Health Care Saturday: Appeasing Cavemen Edition

Smooth Like Remy: Sherrod Brown Is Changing The Conversation.

Senator Sherrod Brown did a good job yesterday on Dylan Ratigan's show of turning the tables on the ConservaDems and putting the pressure on them to support a bill with a public option rather than having liberals and progressives on the hot seat to cave on a bill without one. We just need more Democratic Senators and House members who support a public option to follow his lead and use the same talking points!

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Posted by sgwhiteinfla

DougJ: Smart shoppers

Humor my Broder fixation. He pans Obama’s speech in Sunday’s Post:

But Obama does not tell people: “I want you to get used to the idea that eventually you may not get your coverage from your employer, and you will have to be a smart shopper, looking for the best deal you can get from competing insurance firms.”

Honestly, why stop here? Why not tell people that they need to be smart shoppers, looking for the best deal you can get from competing private police forces and road-builders? Yes, I know some libertarians do favor this, but I doubt Broder does.

Broder has pushed this idea before. What’s especially aggravating is that he pretends to be neutral in the debate, when he’s essentially taking the insurance industry’s side.

And what’s most troubling is that he’s actually accepted accommodations from the Western Conference of Prepaid Medical Service Plans, in violation of the Post’s rules on speaking engagements.

• commenter MK
  

  I found this line from his article far more egregious:

  Again, Obama knows better. He knows that unless he can fundamentally reform Medicare, he cannot achieve his goals. He knows he has to move it toward the models of the Mayo and Cleveland clinics and the few communities around the country where networks of doctors and hospitals have committed themselves to high-quality, low-cost medicine.

  Remind me again which party got Medicare recipients so scared that government was gonna take their health care away from them that talks about reforming Medicare got close to political suicide?

Indepenocrat (Daily Kos): New AARP Poll: Obama Turns the Tide

A new poll conducted by the AARP show that Pres Obama's speech to congress has totally changed the landscape. The poll was conducted for folks 45 and over.

Before the speech 70% of respondents said they had at least some questions or concerns about what was being proposed by either party with regard to health care reform. This includes 77 percent of Independents.

After the speech,

• Of those who had questions and concerns prior to the address, nearly three-quarters said that their questions and concerns were talked about or addressed during the speech. This includes 72 percent of Independents.

• Nearly seven in ten of those who reported hearing their questions and concerns talked about or addressed said that they were supportive of the proposals being talked about related to health care. This includes 63 percent of Independents.

• For each political affiliation, a majority of respondents said that reform of the health care system should be a priority for political leaders to address in 2009. This includes 70 percent of Independents.

Also 58% of Democrats and 85% of republicans had concerns before the speech. After the speech 88% of democrats and even 56% of Republicans said their concerns were addressed. Overall 73% said their concerns were addressed.

63% of independents are now supportive of the proposal put forth by the president, along with 43% of Republicans. Overall 68% support the proposal.

76% now say healthcare should be a priority this year, including 70% of Independents and 56% of republicans.

Read more here

As Dems cave to cavemen, meet the pissed off Maddow.

Pulling the trigger on the public option Sept. 11: Syndicated columnist David Sirota explains to msnbc's Rachel Maddow why the inclusion of a trigger mechanism for the public option in health care reform will ultimately mean the public option is never enacted.

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Beutler: House Progressive Whacks Conrad and Baucus for Appeasing Heckler

As we've been reporting, Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MT) responded to Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson (R-SC) with incredulity by implicitly affirming his false accusation that Democratic health care legislation will be a boon to illegal immigrants.

That move hasn't gone unnoticed, and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)--a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus--has some pretty harsh words for the two.

"The senators are knee-jerking and over-reacting," Grijalva told me today, denouncing the move.

Grijalva has emerged in recent weeks as one of the House progressives most committed to insisting health care reform legislation include a public option.

"Part of the problem with the Finance Committee bill is that it's being done to appease people instead of being done to put something together," Grijalva said, calling the process "tainted" and "discredited" and noting that "the people putting it together are ex-lobbyists."

Grijalva insisted he wants to "set the bar high and not do something that's at the lower common denominator."

"If that happens," he said, "I thnk passage of the legislation will be very, very difficult."

Aravosis: THIS JUST IN: White House agrees with Baucus and Conrad, appeases "You Lie!" Wilson

No snark needed. They got yelled at, and they caved. Again. And as a result, it's going to make the plan more expensive, by decreasing savings we would have reaped by getting illegal immigrants out of the emergency rooms:

Many illegal immigrants must now seek medical treatment in emergency rooms, which by law cannot turn them away. In recent years, the federal government has spent $250 million a year to reimburse hospitals for bills that go unpaid as a result. The White House said those reimbursements would continue.

And our premiums more expensive.

It will probably also make average premiums higher, since the exchanges will be left with a smaller risk pool and there’s no real reason to believe that the subset of undocumented immigrants who are capable of affording an unsubsidized insurance policy are below-average health risks.

So why do it? Because they got yelled at by a crazy guy. (Background on this issue here.)

digby adds:

Well, this worked out so well that the Republicans are going to start screaming "Hitler, Hitler Hitler" at him every time he appears before a joint session. He'll be railing against capital gains taxes and singing about snowflake babies before you know it:

...

I knew that Baucus and Conrad had gone scurrying to appease the xenophobes, probably just by reflex, but I honestly can't figure out why the White House felt it was necessary to appease this lunatic faction. Apparently there isn't any rightwing lunatic faction so crazy that they won't try to appease it.

I don't get it. Wilson was strongly condemned by sane people everywhere. The only people who backed him were people who are never going to vote for health care reform even if we agree to shoot anyone who looks like a Mexican before they ever cross the threshhold of a hospital (although they'd certainly volunteer to do the shooting.) Whose vote does the administration think they will get with this, anyone know?