Tuesday (2 June) I got an unusual robo-call. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA14-Blue Cross) invited me into a telephone town hall meeting "already in progress".
During this call, a caller named Bonnie asked about health care and single-payer health care. Rep. Anna Eshoo's response is why this diary is titled:
Rep. Anna Eshoo backs insurance companies over humans
Bonnie asked why single-payer health care wasn't being proposed and why Anna wasn't doing anything about it.
Anna's reply:
I know "some" people are in favor of it. But the votes are not there.
Timeout! We are just at the beginning of the process and "the votes are not there".
Anna continues:
We don't want to make anyone leave the employer plan that they are happy with.
Maybe Anna Eshoo should talk to Steve McArthur about single-payer health care:
When the time came for questions, [self-employed consultant Steve] McArthur stood up and asked a simple question. Looking across a standing-room-only crowd of about 275, he asked how many were happy with their employer-based health insurance.
Fewer than 10 people raised their hands.
"The [argument] is bogus," McArthur said. "It's not working for 95 percent of us."
In fact, any mention of single-payer health care insurance brought raucous cheers and clapping. Any other solution to health care reform - including Baucus' "balanced" plan that would create a mix of public and private plans - was received more coolly.
So Anna the votes of the people are there. Which "votes" aren't there?
Anna should talk to James Crawford about his "rob a bank" solution alternative to single-payer health care:
Mr. Crawford, 61, who makes do on $1,800 a month in Social Security and veterans’ benefits, decided he could afford only the heart, blood pressure and acid reflux pills. "If I can rob a bank," he said, chuckling, "I’ll be back for the others."
Considering how expensive any health care plan is, mandating employer coverage is the wrong "solution". This solution is the same as the problem!
And why is debate on single-payer health care being shut down?
Anna Eshoo is counting votes, but like Max Baucus only the ones for the people playing ball:
Sen. Max Baucus--a favorite recipient of donations from the health insurance industry--has also been the key Democratic attack dog against single-payer healthcare.
He stated it's "off the table," and this morning convened a Senate Finance Committee hearing that included 15 expert witnesses on healthcare--NONE of them in support of a medicare-for-all or single-payer healthcare system.
So Anna, "count the votes"?
Excuse me. But aren't leaders supposed to lead? Aren't leaders supposed to change votes?
Is Anna "Votes not there" Eshoo is in the pocket of the insurance companies and trying to soften up her constituents?
Sure enough according to maplight.org Anna Eshoo is in the hip pocket of the health care industry. Anna's 2nd and 3rd, 10th top contributors for the 2008 campaign cycle are (drumroll please):
(2nd) Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $383,129
(3rd) Health Professionals $263,925
(10th) Health Services/HMOs $79,100
(21.2%) of Total Campaign Contributions Received: $3,418,572
Usually you accept the "votes not being there" at the end of the process. Thanks to MapLight we know now that for Anna, like Max, the process ended when the Blue Cross lobbyist left her office.