Bill Scher: Whither The Blue (Cross) Dogs

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from OurFuture.org:



Progressive Breakfast: Whither The Blue (Cross) Dogs
By Bill Scher

June 22, 2009 - 9:44am ET


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Will Senate Listen To 3/4 of US on Health Care?

Second major poll finds huge support for public plan option. NYT: "72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed ... the proposal received broad bipartisan backing, with half of those who call themselves Republicans saying they would support a public plan, along with nearly three-fourths of independents and almost nine in 10 Democrats."

Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama will take his case to the American people this week on a plan to overhaul the U.S. health-care system ... Obama invited the ABC television network to broadcast from the White House on June 24 and will take health-care questions from the public in the East Room. Three House panels will hold hearings during the week, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is rushing to finish draft legislation before Congress starts a weeklong recess on June 29."

Leading House Democrats introduce bill with public health plan option. NYT:

The three House committees plan to hold as many as six hearings on the bill next week. Mr. Waxman said lawmakers were committed to considering all ideas, even a proposal to tax some employer-provided health benefits, which he opposes ...

...Under the bill, the public plan would be run by the Department of Health and Human Services and would offer three or four policies, with different levels of benefits. The plan would initially use Medicare fee schedules, paying most doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, plus about 5 percent. After three years, the health secretary could negotiate with doctors and hospitals ...The public plan would receive an unspecified amount of start-up money from the federal government. After that, it would have to be self-sustaining.

The bill would require drug companies to finance improvements in the Medicare drug benefit. Drug companies would have to pay rebates to the government on drugs dispensed to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. The bill would expand Medicaid to cover millions of people with incomes below 133 percent of the poverty level ($14,400 for an individual, $29,330 for a family of four). The cost would be borne by the federal government. The government would also offer subsidies to make insurance more affordable for people with incomes from 133 percent to 400 percent of the poverty level ($43,300 for an individual, $88,200 for a family of four).

Change.org's Tim Foley praises House: "...it’s nice to see the people in power actually ask for what they want, and what they promised they’d deliver this year, rather than start compromising before the plan has hit the desk."

Sen. Diane Feinstein undercuts President Obama on CNN's State of the Union: "Well to be candid with you, I don't know that he has the votes right now. I think there's a lot of concern in the Democratic caucus. Senator Lugar's point about the economy, the trillions of dollars that have gone into buttressing the economy, now we're going to be dealing with regulation of the financial sector. What all of the impact of this is not yet known. Ergo, you have enormous problems in my state. California's bigger than the populations of 21 states and the District of Columbia put together. We have an enormous health care industry, 350 hospitals. University of California alone has 34,000 health care workers, has health care worth $4 billion a year. So it's complicated. Additionally, the state is in a state of financial catastrophe. I think that's clear. So, if you change the Medicaid rate, for example, it has an impact on California between $1 billion and $5 billion a year. Now, how could I support that? Because it would take down the state" ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009062622/progressive-breakfast-whither-blue-cross-dogs