The Political Bridge

The Senate Kills Sanders' Single-Payer Amendment; The Obama Plan Moves Towards Passage

 The Sanders’ single-payer amendment died Wednesday night in the Senate. Senator Sanders of Vermont vowed it will return when the realization dawns that private insurance companies "are no longer needed."

The proposal's demise came as Senate Democratic leaders and the White House sought agreement with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., to become the 60th supporter of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul - the number needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.

Information from AP

A Must See Video: Senator Bernard Sanders(I-VT) Refuses to Be Counted as a YEA Vote on the Health Care Reform Bill

New York Times: Liberal Senators Press for Expansion of Medicare

One of the changes being pushed by the liberals would lower the age of eligibility for Medicare to 55, from 65. Another would expand Medicaid to cover people with incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level (up to $33,075 for a family of four).  

A third liberal proposal would require insurers to spend a specified share of premiums — about 90 percent — on clinical services and activities that improve the quality of care.  

Read More Click Liberal Senators

Healthcare-NOW!'s View on The Passage of the Health Care for America Act

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, the House passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, to much celebration by the Democratic party. Healthcare-NOW!'s view, however, is that the House bill is a gift to the insurance industry at the further expense of the people of this nation.

The bill's advocates claim it will cover an additional 36 million people, subsidize the cost of insurance for families up to 400% above the poverty level, increase Medicaid coverage to 150% above the poverty level, close the Medicare donut hole by 2019, place a surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 and couples making more than $1,000,000, will end rescissions and pre-existing conditions.

What the Democrats fail to mention is the bill leaves millions of people uninsured, allows medical bankruptcies to persist, criminalizes and fines the uninsured, increases the number of underinsured, does nothing to contain the sky rocketing costs, blocks women from their reproductive rights, transfers massive public funds to private insurance companies strengthening their control over care, protects pharmaceutical companies' superprofits at patient expense, fails to reclaim the 31% of waste in our system, expands Medicaid without regard to the state budget crises, discriminates based on immigration status and age, and sets up several levels of care covering less for those without the ability to pay. Those who have coverage will increasingly find care unaffordable and will go without. The whole system will inevitably fail from being fiscally unsustainable.

To read more about HealthCare-NOW!'s efforts click Mobilize for Healthcare

Is the House Health Care Bill Better than Nothing?

by Marcia Angell, M.D.

distributed by Huffington Post and Common Dreams

(Marcia Angell, M. D., is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.)

The House health reform bill finally passed after one of Congress's longer, less enlightening debates. Two stalwarts of the single-payer movement split their votes; John Conyers voted for it; Dennis Kucinich against. Kucinich was right.

The House bill is not a "government takeover." I wish it were. Instead, it enshrines and subsidizes the "takeover" by the investor-owned insurance industry that occurred after the failure of the Clinton reform effort in 1994. The bill has a few good but marginal provisions (expansion of Medicaid, for example). 

To read more click Health Care Reform? 

Have the Dems Deep-Six Children’s Health Insurance Program(CHIP)to Appease the Insurance Industry?

From the Washington Independent

Nine months ago, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill were all celebration as they hailed the renewal of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program. Last week, they called for CHIP’s demise.

The $894 billion, 1,990-page health reform bill unveiled by House Democrats last Thursday would repeal CHIP at the end of 2013, shifting millions of kids instead into private plans contained on a proposed health insurance marketplace, dubbed the exchange.

Party leaders have been mostly tight-lipped about their motivations.  

To read about their possible motivations click CHIP

Dems Sell Women’s Rights Down River Of Health Care Denial

by Lucida Marshall, Feminist Peace Network

Women’s reproductive rights were severely compromised to appease 41 members of Congress.  The final vote on the health care bill was 220-215, so only a few of those votes were needed in the first place to secure the vote. For this, in the 11th hour, Nancy Pelosi made a deal with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Many reproductive justice advocates watched the final train wreck on C Span last night in stunned anger, trying to understand how this happened.   

To read how this happened click Reproductive Injustice.

Las Vegas Sun: Senate Leader Harry Reid is the New Hero to the Left for Including a Public Option in the Health Care Bill

Washington — In the 10 minutes it took for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to outline his proposal for including a public option in the health care bill, the Nevadan went from being the political left’s punching bag for failing to lead on perhaps the biggest issue of his career to its celebrated champion of health care reform.

The accolades rang all afternoon, and by Tuesday morning the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada was collecting signatures in an online petition thanking Reid “for standing with all of us.”

 To read more of this interesting article click Senator Harry Reid

Congressman Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) Reasons for Voting NO to H.R. 3692--The Affordable Health Care for America Act

 From Congressman Dennis Kucinich's Website

November 7, 2009

Congressman Dennis Kucinich after voting against H.R. 3962 addresses why he voted NO, stating:

"We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system."

"Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick."

"But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies - a bailout under a blue cross."

"By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress' blog, Think Progress, states, 'since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.' Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that 'money will start flowing in again' to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy."

"During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The 'robust public option' which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies."

"Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks' hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy - in which most Americans live - the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street."

"This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America's manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care."

"Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America's businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals."

Please know the struggle for real health care reform will continue. Contribute, we can make a difference.

Single Payer Activists have Problems Supporting President Obama's Health Care Reform

On Thursday, Physicians for a National Health Program, in an e-mail message to its members, endorsed the view that "no bill is better than a bad bill."

"Even the public option in the House is a sham," the group said on Thursday.

PNHP's John Geyman called on the House to shelve Obamacare.

"The negatives far outweigh the positives," Geyman wrote.

Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY), a lead single payer advocate in the House, voted against Obamacare.

To read more on this interesting development click Single Payer.