Jason Rosenbaum is a health care activist and blogger for Health Care for America Now working to win quality, affordable health care for all in 2009. You can read more from him at http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org
Harry Reid stood up for America yesterday. He put a public health insurance option in the Senate bill, the merged version of the two health care bills passed out of committee that will now go to the Senate floor for debate, amendments, and passage. This is a huge victory. Putting the public health insurance option in the Senate bill that goes to the floor makes it much harder to remove later. Opponents will need 60 votes to amend the Senate bill, meaning a high bar will have to be cleared to take out or change the public health insurance option.… Read more
The insurance companies and AHIP are now threatening America. Their report and its conclusions are completely false, as Ezra Klein and Scarecrow explain, so they're not working with facts here. Rather, they are threatening to raise their rates if health reform hurts their profits. The insurance industry's complaints come down to a proxy battle - they're attacking the weakened individual mandate provisions and the excise tax in the Senate Finance bill (the one that's a bailout for the very same insurance industry) as a way of attacking health reform in general, as well as an attempt to move the conversation… Read more
Here's the best paragraph in the CBO document: The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments. As a result, CBO estimates that of the $6 billion in federal funds that would be made available, about $3 billion would be spent over the 2010–2019 period. Co-ops are so ineffective you can't even give away the start-up money. As our ads… Read more
Seems like this is worth highlighting from the CBO analysis of Baucus's bill: “The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments.”… Read more
This statement is from Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Director of Health Care for America Now: "President Obama issued a clarion call for reforms that will guarantee all Americans have good, affordable coverage, directly taking on the insurance industry that wants to protect its profits and his political opponents who are engaging in fear-mongering for partisan purposes. He reaffirmed his support for the reforms that are essential to achieving his goals: assuring that people get good health coverage at work; strict regulation of the insurance industry; competition between private insurers and a new public health insurance option; and shared responsibility between… Read more
From Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now: "Health Care for America Now joins the nation in mourning the passing of Senator Kennedy, for whom our mission - winning a guarantee of good health care for all - was his life's work. We dedicate ourselves in the next few weeks to realizing the vision, passion, and hopes of this great American, firmly in the knowledge that enacting health care reform will rightly be seen as Ted Kennedy's legacy."… Read more
Co-ops are not harmful or pointless, but they're definitely not helpful. And they're certainly not a substitute for a public health insurance option. Jacob Hacker, the father of the public option policy idea that became part of the health care plan President Obama won and ran on, has laid down the definitive word on co-ops last week: The Senate Finance Committee’s cooperative model is not good, nor even not-so-good. It is “ugly.” Although few specifics about the model are available, there is absolutely no reason to think that cooperatives of any sort could achieve the three crucial goal that… Read more
I'd also recommend Kaiser's side-by-side analysis of the health care proposals in Congress. In addition, for those who need an introduction to health reform, what reform would do for them, and why we need to do it right, I'd recommend Dr. Howard Dean's new book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer. It's a concise primer on all things health reform, written for real people, not policy wonks in Washington. It's also a cheap paperback, perfect for beach reading!… Read more
What's in it for you? Though the cost of doing nothing, as the conservatives like Mr. Gelfand and Goodman propose, is staggering, with the average family paying $10,000 more in premiums by 2019, people still need to understand what reform will do. The below is based on the House version of health care reform, HR 3200 - America's Affordable Health Choices Act, which is the strongest bill being discussed to date. In short, it will provide a guarantee of quality, affordable health care to everyone. If you receive health insurance from your employer (or your spouse's or parent's employer): The… Read more
The deals with various stakeholders are indeed positive, but we've got to make sure all of these deals are permanant, not voluntary. But there's more at work here than just the policy. Obama has clearly decided that he wants to keep these large industry players at the table, and he's keeping them there by making these kinds of deals. It's a high-stakes strategy, because these players would just as soon keep the status-quo if they could, but so far it seems to be paying off, seeing as they understand status-quo is dead. Hospitals, drug companies, and insurers are still saying… Read more
I love how James Gelfand's arguments are all about keeping costs low for big business, and have nothing to do with making sure the American worker is happy and healthy. It really shows you where his organization's (or should I say, front group's) heart is, especially considering the intense small business support for real health reform. Tell me, James, do you support other ways for business to lower costs? Businesses could lower cost by moving all of our jobs overseas, is that a good idea? Businesses can lower costs by paying their workers less than minimum wage, is that a… Read more
As HELP and Finance start markup, I'd suggest they keep in mind the American people and what they want from health reform. It's easy to get lost in the minutia inside the Beltway - what percentages get covered, what the CBO says, who's going to pay for it - and so it's important to keep in mind the principles America stands behind. We want health care that is affordable for us and our families. We want health care that gives us a real choice between private and public insurance, so we don't have to be left at the mercy of… Read more
With 60% of bankruptcies in America today due to health care costs, and with 75% of those bankruptcies involving people who have health insurance, it's clear our system is broken and needs fixing now, both for ourselves and for our economy.… Read more
I'm not sure we're closer to middle ground, rather, the ground is clearly shifting. First, the question was whether we were going to have health care reform at all. President Obama won the election, so that question was put to rest. Next, the question was how quickly we were going to have it. Now it is clear it will happen this year. So then, we began discussing what kind of health care reform we will have, and one of the biggest points of contention was whether we will have a public health insurance option. Today, all signs point to the… Read more
There isn't much left to say that hasn't already been said by Uwe Reinhardt, Karen Davis, and Reps. Dingell and Engel. Health Care for America Now looks forward to holding the providers who met with President Obama to their promises, and helping President Obama and Congress write and pass legislation that does this. As Senator Schumer said, “This commitment to cost-cutting is a good-faith gesture by the health care industry, but it does not mitigate the need for a public plan option in the upcoming reform bill.” In fact, this development further makes the case for the necessity of a… Read more
The trust fund headlines, and indeed, the cost of Medicare in general, are finally helping drive the solution that's been needed since these programs were created. Medicare's cost increases mimic cost increases in the health care system as a whole. And where Medicare facing bankruptcy is what grabs the headline, those rising health care costs are actually causing bankruptcy for regular Americans. Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country. The fix to both Medicare's bankruptcy and the bankruptcy of milliions of Americans is the same: Lower health care costs. That is what President Obama's health… Read more
It's pretty clear that Stuart Butler wasn't really listening when he was at the White House Fiscal Responsibility Summit. I'm sure I heard both President Obama and Peter Orszag say that entitlement reform means health care reform, and I was only watching the event on television. It is the height of irresponsibility not to acknowledge the pressure rising health care costs put on our federal budget and on our GDP, just as it is the height of irresponsibility to demand we obey short-sited year-by-year PAYGO rules in the face of a crisis of this magnitude. If the only way to… Read more
I would agree with Mr. Schaeffer. Rationing is indeed a red herring, especially because we already ration care based on ability to pay and health status. In reforming health care, the concept of shared responsibility is key, and that may mean providers get squeezed a bit, just like others in the system will get squeezed a bit. If this means more people are covered with affordable care that meets their needs, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. And indeed, there is a lot that can be done in terms of reforming how we pay providers that the providers themselves… Read more
For once, I'm in agreement with Mr. Gelfand, at least the first part of his post, before he goes on to defend the status quo. What was enacted in Massachusetts was not real health care reform, or at least not what we'd want to see as a national model. Now, what Massachusetts did was a huge accomplishment. The number of uninsured have plummeted , and for a good number of people, life has gotten better. But the Massachusetts model failed to really address the issue of cost because it failed to create real competition with a public health insurance option,… Read more
I love that Ms. Turner and Ms. Ignagni believe that a public health insurance option, as proposed by President Obama and approved by the American people during the campaign (73% of voters support a choice of a public health insurance option), would compete too well against private insurance, and that's why it should be opposed. Ms. Turner and Ms. Ignagni argue that the public health insurance option "lowers payments to providers" and "shifts [people] away from employer-based coverage." Oh no! The public health insurance option would lower costs, and what's more, would be so good, people would want to be… Read more
It's heartening to see so many people in this discussion - John Rother at the AARP, Len Nichols at the New America Foundation, Uwe Reinhardt, Drew Altman at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Leonard D. Schaeffer, and Karen Davis at the Commonwealth Fund - making the crucial point that President Obama and Peter Orszag have repeated over and over: Entitlement reform (including Medicare reform) is health care reform. Medicare is in trouble not because it risks underfunding in the future. That merely a symptom. The disease is our rapidly rising health care costs, which can only be controlled by comprehensive health… Read more
Seeing as how the Social Security Task Force portion of President Obama's fiscal responsibility summit has been scrapped, it's safe to assume the President isn't going to believe the long-time conservative canard that Social Security is in "crisis," as perpetuated here by Mr. Goodman and Mr. Weems. Instead, Obama understands fiscal responsibility means health care reform. As pointed out by others here and elsewhere, Medicare and Medicaid are in fact set to rise in cost dramatically, and this is indeed a problem. And it's not just Medicare and Medicaid. Our entire health care system is set to rise in cost,… Read more
According to a Center for American Progress report released today, 14,000 people are losing their health insurance every day. At that rate, I'm not sure how Mr. Gelfand can claim, "attempt[s] to portray [health care] as a sudden crisis [are] disingenuous." This clear crisis does not preclude reasoned debate on substantive issues, but there is room for debate and taking action this year. Furthermore, it shows a lack of commitment to honest debate when Mr. Gelfand claims, "If we allow a new public plan to develop, it may well force us into single-payer, by cheating and regulating private insurers out… Read more
As Ron Pollack noted, the key leaders who will be responsible for health care reform - Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy, and Barack Obama - have not wavered an inch in their commitment to reform and the timeline of getting it done this year. They understand that the cost of doing nothing is unconscionable. They understand that there hasn't been this kind of political will, grassroots support, champions in Congress, and possibility from the White House behind a push to finally provide quality, affordable health care for all in at least 15 years, perhaps decades. The time is now. We need… Read more
The study cited by Ms. Turner allegedly proving that public health insurance plans have 25% overhead was put out by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank who's focus is "promoting free-market principles." (from SourceWatch) It's hardly surprising that an organization with such a mission would publish a study criticizing publicly run health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid. In contrast, I've cited reports from the Government Accountability Office, a decidedly less biased source. In addition, the states are not the only ones responsible for policing Medicare and Medicaid fraud. For example, the Medicaid Integrity Program adopted in 2005 allocated… Read more
In response to Ms. Turner's concern about Medicare and Medicaid fraud, I think it's important to point out that both Medicare and Medicaid have lower administrative costs than the private insurance industry, even when those private programs are run through Medicare Advantage, and that the private insurance industry has their own problems with fraud and waste, only they are usually skimming off working America's purchased benefits and using that money to line their own pockets. Here's a sampling of some recent trouble the insurance industry has run into: Aetna agrees to pay $5 million to reimburse students who were shortchanged… Read more
I'd like to echo Karen Davis's point about the savings we can reap in the long term with Health IT investment now. The consulting firm Deloitte LLP released a report last week saying e-prescriptions combined with putting comparative effectiveness research to use would save a whopping $530 billion over 10 years. For the up-front investment of $10 billion, we can in effect multiply our money by a factor of 10. With that kind of potential return, it's hard to understand why anyone wouldn't want this as part of President Obama's economic recovery package.… Read more
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