Family Research Council Ad: Fear, Not Facts - Media Matters

One of the several emerging misleading arguments against health insurance reform is that the reform legislation will allow taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. Now, the Family Research Council has released an ad that implies that Planned Parenthood's funding of reproductive services will somehow prevent another individual from undergoing surgery.

A look at health care plans in Congress - Associated Press

A look at health care legislation taking shape in the Democratic-controlled House and Senate as President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul the system, cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans and contain rising costs. Many of the details are still being negotiated and any final health care bill would have to meld proposals from the House and Senate.

House Democrats End Impasse on Health Bill - New York Times

Efforts to pass sweeping health care legislation took a big step forward on Wednesday as House Democratic leaders reached an agreement with fiscally conservative party members that would cut the bill’s cost and exempt many small businesses from having to provide health benefits to workers.

Health deal sparks fury on the left - The Hill

A House leadership deal with Blue Dogs and an aggressive marketing push by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) shifted the healthcare debate sharply toward centrist positions Wednesday, sparking threats of rebellion from the left.

There may be a new Republican health care plan floating around. It's just about the same as all the other half dozen we've seen. It's a redux of John McCain's defeated health care plan, and it's mostly about taxes or other forms of government money, not health care, which is all Republicans seem to be concerned about.

Here are some of the provisions:

The Republican proposal would extend the income tax deduction on health care premiums to those who purchase coverage in the individual market.

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In the Republican plan, low-income consumers would also be eligible for advanceable, refundable tax credits, provided on a sliding scale, to purchase coverage in the individual market.

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To promote the employer-based health insurance system, the Republican plan proposes giving small businesses tax incentives for auto-enrolling employees in a plan.

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Republicans are also proposing to expand the individual market by creating pooling mechanisms such as association health plans and individual membership accounts. Consumers would also be able to shop for insurance across state lines.

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The Republican plan also proposes reforming Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by giving beneficiaries the option of getting a voucher to purchase private insurance.

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The Republican health care proposal would require that none of the suggestions from the Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research be finalized unless done in consultation with and approved by medical specialty societies. It would also establish performance-based quality measures endorsed by the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) and physician specialty organizations.

The Republican plan also addresses the issue of medical liabilities that doctors face — something Democrats have not addressed. It would establish in each state administrative health care tribunals, also known as health courts, and add affirmative defense through provider established best practice measures. It would encourage the speedy resolution of claims and caps non-economic damages.

Let's see here…

• Tax credits that don't add up? John McCain's plan.
• Cutting Medicaid and SCHIP? John McCain's plan.
• Insurance across state lines, blowing past consumer protections? John McCain's plan.
• Not outlawing denial for pre-existing conditions? John McCain's plan.
• Tort reform? John McCain's plan.

The country voted on John McCain's health care plan. They didn't want it. It's good to see that Republicans still have no new ideas.

A note on comparative effectiveness research. The House bill currently up for discussion takes great pains to make sure research on treatments would not be used to mandate treatments. On page 524 of the House bill it specifically states "Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the Commission or the Center to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer.’’

So the grandstanding by Republicans that the House bill would ration care, and thus we need this Republican alternative, is utterly untrue.

There you have it. Another failed, do-nothing idea from Republicans, which talks a lot about taxes, but does nothing to end the health care status quo.

Meet the opposition to health care reform:

This unidentified man decided he was doing the Tea Party-anti-reform effort a real solid by hanging freshman Maryland Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil in effigy [note the creepily expert knotted noose] with a placard "Congress Traitors The American [and a word that looks like "idol"].

The event — a rally in Salisbury, Md. on the Eastern Shore — was attended by members of the business-funded Americans for Prosperity, a group that includes James Miller, a Federal Trade Commission chairman and budget director during the Reagan administration.

Americans for Prosperity, a lobbyist-funded tea-bagging front group, is already backpedaling hard:

The rally wasn't officially sanctioned by AFP — but the group's members attended the protest, which coincided with an AFP health care meeting, says a spokeswoman for the group.

"We held an event the previous night, where this man passed out flyers asking people to join him the next day at the office for a protest. That is how some AFP members ended up coming, but they were disgusted by his behavior. I repeat, this gathering WAS NOT an AFP event or sponsored by us in any way," writes AFP's Amy Menefee.

Sure, whatever you say, AFP. The fact remains that the people at this event were people you recruited for your anti-health reform efforts, and they think a fake lynching is a good idea.

Oh, and Salisbury has a history of real lynchings dating back to the 1930s, making this episode even more disturbing:

As it turns out, the dangling of a noose has distant but painful historical resonance on the Eastern Shore.

The Salisbury area was the site of the last two racial lynchings that took place in the state of Maryland — both in the 1930s, according to Polly Stewart. a former Salisbury University professor interviewed by NPR earlier this year.

These are the people against health reform. They're the same people who think Barack Obama is not a citizen. They're the same people who think health reform is going to kill your grandma. They're being led by lobbyists in Maryland, and they're putting their conspiracy theories out there on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

As Alex Thurston notes:

The "birther movement" is, as Politico says, becoming a headache for the GOP. This issue of "euthanizing seniors" could be an even worse one. Whatever representatives hop on that bandwagon have proved themselves just as crazy as the birthers.

Health care reform is a serious issue. Can Republicans cut the lies and the conspiracy theories and debate Democratic proposals like statesmen, or will they continue pandering to a rightwing fringe that is increasingly out of touch with reality?

I doubt that Republicans are going to "cut the lies and the conspiracy theories." They've already told us point blank that they don't plan to offer a health care plan. They just plan to keep saying no, and feeding their base, a base with violent tendencies. That's their version of bipartisanship.

It's not helping America overcome our problems and fix our broken health care system.