OurFuture.org Blogs: Alex Lawson

Billionaires For Wealthcare Thank Bachmann Mob For Their Support

Alex Lawson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:25:18 -0800

On Thursday the 9/12ers were whipped up into an undifferentiated rage against most everything that is not Michele Bachmann or Fox News. The protest was brought to DC on an AstroTurf wave of Billionaire Koch dollars.

The Billionaires for Wealthcare thought it would be a great idea to sing their praises for a job well done on protecting the status quo.

The Billionaires singled out particular representatives at the event for their service:

* Rep. Michele Bachmann (R – MN) – who has taken $200,000 in campaign donations from health care interests
* Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) – who has taken $2.4 million
* Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) – $1.3 million
* Rep. Scott Garret (R-NJ) – $240,000
Source: Center for Responsive Politics

At the 1:00 minute mark you can see some glad-handing with Randall Terry.

And a peek behind the curtain, what does the glamorous life of a Billionaire for Wealthcare really look like?

My favorite is the woman at the end who keeps yelling, "get a job!"

h/t StarkReports.com
Also posted at Kos

Taking the Fight to Them

Alex Lawson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:16:38 -0700

With only eight months in office, Rep. Alan Grayson is showing Democrats how to respond to the manufactured outrage from the right-wing.

Rep. Grayson took to the floor of the House to tell Americans the truth— the Republicans do not have a plan to provide health care.

By default, this makes their "plan" for Americans "to not to get sick, and if they do get sick, to die quickly".

This statement drew sharp rebukes from the talking heads and pontificators of the right-wing, who demanded an apology, despite a few facts:

• What Rep. Grayson said was true.

• Republicans have repeatedly taken to the floor of the House and accused the Democrats of working to have seniors "put to death by their government."

• The Republican surrogates in the right-wing media have accused Democrats of planning death panels for old people, mandates in support of abortion, and mandatory sex changes.

But, luckily for us Rep. Grayson knows how to deal with bullies. You fight back.

"Democrats have to have guts. We have to have the guts to take the majority the country gave to us and do something with it."

The Only Alternative is the Status Quo

Alex Lawson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:35:50 -0700

Senator Rockefeller summed up the state of health reform when he said, "There is no alternative to the public health insurance option, the only alternative is the status quo."

But, we know that the status quo and its lackeys in Congress are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that they can continue to profit off of the broken health care system.

In the House, the latest CBO score on the public health insurance plan seems to be the final nail in the coffin of the Blue Dog Amendment that sought to weaken it.

And Speaker Pelosi, who continues to show great leadership, was optimistic emerging from a Thursday caucus meeting saying, “I feel very confident. We have plenty of good options — we have plenty of good opportunities here. And so one thing I know for sure, at end of the day, a public option is the strongest lever that we can use to get the best possible outcome for America's working families.”

It looks like the House is going to pass a strong bill and will not cave to the corporate insurance interests by removing or watering down the public health insurance plan. This puts the House in line with the will of the majority of the country.

Despite media-driven and insurance company-funded turmoil during the August recess, a CBS/New York Times Poll released today reports that 65 percent of respondents favored a public health insurance plan, an increase of 5 percentage points from the last poll conducted in August 2009.

Lawmakers should pay particular attention to the response that shows support for health reform plummets if the public health insurance plan is removed.

This brings us back to the Senate where the Finance Committee is moving through a painful markup process. The Baucus Bill does not include a public health insurance plan, but there are several amendments offered by Sen. Rockefeller and Sen. Schumer that would create one.

McJoan reported on a Thursday call with Sen. Rockefeller and Sen. Schumer,

Both members refuse to consider the possibility that there won't be a public option in the final legislation, even in light of the reality of the challenge that the Senate Finance committee is "more conservative than the Senate caucus as a whole, and the Senate is more conservative than the House." The fight would "go down to the wire," but nonetheless, Rockefeller asserted that, "I think we have a good shot of getting it out of the Finance Committee." Both reiterated the necessity of having the public option to create competition and bring the costs down.

The latest news is that voting on the Rockefeller and Schumer amendments to include a public health insurance plan will take place on Tuesday. We need to make our voices heard so that members of the committee know we are not going to let them buck the will of the people and pass a bailout for the insurance companies.

Click here to call your Senators (even if they are not on the Finance Committee)

Senator Schumer said, “This is the first in the series of important votes on the public health insurance option; if we keep building up support we have a good chance of winning. My prediction is that at the end of the day we will have a good form of the public option in the final bill."

Click here to call your Senators

Protect Insurance Companies PSA

Alex Lawson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:34:24 -0700

Finally, we see some of Hollywood's A-list actors get on board this incredibly important issue. It is time we stand up and defend insurance company profits!

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Who Are They Listening To?

Alex Lawson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:45:40 -0700

Last week the New England Journal of Medicine published a poll that showed 63 percent of doctors support giving people the choice of a public health insurance option. This morning, groups representing 500,000 doctors took out an ad urging Congress to support comprehensive reform.

From the press release,

Today doctors’ groups representing more than 500,000 physicians nationwide announced they have come together in a new effort urging Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform. In the unprecedented joint endeavor, an array of prominent doctors’ organizations has signed on to a print ad that will run in Roll Call’s print and online editions this week.

The ad, unveiled today at a press conference in Washington, emphasizes that real health care reform is urgently needed so that doctors can better care for their patients.

“The status quo is unacceptable,” said J. James Rohack, M.D., President of the American Medical Association, one of the groups sponsoring the ad. “America has the best health care in the world, but it's out of reach for too many people because they lack health insurance. Physicians are joining together to encourage Congress to seize this year's opportunity to make real improvements to the health system for patients and physicians.”

“If health reform fails, the result will be more uninsured patients, more families going bankrupt because of high health care bills, more cherry-picking, more Medicare insolvency, and continuation of a payment system that undervalues the care provided by internists, leading many young physicians to choose other fields,” said Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP, and President of the American College of Physicians. “This is not a future I want for my patients or our noble profession.”

“As a physician on the front lines of health care, I know that the system is broken, and if we do nothing, it will get worse. That's why Doctors for America members across the country are standing up to support health care reform. We will continue to work with Congress, the President, and our communities to make sure we achieve effective reform this year,” said Dr. Mandy Krauthamer, Executive Director of Doctors for America.

A copy of the ad can be seen at http://www.doctors-support-reform.org.

The majority of the public , the majority of doctors, and 220 members in the House and 50 in the Senate support a public health insurance plan. In addition, four of the five committees with jurisdiction have already passed bills that include a public health insurance option.

But, we continue to hear from Senators on the Finance Committee that there aren't the votes to pass a bill with a public health insurance option, and that they just haven't heard enough support for the public health insurance option.

All of this makes me wonder, who are these Senators listening to? (Hint: they have given over $10 million to members of Congress since January)

Answer: The health insurance and HMO industries

It should come as no surprise that when the Baucus bill was released, health insurance stocks rallied. As is, the Baucus bill does not have the votes to pass out of committee. Hopefully, we will see some good amendment passed, but even after it is amended we should recognize that this bill is still the Big Insurance bill.

The final bill that hits the president's desk needs to be one written to fix our health care crisis, not one written to please the insurance industry.

If the insurance companies win, you lose.

Tomorrow, September 22, hundreds of demonstrations are going to take place around the country to protest the insurance industry's rampant abuses and to let our elected officials know that they are either with us or with the insurance companies.

You can find an event near you here.

UPDATE: Demand your insurance company stop standing between you and your doctor, stop denying care, stop terminating policies for financial gain, and stop spending your premium dollars lobbying against health care reform and a public health insurance option.

Click here to fax your insurance company and the Senate Finance Committee, who is starting debate their health care bill today, with these demands, so everyone knows what’s at stake.

Billionaires for Wealthcare Thank Teabaggers For Their Support

Alex Lawson — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:15:32 -0700

It was a lovely day in DC as the Billionaires for Wealthcare gathered to survey our investments. After a few of our beautiful heiresses took proper tea at the Ladies Tea Party held by Americans for Prosperity, our gilded heroes headed off to greet the marchers with signs, chants and songs.

We set up our post on an elevated curb along Pennsylvania Avenue, proudly surveying the throngs we'd funded. The crowds mainly greeted us with cheers for the status quo. A few seemed confused; they were clearly in awe to be face-to-face with those who profit from their most manipulated fears.

As they passed we waved them on and serenaded them with our songs.

From our perch, your trusty billionaires we thanked our hardworking teabaggers, rallying the crowd with rousing chants like “Money is freedom!”, “Freedom Works – FOR US!, “You Protest – We Profit!” and the big crowd favorite, “Bring Back Bush!!!”

From there we decamped and headed into the crowds toward the Capitol to mingle with those working so hard to ensure our right to raise rates and deny claims.

The crowd embraced us with their exuberant chants and signs. Ayn Rand was a favorite theme, of which we naturally approved, but some were a bit unique. Regardless, we're proud of the teabaggers, and so thrilled that they came out like good soldiers. After all, nothing says freedom like denying claims. And besides, OUR death panels turn a profit.

To close we popped some champagne, toasted our teabaggers and took our leave of the march.

Back in the limo, we enjoyed the last of our caviar and, as a final touch, sent a huge flower arrangement to the luxury suite of our most loyal foot soldier, Glenn Beck, and headed home.

Until the next rally, we remain yours in obscene wealth and the status quo – Billionaires For Wealthcare.

You, too can be a billionaire in the comfort of your local Town Hall Meeting! Check our website and join in the fun!

[HCIP] Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan

Alex Lawson — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:06:33 -0700

***HEALTHCARE FOR ALL INFORMATION PROJECT***
Sign up to receive our Health Care Information Project by email. Check the box next to Health Care for All

• 1. Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan by Roger Hickey, The Huffington Post, August 31, 2009

• 2. Private Health Insurance Reform: Good, But - Without Public Insurance Option - Not Good Enough, Press call with Tim Jost, Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-CA, Institute for America's Future, August 27, 2009

1. Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan
By Roger Hickey
The Huffington Post
August 31, 2009
Click for source

Let's get a few things straight:

• Until last year, Senator Edward M. Kennedy's health care bill (co-authored with with Rep. John Dingell) was a bill known as Medicare for All. Not expensive private insurance for some, but Medicare [a public insurance plan] for All.

• Senator Kennedy encouraged candidate and then President Obama to make health care for all his first priority -- during the campaign and as he took office.

• And Ted Kennedy remained in charge as his HELP (Health, Education and Labor and Pension) Committee wrote -- and then passed -- a new health care bill with a strong public insurance option for those who want it.

I feel the need to remind people of all this because conservatives, and especially Republican Senators, are trying to promote the idea that if only Ted Kennedy were still actively involved in the health care reform effort, he could have gotten the Democrats to fold and embrace a weakened "bi-partisan" compromised health reform strategy. And some are urging that the best tribute we could construct to the great man's memory is to pass such a watered-down health bill that could win the support of a large number of conservative Republicans.
Read more here

2. Private Health Insurance Reform: Good, But - Without Public Insurance Option - Not Good Enough
Press call with Tim Jost, Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-CA
Institute for America's Future
August 27, 2009
Click for source

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., chair of House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, joined health care expert Timothy Jost, and Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey on a conference call today to release Jost's new Institute for America's Future report, which found that private health insurance reform alone is not enough to reform the health care system as a whole, and that the public health insurance option remains a crucial lynchpin for the success of health reform.

"The fact that Medicare consistently polls more popular with seniors than private insurance polls with working people should tell us something about why we need a public plan for everybody," said Jost. "The private insurance industry has created a system by which people are not covered, undercovered, or lack financial security, and reform is absolutely necessary." "But, even if we outlaw explicit risk selection, private plans will still find ways to cherry pick."

Rep. Stark agreed that a public insurance option remains the key to successful health reform. "The bill won't pass the House without a strong public health insurance option," said Stark. "It's probably the most important part in getting any savings. It's only the way to accomplish successful reform without imposing draconian regulations on insurance companies. We need a new competitor in the race."

As for the idea of replacing the public health insurance option with a "health insurance cooperative," Stark said the cooperatives were the insurance equivalent of "unicorns." They may sound good, but they have no real-world viability.
Read more here

Selected coverage of the call

• Health Compromise to See Changes Before Vote, House Dems Say by Martin Vaughan, The Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2009
• Pete Stark: Co-Ops The Equivalent Of A "Medical Unicorn" by Sam Stein, The Huffington Post, August 27, 2009
• Town Halls Try Members' Patience by Jennifer Bendery and John Stanton, Roll Call, Aug. 27, 2009
• Lawmakers say bill may lose negotiated payments (requires free registration) by Matthew DoBias, Modern Healthcare, August 27, 2009

Additional Resources:
Public Health Insurance Resource Page

• Who's Paying to Kill Health Reform: A handy chart showing where the money is coming from
• Health Reform Fact Check: Make sure that you are armed with the facts regarding the myths about health insurance reform
• Health Care for America Now: Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses
• Jacob Hacker: "Healthy Competition: How to Structure Public Health Insurance Plan Choice to Ensure Risk-Sharing, Cost Control, and Quality Improvement" (PDF)
• Jacob Hacker: "The Case For Public Plan Choice in National Health Reform: Key to Cost Control and Quality Coverage" (PDF)
• Diane Archer: "Near Universal Coverage, But No Cost Controls or Guarantee of Quality, Affordable Health Care for All" (PDF)
• Frank Clemente: "A Public Health Insurance Plan: Reducing Costs and Improving Quality" (PDF)
• The Commonwealth Fund: The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way
• Leaders and Experts Agree that a Public Insurance Option is Critical to the Success of Obama's Health Reform Proposals (PDF)

MedPAC Debunks Cost-Shifting Claims of Hospital, Insurance Industries

Alex Lawson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:33:36 -0700

A report done for Health Care for America Now

A recent Milliman, Inc. analysis on behalf of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) argues that Medicare doesn’t pay hospitals enough, causing private payers to pay well above costs to keep hospitals solvent. This is referred to as ‘cost-shifting.’ (1) The non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) refutes this argument and finds that a hospital’s relative market strength – and not Medicare-related cost-shifting – determines what a hospital is paid by private payers. This issue is central to the current debate on establishing a new public health insurance plan option and the authority of the new plan to establish reasonable provider rates.

History of Hospital – Private Payer Relative Market Strength

The history of private insurers and hospital price negotiations is a telling one, as MedPAC explained in its March 2009 report to Congress. (2)

 Hospital leverage: From 1987 through 1992, hospital profits from private payers grew, and from 1987 through 1993 the rate of hospital cost growth was above the rate of inflation in goods and services purchased by hospitals.

 Insurer leverage: From 1994 through 2000, managed care restrained private-payer payment rates, and hospital cost growth fell below the rate of inflation in hospital-purchased goods and services.

 Hospital leverage returns: “By 2000, hospitals had regained the upper hand in price negotiations due to hospital consolidations and consumer backlash against managed care,”(3) MedPAC reported.

With the loss in leverage over hospitals, private insurers have in turn passed along these costs through higher premiums to enrollees and employers. MedPAC reported, “While insurers appear to be unable or unwilling to ‘push back’ and restrain payments to providers, they have been able to pass costs on to the purchasers of insurance and maintain their profit margins.”(4)

Findings on Hospital Revenues, Costs and Pricing

 Hospitals with the greatest resources are less aggressive about containing costs and therefore have the highest Medicare ‘losses’ (the difference between Medicare rates and a hospital’s average costs). The most profitable and powerful hospitals spend more and increase their costs per unit of service. Hospitals with high profits, low financial pressure, large endowments or robust fundraising have the highest costs, and a higher cost base leads to lower Medicare margins. If Medicare were to increase payment rates, hospitals with market power would be unlikely to voluntarily cut prices charged to insurers and reduce revenue. Instead, hospitals might spend some or all of that revenue, pushing costs higher still. (5)

 Hospitals in markets with little or no competition force private insurers to pay excessive rates, driving prices too high. That is the finding of MedPAC,(6) corroborated by insurance industry leaders, including AHIP President Karen Ignagni, who said hospital industry consolidation had increased hospitals’ market power, thereby reducing insurers’ ability to negotiate discounts.(7) In areas with more robust hospital competition, insurers have the power, much like Medicare, to set provider rates.

 The real issue is not whether private plans pay doctors and hospitals more than government programs, but what is a fair rate based on the actual cost of providing quality care. The Milliman report itself discloses the limitations of its study, noting that it "does not assess appropriate levels of payment.” (8) It only compares how much different payers reimburse providers for the same service. MedPAC reports that Medicare aims to establish payment rates that cover costs that reasonably efficient providers would incur in furnishing high-quality care, thereby rewarding providers whose costs fall below the payment rates and giving an incentive to those with costs above the payment rates to become more efficient. (9)

 MedPAC concluded, “Increasing Medicare payments is not a long-term solution to the problem of rising private insurance premiums and rising health care costs. In the end, affordable health care will require incentives for health care providers to reduce their rates of cost growth.” (10)

Relation of Cost to Quality
Although efficient hospitals have lower costs, they often deliver better medical care, MedPAC found in a separate study. (11) In a review of 300 hospitals that performed well on a mix of quality measures and costs, the agency found these hospitals tended to have lower patient death rates than other hospitals.

1. Milliman, “Hospital & Physician Cost Shift: Payment Level Comparison of Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial Payers,” December 2008. Accessed at http://www.milliman.com/expertise/healthcare/publications/rr/pdfs/hospit....
2. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, “Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy,” March 2009. Accessed at http://www.medpac.gov/documents/Mar09_EntireReport.pdf.
3. Ibid. Pg 58.
4. Ibid. Pg. 59.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. “Daschle to Face Tough Questions on Competition in Health Insurance,” Robert Pear, The New York Times, January 8, 2009. Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08daschle.html.
8. “Consumers and Employers Paying Almost $90 Billion Due to Under-Payments to Hospitals and Physicians by Medicare and Medicaid,” Press Release, America’s Health Insurance Plans, December 9, 2008. Accessed at http://www.ahip.org/content/pressrelease.aspx?docid=25218.
9. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, “Hospital Acute Inpatient Services Payment System," October 2008. Accessed at http://www.medpac.gov/documents/MedPAC_Payment_Basics_08_hospital.pdf.
10. Ibid, p 64.
11. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, “Statement for the Record,” March 10, 2009, Committee on Ways and Means.

[HCIP] HELP health plan, Reform without public plan, Urban Institute report

Alex Lawson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:59 -0700

***HEALTHCARE FOR ALL INFORMATION PROJECT***
Sign up to receive our Health Care Information Project by email. Check the box next to Health Care for All
---------------------------------------------
http://www.ourfuture.org/healthcare

Contents:
1. CBO-KAY! Senate HELP Bill Rebounds
2. Important new report on public insurance plans from the Urban Institute
3. Memo To Deficit Hawks: Public Plan Option Indisputably Saves Money
4. Health Care Deform: Afraid of the public option? This is what America will look like without it
5. WeWantThePublicOption.com
6. Tell Congress: Take the Pledge!

1. CBO-KAY! Senate HELP Bill Rebounds
By Tim Foley
Change.org
Click for source

Republicans have made hay for the past few weeks on how Ted Kennedy's bill cost too much ($1 trillion dollars) and covered too few (only an additional 16 million). Of course, that score was on a partial bill, one that the Congressional Budget Office itself claimed "[does] not represent a formal or complete cost estimate for the draft legislation" (italics theirs.) It also lacked the details on the individual mandate, the employer "pay or play" mandate, and the public health insurance option. But Kennedy and Chris Dodd have kept at it, undeterred from the catcalls, and have finally delivered the goods. According to Jon Cohn on The Treatment, the new, full bill is in.
Read more here

2. Important new report on public insurance plans from the Urban Institute
By John Holahan and Linda Blumberg
Urban Institute
Click for source

John Holahan and Linda Blumberg make the economic case that the public health insurance option will drive competition and control costs in what is currently a non-competitive marketplace, in a new paper released by the Urban Institute last week. The report, called "Is a Public Health Insurance Option an Essential Part of Reform?" describes both the heavy consolidation in the insurer and hospital markets and its implications as well as the benefits of a public health insurer competitor. The authors find that a robust national public plan would save the federal government between $224 and $400 billion. They assume such a plan would not only be able to offer Americans a lower-cost insurance option, but it would set a benchmark for private plans that would lead them to be more efficient and bring down their costs.
Read the whole report here

3. Memo To Deficit Hawks: Public Plan Option Indisputably Saves Money
By Bill Scher
Campaign for America's Future
Click for source

When the CBO scored an early draft of the health care form bill from the Senate HELP committee as costing $1 trillion over 10 years but only covering one-third of the uninsured, obstructionists pounced and proclaimed the public plan option dead.
But the CBO had not assessed the cost of the public plan option, nor a mandate on most employers to either provide insurance or contribute to the public plan.

Now they have. And as serious reform advocates long claimed, including those two key provisions drops the 10-year cost of reform by nearly $400 billion, while achieving near universal coverage. Will the self-proclaimed deficit hawks now embrace the public plan option since it would save money?
Read more here

4. Health Care Deform: Afraid of the public option? This is what America will look like without it
By Jacob Hacker and Rahul Rajkumar
The New Republic
Click for source

The issue sucking up the oxygen in Washington today is whether to have a public health insurance plan compete with private insurers for the business of Americans without secure workplace coverage. Americans overwhelmingly back the idea, President Obama strongly supports it, and House Democratic leaders have drafted legislation that shows how it can be done. But the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies and some medical provider groups have cried foul, and they have found a receptive ear not just among Republicans but also some Democrats who demand that reform be bipartisan, even if they have to cut the heart out of it.
Read more here

5. WeWantThePublicOption.com
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Click for source

76% of Americans say "we want the public option," and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is going to make sure that Democratic Senators listen to them. The PCCC is currently airing an ad showing popular support for the public health insurance plan in Washington, DC on MSNBC, CNN, and during the Daily Show. Lend your support to making sure that your Senators hear your voice.
Read more here

6. Tell Congress: Take the Pledge!
Firedoglake.com
Click for source

Progressive members of Congress need to draw a line in the sand and demand a public health insurance option -- something 76% of Americans want.

They need to Take the Pledge to vote against any health care bill that doesn't have a public plan which is:

available nationwide
on day one
and accountable to Congress and the voters
Please call progressive members of Congress and ask them to Take the Pledge now.

Take part in the whip count here

Additional Resources:
Public Health Insurance Resource Page