By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., will hear arguments Tuesday on contradictory rulings by two Virginia federal judges on attempts to invalidate the new health care law's requirement that everyone who can afford private insurance must buy it.

The encouraging news for those of us who support the law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is that the results so far are good: of the 31 lawsuits challenging the ACA in federal courts, only two judges have ruled against part or all of the law. Most of the other cases have been dismissed or are still wending their way through the lower courts. Of the five judges who have ruled on the merits, three have upheld the law.

In one of the Virginia cases, U.S. District Judge Norman Moon ruled that the individual responsibility provision, also known as the individual mandate, is a proper exercise of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

Judge Moon is right: Congress clearly has the authority to regulate the health insurance market, including protecting consumers from insurance industry abuses and reducing costs for families, seniors and businesses. The best way to protect consumers and control costs is to make sure everyone has affordable health insurance, and that's what the ACA does.

As all the legal challenges wind through the courts, there have been several significant developments that provide important context for the litigation:

• Most states are proceeding at a good pace with implementation - including many of the 26 listed as plaintiffs in the Florida legal challenge now on appeal in the 11th Circuit. Virginia itself passed a law, signed by its Republican governor, declaring its intent to create a state exchange.

• The ACA is already making a huge difference in the lives of millions of Americans. For example, 600,000 young adults now have insurance thanks to the ACA requirement that they be allowed to enroll in their parents' workplace health plans. People now have zero co-pays for preventive services, children can no longer be rejected by insurers because of pre-existing conditions, and insurers must end lifetime limits on care. Seniors in the Medicare "donut hole" have discounts on prescription drugs, and 4 million of them received $250 checks last year. Small businesses are receiving job-creating tax credits for providing workplace coverage, and now more small businesses are offering coverage despite the slow economy.

• Contrary to their "repeal and replace" promise on the campaign trail, Republicans have failed to offer a replacement health care proposal of any kind. Instead they've obsessively worked to repeal and defund the ACA, a project that appears to have stalled out. Just last week GOP leaders threw up their hands and acknowledged the futility of their efforts.

• The Republicans spearheading the political and legal attacks on the law have demonstrated mind-blowing hypocrisy on the individual responsibility provision. While they've excoriated the mandate - and argued again and again that it violates the constitutional rights of every American - they've embraced a mandate in their Medicare privatization scheme, which the Republicans in the House voted for last month as part of their 2012 budget. The Republican plan ends Medicare as we know it and would devastate America's seniors and families. Ironically, it also requires that seniors buy private insurance in a way that's nearly identical to the insurance requirement in the ACA (although that's where the similarity to the ACA begins and ends).

The ACA lawsuits are part of a serious attack on the people who are benefiting from the law - millions of seniors, children, young people and families. The politicians who want to overturn the law can yammer on about the Constitution, but what they can't do is explain how taking away important protections and benefits is good for actual people.

We are confident the law will ultimately be upheld. The U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say, and it has corrected lower-court mistakes when the nation has enacted other historic laws like Social Security, the minimum wage law and the Voting Rights Act.

We also believe the American people will not allow the courts or the Congress to return us to the time when insurance companies could exclude people because of pre-existing conditions, drop people for getting sick, jack up rates when they please or let benefit caps force people with serious diseases into bankruptcy.

The two cases being heard Tuesday, just like the Florida challenge, are driven by partisan politics. The Republicans' obsessive efforts to repeal and defund the ACA reveal that this litigation is really about the Republican Party protecting health insurer profits at the expense of working and middle-class families - and about giving our health care back to the insurance companies.

By, Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

The Republican budget proposal released by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would give millionaires and political campaign contributors huge tax breaks while punishing seniors and working families. Ryan's extremist plan would decimate Medicare and Medicaid and terminate the Affordable Care Act, undermining the economic security of America's struggling middle class.

The Republican plan isn't based on the principle of shared sacrifice. There's no fairness. The idea that we solve big problems in this country by working together and sharing the burden can't be found. The super-rich and big corporations aren't asked to pitch in. Instead the Republicans manipulate the tax code so the rich get even richer. This budget blueprint changes the rules and reshapes this country in a breathtakingly dangerous way.

The Republican budget attacks every single one of us. Health care programs that everyone in this country depends on would be eviscerated. We'll all be covered by Medicare. Many of us have friends and relatives who receive Medicaid benefits, including millions in nursing homes. And the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, has already made a huge difference in the lives of millions in its first year - and ultimately will directly touch 200 million of us.

The GOP's budget breaks the fundamental promise of this country: That if you work hard and play by the rules, you can take care of your family and retire with dignity and peace of mind.

How do the Republicans intend to reduce the deficit? They want seniors and hard-working families to pay more for health care and get less coverage.

The Republicans want to:

• End Medicare as we know it: The Republican budget eliminates traditional Medicare. It trades seniors' guaranteed health care benefits for vouchers that go directly to private insurance companies, risking their health and financial security when care is denied or premiums are raised. Under Ryan's plan, the value of the vouchers would rise more slowly than private premiums, forcing seniors to make up the difference and fall farther behind with each passing year. Those who can't afford it will be out of luck. The enrollment age would rise from 65 to 67.
• Give mammoth tax cuts to millionaires and big corporations. At a time when income disparities are as big as ever, the Republicans would widen the gap. This year U.S. corporations have taken the biggest profits in the nation's history and corporate taxes are at the lowest levels in generations (some corporations don't pay taxes at all!). But the Republicans want to cut another $1.5 trillion from the tax obligations of the wealthiest individuals and companies. This is a bonanza for corporate lobbyists and campaign contributors.
• Rip apart America's safety net. The Republicans want to convert Medicaid into state block grants that will shift costs to states, lower payments to hospitals and doctors, cost three million jobs, and impoverish seniors and their families by shifting to them the burden of paying for nursing homes and other essential long-term care services.
• Put insurance companies back in charge of our care. The plan would allow insurance companies to jack up our rates and deny our care whenever they want. The Republicans would do away with cost savings and consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act, like the ban on denying care to people with pre-existing conditions, the big savings on drug costs for seniors and new caps on how much of each premium dollar goes to overhead and profits. Repealing the ACA would keep 32 million uninsured people from gaining quality, affordable health coverage.
• Help Wall Street-run health insurance companies make record-breaking profits and pay their CEOs outrageous sums to deny people the care they paid for and need. The Ryan plan would hand over nearly 65 million seniors to the private health insurance industry. Private insurers selling Medicare Advantage plans already cost 11 percent more than the conventional Medicare program, the nation's most efficient health plan. There's no reason to think they could perform any more efficiently with 100 percent of Medicare beneficiaries.

The Ryan plan is an assault on the middle class that shifts billions of dollars to the big corporations and richest Americans. It robs future generations of the opportunity to do better than their parents and to share in the prosperity of a great nation. While the corporate lobbyists and campaign donors reap the benefits, the Republican plan makes the American Dream unachievable for the vast majority of people in this country.

Join the fight for these programs today. Click here to call your Member of Congress and tell them to vote NO on the Republican's extremist budget.

By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

On Tuesday Meghan McCarthy wrote a story in the National Journal that asked, "Are GOP Leaders Going Soft on 'Obamacare?'" "Top tea partiers in Congress," she wrote, "openly worry about the commitment to defund the health care law."

Soft on "Obamacare." That's not exactly how I would term it. These tea party folks clearly have high standards for vigorous opposition. After all, in their brief time under the far-right leadership of Speaker John Boehner, the Republicans in the U.S. House have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, defund it and eliminate all funding for life-saving health care services for women. They've launched several senseless investigations, and they obsessively and almost psychotically trash the new health care law using any microphone they can get near. When it comes to getting rid of "Obamacare," I'd say Speaker Boehner appears to be giving it his all.

But for "top tea partiers" like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), that's not good enough. According to McCarthy, they've been "leading an effort to strip an estimated $105 billion in mandatory funding from the statute," but Bachmann "fears that the Republican leadership will try to placate the conservative base with empty gestures that leave the funding in place."

Talking about her Republican leaders in advance of Tuesday's budget extension vote, Bachmann explained: "I think there's going to be a fake appeasement with the Planned Parenthood thing and a fake appeasement with the 'Obamacare' thing."

What Bachmann means is that the House leaders set aside their efforts to defund civilization as we know it in order to get agreement on a short-term budget. That's why she was attacking her leaders, and possibly (and regrettably) used the word "appeasement" as a thinly veiled reference to Neville Chamberlain's foreign policy before World War II. Bachmann, as we all know, likes to make historical references, even when that means rewriting history as she did over the weekend, when she confused the role (in prepared remarks - twice!) that New Hampshire and Massachusetts played in the start of the Revolutionary War. Bachmann's explanation, by the way, was the best part: "So I misplaced the battles of Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire. It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!" I love that.

Here's the thing: It's true that Bachmann and King are fanatical whack jobs who represent the hyper-extremists in the Republican House majority (like the 54 Republicans who voted against the budget bill on Tuesday because it didn't cut enough). But they're just plain wrong in saying that the relentless opposition to the Affordable Care Act by their leaders is inadequate. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are doing just fine trashing the health law and backing that up with legislative action.

If Bachmann and King want to criticize Boehner and other Republican leaders, they should dump on them for hiding behind partisan political rhetoric that obscures the negative impact that repealing the new health care law would have on America's families, seniors and small businesses - all of whom already are benefiting from the law's cost savings and consumer protections. Why don't Bachmann and King tell the truth about what it would mean for their constituents if the health care law was defunded and repealed - and urge Boehner to do the same? That would show that they're true to their principles.

For starters, the extremist Republicans could say that they want to take us back to the days when insurance companies could deny your care because you have a pre-existing condition, drop you for getting sick and jack up your rates whenever they felt like it. That's not so hard to say, and it's clearer than a bunch of political mumbo-jumbo about "Obamacare." Why not try a little "straight talk," the kind Sen. John McCain was so fond of before the 2008 Republican presidential nominee morphed from a maverick into a political Neanderthal during his tough Senate reelection campaign last fall?

Next week, to celebrate the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, thousands of people will be participating in events from coast to coast to highlight the benefits and protections of the new law, such as the ban on insurance companies denying coverage and care because of a pre-existing condition. Since the Republicans are against these kinds of consumer protections, why don't they just come out and say what they're really for and against?

The Republicans should tell cancer patients with crushing medical costs that the GOP wants to reinstate annual and lifetime benefit limits that will force them into bankruptcy and deny them the care they need. They should let young adults know they have to quit their parents' health plans while looking for a job in this tough economy. The Republicans should go door-to-door and tell thousands of seniors to cough up the $250 donut-hole checks the new law provided to help them buy prescription drugs. The Republicans should tell seniors they're ending the 50% discount on brand-name medicines and hold town hall meetings to let small businesses know they're taking away job-creating tax credits.

If the Republicans reach out to the public and tell the truth about repeal, we’ll all know they have the courage of their convictions. If the GOP’s leaders personally take away the insurance cards of children with chronic medical conditions, maybe that will even satisfy Representatives Bachmann and King that the GOP has not gone soft on “Obamacare.”

by Ethan Rome

You’ve probably read by now that Judge Vinson did the expected: The judge gave Republican governors and attorneys general what they wanted, a decision that advances the GOP’s extremist agenda to return control of our health care to the insurance companies. This is judicial activism on steroids. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say on the legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and it has corrected such lower-court mistakes when other major laws like Social Security, the minimum wage law and the Voting Rights Act were passed. Two other federal district judges have already upheld the new health care law.
Congress clearly has the authority to regulate the health insurance market, including protecting consumers from insurance industry abuses and reducing costs for families, seniors and businesses. The best way to protect consumers and control costs is to make sure everyone has health insurance, and that’s what the Affordable Care Act does.

With consumers already benefiting from the law, this litigation is really about the Republican Party protecting health insurance company profits at the expense of working families. The Republican politicians who marched in lockstep to bring this suit aren’t really interested in the new law’s individual-responsibility rule. This lawsuit is just another tactic in the Republican Party’s campaign to give our health care back to the insurance companies no matter what the cost.

The American people will not allow the courts or the Congress to bring us back to the time when insurance companies could exclude people because of pre-existing conditions, drop people for getting sick, or let benefit caps force people with serious diseases into bankruptcy.

Below are great reports from HCAN State Partners' anti-repeal events that took place January 18th and 19th leading up to the vote in congress.  HCAN's state partners never fail to impress.  These activities are generating a buzz and making headlines all over the place.  Thanks to everyone for organizing these events on short notice and despite inconvenience and delay.  Clips from events that took place in the following states are included below: Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

CONNECTICUT

Below is a photo from our event in Connecticut organized by HCAN Partner Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG)

FLORIDA

Orlando–Report from HCAN Partner Organize Now

Orlando event targeting Webster had nearly 30 people in attendance from Organize Now, AFSCME, FLARA, FL Chain, JWJ, OFA and more. Fox 35 and Channel 13 both attended the event in front of the local Chamber of Commerce. Speakers included 2 folks who had benefited from health care reform and organizational speakers. At the end of the press conference everyone started calling Webster's office. His office was clearly concerned about the immediate calls and asked folks why they were all calling at once-was it on tv or an email or radio. Calls continued throughout the day.

Tampa-Report from HCAN Partner FCAN

Event coverage here: The Ledger: Residents Ask Ross to Support Health Care

MAINE

Report from HCAN Partner Maine People's Alliance

We had a good turnout in the snow to rally in support of the Affordable Care Act. The “Rally to Save Healthcare” asked our new Governor and Attorney General to stop wasting our time and money by signing on to repeal our care, thanking  Representatives Pingree and Michaud for their support of the ACA, and asking our state legislature to work towards implementation that will cover the most Maine people possible.

Watch video here: Rally to Save health Care

Media Coverage so far:

Maine Health Reform Supporters Rally Against Repeal

Non-profits rally in favor of health care law

AP: Maine rally held to support nat'l health care law

MICHIGAN

Report from Michigan Citizen Action

Around 40 people prayed outside of Congressman Upton's office.  10 personal letters delivered to Ed Sackely, District Director.  Because of new security, letters and people met with Ed one-by-one.  Kalamazoo Gazette article in the link below.  Linda did WMUK interview from 7:33 - 7:40.

Watch video from the event here

Health-care reform supporters hold vigil outside U.S. Rep. Fred Upton's office on eve of House vote

MINNESOTA

Report from HCAN Partner Take Action Minnesota

Our MOC letter attached and we placed the following Op-Ed in the press today, by TakeAction board member. Thank you Liz Doyle

MinnPost- Republicans have it backwards on the jobs effect of health-care reform

NEVADA

Report from HCAN Partner PLAN

The Heckuva Deal Donut Hole bake sale went well. Several volunteers from PLAN, Americans United, and our coalition partners spoke to over 150 senior citizens at the Flamingo Senior Center in Joe Heck’s district (pic attached). Not one senior wanted to buy back their donut hole for $250 but we did give away 6 dozen donut holes along with handouts on ACA repeal targeted to seniors. We also logged 42 calls to Heck’s office made through the cell phones we brought to the event.

Additionally, we sent out action alerts statewide as did several of our coalition partners (Americans United, ProgressNow, and the SEIU) and will continue phone banking and mobilizations today.

The press was only radio phoned-in interview and mention on noon hour news (waiting for clips to become available), with a couple of outlets interested in doing a follow up story after the vote happens.

NORTH DAKOTA

Report from HCAN Partner NDPeople.org

State Capitol news conference challenging new Rep. Rick Berg on the repeal of ACA yesterday. Speakers did great! Media were the two TV stations (NBC and CBS) and North Dakota Public Radio. The reporter, from Forum Communications which has four daily papers and a bunch of TV stations, asked for the news release.

OHIO

Report from HCAN Partner Progress Ohio

Marianne Steger, from AFSCME Ohio Council 8 speaks to Steve Cheek, Staff Assistant, for Congressman Steve Stivers in the lobby of his district office.

Ohio Health Care Coalition Deliver Petitions To Ohio Congressional District Offices

ProgressOhio Community Blog:

By Denise Gastesi on January 19, 2011 9:49

Ohio Consumers Ask Congressmen Stivers To Side With Hard-Working Families, Not Big Insurance Companies

Tuesday, a delegation of leaders from various groups which are part of an Ohio Coalition of Health Care For America Now (HCAN), and constituents which led the national fight to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA), delivered petitions to Congressman Stivers district office in Columbus to discuss his position on repealing the new law, which protects consumers from the worst insurance company abuses.

A Health Care Reform Repeal Bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would eliminate provisions of the new law that are already benefiting consumers in the 15th Congressional District, effectively taking away no-cost preventive care for 77,000 seniors in Medicare, and 65,500 young adults would lose their insurance coverage through their parents' health plans sometimes just after they finish school and as they are looking for a job.

With the Health Care Repeal bill expected to be voted on in Congress this week, simular events are being held in Ohio at other congressional district offices. Constituents delivered petitions to Speaker Boehner's office in West Chester Tuesday and groups are organizing constuents to meet at Fountain Square today to deliver petitions to Rep. Steve Chabot's Office in Cincinnati today.

Online petitions were also sent to Rep. Renacci's office in the 16th Congressional District as well as to Rep. Johnson in OH-8.

OCHC Statehouse Press Conference 1-19-2011

Some of the stories in the press conference below, came from the ProgressOhio e-mail that was sent out asking for health care stories.

OREGON

Report from HCAN Partner Oregon Action

We had a great action today in Medford, OR.  We had 40 folks at the Medford Library for a press/ community education rally.  Speaker included leaders from SEIU, Rev Bill McDonald from the faith community and Oregon Action and 3 stories from people effected by repeal.  There were 3 tv stations ( KOBI, KTVL and KDRV).  Additionally we had a story in the Mail Tribune announcing the event yesterday Jan 18.  There we two pre stories on KOBI which included a wonderful 5 minute interview with Michelle Glass, young Oregon Action leader. Everyone signed a letter to Rep Greg Walden and we announced our next HCAN meeting for Feb 22.

We had a lot of spirit and willingness to continue to be an organized force for health care progress.

PENNSYLVANIA

From HCAN partners PUP, Action United and Penn Action

Coverage from Tuesday's PA Events:

Post Gazette: Vote expected today on health care repeal

The Tribune-Democrat: Critz, Shuster split on health care

Public News Service: PA Mom Testifies about Healthcare Reform in D.C. Today

Lebanon Event

Here is the report from the event in Lebanon. We had about 20 people attend. We had Jake Long regional co director from the Harrisburg Labor Council Speak, Rev Dan Donomoyer and Bobbie Warshaw a Medicaid recipient talked about the benefits she received. There was also TV there and we are still looking for the link.

Lebanon Daily News - Ralliers: No to health care repeal

Scranton, PA Event

Lackawanna County Courthouse, Scranton PA

In addition to these events, Penn Action recruited Stacie Ritter, a woman with twins who have a pre-existing condition, to come to DC and be part of Speaker Pelosi's hearing to highlight people impacted by ACA repeal.  Stacie got great coverage all over the country including the story below.

Public News Service-PA

January 18, 2011

PA Mom Testifies about Healthcare Reform in D.C. Today

LANCASTER, Penn. - A Pennsylvania woman whose family was driven to bankruptcy after her twin four-year-old daughters were diagnosed with leukemia, is testifying on Capitol Hill today (Tuesday). Staci Ritter says thw girls' medical treatment has been very costly, and the bills piled up when an insurance company refused to pay for some of it.

As the U.S. House of Representatives gears up to vote on whether to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, Ritter's message to lawmakers is that needs to remain intact – to protect families like hers, who are dealing with catastrophic illnesses.

"I'm afraid that if they repeal the mandate, that will enable insurers to be able to deny children – like mine, who have pre-existing conditions – health care."

Ritter says the family's situation became more serious after her husband's company signed on with a new insurance carrier, and problems emerged with their daughters' coverage.

"My children are expensive. Anybody with a pre-existing condition is a liability, they'll openly admit it – so, what do we do to protect these people?"

Ritter says she's fearful of a repeal of health care reform, not just because of the impact it could have on her daughters today.

"Each time they pick away at it, they take away something that's protecting my children and their future; protecting them from discrimination, protecting them from being able to afford insurance to begin with."

She will testify before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, part of the House Democratic Caucus. Her story turns out better than some, but Ritter says that's only because she went after the insurance company publicly and was able to come to a settlement. Recently, several lawmakers who favor repealing the Affordable Care Act, including new House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), released a report entitled "ObamaCare: Budget Busting, Job-Killing Health Care Law."

TENNESSEE

Report Back from Tennessee Citizen Action

State Capitol Rally To Fight Repeal Of Health Care Reform (WTVF News channel 5)

Middle Tenn. voices heard on health care repeal (WKRN News 2)

Tennessee Report: TNCA Urges Abandonment of Federal Health Care Law Repeal & Resistance Efforts

Tennessee Report: Reform v. Repeal; Mary & Co v. Mae & Co

Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee health care reform backers cite benefits - Urge lawmakers to leave federal plan alone

WASHINGTON

Report from WA MSA

Coverage of Main Street Alliance members in the Vancouver Columbian yesterday.

Health care debate regains center stage - Herrera Beutler supports GOP repeal push

By Howard Buck Columbian Staff Reporter

Originally published January 18, 2011 at 4:23 p.m., updated January 18, 2011 at 7:25 p.m.

Photo by Steven Lane

WEST VIRGINIA

Report from West Virginia Citizen Action Group

WVCAG and partners held a 2PM press conference at the state capitol ahead of the vote to repeal ACA. Press covering the event were: TV 13 (CBS); WV News Service (radio); Charleston Gazette & Daily Mail (print)

Speakers were:

Gary Zuckett, WV Citizen Action Group
Perry Bryant, WV for Affordable Health Care
WV Senator Dr. Ron Stollings, Chair HHR Committee
WV Senator Dr. Dan Foster, member HHR Committee
Renate Pore, WV Center On Budget & Policy

WISCONSIN

Report from HCAN Partner Citizen Action of Wisconsin

Press from "No Repeal" action at Rep. Paul Ryan's office, 1/18:

WDJT TV 58 (CBS) Milwaukee (January 18, 2011) Wisconsin Joins Health Care Reform Fight

WISN TV 12 (ABC) Milwaukee (January 18, 2011) Interview with Brian Rothgery on repeal action at Paul Ryan's office (no link available)

WTMJ TV 4 (NBC) Milwaukee (January 18, 2011) Health Care Rally Outside Rep. Ryan's Office

Wisconsin Radio Network (January 18,  2011) Rallying against repeal

WRJN Radio 1400 AM Racine (January 18, 2011) 4:05 PM news break (podcast)

Racine Journal-Times (January 18, 2011) Protest outside Paul Ryan's office

Photos from Racine Journal Times picked up by AP:

Atlanta Journal Constitution (January 18, 2011) Congress tones down the rhetoric after shootings

Deseret News (Salt Lake City) (January 18, 2011) Congress tones down the rhetoric after shootings

The Republic (Columbus, IN) (January 18, 2011) Congress tones down the rhetoric after shootings

Christian Science Monitor (January 18,  2011) Health-care reform: How Democrats plan to crash House GOP's repeal party

Arizona Daily Star (January 18, 2011) Bid to repeal health law goes on, but with civil tone

News Times (Danbury, CT) (January 18, 2011)

MySanAntonio.com (January 18, 2011) Congress tones down the rhetoric after shootings

WASHINGTON, DC

Rally & Visibility Outside the Capitol yesterday.

Stacie Ritter's story was told in about 60 television markets across the country yesterday thanks mostly to NBC affiliates that picked up a Washington report on the event.

Stacie and her daughters are shown above testifying that repeal would mean her daughters would be at risk of losing their health coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Several stations ran the story more than once.

John Boehner has a lot of bad ideas (like opposing health care, privatizing Social Security and supporting Palin for VP). But today's idea may top them all. His latest federal policy "proposal" is that there shouldn't be any. No rules. No nothing. Schools out!

The timing of his call for a moratorium on new federal regulations is impeccable.

He waited until the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reached such catastrophic proportions that even people who hate regulations now crave them. He waited until the day after the Senate passed the hugely popular sweeping reform to regulate the fat cats on Wall Street. In fact, he even waited until regulations got popular with the public. He even waited until health care started becoming popular again - with a clear majority against repeal.

It may be that the Minority Leader is tired of being one-upped by Mitch McConnell and is jealous he doesn't have a filibuster of his own. The Republicans in the Senate have elevated saying "no" to an art form.

The Republicans in the Senate said no to unemployment benefits, no to aid to the states, no to creating jobs, no to standing up to Wall Street. They have been talking a lot recently about extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich - no matter how much that increases the deficit - but they won't extend unemployment benefits because that will increase the deficit.

Today Boehner said "having a moratorium is a good idea" because it will give the "private sector some breathing room." Sure. Just like unemployment gives people free time. And oil spills give enviros something to do.

Joking aside, a moratorium on regulations is not going to create jobs and jump-start the economy and that's what we need. A real recovery package will. All the Republicans want to do is return to the policies of George W. Bush and let the greedy corporations run the show.

Boehner's big idea today is so silly it's almost comical. So let's chuckle for a moment and stay focused on November.

To hear Sarah Palin and other members of the extreme right tell it, the Socialist Party is a huge political institution on the rise and a necessary stepping-stone for getting into liberal electoral politics, along with being born in Hawaii and other places outside the United States. They practically claim that everyone in the Obama Administration is a socialist. This rap is classic - another one of their big lies and scare tactics. And apparently they don't like people who have traveled abroad either.

Now they're going after Donald Berwick, the Harvard Medical School professor who President Obama appointed to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS). Sure, Berwick may have traveled to London once (or even twice), but for eight years we had a President who had barely set foot outside of the U.S. before he was elected and then he dragged us into two endless wars that continue to suck the life out of our economy and exponentially increase our deficit.

Which leads me to Dr. Berwick. He's eminently qualified. Everyone who's not trying to score partisan, political points says so. Mark McClellan, who had the job under the last President Bush, said:

"What happens at CMS in the next few years will determine whether the new legislation actually improves quality and lowers costs. Don [Berwick] has a unique background in both improving care on the ground and thinking about how our nation's health care policies need to be reformed to help make that happen."

But none of this matters to the Republican leadership in Congress. Berwick's merits are irrelevant to them. They just blather on and on without regard for the truth. And the truth is that we need this recess appointment because we need to fill this position and move this health reform implementation along.

Consider a few facts:

• CMS has been with out a permanent head since 2006.
• George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments.
• President Obama has now made a total of 18 recess appointments.
• There are currently 180 nominees still pending before the Senate.

One might assume that Senate Republican Leaders might care about these issues. But they don't. They no longer seem to care about anything but crass partisan politics. And they're happy to hold up the process no matter what the consequences. They don't care if people lose their health care benefits. Or if their unemployment benefits run out. Or if state governments have to cut services and lay people off. People don't matter to them. And neither does the truth.

Which is why Sarah Palin really is a whack job. Her "tweet" this Tuesday on the topic says it all:

@sarahpalinusa: Press Corps-pls do your job as Obama sneaks in Berwick appt;pls cover his mission:socialized healthcare&rationing based on"quality of life.

And the Republican leaders in the Senate are no longer holding themselves to a higher standard than people like Palin who are free to "go rogue". They feel no obligation to govern and use the Senate for good of the American people. They have become nothing but populist demagogues, political parasites of the worst kind (though I don't mean to leave out Representatives Boehner or Canter, but fortunately their grotesque political games can't hijack the entire Congressional agenda the way their Senate counterparts can).

So kudos to the White House for doing the right thing and addressing the needs of our country, our economy and the more than 100 million Americans who depend on the life-saving and life-enhancing care provided by Medicaid and Medicare.

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.

Yesterday, President Obama endorsed finishing health care reform with an up-or-down vote:

…I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children's Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts - all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority.

By calling for an up-or-down vote and referencing welfare reform, CHIP, COBRA, and the Bush tax cuts - all of which got their up-or-down votes using the reconciliation process - the President was very clearly asking the Senate to use the same process for health reform.

The Senate agrees.

Just over one month ago today, 15 Senators were in favor of or very open to the idea of finishing health reform using reconciliation. I reported their statements here.

As of today, 46 Senators either support or are open to using reconciliation to secure an up-or-down vote. Click here for the chart and links to their statements. If you add in the few other Senators who are listed as maybe, you bring the total up above 50.

The movement, fueled in a large part by dozens of Senators signing on to a letter from Senator Bennett calling for a public option to be passed through reconciliation, is striking. And, as reported in today's Roll Call, the last five Senators, coming from the moderate wing of the party, are likely to come on board soon:

Senate Democratic centrists aren’t saying “yes” just yet, but when it comes to passing a crucial piece of the health care reform puzzle, party leaders have reason to be optimistic that enough of their most fickle Members will put them over the top.

With few exceptions, Democratic moderates interviewed Wednesday revealed little resistance to the idea of using controversial budget reconciliation rules to clear the final health care reform package and deliver it to the president’s desk. Given their strong opposition to embracing this strategy when health care was being debated last year, their fresh openness could prove significant even if some moderates ultimately vote “no.”

“There are plenty of people in our caucus who would like to not vote for reconciliation, but my guess is 51 is something [leadership] can get,” said one Democratic Senator of the simple-majority vote needed for passage. “This is like a box canyon, and reconciliation is the only way out.”

One person who's not on the list is the new spokesperson for the Senate Democratic Communications Center, Republican Senator Judd Gregg:

This is the way health reform will be finished. The reconciliation process will allow fixes the Senate bill to make health care truly affordable for everyone and hold the insurance companies accountable. And there will be the votes in the Senate to do it.

The White House Health Care Summit has concluded. Unsurprisingly, Republicans continued to hit on tort reform as the way to lower our health care costs all afternoon. And they continued to be wrong. But a few more themes came up that are worth debunking.

First, Republicans kept insisting that if only average Americans had more "skin in the game" when it came to health care costs, those costs would go down. In particular, they tout health savings accounts as a solution.

In reality, health savings accounts are junk insurance, nothing but insurance company sponsored scams, good for the rich, like the Republican Members of Congress at the summit, but not for the rest of us:

Health savings accounts by definition favor the wealthy and/or the healthy. For those that never go to the doctor, or who can afford the high out-of-pocket costs incurred when using health savings accounts (you need to pay $1,050 as an individual or $2,100 for a family before your insurance will cover the rest), health savings accounts are great. Wealthy and/or healthy individuals can put a bit of money away, tax free, into their health savings account and then draw from it to pay their astronomical out-of-pocket costs when they decide to go see a doctor. If you're healthy, the doctor's visit doesn't happen very often. If you're wealthy, who cares if it happens very often, you can afford it.

For the rest of us, however, health savings accounts don't work. If we get sick and see the doctor often, we have to pay those huge costs often; that means we have to save a lot of money in that health savings account. For those on fixed incomes, or even those just barely scraping by (and that's a lot of us in today's economic climate), putting away even $4,000 in a health savings account is out of the question. Health savings accounts don't work for the same reason tax credits don't work: Those who don't have a lot of cash to save are forced to put away money they don't have a bit at a time to pay for their care. With tax credits, they get repaid at the end of the year. With health savings accounts, they don't pay taxes on that money. But either way, they need to save over the course of a year to get that payoff. For a lot of folks, this just isn't a realistic option - there's simply nothing to spare.

As the President pointed out, Republicans might feel differently about health savings accounts if they made $40,000 per year instead of the hundreds of thousands they make as Members of Congress.

Another perpetual Republican talking point was the wonders that would occur if only we could buy insurance across state lines.

In the Republican fantasy land, consumers would be able to buy cheaper or better insurance from another state. Here's what reality would look like:

Insurance is currently regulated by states. California, for instance, says all insurers have to cover treatments for lead poisoning, while other states let insurers decide whether to cover lead poisoning, and leaves lead poisoning coverage — or its absence — as a surprise for customers who find that they have lead poisoning. Here's a list (pdf) of which states mandate which treatments.

The result of this is that an Alabama plan can't be sold in, say, Oregon, because the Alabama plan doesn't conform to Oregon's regulations. A lot of liberals want that to change: It makes more sense, they say, for insurance to be regulated by the federal government. That way the product is standard across all the states.

Conservatives want the opposite: They want insurers to be able to cluster in one state, follow that state's regulations and sell the product to everyone in the country. In practice, that means we will have a single national insurance standard. But that standard will be decided by South Dakota. Or, if South Dakota doesn't give the insurers the freedom they want, it'll be decided by Wyoming. Or whoever.

This is exactly what happened in the credit card industry, which is regulated in accordance with conservative wishes. In 1980, Bill Janklow, the governor of South Dakota, made a deal with Citibank: If Citibank would move its credit card business to South Dakota, the governor would literally let Citibank write South Dakota's credit card regulations. You can read Janklow's recollections of the pact here.

Citibank wrote an absurdly pro-credit card law, the legislature passed it, and soon all the credit card companies were heading to South Dakota. And that's exactly what would happen with health-care insurance. The industry would put its money into buying the legislature of a small, conservative, economically depressed state. The deal would be simple: Let us write the regulations and we'll bring thousands of jobs and lots of tax dollars to you. Someone will take it. The result will be an uncommonly tiny legislature in an uncommonly small state that answers to an uncommonly conservative electorate that will decide what insurance will look like for the rest of the nation.

It's a race to the bottom, selling our health to the lowest insurance company bidder. It's not a solution that makes us more healthy or lowers our cost - CBO said selling insurance across state lines wouldn't expand coverage at all and would only save $12 billion over 10 years, a fraction of what real health care reform would save.

Finally, Republicans continually made the point that the American public doesn't want health reform. As Nancy Pelosi said, there have been so many lies about the health care bills, it's a wonder anyone likes them. And it's important to stand up for popular things - like a public option - to make it better. But that doesn't mean the American people don't want reform.

By huge majorities, they want the major parts of health reform, and they want Congress to plow ahead and pass a good bill:

The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll is only the latest in a series showing the elements of health reform are popular:

Other parts of reform are really popular too, like the public option.

And majorities want comprehensive health reform passed:

And even more will be disappointed or angry if reform doesn't pass:

The Republicans didn't bring a plan to the summit today. Instead, they brought stale, easily-debunked talking points. They tried to prove that giving good health care to Americans was a bad idea, but they failed. And in the end, they resorted to the same slogans they've been repeating for a year now - start over, blank slate, incremental reform.

We've heard from the other side and found they have no plan to solve the greatest problem facing the nation. Now it's time to finish the job and finish it right.