Howard Dean on Health-Care Bill: 'This Is Real Reform'
By Susie Madrak Friday Oct 30, 2009 6:00am
Look, I want single-payer, too. But this bill has a lot of things in it that will quickly offer substantial relief, and I'm not joining the wholesale condemnation. Even Howard Dean called it "real reform" tonight and said he'd vote for it.
There's some good things and some bad things. Actually, a lot of good - and you won't have to wait more than a few months for relief.
The bill keeps kids on their parents' insurance until age 27, there's a temporary insurance pool until the public option is operable, extension of COBRA benefits (still looking for details), steps to close the Medicare doughnut hole, a ban on lifetime coverage limits, and the end of rescissions, except in case of fraud. It also expands Medicaid.
The bill also adds a voluntary long-term care program (and if your parents have seen their insurance carriers crash and burn this year, you know what a blessing this will be). It also funds a temporary reinsurance program that subsidizes employers offering health benefits for retirees aged 55-64.
As Jane pointed out this morning, there's no requirement for generic versions of high-priced breast cancer drugs. In fact, the bill sweetens the pot for Big Pharma by extending patents on those drugs every time they make a minor change. (Like making an extended release formula.) Essentially, it's a monopoly in perpetuity. (And guess which netroots favorite voted for it? Rep. Patrick Murphy. He's got Big Pharma employing many, many voters in his district.)
Breast cancer survivors, organize! No one likes to be perceived as beating up on cancer patients.
Potentially bad: No Medicare+5. At first look, this means fewer savings - and thus, higher premiums. However, these rates will still be negotiated at a national level, and it does not preclude Medicare +5.
In a bill this complex and controversial, there are, of course, things that will make us swallow hard. From what I'm hearing so far, the subsidies are inadequate. As soon as I have concrete numbers, I'll put them up.
I'd say the subsidies are the single most productive focus for the netroots. Call your congress critter, tell him or her (or it) that the subsidies must be adequate - or else.
And if they say they have to respect the ceiling President Obama asked for, ask them why it doesn't bother them when they have to pay for wars - only health care. Tell them you will not pay more money for less coverage, that this is a deal-breaker for Democratic voters.
Send them a strong message.
UPDATE: Jamie at Intoxination cites Politico:
The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word.
I pulled out the calculator. How does this sound - $425.9 million per word? That's how much each of the 2,174 words in the authorization for the Iraq war has cost so far and the price keeps going up.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxjb2UJZ-5I
My son's only been able to find part time work without bene's. I freaked that something may happen to him and I'll have to face the rethug choice of letting him suffer or losing the house. Although that probably wouldn't help given the repuke 'adjustments' in the housing market.
I agree with Susie.
It's not what we wanted, and far from perfect... but it will help some of us; and right now; that's a good start.
Besides, nothing says that we can't improve it later. After all, once you've kicked the door open it's much easier to get back into the room.
It sounds like this may not be as bad as I thought. Unfortunately I listened to a little Ed Schultz on the radio yesterday and had to turn it off because he was so very bummed about this. Then last night I saw Howard Dean on Countdown and he is for this thing. I'm not sure I understand. I'll have to do some more reading.
Howard Dean has been on the screen for months repeating the same mantra: "The final bill will have a robust public option." It does not. So, Dean joins many others white washing this epic Democratic failure. The private insurers are jumpimg up & down, high fiving each other. They will make additional fortunes on this newest corporate give-away. A Democratic President sits on his hands, the Democratic Congress gives us crumbs. We voted these people in to change Washington & provide Universal Health Care. If this is the best a Democratically controlled government can do, it's time for a Progressive Third Party that does not accept corporate owned politicians in to their tent. Let the other wing of the American Corporate Party(GOP)screw us next. At least they don't lie about their intentions.
Operation Iraqi Freedom ring a bell?
they can vote for HR 676.
Has HR 666 already been taken?
Here we are:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/i...
HR 666 - a great name/number for the Xtians to support!
Dick Cheney wrote it!
.
Medicare + 5% is grossly adequate for basic services anyway. Yes, Medicare overpays for Medicare Advantage and certain advanced services, but they underpay for primary care, particularly in the norther tier of states.
There needs to be limits on age adjusted premiums. Charging older people who are not yet Medicare age quintuple the rates (or quadruple or triple or whatever) charged for younger people is unaffordable for most.
It is still going to be big profits for the Health Insurance Mobsters.
The profit motive in the payment of health care is barbaric.
No other advanced country permits it, and I used the phrase 'advanced country' with extreme caution since we like to put ourselves at the head of the list.
But show me the proof of how advanced we are, because I don't see it.
HR 676, single payer, get the Wall Street Mafia out of health care.
HR 676 is twenty seven pages long, it covers everyone and saves hundreds of billions, let the Republicans complain about that.
If you look at the history of the Abolitionist movement and the Civil War, it was easier to end slavery than to get health care reform.
Real organized Abolitionist Movements started in 1785.
About 600,000 died in the Civil War.
Twenty years later before legislation then nearly a hundred years before real civil rights legislation was passed.
FWIW
Here. Let me pop that love bubble you got going.
Keeping your kids on your already overpriced insurance, YAAAAHHHHOOOOO!
That's gonna make it easier to pay for right?
Temp insurance pool eh? Not like that will actually make it cheaper since the insurance companies get to name the price on that thar pool dontcha know.
COBRA? Are you kidding me? Have you ever had to pay for COBRA?
I have. It's no wonderful deal. It bloody expensive!
Medicare hole closure, well, if they do it for real then that is the only bright spot. If they reduce it by 50% it's still a rip off and you know it.
No lifetime limits is a good one, but it's nothing to cheer about.
Maybe a little smile for a second or two, but celebrations? Nope.
End of rescission except for fraud? If you buy that I've got a bridge to sell you. Here let me give you an example of fraud:
You had acne when you were a teen, it was bad and required antibiotics. Pre existing condition. You didn't tell us about it. Your cut.
Extrapolate that to just about anything you can think of.
You can party if you want, I personally don't celebrate after getting raped.
Boy do I agree with you. We've been thrown a few crummy crumbs.
Thanks for saving me the trouble of making an extended comment, you nailed it. This bill, like it's "public option" which isn't, is a bad joke and needs to die.
For this country to not be able to produce sliding scale medical care for people of various income brackets is pretty pathetic.
A mixed story, that fellow Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield and Tory leader.
being 'critical' and being 'correct'--are somehow mutually exclusive.
I have been 'critical' of just about every official public policy since 1980, and if I have been 'incorrect' about any of my criticism, that failing has not yet been satisfactorily demonstrated...
Also the "fraud" in recission is defined as a seriously criminal act rather than the current you-forgot-to-tell-us-about-acne type of thing?
What about rates? If the insurance companies have to sell you coverage but are allowed to quote you astronomic rates then they really aren't being forced to offer coverage to all comers.
In this area, the devil really is in the details and will be going over it with a fine-toothed comb to find a way to squirm out of doing the right thing by the consumer.
This needs to be the bottom tier of the Dem's negotiating strategy, any modifications made go up into single payer land, not down into trigger land.
Just once I'd like the Dems to get something into legislation rather than keep taking it out.
Any meddling with COBRA should include the gubmint assuming the contribution of the former employer, whatever the displaced worker was paying while working is what they should pay after being layed off.
I s'pose there may be a few things to cheer about in this bill (if it passes), but Dr. Dean seems to think it's great because this is the ticket to keeping or improving the Dem majorities in Congress in 2010. It's all about who gets to keep their seat on the Gravy Train!
Still thinkin' HR676 would be a better bet - as we're still going to be at the mercy of insurance companies who take 20-30% out of the system for pushing papers and add absolutely nothing to actual health care for Americans.
I agree, Amitola. I listened to Dean last night & it was all about how great this is for the Democratic Party. Screw that party crap. Where is the Universal Health Care promised in the Democratic Platform? Both parties fight over the campaign funding from the owners of the American government(Corporations). The rare politicians who aren't political whores, such as Bernie Sanders & Dennis Kucinich, show us what a totally corrupted government we have. As long as Progressives are willing to call the urine hitting us rain, there is no hope to change Washington. Obama is a corporate owned Washington insider.
If the Democrats maintain control, they can make incremental changes to this bill that will bring us closer to a real universal system.
Whereas, if the Dems get kicked out because you think this isn't good enough, the Republicans will then repeal every single thing of value.
This is, after all, how politics works.
This is how politics works with the tyranny of the duopoly. Which is perpetuated by narrow thinking.
The time is long past to break this tyranny and start voting for a REAL opposition party to and not captured by the Corporate interests.
That is how politics should work.
that sounds like blackmail to me
that is how broken, corrupt, political system works.
and i don't see how any honest assessment of the bill would lead one to believe that "incremental changes to this bill" will bring us closer to "a real universal system."
control of the House, the Senate and the White House. We did not do that to get 'incremental' changes. What better time to get universal health care than now??
Where's the change you can believe in?? The economy is in the tank (not entirely Obama's or the Dems fault - but they were in the game), the so-called 'wars' are still in full swing, inflation will be coming soon, people are losing their jobs and houses every damn day, and we've got ourselves another little 'crisis' in health care with H1N1.
We thought that our 'leaders' would at least offer us the opportunity to be guaranteed some cost-efficient heath care.
What's a Majority for??
This is all about the Dems; Republicans are a noisy, but irrelevant, distraction.
Incremental change? When? The House Bill starts to kick in in 2013. And "incremental change" will begin when?
The Republican bogeyman is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that Dems are selling us out to the exact same interests that control Republican policy on this issue.
But if we complain and don't support the Dems, the big bad Republicans will come in and make it even worse? So, we have to "keep the faith" that some day down the road we might talk about how to get what we are already decades late in implementing?
No. We've been played as fools long enough.
... and sinker! yep, what did bush say again? "fool me once" or somethin'???
All these guys are shills for the status quo.
Here's the true facts:
To the extent that you DO NOT HEAR the health insurance parasites screaming in pain, anguish and outrage, THAT is the extent to which the proposed legislation will FUCK US!
Somehow that fact has slipped by the perception of the people involved.
So I'll repeat it: To the extent that the parasites are NOT screaming bloody murder and threatening to move off-shore, that is the extent to which you and I and all of us are gonna get fucked...
sure, the master has doled out extra portions of gruel, and we will be less hungry as we go to bed tonight. but, please, let us not pretend that this is some sort of victory for the people. far from it. the profit-driven health system still rules the land. i concede that there are some great aspects of the bill--but those pale in comparison to the harm of the system itself. this isn't true reform, this is rearranging the hospital beds on the titanic.
further: "the end of rescissions, except in case of fraud" sounds like a case of the fox guarding the henhouse. i would wager a bet that the health-profiteers will be able to link nearly anything as fraud when faced with having to provide care to a patient that needs expensive long-term care.
The Insurance and Pharma execs were no doubt celebrating last night , all the bribe money certainly paid off . Ed Schultz called it right . The corrupt self serving whores in DC won out and now the good guys are pretending it's a good deal because it's the best they can do . This plan creates zero competition , the Insurance companies get more business and more of our money , it's the same old shit in a prettier package . Who are " our Representatives " going to side with ? Main street and we the people or Wall street and the Insurance industry ? Was a no brainer really . Should rename C & L "Whores and Money "
The opt out "option" is an enormous gift to insurance companies - a call to arms for them to crank up the Rightwing-hosted propaganda machine and increase pocket stuffing 100-fold. If you think Congress is corrupt now - just wait. By the time the healthcare industry and their enablers are done demonizing healthcare, combined with a country that is full of easily frightened, ignorant, apathetic citizens, states will be lining up to "opt-out".
A successful senate campaign paid for by others... $10 million
Winning the election and collecting a check... $174,000.
accepting millions of dollars from health insurance lobbyists while pretending you really changed the system...
.... priceless!
Until campaign reform and term limits kick in, expect more of the same. (Oh.. I also have a bridge you may be interested in buying... like new!)
Very funny!
so, since our elected "leaders" have made sure to weigh every cost saving, cost cutting measure in the nation's health system, we can now expect the same treatment of the pentagon's budget?
i am sure you are going to put the video up any moment now: but, also last night on msnbc, we were treated to a video of kucinich on the floor of the house denouncing this bill...
like i said, i am sure C&L will put that video up to show that not everyone agrees that this health care bill is "real reform". you will put that one up, right? i mean, you put the dean video up, why not the kucinich video? be fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGOGbd_nMx8
(Just in case Susie and John can't find it).
very much appreciated... now, maybe, C&L can make a thread out of it...
I know most Dems will spin this thing, but I also tend to put a degree of overall trust in what both George Miller (my neighboring congressman) and Howard Dean said in support of the Bill. Dean is particularly
clear in underscoring the "historic progress" that the Bill represents and the awareness that it's not a
finalized product (meaning it will be open to further tinkering). And he is spot-on in his concern that Dems will not get much electoral credit for it if they don't move up some of the enrollment dates to 2010.
Yes, Kucinich's objections are understandable, but it's also a fact that Kucinich does not have the power
to get 218 votes. Nor would he if he were Speaker. In other words, he's playing the role that Ron Paul
played in respect to the Iraq War.
overall i wanted a single payer non-profit health care system but i never ever thought it would happen this round. this is a huge political undertaking. this has been talked about on capitol hill for yrs. and now finally we get the door opened/possible transition to universal health care. i'm hoping for a "robust public option" that has the ability to negotiate/open to all, but i suspect there will be a compromise to a "relatively robust public option". PhARMA and the insurers are licking their chops. as the speaker said yesterday PhARMA will be looking at making 4-5 TRillion dollars over the initial ten yrs. of the plan. if the plan that gets passed shows weakness PhARMA/health care insurance cos. are going to have to make more compromises. if this passes there will no going back. the "public option" participates will be a collective voice/power that the opposition fears. as we all know much of this reform opposition is to create a (r) political identity to defeat obama in 2012. that's where we need to refine this health care reform/public option.
they'd say it was short on ideas, or something similar.
If you want to know how good the bill will be for we the people check out Wellpoint's stock over the month. You will see that every time it went up was when it was thought that a public option would not pass and every time it went down it was thought that a public option would pass.
"Business Roundtable" group. The group he's welcomed into the Oval Office to "carve" our future.
People just don't want to face reality. They want to keep seeing an illusion clinging to Change We Can Believe In.
Also Evan Bayh's wife is on the board of Wellpoint.
of "Health Care" so it no longer looks like the predatory cash confiscation industry it's become.
And we haven't even made it to the floor.
The "public" part also appears to be a mirage as only very limited categories of people will be eligible.
Yet we will still all be required to buy into the health insurance swindle machine at unregulated prices and without serious recourse should a claim be wrongfully denied.
Dr. Dean, you rock, but this bill is a compromise of a compromise of a compromise, and the only interest on the other side of the compromise is truckloads of bribe money.
A bad bill is worse than no bill.
then he ceases to 'rock.' It's called a 'precluding factor' or 'preexisting condition,' if you will.
So let me get this straight. A problem has been identified and private health insurance companies and their need for profit are part the problem. So good mother government gets involved and what is the solution? No single payer, no government public option, thus leaving the same private insurers at the helm. On top of that the government will then require with the force of law that everyone must pay premiums to these companies.
The champagne is on ice at the major insurance companies. Think about it, exempt from anti-trust and now the government and its laws are your collection arm. Could it get any sweeter? Does anyone believe this great plan will insure premiums become affordable?
With this kind of effort Wall Street may soon come to DC begging for reform of their corrupt system hoping Congress forces social security withholdings to investment pools of CDOs and CMOs once held by Goldman and/or insured by AIG. That way AIG could pay back the billions of TARP funds that were used to save Goldman and the federal retirement system's fund.
the fact that I'm basically *forced* to buy into an $800-$1000 monthly payment plan. that will eventually, probably, hopefully, get around to providing me with the service I pay for.
who said that in 2000, free health care was the 17th most popular reason listed for joining the military.
In 2009, it's number 2.
It's time.
until we ask you to die.
regardless of family size and income, then I don't care what Dr. Dean says. It's NOT real reform. It's a new platform for individuals and taxpayers to be screwed yet again by the real winners in this sad little piece of shit game, profiteering privateer corporations, who will realise new heights in windfall profits.
Both political parties and politicians will receive big donations from this, and the men and women who were in on this sham of a 'healthcare' bill will get high paying jobs as board members or lobbyists when they lose or drop the election gigs, because they 'played ball' for the big money boys.
This system is rotten to the core and WE,the People, are The Biggest Losers.
I want what the rest of the civilized world has...NOT some weak-ass version of cover-your-ass health care where the Insurance companies make out better than they did when we started this. This is cowardice and a complete epic fail on the part of these politicians.
We elected them for real CHANGE, and all we've gotten so far is token partisan politics. I'm sick of it.
Is it moral for one person to have luxuries beyond imagining, while another person dies in agony because they couldn't afford good medical care?
A bunch of people were abandoned by this bill, they are left to wither away and die.
No, that could never happen in America! Why it's simply unthinkable, right?!
Letting people DIE because they can’t afford their own private health care?!?
Yep, that means if you are truly needy and unable to work or contribute you will have to rely on the mercy of others.. Good luck with that-because to them it’s all about "me"; it's all about getting rich quick, getting yours, and not caring. Caring/compassion/mercy can never be legislated.
No one in congress is going to bothered to figure out a way -even though it’s a no brainer….
Those who will die in the meantime, are condemned, unrepresented, and forgotten about. They are but a sacrifice to the "greedy", "self-serving", and "corrupt" bastrids.
It honestly sickens me….
Disappointed in Dean. We don't need band-aids, we need to get out from under private insurers. This passes, in two year there will be a huge backlash when people find out they've been swindled by 1500 pages (2000 in the house version) of fine print.
The legislation from the House is flat and lame. It is further proof that Congress is one of the most corrupt institutions on the planet. Campaign contributions and Revolving Door Lobbying are nothing more than legalized Bribery.
*****
Meanwhile, China (population 1.3 billion) is slowly replacing the USA as its Primary Consumer Base. In other words, China is slowly walking away from Walmart.
China Announces Plans for Universal Health Care http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-0...
(from the article)
* Beijing says it will extend basic health care to 90 percent of its population by 2011
* The rationale is that if government can provide better medical services, education services, then people will feel more secure and they will be more ready to spend and this will help to maintain sustainable economic growth
* Beijing needs to show its legitimacy as a government [considering it's a One-Party State-Run Capitalistic Economy]
* Most Chinese set aside large amounts of savings for education, medical expenses and retirement. And that means domestic consumption remains subdued.
* due to low government funding, doctors at state-run hospitals are forced to generate income by prescribing over-priced, sometimes unnecessary drugs and treatment
* In the first three years, China plans to spend $124 billion
*****
I can't stand Republicans and don't trust Democrats -- that's why I'm a Progressive.
CHiNA has a collective plan to instill consumerism. they will do this by what you have mentioned providing universal health care for it's 1.3 billion citizens. this will free up spending as the chinese are big time savers. this will have potential profound affects on the dollar/trade deficit. if we don't pass a " robust public option" i don't see how we can compete in the GLOBAL economy at least in the near future. maybe i'm mistaken but you never hear what CHiNA is doing regarding health care as part of their economic stimulus. wonder why? my thoughts are wall-street is preoccupied with their new market darling CHiNA with it's 9% growth. SOMEtimes i believe the corporatists/GLOBAL elite don't want us to be competitve. they want to manipulate currency/Trade deficit(s). in our world of disposable everything the u.s. workforce is in disposable mode.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/world/asia/...
all the industrialized world has uni. care. china might, but they have death camps and re education camps, and much worse. 80% of companys are owned by the red chinese government. and we are selling our soul to them via T bills.
it's no secret that chIna has some serious human rights issues. providing universal health care is a move in a positive direction. this country has done a lot for china. like our country their strengths can become/are their weaknesses. many would argue the economic growth of china has come at the expense of this country.
is the bill perfect? no. are all the things we want? no. but this is the first step, as people and especially children opt into the public plan as time goes on it will become universal. same thing happened in canada, it wasnt all at once, but one Provence at a time until they all had to be a part of uni. care.
what we have now,took 60 years, it will take another term or two by the dems to really make it medicare pt. E, E for everyone.
first get all the regs back into the health/death ins. cos. as they jack up the hate, the congress can do what they always do.
winston churchill said, "the americans always to the right thing, after they tried everything else."
They really don't seem to get that they won by default against Bush the way the Repugs won against Carter and won the mid-terms in '94. And they also forgot that the Repugs gradually lost support in the same way-by appeasing the most fundie elements in their party, rather than listening to their own base. In the Repugs' case, it was the religious, xenophobic gun nuts. In the Dems' case, it's the corporate cock-sucking anti-reformers. The difference is that the Repugs gradually embraced their true masters, while the Dems have been jumping on the "free" market bandwagon since they let Reagan run wild. But people were willing to overlook the fundies, as long as they saw some gains. The people aren't willing to let the robber-barons slide, though, if they don't get some of the loot, too. So even if the Dems win the mid-terms, and even '012, there's still only going to me so much bullshit the American people are willing to tolerate.
And the next Lamonts and Naders will be there to knock you down from the roots the way Dean toppled the Bush "landslide". If even Specter can't change his political stripes and win in the polls in his state, imagine how many people who've been DINO for a lot longer than him will be going down, if they don't get with the program.
You Dem fucks seem to forget that you've still won by significantly less votes than the FDR/Truman years, and that, even without a fourth Presidential term, you eventually went out of favor with the public over two previously unpopular wars. Christ, in 2000, you lost 5% of the vote to a guy who isn't even remotely as well-financed or well-known as you. And this was before the internet played a role in participation and awareness. We also took down Hillary and Joe, people who were once onsidered "ubeatable", and any one of you losers can be next. Now imagine what could happen if more Americans start getting over Obama being black, and start focusing on the issues again. Will you still be able to hide behind the "bi-partisan" meme by then, or will you be the next party to go down in flames?
HR676 ftw.
but what the Democrats in the Congress, both House and Senate, and the White House have collaborated on with the Healthcare Industrial Complex is not going to assuage the Majority of likely voters that you are counting on for national election victories in 2010 and 2012 and beyond. What exists today in both House and Senate HC bills fall far short of what is needed by the Public. And the politicos reliance on either bipartisan political cover (eg. Snowe) or reconciliation will do nothing but further water down an already pathetic HC reform bill. The Democrats which control the White House, the House and the Senate have run out of lame excuses for their failure.
At this time NO HC bill whatsoever is preferable to this emerging POS, which can be compared favorably with the Neo-Liberal / Neo-Con Corporatist bail-out of the Wall Street mobsters, aka TARP. The absolute minimum HC reform bill is HR-676, along with the ernest promise of further reforms into Universal Single-Payer HC.
Obama would have been better off sticking to purely regulatory HC Insurance reform bills that also include eliminating the de facto HC insurance monopoly, but NO monetary reward for the Healthcare Industrial Complex. I repeat, at this time NO HC bill whatsoever is preferable to this emerging POS.
If the two mainstream political parties cannot get (at a minimum) HR-676 through this Congress, then it is perhaps time to look toward supporting a 3rd political party that can get this job done.
Howard Dean should run for United States Senate. Maybe Dr. Dean could move to Connecticut and win Joseph LIE-berman's seat in 2012.
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