Snowe Says Jump, Baucus Says How High

I previously wrote about how Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was trying to make health care “affordable” by reducing the minimum definition of what qualifies as “insurance.” Her solution to the fact that real health insurance would still be unaffordable for millions if the nation adopted the bill she wrote: let everyone buy worthless junk insurance. This is probably one of the worst ways to make insurance “affordable,” and it seems that Baucus now thinks it is great idea.

Three weeks ago, Baucus properly rejected this terrible idea when he voted against an amendment by Sen. Enzi (R-WY) to reduce the actuarial value of the lowest quality plans (bronze level) from 65% to 60%. Now that Sen. Snowe seriously wants this modification, Baucus is singing a different tune.

On a conference call with reporters, Baucus said lowering the “so-called bronze plan, down to 60 would also help address affordability.” He talked about possibly reducing the actuarial value of the bronze plan and increasing the number of people who could buy the catastrophic insurance called “young invincible” plans. The exact changes Snowe told Ezra Klein she wanted made:

Just thinking out loud here, maybe you make the “young invincible plans” more available to people, or bring down the bronze plans to 60 percent [of expected actuarial value].

Empress Snowe made a decree and Democrats rush around trying to make it happen. The Democrats' desperate attempts to adopt all of Snowe's (a member of a powerless minority party) terrible ideas is sickening. She has been slowly ruining reform with her demands. Her unneeded vote is not worth the terrible compromises she has demanded. Senate Democrats need to stop bowing to her whims and put together the best bill they can to help the American people.

Polling shows the Americans just don't really care that a bill is “bipartisan.” What they want is real reform with a public option, which will make life for regular people in this country better.

Death By Hissy Fits Continues

A month ago I wrote about how Grassley and the rest of the Republican party were trying to kill reform one childish hissy fit at a time. It has proven surprisingly successful, since Chairman Baucus has been rewarding them with surrender each time.

The pattern has continued with Rep. Wilson's rude outburst being rewarded with a provision to bar illegal immigrants from buying health insurance even if they are willing to fully pay for it. This policy is just not cruel and expensive (we all end up paying for illegal immigrants going to emergency rooms because we don't allow them to pay for their own care by buying health insurance), but it is also terrible political optics. Working class Americans will be forced to buy insurance or pay huge fines but illegal immigrants will not.

With a Finance Committee bill expected tomorrow, Senator Grassley and Enzi have moved the goal post again. The New York Time is reporting that Grassley is now opposing an individual mandate that he has previously supported for months,

The committee documents show that Mr. Grassley has reservations about this approach. He believes that “the individual responsibility to have health coverage should be reconsidered and replaced with a reinsurance policy to ensure that affordable health coverage is available to everyone in a voluntary system, with a lower overall cost for the package,” one document says.

Hoping to capitalize on Obama's and Baucus' willingness to give in on anything in order to pass something labeled “health care reform,” the AHIP is going for the double jackpot. No sooner than did prominent Democrats signal they might forgo their only idea which could rein in health insurance company profits (a strong public option), the AHIP switched to fighting to protect their favorite cash cow, Medicare Advantage. Our current Medicare Advantage program may have the dubious distinction of being the biggest and most wasteful form of corporate welfare in the country.

Even with all but maybe two Republican senators likely to oppose Baucus' bill, he has decided to still include all the terrible compromises he made to win their support. Grassley has proven himself to be maybe the greatest negotiator in Senate history. He convinced Democrats to waste valuable months and adopt many ill-conceived compromises, without needing to risk voting for the final product.

What is at stake here is even more important than health care reform. If Obama and the Democrats allow themselves to be rolled, they will never be feared or respected by congressional Republicans or the special interest groups. Obama should demand that 48 hours after the Baucus' bill is released that a majority of Senate Republicans publicly endorse it, or it will be revamped to reflect his original uncompromised proposal.

Negotiation requires both carrots and sticks. If Democrats pass a bill containing all the awful Republican demands with almost zero Republican support, they will doom any hope of future good faith dealing and real political discourse. The Republicans and special interests will know that if they throw a loud enough hissy fit Democrats will accept their demands without Republicans needing to risk anything by voting for compromise. Giving in now assures “death panels” and “you lie” will become the modis operandi of the Republicans party. If Obama does not stand up to declare a willingness to pass a good, Democrat-only bill, it is going to be dark, loud, shrill, and depressing next three years.

Bipartisanship Is Dead - Updated

Every indication is that bi-partisan reform is dead. Baucus' Gang of Six is blowing up in his face.

Last week Grassley accused Democrats of having a secret plan to kill grandmothers. Now Grassley has set a new impossible standard for bipartisanship. He will vote against a bill he personally thinks is great unless it wins a dozen other Republicans' votes.

Previously Enzi demanded that Obama and Pelosi abandon our entire system of government. He refuses to support any deal unless he is promised that his deal will remain unchanged. He wants the entire House of Representatives to have no say in health care reform.

Now Enzi doesn't even want to see real reform at all. He wants to break reform into smaller pieces that get passed one at a time.

We do need to get it right. We need take the time to do it. I think the only way it will happen is we need to break it down into smaller parts than we have now and put it through one at a time.

PS. The RNC is not going after the co-ops proposal, could anyone have seen that coming.

Update- It appears Senator Kyl just declared that Grassley will not be able to found Republicans votes for any bill he comes up with.

You Can't Negotiate With People Who Accuse You Of Genocide

Sarah Palin was the GOP's Vice Presidential candidate and is one of the most prominent figures in the Republican party. On Facebook, she has accused President Obama of wanting to create a government “death panel” that would refuse to provide health care to “the sick, the elderly, and the disabled.” She is leveling the unbelievable accusation that Obama wants to commit genocide on a massive scale. Her claim is that Obama is an equal to such evil historic monsters as Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.

Her talk of a “death panel” is not just a purely false distortion of a serious debate. It creates an incredibly dangerous environment that could encourage individuals to take up violence to stop the impending “downright evil” plan.

I understand that Obama wants health care reform to be bipartisan, but there is simply no negotiating with people who publicly accuse you of planning genocide. As long as such insidious lies are being promoted by the leaders of the Republican Party, a real policy debate will be impossible.

Several important Republicans (Snowe, Collins, Grassley, Enzi, Graham, etc..) claim to want to achieve a bipartisan consensus on health care reform. If they truly want to see health care reform they must denounce these horrible lies and demand that Sarah Palin apologizes. Honest negotiations are impossible as long as they provide implicit consent for those trying to poison the debate with wild accusations. If Republican senators like Grassley, Enzi, and Snowe do not denounce these destructive lies and the liars telling them, it is proof they are not interested in compromise.

They need to stand up in defense of reform or step away from the negotiating table. If they do not try to tone down the insane rhetoric it is a clear indication they are only interested in causing the Democrats a political defeat and not fixing our broken system.

Demand The Draft

Politico is reporting that Senator Snowe asked Senator Baucus to provide every member of the “coalition of the willing” a draft of what they have so far in their health care reform bill. Senator Baucus should by now have provided Senator Conrad, Bingham, Enzi, and Grassley with this document.

The American people have the right to see this draft. Too many millions of lives will be affected by this legislation. It is unconscionable that the draft has been kept secret. We have the right to spend the August recess scrutinizing their proposal just like the senators are. Secret negotiations are the antithesis of a free and open democracy.

Some of their ideas are so dangerous ill advised that they deserve real public scrutiny.

I think every member of the media and the public should demand the the release of the draft. The goal of the media should be to inform the public not help a group of senators keep secrets.

Baucus, You Think You Can Reach A Deal With This Guy?

Senator Baucus is working to reach a bipartisan compromise on health care reform legislation. He is currently negotiating with his “coalition of the willing” which includes four Republican Senators and two other Democratic Senators.

One of the “willing” Republicans that Baucus thinks he can reach a deal on health care reform with is Senator Mike Enzi.

Thinkprogress.org is reporting that on Thursday Enzi tried repeatedly to amend the Senate HELP committee bill to deny anyone making over 250% of federal poverty level help purchasing health insurance.

For a married couple 250% of the federal poverty level is $36,425. Picture a married couple in their late 50's making around $37,000. Senator Enzi does not want them to receive any help buying health insurance. A decent health insurance plan for this couple would cost around $10,000 or more in premiums alone. (that does not take into account the cost of co-pays and deductibles.) That is an unaffordable 27% of their gross income or roughly 31% of their after tax income.

Millions of working class Americans simply can't afford to spend a third of their income on health care. Senator Enzi is actively working to make sure that health care “reform” still keeps decent health insurance financially out of reach for millions of working families. Keep in mind that this is the position one of the few "willing" Republicans who is even considering support any health care bill.

Dear Senator Baucus, how can you possibly think working to find a “compromise” with this man could possible produce meaningful affordable health insurance reform?