The Political Bridge

Here’s What the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act Means for You

From the Office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

 

LOWER COSTS

• No more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care
• No more rate increases for pre-existing conditions, gender, or occupation
• An annual cap on your out-of-pocket expenses
• Group rates of a national pool if you buy your own plan
• Guaranteed, affordable oral, hearing, and vision care for your kids

GREATER CHOICE

• Keep your doctor, and your current plan, if you like them
• More choice, with a high quality public health insurance option competing with private insurers

HIGHER QUALITY

• You and your doctors make health care decisions — not insurance companies
• More family doctors and nurses will enter the workforce, helping guarantee access
• Mental health care must be covered

STABILITY & PEACE OF MIND

• No more coverage denials for pre-existing conditions
• No more lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will pay
• No reason to ever make a job or life decision again based on health care coverage

The Pluses and Minuses of the Congressional Health Care Reform Plan(s)

The American Prospect, October 27, 2009

by Robert Kuttner

 

What are our fondest hopes and worst fears for the health legislation now slouching towards the president's desk? On the plus side, it will cover slightly more than half of America's uninsured, qualify more of the near-poor for Medicaid, and it may lead to some greater rationalization of health outlays.

On the minus side, the plan leaves most people dependent on employers for health coverage and reinforces the political and economic power of the private insurance industry. It subsidizes insurers with more than half a trillion public dollars over 10 years, mainly using tax credits..

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The Financial Times: Pfizer's President Jeffrey Kindler Praises Obama's Health Care Package

The head of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals company praised the Senate finance committee’s latest draft

He rejected suggestions from critics that there would be “an enormous offsetting windfall from new customers” as a result of additional cover provided by the reform to uninsured Americans,  

Mr. Kindler stressed the importance in the final healthcare legislation of avoiding price controls and safeguarding Medicare Part D, which provides cover for medicines to the elderly…

Read More Click Pfitzer

Highlights Of GAO-10-151, A Report to Congressional Committee: Continued Stewardship Needed as Treasury Develops Strategies for Monitoring and Divesting Financial Interests in Chrysler and GM

November 2009

 Chrysler and GM have made changes since December 2008 to address key challenges to achieving viability, but the ultimate effect of these changes remains to be seen. The companies have eliminated a substantial amount of their long-term debt, reduced the number of brands and models of vehicles they sell, rationalized their dealership networks, and lowered production costs and capacities by reducing the number of factories and employees. It is difficult to fully assess the impact of these changes because of the short amount of time that has passed since reorganization and the low level of new vehicle sales. Moreover, Chrysler and GM are revaluing their assets and liabilities based on their reorganizations in 2009 and expect to prepare financial statements based on this effort in the coming months.

Treasury does not plan to be involved in the day-to-day management of Chrysler and GM, but it plans to monitor the companies’ performance. Treasury developed several principles to guide its role as a shareholder, including the commitment that although Treasury reserves the right to set up-front conditions to protect taxpayers and promote financial stability, Treasury will oversee its financial interests in a hands-off, commercial manner. The conditions that Treasury set for the companies include requiring that a portion of their vehicles be manufactured in the United States and that they report to Treasury on the use of the TARP funding provided. Treasury officials told us that they are also requiring that Chrysler and GM submit financial information on a regular basis and that they plan to meet with the companies’ top management on a regular basis to discuss the companies’ financial condition.

Treasury should make certain that its current approach for monitoring and selling its equity in Chrysler and GM fully addresses all important considerations financial and industry experts identified. For example, Treasury initially hired or consulted with a number of individuals with experience in investment banking or equity analysis to help assess Chrysler’s and GM’s financial condition and develop financing packages for the companies. Many of these individuals have recently left as the restructuring phase of Treasury’s work has been completed. Treasury will need to ensure these staff and any staff that depart in the future are replaced as needed with similarly qualified personnel. Also, Treasury does not currently contract with or employ outside firms with specialty expertise for its work with the auto industry but may need to do so in the future, to make sure sufficient expertise is available to oversee the government’s significant financial interests in Chrysler and GM. In addition, although Treasury officials told us they are considering all options for divesting the government’s ownership interests, including an initial public offering or private sale, they have focused primarily on a series of public offerings for GM and have not identified criteria for determining the optimal time and method to sell. Regardless of the option pursued, however, Treasury is unlikely to recover the entirety of its investment in Chrysler or GM, given that the companies’ values would have to grow substantially above what they have been in the past.

To read the entire report Download D10151

NY Times: The White House Data Indicate that Schools Are Where Stimulus Funds Saved Jobs

Most (reported jobs saved by the simulus funds) were teachers’ jobs that states said were saved when stimulus money averted a need for layoffs.

Of course, counting jobs that were saved can be a squishier proposition than counting jobs that were created.  

Indiana, for example, reported saving or creating 13,232 education jobs with its stimulus money, but Cris Johnston, the director of the government efficiency division of the state budget office, said that it was difficult to say whether the state would have actually lost those jobs without the money.

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The Risks of Success: Watering Down The Public Option

 Conventional wisdom in Washington now is that the Democrats have to pass something that they can claim to be health care “reform,” no matter how much or how little actual reform it contains…the Democratic base has become wedded to the idea of a public option, even as the specifics of what now seems to be legislatively viable have lost any real connection with its initial rationale..

To read more of this interesting article click: The Public Option

The AP is Reporting that the Senate Health Care Bill will Include a Public Option

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health care legislation heading for the Senate floor will give millions of Americans the option of purchasing government-run insurance coverage, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday, although he stopped short of claiming the 60 votes needed to pass a plan steeped in controversy. Reid, D-Nev., said individual states would have the choice of opting out of the program.

His announcement was cheered by liberal lawmakers, greeted less effusively by the White House…

Watch the Former U.S. Ambassador to Uzebekistan Discuss the U.S. and U.K Governments Involvement with Uzbek Torture Efforts to Create False Intelligence

The ABC News/Washington Post: Most Americans Do Not Believe that the Recession is Over

 The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll: “Many economists say that using the standards they apply, the recession probably is over. Thinking about your own experience of economic conditions, would you say that from your point of view the recession is over, or not over?” Result: Not over, 82 percent.

Seventy-four percent in this poll are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next few years.  Sixty percent remain worried about their own family’s financial prospects.  

 

To Read More Download 1095a5Recession

From the Associated Press: House Health Care Bill Exceeds $900 Billion Target Set by Obama

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health care legislation taking shape in the House carries a price tag of at least $1 trillion over a decade, significantly higher than the target President Barack Obama has set.

Democrats have touted an unreleased Congressional Budget Office estimate of $871 billion in recent days, a total that numerous officials acknowledge understates the bill's true cost by $150 billion or more.  

To Read More: Click $900 Billion