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Do you know what you pay for health insurance?
A disturbing survey reveals that most Californians – and likely most Americans – are unwilling to focus on the details of their health coverage. Those who are focused on the details are finding their coverage is increasingly riddled with holes.
Health coverage for ex-prisoners: a quiet but important benefit of health reform
If I’m trying to sell health reform, the smiling waitress with two kids, the laid-off steel worker, and the 7th grader with cancer work better on the campaign posters. Yet for many reasons – some obvious, some not – the health and well-being of ex-prisoners has a disproportionate impact on us all.
In sickness and in health
Mr. and Mrs. Romney might ponder why so many people whose lives have been altered by chronic disease and disability become passionate supporters of health reform. Some of these advocates directly experience medical-economic hardship. Others have not faced the most punishing financial consequences. They merely see what happens to others, less-privileged, who face the same medical challenges with fewer resources.
Health reform: a huge victory for women
When they buy their own health insurance in the individual market, women must lay out an extra $1 billion a year, simply because they are women.
Hate Obamacare? Rip up your rebate check.
The timing is perfect for everyone who despises Obamacare to demonstrate loudly and clearly your total disgust for the health reform law. It’s time to vote with your check … insurance rebate check, that is.
Critics use reform as new excuse to attack Medicaid
“Repeal and replace” efforts to kill health reform especially focus on repealing the Medicaid expansion that would extend coverage in 2014 to millions of low-income adults and kids. Ironically, these measures are unlikely to much improve the federal budget.
Ryan plan could deliver crushing blow to Medicare
Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities (CBPP) dubbed Ryan’s proposal “Robin Hood in reverse – on steroids. It could likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history.”
Family’s trip down health insurance ‘rabbit hole’ puts human face on desperately needed reform provisions
Two years from now, when the main pillars of health reform become operative, young families will be able to buy decent coverage through an insurance exchange. Families will receive financial help if they can’t afford to buy such coverage.
Supreme Court has the power, but not
the social authority, to kill health reform
The Court might damage or destroy the centerpiece of the Obama presidency. This would be an abuse of judicial power. It would also hurt millions of people whose pleas for help seem quite abstract to men in robes who might snatch that help away.
When an elephant forgets: the individual mandate
For nearly 20 years the GOP trumpeted the virtues of the individual mandate … until it was enacted by a Democratic president.
How did the challenge to the Affordable Care Act ever make it to the U.S. Supreme Court?
As Rachel Maddow observed last night: this case was “built up as the Super Bowl of American partisan politics.” Thus, the Supreme Court was left with little choice: it had to hear “The Case of the Century.”
Will the Supreme Court strike down health reform?
I cannot believe for a minute that this Court wants to go down in history as the Gang of Nine that quashed the most important piece of legislation that Congress has passed in 37 years. If it did, we could find ourselves on the brink of a constitutional crisis.
Happy birthday, health reform
I was only a bit player in health reform, way in the back of the room when the real work was done. I still consider that work the most significant I have ever done.
Give your member of Congress a health care checkup
Give your member of Congress a ‘health reform checkup’ at HealthReformVotes.org before the November elections.
50 billion reasons for Obama supporters to smile
More good news for health care reform. The Congressional Budget Office – that nonpartisan referee that scores the financial impact of legislation – now says its revised figures show the 10-year cost of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be $50 billion less than it estimated just a year ago. Considering that health reform was [...]
Lifetime limits on your health insurance coverage are a big (million-dollar) deal
The costs of removing lifetime caps on health insurance coverage are expected to be modest for insurance carriers. The impact for insured American families with catastrophic health conditions? Monumental.
Health care cost increase lowest in 50 years
While critics have been wailing about the impact of reform on health care costs, health care costs have been moderating and in some cases even going down.
HHS web site update makes it easier for same-sex couples to find health coverage
A HealthCare.gov update makes it easier to find health plans on the non-group market that offer coverage for domestic partners. It’s a great step forward, but there’s still much more the site can do.
Helping health insurance buyers beware
The new summary of benefits was mandated in the federal health reform law to help consumers make sense of complicated insurance plans and compare them with one another when shopping for coverage.
’44′ gives 44 words to health reform
Some will be disappointed that President Obama barely mentioned health care reform in his State of the Union address last night. In a speech that focused on the military, manufacturing, education, and energy, health care received very few mentions.
What we can learn from The Biggest Loser
Dr. “H” Rob Huizenga of “The Biggest Loser” knows that education equals motivation for folks who need to change unhealthy behavior. The individual mandate could do the same: getting more folks back to doctors for the treatment – and education – that they need. (Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal)
Congress ‘hangs up’ on program created to help those frustrated with health insurance
These are telephone hotlines providing callers with knowledgeable human beings to help with health insurance problems. Now, sadly, Congress seems to be allowing the program to die an early death, declining to fund it beyond the initial $30 million, which was distributed to 35 states.
Book examines battles over health reform
For anyone who wonders how the battle over health reform came to dominate so much of the nation’s attention over the past few years – and whether the battle will ever end – Paul Starr provides answers in Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Reform.
2011: a very good year for health reform
You will hear a lot of bashing of “Obamacare” during the current political season. But while we wait for full implementation of health reform in 2014, there have been meaningful changes that are helping American families every day.
How health reform’s 10 essential benefits could improve your insurance coverage …
The fact that the Affordable Care Act defines ten mandatory categories of “essential benefits” provides a “floor” of coverage that can not be taken away. After 2014, no plan offered to individuals or small groups can exclude maternity care, prescription drugs, rehabilitation or habilitation services, or mental health services, to mention a few.
Pollack: ensuring young adults’ coverage now saves us all money down the line
Ensuring young adults are covered now saves us all money down the line and gives parents and their kids the peace of mind that they’ll have coverage they can count on when they need it the most.
Health reform has eyes of Newt
It’s been widely accepted that Mitt Romney is the father of what Republicans have tagged “Obamacare.” The legislation he signed into law in Massachusetts became the blueprint for national health care reform. But there is plenty of paternity credit to go around: the individual mandate – the requirement that all Americans must purchase health insurance [...]
For health insurance consumers, medical loss ratio is gift that will keep on giving
It is heartening to know that the medical loss ratio rule will keep a lid on the amount of our premiums that can be spent on marketing, salaries, and other non-medical activities going forward. For the 99 percent of us, this 80 percent gift is a gift that will keep on giving.
What has the health reform law done for you, lately? Probably more than you think.
Most of the health reform act pertaining to the uninsured and restraining health care costs will not be implemented until 2014. But in the last year and a half, there have been some substantial changes in health care that you may not have noticed.
The red herring called HR 3000
The Conservative Action Alert Web site starts its article with the observation “There’s an old saying: ‘You can’t fight something with nothing.’” It was gleefully touting a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), but they could as easily been providing post-debate analysis from last night’s Republican slugfest in Michigan. The strains of “repeal Obamacare” from [...]
Obama shoots, he scores!
A three-justice panel for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has handed President Obama and his health care reforms an unexpected and welcome victory. Conservatives thought this would be a slam-dunk for “their team.” They thought, mistakenly, that this conservative-dominated panel would deliver yet another pounding blow to the individual mandate – that provision [...]
Know your state health insurance exchange
Whether you’re happy about it or not, your state is, at this very moment, very likely moving to set up a state health insurance exchange. In fact, it’s entirely possible that you have some form of health insurance exchange already in operation.
Mitt Romney: father of health reform?
We always love when politicians make witty jabs and then later get jabbed back. We love it, especially, when they’re jabbing health reform. Mitt Romney’s feeling a return jab right now. The GOP Presidential contender wisecracked in the spring that President Obama was giving Romney way too much credit for helping set the stage for national health [...]
What would Jesus do … for the uninsured?
How did we get to this point … where an audience at a Presidential debate feels comfortable laughing about the fate of a man who represents the millions of uninsured?
Questions about the Affordable Care Act?
Not entirely sure when state health insurance exchanges will take effect? Curious about Grandma’s new free preventive services? Call someone who cares.
Ruling against individual mandate could be start of citizens’ fight to keep reform gains
How ‘ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm (after they’ve seen Paree?) We love that old post-World War I tune, but we feel like it’s due for an update – and we think it could go something like this: How ‘ya gonna keep ‘em satisfied with the health insurance status quo after they’ve seen [...]
Mandated summary of health insurance plan benefits is long overdue
Premiums, copays and deductibles, oh my! I’ve been writing about health insurance for nearly 20 years and I still get confused trying to figure out the bottom line on my health coverage. In 2012, consumers are supposed to get some new, improved health plan descriptions from insurance companies, thanks to health reform. The proposed six-page [...]
Gains in preventive coverage for women should not be buried by controversy
It’s all about women. Monday’s announcement by the Obama Administration was a loud, clear, shout out to women across the country. The message: the government wants to do more for women’s health – a lot more. The focus of Monday’s announcement was clearly about prevention and a huge commitment to preventive services for women. Not [...]
Fed decision to cover contraceptives was economically sound, and right thing to do
On Monday, the federal government announced that, starting in 2012, insurers will be required to cover a broad range of preventive services – including contraception – at no cost to patients. It’s not every day that the feds tell insurers what to do, so this is kind of a big deal. Making it easier to [...]
The (tea) party’s over
America has always been defined by progress. Yet the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has elements in many states trying to turn back time. Louisiana, with it’s barrel-bottom ranking of the 49th healthiest state to live in, adds to a growing list of states bucking reform as its governor refuses to set up a federally-mandated health insurance exchange, those [...]
Should health reform be a carrot or a stick?
Instead of mandating coverage on the front end, the states favor penalizing the uninsured on the back end – punishing those who presumably would be taking a “free ride” on the system.
Vermont moves toward single-payer
Vermont is a signature away from adopting an ambitious plan that would put the state on a path toward a single-payer health care system and ultimately, universal health care for its residents. When State House Bill 202 is signed by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin on May 26th, it will be a big deal: a big [...]
Kill health reform? not on their lives. (pt. 3)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of a three-part series from health reporter Arlene Karidis. Karidis says the Affordable Care Act is already helping many of the people who need it most, but that for many more Americans the best of the reform legislation is yet to come. A central theme shouted by health reform [...]
State health insurance exchanges
Today, we received a reminder from our friends at Families USA that the road to health reform has plenty of potholes ahead. A statement from Families USA condemns House Republican plans to vote on a bill to block the delivery of ACA grants that are intended to help states establish health insurance exchanges – the [...]
Kill health reform? Not on their lives. (pt. 2)
Jennifer, a 33-year-old college student, struggles with mental illness. It’s been an ongoing battle for Jennifer, who’s founder of a nonprofit organization for cancer survivors. Fortunately, …
Kill health reform? Not on their lives. (pt. 1)
There’s been a lot of controversy over whether the health reform law was worth the struggle and whether it should ultimately be repealed, but it’s plainly evident from my personal …
Who’s afraid of the big, bad Obamacare?
So it puts Oklahoma in the ridiculous position of refusing the federal help that would provide the state with – wait for it – greater autonomy. I can’t see the logic in refusing the grant. Maybe it was …
Mitt Romney’s rotten Easter
If he wants to pass his party’s latest litmus test for Presidential candidates, he has to deny his greatest accomplishment three times. According to current governor, Deval Patrick, “Romneycare” is working “brilliantly” …
Happy birthday ‘Obamacare’
If you are on this site, you likely do not have employer-provided health insurance and if so, today is a big day for you: today is the one year anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, often referred to derisively as “Obamacare.” As Forbes columnist Rich Unger recently pointed out, those foes of [...]
When more is simply more
We Americans pay more dollars, and live shorter lives, than our counterparts in most other modern countries. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2008 America spent $7,538 per capita on health care, while the other 33 nations surveyed spent an average of $3,000. The reason is clear: it’s how we pay [...]
GOP memo: don’t improve aca too much
After months of assuring Americans that they don’t hate everything about the recently passed Affordable Care Act – and that there’s room to improve the law – Republican legislators are now being cautioned to change their tune and their strategy. By improving the law too much, the memo says, legislators could make the law more popular.
North Carolina seeks to secede from Union?
One hundred and fifty years ago, North Carolina defied a U.S. President from Illinois when it became the final state to secede from the Union, resulting in more deaths for its citizens than any other Confederate state. Fast forward to today. The Tarheel State is defying another inspirational President from Illinois who is striving to [...]
Health reform isn’t down for the count
Kay, over at Balloon Juice, brings up an excellent point today about coverage of yesterday’s ruling by a federal judge that the health reform law is unconstitutional. Her point, simply, is that the ruling from this particular federal judge – Roger Vinson – isn’t the nail in the casket for the health reform law. The [...]
Repeal effort flies in the face of evidence
There’s no question in our minds that House Republicans will be successful today in voting to repeal health reform legislation. So what happens after the inevitable yelling and the inevitable House vote for repeal? Nothing. The Senate will not vote for repeal and President Obama will certainly veto anything that even smells like repeal. That, [...]
Reform repeal would balloon deficit
House Republicans took one more step today toward repealing last year’s sweeping health care overhaul, as it approved a rule allowing a repeal bill to proceed to a vote. The vote is purely symbolic because it will never pass the Senate and will never be signed by the President. But since the nonpartisan Congressional Budget [...]
What repeal of health reform means to you
As the old saying – and the song by Cinderella – goes, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. We think health reform is like that, and – while we’re not at all certain that the upcoming House Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act will be anything more than political theatre – we [...]
Are high-risk insurance pools the answer?
We definitely appreciate the idea of high-risk insurance pools. We’ve been promoting the state pools for years, in fact, as a last resort for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions who can’t get health insurance coverage anywhere else. But while we appreciate the idea of high-risk insurance pools, we know there are problems with implementation [...]
2011 and the future of health reform
It’s hard to feel good about the way Congress finally passed those provisions into law. We’re as disheartened about the way Congress functions as we are about the nation’s health care system, and we feel that it’s definitely due for major reform. But the fact is that the nation has waited far too long for the free market to solve the system’s ills – and regardless of the process, the resulting legislation at least moved us forward.
Health reform’s individual mandate
We appreciated this assessment of health reform’s controversial individual mandate provision by William Pewen over at the Health Affairs Blog. He makes some predictions about the future of health reform if the mandate is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but we’re more interested in his take on the problem with Americans and their health insurance. [...]
Bush: the gift that keeps on giving
Health reform’s individual mandate provision – the requirement that all taxpayers purchase health insurance beginning in 2014 – has been struck down by a federal judge appointed by none other than President George W. Bush. What is it with America’s continuing suffering inflicted by the former President? The deficit is about to go into hyperdrive [...]
Health repealers urged to walk their talk
Here’s an original thought from a quartet of House Democrats: Those conservatives who are pledging to repeal health care reform should first reject their own taxpayer-subsidized health insurance on principle. Rep. Joe Crowley and three others are lining up like-minded co-signers for a letter asking their counterparts across the aisle to do just that. They [...]
Health insurers pay big to defeat public option but pushed mandate to require all to buy their products
A story on Bloomberg reveals that the leading health insurance industry group – America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) –funneled $86.2 million to an effort by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the recent health care overhaul and the public option. That single contribution amounts to 40 percent of the Chamber’s entire advertising budget for last [...]
Are you really ready to enroll in Medicare?
Most folks are confused by all of the health insurance options. But as confusing as that is it doesn’t – in our opinion – hold a candle to the dizzying, mind-boggling maze that is the Medicare system.
Doctor-lawmaker takes ‘hippocritical’ oath
For 28 days, newly elected Rep. Andy Harris will be able to honestly tell the 761,000 people in his state who have no health coverage that he truly can identify with their plight.
Insurance company profits up 41 percent
Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has sent a letter to the top ten for-profit health insurance companies demanding they pass their excessive profits on to their customers by lowering premiums.
Medicare open enrollment season starts
During the annual Medicare open enrollment period, it’s always prudent of seniors to take a look at their existing Medicare coverage and make sure they’re getting exactly the coverage they need.
Health reform squeezes donut hole
Many seniors will get a nice surprise in 2011 – the donut hole in prescription drug coverage left in place during a previous round of Medicare tinkering is starting to be filled in by this year’s historic health care reform.
Election results should not negate fundamental health reform gains
It doesn’t take a political wizard to understand that health reform will hit a brick wall as a result of the election results. The brick wall is, of course, …
Data shows some physicians implementing their own Medicare reimbursement ‘fix’
When it comes to physicians and the way they’re reimbursed by Medicare, there’s plenty to debate – even among physicians.
GOP pollster to party: zip it
Republicans are dreaming if they think voters will uniformly reject each and every one of the provisions of health reform that have already begun to roll out. A lot of voters, for instance, are going to really like …
New $2,000 medicare deductible?
Republican senate hopeful Rand Paul, speaking on FOX News Sunday, suggested that in the near future, seniors should pick up of the first $2,000 of medical expenses that are currently paid for by Medicare. It was no off-the-cuff remark – Paul’s opponent has released a video showing him advancing this idea before a number of [...]
Voters waking up
It’s about time. The sad saw that voters have rejected health care reform has worn out its welcome. A new survey shows that a clear majority of voters is more likely to cast its ballots for the brave souls who helped pass this landmark legislation which protects the self-employed, sick kids and the needs of [...]
Keep … uh … MY hands off my health benefits
It’s just one more interesting twist in the never-ending health reform saga. On the one hand, a recent poll shows that public support for health reform is sagging – down from 50 percent to 43 percent – as the mid-term elections approach. On the other hand, folks – and by “folks” we also mean state [...]
Meet my mother, the death panel
Back in the spring and summer of last year, the debate about health reform exploded over an issue that was not, in my estimation, worthy of a firecracker-sized pop. The issue was advanced care planning consultations, and looking back now, it seems to me the most odd point of contention that could have been raised [...]
CEO gives health insurance industry’s fight
in recent health reform battle a big, fat F
We know it’s stating the obvious to say that the health insurance industry was not pleased by the outcome of the battle over health reform that concluded in March. But this article on Bloomberg shows just how bad the battle went, according to industry execs, whose ideas now include jettisoning Karen Ignani from her position as [...]
‘No’ may not mean ‘no’ for health insurers
under new health reform provisions
When you start talking about the recently passed health reform legislation, there’s a good chance you’re headed for an argument. But it’s hard to see how anyone – other than health insurance companies – could argue against the consumer protection provisions announced by the Obama Administration yesterday. Anyone who’s fought it out with an insurance [...]
A country with real death panels
This story in The New York Times reminded us of the old saw about the guy who felt bad about not having shoes until he met a man with no feet. I’d say that in this story, the United States would be the guy with no shoes – millions of uninsured and skyrocketing health care [...]
Everything you always wanted to know about health reform … but didn’t know you could ask
Say what you will about the recently passed health reform legislation – good or bad – but you can’t say that its supporters are withholding information about what’s ahead. With mid-term elections around the corner, the Obama Administration is readying a Lollapalooza of a dog-and-pony show to highlight its accomplishments to date – and the [...]
New high-risk insurance pool program
for states isn’t “risky business”
Tomorrow, many states will start taking applications for insurance coverage through the temporary high-risk insurance pools established through this year’s historic health reform legislation. As the Associated Press points out, it’s a “huge investment” by the federal government. It’s no secret that many critics believe the pools are a huge mistake. Though the funding for [...]
Health reform is being hated less.
If you listen to John Boehner, health reform is not only completely abhorrent to the critics who pummeled it for months on end, but it’s now also uniformly despised by everyone, everywhere. In reality, health reform is probably viewed negatively (ranging from “completely loathed” to “not really certain what it will do”) by about half [...]
The U.S. is number seven,
but it appears we’re trying harder
Like Avis, the United States is apparently not Number One – not in health care performance at least – when compared against a bunch of other countries. And they’re countries that repeatedly got a really bad rap during the health care debate as being examples of poor quality, inefficiency, and – worst of all – [...]
Obama: go back on health reform?
let’s not and say we didn’t.
President Obama likes his health reform legislation. Go figure. And today, he also gave consumers more reasons to like the legislation – namely a bunch of consumer protections the administration is calling the “patient bill of rights.” How about reversing course? The POTUS said – in a nutshell – “Let’s not and say we didn’t.” [...]
Find out what health reform has done for you lately.
Seriously. Ask, “What have you done for me lately?” Do it today – submit your questions about health reform progress to About.com. Maybe if you ask nicely, Katherine Sebelius will actually answer your question during a live event streamed tomorrow at 3 p.m. (Eastern) at Whitehouse.gov/live. Questions that probably WON’T get answers: “Why are you [...]
Health insurers really, really like you.
This headline from The Los Angeles Times had to be a day brightener for President Obama yesterday. The POTUS spent an awful lot of time predicting that health insurance carriers would be falling all over themselves to compete for new customers after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And according to Kristen [...]
Republicans prepare to raise their voice against health reform this fall; Democrats ready to lend them a bullhorn
You know that old saying about how even bad PR is good PR? Well, The Nation has a pretty decent argument for its validity. Seems like the more Republicans turn up their messages about the recently passed legislation, the more they’re turning off listeners to their arguments. November will be interesting. That’s for sure.
Out of the mouth of George W.’s babe, Barbara
We don’t read Personal Liberty Digest every day. OK. We don’t read it ever. But thanks to Digg, we found this interesting story noting a Bush Family opinion about recently passed health reform legislation. It’s interesting to us because George W.’s daughter, Barbara Bush, went on record saying she’s pleased the Democrat-backed legislation passed this [...]
Another day. another study
on … uh … soda taxes?
Remember back during the health reform debate when politicians were throwing around ideas for funding health reform and the ideas included taxes on soft drinks and other yummy – I mean – unhealthy food and drink? Well, researchers at Harvard – home of hasty pudding (which I imagine is yummy and unhealthy) – decided to [...]
Insurance exchanges take a page
from the used-car “superstores”
The thing I always hated about buying a car was the grueling trek from dealership to dealership to dealership, hoping to find the right make and model with the right features. Mostly, I detested the inevitable struggle to get the car salesman to reveal the real bottom-line price of the car I wanted. Yuck. Buying [...]
Knowledge is not only power, but protection against health insurance schemes and scams
The health reform legislation passed in March by Congress is giving Americans plenty to look forward to over the next decade, but according to recent reports from law enforcement and anti-fraud groups, the legislation will also give Americans plenty to look out for. Within weeks of the legislation’s passage, consumers began reporting a wave of [...]
Rep. Eric Cantor: “blame the victim”
In the circus surrounding the Tea Party reaction to the health insurance reform bill, Republican Congressman Eric Cantor is stepping in as a ringmaster. In the midst of death threats against nearly a dozen Democrats who voted for the bill, Cantor is blaming the victims, saying they are using these threats as political fodder. Cantor, [...]
Why health reform supporters’
mood rings are turning blue
An interesting poll surfaced yesterday, revealing that – in the days since health reform legislation was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law by President Obama – more Americans have taken a favorable view of the legislation than they did before the vote. Nearly 50 percent of those polled now say [...]
Biggest pro-life vote in history
Our statement has nothing to do with the last-minute deal cut between the White House and Rep. Bart Stupak (D- Mich.). Here’s why the historic vote authorizing health insurance reform is the biggest pro-life vote in history: Fifty-five thousand Americans die every year because of lack of health insurance coverage. Those are deaths that no [...]
The right side of history
The Democratic party is closing in on being on the right side of history with its upcoming vote on health care reform. It would be better if we could say Congress will be on the right side of history, but the way things have played out, the Republicans in the House and Senate have sat [...]
Toe-may-toe … toe-mah-toe …
Throughout the health care debate, it’s been fascinating to watch opposition responses to each bit of reform-related news. The complete inability of opponents of Democratic reform proposals to see anything positive in the legislation has been simply stunning. How determined were opponents of reform? Determined enough to threaten that legislation promising free assistance to those [...]
Will you be one of 2.4 million Americans
bankrupted each year by medical bills?
As politicians go round and round talking about how health reform legislation will increase or decrease the deficit, or how a win on this bill will help or hurt Democrats, I think it’s worth mentioning again that there’s one really huge number that matters: 62. Sixty-two is the the percentage of U.S. personal bankruptcies in [...]
Health insurance crises prove the sky IS falling
We thought this editorial cartoon in the Kansas City Star was pretty good – and not just because we agree with them on that whole Global Warming thing. We also got a chuckle because it hit so close to home in terms of the ongoing health reform debate. We’d rewrite the caption to read, “If [...]
Who would Jesus insure?
The headline in the StarTribune says “Health care for poor may get axe.” Minnesota’s Governor Tim Pawlenty, a 2012 Presidential hopeful, is set to veto a bill that would pay health care costs for 85,000 of the state’s poorest and sickest residents. The bill he is threatening to kill is a stripped-down version of a [...]
Allow me to translate
There’s a lot of debate today over what President Obama was saying to his supporters last night when he described what he thinks needs to happen with the health reform legislation from here on in. The point he made that seems to be drawing the most speculation is this passage: “That’s why I think it’s [...]
It’s now or never, democrats.
We don’t like the phrase, “It’s now or never,” especially when it comes to the health reform battle. If legislation doesn’t succeed now, it doesn’t mean the nation’s health care system can never be improved. Even with a complete failure by the Democrats, the system could conceivably gradually evolve into something better over time with [...]
Health reform: Dead? or not dead?
The current status of the health reform legislation in the nation’s capital reminds of us the popular quizzes that challenge players to speculate as to whether celebrities are dead yet. If you asked opponents of health reform, they’d surely tell you that – like the failed health reform efforts of 1994 – the current Democratic proposals [...]
Let’s NOT start over on health reform
In the days following last week’s special election in Massachusetts, it wasn’t surprising at all to hear opponents of health reform announcing that America had – loudly and clearly – told Congress to start over on health reform. But here’s the thing: If the Democrats had barely eked out a win, opponents would have said [...]
The ‘american dream’: coming soon to america?
“It’s all about the health benefits.” I personally have heard it dozens of times from friends and family, who make it painfully clear that they’re not banging on the door of Corporate America because they’re dying to work in a cubicle. They tell me they’re reluctantly looking for gigs in big business because that’s where [...]
Is the senate bill really unfit for consumption?
Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic said today what a lot of liberals have been saying about the Senate bill. Basically, it’s been stretched and pulled like a gob of saltwater taffy as it morphed into something barely acceptable to barely enough Democrats, but also largely disappointing to a large contingent of other liberals (and [...]
Joe Lieberman continues to play
Grinch Who Stole Health Reform
Anyone who thought passage of a health reform bill in 2009 would be easy, given the Democratic majority in Congress, was deluded. To think that all of Congressional Democrats – and the Independents they court – would vote in lock step was just plain fantasy. But even Democrats who knew reform legislation would be all [...]
Is public option about to be flushed?
Pundits, including the Wall Street Journal, are calling it the “Grand Compromise.” It’s an agreement Senate Democrats struck late yesterday on health reform legislation that will allow those who oppose the public option to say that it’s out, while proponents of the public option can claim that it’s still in the bill – sort of. [...]
When it comes to reform legislation,
size really does matter.
One of the things that has bugged us for months and months is health care opponents’ preoccupation with the number of pages in the health care bills that have been introduced in the House and Senate. The most recent bill to emerge is the Senate bill unveiled by Harry Reid yesterday and SURPRISE … it’s [...]
‘Being uninsured can kill you’:
no-brainer? or brainer?
We weren’t the tiniest bit surprised by a new study on emergency care that revealed that patients who lacked health insurance were almost two times more likely to die from car accidents and other traumatic injuries than patients who had health plans. Our response: Duh. And, apparently, Kevin Drum, who blogs over at Mother Jones, [...]
How would health reform help or hurt?
There are plenty of stories out there about the nightmares already faced in the nation’s existing health care system. But folks really want to know how coverage will look after health reform legislation is passed. (We’re assuming it will be.) That why we liked this story, which examines what the current legislative proposals would mean [...]
So we’re back to the dreaded filibuster thing?
As we pointed out the other day, there’s a lot of heavy lifting ahead for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the brave folks who are committed to enduring the process of getting health reform legislation through the Senate and beyond. Opponents have promised to filibuster the bill if it includes a public option. Some [...]
Somebody get harry reid some steroids. stat.
When the House passed its version of health reform legislation last week, the development may have sent chills down the spines of those who oppose the Democrats’ proposed solutions. But a quick read-through of Suzy Khimm’s piece in The Treatment yesterday should be equally chilling to folks who think the battle over health reform is [...]
Do not pass go. do not collect $200.
(or just get health insurance like everyone else.)
You’d think opponents of health care would be content with getting Americans worked up about issues like abortion and immigration in order to bog down passage of a health reform bill, but today, bloggers and Tweeters are whispering in a really loud, gasping voice, “Jail time for folks who don’t buy health insurance?” We’re not [...]
Halloween scare comes early for
Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln
Arkansas voters to Sen. Blanche Lincoln: “BOO!” It’s a day before Halloween, but a new poll back home should already be running a chill down Lincoln’s spine. As a so-called centrist Democrat she opposes a public option, but that puts her out of step with the 56 percent of Arkansans which support it. That number [...]
Know your public options.
If you want to get up to speed on the House and Senate approaches to the public option, it shouldn’t take you long to dig up the info online. We’re not taking any chances, though, so the info’s right here: Reuters had an excellent summary of the House bill that was announced on Thursday. Politico [...]
Progressives: “We’re just wild about Harry!”
Progressives are starting an unlikely love affair with the normally conservative Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In this video, Reid asks Americans to contact their elected officials to nudge the public option over the finish line.
Even if states can opt out, will they?
We’re happy to hear folks asking this question: If Democrats succeed in passing health reform legislation with an opt-out public option as included in Harry Reid’s Senate bill, would any states actually opt out? Conservatives seem to like the idea that states could take a pass on a public option provision they dread. But really, [...]
If Dems haven’t led or followed, it’s time
to get out of the way, columnist says
Will Democrats unite to allow an up-or-down vote on health reform legislation? Robert Creamer explained on the Huffington Post this morning why he thinks it’s in Democratic legislators’ best interests to pull together. Creamer’s reasons include, briefly: That Americans have already swung overwhelmingly in support of the public option. A vote to defeat the filibuster [...]
‘Option’ is not a failure – not yet, anyway.
For a political proposal that appeared ready to be staked in the heart by its opponents just weeks ago, the public option looked surprisingly perky this week. In fact, the only thing that now sounds optional about the proposed reform initiative is the abundance of public option options being floated. The perkiness is due, of [...]
Are we THERE yet?
Smoke-filled rooms and other stops
on the road to health reform
A quick look at the health reform debate this week: How’s the Senate legislation coming along? As of yesterday (Tuesday), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) was working behind closed doors with Senate Democrats and White House advisors as they attempt to marry two Senate versions of health reform legislation: a more conservative Senate Finance Committee bill [...]
When reverend reid marries HELP and Finance, will olympia snowe get to give away the ‘bride?’
There were squeals of joy and howls of rage when Olympia Snowe crossed the aisle (or as Republicans would say “went over to the Dark Side”) yesterday to vote for the Senate Finance Committee’s version of a health reform bill. But now that it’s done, both sides might be rethinking their outbursts. The Right could [...]
All americans have reason to be proud:
president obama wins nobel peace prize
This morning, United States President Barack Obama became the fourth president to win the Nobel Peace Prize, joining Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Jimmy Carter (2002). The Prize will be awarded in Oslo, Norway on December 10. Unlike the other four Nobel Prizes awarded annually – which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment [...]
Will the real predator please stand up?
A column by Thomas Frank in the Wall Street Journal made us pause and scratch our heads this week because it prompted one of those questions that we think lots of Americans must be asking themselves. The question is simply this: Are President Obama and his Democratic Party up to no good in this health [...]
North dakota dems cry “bad (blue) dog!” –
hit senator on nose with newspaper
Okay, we know that it’s the conservative members of the House that are called “Blue Dogs” (not members of the Senate), but what a perfect visual for the actions of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL party’s put-down of its own senator, Kent Conrad (D-ND). The party’s members recently reaffirmed a commitment to an even much more progressive [...]
Finally, some republican muscle
supporting obama’s health care reform
Governor Arnold Schwarznegger (R-CA) has made a formal statement supporting health care reform, urging congressional Republicans to cooperate with the Democrats in forming and passing significant legislation this year. His pleas to his party-mates may stir reminders of his role as a Kindergarten Cop as many in both parties are entranced by the siren call [...]
A debate that really is a life-and-death battle
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson hit the hornets’s nest squarely this week and then hit it again for good measure. We have a hunch he’s not about to put down his stick. Now, Rep. Grayson faces the prospect of a bunch of ticked-off Republicans who suddenly are OK with the idea of a huge debate in [...]
Without health reform, American dream will continue to be nightmare for entrepreneurs
There’s something about this huge debate on health care that’s been sorely lacking and … and that something is a discussion of what health reform could mean to entrepreneurs. Remember the American Dream? Where you come up with a great product or service and then open your own business? You work harder, not smarter? The [...]
Blue dogs bark, bite not so bad on public option
This week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus did a head count of its members to see whether House liberals still strongly opposed any health reform bill that would not include a public option. Word from the Hill Thursday indicated that opposition is still plenty strong. Not so strong? Blue Dog opposition to a public option, apparently. [...]
On health reform, obama is
more ‘nixon’ than ‘kennedy’
Students of history may get a chuckle when they hear Republicans define Obama’s health care plan as “socialism.” If we look to the past, we see Obama’s plan is pretty much in line with Republican President Richard M. Nixon’s failed efforts in 1974. Like Nixon, Obama seeks to tweak America’s existing private health care system, [...]
Poll: three out of four doctors
want a public option in any health care reform
According to a new poll published in yesterday’s New England Journal of Medicine and reported on National Public Radio, 63 percent of the nation’s doctors want health care reform to include a public option, while another 10 percent would go even further, endorsing a single-payer plan. Dropping Medicare age requirements Furthermore, nearly 60 percent of [...]
Centrist President hits it right down the middle
When we went to the polls last fall, middle America voted for an end to partisan bickering and for our elected representatives to confront issues together in a practical, common sense way. For better or worse, that’s what we got at the Oval Office: “no drama Obama”. In his address to Congress last week on [...]
Our brain hurts.
The American public seems to be getting more and more anxious as proponents and opponents of proposed health reform engage in a seemingly unending mud fight. Is it because – as critics charge – the public option puts America on a slippery slope toward socialism? Is it because – as Democrats fear – the outcome [...]
The public goes public on the public (option)
Where do you stand on the public option? It depends on how you’re asked the question, apparently. Gary Langer, director of polling at ABC News had a really great article today that pointed out that the public’s view on the proposed public option is flapping back in forth in the wind (the wind being the [...]
Public option: everything the same except cost
Foes of health reform have turned the public option into a bogeyman. Their tactics are to stall legislation long enough for the health care industry’s misinformation campaign to erode public support for the centerpiece of health care reform. As envisioned, a public option would compete alongside private health insurance plans. It would be funded with [...]
Let’s settle the U.S.-Canadian health care debate once and for all: we propose a smackdown
Sometimes, I drink a little too much Red Bull in the morning and my brain goes in directions that startle even me. This morning, on my second can of Red Bull, I came up with the particularly inspired idea of a North-South Health Care Smackdown. In a nutshell, I’m convinced it’s time for a grudge [...]
Before you oppose a ‘government plan,’
make sure you don’t already have one.
One of the most interesting reactions to the ongoing health reform debate has to be the public’s revulsion at the prospect of increased government control of the health care system. I understand concerns about additional financial burdens that come with new government programs … and concerns about adding to the nation’s deficit. I get that. [...]
Bad medicine: phony seniors group
launders drug money in mediScare campaign
Our headline is sensational – just like the television ad which inspires this post. But while the commercial is full of distortions and outright lies, our headline is merely pithy. The sponsor of the ad is a group called The 60 Plus Association, which describes itself as a “non-partisan seniors advocacy group” but which a [...]
The public option: a middle-of-the-road approach
In a response to our last post, a reader makes the leap that the government would offer its public plan at “zero cost” putting a cataclysmic series of events into play that would destroy the private health insurance system and plunge the country into bankruptcy. This is the kind of FUD – fear, uncertainty and doubt [...]
The public option, simplified
Cartoonist Mike Stanfill cuts to the chase with this cartoon illustrating the public option. Conservatives fear the public option because it might be “too good” at delivering vital services at reduced prices, putting private health insurance companies out-of-business. Another web posting that cuts through the bull is a column in today’s Washington Post by Steven [...]
The congressional recess starts august 7: unplug your TV now.
Yesterday, our blog focused on a New York Times/CBS News poll in which 69% of respondents said they “were concerned that the quality of their health care would decline if the government put universal health insurance in place.” In our blog, we also noted that while Americans may be saying (at the moment) that they [...]
We have nothing to fear from health reform – except fear of change itself
This morning, I opened my email to find a news item that read “Polls show support slips for Obama’s health plan” – citing a New York Time/CBS News poll in which 69% of respondents said they “were concerned that the quality of their health care would decline if the government put universal health insurance in [...]
President’s patience is a virtue – not a ‘Waterloo’
We’re tempted to say that President Obama got Punk’d yesterday by the Senate, as Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate will not be able to get a health reform bill wrapped up before a month-long Congressional recess that starts in August. We would love to have had Congress hammer out the bill. We [...]
Record profits, erectile dysfunction and lobbying.
Check your wallet … you’re paying for this.
Some numbers to ponder, because you are paying for them: A headline in today’s StarTribune: “UnitedHealth profit soars 155%.” Advertising Age reports that 2009 spending by big pharma is $12.7 billion. Industry spending to blunt health care reform is $1.4 million a day. If you look at that empty spot in your wallet, you’ll see [...]
Media plays chicken little as health reform legislation steadily advances
It’s hard enough trying to convince Americans that it’s time for drastic health reform measures when that reform is being fought tooth and nail by the health insurance industry, which today launched a seven-figure advertising campaign to put pressure on moderate Congressional Democrats. The pressure, of course, is to urge them to help kill momentum [...]
Obama ad buy troubling but necessary
in time of corporate dominance
Organizing for America, the campaign arm of the Obama machine, is targeting constituents of moderate Senators in both parties with a cable TV ad buy. We have no quarrel with the content of the ad, shown below. The stories of the people featured ring true, and this campaign serves a noble purpose in letting their [...]
Former CIGNA exec’s interview reveals frightening influence of insurance industry money
If you Twitter … and if you do regular searches on the phrase “health reform” … you’ll note an awful lot of posts in the past week about how Wendell Potter, the former head of PR for CIGNA, totally validated Michael Moore’s “Sicko” during testimony before Congress and an interview with Bill Moyers. Unfortunately, those [...]
Obama support of public option wavering?
Today, a new poll in Ohio shows President Obama’s approval rate below 50 percent for the first time. Can it be due to the ambiguity surrounding his continued support of a public option for health insurance? His chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, made statements earlier this week which seemed to signal a willingness of the [...]
Bought and paid for.
MSNBC’s David Shuster calls out Sen. Carper
Kudos to MSNBC’s David Shuster for calling out Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) on-air. Shuster, leading into an interview with Carper, pointed out that health industry lobbyists are spending $1.4 million a day trying to block a public option for health insurance. During the interview, he pointed out the $223,000 the insurance industry and the additional [...]
A tale of two chucks
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is claiming a public option in upcoming health care legislation is now a slam-dunk with the long-awaited seating of Al Franken of Minnesota. Across the aisle, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is saying a public option will succeed only with bipartisan support. While we like bipartisan support as much as the next [...]
And franken makes 60 …
Democrats, time to put up or shut up. We don’t expect you to pull all 60 members of your caucus into voting for a public option, but we DO EXPECT you to be able to brush aside any filibuster designed to keep it from a vote. Congratulation Senator Al Franken of Minnesota. Our country needs your strong [...]
Congressman declares
public option “too good”
Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), newly appointed as ranking minority member of the House Education and Labor Committee, is giving Rep. Michelle Bachmann a run-for-her-money as the looniest representative from the land of 10,000 lakes. Interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio, Kline says as far as he’s concerned, a health reform bill with a public option is [...]
Will the Democrats tear
up their golden ticket?
Since the health insurance industry stonewalled the Clinton Administration’s attempts to drastically overhaul our trainwreck of a health care system, Americans have been waiting. We’ve been waiting for something nearly miraculous: a convergence of conditions that would include a frightening global economic climate; a national realization that our system is an ineffective, unfair mess; and [...]
Sen. Ben Nelson’s conversion skin-deep; nebraskans need to ask him whom he represents
Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a former CEO of an insurance company, has been parroting the talking points of the health insurance industry line in opposing a public health insurance option in any health reform legislation. In an interview in early May he called it a “deal-breaker.” He’s the only Democrat to publicly oppose a public [...]
Too little, too late from four Republican “leaders.” help or get out of the way.
Open letter to Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC), Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA): Last week you unveiled a proposal called “The Patient’s Choice Act of 2009,” a 14-page outline of which can be found here. After controlling Congress for 12 of the last 14 years, you have finally [...]
Maybe we should call it ‘freedom’ health care
When France opposed our proposed invasion of Iraq, some flag-wavers in Congress renamed french fries to “freedom fries.” Perhaps the same linguistic acrobatics needs to be applied to the French health care system to make it more palatable.
“The needs of the many…”
It is perhaps appropriate, following the triumphant relaunch of the Star Trek franchise by director J.J. Abrams, to recall one of the most famous lines from the early movies. Spock was lying, dying, in some sort of glass tube, having exposed himself to a massive dose of radiation in order to save the ship. He [...]
Is meaningful health reform written in the stars?
President Obama has a lot on his plate. If you hadn’t already sensed the magnitude of the challenges he’s facing, the POTUS (President of the United States) spelled them out last night in his 100th-day press conference. Between bailing out the auto industry, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, keeping an eye on North Korea [...]
… and into the fire …
Kansas Gov. Katherine Sebelius has already been tempered by the heat of battle over health reform at the state level. And that’s a good thing, considering that she’s about to jump out of the pan and into a national furnace that has charred many a would-be reformer over the years. The governor’s experience as an insurance [...]
When COBRA is de-fanged
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and sadly, they’re dead-on when it comes to this depressing statistic: that no other state in the nation has a larger percentage of residents who don’t have health insurance.
District of Columbia deserves real vote in Congress
Yesterday (February 26) the U.S. Senate voted to give the District of Columbia full membership in the House of Representatives. Next week, the House votes and the legislation is expected to pass easily. We applaud this long overdue move. Due to the District’s unique position as the seat of the federal government, voters in the [...]
No time to wait: another 4 million lose coverage
The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, has reported that an estimated 4 million Americans have lost their health insurance since the recession began – and half of those remain uninsured. Furthermore, according to the report, another 14,000 more people lose their coverage with each passing day as Americans continue to lose their [...]
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius an exceptional choice for health and human services role
The New York Times is reporting that President Obama intends to choose Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of Health and Human Services. Some reports suggest she is mulling a run for the Senate in 2010 and may turn the position down. We hope she takes it . We were fans of Tom Daschle, the [...]
Medicare blog
10 Medicare bills you can expect to pay
Medicare enrollees often don't realize that while Medicare provides coverage, there are many out-of-pocket expenses they'll still need to pay.
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