Watch the health care summit and submit comments on facebook!
Today is the big day. No really, this time health care reform is really going to strap some wheels on and start moving (after all, abortion coverage is back in the news and you know it’s not a real political discussion unless the abortion debate is involved). The President just had to get everybody together and tell them to stop their bickering and come to a compromise on health care reform. Although the strategy behind the Administration’s moves to push health care reform thus far can be questioned ( i.e. why they foolishly gave up on the public option), the President is trying to stand strong and keep health care reform from falling apart as it did in ‘93.
Speaking of 1993, I can’t decide whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing that the current bill proposed by Democrats reflects that of the Republican bill during Clinton’s presidency. I’ll let you marinate on that for a minute.
Either way, Congress and the Administration are trying to move forward, because it is what has to be done in order to start the slow climb to actual health care reform.
The President released his new proposal for health care reform this week to be used as a basis for the discussion in today’s summit (yes we have already seen a proposal from him, yes the new one packs less of a punch, and yes it is pretty much the Senate bill with a few key improvements – surprise our powerful leader is starting from center again).
However, we find ourselves in a dire situation with the health of our nation, mounting deficit and the corruption that keeps rearing its ugly head in the health insurance industry (are we really shocked that huge companies like Wellpoint would raise rates, manipulate data to boost profits and then try to defend their insidious actions? After all they are behind the effort to kill this health care bill). So, it is clear now more than ever that we have to keep fighting for strong reform.
Here are a few things the President’s proposal would do for America:
Extending dependent coverage for young adults up to age 26
Banning insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions
Increasing subsidies to low-income families in order to purchase coverage
Creating federal oversight to curb insurance industry abuses and unfair rate increases
Giving tax credits to help small businesses afford health insurance
And that’s just naming a few, check out the full proposal here for more info.
So what will happen today? Well, tune in here to see for yourself. The Sunlight Foundation will be streaming the discussion live all day and will have some cool live blogging as well as links to the campaign contributions from health insurance lobbyists that members are receiving as each of them speaks. You can submit your own questions about the debate on the site. One thing is certain, you can expect “party of no” members to give the same old attacks against health care reform, while not producing solutions themselves. Check out The Wonk Room’s guide to GOP ideas expected during today’s summit.
What will happen after today? It seems that Congress is firm in its decision to pass legislation within the next 60 days and use a political technique to pass the legislation without the 60 vote supermajority needed (since that supermajority was lost when Senator Kennedy’s seat was filled by Scott Brown). There is some opposition to using this technique, called reconciliation, but it is a very common technique that has been used many times in the past, even with health care. So it seems this will be the way forward and, one day soon, Americans will make it to the first step in solving our health care crisis.
We are already seeing legislation pass that aims to clean up other parts of the health care system. Just yesterday the House passed a health insurance antitrust bill which Rep. Tom Perriello ( D- VA) concluded should make health insurers a bit scared of the long-needed regulations to come.
A recent article published by Metro Weekly reveals that the newest Obama health care proposal does not include any specific health provisions for the gay community that were initially in the House bill. What it does include is an $11 billion plan for “the operation, expansion, and construction of community health centers.” This plan could be beneficial for HIV and LGBT clinics throughout the nation. Representative Baldwin, however, called this only “an important step forward.” Because Obama’s health proposal is more in line with the Senate bill, it does not include protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity – all of which were included in the House bill. Gay rights supporters such as Rep. Baldwin plan to continue to fight for increased provisions for the LGBT community in the final health care bill.
On Saturday, February 20, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered together to march across the Brooklyn Bridge in support of health care reform.
Making their way across the bridge, the protesters reached WellPoint offices, one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation and one that is making large profits and job cuts while Americans suffer.
The rally was very diverse, featuring several ethnicities, age groups, and job types. All came to show their support for health care reform. Despite recent legislative struggles, the New York rally of about 700 people proved that health care reform is still alive and fighting.
* This post was written by CP Intern, Yosef Getachew
Yesterday at noon four dedicated health care reform activists left Philadelphia, PA on foot headed for Washington DC, 135 miles south. 150 people gathered at the center of the city to cheer them on and see them off, voicing their support for health care reform. The march is named in honor of Melanie Shouse, a volunteer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, who suffered from breast cancer. She could not afford health care and therefore succumbed to the disease while fighting for others who shouldn’t have to endure the same tragedy.
President Obama’s healthcare forum on February 25th will be graced with the arrival of the marchers into Washington the preceding day. Anyone who feels that reform must be accomplished immediately is encouraged to join the march at any point along the way, especially the final mile from Union Station on Capitol Hill to their destination. A list of events along the trail is on the official website Melaniesmarch.com and you can follow the happenings through Twitter and Facebook as the marchers update their progress.
As the march’s finale is taking place there will also be a Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform on February 24th sponsored by MoveOn.org; a convergence on Washington of physical bodies demanding change and a mass influx of calls, tweets, emails, faxes, and facebook posts to represent the foundation of Americans who are in dire need of real action by Congress.
As the public presence of health care reform seems to dwindle every day we need to let our representatives know that we will not give up. Congress’s forum will be a good effort to bring the issue back to the forefront but that doesn’t mean they have a plan.
The upcoming bi-partisan Health Care Summit , organized by the White House, will cover key issues in health care reform and allow President Obama to discuss solutions to move past the stand-still Congress finds itself in and come to a compromise over health care reform legislation. The entire summit will be televised and committee and ranking members from both parties have been invited to attend the televised discussion. What this signals for the status of health care reform? We are not sure yet. It is good news, as it indicates that health care is still high on our leaders’ agenda, but it is also the only sign of movement regarding the passage of legislation that we have seen since the holiday break – and it’s just a conversation. Another conversation. However, it is highly significant that Obama has invited both parties to the discussion and opened the floor for questions to be televised for all Americans to see. This will allow the President to clear up any false myths about health care reform and openly debate the sticking points for both parties.
Some Congressional members, however, are weary of the purpose of the summit. In fact, some claim it is a trap. Jon Stewart sums up the criticisms and buzz circling this upcoming summit perfectly. Also tune into Stewart to learn about the “party of no” putting their foot in their mouths, yet again, with health care reform:
Although we may not believe that a lack of progress on health care reform would be the only determining factor to keep young voters out of the polls in this year’s mid-term elections, our friend Jesse Singal makes an excellent point about the impact the Millennial generation has at the polls, our overwhelming support for health care reform, and how its failure could exacerbate youth voter apathy:
Here’s something that should make David Axelrod nervous: there are probably more Yankees fans in Massachusetts than there are young people who voted in the Massachusetts Senate special election, which cost the Democrats their filibuster-proof supermajority. Just 15 percent of eligible voters under age 30 participated. The numbers were similarly dismal during two other Republican electoral victories from last fall. In the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, just 17 and 19 percent of potential young voters participated, respectively.
This wasn’t just a fluke trifecta of uninspiring elections. It is, rather, part of a nationwide trend toward apathy among Americans under 30. Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), which regularly polls young people on political issues, found last fall that just 24 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds said that they were “politically engaged or politically active,” a 19-point drop from a year earlier. This could mean trouble down the road for a Democratic Party that may have begun taking the youth vote for granted. Young voters, after all, turned out in record numbers for the 2008 election, and if they hadn’t, Obama might not be in the White House. But if Democrats don’t pass health-care reform, youth turnout may plummet.
President Obama reignited his campaign days as he spoke on many issues burdening our country last night. He put Senate Democrats and Republicans in their place, and had some teeth in his remarks toward the party that has made their goal of this Congressional session to block every effort of putting this country back on track. However, he said almost 3,500 words before speaking on one of the most pressing issues we are facing today: health care. In my opinion, he should have addressed it earlier in his speech, especially before making it clear that his new focus is jobs creation, as if health care reform is now old news. He only spent about five minutes talking about health care, and some reform advocates complain that his words were not strong enough and his marching orders not precise enough. But I will give him a bit of a break. I think –when he finally did reach the issue of health care reform– he was clear, concise and to the point. Congress is not stupid (even if some days and for some members, we may beg to differ). Congress knows health care reform needs to pass this year. Our representatives know that if we wait, premiums will continue to rise, the number of uninsured will reach about 54 million by 2019, and our health expenditures will double. They know what they have to do. They just needed a firm direction from Obama; one that made clear that health care reform will not be postponed and will not fail after coming this far. And I believe he made that crystal clear:
After nearly a century of trying, we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans…By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber.
The debate over the last several weeks, however, has centered around not only whether to move forward, but how. There are several routes Congress could take to pass some sort of reform legislation. But as our President put it so eloquently last night:
Let’s try common sense.
I believe Congress knows that the smartest way out of the pickle we now find ourselves in with this health care bill is to pass the Senate bill and then pass a “clean up” bill through reconciliation (or in order to guarantee the changes that the House wants, they could pass the “clean up” bill first and then pass the Senate bill) which would improve significant provisions like switching from the Senate’s proposed state-by-state health insurance exchanges to the House’s proposed national health insurance exchange, which would ensure stronger consumer protections when shopping for a health insurance plan. This method has been the most popular among Congressional members thus far, and Speaker Pelosi has hinted that she would have the votes to make it happen.
President Obama even addressed those that are opposing every option of moving forward with health care to come to him with a better alternative:
But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.
The key thing to take away from last night’s speech was not that it seemed as if health care reform is so last year and job creation is now the new focus, but that we need to get health care reform passed now so that we can begin the path to recovery within our health care system (and trust me it will be a long road, but we have to take the first step) and then move on to other equally important issues like unemployment and drowning in the deficit, to name a few. It has been long enough, as Obama stated perfectly:
How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?
*This post was written by CP Advocacy intern, Yosef Getachew
In a recent article written by the National Journal, it was revealed that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not only spent the most money on health care lobbying last year but had also doubled what it had spent in 2008. As a result, the lobbying group spent $123.3 million in 2009 compared to $62.3 million in 2008 for all lobbying activities. Furthermore, a majority of this money was spent in the 4th quarter of 2009, which was the height of the health care debate. The massive amount of spending done by the traditionally conservative lobbyist group demonstrates its efforts in derailing health care reform for millions of Americans:
The top-spending groups on health care reform generally spent about as much lobbying last year as they did in 2008 — with one notable exception. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stood out not only for consistently outspending other groups, but also for nearly doubling its lobbying spending over the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2009 alone, the group’s outflows easily topped the amount spent by any other group all year.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wasn’t the only one who spent millions of dollars to lobby against health care reform. An article written by Think Progress reports that health insurance companies spent a total of $38 million in 2009 to impede the progress of health care reform:
WellPoint: The Indiana-based insurer spent $4.7 million lobbying Congress last year, an increase of 21 percent from its expenditures in 2008.
UnitedHealth Group: The largest of all health insurance companies spent $4.5 million on lobbyists last year, an increase of 7 percent from 2008.
Humana: The insurance mega-company “showed the biggest increase in its lobbying spending among…insurers.” It spent $3.2 million lobbying in 2009, which is an 80 percent increase from 2008.
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP): The health insurance industry’s lobbying group spent $8.9 million on lobbyists in 2009, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
A protest lead by Health Care for America Now was held today to fight back against the U.S Chamber of Commerce. Campus Progress attended the protest, which took place right on the steps of the lobbyist group’s building. Protestors shared stories and vehemently condemned the actions of lobbyist efforts as they urged Congress to finally pass health care reform.
The push for health care reform is possibly not moving anymore? But I am still trying to keep you in the loop with the debate over whether this bill has a chance of passing or not. So for now, these semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates will continue. Enjoy!
Today’s Updates – 1/22/10:
To be honest, I sat down to write a lengthy update on the madness and utter chaos this health care debate has turned into since the Massachusetts election on Tuesday, but Politico Pulse has summed it up perfectly, taking the words right out of my mouth:
DEATH WATCH — For the first time in this year-plus debate, Democrats are worried that health reform is in critical condition. House Speaker Pelosi can’t get 218 votes for the Senate bill. Senate moderates don’t want to take up another bill — skinny or reconciliation — and the White House isn’t yet calling the shots. “There’s a real possibility it doesn’t get through,” said a Democratic lobbyist who supports reform. “My guess is, for now, it’s over,” echoed another. There is a sense of anxiety and panic that has set in as Democrats ask, “What now?” Lobbyists familiar with the situation say officials are floundering to find a clear path forward. Reform’s passage, they say, has lost the sense of inevitability it had only a week ago. If Democrats are going to pass reform, Pelosi will need to find 218 votes for the Senate bill, Senate Majority Leader Reid will have to agree to take up budget reconciliation legislation to tweak a House-passed Senate bill — or both sides will have to go back to the drawing board to craft a slimmed-down reform bill. There was some talk among Senate leadership on Thursday of putting together a letter signed by 51 Democratic senators pledging to pass a clean-up bill if the House would pass the Senate bill. But that effort fizzled when support for it didn’t materialize, insiders said. Democratic leaders left the Capitol Thursday without answers and don’t expect any before next week.
Not sure you understand the reconciliation process? Or why are now in this position since Scott Brown took over Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate? You’re not alone, it’s a headache. But here’s an article from the Business Insider that attempts to break down the tricky process of reconciliation and sheds some light on how it might help with passing the health care bill:
The special election in Massachusetts has thrown the process into chaos. [The] Senate Democratic caucus [lost] “the Kennedy seat,” [and] the ability of the conference approved health care bill to overcome a filibuster [is] in doubt. Brown has made no bones about his plans to join a filibuster vote to block health care reform, campaigning as “the 41st vote” against it. That could mean the end of the death of health care reform.
In the 1970s the Senate adopted a rule that applies to the budget process that allows for limited debate, which means that there cannot be a filibuster. The process is called “reconciliation.” Here’s how reconciliation works. Each of the Senate and the House passes a concurrent resolution instructing one or more committees to report changes in a law affecting by a certain date. Those committees then support their reports to the budget committee, which combines them into a single omnibus bill. In the Senate, the reconciliation bill then gets only 20 hours of debate before the final vote. So there’s no filibuster risk and the bill can pass with support of just 51 Senators.
Health on the Hill is back!!!! And health care reform is still moving. Over the holiday break, we saw the legendary passage of the Senate health care bill and were confronted with the conflicting feelings of progress ( remember America has been trying to pass health care reform legislation for decades) and defeat (there were a lot of key compromises made on an already watered-down bill in order to get it passed). Nonetheless, Congress is charging forward to get the final bill completed and signed into law and we, as young Americans, should be ready to embrace the change it will create, while also continuing to push for the work that is yet to be done on reforming our health care system and ending the control insurance companies have over our health and our wallets. This reform bill will just be the beginning.
Today’s Updates – 1/15/10:
* The below post was written by CP Advocacy Intern, Christian Pittman
The Senate and House Democrats have eschewed formal conferencing to resolve the discrepancies between their respective health care bills and have taken to meeting with President Obama and aides at the White House. A desire to have a success story for the Dems before the State of the Union address (conveniently moved to not interfere with the season premiere of Lost) has set in motion Republican-free talks to make the needed compromises. We just have to hope that they don’t compromise all the beneficial parts out of the bill. As of now the public option is effectively dead. There’s no way to attract the votes needed in Congress with a government-run plan in either bill. As unfortunate as this is we can only hope that the reforms that do pass set us up as a nation to accept the public option in the future.
In order for the left to accept this, those in the House of Representatives are standing firm on their national exchange position where the whole country will have uniform laws and enforcement of coverage for as many people as possible, and where it will be easier for consumers to compare plans for purchase. While President Obama is leaning toward the national exchange, which the House adopted in its bill (as opposed to independently-run state exchanges adopted in the Senate bill), he seems to favor the Senate’s take on taxes (taxing high-cost insurance plans instead of taxing high-income individuals – both of which will generate revenue to pay for reform). This gridlock has seen lots of input from labor union leaders who have strong stakes in high-cost plans and therefore don’t want more taxes for their mostly middle-class members. So in order to convince the unions and House Democrats that those who gave up higher wages for better health care won’t be hit where it hurts, concessions were added this week in order to come to a compromise on the issue. Now just a few more sticking points, such as the expansion of Medicaid and the national vs. state exchange, are all that stand between the unified bill being completed and sent to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring.(a goal that Congress aims to accomplish by this weekend).
Meanwhile, while the Republicans in Congress have been mostly anti-reform, many of us on the other side were hearing how much the insurance companies (maybe some of the most influential players in this game) agreed with us and supported reform. They’re set to earn more money by gaining 30 million more customers (only a portion of the uninsured in the U.S.) so why wouldn’t they be happy to accept it? Apparently they’d rather gouge prices on their own terms than be regulated as competitive, fair institutions. AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans), a conglomeration of the most familiar names in health care, has been privately funding ads by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against reform. A sum of $10-20 million was reportedly given to produce television ads attacking Congress’s reform bills. So this just confirms our long-time suspicions that insurance companies are taking advantage of us in any way they can. This reform bill aims to curb some of the abusive tactics that insurance companies have used all these years, but we have to keep up the fight after the bill passes because there will still be a lot more work to be done.
As Campus Progress reported last fall, the youth are one of the largest groups of the uninsured and the Catastrophic Plan laid out in the Senate bill (which we are working hard to have improved before the bill is finalized) is directed towards young people and severely lacking in comprehensive coverage options. As someone who has been lucky to not have any emergency treatments in my life (knock on wood) I can’t imagine having to go to the ER and fork over the bill in cash. Under the Catastrophic Plan for young individuals, that is precisely what I would have to do, unless of course I’d met my deductible of almost $6,000. I hardly make thousands of dollars in income. Not only that, but for those of us who have our regular check-ups or need prescription drug coverage, those services wouldn’t be covered under the Catastrophic plans. They are targeted at us with cheap prices and a conniving perception that we will now be insured, but the Catastrophic Plan is insurance in name only and we are fighting to improve this plan in order to give young Americans access to affordable, basic coverage (You can join the fight by taking action here!)
There is a lot yet to be resolved with this health care bill and not a lot of time to do it. So it will be up to us and our representatives to remember the real goals of health care reform and choose battles wisely –which means keeping the interests of the people in mind as opposed to the interests of the industry. However, this debate has gone on for a long time and as we watched the bill become more and more watered-down it has been clear that the industry tends to win out. As the next generation in power, and one that is dedicated to progress, we have to work to change that trend. 2010 offers up a great opportunity to start that work, by getting out to vote in the mid-term elections. The example of the power of one Congressional vote was clearly shown in the Lieberman debacle, and is about to rear its ugly head again as Massachusetts works to fill the late Senator Kennedy’s seat. Kennedy was a sure vote for health care reform and now the race to fill his seat seems it may result in Scott Brown, the running Republican, taking the seat, which means a sure vote against health care reform. The bill will need 60 votes to pass, so losing that vote could be the death of the bill. Just an example of how crucial our input is when it comes to electing those who represent our interests.
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President Obama reignited his campaign days as 
The push for health care reform is possibly not moving anymore? But I am still trying to keep you in the loop with the debate over whether this bill has a chance of passing or not. So for now, these semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates will continue. Enjoy!
Health on the Hill is back!!!! And health care reform is still moving. Over the holiday break, we saw the legendary passage of the Senate health care bill and were confronted with the conflicting feelings of progress ( remember America has been trying to pass health care reform legislation for decades) and defeat (there were a lot of key compromises made on an already watered-down bill in order to get it passed). Nonetheless, Congress is charging forward to get the final bill completed and signed into law and we, as young Americans, should be ready to embrace the change it will create, while also continuing to push for the work that is yet to be done on reforming our health care system and ending the control insurance companies have over our health and our wallets. This reform bill will just be the beginning.