Health Care For America Now

NEWS

Liberals Urge Reid to Keep Public Option - NYTimes

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, met on Monday night with a group of liberal Senate Democrats who urged him not to back down from his decision to put a government-run insurance plan, or public option, in the major health care legislation that he is working to complete.

AP POLL: Tax the Rich to Pay for Health Bill - NYTimes

When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.

A centrist in health-care debate, Lincoln hears it from all sides – Washington Post

Hundreds of thousands of Lincoln's constituents are low-income and lack insurance, the very kind of voters expected to benefit under the Senate bill. Lincoln, a second-term senator, helped write some of the legislation's key provisions as a member of the Finance Committee, and her sometimes uncomfortable role near the center of the debate could cost her in culturally conservative Arkansas. Despite the potential benefits for many in her state, polls show her support weakening, and constituents are expressing doubts about the proposed overhaul.

Business foes of health care revamp ramp up effort – AP

Business foes of health care overhaul legislation are outspending supporters at a rate of 2-to-1 for TV ads as they grow increasingly nervous over a final bill.

Led by the giant U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opponents of the Democratic health care drive have spent $24 million on TV commercials over the past month to $12 million spent by labor unions and other backers. That's an abrupt reversal from the vast spending advantage supporters enjoyed most of this year, according to Evan Tracey, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads.

Obama Official and Goldman Assess Insurers - NYTimes

On the White House’s official blog, Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the Office of Health Reform, rebuts recent claims by the insurance industry that the proposed health care overhaul would actually increase the cost of premiums.

Uninsured ER patients twice as likely to die - AP

Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.

Senate Democrats Wait For CBO Score, Work To Hold Onto Votes - Kaiser Health News

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is planning a "key test vote by the end of the week" on a health reform bill, according to Senate aides, Politico reports. "The vote on a motion to proceed to the bill could come as early as Friday, teeing up the amendment process to begin after the Thanksgiving break." Reid may keep the Senate in session over the weekend.

OPINION

One nation, insured - LA Times

Some states, such as Arizona, are considering ways to opt out of a national plan. That's foolish.

Health reform's human stories - Rich Stockwell, Senior producer, 'Countdown'

It happened as I watched a 50-something woman walk out, after spending several hours being attended to by volunteer doctors. "She's decided against treatment. A reasonable decision under the circumstances," the doctor tells us as she heads for the next patient. The president of the board of the National Association of Free Health Clinics tells me why: "It's stage four breast cancer, her body is filled with tumors." I don't know when that woman last saw a doctor. But I do know that if she had health insurance, the odds she would have seen a doctor long ago are much higher, and her chances for an earlier diagnosis and treatment would have been far greater.

The Chamber of Commerce needs a hand. They are looking for some help to fund a study that will show that health care reform is bad for the economy. From the WaPo:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation's economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a top Chamber official.

The e-mail, written by the Chamber's senior health policy manager and obtained by The Washington Post, proposes spending $50,000 to hire a "respected economist" to study the impact of health-care legislation, which is expected to come to the Senate floor this week, would have on jobs and the economy.

Step two, according to the e-mail, appears to assume the outcome of the economic review: "The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."

Luckily for them we already know of more than 300 respected economists and health care experts who signed on to a letter addressing health care reform and the economy. Unfortunately for the Chamber, here is what it says:

In June, more than 320 economists, business leaders, and health care experts wrote to President Obama and Congress stating:

'Some have argued that we cannot afford health insurance coverage for all because of the economic crisis. But solving America’s big health care problems is essential to economic recovery. We need to cover everyone now as part of comprehensive reform to rebuild our economy and restore prosperity. Affordable coverage with good benefits will give cash-strapped lower and middle-income Americans greater financial security – and the ability to pay their mortgages, start small businesses, save for college, pursue new job opportunities, and make other choices that will benefit our economy. And it will help business owners to insure their workers. Ensuring health security for all will allow workers to move to those jobs that fit them best, not just those that provide health insurance, promoting entrepreneurship and labor market productivity.' (Emphasis added.)

Campaign For America’s Future - an HCAN Steering Committee member – brought the economists together in June. Read the full letter here.

“Since the Chamber has put out a help wanted ad, we thought we could be of some assistance,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “If the Chamber would like the phone number of any of these economists or business leaders, we would be happy to provide it to them.”

You can let the Chamber know about the list of economists through their Twitter account at American Free Enterprise - @freeenterprise.

Here's a suggestion: RT @freeenterprise Looking for an economist?  We have 300+ who say fix health care to fix the economy. http://bit.ly/3zMQxl #sickofit

Last month, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the front-group and main lobbying arm of the health insurance companies, held a conference in DC. Health Care for America Now brought in seven families who've had their lives turned upside-down by the insurance companies for the event. We rented a room in the hotel where AHIP was having the conference and sent an open letter to Karen Ignagni, AHIP's top lobbyist, to show up and listen to the stories of real Americans hurt by big insurance.

She didn't have the courage to show up.

Tomorrow, AHIP is having another, much bigger conference in Chicago. At the conference, attendees will learn how to try and kill or circumvent reform at such panels as "Framing the Health Reform Landscape: How Coverage Expansion Will Influence the Insurance Marketplace," and "Insurance Market Reforms: The New Role of Regulation." Karen Ignagni will be there, as will the executives of all the insurance companies in the country. We'll be there, too.

This time, we're bringing eight small business owners to confront Ignagni and the insurance companies. Each of these people, flying in from places such as Louisiana, Nebraska, and Indiana (plus a few from right here in Illinois), represents the engine of our economy. They create good jobs, they contribute positively to our society, and they try and provide themselves and their employees with good health care benefits, so everyone can be healthy and productive. Unfortunately, because of big insurance and their skyrocketing rates, these business owners are having to choose between keeping their businesses afloat or keeping people on their jobs and providing health care.

These business owners have sent another letter to Karen Igagni, requesting she take a moment out of her day to meet with them:

Our businesses are facing dire choices- between being able to reinvest profits into the future of our businesses and meeting the ever-growing costs of health care coverage; between denying our employees coverage for needed medical services and having to cut their jobs entirely.

…

Ms. Ignagni, we are not simply opportunities for profit. We are people trying to provide for our families, contribute to our local economies, and make ends meet in this recession, who believe you should look us in the eye, hear our stories, and understand what you are lobbying against.

We plan to be at the Renaissance Hotel at noon on Tuesday and hope to see you there. Please understand that we are not interested in discussing these issues with a representative or spokesperson. With our livelihoods on the line, we feel the least you could do is participate in this meeting personally.

With an economy working its way out of recession, with increasing unemployment, and with the credit crunch, the last thing small business in this country needs is to be put out of business by health care costs. But that's exactly what is happening. Put simply, big insurance greed kills jobs.

So, Karen Igagni, will you have the courage to show up and listen to the experiences real Americans are having with the industry you represent?

We'll find out tomorrow. I'm on the ground in Chicago, so stay tuned for live updates and photos from the event as it happens. If you're in the area, you should come out and stand in solidarity with us. And if you're not, sign the petition we'll deliver tomorrow, calling on the insurance industry to stop denying our care and using our premiums to lobby against reform.

NEWS

Senate Aides: Reid Considering Medicare Payroll Tax Increase On Wealthy - Kaiser Health News

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pondering a proposal to increase the Medicare payroll tax on high earners "to help offset the costs of providing health insurance to millions of Americans, Senate aides said Thursday," The New York Times reports.

CMS: House bill increases health care costs - Politico

Democrats have promised that health reform would reduce health care costs, but legislation the House passed last week would increase costs over the next decade by $289 billion. By 2019, health costs would rise to 21.1 percent of GDP compared to 20.8 under current law, according to an actuarial report prepared by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Number of Insured Varies by Bill - Wall Street Journal

When the Senate unveils its health-care bill, all eyes will be on the price tag. But an equally significant number may be how many people get health insurance under the legislation.

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform - NYTimes

Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

OPINION

What The CMS Report Tells Us About The House Health Bill - Think Progress, Igor Volsky

The CMS report confirms that the House health care bill is a fairly modest proposal that expands access to insurance and builds on what works in the current system. Now, honest lawmakers — who believe in health care reform — must ensure that reform also lowers costs for families and reduces long term health care spending.

My Near Death Panel Experience - NYTimes, Rep. Earl Blumenauer

I DIDN’T mean to kill Grandma. I didn’t even mean to create death panels.

But now that I and my fellow lawmakers in the House have passed a health care bill, I’m finally free to explain what I learned as the author of the now-famous end-of-life provisions. My experiences during the bizarre controversies of the summer should provide a note of caution about what potential troubles and political distortions might lie ahead as health care legislation moves forward in the Senate, through the reconciliation process and toward a final bill.

The House's health reform bill (H.R. 3962) should be a model for the final Senate bill in many ways, including that the Health Insurance Exchange is federally created and overseen, states cannot opt out of the public health insurance plan option, there are better consumer protections to promote transparency and accountability from health insurance companies, affordability protections are broader, there are more requirements for employer involvement, and financing is more progressive. One exception: the House bill's regressive language on abortion coverage.

Read more…

The Senate is about to unveil its health care bill, and with that, the process of legislating will move forward. As explained earlier, the Senate will immediately face a series of procedural motions which will essentially ask two questions:

1. Should the Senate debate health care reform?
2. Should the Senate vote on health care reform?

Senators will need to answer each of these questions, and it will take 60 votes to answer them affirmatively.

Reasonable people can differ on the question of whether the health reform bill in the Senate is worth passing. Certainly, I'd strenuously disagree with people who believe health reform won't solve our country's health care crisis, or that the status-quo is worth preserving. However, it's hard to put together a reasonable argument that the Senate shouldn't at the very least talk about health care reform, or allow it to come up for a simple vote.

Now, there are forces out there that would like to block debate or a vote on health care reform - the insurance companies and their allies. Why? As Goldman Sachs recently concluded when evaulating health reform plans, the status-quo would be best for the insurance industry and their stock prices. If a version of health reform like the House version passes - very much like what Reid is planning to introduce in the Senate - their stocks could drop as much as 39%.

Put simply, the insurance industry would like Senators to obstruct health care reform in any way possible to protect their profits and stock prices.

And so, the effort to get Senators to answer these procedural questions is underway in earnest, with two new ads going up today, one in Nebraska and one in Arkansas. The ads exhort Senators not to stand with the insurance industry for the status quo, and to give us a debate and a vote. It's the right things to do.

NEWS

Goldman To Private Insurers: No Health Care Reform At All Is Best - Huffington Post

A Goldman Sachs analysis of health care legislation has concluded that, as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing to do is nothing. A close second would be passing a watered-down version of the Senate Finance Committee's bill.

Pro-Obama Activists to Hit GOP Members’ Offices Starting Friday - Roll Call

Organizing for America is dispatching volunteers to the local offices of 32 House Republicans whose districts supported President Barack Obama in the 2008 election to demand that they support Obama’s health care reform initiative.

Health insurance companies urge staff to fight reforms - Washington Post

The nation's largest health insurance carrier is urging its employees to lobby the Senate against reform proposals that would hurt the firm's bottom line, according to copies of e-mails released Thursday by a liberal advocacy group.

Business Roundtable: Health Care Costs Would Balloon Under Status Quo - FDL News

The Business Roundtable, an organization representing the CEOs of the largest companies in America, has said in a new report that the status quo in health care is completely unsustainable. It’s something that’s been forgotten as the debate rages in Congress, but the fight over health care is essentially a fight over what will be left standing when the current health care “system” collapses. There is no way individuals, businesses and the government could continue to operate if the assumptions in this report are true.

RNC to opt out of abortion coverage - Politico

The Republican National Committee will no longer offer employees an insurance plan that covers abortion after POLITICO reported Thursday that the anti-abortion RNC's policy has covered the procedure since 1991.

60 Plus Airing New Round Of Misleading Anti-Reform Ads - Media Matters

In a series of three very similar ads, the right-wing group 60 Plus has attacked the pro-reform votes of Congressmen Snyder (D-AR), Hill (D-IN), and Pomeroy (D-ND).  Just like their other ads, however, this series is full of misleading information and scare tactics.

U.S. Chamber's "Skyrocket" Ad Flies Without Facts - Media Matters

On November 11, 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Employers for a Health Economy coalition released a new anti-health care reform ad titled "Skyrocket."  Just like the Chamber's other recent anti-reform ads, this new ad is in dire need of some factual information.

Health Care for America Now, along with our partners, has been busy thanking those in the House of Representatives who did the right thing and voted for health care reform last weekend. Here's a little snapshot of what's been going on around the country.

Thanking Representative Ed Pastor (as well as Mitchell and Grijalva) in Arizona:

Thanking Representative Bill Foster in Illinois:

NEWS

Hoyer, Reid move to finish healthcare reform legislation before the end of 2009 - The Hill

The House could be in session until nearly Christmas Eve to try to win final passage on a healthcare bill.

AP Sources: Reid eyes payroll tax hike on wealthy - Associated Press

Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials said Wednesday.

Health-Bill Battle Won't Get a Recess - Wall Street Journal

The fight over the future of the U.S. health-care system is heading outside the Beltway this week, as groups on all sides take advantage of Congress's Veterans Day recess to put pressure on lawmakers.

Initially waved off, Hispanic advocates jump into health debate - Washington Post

After trying to carefully balance their interests in health-care reform and immigration, the nation's Hispanic lawmakers and largest advocacy groups are scrambling to develop a strategy to counter what they see as efforts to shortchange immigrants in health bills on Capitol Hill.

Here's an article I recently published in a special issue of The Regulator (the full issue focused on the health care debate is attached below):

The current economic crisis teaches insurance regulators several key lessons to prevent a wholesale health care meltdown in America. Much like the financial sector, the health insurance sector has made short-term gains its priority rather than the health and well-being of its customers.

read more