Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Jack in the Baucus
The Moment of Truth is here. For years a national health plan has been a dream. Now it is coming. The level of pain is too high and all the forces of the Medical Industrial Complex cannot overcome the collective will. Or so it seems.
Meanwhile, back on K Street, the armies of the Empire are massing and greasing politicians like mad. Max Baucus, chair of the Finance Committee in the Senate, has been funded by Big Med for years. This from the Montana Standard.
As Sen. Max Baucus has taken the lead on health-reform legislation in the U.S. Senate, he's also become a leader in something else: Campaign money received from health- and insurance-industry interests.
In the past six years, nearly one-fourth of every dime raised by Baucus, D-Mont., and his political-action committee has come from groups and individuals associated with drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical-supply firms, health-service companies and other health professionals.
These donations total about $3.4 million, or $1,500 a day, every day, from January 2003 through 2008.
House and Senate committees have voted out bills that will allow for a public option for people to choose along with (perhaps newly competitive) corporations. Baucus has said he will oppose a public option. Obama now seems to be toughening. The new definition of bipartisanship seems to be that the suggestions from Republicans that get included in the bill will count as cooperation from them. NOT NECESSARILY THEIR VOTES. It has to be accepted now that there will be almost no Republican votes. And the Dems have the numbers to go for this, if they have the guts as well.
Here's a part of Amy Goodman's great interview with Wendell Potter, formerly of Cigna, who blows the whistle on the whole infuriating industry. He refers to their methods as "dumping the sick." This marvelous story of how the high-flying Big Med exec. sees the truth and gradually has a kind of conversion pilgrimage. Worth your time. As would be a card to an actual senator, especially if yours is on the fence on this.
Here's the NY Post's funny take yesterday. "Successful" means earning over $280,000. I guess that would classify most of us as unsuccessful. This tax is asking the rich to return to pre-Bush rates so that everyone can be covered.
Page 1 of 1 
Doesn't Look Good For Government Health Care
Anti-Abortion Democrats Emerge As Obstacle To Health-Care Bill
A group of anti-abortion Democrats opposed to U.S. House health-care legislation in its current form have emerged as a major obstacle to Democratic leaders' goal of passing the measure by August. A group of 20 House Democrats signed a letter sent Friday to House Democratic leaders stating they "cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090717-713581.html
CBO EXPOSES LIES OF OBAMACARE
Barack Obama’s sales pitch on health care reform claims that authorizing $1 trillion of new spending will somehow allow the country to save money on medical costs later. It was always a logical bridge to nowhere, and now the Democrats’ own Congressional Budget Office has called the bluff. In a hearing yesterday, Democratic Senator Kent Conrad practically pleaded with CBO director Douglas Elmendorf to agree that the reform bill would “bend the cost curve” (i.e. create savings) in the future. The CBO chief minced no words: “The curve is being raised.” The Democratic health plan would only make the long-term deficit much worse and send our nation’s finances off the fiscal cliff. Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020427110457429457338496551...
Moderate US House Democrats Cite Cost In Opposing Health Bill
Several moderate Democrats said they would not vote for House health-care legislation in its current form because of its high costs, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday began meetings on the bill that are expected to take a week. The committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said that he expected meetings on the bill in which members will vote on amendments to last until next Thursday. Between now and then, Waxman will have to work to win the support for the bill from members of the Blue Dog Coalition, which is a group of fiscally conservative House Democrats.
Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090716-717936.html
'Blue Dog' Democrats may block health care bill
A leader of the conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats told CNN Wednesday he and other group members may vote to block House Democrats' health care bill from passing... CNN Politics.com http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/15/democrats.health.care/index.html
Poll: Americans split on health care as Obama's approval sinks
Americans are divided over how they want health care fixed and whom they trust most to do it, refusing to forge a consensus for or against President Barack Obama as he and Congress march toward a historic overhaul.
McClatchy Newspapers Steven Thomma, Mcclatchy Newspapers http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090716/pl_mcclatchy/3272692
Hey, Raul, you got insurance?
Hey, Raul, you got insurance?
President Barack Obama as he
President Barack Obama as he and Congress march toward a historic overhaul.
