Kucinich Switches Vote on Health Care

Kucinich Switches Vote on Health Care
By JEFF ZELENY
10:28 a.m. | Updated

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, said today that he plans to support the health care bill when it comes up for a vote this week. He becomes the first Democrat to publicly disclose his intention to switch from a “no” to a “yes” vote on the legislation.

“I’ve decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation,” Mr. Kucinich said at a morning news conference in the Capitol. “If my vote is to be counted, let it count now for passage of the bill, hopefully in the direction of comprehensive health care reform.”

Mr. Kucinich said he was “quite aware of the historic fight” underway and decided to drop his opposition that the bill did not go far enough. He said, “I believe health care is a civil right.”

Major Health Reform Despite Status Quo Forces

The politics of the national health reform debate has been brutal. Despite the majority of Americans expecting Congress to significantly reform our dysfunctional health care system, a minority of obstructionists in Congress have sought to do the bidding the powerful special interests that fund their reelection campaigns, namely the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and protect the status quo.

The health insurance industry is expected to spend more than $10 million this year to defeat reform and are using 50,000 paid lobbyist (contract lobbying firms and their own employees). The pharmaceutical industry is expected to spend even more, with about 2,000 lobbyists (no evidence it is using regular company employees to lobby).  Despite this tremendously influential power, efforts have from ordinary Americans have not been for naught.

The following has been under-reported and has all but been lost in coverage in recent weeks: the cost of the current health care system is $2.4 trillion and this figure has been and will continue to rise about 7 percent each year.  This is not a projection; this is a proven trend that will only get worse if we do not reform the system now. Many economists project long-term debt reduction with reform. The US spends double per person on health care than any other capitalist democracy. An irony not to be missed is that these other countries cover everybody; by contrast, we have 47 million uninsured and rank lower than other countries on a range of health outcomes.  One thing just about everyone agrees passes the common-sense test is that doing nothing equals “head in the sand.”

Both chambers of Congress actually agree on major improvements to the current system and these are expected to be in the legislation that President Obama signs.  Here are ten significant improvements:

1.  Peace of mind for 30 million Americans, who will no longer be uninsured and will have access to guaranteed affordable coverage.

2. Security for all Americans because everyone will be guaranteed comprehensive benefits. Health insurers operating in the individual and small group markets will no longer be allowed sell subprime policies that deny coverage when illness strikes and you need it most.

3. Moves us toward financial responsibility by reducing overall spending on health care and thus help reduce the deficit. Analysis concludes reform would not increase the national debt, rather, would reduce the debt by as much as $408 billion over a decade.

4. End discrimination by insurance companies as they will not longer be able to deny or drop coverage due to pre-existing conditions. They won’t be allowed to cherry pick only healthy people to cover, or rescind coverage, or impose lifetime or annual limits on policy coverage.

5. Reduces the cost burden for most Americans. Analysis projects an 8.4 percent reduction in premium costs, overall.

6. Low- & middle-income Americans will not go without coverage and will not go broke due to lack of coverage or struggling to afford coverage. All adults and children at or below 133 percent of poverty ($26,000/family of 4)  will be insured through Medicaid. Those above and earning up to 400 percent of poverty ($88,200/family of 4) will be offered subsidies to help afford premiums.

7. Prevention will be taken seriously. The Prevention and Public Health Fund will support public prevention programs to prevent disease and promote wellness.

8. Protects seniors and improves Medicare. Reform eliminates the waste and fraud in the Medicare system, gets rid of the special subsidy to private insurers participating in Medicare Advantage, extends the life of Medicare, and closes the doughnut hole.

9. Small Businesses will finally get some relief. Small businesses will get tax credit to help provide coverage to employees and will have access to the Exchange to shop for the best plan for them.

10. Provides parents and young adults peace of mind. Children will be able to continue coverage on family policies up to age 26.

Corker Does Not Pass the Common-sense Test

Sen. Bob Corker likes to preface his take on things by saying such and such passes the “common-sense test.” Well, when it comes to his words and actions about national health care reform, he is not passing the common-sense test.

The most obvious failure of the common-sense test is that Sen. Corker and his partisan colleagues in Congress have cast themselves in the role of the sensible ones. They say they have a better way. Yet, their party controlled the White House for eight straight years and controlled Congress for six of those years. So, Sen. Corker and his partisans have little credibility on this issue to begin with, and less so with all their trash talking and road blocking.

Not a single guaranteed Medicare provision is being cut, and Sen. Corker knows it. Yet he has since this summer played the obstructionist by trying to scare seniors into thinking their guaranteed benefits are being cut to fund general reform. Truth is, reform will bring taxpayer funded subsidies for private Advantage Medicare back in line with traditional Medicare—that is the Medicare that 75 percent of seniors like. Such reform will extend Medicare’s solvency for five years at the expense of subsidized gym memberships in the unpopular Advantage plans. Reform that protects seniors passes the common sense of most Americans.

Sen. Corker says reform will add to the national debt.  He is a smart guy so surely his knows that the cost of the current health care system is $2.4 trillion and this figure has been and will continue to rise about 7 percent each year.  This is not a projection; this is a proven trend that will only get worse if we do not reform the system now. Many experts disagree with Sen. Corker and project long-term debt reduction with reform. The US spends double per person on health care than any other capitalist democracy. An irony not be missed is that these other countries cover everybody; by contrast, we have 47 million uninsured and rank lower than most on a range of health outcomes.  One thing just about everyone agrees passes the common-sense test is that doing nothing equals “head in the sand.”

Sen. Corker’s recklessly calls the proposed Medicaid expansion an unfunded mandate.  Rep. Jim Cooper more accurately calls it a “funded” unmandate, meaning Tennessee is getting a gift of extraordinary funding from the federal government to expand health care insurance for all low-income adults and children. This is a common-sense solution that is sorely needed in a state with a million-plus uninsured, a jobless rate higher than the national average, decreasing employer sponsored insurance, and a state administration that has been unable to handle its health care crisis.

When President Eisenhower created the interstate highway system it was understood that it was a big undertaking that would cost a significant amount initially and would take time to fully implement.  It was an investment in the future of America and all Americans.  No one cried foul that for every dollar invested 90 cents would come from the feds and 10 cents from the states.  Rather, it was celebrated as a good deal.  This coincidentally is the ratio states will get when the reformed Medicaid kicks in.  That’s right, for every dollar Tennessee invests in Medicaid, it will get 9 federal dollars–a deal like Ike’s. Surely Sen. Corker would not accuse former President Eisenhower of flunking the common-sense test!

GOP Scare Tactics Continue

Those with no hope or vision for a better way can offer only fear and darkness for tomorrow and today.

Did you catch any of the Senate debate yesterday?   The GOP senators continued their strategy of trying to scare seniors & their families by, shall I politely call it, delivering misinformation.  Sen. Dodd challenged them to show one–just one–example of where there were going to be cuts to the currently guaranteed Medicare programs or services. A challenge, which was of course ignored because there is not example.

Truth is the American taxpayer has been subsidizing the PRIVATE Medicare Advantage plans and all the reform bill is bring funding for private Advantage in line with traditional Medicare–which BTW most seniors prefer.

Oh, and BTW, AARP, the Medicare Rights Center, and Center for Medicare Advocacy are supporting the reform bill and opposing GOP attempts to spread untruths.  Read this joint letter from MRC & CMA. , which likely helped in defeating McCain’s amendment to keep the pork in Medicare.

McCain A Flip-flopper

It is soooooo easy to be a high & mighty critic, especially when you count on the fact that most Americans have trouble remembering their own names let alone what a candidate for president had promised to do with Medicare.

McCain Dec. 2009: Champion of Seniors — offers an amendment to strip out cuts to over-funded private Advantage plans, claiming he “cares” about seniors.

McCain: 2008 Presidential Candidate – Promised, if elected, he would impose $1.3 trillion in cuts from the two government-administered programs over the course of 10 years — well more than the half trillion he says Democrats are pushing.

McCain, A History of “Caring” for Seniors: 1997, McCain voted in favor of raising the eligibility age for Medicare recipients (from 65 to 67) as a way of promoting cost containment within the health care system. In 2005, meanwhile, he backed a budget reconciliation bill that reduced spending on Medicare by $6.4 billion.

Senate HELP Committee Passes “Affordable Health Choices Act”

Link to press release and bill @ http://help.senate.gov/

This bill will now move to the Senate floor.