Sunday morn

Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times on talking about the clinic there, Blanche potential progressive candidate etc

The current Democratic majority renewed the Patriot Suppression of Liberties Act, rubber stamped additional War Funding, and are selling out Health reform. As a Majority Party all year, the Democrats have been saying to the Republicans “let’s do it your way” and the Republicans say “no.” Of course the Republicans don’t have to participate because they have the Democrats to push their agenda for them.

We don’t need better pols, we need an entirely new slate of candidates committed to serving the People as a first priority, and an electorate willing to require it.

In the Bush Admin, we had Cheney, Rummy and Turdblossom. We swept them out for Rahm, Summers and Axlerod. Admittedly the Bush folks were vastly more Evil. But our trio are on their way to doing as much to destroy our party as those three did to destroy the GOP.

John

Corporate America has everyone in their pockets, and unlike Obama’s promises we see the same DOJ hacks, the same compromising at the beginning not at the end, incompetence and a lack of transparency on all levels. Obama is a decidedly detached and cautious man unlike the warrior we expected him to be. On Healthcare he has fumbled and remained aloof with the excuse that he didn’t want a repetition of Clinton’s failure. But that is not the case. He has refused to lead and pave the way. He has not been bold or clear with the public in selling Healthcare Reform & the PO.

Without a Public Option there is no point to a bill which creates yet more victims delivered to private insurance, and offers no recourse to find competitively priced insurance. And, oh yes, Obama made a backroom deal with Billy Tauzin head honcho Lobbyist of Big Pharma that they give 80 billion over 10 yrs from Drug monopoly with the caveat that they will not advertise against Obama’s Healthcare Bill.

This alone is disgraceful as the Drug companies made 77 billion in profits last year, so this is a juicy deal for BigPharma. Medicare RX Plan D
with its donut hole remains the same, so seniors continue to get rolled over.

Last but not least women have again been cynically used for political opportunism with the Stupak Amendment in House bill that takes women back to the wilderness. Abortions will be all but impossible except for the wealthy and connected. Pelosi is a traitor to her class, and Obama finds it useful to allow the Catholic Church to dictate to our legislators. Apparently all the Democrats think this is ok if it’s necessary to pass this bill. What sleaze.

Women will not be forgetting this humiliating betrayal that removes one of the basic rights fought for so hard for decades….The right to choose.

Here’s a fax number for the OMB: 202-395-3888

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In a conference call, Peter Orszag suggested that others who have questioned the bill haven’t been as thorough as Brownstein. He noted that The Atlantic reporter identified specific pages of the bill while interviewing him for the piece.
“I would say to folks in the looser range, ‘What specifically else would you do?’” he added.
Here’s what I’d do.
1. A minimum medical loss ratio for insurance companies mandating that they spend at least 90 cents of every dollar they take in as premiums on health care. This is based on the crazy idea that health insurance should insure people’s health instead of corporate profits.
2. Turn all health insurances companies into non-profits. Most countries that are not single payer (Switzerland, Germany, Belgium) require all basic health insurance plans to be non-profits.
3. On the new exchanges, create a much stronger risk adjustment mechanism, like in the Netherlands, to encourage competition on quality and cost effectiveness, instead of the cherry picking of healthy customers.
4. Allow undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance on the new exchange with their own money. It will increase the size of the risk pool and reduce the cost of uncompensated care in this country.
5. On the new exchanges, use more tightly defined benefit packages, and define plan levels based on deductible and copay size, instead of actuarial value. This will simplify comparison shopping and encourage the selection of more cost-effective HMO’s, instead of PPO’s
6. Allow for drug re-importation. People in every other first world country pay much less for the same prescription drugs. Let Americans buy these cheaper drugs from Canada or Europe.
7. Allow Medicare to directly negotiate lower drug prices. Medicare Part D was one of the biggest corporate giveaways in American history. Allow Medicare to use its size (as the VA system does) to directly negotiate for lower drug prices for seniors.
8. Eliminate direct-to-consumer drug advertising. It only increases the unnecessary use of medicine.
9. Follow the FTC recommendation by providing shorter exclusivity periods for biosimilars. The current bills create an extremely long 12-year exclusivity period. Going with the FTC recommendations will increase the availability of much cheaper generic versions of life saving biologics.
10. Create a robust public option that can use Medicare rates and Medicare’s provider network.
11. Create a single provider reimbursement negotiator like basically every other industrialized nation. The lack of this is the single biggest reason why, as a nation, we pay several times what other countries do for the same procedure.
12. Create a fully integrated, government-run health care HMO, based on the VA health care system, which would be an insurance option for all Americans.
13. Finally, adopt a Medicare-for-all single-payer system for everyone in the country.
If you need more help, please advise.