Cracks Already Forming in Healthcare Reform Law

I didn't think this would be happening so soon.

Why Obama Should Have Worked Harder On Economy

Forcing healthcare through Congress at a time when the issue was not a top priority for most Americans will likely cost the Democrats come November....as I have already mentioned. Obama & Co. should have at least been much more aggressive on plans for job growth while pushing for healthcare reform.... this would have helped in making them look less out of touch. His team of advisers are definitely not the most competent.

Now they want to tackle immigration... thinking (mistakenly) that the healthcare victory has somehow given them momentum for dealing with an issue even more contentious. Obama will end up wasting what little political capital he has left on Immigration Reform. Clueless doesn't seem adequate for describing Emanuel, Axelrod, Plouffe and all the rest.

There is still a little bit of time between now and November. Alot can change in that time. It looks like the economy may finally be creating jobs again.... after losing millions over the last two years. But it will take a long time to change the public's perception... especially when there are TV networks and radio stations dedicated to telling Americans that Barack Obama and the Democrats are devils, socialists, and that they are to blame for the economic collapse. (Americans are incredibly gullible and unfortunately they listen to the nonsense from Faux News and the rest).

Health Insurance Mandate Was A Republican Idea for Decades

The mandate in the Healthcare legislation was actually a Republican idea for decades. Now all of a sudden Republicans are pointing to the mandate in order to demonize the bill.

Classic Republican trickery.... and their followers just eat this stuff up.

The Fight For Health Care Reform Is Not Over Yet - U.S. Supreme Court Likely To Have Last Word

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely have the last word on the Health Care Reform legislation that was signed by President Obama today. John Roberts, along with Scalia and Alito are salivating right now.... especially Roberts. He loves being in this position at this moment. At the very least for Roberts, it's a chance to make Obama sweat. He has made it no secret that he is not fond of the Obama Administration, particularly after the spat about comments made by Obama at the last State of the Union address, criticizing the court for its ruling on campaign finance regulations in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Uncle Clarence probably can't wait either.

The lawsuits by State Attorneys General from across the Country (most of them Republican) will drag on for months. Writing in the Washington Post, Georgetown University constitutional law professor Randy E. Barnett breaks down the potential areas for legal challenges and the potential for their success. He concludes the U.S. Supreme Court isn’t likely to overturn the legislation - however, he admits that it is not out of the realm of possibility.

The courts won't be the only avenue that Republicans will use to try to kill the legislation. They will also try to interfere with the passage of reconciliation "fixes". If they can't find any traction there, they plan to continue to scare and misinform voters about the legislation. Yesterday, on one of St. Louis' local Right wing radio stations, callers were suggesting a move towards violence (with the host playing right along). On NPR last night... angry callers, brainwashed completely by the propaganda, talked about going to prison and the death camps they may have to endure because of the legislation (Ohhh yes, the Right has brainwashed the Hell out of Americans. You can do anything when you control media). Listen to the March, 22nd discussion on Healthcare from NPR's On Point. The GOP and Right wing media have been extremely effective at ginning up fear and using propaganda to turn public opinion clearly against Health Care Reform.

This will be a serious problem for Obama and the Democrats. They act as if this is a real victory... and it may be. But it may be an even bigger victory for Republicans who still control the debate... in fact, they control public opinion. Progressives have failed monumentally in the information war.... and it is showing. They have time to debunk the lies and recover somewhat.... but I don't think they have a clue regarding how to do it, and I don't think there is even a willingness on their part to do it, and because of that they will pay dearly in November.

The Democrats still have the problem of the economy, which was destroyed by Bush & Co. The public....real folks down on the ground... are concerned more about the economy and jobs than anything else. This is why Obama and the Democrats should have been more focused on jobs over the past year. Their interest in jobs and the economy have been luke warm...and people have noticed. This is why voters, misguided and vulnerable to Republican propaganda, will choose Republicans this Fall.... the same Party that is largely responsible for getting the Country into its current economic mess.

The Republicans will now run their campaigns using Health Care as their rallying cry. They will run on repealing it....and stupid voters (the targets of Right wing propaganda/lies) will respond by punishing Democrats. Of course Republicans won't be able to repeal it as long as the Democrats are in the White House. But a President Mitt Romney (or some other Republican President) is likely to sign legislation repealing it in 2013, before the bill has a chance to kick in completely. Stupid American voters are likely to give us a Republican House and Republican Senate (possibly this year) and a Republican in the White House in the 2012 elections.

Could they do this realistically? I don't think so.... but it all depends on how well they maintain their brainwashing. If they can continue to effectively misinform the public and continue to win the argument.... then a repeal is a possibility. Republicans have undisputed control over information and public opinion in this Country.... despite the fact that most evidence shows that their core principles and values are losing propositions. Their theories on politics, social policy, economics, and foreign policy have been proven failures. Yet, because they control the battlefield in terms of PR and information.... they can continue to be successful. It pisses me off that Progressives seem to be unable to understand the importance of winning the information war. They don't seem to get it.... even after all of these years... after 2000, and after John Kerry in 2003-04... they still don't understand what the Hell is going on. You can have the best policies in the World...and you could have better programs for improving the lives of voters...but none of that matters if you can't win the information war.

So all of this celebrating might be premature.

The Right Attacks 11 Year Old Boy and His Family, Slamming His Effort To Support Health Care Reform In Mothers Memory

But the Right found a reason to attack Marcelas Owens and his family....
Lawrence O'Donnell talks to The Nation's Chris Hayes.

From Media Matters:

Right-wing media set sights on family of 11-year-old who spoke about his mother's death at health care event:
Right-wing media have recently targeted 11-year-old Marcelas Owens and his family for attacks after he appeared at a health care reform event to speak about his mother, who reportedly died after losing her health insurance. These attacks follow a history of media conservatives attacking or mocking the uninsured, and previous attacks by right-wing media on the family of a 12-year-old who spoke in support of SCHIP.
Read on...

Will CBO Report Be Enough to Convince Reluctant Democrats to Vote for Health Care Bill?

As of yesterday, Congressional insiders were reporting that Pelosi was about 4 or 5 votes short.

Health Insurance Company Targeted HIV Patients

An example of the kinds of abuses that Health Care Reform (Reorganization) is supposed to stop.

The story of Natoma Canfield was also pretty troubling. Of course I knew of these kinds of abuses.... but the scale of the corporate insanity in the Canfield story was pretty bad....even for the insurance industry. You would think that the CEO's would be embarrassed.

Health Care Re-organization Bill Headed For Vote

I think it's probably better than nothing. But it could turn out to be a flop as well. It will be a few years before we will know the verdict on the legislation.
With few federal workers to monitor and enforce the provisions in this Bill...and with insurance companies left in charge...and with them knowing that no one is guarding the hen house... I suspect the results will be a mixed bag.

But Dems have to pass it first. Pelosi is a little on the inept side...so I won't believe it until I see it. Sometimes i'm not sure if she can even count to 216. Luckily she has James Clyburn. But even if it passes this weekend... the Republicans aren't giving up. They are revealing their mafia tendencies.

Michael Moore, in his appearance on Countdown, spelled out pretty well why Progressives are not exactly jumping for joy.

Nothing from nothing leaves healthcare reform?

The great pianist and songwriter Billy Preston once sang, "nothing from nothing leaves nothing." Although as 15 to 16 months, I've seen the promise of health care reform start with single-payer then morph into some sort of public option which, if it is robust should be able to contain health-care costs. This is kind of what they House passed. The Senate, on the other hand, is one confusing mess. Senator Max Baucus was given the keys to the city. I'm not sure what he came up with. As chairman of the finance committee, he was in charge of coming up with a health care bill that was attractive to at least a couple of Republicans. Olympia Snowe and others were courted with sweeteners which seem to eat away at the core of health care reform. Senator Kent Conrad decided that he would introduce his own health-care legislation which was some sort of co-op. Although he sold this idea on the Sunday talk shows and pushed it hard for 6-8 weeks, thankfully (hopefully), it is died a quick death.

The public option is been tossed around like a medicine ball. In Junior high school we were asked to throw a medicine ball in order to build up muscle strength and coordination. Every other throw, the ball was dropped, kicked and then picked up and thrown again. This is exactly what has happened with the public option. What was once a robust counterweight to private health insurance has turned into something that states can opt in or opt out depending upon the whims of their legislature. Oh, and it seems that opposing healthcare is a great way to get on TV and increase your image/status like Bart Stupak.

I have stated both on my radio show and on my blog that health-care reform must include something that is cost-effective, portable and increases access to healthcare. Currently, we are looking at a health-care bill that seems to do none of this. Many progressives have decided that they cannot support this bill. They want something else done. I understand the sentiment. I find this whole process extremely frustrating. Democrats seem to be completely unable to stick to their principles and stand up for the middle class. It seems like the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrats know what is right but can't do it. Republicans have no idea what is right and won't do it. BTW, President Barack Obama is leader come lately. Look I love this man but I'm telling the truth. Where was he in the middle of the heat of the summer when healthcare was taking the big hits? He needed to be out of front stating that we HAD to have a robust public option but alias, he wasn't out there.

Here's my problem. Washington seems to be controlled by big business. Lobbyists from K St. seem to surround the Capital like locusts. If we scrapped the health-care bill and start all over, how are we going to come up with a different outcome? We're going to have the same politicians, the same White House and the same lobbyists. As a matter of fact, the lobbyists will be better armed to combat arguments they've already heard. They will probably be armed with more money. I'm afraid that starting over will leave us with a bill that's even worse than what we're looking at now -- if that is possible.

We're spending $2.4 trillion on health care every year (we spent that much in 2008). Isn't that enough money? Why do we need to pay any more? Everyone agrees that insurance does not add any value to healthcare. Why is Washington cobbling the insurance companies? Their whole reason for their existence is not to improve health care or help doctors deliver better care or help increase access to doctors by patients. Instead, their whole deal is to simply make money. They make money by not paying claims.

$2.4 trillion is enough money to take care of all 300 million Americans. Combine Medicare and Medicaid and SCHiP and all of the state run programs into one program. Medicare for All! The government will set up a system to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies and medical device/product manufacturers. Premiums are paid out of our taxes in a graduated fashion. The more you make, the more you pay. Let's extend patent protection for pharmaceutical companies by 2-5 years. Since the government is negotiating drug prices, pharmaceutical companies can recoup some of their losses through this mechanism. Doctors will be awarded for opening early and staying open late and on the weekends. This way, Americans can go to their physicians without having to take off from work. This increases access. Anyway, Medicare for All, at least for now, is a pipe dream. Right now, I'm good to try to work with my congressional representatives to try to get the best bill possible.

Billy Preston was right. Nothing from Nothing leaves nothing. The Senate is trying to sell us nothing and tell us it is something. They need to do better.

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Father

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Struggle with Father and Healthcare.

House Votes to Repeal Antitrust Exemption for Insurers

The House of Representatives voted 406-19 yesterday to repeal the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry, putting more pressure on insurers to be more competitive. Unfortunately, it will be much harder for this to pass in the Senate.

Although comprehensive Healthcare Reform is dead.. and has been dead for months, the Democrats may be able to get smaller pieces of good legislation passed. This is a strategy that I have mentioned before, and the Dems should have used it months ago. Next, they should put a bill on the floor for Pre-existing Conditions.

Once you simplify these bills, it plays in favor of the Democrats. Republicans have taken advantage of the complex nature of the larger bills to basically confuse Americans. Making these bills much smaller..simplifies them and makes it much harder for the Republicans to distort facts and put out misinformation.

Sicko - Watch Full Documentary

This documentary is always worth a second or third look. I've watched it at least twice...and being the documentary junkie that I am... I will watch it again.
It's particularly important now, because Americans should see the situation that they have decided to stay in; a choice that the corporations and corrupt, spineless politicians have basically made for them. This is why I mentioned Canada and Denmark in recent postings. Americans are so idiotic.

The Senate Passes Their Healthcare Bill

60-39.

video hat tip-Icebergslim

The President's Remarks:

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A Little Comedy from Al Franken

But very appropriate....

Franken basically tells phony _____ Joe Liebermann, the Senator from Aetna, to STFU.

Beautiful.



See backstory here.

Keith Olbermann Slams Healthcare Reform Sham

This Healthcare Reform is turning out even worse than I expected. It has clearly turned into a debacle.

Here, Olbermann tells it like it is.... tells it like it has been for the past 6 months. KO talks as if he is giving a concession speech....like a man finally coming to terms with the failure of something (Healthcare Reform) that he probably knew wasn't going to be successful a long time ago... or at least I would like to think KO was sharp enough to read between the lines back then. Perhaps he wanted his viewers to have some sort of hope to hold onto...so he kept coming out every night pushing it. I commend that.

This is an epic failure of sorts...
I have stated many times that this was a combination of bad timing and poor strategy on the part of Democrats, for a whole list of reasons that I won't rehash.

But clearly, Obama misread the national mood.... (I have mentioned that many times). He's an intelligent man for sure... no question about that whatsoever. However, I don't think he fully understands the Country... particularly in terms of voters, voter behavior, the national media, the racial dynamics, etc etc. Obama seems to miss the point (and even Keith Olbermann missed this point too) regarding how & why he is coming out on the losing end of this fight - and i'm not sure if we can even call it a fight since Dems didn't really participate. Obama seems to be clueless regarding the fact that this was a PR war for the most part and that the other side completely destroyed Progressives in that PR war. He seems clueless to the fact that this will continue to happen as long as there is no Progressive media infrastructure that can match and someday exceed the power and influence of Conservative media. Obama seems to be under the delusion that there is a level playing field and that the Democratic plan really had a fair chance.

This situation only reinforces some of the things that I feel about the Country....mainly that the nation is headed for an inevitable decline and we're in fact in the midst of that decline. This is partly due to the fact that the U.S. political system has become dysfunctional and that dysfunction will mean that the nation won't be able to keep up with future challenges and won't be able to make the Progressive changes that will be necessary to mitigate future threats and improve the lives of Americans. The changes to the world in the next few decades are going to be lightning fast...and there is little chance that this political system will be able to keep up in any meaningful way. Only those Countries that can keep up will be able to compete. Life will get tougher for people who live in Countries with archaic political systems... because these Countries will be left behind. For example... watch what happens with Climate Change legislation. I can tell you now that it is dead on arrival in the Senate. As is Immigration Reform. In fact, most of Obama's major initiatives (those requiring Congressional approval) are already dead.

With this kind of gridlock in place for the foreseeable future - not to mention corporate whores like Joe Lieberman contaminating the halls of Congress - and with K-Street literally controlling legislation, the U.S. is going to wither on the vine. With a government so inherently corrupt at its core, and with ideas like government of the people for the people having died a long time ago.... the citizens are left with a political system that doesn't work.

Solutions?

Besides moving to Canada or out of the Continent completely... I am running out of remedies.

Loophole in Senate Bill Would Allow Insurers to Deny Care

A loophole in the Senate Healthcare bill would allow Insurance companies to place dollar limits on needed services, essentially allowing them to play the same games that they play now. It would allow insurance companies to deny coverage. Meanwhile, the insurance companies would be enjoying the benefit of all the new customers pushed onto their roles.

This is what I warned about in some of my earlier Healthcare reform posts - mainly that (if not done right) this Healthcare Reform debacle could end up being worse than the status quo.

In my comments about the public option I stated that the new Senate plan could work...and I took the position that I was willing to wait and see what the new plan would do before slamming the idea completely.... but I have to say... i've probably seen enough.

This report illustrates exactly why not having a public option is a problem... because then, insurance companies could simply game the system. Private insurers are not going to compete against themselves. The private sector can't be trusted to handle a fair Healthcare program under a co-op. These corporations are inherently incapable of providing a remedy to the current private system, because of the deep conflicts of interests involved. A for-profit insurance system is not really capable of achieving what Progressives had in mind for real Healthcare reform. It's not compatible for that role. This is something that even Michael Moore was able to point out a few years ago. This is the whole point behind the public option.

Healthcare Reform Bill Flirting With Defeat Yet Again

Doubts grow about the possibility of any Healthcare Reform bill at all. Give an inch and they'll try to take a mile. The Conservatives in the Democratic Party will keep playing this game until there is no bill left to pass. They want to water it down to nothing.

Funny how Republicans and their Conservative allies on the Democratic side are concerned about costs all of a sudden. I don't recall any of these do-nothing elite jackasses being concerned about the costs on bills where they were green lighting and co-signing wars, which have now cost taxpayers over $1 Trillion. When it comes to war.... or wasteful spending in their States and districts back home (for nonsensical pork projects), there always seems to be money... no problem.

But when it comes to the U.S. investing in its own people...there always seems to be a problem.

That's why I have been saying that the USA is finito long term as far as being a great power. In a few decades, the U.S. will be just another Country....and it may only barely manage to even hold that status.

That's why I have mentioned that I might consider Canada (was only half joking).

It's no coincidence that although Canada is our neighbor to the north, it is much more closely aligned with Europe and has a different view about what its fundamental priorities are. Most modern, advanced, industrialized Countries understand that a nation won't be able to go far if it doesn't invest in its people.

Public Option Stripped from Healthcare Reform Bill

I have mixed feelings about this.... It's not what most Progressives wanted to see, yet I expected something like this would happen. In order to garner enough support in the Senate, I knew the legislation would have to be watered down even more than it already had been.

The new approach would basically leave private insurance companies (yes the ones that have been gouging and defrauding the American people for all these years) in charge of healthcare at all levels. The Fox has been put in charge of guarding the Hen House. And tonight, the Fox (the insurance industry) is laughing its ass off all the way to the bank. Why? Because this is a giant corporate giveaway.... like none other. Millions of Americans will be pushed onto private insurance rolls, strengthening the bottom line for the insurance industry.

Harry Reid (one of the worst Senate Majority leaders in modern history) wants to give us the illusion that what is left is still very much a "public option".

Essentially, this plan will allow the insurance industry to collude... to artificially set prices higher, etc, so that the industry could continue to make the same killing (pun intended) profiting from cutting corners on Healthcare that it does today. It will be very difficult to get any real competition under this plan. I am not arguing that it can't be done....apparently the new system will rely on a not-for-profit program...so it's possible. But I am pointing out that it will be difficult. The likelihood of success has gone down significantly in my opinion. Because the private insurance industry is going to naturally act in its own monetary interests....not in the interest of public health. I don't trust can't trust this industry to act in my best interests and compete effectively against itself. And with this approach, there is no real threat of consequences that would effectively deter insurance companies from trying to create workarounds and returning to some of the same abusive practices that they engaged in before.

This plan basically replaces the Public Option with a co-op. I believed that a combination public option/co-op could have been a workable compromise... but this is a much bigger scale down... a capitulation in a sense.

Perhaps the most interesting twist in all of this is the fact that Senators want OPM to run the new program. For those not familiar with OPM.... this is an organization that can't even handle its core mission very well, let alone a new complex program. Essentially OPM isn't all that good at running OPM. This agency has been underfunded and understaffed for years. That was the second red flag for me (the first came with word that the public option as it was structured before was dropped from consideration, and Harry Reid was refusing to make a statement).

Despite all of this, I hope the new plan will work as intended. This is probably the best that Obama and the Democrats could have accomplished under the circumstances. And perhaps it will could be something to build on later. If you think about this in the context of incrementalism... this is a pretty impressive accomplishment.

So despite my grumblings, I have to give the legislation a thumbs up.

Still learning more about everything that is in the new plan.

_____________


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Harry Reid Presents the Senate Healthcare Bill

Harry Reid explains the Senate bill.



From TPM

Reid: 'We're Proud Of These Figures'
Rachel Slajda | November 18, 2009, 6:50PM

After meeting with the Democratic caucus to unveil the details of his merged Senate health care reform bill, Senate Majority Harry Reid held a press conference to announce the bill.

The bill "saves lives, saves money and protects Medicare, makes Medicare stronger," Reid said, flanked by several Democratic senators, including Chris Dodd, Debbie Stabenow, Al Franken and Chuck Schumer.

"Ninety-eight percent of the American people, those that have Medicare will be included in that number, will have health insurance," he said,

Earlier today, Reid's office briefed reporters on the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the bill, which will require $849 billion over 10 years in new spending and will reduce the deficit by $127 billion. The CBO had a slightly different percentage of Americans who will be insured, saying the number would come in at 94 percent.

"We're proud of these figures," Reid said.

Now, we have 3 pivotal votes before it actually gets out of the Senate. Keep the eyes on Lincoln, Landrieu, and Nelson. See if they truly are big and bad enough to stand up on the floor and vote against bringing this to the floor for a vote. And, forced to do it, they should. Don't let them hide in the shadows.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Discusses his Leukemia

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