Come to the Health-Care Watch Party Thursday morning

Are you coming to the Health-Care Watch Party on Thursday?

10 am, 801 Arthur Godfrey Road #402, in Miami Beach, the OFA office.

Below, from the White House, is what the good guys will have in mind to discuss. No telling what the other side will want to say.

Overview of the President's Proposal

The President's Proposal puts American families and small business owners in control of their own health care.

-- It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This helps over 31 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today -- and makes coverage more affordable for many more.

-- It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.

-- It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.

-- It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.

-- It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years -- and about $1 trillion over the second decade -- by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

It includes a targeted set of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate-passed health insurance reform bill. Key changes include:

-- Closing the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" coverage gap;

-- Strengthening the Senate bill's provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families;

-- Strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid;

-- Increasing the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and starting it in 2018 for all plans;

-- Improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide federal assistance and oversight to states in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

For more information, check out:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting

Is this your doctor? In jail but "still licensed?"

The headline on this piece was a little hard to believe, but read it and see if you think it's reasonable, too.

http://www.healthnewsflorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16024

Kudos to Carol Gentry for this story on Health News Florida. You, too, can subscribe and get her daily run through health news.

The answer to post-health-care funk: Get money out of politics

It’s very concerning now. We progressive Democrats are demoralized by health-care passage in the Senate, while the Republican losers assert they’re happy campers and will go home to stir up more trouble than ever. This is exactly the reverse of the morale that ought to apply to these camps. There is, no doubt, some bravado and exaggeration on each side, but I think it’s generally a true portrait. Our side has to grow and change in a hurry, or we could slide down to a lower level for the next battle – the environment, which is even more important than health care. It’s the planet that’s at stake, not just a few million human beings and their crummy health.

For next steps I’m looking for tips from Organizing For America, from MoveOn, from Progressive Democrats of America; that is, from the Obama White House, from the grassroots liberal establishment, and from the PDA’s curious inside-outside mixture of being inside Congress (80-plus in the Progressive Caucus) and outside among people willing to demonstrate and occasionally be arrested.

As of this evening, OFA has sent out an email asking to thank the Senators who voted for the bill. MoveOn.org still has Joe Lieberman on its front page. PDAmerica.org is boasting that it was named by The Nation magazine as the most valuable political group of 2008. Yes, not a typo, of 2008.

So, let’s agree that they haven’t issued quick advice on how to think and act in order to salvage the historic presidency of Barack Obama. We are, nonetheless, thinking about this vital mission. Even if it is Christmas.

I do not think the progressive side will have to drag Barack Obama, kicking and screaming, to do the right thing. If he can be convinced that he will be re-elected, he’s for it. But what will be the right thing? The Hawaii vacation may have come at exactly the right time to refresh the president’s thinking and morale. This should be a time for bold action, not mealy-mouthed compromise. Open thinking and debate, not disgusting deals on Nebraska Medicaid.

A forthright approach would be to start a new tack altogether – get money out of politics. This is what has left us in a post-health-care funk. Let’s start thinking about fixing the root problem of our health care, the environment, our wars, our corruption. The people will thank us.

The voice of reason: What's going on in Washington

Our blogging leader, Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, was on the tube Sunday morning, and I'm just catching up. Here's his take on where we are, and like Paul Krugman in the NY Times, he thinks the filibuster has to go/change.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/21/817344/-Markos-on-Meet-the-Press

Don't be a Lieberman. Do the right thing on health care

For those whose juices are stirring because of the health-care legislation now emerging, could I suggest a pause to consider what the other side is planning? Take a few minutes and click on this piece with the title “Republican Guide to Undermining Health-care Reform.”

Don’t neglect to click on the link therein to Frank Luntz’ memo on the words to use. Who’s Frank Luntz? Think of Karl Rove and you’re in the same league.

My email inbox overflows with my progressive friends mad as hell at the “lying” Democrats in Congress who aren’t ordering from the progressive menu. Yes, you’re right. But what if at the end of the day your opposition to the bill helps to cause its defeat?

Yes, writing legislation is like making sausage. We’re going to have to live with it until we elect a better Congress. If this drive will increase coverage and stop the rise in health costs, it will be pretty darn good. If progressive opposition to the bill combines with clever conservative opposition and defeats it, will we be better off? Not in my best guess.

I’m with Paul Krugman’s message in today’s NY Times column. If you’re not with us, you’re being a Lieberman. 

Yesterday I saw MSNBC where Big Ed Schultz tried to get Rep. Dennis Kucinich to say he would vote against a health-care bill that didn’t have a state option for single-payer. Even Kucinich was – yesterday, anyway – not willing to go that far.

This is a signal to me to moderate opposition. Get ready to suck it up.

And PS: Thanks to Krugman for the tip on the existence of the blog at the White House Budget Office. Very sharp exchange therein between Peter Orszag, the budget director, and Fred Hiatt, editor of the Washington Post editorial page.  It seems pretty plain that Hiatt didn’t know what he was writing about. We have to be wary against being led astray.

House health bill provisions that take effect in 2010

A couple posts back I put up a link to the full text of the House health bill -- 1,990 pages. Here's something more digestible: Speaker Pelosi's summary of the provisions that take effect in the first year.

Link to the House bill on health care

The House bill on health care: you can read it. It's a pdf file.

Only 1,990 pages. Did I read that right?

Take this poll on the public option

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois is asking for input on what sort of a public option should go into the health bill. You can take the poll.

This came to me by email, making me wonder how the Friends of Dick Durbin got me on their email roster.

Public option? Robert Reich's view

Your blogger is kinda steaming about the opt-out public option that's now atop the US Senate. So in the meantime here's a video by Robert Reich that sounds as if it was recorded before Tuesday's developments.



The email inbox includes one from the White House saying the president is OK with opt-out. I thought he'd be stronger on the public side.

Bill Nelson hears "public option" yells

Sen. Nelson got a little heckling Friday at the Florida Democratic
Party Conference in Orlando. He said he already voted for it and on
Tuesday a bill will ome out of the Senate Finance Committee.

Keith Olbermann to reform health care single-handed – with our help in five states

This was ferocious. The Teabaggers will shrivel. Glenn Beck won’t stand up to this. Olbermann at his most intense for an entire hour of Special Comment on health care reform Wednesday night. The plan that emerged at the end was audacious: Massive free clinics in five states to show six Blue Dog US senators the lives at stake in their pitiful pandering to the insurance industry.

Take 11 minutes, at least, and watch Part 5 of the Olbermann performance where he sums up his argument and describes the plan for free clinics in Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, Louisiana and Nevada.

 The idea is to shame Senators Blanche Lincoln D-AR,  Mark Pryor D-AR, Max Baucus, D-MT, Mary Landrieu D-LA, and Harry Reid D-NV. Yes, the Blue Dogs! Not a snaky Republican among the targets.

After you’ve written a check to the National Association of Free Clinics http://freeclinics.us/ feel free to go back and watch the rest of Olbermann’s hour of superb oratory. How he marshaled his facts. How the emotion showed as he told of his father’s agony of illness and of his childhood friend’s need to sell his farm and everything else to pay for his daughter’s long hospitalization.

A few quotes:

·         “I will not settle for a compromise bill.”

·          “It is time to be bold.”

·          “How can we not be united against death?”

·         “We must recognize the enemy here … the moneyed interests who have bled their customers white.”

·         “I’ll donate. How much will you donate?”

Keep an eye out for this guy on our golf courses

I'm talking about John Boehner, Republican leader in the US House, who asserts that he's never heard anyone he's met support the public option for health coverage. What? How can that be? Seems some of his detractors think it's only because he spends all his time playing golf in Florida.

So, keep an eye out for him. And tell him what you think.



I always wondered why he had such a tan. (Cue any number of Florida jokes now.)

Thank you, Bill Nelson! A vote for the public option

This was in the Senate Finance Committee today, but alas, not enough to get it through. The session is not finished, but it doesn’t look good for the public option. The vote was 13-10 against an amendment by Chuck Schumer. Bill Nelson, never having spoken for the public option, voted yes and was on the losing side, while two key senators did not vote for the public option –Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine.

They already are targets of campaigns to put pressure on them. Check it out at Democracy for America and Act Blue.

Earlier today the Miami Herald had a story from Washington correspondent Lesley Clark quoting, among others, my fellow blogger Dave Patlak on why MoveOn has put pressure on Bill Nelson. You know, Senator, you could have avoided all this by taking a leadership role early in the process, and maybe you could have helped put the public option in the bill. Anyway, I’m just saying. And remembering.

UPDATE: Sen. Nelson had an essay in USA Today with his position on --- not the public option -- Medicare Advantage and other aspects of senior care.

Rock on! Celebrate our pathetic rank in world health

This goes to show we can be in wretched condition but still have fun. Yay!?

Florida's grim numbers on health insurance vs pay

This word is just in from the White House:

• Average Florida family health premium growth over 10 years is 121 percent, compared to just 43 percent wage growth.
• We're nonetheless doing better than Sarah Palin's former subjects in Alaska, where health insurance premiums rose 145% and wage growth was 35% since 1999 -- worst disparity in the US.

This information comes from a speech Vice President Joe Biden gave to a group of state insurance commissioners. Among other bad numbers: in the past year the national average annual family premium for employer-sponsored health insurance rose to $13,375 – a shocking 5.5 percent increase during a recession when inflation actually fell by 0.7 percent.

Reform time, anyone?

Read the full report yourself.

Ask the Archbishop: Help reform health care

DEC member Helene Dudley, from the Shenandoah neighborhood of Miami, has written Archbishop of Miami John C. Favalora asking that the church take a strong role in passing legislation to reform health care. She suggests other Catholics (and ex-Catholics) should do the same. The address is: The Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Pastoral Center 9401 Biscayne Boulevard Miami Shores, FL 33138 Her suggested (and condensed) message to the Archbishop: Unfortunately, tens of millions of Americans do not have health insurance. According to the website of the Catholic bishops of the United States, the current health care system is in need of fundamental reform. Why is the Catholic Church not speaking out loud and clear to encourage passage of meaningful health care reform? She also included the full text of what she wrote, as follows:

Your Excellency, I write you as a life-long Catholic and a member of RESULTS, a grassroots organization committed to ending world poverty. A top priority on RESULTS’ domestic agenda is the passage of significant health care reforms that will extend affordable quality health care to all those who are below 150% of the poverty line. We believe this basic human right is a moral imperative, one that religious organizations should work zealously to promote. In searching for allies to ensure that health care reform becomes a reality, I visited the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and was pleased to see their position stated as follows: “In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, has a right to life and to those things necessary to sustain life, including affordable, quality health care. This teaching is rooted in the biblical call to heal the sick and to serve "the least of these," our concern for human life and dignity, and the principle of the common good. Unfortunately, tens of millions of Americans do not have health insurance. According to the Catholic bishops of the United States, the current health care system is in need of fundamental reform.” Bishop William F. Murphy is further quoted as saying that "Genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and a vital national obligation" The page also includes an excerpt from Pacem in Terris, in which Pope John XXIII writes of a fundamental human right to affordable or even free health care. This all makes me wonder why the Catholic Church is not a vocal proactive proponent of the type of health care reform that the Church purports to support. Interest groups that have fought health care reform for over 50 years are using every trick in the books to stop the current effort at reform. Lies and scare tactics drown out civil debate and turn morality on its ear. Real morality dictates that moral people reform a system that allows 20,000 people to die each year due to lack of medical insurance. Morality dictates we work to reform a system that allows insurance companies to act as virtual ‘death panels’ that deny and delay necessary medical care. Morality dictates that we amend a system that excludes those in the lowest economic tier from preventive and early intervention medical care. Since it is far easier to spread lies and misinformation than to get at the truth, those who seek to confuse the issues in an effort to again defer health care reform have the advantage. The August 26th Wall Street Journal noted the difficulties that even the independent Fact Checking organizations are having with the abortion implications of health care reform. This suggests to me that the proposed health care reforms will have little if any impact on abortion policy in this country and that is at it should be. Abortion legislation, like immigration reform warrant dedicated efforts and should not be interjected to further complicate the health care discussion. Please don’t let abortion be used to kill the health care reform that our country clearly needs and which the church claims to support. Since most people will not visit the website to read the Church’s position on health care reform, I ask that the Church be proactive in stating the Bishops’ and the Vatican’s positions to their congregations, acknowledging that there is still work to be done with regards to birth control. Washington will discard ‘politics-as-usual’ and get down to the real business of developing meaningful health care reform if public opinion demands that they do so. The Catholic Church has the opportunity to help ensure that public opinion comes from moral rather than political considerations. I am a practicing Catholic but I often ask myself why. I watched as the Church stood virtually silent in the face of an unjust war, capital punishment, illegal tortures and renditions and a decline in social services. I stopped donating when I heard priests rant from the pulpit that a moral vote in the presidential elections of 2004 could only support a continuation of this platform rather than one that might allow for stem cell research, gay marriage and abortion. Over the years, the Church stood by as its own priests preyed upon the young in parish after parish. A vigorous anti-abortion stand does not trump this litany of failings. I do not ask the Church to abandon its stance on abortion, but I do ask that it use its power and influence to encourage the type of negotiation and compromise that will ensure passage of meaningful health care reform that the Church can support. It is possible to create a more just and moral health care system in our country and it is imperative that we do so. Can we count on you to work zealously for reform?

Bill Nelson's Senate speech on health

Over nine minutes, no room for mention of public option.

Bill Nelson speaks (a little) on health care

An item on my calendar later this morning is a trip to Sen. Bill Nelson’s office to deliver petitions on health care reform, so it was with considerable interest that I opened an email from Sen. Nelson with the subject line: Taking Action on Health Care Reform

Eagerly I searched through the email to see what he’d say about the public option. Nary a word. For the record, here’s the full text:

Most of the calls and mail coming into my office these days are from constituents worried about health care. Regardless of where anyone stands on the specifics of this issue, I think we all can agree the current system is unfair, too costly, and needs to be fixed.

President Obama gave some clearer answers in his speech to Congress last week about his views on reform. I found it interesting that what the president described is pretty close to the bill I'm helping prepare as a member of the Senate Finance Committee. I want to tell you basically what this bill does.

In essence, it will let folks happy with their insurance keep it, including seniors on Medicare and veterans. It also will create a marketplace--exchanges--where those without coverage, or those who are unhappy with what they have, can get coverage at an affordable price.

The bill will hold insurers' feet to the fire by requiring them to cover everyone and preventing them from dropping individuals who get sick. Additionally, it will contain several measures aimed at reducing overall medical and prescription drug costs and eliminating waste and fraud in the system.

I still intend to offer several amendments aimed at further improving the legislation. One of my amendments would require drugmakers to provide rebates to Medicare, just like they do to Medicaid. This would save Medicare a ton of money. Further, by eliminating the tax break drugmakers get for TV and other advertising, we would gain another $37 billion over the coming years to help pay for health care reforms.

The Senate Finance Committee will begin considering this bill as early as this week. Meantime, please know that I value your continued input.

See you at the office, Sen. Nelson. I'll be asking if you hear what your constituents are asking for.

UPDATE: A delegation of Democrats and AFL-CIO members went with Jill Weber of Progress Florida to deliver some 1,700 postcards signed by Floridians demanding health reform.

The staffer in the Coral Gables office listened to my complaint that the senator's email didn't mention the public option, and replied by saying she thinks it's to be assumed as part of the legislation. If that's as good as it gets, it's pretty meager. It's not as if our calls for the public option -- and competition to keep the insurance giants honest -- were some idea from Mars. After all, it's what the president wants. But our senator seems unable to use the words.

A little video from the event at Sen. Nelson's office in Coral Gables:

Thank you, REM

MoveOn and REM combine for music and stories.

Now is the time. And turn up the volume.

Calm prevails at Meek's town hall

Calm prevails at Meek's town hall http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1216851.html
MiamiHerald.com - Beth Reinhard
US Rep. Kendrick Meek emphasized the importance of a government-run healthcare plan at a low-key Miami town hall meeting attended by about 400 people. ...

No bullhorns, no protesters at Meek's town hall
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/09/no-bullhorns-no-protesters-at-meeks-town-hall-.html

Meek Holds Health Care Town Hall - Politics News Story - WPLG Miami
Sep 3, 2009 ... Kendrick Meek is holding a health care town hall meeting Thursday ... www.justnews.com/politics/20708651/detail.html
Video: http://www.justnews.com/video/20718160/