Back and forth on the art of the possible in health care legislation

Grassroots activism, most compellingly by doctors, nurses, and patients, nudged single payer into the public eye in 2009 and, at times, into Congress, although there was never a debate or vote on the single payer bill, HR 676, or the Weiner and Sanders amendments that would have substituted single payer programs for the House and Senate bills. In 2010, the underwhelming end result of a year of citizen activism and government dealmaking has progressives dismayed about the pending legislation, and their criticisms are, in turn, getting some attention from mainstream media.

Much of the mainstream commentary urges the left to stop whining. Some compare health care reform to social security, which itself started small, with delays in implementation and major exemptions. Of course, there was never a private "social security industry" out to protect its interests against the expansion of a popular and vital public program. On yesterday's edition of Democracy Now!, writer and surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande defended Massachusetts' program of individual mandates with subsidies, and said that the current reform bill could, in time, lead to a single payer system. But will a future committed movement to "reform health care reform" be able to make headway against the same corporate interests who limited the scope of legislation in this go round?

Hendrik Hertzberg blames breakdowns in the legislative process, particularly in the Senate, and says progressive anger at Democrats is misdirected. In reply, Firedoglake's Marcy Wheeler points out that progressives' criticisms have been well-directed at deserved Democratic party targets, and for specific reasons.

The lack of a real conference committee is another criticism well-directed, since important changes to the bill, including empowering states to institute their own single payer systems if they choose, were hopefully going to be addressed there. And, as C-SPAN argues, negotiations, whatever form they take, need to proceed on camera. Otherwise, who runs the show? A select number of legislators (working for a not-so-select coterie of lobbyists and industries), who, as John Nichols writes, "are already thinking--make that, already worrying--about the fall and who have set themselves up as conduits for campaign cash."

Finally, there is growing concern on the right and the left as to whether an individual mandate sets a dangerous precedent--kicking privatization up a notch by requiring citizens to buy into the services of private corporations.

Critics of health care reform are not just sniping at a party or a person who didn't live up to the campaign hype. The state of the final health care bill and the path it took points up some serious systemic flaws in our governance and in the way we allow corporate interests to influence legislation and legislators. Despite hyperbole in the comments sections of some blogs, these criticisms point to the need for ongoing work not only on health care, but also governance, campaign finance, and corporate personhood. The challenge for activists in 2010 and beyond is to organize in a way that recognizes we are dealing with politics and the "art of the [incremental] possible", but continues to advance on all these issues as part of a badly-needed system-wide fix.

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Today's sit-ins; next round scheduled for October 28

A national round of sit-ins and non-violent civil disobedience has been scheduled for today, to follow actions two weeks ago in New York and last week in Chicago. The actions are organized by Mobilize For Healthcare.

The date for the next round of sit-ins is October 28th.

If you’re close enough to attend one of these actions, please do! Contact the local coordinator. Local leaders in these cities have worked tremendously hard to pull these actions together with very little lead time. We need to do everything we can to support them and make each one as big and strong as possible. If you don’t want to be arrested, then holds signs, take pictures, or give interviews to the local media, but be present!

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Last call for single payer?

The Weiner Amendment for Single Payer is expected to go to a floor vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 15.

Please--get busy, get to the phone, and call on your Representative to support single payer. Thanks for all you've done to date... now, we are coming down to the wire!

The Weiner Amendment substitutes a single payer bill for the complicated and fiscally unsustainable legislation being considered by the House. For information on the current single payer bill, HR 676, see this page on Rep. John Conyers's website. Rep. Conyers is the primary sponsor of HR 676, which currently has 88 co-sponsors. Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43) signed up last week, so it is not too late to ask your representative to co-sponsor too!

Don't just get mad that the health [sic] care industry has spent $380 million-plus on lobbying and advertising in just the last few months.... or that the Senate Finance Committee bill was written by a former Wellpoint V.P., now Baucus' principle staffer on health care reform... or that a recent study documented that
more than 44,000 Americans die each year for lack of insurance.

Get busy!

• Call your representative and ask that he or she vote to support the Weiner Amendment.


• Ask your rep to also support the Kucinich amendment so state governments can create their own single payer programs.
• On the Senate side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will introduce two single-payer amendments to the Senate health care bill. One to create a national single-payer plan, the other to allow states to adopt single-payer. Your senators need to hear from you as well. Call them now!


• Finally, tell everyone you know to let their voices be heard before it's too late.

As Leonard Rodberg has written, we're being presented with a false choice. Some Democrats and pundits claim we need to pass a plan--any plan--to avoid a Gingrich-style House takeover next year. But the plan, he writes, "is a DOG... Relatively few people will benefit from it, while everyone who has to use health care will continue to experience the mess that is, and will continue to be, the American health care system.

As long as money drives politics, politicians will follow the lead of donors, not voters. As long as health care is a for-profit business for investors, premiums will rise and insurers will cherry-pick the healthiest and wealthiest subscribers.

We say health care is a right and our government should respond to our call for a health care system that respects the people's right to decent, affordable care. We demand single payer, the real cure for ailing health care and a damaged democracy.

Make your call today! Thank you!

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Last best push for single payer? Do your bit!

Some time in the next two weeks there will be a House floor vote on single payer health care. This is our last, best chance to push for real universal, equitable coverage--"everybody in, nobody out."

Please join with hundreds of thousands of Americans--doctors, nurses and health care professionals, union members and municipal employees and managers, elected officials and regular citizens, in this push to make the strongest case possible for single payer health care. We need to reach every legislator, Republican and Democrat, to get the broadest support possible both for the Weiner Amendment, on single payer health care, and the Kucinich Amendment to HR 3200, which would allow states to establish their own single payer systems if a national bill fails.

Even if your Representative is a co-sponsor of HR 676 (check here) make the call to let him or her know you expect support for these vital reforms.

In the last year we've seen, heard, and shared stories of coverage denied and delayed by insurance companies, and learned about the immense tolls taken in lives and family security, all in the name of industry profit. It's time for us to demand that our legislators put the public's health before private wealth.

Please call your representative today, and urge him or her to support the Weiner Amendment for single-payer health care, and the Kucinich Amendment, to remove legal impediments to state single payer programs. You can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224–3121, or look up your representative's direct line here and here.

And please call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-0100; Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at (202) 225-3130, and key committee chair Henry Waxman at (202) 225-3976, to ensure their continued support for the Kucinich amendment.

Corporate lobbyists are making their case every day for lukewarm reforms that benefit private insurers and for-profit health care and pharmaceutial interests. They have the money, but we have the voices, and the votes. Make your voice heard now!

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Are you willing to risk or support arrests for Medicare for all?

Several groups working on behalf of single payer health care will be organizing the Mobilization for Health Care for All, a national day of non-violent civil disobedience actions on October 15, when protesters will stage sit-ins at the offices of major insurance companies. To sign up to participate, either in civil disobedience or as a supporter in legal protest, or to donate to the bail and defense fund, visit the Mobilization's website. Over 680 people have pledged to be involved in civil disobedience so far.

The Mobilization for Health Care for All has been initiated by Center for the Working Poor, Healthcare-NOW! and Prosperity Agenda, and is endorsed by AfterDowningStreet.org, Black Agenda Report, Code Pink and Progressive Democrats of America.

Sit-ins have already been held in New York City, and yesterday in Chicago, where seven people were arrested at Cigna, after demanding the company approve all doctor-recommended treatments. Protesters included Rep. Mary E. Flowers, a state representative from Illinois's 31st district, and Midge Hough, who lost her daughter-in-law Jenny five weeks ago to acute pneumonia, as a result of inadequate care. Jenny was seven and a half months pregnant when she died.

“We lost Jennifer, and we lost our grandchild. She can’t speak up for herself anymore, but I’m going to speak for Jennifer,” said Hough. “Tomorrow is her memorial service or I would have been one of the people sitting inside… This is the richest country in the world and my daughter in law and my grandchild died, and I can’t accept that.”

Read more about the Chicago action here, and see video of the first action in September, in New York. Video from Chicago is below:

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It's not too late!

Thanks to Rep. Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia's 3rd Congressional district, for becoming the 87th co-sponsor of HR 676. Kudos to his constituents for their work in getting his name on the list!

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Rep. Weiner on health care

From this morning's appearance on MSNBC. The clip begins with the wrap-up of a previous piece on Afghanistan. Health care starts around 4:40.

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Health care debate part II with Rep. Weiner and Joe Scarborough, tomorrow on MSNBC

Tomorrow (Monday) morning Rep. Anthony Weiner returns to the "Morning Joe" show on MSNBC. We've posted video from his first visit here. Weiner made a strong, clear case for single payer, and was invited back by the show's host Joe Scarborough to speak more. Tune in at 8am on MSNBC. For late risers the video will be posted on MSNBC's website shortly after the interview at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789 /.

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Thousands join White House call-in for faith-based health care reform

More than 140,000 callers joined a conference call last night with Melody Barnes, White House domestic policy adviser, President Obama, and religious leaders last for a faith-based discussion of health care reform. For the thousands who could not get on the call, and for those who missed it, a recording is posted here. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/40mins4health (the recording may start on two players on the website; if it does, simply pause the second player.)

The call was sponsored by PICO, a national, non-partisan network of faith-based community organizations. Participants included pastors and worshipers from seven PICO affiliates giving testimony about the sometimes fatal delays in care they face as a result of the costs and limitations that drive health care industry profits.

Melody Barnes took questions from participants on health rationing fears, the cost of reform, federal funding of abortion, and affordability of coverage under an individual mandate, followed by representatives of congregations reporting on how their churches are educating and organizing for reform. President Obama portrayed the debate as its taking place among voters as a battle between hope and fear, something that was true of other groundbreaking government reform initiatives.

Participants were asked to take action over the next "forty days" to make sure that Congress reconvenes ready to pass comprehensive health care reform. Check faithforhealth.org for calls to action between now and the end of the recess. The call closed with remarks from the president on the moral imperative for health care reform, which he portrayed as a battle between hope and fear.

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Why single-payer is the only sensible health care reform

Another short, succinct run-down of why we need a single payer health care system and why halfway measures like co-ops or a public option are just going to prolong the pain. Look on Online Journal for other good op-eds--reward yourself with a good read after you spend some time organizing for single payer!

By Carmen Yarrusso, posted on Online Journal August 19

Health care is special

Health care services are in a special category of “services.” Unlike almost all other services in our “free market” economy, most health care services (just like police and fire services) are necessary for all residents -- often a matter of life and death.

Incredibly, we treat most health care services as if they were optional for some residents. The extreme costs, the multiple inefficiencies, and the shameful injustice of our current health care system are the guaranteed results of treating heath care services as optional for some residents.

As a civilized nation, we would never tolerate a system where police or fire services were treated as optional for some residents. To understand how utterly absurd our private health care system is, imagine life in America if we treated police and fire services the way we now treat most health care services.

If police and fire services were optional for some
Instead of groups pooling their resources and providing everyone with police and fire services, where each dollar spent provides a dollar’s worth of services (minus the cost to administer payments), imagine introducing a middleman -- police and fire insurance companies.

Like our current health care system, about 30 percent of every dollar we spend wouldn’t provide any police or fire services whatsoever, but instead would go to other insurance company expenses and profits.

Aside from administrative costs to pay for services, insurance companies would pay billions to shareholders as profits, plus spend billions more for advertising, lobbying Congress, huge executive salaries, and paying a large staff whose main job would be to find ways to shift costs to purchasers and providers and to maximize profits by minimizing services.

Like our current health care system, maximizing profits would mean charging the highest possible premiums (money in) while spending as little as possible on actual police and fire services (money out). This is simply smart business.

Insurance companies would compete to enroll residents likely to require the least police or fire services, while trying to avoid residents likely to require the most police or fire services. Like our current health care system, this would guarantee that residents who need these services the most would be the least likely to get them (this is simply smart business).

Those residents unfortunate enough to need services “too often” would be denied, dropped, or charged unaffordable premiums. Those who live in “dangerous” (low profit) areas would simply be denied police or fire services due to “pre-existing conditions” (this is simply smart business).

Insurance companies would have great profit incentives to find myriad ways to deny services or to shift costs because any money spent providing actual services comes right out of their profits. Like our current health care system, this would guarantee millions of residents would have no police or fire services at all (this is simply smart business).

In a civilized society, most health care services are no more optional than police and fire services. It’s patently absurd to put a middleman (whose profit incentives are plainly against the interests of the American people) between us and our health care providers.

A middleman makes no sense for health services
It’s clearly counterproductive to put a middleman between providers of necessary services and those who need these services. This guarantees disastrous results.

Providing real estate services using a middleman (agent) makes sense. A real estate middleman has profit incentives to provide purchasers with reasonably priced products because if prices are too high, purchasers won’t buy and the middleman gets nothing. There’s no profit incentives to deny purchasers what’s being provided. Thus, middleman profit incentives benefit both purchasers and providers.

But providing health care services using a middleman is an unambiguous con game. A health care middleman clearly has profit incentives to charge excessive prices precisely because these services are necessary (pay or die). But even worse, a health care middleman has great profit incentives to deny us necessary services because every health care service denied is pure profit (this is simply smart business).

In addition to diverting billions of our health care dollars to profits and other non-health-care expenses, encouraging excessive premiums, and making it very profitable to deny us necessary services, using a middleman also adds hundreds of billions to our health care costs by forcing hospitals and doctors to maintain vast armies of administrators who must battle hundreds of insurance companies (with thousands of different medical plans) all with great profit incentives to deny us as many health care services as they can get away with (this is simply smart business).

It’s beyond foolish to expect insurance companies to act against their profit incentives. A single-payer system is the only reform that can end this devastating rip-off of the American people.

A “public option” would only make things worse
A public option (or a co-op) would simply add another player to our inefficient, fragmented, dysfunctional, multi-payer system. The hundreds of billions we now waste on multi-payer administrative costs would continue unabated.

But worse, a public option would soon be overwhelmed with the sickest (most costly) residents. Why? Because insurance companies compete by discarding the sickest residents (while marketing to the healthiest), a public option would quickly shift even more of the costs of our sickest residents to taxpayers, while freeing insurance companies to compete for healthier (more profitable) residents.

We eventually pay for everyone’s health care anyway
The government already funds more than 60 percent of all health care spending. We taxpayers already pay a lot for “other people’s” health care. Tax subsidies for private insurance alone cost taxpayers nearly $200 billion a year. We taxpayers give insurance companies about $100 billion a year to provide health care for public employees (such as teachers and police officers).

We all pay when uninsured residents must use expensive emergency rooms. In most cases, had they been given regular preventative care, they would have required much less total health care and thus cost us much less.

An Institute of Medicine study estimates 18,000 Americans pay with their lives because they lack health insurance -- a shining example of how private health care “saves taxpayers money” (this is simply smart business).

An American Journal of Medicine study says 62 percent of all bankruptcies (about 2 million a year) are linked to medical bills (80 percent had health insurance). When we count the excessive burden our absurd private health care system adds to all businesses, and other such hidden costs, single-payer would be much less expensive and provide much better care (exactly what other countries with single-payer systems have experienced).

Multiple studies show there’s more than enough money in our health care system to serve everyone if it were spent wisely (e.g. 1991 GAO report, 1993 CBO report).

Preserving profits with lies, damn lies, and propaganda
Insurance companies know very well they’re running an extremely profitable con game. They won’t give up their massive profits without a ruthless political fight.

They tell us “government insurance” would mean rationing, bureaucrats getting between us and our doctors, and excessive costs to taxpayers. In fact, these things are much worse now in our private system. Insurance companies don’t really want us to carefully compare their products with single-payer Medicare, which is rated very highly by its 45 million users.

In a national Commonwealth Fund survey, Medicare users were significantly more satisfied with their health care than people using employer-sponsored plans (even though the elderly require by far the most intensive health care services among us). For example, 70 percent of those with single-payer Medicare said they “always” get access to needed care (specialists, tests, treatment) compared to only 51 percent of those with private insurance.

Doctors consistently report having few problems with single-payer Medicare, and frequent problems with private insurance companies. A “government bureaucrat” has no incentive to deny us necessary services because he’s spending “other people’s money.” If he denies us a service, the money “saved” just goes toward another’s care. But an insurance company bureaucrat has great incentive to deny us necessary services because the money “saved” goes right into his pocket.

Unlike honest “service” providers, who seek people needing their services, health insurance companies seek those who don’t need their services (while doing all they can to avoid those who do). Insurance companies pretend they’re in the business of providing health care, when their true business is denying health care.

Each year 2 million of us are bankrupted by medical expenses. Each day, 14,000 of us lose our health insurance. Most of us are just a pink slip away from this horror. Compare this to the peace of mind we’d have with a single-payer system that would always be there for us (all of us).

Why does this blatant con game continue?
Because our government is for sale to the highest bidder. Our government “representatives” thrive on special interest money. They would be severely punished politically (and lose millions) if they were to put the interests of the American people ahead of influential insurance and drug companies.

The health care industry is spending $1.4 million dollars per day to lobby against reform ($126 million in just the first quarter). This is precisely why our “representatives” (Democrats and Republicans) aren’t seriously considering the only sensible way to provide high-quality health care in America -- a tried and tested single-payer system.

Our “representatives” are diligently keeping single-payer “off the table” for one reason only: single-payer would easily win in any honest, open debate. Once again our “representatives” are selling us out to special interests.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right -- Thomas Paine

Private insurance for necessary health care is just plain wrong and it’s been just plain wrong for a very long time.

We the people must unite and take back our government -- it surely won’t be given back voluntarily.

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Rep. Anthony Weiner on MSNBC

Rep. Weiner renders "Morning Joe" Scarborough speechless by asking what value insurance companies add to health care in America.



Take aways?

First, right now no one party or point of view has the votes to pass any proposal. Which means that now is the time for people to both wonk out--read as much as you can so you can speak clearly to the skeptical and confused--and speak out--to neighbors and Congress.

The second part of the interview is below, discussing Medicare funding (with a break for news in the middle). Medicare going broke? Private health care costs are rising too, and faster. Weiner also mentions the economic benefit, long-term, of providing universal health care.



Scarborough says they'll have Weiner back on Thursday to continue what he says is the clearest statement he's heard so far on expanding Medicare and the public option.

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August 20: Hit the streets in Florida for health care reform!

A message from Floridians for Health Care! We know we have readers in Florida, and other readers with family and friends in Florida--make a call or send an email and turn people out tomorrow!

Did you want to come to the FLARA/FFHC August 20 Health Forum with Congressman Wexler at the So. County Civic Center but were too late to get a ticket?

You can still participate and make a difference for Health Care Reform.

The right wing crazies are planning to come out in force to demonstrate on Jog Road outside of the Forum with their message of lies and misrepresentations. Local TV cameras (and maybe C-Span) will be there filming the event. We do not want the opposition to be the only visual they put on tv. We are planning a counter demonstration in favor of health reform.

So, whether you support single payer or a public option, we need you! Will you volunteer today to carry a sign supporting health care reform out on Jog Road outside the Civic Center? It will take only 2 - 3 hours of your time (or as long as you are able to stay).

If you will, please email us back at FloridiansHealth@aol.com and give us your name, phone number and email address, then on Thursday, August 20th, come to the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach between 11 and 11:30 am.

Once you have parked, walk back to the entrance to the center on Jog Road. Larry Pius of www.HR676.org will be there wearing a yellow "Fight for Single Payer" T-Shirt. He will have signs for you to wave - OR, if you wish, you can create your own sign and bring it with you. Sheriff's Deputies will also be present to make sure everyone stays orderly and keep folks out of the traffic lanes for safety purposes.

Be a part of this historic event--don't let the right wing outshine us! America needs to see that more of us support reform than those who oppose it. Now is the time for progressives to get off our butts and hit the streets--volunteer today! Email FloridiansHealth@aol.com!

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Single payer versus the public option--more resources

Healthcare Now! and Progressive Democrats of America have developed this "report card" comparing single payer health care to the public option, as currently envisioned in HR 3200. Top marks for single payer! Print it two-sided and fold.

More resources on the difference between single payer and public option are here at Health Care Now, and on our blog here, where AfD secretary Dr. Peter Mott discusses the shortcomings of the public option plan.

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An action a day! Contact the House leadership to score HR 676

With a click of a mouse, or a few moments on the phone, you can push for a vital part of the single payer victory: having HR 676 scored by the Congressional Budget Office. 

The Congressional Budget Office is charged with providing Congress an objective and non-partisan analysis of programs covered by the federal budget. This analysis includes "scoring" proposed legislation, so that members of Congress can weigh the cost-benefits of competing bills. In July the office scored HR 3200, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, and found that it would add $239 billion to the federal deficit over a 10 year period and leave about 17 million uninsured.

No fair debate on HR 676 can take place unless the CBO crunches the numbers for single payer as well.

Today, please take some time to contact House leaders and ask that they order a CBO scoring of HR 676.

By clicking here, you can send an email to Reps. Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, George Miller, Charles Rangel, Henry Waxman, and Nancy Pelosi.

A phone call packs more punch, though. So if you have more time, please contact their offices directly. This goes double if you're a constituent. The numbers are:

Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD-5), Phone: (202) 225-4131, Fax: (202) 225-4300
Rep Jim Clyburn (SC-6), who won't talk to people outside his district.
Rep. George Miller (CA-7), Phone: 202-225-2095, Fax: 202-225-5609
Rep. Charles Rangel (NY-15), Phone: 202-225-4365, Fax: 202-225-0816
Rep. Henry Waxman (CA-30), Phone: (202) 225-3976, Fax: (202) 225-4099
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Phone: (202) 225-4965

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HR 676 will be debated by the House after recess--now here's what you have to do to help it pass!

Friday night as the House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its markup of HR 3200, the House health reform bill, Chairman Henry Waxman interrupted Representative Anthony Weiner of New York to say that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had promised that single payer legislation, HR 676, The United States National Health Care Act would come before the entire House of Representatives. Chairman Waxman advised:

"The Speaker has said that she will allow this to be brought up on the House floor, and debated, and voted on."



Representative Anthony Weiner (NY-9, Brooklyn/Queens) had placed an amendment (read it here) before the Energy and Commerce Committee that would have replaced the text of HR 3200 with the text of HR 676, the United States National Health Care Act. He was joined by fellow Energy and Commerce committee members Peter Welch (VT, Vermont), Mike Doyle (PA-14, Pittsburgh), Tammy Baldwin, (WI-2, Madison), Jan Schakowsky (IL-9, Chicago), Bobby L. Rush (IL-1, Chicago), Eliot L. Engel (NY-17, Rockland/Westchester).

Chairman Waxman asked for the single payer amendment to be withdrawn from committee debate in exchange for a debate and vote on the House floor. Representative Weiner hailed this victory in a brief statement: "Single-payer is a better plan and now it is on center stage. Americans have a clear choice. Their Member of Congress will have a simpler, less expensive and smarter bill to choose. I am thrilled that the Speaker is giving us that choice."

You can see video of Rep. Weiner introducing the amendment here.

This entry on Physicians for a National Health Plan's blog includes more video links and commentary by a few Hill bloggers.

So what does this mean?

It means you have your marching orders. The recess is make or break time for single payer. We can't just let our legislators spend August fundraising!

Call your representative and senators' district offices and find out their schedules. Bird-dog them. Go to "town meeting" events and state your support for single payer--chances are you'll get a lot of support from the audience.
It's up to us. Calls, visits, postcard and petition campaigns all build visibility, educate our neighbors, and inspire them to act as well.

Don't forget to let your legislator know that inaction on behalf of single payer health care will have political consequences. The decision to allow a floor debate on HR 676 didn't just happen--we made it happen by calling, writing, emailing, and in some cases demonstrating--up to the point of getting arrested. More than 50,000 people contacted Energy and Commerce Committee members in support of the Weiner amendment in just the past week. We need to keep up the contacts, not just with our legislators but with family, friends, co-workers, faith groups--to bring them into the fight as well.

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Rep. Weiner single payer amendment to be introduced today, after yesterday's attack on the scourge of government-run health care

Rep. Anthony Weiner's office says the single payer amendment will be introduced today--any last-minute calls will be welcome. See this post for a "whip list" of likely supporters. The full House Energy and Commerce committee membership is here.

Meanwhile, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) introduced an amendment to the committee yesterday--not a single payer plan, but a "put up or shut up" amendment to eliminate Medicare. It was a challenge to his retrograde colleagues who claim that competition by the private sector is the best way to expand coverage and that government "interference" would deform the doctor-patient relationship. He makes good points about why we need to expand the single-payer government-run system we have, and defends the common-sense view that most Americans would welcome enlarging Medicare to cover everyone. It's theater, but he deserves a round of applause.

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No markup, and no amendment on Friday

The latest from Rep. Anthony Weiner's office is that there will be no markup, and thus no amendment for single payer, today (Friday), or over the weekend.

Keep those calls coming and in the meantime, watch and read the following. The video is a more succinct edit of Weiner's opening remarks on Friday, July 17, which we posted last week. He ranks on the Republicans, but it's clear from both the Washington Post and "Blue Dogs Fill Their Bowls With Cash" that the Democrats have their own reasons to obstruct reform.

This article by Rep. Weiner was posted on Politico.com on Thursday.

It seems that big legislation isn’t complete until it develops a collection of catchphrases. (“Shovel ready,” everyone? “Cash for clunkers,” perhaps?) The effort to tackle the long list of failings of our health care system and the way we pay for it has been no exception. This time, we are arguing over the so-called public option.

The phrase has become something of a Rorschach test for lobbyists, commentators and legislators. To the president and to bill writers in Congress, the public option has come to mean that a government-run plan is the only way to truly keep private insurance companies honest, by guaranteeing that at least one provider is focused on something more than the bottom line.

To insurance company lobbyists and — from the sound of it — nearly every Republican, the public option is more a confirmation of their fear that the Obama administration is out to nationalize another industry. They argue that the public option would soon become the only option because it would have too many advantages in the marketplace.

Without acknowledging it, both sides seem to agree with the argument for a single-payer system. But instead of having a debate about its value, both sides have turned the idea into an odd punching bag. The right uses the term “single-payer” to condemn the White House approach, while the White House — and my colleagues in the House and Senate — quickly decry the scurrilous charge and concoct legislative language to make their public option look less, well, public.

By conceding that the public option would have less overhead, be more efficient and have the freedom to focus on health care rather than profits, opponents of the public option are in fact arguing for it. Isn’t complaining about the marketplace “advantage” of the public plan just another way of saying that people are going to want it?

The public option would prompt Americans to ask a basic question of the insurance company that is chasing their business: “What is it that you guys do, exactly?”

Insurance companies don’t really do anything to make people healthier. They need to be efficient gatekeepers on behalf of their shareholders. Profits at 10 of the country’s largest health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007. So if you think that the private “option” won’t be selected by citizens, it stands to reason that they want a public one.
Democrats who have been tasked with drafting the health care bill have been going to great lengths to assure everyone that it will not be a single-payer system. This is more a testament to a branding problem than a policy one. (Remember: It wasn’t a “bailout”; it was a “recovery.”)

But the arguments for a public option do leave you wondering why you would need or want a private insurance plan. We know that insurance companies rely on a formula to provide as little health care as possible for each dollar they take in. This isn’t because they are uncaring. It is because they are good business people.

With taxpayers, consumers and workers paying an enormous amount more than necessary because of this model, it seems odd that we would be so concerned about protecting it.

What would a public-only or a single-payer system look like? It would look like Medicare for everyone. We are all aware of the problems facing Medicare: looming deficits; incentivizing expensive institutional care rather than alternatives; squeezing doctors; etc.

But these are not a reflection of a failure of the single-payer system. They are failures to make smart decisions about what we pay for and how. There is no doubt that we must fix our present single-payer system, but none of its problems change the fact that Medicare is a popular, well-understood, amazingly efficient form of — wait for it — socialized medicine.

The dean of the House of Representatives, John Dingell, had it right when he introduced the notion of Medicare for all in 2006. We can correct the many gaps in today’s Medicare, not by buying stock in an insurance company or by staying on hold for a “benefits specialist” or by complaining to a state insurance commissioner. We do it by passing a law or a regulation that reflects the best interests of the nation.

Implicit in the Democratic plan — and the Republican opposition to it — is a tacit recognition that single-payer health plans like Medicare are the best way to go. I want to engage in this debate and will offer a single-payer plan to a vote as my colleagues and I mark up the health care bill. Maybe this issue is important enough that we can do the right thing even without a great catchphrase.

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The latest on the single-payer vote

The vote on Rep. Anthony Weiner's single payer amendment has been postponed to Friday. According to Democrats.com & Bob Fertik, House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Harvey Waxman is postponing the vote because it might pass, especially on the heels of the Kucinich Amendment for a single-payer state option, which passed by a healthy bi-partisan majority.

Fertik also points out that the truth about single payer is getting out, and it's not just the people who are telling it. Last night, during President Obama's press conference, he concurred with the medical community, the developed world, and common sense:

"I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that, unless you have a single-payer system, in which everybody is automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual."

Democrats.com has a handy whip list of Dems on the Energy and Commerce Committee who are leaning "yes" on single payer, or who have not indicated their stand:

Lean Yes
Diana DeGette, CO01, 202-225-4431
Jane Harman, CA36, 202-225-8220
Christopher Murphy, CT05, 202-225-4476
Frank Pallone, NJ06, 202-225-4671
Bobby Rush, IL01, 202-225-4372
Peter Welch, VT00, 202-225-4115

Won't Say / "Not Enought Votes"
Rick Boucher, VA09, 202-225-3861
Bruce Braley, IA01, 202-225-2911
G.K. Butterfield, NC01, 202-225-3101
Lois Capps, CA23, 202-225-3601
Kathy Castor, FL11, 202-225-3376
John Dingell, MI15, 202-225-4071
Charles Gonzalez, TX20, 202-225-3236
Gene Green, TX29, 202-225-1688
Jay Inslee, WA01, 202-225-6311
Doris Matsui, CA05, 202-225-7163
Jerry McNerney, CA11, 202-225-1947
John Sarbanes, MD03, 202-225-4016
Bart Stupak, MI01, 202-225-4735
Betty Sutton, OH13, 202-225-3401
Henry Waxman (Chair), CA30, 202-225-3976

If these folks can be brought on board, the amendment will pass. Your calls are vital and they are working!

Democrats.com is collecting feedback from calls here. We'd also like to hear what your reps have to say--you can post a comment here. There's also a petition to representatives at the Democrats.com site.

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Help the Mad as Hell Doctors take to the road

A message from Dr. Paul Hochfeld, emergency room physician and producer of the documentary Health, Money and Fear:

Dear Single Payer Supporters:

We’re mad! Aren't you? The Industry is blatantly manipulating public policy for profits. Despite the support of the majority of Americans and the efforts of PNHP, its members, and innumerable national organizations, Congress refuses to consider the only real solution: Single Payer Health Care.

What’s missing? We need a rallying event that both national and local media can easily and eagerly embrace. Enter: the Mad As Hell Doctors road tour.

The vision… Imagine a small group of doctors crossing the country in a wrapped motor home, expressing our outrage in public rallies, making TV/radio appearances, hearing peoples’ stories, uploading video, attracting serious media attention, and pulling into D.C. with a caravan of cars to raise Hell with Congress. We will demand that they put Single Payer Health Care on the table for the Congressional Budget Office evaluate, and put it to a vote.

This is a serious effort. "We" have already put up $15,000 of our own money to cover the cost of phase one, which includes hiring Gary Jelinek (Dennis Kucinich's National 2004 Campaign Organizer) and Adam Klugman (Jack Klugman's son who is a creative media consultant). Phase two is the trip.

If our road trip captures your imagination and you share our anger, we need your help. Not only do we need funding, we need people in communities like yours to help organize/publicize rallies and contact local media prior to our arrival.

Please, share this email with your chapter members. We can bring this vision to life. We can energize the Single Payer movement.

To find out more and support this effort, go to www.MadAsHellDoctors.com, or call Paul Hochfeld at 541-740-4065. (email: phochfeld@msn.com)

Best regards and be well. Being otherwise is very expensive.

Oregon PNHP:
Dr. Samuel Metz (Anesthesiology)
Dr. Joe Eusterman, (Retired Primary Care Provider)
Dr. Eugene Uphoff, (Family Medicine)
Dr. Paul Hochfeld, (Emergency Medicine, producer of "Health, Money and Fear")
Dr. Mike Huntington, (Retired Radiation Oncologist, co-convener Oregon PNHP)

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Wednesday markup postponed!

An email from Marie Ternes, Rep. Weiner's chief of staff:

I wanted to let all of you know that the markup for tomorrow has been postponed. So the Weiner single-payer amendment will not be offered tomorrow.

Keep the calls to Committee members coming. They have been very helpful.

We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Marie

We repeat: keep the calls coming! And thank you!

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