The Third Way Board of Trustees:

Dwight Anderson

Dwight Anderson is a principal and portfolio manager of Ospraie Management, LLC, a $8 billion investment firm focused on four investment strategies in the basic industry and commodity sectors – hedge fund, private equity, incubation/seeding and long-only…

Scott Delman

Mr. Delman is with DGZ Capital. Previously, he has served as a Belfer Center Research Fellow and the former President of Cap Z Investment Partners in New York where he oversaw investments in private equity funds and hedge funds…

Etc. etc., etc.

Wendell Potter predicted right where we would be at this point.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour…..atch2.html
“BILL MOYERS: As this debate unfolds in the next month, into the fall, what should we be watching for? Tell us as an insider what to look for that is more than meets the eye?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, what happens is they will continue this charm offensive, until there’s actual legislative language. And what that means, of course, is that right now, you’re not really seeing the bills before the House and the Senate that will actually be voted on. When we see the actual legislation, when there’s something before Congress, and it will happen, presumably, within the next few weeks, you’ll start seeing a lot more criticism of it.

And the special interests will be attacking this or that. The AMA will be upset about something. The pharmaceutical industry will be upset about something. The insurance industry will not like this or that. It’s, you know, a lot of money is made in this country off sick people. And then you’ll start seeing a lot more of the behind-the-scenes attacks on this legislation, in an attempt to kill it. The status quo is what would work best for these industries.

BILL MOYERS: In other words, if the industry is able to kill reform, or the Democrats and the Republicans can’t agree on a proposal, that’s what the industry really wants.

WENDELL POTTER: Exactly. And it happened in ‘93 and ‘94. And just about every time there has been significant legislation before Congress, the industry has been able to kill it. Yeah, the status quo works for them. They don’t like to have any regulation forced on them or laws forced on them. They don’t want to have any competition from the federal government, or any additional regulation from the federal government. They say they will accept it. But the behavior is that they will not– you know, they’ll not do anything after say this plan fails.

Say nothing happens. They’re saying now what they did in ‘93, ‘94. “We think preexisting conditions is a bad thing,” for example. Let’s watch and see if they really take the initiative to do anything constructive. I bet you won’t see it. They didn’t then.

BILL MOYERS: Well, on the basis of the past performance, and on the basis of your own experience in the industry, can we believe them when they say they will do these things voluntarily?

WENDELL POTTER: I don’t think you can. I think that they will implement things that make them more efficient. And that enhance shareholder value. And if what they do contributes to that, maybe so. But now, they do say, they are in favor of an individual mandate. They want us all to be insured.”

thanks for all you folks are doing

Turd Way.

Arbeit Macht Frei – underlies all the free to be underserved mantra.

It’s stunning when you realize how stupid they must think we all are…

That’s the trickle-down theory in solid form.

Heya Ruth, exactly.

And don’t forget how they bilk us through old-fashioned fraud: Hospital Corporation of American billed for “phantom nursing shifts“? Well, do tell!

They don’t seem to care what we think at all, as long as they can get their dirty deeds done. IMO, that’s what stunning.

What other industry demands and is likely granted a captive customer base under threat of financial sanction as a condition of submitting to the most minimal regulation to ensure honest business practices?

nailed it Marion

Bravo!

Mark it: Return to sender. Address unknown.

fuk them sideways with a rusty chainsaw
THEN PUT THEM IN JAIL LIKE AL Capone FOR TAX EVASION,OH AND negligent homicide

This is sickening.

As potter notes, this is what they have done in the past. And it has worked for them.

What we think doesn’t matter to our representatives. We need to find better ways to influence them, just as the special interests have.

They all know what the people think, they read the polls. But the weight we are given is next to nothing.

they revel in their power of life,or death over the serfs..imo

nothing will keep them from their greenbacks and GOLD
i believe that they made horrible real estate loans,and need to make up for all the $$$$$$$$$$ that disappeared

Last week I recieved an email from a Doctor Alice Chen in LA via the Oraganizing for America web site. She asked me to send a letter to the local newspaper coming out in favor of Obama’s health care reform. She said nothing about a public option or indeed anything about what might be in the reform she wanted me to support. Herewith my response:

Dr. Chen—

Thank you for your note. I too am anxious to see decent health care come to every American and I would be glad to write to my newspaper in support of President Obama’s plan to make that happen if only I knew what the President’s plan was. Unfortunately, even after his speech to Congress, I still only know that he wants healthcare for every American. I have little idea as to how he would go about doing that. I certainly do not know enough to write to my newspaper in favor of his “plan.” Content-free hosannas in favor of reform do not seem particularly useful.

As to content: Will President Obama’s plan include a genuine public option that I can write to my newspaper about? I know that he says it would be a good idea, but is it in his plan? I find it hard to know, since every time he says something supportive, one or more members of his administration say that it is not all that important. And, when it was voted on in the Senate Finance Committee he said nothing in support for what he says is a good idea.

A plan with an option is very different from a plan without one. Given what President Obama has already agreed to about the shape of healthcare after he signs a bill, a public option would make an important difference on several levels were it part of that bill.

For instance, President Obama made clear in May that he has decided to leave the current system largely intact. More specifically, as a nation we now spend 18% of our GDP on healthcare and President Obama intends to leave that percentage intact. Indeed, according to his own Council of Economic Advisors’ (CEA) June 2 report, he is prepared to see that 18% increase. He hopes it will increase less rapidly than in the recent past, but it is still going to increase. People will see no relief in the proportion of their income that goes to health care.

The CEA report however did not take a public option into account. Subsequent to the report, the Congressional Budget Office reported that a public option could lead to substantial savings. Obviously we don not know if it would ultimately lead to a drop in the 18%, but it is clear from the President’s own words that this percentage won’t drop without it.

In writing the letter you seek, I would find it difficult to reconcile the President’s willingness to see the portion of our GDP spent on health care increase with his ‘oft repeated statements that we spend too much of our GDP on health care, that this spending makes us uncompetitive in international commerce and we must do something about it. I would find it particularly difficulty to reconcile this growth in the GDP share with the President’s warnings that if we don’t act we will soon be spending one in five of everything we earn on health care. His CEA makes it clear that is going to happen even if we adopt his “plan.” This will certainly be the case without a public option.

It is also clear that President Obama is prepared to see massive new resources flow to the members of the private, for-profit medical industrial complex thereby increasing their influence over our national life substantially. With the personal mandate he now supports and with the flow of tax-payer provided subsidies he also advocates, the complex will receive billions of additional dollars over the next decade. The members of the complex already have a large role in deciding who among our sick lives or dies and they have enormous sway over our political institutions. With the new money President Obama is prepared to send them, their hold on our national life will only increase.

In these circumstances, without the competition of a robust public option this hold on our national life will increase unchecked. So, again I ask: Does President Obama want to see a public option in his plan or not?

Finally, the CEA June 2 report raises another issue related to the cost-cutting potential of a public option that I would have difficulty in dealing with in a letter to my newspaper. The report states that 30% of what we spend on health care has no effect on healthcare outcomes. In other words, we are wasting almost 6% of our GDP under this system that President Obama has decided to leave intact. (Our defense budget is only about 4%).

Consequently were I to write to my newspaper in support of President Obama’s “plan” I would be telling Americans that I support the idea that they should be forced, by law, to buy insurance that, according to the President’s own CEA is markedly more expensive than it needs to be. I would be telling the American taxpayer that I think it a good idea that we be required to send these for-profit companies much more money through subsidies than needed to get the job done.

Now, with a real public option, the situation would be significantly different. The option’s premiums would not have to reflect the high salaries, profits, stock options and the bloated overhead of the for-profit companies. Thus, if the President does indeed have an option in his plan, I could say in my letter that people forced to buy insurance could choose the government’s less expensive plan.

As you can see, clarity on the public option is essential to writing a meaningful letter to my newspaper. I would be grateful if you could send me a copy of the letter that you sent to your newspaper so I could see how you dealt with these issues.

Sincerely,

James M. Montgomery

And that, as they say dipsop, is a post! Why don’t you make it into your own diary at Seminal. It’s a great letter, imo.

Third way’s Honorary Senate Chairs

Blanche Lambert Lincoln
U.S. Senator, Arkansas
Evan Bayh
U.S. Senator, Indiana
Tom Carper
U.S. Senator, Delaware
Mark Pryor
U.S. Senator, Arkansas
Claire McCaskill
U.S. Senator, Missouri

Jane has a new cross-post up for our enlightenment: “Will Nancy Pelosi Crack Heads For “Robust” Public Option Like She Did For ACES and the Supplemental?”

Here’s another option:

Allow insurance companies to offer family plans called Wasteful Government Mandate Plans that cost $3800 per year with no deductible and provide a $3800 maximum pay-out.

That way people won’t have to pay any more than if they were fined (or taxed) by the government, and they could elect to waste up to $3800 worth on health care products and services per year that could be going to someone who actually needs it.

That won’t drive up the price of health care in America.

/s

Yes, and keep in mind that when you hear about all that Medicare and Medicaid fraud from the rethugs they are really talking about fraud committed by for profit health corporations. Fraud committed by recipients doesn’t even amount to a rounding error.

I concur with Ann –

a handy link for you if you decide to diary

oh and what an effing shock that they are they same clowns frontin’ this nonsense

Well, that’s a no-brainer, right? They all agree publicly not to filibuster and Harry gives them the 72 hours. Opps, I forgot, Harry needs some balls to do that…

I agree with Potter and great letter dipsop. All of the machinations we are seeing are so predictable that you could almost tell the time by them. I hate to have to keep repeating this but Obama and the Democrats are not on our side or the side of the American people on healthcare. This has been crystal clear from the beginning. The simplest means to test this is just to ask yourself how you or anyone else would have handled both the content and presentation of healthcare in this debate. All the places where you would have pushed hard for particular principles like the public option and where you would have shown leadership, note how Obama and the Democrats were AWOL on these. Would you have put the fate of healthcare into the hands of Max Baucus, Grassley, or the Gang of Six? Would you as President have announced a big push for healthcare and then essentially dumped it on Congress and walked away from it for 5 or 6 months? Would you only deal with industry representatives and leave everyone standing up for ordinary Americans out in the cold? Seriously would you be repeatedly reaching out to obstructionist Republicans and dumbshit Blue Dogs or using the 70% of the American people who want to this as one enormous club to threaten them with?

Ann–

Thank you for your comments. I’m a bit new to this. What is Seminal and how do I work it?

Jim

Doctors for America are big-D Democrats first and health care reformers second. They weren’t allowed to stake out a position on any of the controversial issues like the Public Option–though there are many single payer and public option supporters among them.

Yup.. and senate finance took a vote on a republican introduced amendment of that very nature last week. IIRC, Blanche was the only d who voted with republicans.

She’s just doing what Ross did in August… yelling, read the bill – read the bill.. knowing most folks wont… and if she yells that .. she wont have to talk about substance.

That list of Third Way’s honorary chairs says it all, doesn’t it?

On the right hand side of the front page is a box entitled “Seminal Reader Wire”. At the bottom of that box is a smaller box that says: “Write a Diary”. If you press that button it will take you to a screen in which you can cut and paste or write or do whatever. It’s pretty much self-explanatory. Most of us have learned thru trial and error, but you can still ask questions on threads if you get into trouble. Please note that there is a band at the top of the FDL front page that has links to sister sites. Seminal, which is the only sister site that is populated mostly with reader input, is the sixth one in that band lineup.

You’re kidding me. Since when did patients quit taking joy-rides in ambulances, lying to get dialysis three times a week, and other such rip-offs they’ve been pulling for decades?

Not really, because 99% of the population is either this stupid or deliberately uninformed. Stupidity and intentional avoidance of knowledge has become truly American.

Thank you. It is done.

these people are ammoral, money grubbing, shit-eating criminals. my favorite is “ease the minimum benefit rquirement”: as if consumers want that “eased” what a bunch of self serving, slimy, scummy, fucking carpetbaggers. if an asteroid struck the building that turd way holds their meetings in, the country would be iommediately better off.