I'm not at the health care summit today, but I still have a TV.
So I'm live-blogging all day here on Daily Kos.
Be sure to check out my previous updates and a terrific discussion in the comments at the original thread.
New updates after the jump.
5:27 PM
This summit made a few things real clear: The Republicans want to destroy Medicare. They don't want to lower costs. And they want to shovel more money to their insurance company friends.
President Obama and the Democrats want to fight for ordinary people who need affordable care.
I've been saying all along that the best way to do that is through the public option.
Thank you for joining me here today and adding your voice to this movement.
There's one more thing you can do to make our message heard: Help me make my goal of organizing 2,000 donors to show that people are willing to stand up to the special interest and the "do nothing" Republicans.
Click here to make a contribution and join my fight for the public option. Even as little as $5 from you will help us make our voices heard.
5:22 PM
OK, that was actually fun in a wonky kind of way. Now what?
Here's what i propose.
First, put the public option to a vote in the Senate.
Then, once it passes, add it to the corrections bill that modifies the Senate plan to be more like the House bill.
Then the House will pass both bills at the same time.
We in the House are done with acting "on spec" while the Senate dithers.
5:15 PM
The President's summary is good, but he needs to do a better job at making the case that Medicare and Medicaid are sucess stories. And that private insurance companies are more problem than solution.
He has always been strongest on the defining of the problem.
A speech on how Medicare came to be and what it has accomplished is in order.
5:01 PM
Wow! Speaker Pelosi closing with a bang.
Public option! Ripping the health insurance industry! Maybe we are in the room!
4:51 PM
The President let this turn into a gripe session after lunch.
So I hope he closes by closing down some of the myths and baloney that polluted some of the talking points.
4:19 PM
When Rep. Roskam was done explaining that his party's efforts to confuse and decieve voters about the bill have been sucessful, he moved on to a discussion of Medicaid.
He doesnt like it being used as a tool for expansion. I'm not crazy about it either. I'd prefer to use the Medicare model. Fewer state-by-state variabilities and fewer opportunities for a race to the bottom.
We should expand Medicare to all Americans.
4:06 PM
Henry Waxman is finally framing this debate as a choice. And the GOP plan has been largely hidden.
Rep. Ryan, who is a member of the GOP leadership, has proposed ending Medicare. ending it outright.
Let's spend a few hours on the floor of Congress debating the GOP plan. I'll be there for that for sure.
3:54
Alright, let's talk about tort reform.
Is Senator Durbin going to get a response? The fact is that many states already have adopted the Boehner plan. Did rates come down or those covered go up? Nope.
3:44 PM
"A majority vote makes sense."
After months of talking about the importance of the 60th vote and slowing the process to a standstill, the President needs to take a stronger stand for the idea that we want bipartisanship but we need majority rule.
3:36 PM
I like Rep. Cooper. He is a serious guy.
But I feel strongly that we have to save and improve Social Security and Medicare. Every bipartisan budget commission ever concieved has proposed deep cuts in benefits to those programs.
Democrats should stand up and fight for those programs. Let's not walk arm-in-arm down a path to weaken them.
3:32 PM
I think Leader Boehner is particuarlly livid about the tanning bed tax. Surprised he hasn't mentioned it.
3:14 PM
The discussion has lost its mojo here. When you are saying "CBO" more than three times per speaker, they should turn off the cameras.
Let's remember the choices here. Rep. Ryan and his party want to END Medicare completely. President Obama wants to lengthen its life.
Me? I want Medicare for all Americans. If I was in the room I'd be advocating for replacing private health insurance and its 30% overhead with Medicare's 1.05%
2:54 PM
What Rep. Ryan proposed: Privatize Social Security and end Medicare completely. Let's hear if he says that here.
Maybe we should have a vote on that too.
2:41 PM
Interesting moment just now: The President explained how the national exchange would give us more control and allow us to effectively make minimal national standards and thus permit true interstate sales of insurance.
The problem is the Senate bill envisions a state-by-state exchange, not a national one like we in the House passed. Another reason I think we should build up from the House bill in our final bill.
2:35 PM
Yup, i caught it too. Sen. Rockafeller said the words "public option." He says he supports it, but he thinks its dead.
If 51 senators are supporters, then let's include it. It already passed the House.
Am i missing something?
2:31 PM
If we follow Dave Camp's arguments about the sanctity of the state insurance departments keeping control over thier citizens and the insurance offered in thier states, then he opposes his other plan to allow the sale of insurance over state lines?
Just asking.
2:15 PM
The mother of all "insurance reforms" is competition. Competition = the public option. Let's see how often those words are said in this segment.
2:08 PM
What did Senator Enzi eat at lunch? He returns from lunch to complain AGAIN that he wished the process was more open.
Here's an assignment dear reader: See if you can find how many hours of hearings and markups the Senate HELP Committee had on this issue. He is a member.
1:16 PM
I just returned from the floor of the House where we had a vote. A few of my colleagues remarked to me about the fireworks on the floor yesterday and how they had hoped for a little more passion at the morning session at the White House.
But i disagree. This meeting hasn't produced drama but it has produced a pretty stark contrast. As the expression goes, it takes a great woman to build a barn, but any jackass can kick it down.
President Obama and my Democratic collegues have explained pretty clearly what the challenges are and how the bill(s) would address them, while the GOP talking points have all been run several times.
Did i miss the discussion of the public option? Maybe after lunch.
12:42 PM
Secretary Sebelius made one great point and begged a big question.
She makes the point that the GOP efforts to give tax benefits to individuals in effect goes against the best law of macroeconomics that we have going for us in the effort to get lower costs - the value of large markets.
When we aggregate citizens into large buying pools, we have influence. Sec. Sebelius is right that when we send each consumer or business out into the market on their own, they have virtually zero power.
But doesn't this argue for the mother of all buying pools - everybody? Imagine the influence on costs we will have if every man, woman, and child in the United States is part of one plan?
Let's call it Medicare.
12:33 PM
Sen. McCain is calling this a closed process?! He must be kidding.
The only part of this that was closed was that period of time when we were eagerly awaiting the Gang of Six in the Senate. (We saw how that turned out.)
Days and days of hearings. Hours and hours of mark-ups. And the floor debate in both houses. All live on TV!
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Be sure to check out my previous updates and a terrific discussion in the comments at the original thread.
