Health Care- Who has the scorecard
I'm lost.
I feel as if there are so many committees; so many compromises; so many taking stands against a position; alliances both holy and unholy; that there is no accurate scorecard of where we really are on healthcare reform.
Does anyone (Josh?) have a breakdown of the current proposals from the various committees with their similarities and their differences broken down? Where is the Senate in relation to the House?
I have no idea what to even tell my Senator (D-decent) or Representative (R-worthless).
Could TPM staffers do this for us: A simple chart laying out the plans from committees and Chambers and the member coalitions pushing hard lines one way or the other? Post a special page with summaries of the latest greatest screwy ideas coming from fantasy land?
Just show me lost in the wilderness; seeing only trees.
P.S. If you are as lost as I am, please ask Josh to help us out.
Seek out Fred mooten and read what hw has to say. Here atTPM, he is the person with the best grap of the issues. Fred has worked heroically to inform people, such as yourself, to the intricacies of this very confusing subject.
July 30, 2009 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jonnie - There is no way I can live up to your description. Also, Miguelito knows more about many aspects of healthcare reform than I do.
However, I have been following the proceedings, and I have a general idea where things stood as of about 3 minutes ago (well, actually, as of the news this morning).
The House has several committees drafting legislation. They all drafted similar bills, which are now being worked on. The most important committee is the one on Energy and Commerce. Here, the Blue Dog Democrats had balked at going along with the original drafts, but have now reached a compromise that appears to have broad support. It includes the so-called "public option", but one restricted so as to be unable to offer rates as low as we might hope; this was done because of fear that rates at the Medicare level would disadvantage rural health care providers. We'll see what happens after the August recess, but as things stand now, the Democrats in the House have the votes to pass a compromise bill of this sort.
In the Senate, the HELP Committee (Chris Dodd as chairman - Ted Kennedy's former committee) issued a draft a while back of a very robust bill with a strong public option, mandates to cover almost all Americans, and other significant reform measures. The dominant Senate committee, however, appears to be Finance (Max Baucus, Chairman). There, negotiations are ongoing among a handful of Democrats and Republicans to forge a compromise. Leaks from the Committee suggest the compromise will entail not a public plan run by the government, but rather non-profit cooperatives run by consumers as a means of keeping down insurance rates by competing with for-profit private insurers. The effectiveness of the co-op alternative would depend on the size of each co-op. A single, nationwide co-op would have bargaining power similar to that of a government plan, while small co-ops would have less, and a broadly regional co-op would have substantial leverage but less than the government. The Finance Committee alternative also may relieve many small businesses on an insurance obligation, which would reduce the degree to which reform would increase the number of Americans covered.
If the Finance Committee concludes a successful negotiation, the result would be a reform proposal that is a major step forward, but also much less than optimal. Politically, it would be a good backup to more vigorous reform efforts from the other Senate and House committees, in that it would probably have at least a couple of Republican votes. That is critical, because 60 votes will be needed to pass meaningful reform in the Senate. A mechanism known as "reconciliation" exists to permit the Senate to pass certain budget-related items by only a simple majority, but most experts on Senate rules conclude that many of the most important reform provisions would be disallowed by the Senate parliamentarian if included in a reconciliation measure - hence the need for 60 votes.
July 30, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully getting something to the floor in the respective houses of congress will solve a lot of the confusion. A dozen different proposals and CBO's partial scoring mixed in with the medias endless process stories have done little to forward the conversation.
July 30, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am fighting for single payer health care.
The options in my opinion are a farce that will not even take effect until after 2013 thus making health care a political football for years to come.
The single payer option is what is best for our economy AND it will cover everyone.
I would like the people who are rushing to support this farce of giving us 'something' exactly 'who' is going to be left out.
Today is the single payer rally in DC. Please fax your reps and demand a single payer system.
July 30, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who has the scorecard?
The uninsured, under-insured, people who have had family members die because they had no insurance, working people who have lost jobs, houses, and dreams ---these people have the scorecard.
July 30, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Florida, we share the same senators. My Republican representative isn't helpful either.
I don't have a scorecard, but regarding this:
I'm happy to share the wishlist I faxed to Nelson, Martinez, and the other one. It's based on information I've gained at TPM and elsewhere over the past, very intense, couple of weeks. There are a couple of interesting things in there, a nod to Jason, a nod to Lalo, and I don't know who thought of the color coded food stamps, but it was a great idea. If you can use any of it, feel free.
In the opening I stressed that I trusted them to look out for Florida's citizens first and foremost, not corporations. Also that public policy cannot be based on poll numbers that reflect a misinformed public. And that a single payer system modeled after Medicare is the best option for all Americans.
Here's what I asked for:
1. Everyone is insured. No one is denied coverage. No rescission. No patient dumping. No one opts out.
2. Coverage is portable from job to job or if you become unemployed.
3. Create a patient bill of rights and a transparent system of redress/appeal. Include what's covered, what's not, and what will cost the patient extra.
4. Cover routine preventive tests ... you can fill these in.
5. Regulate the insurance companies: Limit their ROI and executive compensation. Best case: Make them not-for-profit organizations and institute a single payer system.
6. The federal government must negotiate prices on health services, treatments, and all doctor-prescribed items.
7. Main sticking point. A public plan option that incorporates comparable Medicare rates must be included to establish a competitive environment and reign in the profligate, obscene abuses of the insurance companies.
8. Halt corn subsidies and redirect them to farmers who have adopted organic and sustainable farming practices. Put an excise tax on soda and all unhealthy processed foods.
9. Color code food stamps specifically for a) produce; b) unprocessed meat, fish, and eggs; c) bread, flour, meal, and whole grains; and d) milk and juice.
- Use excise taxes mentioned above, increased payroll taxes based on income, and efficiencies in the health care delivery system from reform efforts over all to help pay for the reforms.
Hopefully this helps a little. Good luck!
July 30, 2009 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink