Virginia Health Reform Campaign Begins - Tri-Cities.com
Debby Smith spent four years serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and 25 years working as an accountant before she found out she had cancer – and now she can’t get health insurance.
Ohio small businesses call for reforms to make worker health insurance affordable - Cleveland Plain Dealer
Ohio's small businesses — which provide about 50 percent of the state's jobs — are calling for health care reform as they struggle to provide insurance to workers, according to a survey released Tuesday.
U.S. senators hope to have health bills by June - Reuters
The chairmen of two Senate committees drafting legislation to overhaul healthcare told President Barack Obama on Monday they were working together to have bills ready by early June.
Senators Set Timetable for Health Care Bills - NYTimes
The chairmen of two Senate committees told President Obama today that by early June they would finish writing legislation on health care to “provide coverage to all Americans.”
Divided committee to vote on health secretary - AP
President Barack Obama's health secretary nominee faces a vote in a divided Senate committee after revelations about her ties to a late-term abortion doctor turned some Republicans against her.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, was expected to win approval Tuesday from the Democratic-controlled Senate Finance Committee, the final step before action by the full Senate. A Senate floor vote could come within days.
WellPoint Makes Three Million Calls In Health-Reform Survey - Wall Street Journal
How would you respond if a computer called you and asked the following question?
“Would you be willing to get involved to make your voice heard so that we can improve our nation’s health care system?”
If the computer was calling you on behalf of WellPoint, the big insurer that runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs in 14 states, would your answer be any different?
Where Government Spending Should be Trimmed — And Why It's Necessary to Fast-Track Universal Health Care - Robert Reich
Obama should fast-track health care and stop trying to court Republicans. Every House Republican and all but three Senate Republicans voted against the stimulus; all Republicans in both houses voted against the budget. During the recess they hosted "tea parties" claiming that Americans are over-taxed. Over the weekend, House minority leader John Boehner called the idea of carbon-induced climate change "almost comical." Republicans are already off and running toward the midterm elections of 2010, even starting to run ads against House Democrats in close districts.
Baucus and Kennedy Set the Pace - Ezra Klein
In a letter to Obama today, Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Ted Kennedy, chair of the health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, not only outlined a timeframe for health reform but also put forward a strategy for overcoming the turf warfare of years past.
Republicans: We're Clueless on Health Care - The New Republic
So far, 2009 is shaping up rather differently. And that's good news for reformers. President Obama and key congressional leaders are working hand in hand, as they have been for months, on what is– in the broad sense–a commonly shared vision for health reform. Liberal interest groups are on board, too. Led by groups like Health Care for America Now, they have money, a ground presence, plus a coordinated strategy that dovetails perfeclty with what's happening in Washington.