Here are some of my favorite moments from today’s six-hour bipartisan meeting on health care reform:

Obama to McCain – “Let me make this point, because we aren’t campaigning anymore, the campaign is over”

I loved this line because it summed up the mood of the entire summit meeting. It seemed like everyone was campaigning for themselves instead of for the issue, and the President kept referencing that, especially when he and Senator McCain  got into a back and forth during the cost containment portion of the discussion.

Rep. Barasso (R-WY) – paraphrasing ” Members of Congress should just have catastrophic care. Everyone gets care even if they don’t have insurance, and people with catastrophic insurance are the best consumers of health care because they really think about what care they need”

This was so false that it was comical. It just proved that the “party of no” is completely out of touch with the health care system and how it works. No, not everyone gets care if they don’t have insurance. In fact, according to the American Journal of Public Health, 45,000 people die every year because they are not receiving the care they need due to lack of insurance.

On the note of the Catastrophic plans, this topic came up in the cost discussion and particularly referred to the catastrophic coverage targeted at young adults and low-income adults (which are plans we have been fighting to improve).  Rep. Barrosso’s line was so idiotic that it just proves how out of touch he is. Consumers of Catastrophic plans are not choosing them because they think they are the best plans and fall in line with what they need, they are choosing them because they usually have no choice and because it is the cheapest option – but they have barely any pre-deductible coverage. Which means they won’t cover any “regular” health needs that consumers have, like prescriptions or check-ups.

Actually, President Obama said it perfectly for us during the summit:

“Look, if I’m a self-employed person who right now can’t get coverage or can only buy the equivalent of Acme insurance that I had for my car — so I have some sort of high-deductible plan. It’s basically not health insurance; it’s house insurance. I’m going to — I’m buying that to protect me from some catastrophic situation; otherwise, I’m just paying out of pocket. I don’t go to the doctor. I don’t get preventive care. There are a whole bunch of things I just do without. But if I get hit by a truck, maybe I don’t go bankrupt. All right, so that’s what I’m purchasing right now.

What the Congressional Budget Office is saying is, is that if I now have the opportunity to actually buy a decent package inside the exchange that costs me about 10 to 13 percent more but is actually real insurance, then there are going to be a bunch of people who take advantage of that. So, yes, I’m paying 10 to 13 percent more, because instead of buying an apple, I’m getting an orange. They’re two different things.

..The way that this bill is structured uses a high-cost pool, a catastrophic pool, for people who can’t afford to buy that better insurance, but overall for a basic package — which, by the way, is a lot less generous than we give ourselves in Congress. So I’m amused when people say, let people have this not-so-good plan, let them have a high-deductible. But there would be a riot in Congress if we suddenly said, let’s have Congress have a high-deductible plan, because we all think it’s pretty important to provide coverage for our families. And the federal health insurance program has a minimum benefit that all of us take advantage of. And I haven’t seen any Republicans — or Democrats — in Congress suddenly say, “You know what, we should have more choices and not have to have this minimum benefit.”

Brilliant Mr. President, that’s what we have been arguing all along. Don’t leave young and low-income Americans out in the cold. Improve the plans and subsidies offered in the exchange pool so that we can be included. Otherwise, improve the Catastrophic plans to provide better coverage. It’s that simple.

For some info on what may come next click here.

For some more links on the Health Care Summit coverage, see below:

Gender Health Disparities Too Boring For CNN And MSNBC?

Does Obama’s Health Care Plan Really Lower Premiums?

Cornyn Can’t Say What Republicans Will ‘Give In Return’ For Concessions From Democrats

In His 7 Years In The Senate, Lamar Alexander Voted For Reconciliation Bills At Least 4 Times

Viewer’s Guide To GOP Ideas At The Health Care Summit

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.

Related Articles:

http://metroweekly.com/news/?ak=4915

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/02/23/Obama_Health_Plan_a_Mixed_Bag_for_gays/

http://www.365gay.com/news/obama-health-plan-lacks-lgbt-provisions/

*This post was written by CP Intern, Yosef Getachew