Ask Sherrod Brown to save us from PhRMA and the Eshoo/Hagan/ lobbyist-written biologics legislation HERE.

Well, we now know that 42 bipartisan members of the House were willing to act act as PhRMA’s fax machines. I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise — 80 House Dems signed a letter to Henry Waxman, telling him to substitute the White House PhRMA deal for his own much stronger language.

The question is, what are the Senate Democrats going to do about it?

I don’t know why anyone is surprised by the CMS’s conclusion that HR 3962 would result in a very minor increase in overall national health care spending. The estimated effects of H.R. 3962 on overall national health expenditures (NHE) are shown in table 5. In aggregate, we estimate that for calendar years 2010 through 2019 [...]

When important cancer drugs can’t go into cheaper generic forms, and cancer and AIDS patients around the world can’t afford them, they should all remember the helpful role they played.

The rest of us can ask Sherrod Brown to save us from PhRMA and this truly shitty piece of lobbyist-written legislation HERE.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ CMS concludes that the public option would provide better quality health insurance at a better value as the Secretary of HHS would be able to negotiate slightly better deals from providers and have lower administrative costs. However a stronger risk adjustment mechanism is needed as part of the public option to fully realize savings.

Mother Jones magazine’s Kevin Drum doesn’t seem to understand the reason progressives are fighting hard for the public option; the fight for the public option is inseparable from the fight for better subsidies and affordability.

Everyone is all over the Goldman Sachs report on health care reform. They may become the new villains in health care reform. They did say the public option would get a majority of customers on the exchange. Harry Reid is building his email list based on his support for the public option. His text message [...]

Anyway, it looks Reid’s poll is another attempt to put the pressure on the White House. I don’t think he wants this hot potato.

Per Lowell Feld of Blue Virginia, from the Star-Tribune: In a move sure to spark controversy, the Danville TEA Party will close their “Fired Up for Freedom” rally by burning Rep. Tom Perriello and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in effigy in response to the passage of landmark healthcare legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. [...]

Thanks to Betsy Muse from BlueNC for the following “Voices from the States” update on health care, the public option, etc. Most people outside of North Carolina have a hard time understanding our politics. We are lumped in with southern states and most people, it seems, think of us as conservative. Until the state voted [...]

TPMDC is reporting that the CBO analysis of the Senate health care bill is taking even longer than expected: Washington waited through a slow holiday week with bated breath for a CBO analysis of Senate health care legislation, which had been expected today. But now sources say the report won’t likely be ready until early [...]