The new Deputy Director of the HHS Office of Consumer Information is Liz Fowler, former staff director for the Senate Finance Committee under Sen. Max Baucus. Suddenly, some of the same commentators on the left who spent a lot of their air time since 2008 telling us that the public option was a sellout have decided now to compound our ignorance by trashing Liz and blaming her for the P.O.'s demise. These attacks are not only a delusional disservice to a smart and dedicated public servant. They suggest that we should be reading tea leaves to figure out whether or not the Obama Administration has gone wrong, rather than taking history into our hands and doing something about it.
It's possible that the best thing for Liz' career right now, and for her success at her new job, might be her experience with the health insurance industry. So I say all this advisedly. Liz Fowler worked for Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Sen. Moynihan (D-NY) before landing in Sen. Baucus' Finance Committee, where she was among other roles a known voice of reason to progressive advocates. By 2005, after years of rabid Republicans dominating both Congress and the White House, many people I knew were thinking of leaving the country. A friend on the House side left for a job with a foundation, saying simply, "I got tired of getting screamed at every day." Liz did something I wouldn't have and couldn't have: she took a job at WellPoint. When times looked more promising, she was back working on the job that has motivated many over the last century: crafting a health care reform proposal that could pass.
There are plenty of critical things to say about the new law - as well as policy space to build on its positive improvements. The real opponents of reform, the career lobbyists for the insurance industry, pharma, and the corporate elite, are busy in DC and in the media trying to bend public opinion and policy in their interests. Want to stop them? Look up some real facts. Dive in on the regulations that will make health insurance more affordable. Work for single payer legislation in your state. Call your grandmother to tell her you're relieved that your health insurance will keep going til you're 26, and explain how the new law will improve her Medicare. Watch for some useful stuff coming out of the HHS Office of Consumer Affairs. Stay passionate and vigilant, about the things that actually matter.