NEWS

Reid says bill will include a public option - Washington Post

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid announced Monday that he will include a government-backed insurance plan in the chamber's health-care reform legislation, a key concession to liberals who have threatened to oppose a bill without such a public option.

Unions win concessions but fight on - The Hill

Organized labor is flexing its muscle in Senate negotiations over healthcare reform and winning important concessions from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On Public Option - Huffington Post

Democratic leaders were forced to include a national public health insurance option as part of health care reform by progressive Democratic senators who refused to support anything less, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.

Liberals to Barack Obama: Time to step up - Politico

Now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has announced he’ll try to push through a health care reform bill with a public option, liberals are turning their focus — and their frustrations — on Barack Obama, the man who brought them to the outskirts of the progressive promise land.

Republicans impatient with leaders, awaiting healthcare alternative - The Hill

Some House Republicans are growing frustrated that their leaders have not yet introduced a healthcare reform alternative.

BlueCross BlueShield Opposes Reforms That Would Cut Into Their Monopoly - Media Matters

In an attempt to drum up opposition to Democratic proposals for health care reform, one of the country's biggest private insurers has sent a mailer (with prepaid return postage!) to incite its policyholders to fight against reform.

Folks are coming out in support of Majority Leader Reid this afternoon. Well, everyone but the insurance industry. A roundup…

The White House:

"The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we're closer than we've ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He's also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition."

Senator Chris Dodd:

“I fought for a strong public option – in the HELP Committee and in this merger process – because it is the best way to keep costs low and insurance companies honest,” said Dodd.  “Majority Leader Reid has made a bold and right choice to endorse the HELP Committee public option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out.  At its core, health care reform is about making insurance more stable and affordable for those who have it, and available to those who don’t, while improving quality and lowering costs.  I believe that the public option is a key component to successful reform, and I will continue to lead the fight for it on the Senate floor.”

Harry Reid stood up for America today.

He put a public health insurance option in the Senate bill, the merged version of the two health care bills passed out of committee that will now go to the Senate floor for debate, amendments, and passage.

This is a huge victory. Putting the public health insurance option in the Senate bill that goes to the floor makes it much harder to remove later. Opponents will need 60 votes to amend the Senate bill, meaning a high bar will have to be cleared to take out or change the public health insurance option.

Why did Senator Reid do it? As he said:

I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system. It will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition and that's why we intend to include it on the bill that will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.

For these reasons, the public option is what America wants. In poll after poll, in rally after rally, month after month, the American public has spoken. We want a public health insurance option to keep the insurance industry honest, to increase competition, and to give us somewhere to go if we don't want to be at the mercy of the private insurance industry any longer.

When the Washington Post - harbingers of cautious beltway conventional wisdom - has their polls showing 57% of Americans support a public health insurance option, you can be sure that this is a mainstream position.

Senator Reid deserves our thanks today for leading America forward. The fight is far from over, and to be sure, there is plenty in the Senate bill that needs to be fixed. We need:

• To make sure health care is truly affordable to everyone
• Ensure employers are responsible for helping to provide good health benefits to their employees
• Fairly finance reform rather than taxing higher-cost plans

However, Senator Reid stood up for America and he should be encouraged to keep fighting. Sign the petition below to pledge to keep fighting for a public health insurance option and quality, affordable health care for all.

Click here to sign the petition thanking Senator Reid and telling him that as he fights for us, we'll stand with him.

Reid's prepared remarks:

The last two weeks have been a great opportunity to work with the White House, Senators Baucus and Dodd, and members of our Caucus on this critical issue of reforming our health insurance system.

We have had productive, meaningful discussions about how to craft the strongest bill that can gain the 60 votes necessary to move forward in the Senate.

I feel good about progress we have made within our caucus and with the White House, and we are all optimistic about reform because of the unprecedented momentum that exists.

I am well aware that the issue of the public option has been a source of great discussion in recent weeks. I have always been a strong supporter of the public option.

While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it is an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients.

As we've gone through this process, I've concluded, with the support of the White House and Senators Baucus and Dodd, that the best way forward is to include a public option with an opt-out provision for states.

Under this concept, states will be able to determine whether the public option works well for them and will have the ability to opt-out.

I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system. It will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition and that's why we intend to include it on the bill that will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.

We have spent countless hours over the last few days in consultation with Senators who have shown a genuine desire to see reform succeed, and I believe there is strong consensus to move forward in this direction.

Today's developments bring us another step closer to achieving our goal of passing a bill this year that lowers costs, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care.

I'm happy to answer a few questions before I have to leave for a meeting.

NEWS

Democrats Are Optimistic That Public Option Will Be Approved - New York Times

Several Democratic senators voiced optimism on Sunday that Congress would pass a health care bill containing at least the germ of a government-run insurance program. Their expectations were grudgingly seconded by Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008.

Congress' health care bills leave millions uninsured - USA Today

The high cost of health insurance premiums would continue to put coverage out of reach for millions even if Congress approves legislation President Obama says is intended to ensure "that every American has affordable health care."

Insurers poised to reap benefits from healthcare overhaul - LA Times

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -  As President Obama's push for a healthcare overhaul moves toward its final act, the oft-vilified health insurance industry is on the verge of seeing a plan enacted that largely protects its financial interests.

Leaderless: Senate Pushes For Public Option Without Obama's Support - Huffington Post

President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a preference for an alternative policy, favored by the insurance industry, which would see a public plan "triggered" into effect in the future by a failure of the industry to meet certain benchmarks.

The Public Option: Rumor Check - WhiteHouse.gov

A rumor is making the rounds that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option.  Those rumors are absolutely false.

Dems push for benefits to start by 2010 - Politico

Democrats are pushing Senate leaders and the White House to speed up key benefits in the health reform bill to 2010, eager to give the party something to show taxpayers for their $900 billion investment in an election year.

AP sources: Health bill may cut employer mandate - Associated Press

Businesses would not be required to provide health insurance under legislation being readied for Senate debate, but large firms would owe significant penalties if any worker needed government subsidies to buy coverage on their own, according to Democratic officials familiar with talks on the bill.

Jon Cohn has a must read piece today, laying out (accurately, to my knowledge) the current state of play on the public health insurance option:

Brian Beutler and Carrie Budoff Brown have the essentials on the Senate situation. In a nutshell, Harry Reid thinks he has the votes to sustain a bill that includes some sort of public option compromise, whether it's a trigger or an opt-out. Max Baucus is not happy about this and, perhaps to a lesser extent, neither is Olympia Snowe. But other centrists, most notably Ben Nelson, are making pretty clear they can find a way to live with at least some versions of the public insurance compromise. That's news.

Over in the House, according to several sources, the drama began in the morning when Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed a meeting of the Democratic caucus and laid out two main possibilities. One was the "Medicare-plus-five" version–that is, a government-run plan that would pay physicians at roughly Medicare rates with an extra five percent on top. (It'd pay hospitals standard Medicare rates without the additional five percent.) The other possibility was a "negotiated" version–that is, a government-run plan that bargained with doctors and hospitals over rates.

…

Friday morning brings another caucus meeting and there, perhaps, the House Democrats will make a final decision about which way to go. There isn't much time, given the schedule Pelosi wants to keep. She wants to unveil a bill early next week and, perhaps, have a floor vote the week after that. The leadership has already sent language over to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring. As one staffer says, "it's all locked in–except for the public plan."

This is, by and large, great news. In the House, there is no question that we're going to get a public health insurance option that's national and available on day one. The only question is will we get one that saves taxpayers about $80 billion (that would be the one that pays Medicare +5 rates) or not.

In the Senate, things are also looking up. While we're not nearly as far along as the House, public support for the idea is clearly giving Senate leaders pause. As a result, there has been serious discussion of putting a real public health insurance option in the Senate merged bill. While there is still a large danger that we'll get a trigger - a catch-22 plan to kill the public health insurance option - I'm much more hopeful about the Senate negotiations than I've been in a while, especially with Senators like Nelson hinting they wouldn't support a filibuster and leaked reports saying Reid has 60 votes for cloture.

We've clearly come a long way, and the fact that the public health insurance option is a must with the American people is seeping into the conventional wisdom that surround this country's capitol.

Up next: Floor votes!

NEWS

Debate rages over public option - USA Today

Sharon Lantz has insurance but says she must pay for cancer medication out of pocket.

Lawmakers warm to the public option - Washington Post

House Democrats are coalescing around an $871 billion health-care package that would create a government-run insurance plan to help millions of Americans afford coverage, raise taxes on the nation's richest families and impose an array of new regulations on private insurers, in part by stripping the industry of its long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws.

Senate Leader Takes Risk Pushing Public Insurance Plan - New York Times

In pushing to include a government-run health insurance plan in the health care bill, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is taking a calculated gamble that the 60 members of his caucus could support the plan if it included a way for states to opt out.

Carper: Senate Bill Will Include A National Public Plan With An Opt Out - TPM

After a meeting with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) discussed the status of the public plan in the Senate health care bill with reporters. Here's what he said:

Insurers say they still want health overhaul deal - Associated Press

Health insurers insist they're still committed to getting a health care overhaul bill passed this year. But all around Washington, people are wondering if — or when — the industry will change its mind and try to kill it.

WellPoint Attacks Health Legislation - Wall Street Journal

WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health insurer by members, is striking out against proposed health-overhaul legislation with new data it presented to members of Congress Thursday.

This morning, AHIP, the insurance industry's front group and lobbying arm, said this:

Steve Champlin, a lobbyist for the Duberstein Group who represents AHIP, declared that the road to a bipartisan health care reform bill was, essentially, dead. And he urged GOP members to keep it that way.

"There is absolutely no interest, no reason Republicans should ever vote for this thing. They have gone from a party that got killed 11 months ago to a party that is rising today. And they are rising up on the turmoil of health care," said Champlin. "So when they vote for a health care reform bill, whatever it is, they are giving comfort to the enemy who is down."

This afternoon, AHIP said this:

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni today affirmed health plans’ strong support for comprehensive, bipartisan health care reform that covers all Americans, improves quality, and makes care more affordable.

One of these statements represents AHIP's true position, and one is a lie. I think you know which is which.

Meanwhile, hundreds rallies outside of AHIP's conference in DC in support of health reform and a public health insurance option, demanding Karen Ignagni, the insurance industry's top lobbyist, meet with seven families who's lives have been turned upside down by insurance company bad practices and who traveled thousands of miles to be in DC today. Ignagni never showed.

Here are the pictures:

The insurance companies have been playing a game with the American people for over a year now.

It started with the "listening tour" AHIP - the insurance industry's front group and lobbying arm - put on last fall leading up to the election. As we documented thoroughly, while AHIP said it was out listening to the public on health reform, it actually spent months playing hide and seek with real people, and pressure from us forced them to cancel and curtail their plans.

Then, from the results of this sham listening tour, the insurance companies put out their "reform" plan, which largely mirrored defeated Republican candidate John McCain's plan. The insurance industry's plan was roundly defeated in the November election, which should tell you how closely AHIP "listened" to the American public.

Into 2009, the insurance industry continued their attempts to fool the American people. They said over and over that they were for health care reform. Karen Ignagni, AHIP's top lobbyist, said so to the President. In every press conference and every TV appearance, this was the message that they tried to put out.

Meanwhile, the industry was spending millions per day lobbying against reform, particularly the public health insurance option. All of this is part of the strategy Think Progress diagrammed months ago, involving a public charm offensive and multiple anti-reform front groups.

Lately, as real health care reform begins to look more likely to pass, the insurance companies have taken to saying they support "bipartisan" reform, whatever that means.

But today, the veil has finally come off this charade. Another one of the insurance industry's top lobbyists, Steve Champlin (who also works for AHIP), told Republicans Members of Congress not to vote for health reform under any circumstances:

"There is absolutely no interest, no reason Republicans should ever vote for this thing. They have gone from a party that got killed 11 months ago to a party that is rising today. And they are rising up on the turmoil of health care," said Champlin. "So when they vote for a health care reform bill, whatever it is, they are giving comfort to the enemy who is down."

"Long before the Republicans discovered that the House bill was a strategy to kill seniors and all that kind of stuff the plan was already unpopular," he added, underscoring why Republicans shouldn't attach themselves to the legislation.

The remarks came during the opening session of AHIP's annual State Issues Conference in which both Champlin and his co-panelist seemed to concede that reform would pass and will include a variation of a public option for insurance coverage.

The industry that treats rape as a pre-existing condition is finally coming clean. Their message: Republicans should kill health care reform, otherwise they will be giving comfort to the "enemy."

I'm glad the insurance companies are finally coming clean that they're against health reform and that they've always been against health reform. It's slightly more honest of them. I'm also glad that the industry is in town for their conference.

Today, Health Care for America Now, along with hundreds of supporters and all of our partners in DC, will be at the AHIP State Issues Conference at the Capitol Hilton at 3:00 pm. We're bringing seven families who's lives have been torn apart by the insurance industry to confront Karen Ignagni. If you're in the area, come join us. And if not, sign the petition to stand with us.

The insurance industry will always be against health reform, because it will cut into their profits and make America healthier. And now they're admitting it.

NEWS

Health care groups lobby at record pace - USA Today

The drug and insurance industries have dramatically amped up their efforts to lobby Congress, spending millions over a three-month period to influence legislation aimed at reshaping the nation's health care system, new reports show.

Senate blocks Medicare payment bill - LA Times

The measure to overturn a scheduled 21% reduction in doctors' fees is blocked by a mixture of Republicans and centrist Democrats who objected that its $250-billion cost over 10 years was not offset.

Rape Victim's Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance? - Huffington Post

Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month's worth of anti-AIDS medicine.

Leaders Confident on Health Bill Vote - Roll Call

House Democratic leaders sounded bullish Wednesday after launching an all-hands-on-deck effort to win support for a “robust” public insurance option in their health care bill.

Poll finds Mass. doctors support health care overhaul law - Boston Globe

Amid contentious congressional debate about health care, a new poll indicates that physicians on the front lines in Massachusetts overwhelmingly support the state’s closely watched 2006 overhaul, which is considered a national model.