Thursday Quick Hits: July 2nd

by John Campbell on July 2, 2009

dollars-pic2Unemployment rises to 9.5% , the worst rate since 1983.

Check out the Employment Summary Here.

An even greater percentage of Americans has been forced to cut back on hours, pay.

zzinflationAaaand in other news… the Wall Street Journal projects that Goldman Sachs will pay out as much as $20 billion in bonuses this year. In case you don’t have your calculators out, that’s about $700,000 per employee.

WSJ:Big Pay Packages Return to Wall Street

obama-picPresident Obama shares his thoughts on both health care and on unemployment.

President Obama talks Jobs.

President Obama on Health Care Reform.

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Wednesday Quick Hits: July 1st

by John Campbell on July 1, 2009

tim_pawlenty Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty certifies Franken’s victory, giving the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate.

KSTP TV: Pawlenty Signs Election Certificate

First Read: The Meaning of 60

For all you fans of health care reform. President Obama is holding a town hall meeting on health care reform in Annandale, VA. The Washington Post examines:

WaPo: Obama Looks to Town Hall to Further Health Agenda

economist-healthThe Economist takes a nice long look at why health care in America is so expensive.

Give the Man a Seat

by Allen Combs on June 30, 2009

Al Franken, Victor.

Good day, Mr. Senator!

Good news from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The Minnesota Supreme Court has declared Al Franken the Winner of last fall’s Senate race. He defeated Republican Norm Coleman by 312 votes. Governor Tim Pawlenty had previously said he would certify the winner based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.  The ruling should end the 8 months of legal wrangling over the election. Franken will be the 60th Democrat in the Senate. Did somebody say cloture?

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Tuesday Quick Hits: June 30th

by John Campbell on June 30, 2009

Today we have a policy-based Quick Hits.  Check out these links for some great info on health care reform.

DPCHere’s some great info from the Democratic Policy Committee:

Health Care Reform: The Cost of Doing Nothing (State by State)

The Need for Health Care by the Numbers

kffThe Kaiser Family Foundation has some great information on the different proposed plans:

Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals

Health Reform Gateway

white-house

And, last but not least, the White House on Health Care Reform:

The White House on Health Care Reform

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Why Frank Lutz Wants to Scare the Hell Out of You

Why Frank Lutz Wants to Scare the Hell Out of You

As Americans demand an explanation for Republican obfuscation on health care reform, many Republican responses sound eerily familiar. As Mark Blumenthal noted yesterday in the National Journal, Republicans working against high national support for health care reform increasingly fall back upon the same set of tired talking points from Republican spin-doctor Frank Luntz. It’s incredible how many Republicans, health insurance executives, and lobbyists have adopted Luntz’s language verbatim- terms like “government takeover” and “one size doesn’t fit all” and the dreaded “rationing.” Since Luntz’s language is so prevalent, it’s worth examining the tactics behind his rhetoric, and by extension, Republican rhetoric.

Republican opposition to reform relies on two principle deceptions:

1. Presenting a public insurance option as a “government takeover” of the health care industry.

2. Arguing that health care reform = rationing of care.

Of course, both these points are bogus. On the first point, a public option for health insurance isn’t a takeover of the system. Regardless of your thoughts on a single-payer health care system, this ain’t it. Instead, a public option for insurance would simply provide Americans with another choice of insurer. If you already have insurance, then you can keep your insurance. The government is not taking over your insurer. You will keep your doctor. The public option will be just that, an option. And, since market-loving Republicans have been telling us for years that competition drives prices down, the public option should help drive down the price you pay for private insurance.

On their second point, Luntz and the fear mongering Republicans are trying to scare you. They are using the r-word because they want you to fear the loss of your health coverage. But, their argument, like the rest of their ideas on healthcare, is bankrupt. 40 Million Americans are uninsured. Millions more struggle to afford basic coverage. Health care reform and the public insurance option are about expanding the availability of health care, increasing the quality of that care and bringing down the cost of that care. Far from limiting your access to health care, a public option will ensure you will always have access to health care.

Frank Luntz is a smart man. He knows how to play on your fears, your visceral reactions. Republicans, realizing they’re on the wrong side of health care reform, have hitched their wagon to Luntz. In doing so, they’ve admitted that they would rather scare the hell out of American citizens rather than provide us with affordable, sensible health care reform.

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Monday Quick Hits: June 29th

by Allen Combs on June 29, 2009

crowd-and-capitol

Republicans and the insurance lobby ramp up efforts to deny Americans health care reform,  launching  a massive advertising campaign to scare Americans away from health care reform.

USA Today: Advertising Wars Escalate in Health Care Fight.

obama-mic2

As President Obama announces a health care town hall, NPR and Robert Reich discuss how the President must draw a line in the sand over health care reform.  Reich also discusses the benefits of health care reform.

Listen to the whole interview here.

axelrod

On Meet the Press, Senior Advisor David Axelrod explains President Obama’s stance on the Waxman-Markey climate bill.

Watch the clip here.

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Americans Rally for Health Care Reform

by John Campbell on June 26, 2009

YouTube Preview Image

A sea of activists swarmed Capitol Hill today to say, in the words of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), “we’re going to have health care, and we’re going to have it now.”  Congressmen, Senators, union leaders, doctors, nurses, organizers all implored the crowd to fight for health care reform, reform that Bob Menendez said “not only saves our budget but saves our lives.”

Menendez highlights an important but often overlooked distinction in the health care debate—health care reform isn’t about dollars; it is about the well-being of the American people. Once we stop viewing health care reform as a financial issue and also recognize it as the answer to a public health crisis, then our ways of thinking about reform will change.

First, money is important.  But, money is not the end goal.  We’re looking to keep people healthy and save lives.  Right now, the prohibitive cost of our dysfunctional health care system prevents Americans from receiving health care.

Second, we need to untangle our thoughts and our rhetoric on doctors and the insurance industry.  What might be best for the insurance industry isn’t necessarily in the interests of either doctors or the American people.   This means lawmakers and everyday citizens will have to push back the insurance lobby.  During the rally, Congressman Xavier Baccerra (D-CA) promised to roll up his sleeves to fix health care.  21st Century Democrat, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) vowed, “the insurance industry will not hijack this.”

Third, we need to rethink our relationships with our nurses and doctors.  After all, we want to increase both access to and quality of health care.  Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) stressed the need for more primary care physicians.   SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger said we need to let doctors be doctors, not bean counters, and now, more than ever, “doctors and nurses need us on their side.” We need to ask, “how can we allow doctors to best do their jobs?”

Of course, as we get down to it, the ability to pass health care reform comes down to the legislature.  Division within Democratic ranks could undo health care reform and eventually deepen our fiscal and health crises.  Howard Dean, forcefully address the rally, emphasizing this point.  Even if Republicans are “are in the insurance industry’s back pocket, what about the Democrats?”  He warned that some conservative Democrats could undermine health reform for all of us.

sherrod-in-the-house2

So what good is a rally?  What should we do next?  As Sherrod Brown told Campaign for America’s Future,

Any time large numbers of people do a rally and then the enthusiasm they bring from the rally across the street to talk to their congress men and women talk to senators to tell them how important this is to them personally as activists in Cleveland or in Toledo or in Columbus or in Akron or anywhere else in this country, it absolutely matters.

He continued:

People who are watching this who aren’t at the rally: call your congressman or senator on the phone, go see them at their offices, do a demonstration outside their offices, whatever you’ve got to do to get their attention to show that this matters to you personally, you’re gonna change the world.

Let’s join Senator Brown.  Let’s join Howard Dean, Anna Burger, Congressman Baccerra, Congressman Weiner, Congresswoman Schwartz.  Let’s join doctors and nurses and our neighbors and family members.  Let’s go change the world.

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Friday Quick Hits: June 26th

by Allen Combs on June 26, 2009

Howard Dean speaks at rally

Senator Sherrod Brown, former Governor Howard Dean and actress Edie Falco joined thousands of activists on the steps of the United States Senate to demand health care reform for all Americans

Health Care For America Now Rally

PA Governor Ed Rendell calls on congress to create a national infrastructure bank to depoliticize federal infrastructure spending

The Hill: Rendell gets behind infrastructure bank

Tom Toles Cartoon for Friday, June 26th

WaPo: GOP’s Wilderness Years

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Score one for Ideology

by John Campbell on June 24, 2009

This Man Wants to Waste Your Money

This Man Wants to Waste Your Money

Earlier this week we asked whether ideology or opportunism lies at the heart of Republican opposition to health care reform.  Well, one of the nation’s leading conservative intellectuals has cast his vote for illogical ideology.

On Sunday, conservative standard bearer, George Will, made his best case against health care reform and a public option, claiming that the government would be too efficient for the insurance industry to compete.  As Nate Silver wrote, this argument eventually breaks down to “so what if the government can provide the same service more efficiently and save American citizens millions of dollars? We don’t like the government and we like insurance companies.”  Will’s “principled opposition” to health care reform didn’t end there though.

Will went on to say claim that a public option would create dependence on the government, infantilizing the population by coddling them with entitlements.  His solution?  Give uninsured Americans money to give to the insurance industry!  So instead of embracing a plan that would make health care affordable for millions of Americans, conservatives, led by Mr. Will, want to ignore the rapidly increasing and untenable cost of health insurance and health care and simply write checks to insurance companies funneling the money through American citizens, which, he claims would “produce people who are more empowered than dependent.” What? Unless I’m missing something, Will’s plan would sustain inflated health care costs, forcing Americans to turn to the government for help.  In other words, the only thing between the insurance industry and boatloads of free government cash is you, the American citizen.

Instead of focusing on how to pump money into the hands of insurance executives, Republicans should join the rest of us in figuring out how to stop the wild inflation of health care costs.  Perhaps it’s time the Republicans stopped peddling a bankrupt ideology and joined us in reigning in the costs of health care, insuring millions of Americans, and ensuring the long-term health of our nation.

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Health Care Update

by John Campbell on June 23, 2009

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

President Obama Fields Questions on Health Care Reform

Today, President Obama reiterated the pressing need for health care reform, firing a broadside at the Republican forces of denial and inaction.  The stakes, President Obama said, are even higher than we think:

Unless we fix what’s broken in our current system, everyone’s health care will be in jeopardy. Unless we act, premiums will climb higher, benefits will erode further, and the rolls of the uninsured will swell to include millions more Americans.

Republicans, and even some democrats, ignore the fundamental issue at hand, health care is already unacceptably and untenably expensive.  And worse, as President Obama noted, if we fail to act, health care will only become more expensive:

Unless we act, one out of every five dollars that we earn will be spent on health care within a decade, and the amount our government spends on Medicare and Medicaid will eventually grow larger than what our government spends on everything else today.

When it comes to health care, the status quo is unsustainable and unacceptable. So reform is not a luxury. It’s a necessity, and I hope the Congress will continue to make significant progress on this issue in the weeks ahead.

I cannot stress this enough, the problem at hand is not the amount the government needs spend to implement health reform, it is how much Americans as a whole pay for health care.  As President Obama noted, “Unless we act, one out of every five dollars that we earn will be spent on health care within a decade.”  It is shortsighted and just plain wrong to view health reform

And Americans agree with President Obama.  Over 70 percent of Americans want a government sponsored health plan that can compete with private insurers.  Such a program would  help curb the spiraling insurance and act as an example of efficiency and innovation.  Beyond this, it would help insure the over 40 million Americans  who currently have no health insurance.  We must act in order to save our health care system.

The time for that action is now.  Thursday, June 25, the group Health Care for America Now! will host an event in Upper Senate Park featuring former DNC Chairman Howard Dean.  As Republicans fumble and delay, it heartens us to see Democrats and progressive groups rallying around President Obama’s call for health care reform and the need for a public option for all Americans seeking health care.  Stay tuned as we further investigate health care reform and what it means for you.

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