The Democrats’ yearlong health reform push picked up unmistakable momentum Thursday as the votes began to fall into place for a history-making roll call Sunday that could achieve the party’s decadeslong goal of expanding health care.
The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, is the latest lobbying heavyweight to formally give its seal of approval to Democrats’ $940 billion health care reform legislation, urging House Members on Thursday to vote for the measure.
Senate Democrats are planning an aggressive message campaign between now and November focusing on jobs, national security, the immediate impact of health care reform and their party’s efforts to “take on Wall Street.”
House Democrats initiated a 72-hour countdown Thursday on their yearlong effort to overhaul the health care system, unveiling a nearly final version of the legislation that promptly won additional support with a promise that the bill would more than pay for itself over the next decade.
Dayspring doesn’t mis-attribute the study to the New England Journal of Medicine, but I think Peter Lipson at Forbes does a good job unspooling the unscientific Medicus poll that’s at issue here.
In their attempt to pass a sweeping health care overhaul this weekend, House Democrats are pushing a package of legislative fixes to lure undecided or opposed members of their party to the "yes" category.
And online, the people are calling their Representatives for Susan, who had to fight cancer and her insurance company because Blue Cross's catastrophic coverage didn't think cancer was catastrophic:
Back in 2007, the nation's largest health insurer, WellPoint, pledged to spend $30 million over three years as part of a "comprehensive plan to help address the growing ranks of the uninsured."
In 2007, just as Democrats took control of Congress, WellPoint pledged that its charitable foundation would spend $30 million over three years as part of a "comprehensive plan to help address the growing ranks of the uninsured."
But according to tax filings, company promotional material and former executives familiar with the initiative, WellPoint never came close to fulfilling that pledge. A company spokeswoman disputed that Wednesday.
However, WellPoint's public records indicate that from 2007 to 2009 the foundation gave less than $6.2 million in grants targeted specifically at helping uninsured Americans get access to coverage and care — barely one-fifth of what was promised and just 11% of the charity's total giving over the last three years.
"It was just not something that the company really wanted to do," said one former executive, who, like others interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified out of concern that discussing WellPoint could have adverse career consequences. "So it went by the wayside."
Let's put this all in perspective.
Over the three years from 2007-2009, WellPoint made $10 billion in profit, or $9 million per day, more than WellPoint has currently contributed to this "comprehensive plan," even though a week of profits would have covered the full amount they pledged.
Their CEO pay for 2007 and 2008 (2009 numbers are not available yet) was $28.5 million, just about the amount of their promise. In 2008, Angela Braley, WellPoint's CEO, made $9.8 million, more than WellPoint actually spent on this "comprehensive plan" to date.
Over the past three years, WellPoint has bought back $12.1 billion dollars worth of its own stock, a technique that jacks up a stock's price and is used to reward Wall Street investors. Just .2% of the money they spent rewarding Wall Street would have fulfilled their promise.
And, let's not forget, this is the same WellPoint that jacked up rates 39% in California through its subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross, all the while cutting millions from its rolls.
This is WellPoint's business model - reward Wall Street at the expense of customers by denying care and carving out benefit designs that save them money by making you pay more. It's also the business model health reform - which according to the latest CBO numbers [pdf] will cover 95% of the population - is designed to end.
The firm had pledged in 2007 to spend $30 million over three years to help those who lack health coverage, but its tax records and website show it gave only $6.2 million. The company disputes that.
In May, 2002, Jerome Mitchell, a 17-year old college freshman from rural South Carolina, learned he had contracted HIV. The news, of course, was devastating, but Mitchell believed that he had one thing going for him: On his own initiative, in anticipation of his first year in college, he had purchased his own health insurance.
Washington has spent many a morning during the year-long health care debate, awaiting the Congressional Budget Office score on one iteration of the bill or another.
Republicans have threatened to make the controversial health care overhaul a central issue in every congressional race next fall. So Democrats want to have something to show for their efforts — before the November elections. And President Obama has begun telling voters not just what the overhaul will do for them, but what it will do for them right away.
Roman Catholic opposition to the health care overhaul package is crumbling, with some church officials and lawmakers concluding that their long-sought goal of health care overhaul trumps the desire to adopt the severest restrictions on abortion funding.
As Democrats worked feverishly Wednesday to corral votes in support of a health care overhaul, they picked up the endorsement of more than 200 advocacy groups and medical associations who urged lawmakers to pass the bill.
Facing a sharp rise in costs, Pennsylvania has almost doubled the monthly bill for a state health insurance program for poor people who do not qualify for Medicaid and are on a waiting list for a less costly option.
On March 1, the cost of the plan rose to about $600 a month, up from $313 a month, for the roughly 2,400 state residents on the waiting list.
…
Established in 2002, Pennsylvania’s state insurance program, called AdultBasic, covers adults ages 19 to 65 with incomes lower than twice the federal poverty level, or about $21,672 for a single person, at a cost to participants of about $36 per month. About 39,000 people are enrolled in AdultBasic.
About 390,000 other people are on a waiting list to join the AdultBasic program. While they wait, the state gives them the option to pay for the same insurance at a higher rate. It is the cost for members of the waiting list that rose on March 1 to about $600 a month.
Health reform solves this problem.
For families who make 133% of the Federal Poverty Level or less - about $24,000 per year - health reform would allow them to get on Medicaid. Those families who make more than that - up to 400% of the FPL or about $73,000 per year - will be able to purchase heavily subsidized insurance in the Exchanges.
For families making between 133% FPL and 200% FPL ($24,000 - $36,000 per year) - the people affected by Pennsylvania's rate increase above - their average cost for insurance, both premiums and out of pocket, will be [pdf] around $63 per month for families at 133% up to $244 per month for families at 200%.
Seniors who hit the coverage gap in their Medicare prescription drug plans and must use their own money to buy drugs are facing price increases that are far outpacing inflation, a new study finds.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, prices paid by enrollees in standalone Part D plans who enter the coverage gap increased 5 percent or more since January 2009 for half of 10 brand-name drugs most commonly used by seniors. That's almost twice the rate of inflation over the same period.
For example, the price of Actonel, a treatment for osteoporosis, increased 8 percent, from $91 per month in 2009 to $98 per month in 2010. Meanwhile, the prices for both Aricept, an Alzheimer’s medication, and Plavix, a drug used to prevent blood clots, both increased by 7 percent during the same period. Aricept's prices rose from $184 to $198 while Plavix's rose from $142 to $152. Lipitor, a cholesterol medication, was the only drug surveyed that decreased in price, from slightly more than $86 to just under $86 per month.
The rising prices are part of a longer is sufficient longer-term trend. Between January 2006 and January 2010, the analysis showed, prices of drugs bought by seniors who hit the coverage gap increased 20 to 25 percent for Lipitor, Plavix, Nexium, a drug for acid-reflux, and Lexapro, a medication for depression and anxiety; 39 percent for Actonel, and 41 percent for Aricept. Over the same period, inflation has increased 9.2 percent while prices for medical care have surged 16.1 percent.
Health reform solves this problem, too. Immediately after passage of the bill, seniors will get immediate relief that starts closing that coverage gap. The gap will be completely closed as health reform is implemented.
Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool; (this will help with the Pennsylvania situation as well)
Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.
Reform will also help people like 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, who's mother died because she didn't have insurance:
And Matt Masterson's son, who's pre-existing condition makes him virtually uninsurable, a near death sentence as soon as he's kicked of his father's insurance plan in a few years:
Finally, today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee came out with numbers on how reform will help people in every Congressional district.
The vote is coming in the House. It's likely to take place this weekend. Without reform, none of these problems get solved, and the insurance companies will get to continue their business practices of denying care and carving out coverage while making record profits.
Facing a sharp rise in costs, Pennsylvania has almost doubled the monthly bill for a state health insurance program for poor people who do not qualify for Medicaid and are on a waiting list for a less costly option.
President Obama was calling from Air Force One while flying back from Cleveland, but second-term Rep. Jason Altmire was in his car and couldn't be reached.
Seniors who hit the coverage gap in their Medicare prescription drug plans and must use their own money to buy drugs are facing price increases that are far outpacing inflation, a new study finds.
Opponents of Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, are accusing him of flip-flopping on abortion funding in federal health care reform after he issued a statement Tuesday supporting the language in the Senate bill.
For weeks, President Obama has not mentioned health reform without invoking the premium rate hikes of up to 39% of Anthem Blue Cross of California, my state’s largest insurer. It’s an explicit reminder that however uncertain voters and elected officials may be about health reform, the current health system is far scarier.
As president and CEO of the Houston Area Urban League, I personally experience the daily challenge of working with individuals seeking help in becoming more productive. We all benefit when these individuals seize opportunities to improve their status in life. At the Urban League, we focus on bringing personal and community economic empowerment to the most vulnerable Houstonians by hastening their pace toward self-sufficiency. The sooner people become self-sufficient, the more independent they become. The moral imperative of having a just and equitable health insurance system is one of the cornerstones of that empowerment.
It's amazing what happens when it looks like you have the votes to pass a bill. Suddenly your enemies are your best friends!
Republicans of all stripes are coming out of the woodwork to give Democrats free advice on how to vote on health reform. Most of that advice says vote no, of course.
A little over a year ago, when President Obama first took up health-care reform, Republicans reached out to him in the hopes of working together on solutions that would lower health-care costs for families and small businesses. A bipartisan bill focused on lower costs could have been sent to the president's desk last year, and it would have received the support of the American people.
This is coming from the same John Boehner who, back in June, before the legislation's basic shape had been set, couldn't find a Republican yes vote for health reform. And the same Mitch McConnell that kept a deal out of the one place a (bad) bipartisan deal might have occurred - the "gang of six."
"From the day this passes, if it should, there will be an instant spontaneous campaign to repeal it all across the country," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the third-ranking GOP Senate leader, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "It will define every Democratic congressional race in November, and it will be a political wipeout for the Democratic Party." Alexander isn't the only one warning Democrats about their future; the entire Senate GOP leadership is getting into the act. "House Democrats will have to decide whether they want to trust the Senate to fix their political problems," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters last week. "I think their problems are just beginning," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said at a different briefing last week. Karl Rove, whose master plan for the 2006 midterm elections didn't exactly help the Bush White House, weighed in on Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday." " [President Obama] passes this thing, I think they lose the House of Representatives this fall," Rove said. Even Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele is offering advice to Democrats. "Looking at the reconciliation fight that may loom ahead of us, it certainly will have represented a 'death panel' for the Democrats this fall," he said last month (bringing that extra rhetorical zest that only Steele can).
Of course, it should go without saying that when Republicans start chirping up with unsolicited suggestions for how Democrats can improve their political fortunes, Democrats would be wise to consider the source. The GOP isn't interested in helping Democrats avoid defeat this fall. This is so obvious that even typing it is hard to do without laughing, but just in case, here goes: Republicans want Democrats to lose in November's elections, early and often, if possible.
The reality of public opinion on health reform is very different from what Republicans make it out to be. Americans are closely divided on the bills in Congress, and support greatly improves when they learn what's in the bill.
If we don't' pass the bill, how do you explain that to Americans? There is incredibly urgency in cost and the health and well-being of American, and yet we as Democrats, with two Houses [of Congress] and White House, couldn't make the historic decision to go forward?
The same forces that are aligned against Medicare are against this bill. This is what what they believe. I'll give them credit for staying true to their beliefs - they don't believe in health care for all Americans and a government role in that. The budget that they have [Rep. Paul Ryan's budget] privatizes social security, offers vouchers instead of medicare, and gives block grants to states instead of Medicaid. That is what they believe.
We want to take it to the American people and say, "This is the choice you have. This is their vision, and this is ours." [The Democratic members of the House] are strong enough and courageous enough to take that message out there.
Republicans have no intention of easing up on any Democrat that votes against health reform. Instead, Democrats need to confront the Republican opposition head on. Republicans still have no plan to make good health care available and affordable to the American people, while overwhelming majorities of Americans want large changes to our health care system.
Democrats should keep that in mind before heeding their "advice."
Proponents of health care reform Tuesday are launching a sizable television ad campaign in an effort to sway undecided House Democrats to get them to vote in favor of the legislation.
Days away from a make-or-break vote on his health care overhaul, President Barack Obama is turning up the pressure as only presidents can, as Democratic leaders make a desperate scramble for votes.
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.
The insurer had refused to cover the liver surgery after Ephram Nehme decided to go out of state to face a shorter waiting list. Panelists in L.A. also say Blue Cross should pay Nehme's legal fees.
Declaring that “every argument has been made” on his health care overhaul, President Obama sought to seal the deal with Congress and the American people Monday by focusing on a single patient: a self-employed cleaning woman who dropped her costly insurance plan and just discovered she has leukemia.
Labor and progressive leaders are threatening House Democrats who oppose health care legislation with potentially destructive third party challenges in November.
In an on-the-record roundtable with bloggers and journalists this morning, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was extremely confident that health reform will pass and pass quickly:
I have no intention of not passing this bill. I have faith in my members that we'll be passing this.
If we don't' pass the bill, how do you explain that to Americans? There is incredibly urgency in cost and the health and well-being of American, and yet we as Democrats, with two Houses [of Congress] and White House, couldn't make the historic decision to go forward?
The same forces that are aligned against Medicare are against this bill. This is what what they believe. I'll give them credit for staying true to their beliefs - they don't believe in health care for all Americans and a government role in that. The budget that they have [Rep. Paul Ryan's budget] privatizes social security, offers vouchers instead of medicare, and gives block grants to states instead of Medicaid. That is what they believe.
We want to take it to the American people and say, "This is the choice you have. This is their vision, and this is ours." [The Democratic members of the House] are strong enough and courageous enough to take that message out there.
There is a legitimate political debate happening in our country - what role should government have in bringing down health care costs, increasing accessibility and coverage, holding insurance companies accountable. We welcome that debate.
This is the most important initiative most of us in Congress - Congressman Dingell who was here for Medicare notwithstanding - will ever do in our legislative lifetimes.
Throughout the meeting, Pelosi continually referred back to this language, stressing that it's time to move forward and that the legislation is historic progress. At one point, she said that her "biggest fight" was against doing a small, incrementalist bill instead of addressing the entire system. "We've won that argument," she said, "And we can now take the country in a new direction."
Pelosi said she is asking members of the Democratic caucus to think about what is in the bill that they support, not what's not in the bill that might lead them to oppose. She says the bill does three transformational things, the "triple A" as she puts it:
We're proud of what's in there. Affordability for the middle class, access to health care for 31 million Americans, and accountability for insurance companies. The reconciliation package will change the pay-for [the excise tax], increase affordability, and correct the inequities in the states [the Nebraska deal]. The reasons we [in the House] didn't like Senate bill are corrected in reconciliation bill.
The biggest lever is to prevent insurance company abuses is the ability to prevent them from doing business in the exchange. That's a really big deal for them. If they raise rates they can be barred from the exchange. If they don't abide by anti-discrimination rules, they can be barred.
And, between now and implementation, if insurance companies don't follow the law, they'll be prevented from participating in the exchange. The Secretary [of Health and Human Services] can establish fines, and the Attorneys General can take action if they're discriminating. That's in the legislation.
Of course, we want to pass more. That's why we passed the insurance industry anti-trust repeal, and we'll revisit some other issues in the future.
As for how reform will pass, the Speaker stressed that it's hard to get a vote count before you have a bill. As of today, she is waiting for the final CBO score to release the language, then they can begin counting votes. "Time is important," she said, "every special interest against the bill benefits by delay."
She said there were three options for passing the Senate bill and the reconciliation improvements through the House. The first - having the House and Senate pass the reconciliation bill before the House passes the Senate bill - was ruled out by the Senate parliamentarian. The second option - having the House pass both the Senate bill and a package of reconciliation fixes - is available. And there is a third option, one that the Speaker said she and her members are leaning towards. Under the plan, the House would vote only on the reconciliation bill based on a rule that says once the reconciliation bill passes the House, the Senate bill would be "deemed" passed in the House as well:
We don't have the votes yet because we don't have a bill yet. People just haven't made a commitment because they haven't seen the bill. The vision and specifics will get us the votes.
There is no easy vote around here, but I have confidence we'll be fine if we keep eye on the ball and have members be completely familiar with final bill. This is historic.
The Budget Committee is marking up last year's reconciliation instructions today - a "shell bill" - in preparation for putting in the real reconciliation bill as soon as the CBO scores come out. The Rules Committee will meet shortly thereafter to decide how the bill or bills comes to the floor. By all accounts, the House is still on target for a vote late this week or this weekend, and Speaker Pelosi is confident she'll have her votes.
Democratic leaders scrambled Sunday to pull together enough support in the House for a make-or-break decision on health-care reform later this week, expressing optimism that a package will soon be signed into law by President Obama despite a lack of firm votes for passage.
Senior White House officials predicted Sunday that President Obama's healthcare initiative would pass the House this week and warned Republicans that if they made it an issue in November elections, they did so at their own political peril.
The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes will help determine the fate of President Obama’s top domestic priority.
Our coalition stands by a strong set of principles for health care reform. Our principles provide a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all.
Back in 2007, the nation's largest health insurer, WellPoint, pledged to spend $30 million over three years as part of a "comprehensive plan to help address the growing ranks of the uninsured."