Health Care

One Way To Connect

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by Gary Farber

ONE WAY TO CONNECT can be this:

This is America:

This is something we can do:

To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor:

The city of Rio de Janeiro is infamous for the fact that one can look out from a precarious shack on a hill in a miserable favela and see practically into the window of a luxury high-rise condominium. Parts of Brazil look like southern California. Parts of it look like Haiti. Many countries display great wealth side by side with great poverty. But until recently, Brazil was the most unequal country in the world

Everything connects:

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He Was A Freelance Writer. He Had It Made.

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“He was Joe Mayer, freelance writer. He had it made.”

— Charles Bukowski

A friend of mine needs your help.  I’m asking you to help him. 

Not because you know him, though you may.

Not because you like him, or his opinions, because you may not.

Not because he’s special, though he is.  (We all are.)

But because he needs the help.

And everyone who needs help should be helped.

Who is Roy?

Edroso

I can only tell you some things I know. 

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Weekly Pulse: Obama gives GOP rope to hang itself at health care summit

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Tomorrow, President Obama will gather with Republicans for the long-awaited televised health care summit. Obama will promote his health care proposal, the Republicans will demand that we start over. Even House Minority Leader John Boehner dimly senses that the GOP is walking into a trap. The public is thoroughly sick of the … Read more

Bayh-partisanship = Giving your seat to a Republican

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By Lindsay Beyerstein In this week’s Pulse we look at the implications Sen. Evan Bayh’s (D-IN) decision not to seek reelection. As an incumbent, he could have easily won another term. But Bayh says he’s fed up with partisanship in Washington. So, he’s quitting and handing his job to a Republican. Blue Dog bipartisanship in … Read more

Did the fathers of modern obstetrics murder more women than Jack the Ripper?

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Latoya Peterson of Jezebel spotted this disconcerting story in Sunday's Guardian: They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they … Read more

Chill Out: Pelosi Hasn’t Given Up on Health Reform

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By Lindsay Beyerstein People are getting way too worked up about Nancy Pelosi's announcement that she doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate's health reform bill right now. "In every meeting that we have had, there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now the way that … Read more

Not One Dollar

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by publius From TPM: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just told reporters that she does not believe she has enough votes in the House to pass the Senate health care reform bill as-is — at least not yet. Here's my proposed response:  Not one dollar.  Not one ounce of effort.  Not one word of support.  The … Read more

Ping pong, anyone? The House must pass the Senate bill to save health care reform

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Martha Coakley's loss in Massachusetts will end the Democrats' 60-vote majority in the Senate. This is a major setback for health care reform, but let's not hang crepe yet. Remember, the Senate already passed its bill. If the House were to "ping pong" the bill by passing the identical legislation, the bill … Read more

Dorgan and Dodd to Retire, Cancel Each Other Out

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Yesterday, two Democratic senators unexpectedly announced that they would not seek reelection in 2010: Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut.  As I wrote in the Weekly Pulse this morning, the two announcements probably cancel each other out in terms of Democratic senate seats. Dorgan's seat is probably an … Read more

Fred Hiatt’s Strange Argument

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by publius You'll be shocked to learn that Fred Hiatt opposes the public option.  You'll be further shocked that his argument doesn't make much sense. Hiatt's main concern is cost control.  He thinks (maybe correctly) that Congress is punting on controlling costs.  Instead, Hiatt wants Congress (1) to impose taxes on employer-provided health care benefits; … Read more

The Public Option’s Most Frustrating Opponent

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by publius Despite its new momentum, the public option has a powerful new opponent — the White House.  It's incredibly frustrating.  Although Reid is close to getting 60 votes on cloture, Obama and Rahm (who, for all his bluster, is politically timid) are pushing for the "trigger," which is the same as nothing. The question, … Read more

Pelosi Goes “All In” On Public Option

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Nancy Pelosi is going all in to support a public option that would hold down costs by setting reimbursement rates at Medicare plus 5%. The CBO's latest cost estimates for various House health care reform options have galvanized Pelosi in favor of a Med+5 public option, Brian Beutler reports.  Pelosi has always … Read more

Get Your “Part E” On

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by publius House Democrats are warming to renaming the public option "Medicare Part E."  The Hill reports: Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.” House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option. … Read more

Public Option Politics

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by publius The latest Post/ABC poll shows that Americans continue to favor a public option.  Indeed, the public option is getting more popular — the poll shows that support has rebounded since the summer, thanks in no small part to committed liberal activists. The fact that the public option is genuinely popular should make it … Read more

Reform’s “Clarifying Moment”

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by publius We are (knock on wood) tantalizingly close to historic health coverage reform.  In the heat of today's debates, it's easy to forget just how big this is.  If we enact reform, it will instantly be one of the most important legislative actions in American history — remembered alongside the New Deal and the … Read more

A Favorable Wind

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by publius One sign that coverage reform has momentum is that several of the recent attacks from insurers are designed to make the bill more like Democrats want.  Understandably, insurers want more healthy people buying coverage — and so they want a stricter mandate.  The only way, however, to justify a stricter mandate is to … Read more

Snowe and the Logic of Defection

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by publius Happy V-F Day — reform has finally escaped from Finance, with a Republican vote to boot.  And I am quite grateful to Sen. Snowe for doing the right thing in the face of almost certain reprisals.  It's not an easy thing to do, but she did it. Ironically enough, though, Snowe's vote is … Read more

The Public Option Dialectic

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by publius I'm not sure what the public option's current odds are.  But regardless of the final result, the public option debate itself has been a beneficial and clarifying one for progressives. Generally speaking, political and intellectual coalitions often benefit from schisms that clarify and strengthen the coalition's ultimate positions.  Sometimes, of course, these divisions … Read more

Stopping the Herd on Coverage Reform

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by publius Brendan Nyhan argues that Obama's health care speech didn't have much effect on public opinion.  He notes that disapproval has now returned to previous levels after a brief bump.  Numbers-wise, he's correct.  But I think focusing on the numbers alone misses something very important about the speech — namely, it helped stop the … Read more

Hokum gets a public option

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Yesterday the Senate Finance Committee voted down two amendments that would have added a public option to its health reform bill. The committee also tacked on millions for discredited abstinence-only-until-opposite-marriage teaching. On the bright side, maybe kids will start ditching church now that they get their religious hokum free from the government, … Read more

The Meddlesome Nelson

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by publius Brian Beutler has the latest unhelpful comment from Ben Nelson on health coverage reform.  And while it's really annoying to hear, I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. Nebraska, remember, is a very Republican state.  Bush beat Kerry by over 30 points.  Obama did much better, but still lost the state … Read more

The GOP’s Medicare Hypocrisy

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by publius Today's Post has a decent overview of Republicans' about-face on Medicare spending.  Demagoguing Medicare cuts is quickly becoming the GOP's go-to argument.  And it's hard to recall a more brazen and cynical act of hypocrisy.  It's an argument premised entirely on the assumption that the public — and seniors in particular — will … Read more

Mothers For Kyl

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by publius I'm not entirely sure why including maternity care in health insurance benefits is a hill that Jon Kyl wanted to fight on.  But he did: I don't need maternity care and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the insurance more expensive. … Read more

Howard Dean Talks Budget Reconciliation (Video Exclusive)

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Last night, I quite unexpectedly scored an exclusive video interview with Howard Dean at the 92nd St YMCA where he was promoting his new book on health reform. I asked him about the chances that Democrats will try to use budget reconciliation to pass a health care bill and thwart a filibuster. … Read more

The Stakes, Cont’d

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by publius Sorry for non-posting (almost finished with outside project), but I thought this Post article was worth noting.  In addition to domestic violence, insurers have adopted a few other noteworthy pre-existing conditions: Health insurers have issued guidelines saying they could deny coverage to people suffering from such conditions as acne, hemorrhoids and bunions. One … Read more

Unleash Senator Wyden

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by von Senator Wyden (D-Ore.) has a health care bill.  As I've written in the past, it's a pretty damn good bill.   I'm not alone in liking it:  lots of other folks on the left and right do as well.  Moreover, unlike all the other major health care bills out there, Wyden's bill is genuinely bipartisan:  it … Read more

Baucus’s Exchanges are . . . Good!

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by publius Ezra Klein notes a very, very promising aspect of Baucus's bill: The House bill, for instance, specifically allows businesses with only 20 or fewer people to join. Baucus goes quite a bit further. He begins by mandating that businesses with up to 50 employees be allowed to buy into the exchanges. If states … Read more

Zero

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by publius Is the number of Republicans supporting Baucus's bill, which is apparently going to be released today.  The Hill reports that Snowe is now out.  But hey, maybe Baucus can still get Enzi. In all seriousness, I don't think this is the last word on Snowe.  It could be kabuki on her part — … Read more

Let’s Politicize Subsidies Too

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by publius America's favorite Senate committee seems to be close to an actual bill.  And I have good news and bad news on that front. First, the bad news… Suzy Khimm at TNR is reporting that the Baucus bill isn't going to raise the cap on subsidies.  It's going to remain at 300% of poverty, … Read more

The Stakes

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by publius Amanda Marcotte writes that many insurance companies treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition.  This is one of those "read the whole thing" posts, but I've excerpted a bit below. Other than the obvious grotesqueness of it, I think it shows the dangers of allowing coverage decisions to be made purely by market … Read more

Shifting Tides?

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by publius One reason I'm suddenly feeling better about the chances of reform is that the incentives seem to be aligning in a more constructive way.  And the pressure from the left for both a public option and reconciliation is helping make this happen. Consider the world from the perspective of insurance companies.  Understandably, they're … Read more

Tea bagger bus company sued over blaze that killed 23 seniors

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By Lindsay Beyerstein

One of the featured corporate sponsors of the Tea Party Express had to pay millions of dollars to settle lawsuits for its role in a bus fire that killed 23 elderly nursing home residents fleeing Hurricane Rita in 2005.

The BusBank, a Chicago-based charter company, a "Tour Partner" of the Tea Party Express, a rolling protest sponsored by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC under the supervision of former Republican state legislator Howard Kaloogian, now a PR exec for the GOP-linked firm Russo, Marsh & Rogers.

BusBank is also arranging to ferry Tea Baggers to their 9/12 march on Washington to voice their demands for unfettered capitalism. (Update: A Majikthise commenter asked if there's a Dick Armey connection here. There is. Dick Armey's FreedomWorks Foundation is the premiere sponsor of the 9/12 march; and Kaloogian's OCDB PAC is a "Gold Co-Sponsor.")

In 2005, a bus carrying seniors fleeing Hurricane Rita burst into flame outside of Dallas, immolating 23 nursing home residents. Investigators later found that the bus was: driven by an undocumented migrant without a valid U.S. driver's license, lacking adequate fire extinguishers, and not licensed to operate in Texas. When the bus had mechanical problems before the crash, the driver took it to an unqualified mechanic who failed to notice the critical fault–an unlubricated axle that eventually melted and burst into flame.

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More Like This, Please

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by publius I caught the end of this CNN segment, and Atrios saved me the trouble of tracking it down: ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. How far would you go to get good health insurance? One man who lost his job and medical benefits reenlisted in the Army just to … Read more

It’s Aliiive, Sort Of

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by publius Max Baucus has finally circulated a health care plan.  That single fact is probably more important than any substantive provision the plan contains.  I just want the frickin' bill reported out of Finance, which has been holding up everything. Some of the highlights include (1) subsidies at 300% of poverty (too low); (2) … Read more