Whip It! Grijalva Says 75% of House Dems Support 'Robust' Public Option
From Greg Sargent at the Plum Line, this cheering news:
I’ve got the latest internal whip count numbers from Dem Rep. Raul Grijalva, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressional Caucus, who tells me that nearly three-fourths of House Dems will support a health care reform bill with the most robust version of the public option. That’s the one that would reimburse providers at Medicare rates plus five percent.
“I am confident that we have the support of over 70% of the Democratic Caucus,” Grivalva said in a statement emailed my way. That means according to him, around 180 of the 256 Dems in the House are prepared to back the robust public option right now.
The support in the House for the robust public option is a crucial number, and is being closely watched by reform proponents, because it will have a direct impact on the final bill. If a bill passes with a strong version of the public option, that would give House Dems more leverage when the bill is merged with the final Senate version.
Grijalva’s office disputed a recent report in The Politico citing anonymous aides claiming the robust public option only had the support of 145 Dems.
Grijalva and other progressive leaders have been counting votes at the request of House Dem leaders, who are putting together their final bill and asked liberals to show them the support they can muster for a strong public option.
To be sure, liberals still have a ways to go before securing the 218 votes needed for passage, and it’s unclear how many more votes they can pull together and whether the most robust public option will end up in the House bill. But liberals are not done whipping votes yet, and they think the public option has the momentum.
Bottom line: The stronger the support for the most robust version, the greater the pressure on the House leadership to keep a strong public option in the final bill. More later.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with single payer.
Everything else is fear mongering and foot dragging.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
It's a travesty that single payer was never even considered.
Shameful. Criminal.
We know that perhaps 20-30% of premiums paid to the Health Insurance Companies are spent on profit, paperwork, advertising, bonuses, etc.
But single payer would save even more than that.
There is an enormous workload put on Health Care Providers to deal with multiple insurance providers. Every office, whether a single physician or an entire hospital, must devote time and money to paperwork and negotiating with multiple insurance providers, time and money that could better be invested in medical care.
I have no idea what percent of overall health care costs are devoted to dealing with the health insurance providers, but I am certain it is a significantly large cost. A total waste of time, effort and money.
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
before midterms when it's too late.
Jesus H. Tapdancing christ on a pogo stick. The Dems approach to politics seems to be eerily similar to the dating MO of your garden variety cock tease.
95% of their time is spent in backrooms negotiating with lobbyists and palm-greasing.
... revisit this payment by Medicare of 80% (current) plus 5%.
My monthly Medicare premium is $96 - which covers 80%.
I had to get supplemental for $164 - which covers the 20% Medicare doesn't.
I would prefer to pay $125 or even $150 to Medicare for 100% coverage and sh!tcan the supplemental.
What would be wrong with that? Doctors and Hospitals would love that - I think.
If you need funds to pay for essentials, you have a revenue problem
If you need funds to pay for frivolity, you have a spending problem
Everybody's watching Keith.
We're all Devo!
are we not men?
(sorry, had to do it :( )
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
the demos will have to fold to be able to get lobbyist money for next election
they will pretend to care for health care reform but in the end they will make sure insurance makes a killing. pun intended
the swamp is dirty and needs to be drained all of it
I'm not expecting Congress to pass anything worthy of our support. I hope the President would veto a bad bill and push for a minimal reform, like Howard Dean's open enrollment and no exclusions for pre-existing conditions. The GOP and AHIP can then be counted on to overplay their hand, and Obama can then tie this failure around their necks like a dead chicken on a bad dog, to win himself a better Congress next year.
(In my dreams..)
http://www.liquiddaddy.blogspot.com/
a public option will be great but remember obama's speech. he asked for a public option but had strict stipulations on it. like, if your employer didn't offer insurance, then you could participate. i want a public option that i can choose to sign up for and opt out of my employer's plan.
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