Health Care

by publius I'll admit that this article doesn't make me feel very good about the end product on health coverage reform.  I get the sense that Obama and the leadership are going to give away too much — even beyond the public option. My most immediate fear is simply that the subsidies will get excessively … Read more

by publius Ezra Klein found a relatively new fundraising letter from Chuck Grassley, the Democrats' point man on health care.  Note the classy dig at Ted Kennedy (who was alive at the time, but close to death).  Ezra posted the pdf, but I've provided an excerpt below.

by von Michael Gerson has a sensible take on current Democratic efforts to reform health care — by which I mean, of course, that Gerson has written something that I largely agree with.  President Obama's health care reform is not dying because of persistent nonsense regarding death panels.  Death panels are a favorite bete noir of some Democratic supporters, but, in … Read more

by publius Conservative man in rural southwest Georgia who listens to Rush and Fox News opposes health coverage reform, Kevin Sack of the NYT reports on A1. (h/t Joe Sudbay)

by publius Today's Michael Steele op-ed on health care reads like a greatest hits of dishonesty about health coverage reform.  There's so much dishonesty in there that it's hard to note it all.  But he essentially endorses the ideas of death panels and rationing by age, and that tells you all you need to know … Read more

by publius In light of this, I think it's worth asking whether Kent Conrad is affirmatively trying to kill health coverage reform.  For one, he's just incorrect — the two-track bill is completely doable, and reconciliation has been used commonly in recent years.  Second, why say this?  Why say something that so obviously undermines the … Read more

by von Matt Yglesias writes perceptively on why Democratic health care reform is failing, but –  perhaps understandably — doesn't see his own role:  A disheartened Ezra Klein looks at a WSJ/NBC poll showing that people have lots of false beliefs about the president’s health care agenda and offers the following chart: My first thought … Read more

by publius Rick Moran (a conservative I enjoy reading) calls the proposed reconciliation route the "Armageddon option."  He explains: I call reconciliation the “Armageddon Option” because the aftermath will blow up Washington like no other event in recent memory.  . . .  The use – or rather, the clear abuse – of the reconciliation process … Read more

by publius By now, I'm sure you've seen Barney Frank's most awesome town hall video (if not, Steve Benen has it).  This line was my favorite: You stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis[.] It's worth keeping this … Read more

by publius I'm glad Ezra Klein wrote this, because it helps provide context for increasingly disillusioned liberals who think Obama and the Dem leadership are blowing health care.  The upshot is that it's hard to say things like "if the bill isn't sufficiently progressive, we'll oppose it" when that's exactly what the other side wants.  … Read more

by publius I wanted to return to Grassley's comments last week in which he essentially embraced Palin's "death panels" falsehoods.  To me, these comments have very significant implications on various fronts. First, I think Grassley's comments show the real significance of the town hall protests.  The media coverage has focused primarily on how the protests … Read more

by publius Marc Ambinder: An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke"[.]  . . .  A second official, Linda Douglass . . . said that President Obama believed that a public option was the best way to reduce costs and promote competition among insurance companies, that he had not … Read more

by publius Obviously, I disagree as a matter of both policy and negotiating strategy.  But, the public option isn't the main part of the bill, and it's not the hill that health coverage reform should die on. But… if it's going to be dropped, then the White House and Dem leadership need to get something … Read more

by publius It's heartening to see Britain rallying around its health care system in the face of egregiously dishonest attacks and accusations.  Of course, as this NYT essay explains, the British system has its problems.  But the general British complaints about their health care system are being misinterpreted on this side of the pond. It's … Read more

by publius I'm too busy at the moment with school starting to say what needs to be said about this: The Senate Finance Committee will drop a controversial provision on consultations for end-of-life care from its proposed healthcare bill, its top Republican member said Thursday. There really aren't words to describe not only how ridiculous … Read more

by publius One challenge in countering the attacks on the health care bills is that they come in many varieties.  Steve Benen had a good post a while back describing the diversity among the critics (the "Greedy," the "Wonks," etc.).  The attacks themselves, though, are also fairly diverse — and some of them are more … Read more

by publius RedState's Jeff Emanuel's has a post called "Health Care Bill Fact of the Day:  'You Can Keep Your Health Plan,' But Once You Change it, the Government is Your Only Option."  He writes: [B]eginning the year this bill takes effect, individuals who leave their current insurer for any reason – whether it be … Read more

by publius David Frum is worried that politicians might learn the wrong lessons if the GOP "wins" health care.  He's specifically worried that Medicare will never again be touched.  At the American Scene, Conor argues that a better lesson for politicians to learn would be to "keep it simple": If health care reform is defeated, … Read more

by publius Now that “death panels” have been added to the health coverage bill, the logical question is how to structure them most efficiently.  Personally, I hope Obama requires all death panels to be modeled after the Trial of Zod in Superman 2 (begin at 1:30):

by publius Sarah Palin: The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of … Read more

by publius As I wrote earlier this week, the health coverage debate poses a fundamental David Simon-like challenge to the media.  Can the American media, as an institution, inform the public about what's really being proposed?  And can it do so in the face of sustained, outright falsehoods (not good faith policy disagreements). Well, this … Read more

by publius Chuck Grassley — the Democrats' point man on health care — was on Newshour yesterday.  (Best show EV-AH).  To put it mildly, I didn't get the sense that I was watching a man determined to make reform happened.  I think it was his repeated opposition to "government taking over health care" that made … Read more

by publius I'm a bit torn about attacking the protests at the health care town halls, even assuming they're organized.  I mean, that's sort of what democracies are about.  These protests do worry me, but for a different reason — they worry me because they're a test of whether our media instititions are capable of … Read more

by publius Via Amanda Marcotte, here's your quote of the week.  It's from Arthur Laffer, of Laffer Curve fame: If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government.

by publius I'm not sure Max Baucus and staff read Jonathan Cohn, but they should.  This comes from his latest report on where things stand on Capitol Hill: Baucus, as you may know, has been trying to hammer out a deal with a bipartisan group of six members. But on Thursday the most conservative member … Read more

by publius Scott Lemieux and Ezra Klein recently had a back and forth on whether a health coverage reform bill without a public option was worth supporting.  I agree with Klein on the merits, but it's a trickier question politically when you start viewing it through a game theory lens. On the policy merits alone, … Read more

by publius Under the "breakthrough" in the House, there will be no vote on health care before the August recess.  Politico adds: Republicans, meanwhile, are ready to use the August recess to rip the bill apart and attack Democrats in their home districts. Democrats need to explain the bill.  No argument there.  But they shouldn't … Read more

by von Among the articles of faith circulating in the liberal blogosphere is that killing the House Democrats' health care package (HR 3200) amounts to killing health care reform.*  The argument goes that HR 3200 is the only way to get traction in the debate and must be supported, warts and all, because there's nothing else out there.  Pass HR 3200, … Read more

by publius Inside Max Baucus’s Senate conference room.  The bipartisan panel of six Senators is negotiating a bipartisan deal on health coverage reform.   The Democratic Senators are Baucus, Conrad, and Bingaman.  The Republican Senators are Grassley, Snowe, and Enzi. BAUCUS:  Thanks everyone for being here.  I know everyone understands the historical stakes, and everyone wants … Read more

by von There are three essential components to health care reform — or else it's not worth doing. Coverage.  Obviously, the reform has to cover folks who are currently uninsured.  Personal.  Everyone should have access to good health care; good health care shouldn't depend on a person having a job.  Health care is a personal good.  Aside … Read more

by publius I've never read No Exit.  My understanding of the general plot is that three people get stuck in a room in hell with some rather annoying Chatty Cathys.  They think they'll be tortured, but actually the punishment is confining them together in a room from which they can't escape each other's company.  "Hell … Read more