Do Health Care Reform Supporters Have New Reason to Hope?

YAY!

Alright now!

Kate, thanks for this. You and KT do great HCR work. All’s not lost, but which party does “Mutual of Omaha” Nelson represent again? But based on numbers alone, how can he and his fellow R’s, I mean, working with R’s, how can stop recon …unless he gets help from his fellow corporate D’s? Or is this move really a hint of defeat on his part? (these are serious q.’s) If you or KT have more insights I’ll always appreciate them, thanks.

That Ben Nelson is running scared at the idea of reconciliation to the point that he is begging any republican to come to the table makes me think that reconciliation is closer than I thought.

Hopefully this bill will pass by reconciliation.
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You can then watch as all the Democrat Senators up for election this fall, and most ALL Democrat Representatives go down with a bill which Americans know is not the type of reform we need.
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Republicans can now celebrate as the far left liberal extremists completely bury their party once and for all.

Nelson’s plea to Republicans could mean several things: 1. Nelson believes reconciliation is a realistic possibility and doesn’t like the idea because it means he would have no more leverage – with only 51 votes needed, there will be no 60th vote, Scott Brown or no Scott Brown, 2. Nelson wants to appear to his constituents to be bipartisan and moderate, 3. Nelson thinks a bill forged by Republicans and Democrats working together really would produce a better outcome than the legislation currently on the table, 4. Nelson is giving Senate Democrats cover later on by explicitly inviting Republicans to the negotiating table one more time. My guess is that the meaning is a combination of #1 and #2. The truth is, after everything they have staked on health care reform, Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress are not going to start the whole process over because a few Republicans say they now want to work together.

Ben Nelson has said he hates reconciliation.
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Which, of course, explains why he was the 50th vote in the Senate when it pushed through Bush’s first giant tax cut for the rich, using reconciliation.

Obama needs to get out there and talk up reform while pushing congress to keep moving. I lay the responsibility for this situation at his feet. He was elected easily and had tremendously high approval ratings and they’re still not terrible. He should have been out there talking up the plan and setting down concrete points for congress. Giving vague descriptions of his desires for the plan then letting our broken congress craft the whole thing without guidance was just a bad strategy. Instead he should have been more active and running defense for senators and congressmen. Instead things languished and he allowed the wingnuts to make more and more people believe that it was going to tear open the fabric of time and space if it passed. Hopefully it’s not too late to salvage this thing. Obama has said at least once that if he had to be a one term president to get health care reform passed then that was the way it would be because he knew it was the right thing to do. It’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is.

I have stated here on this topic time and time again. Please please please pass HC this premium raising, services cutting deficit bulging bill by reconciliation. The left will put the stake through their own heart.

My congratulations, one and all!
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It’s Thursday, and your restraint is admirable thus far.

OT, but did anyone catch the piece about the MD PR firm that, based on the SCOTUS ruling giving corporations the same rights as individuals regarding campaign spending, have decided to “cut out the middle man” and run for a Maryland Congressional seat DIRECTLY.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/28/corporation-election/

Thanks for your thoughts, Kate, esp. #1. I forgot about Nelson wanting leverage and attention (and perhaps another deal for his state?).

Thanks so very much for responding to commentary with these helpful points, Kate Pickert, it is greatly appreciated.

Health Care reform is so important to me that I could care less if they lose all their seats and Obama is out after 1 term.

Those of us that live in the real world see the devestation of thousands of families who have NO COVERAGE at all. Do you know what it is like to become seriously ill and have no one to turn to? What it is like to lay in bed all night wondering if you have cancer, if you are going to die, if anyone at all cares?

Don’t give me the republicans want health care too garbage because they have never raised it as an issue untill Obama decided to put his entire political capital on the line to save lives and I applaud him for it. The republicans have the monopoly on Christianity, but would Jesus let 30 million go without coverage? What a bunch of hypocrites. And I don’t like democrats either so any slight at them is irrelevant to me.

Thanks for the link. Maybe the satire of their campaign won’t kick in and they’ll win for real.

If either of you have ever tried to start your own business you would also realize that soaring health care costs are a primary reason small business suffer.

When I became seriously ill I had to sell my business because I could not afford the costs (in the $100,000 range for 1 year). Now I am being paid by the state of Illinois with a cushy job and have health care.

Health care costs single handidly pushed me away from small business and right into the hands of government spending. Are you to blinded by your hatred of our first minority president to understand that?

Or #5, Ben Nelson is still fighting the good fight for his poor, downtrodden constituents, the HIC and big pharma.
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http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00005329
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Even if he fails and a good bill does pass counter to their interests, he has to prove his loyalty so as to keep those funds coming in.

North, I am inspired by your comments. I think you brought the issue dramatically into the real world. I am on that socialist plan called Medicare. I was layed off 3 years before I turned 65. Unable to find work, I had to hope I would not get ill. I am so grateful there is Medicare. What I don’t understand is why people do not want medical care for everyone.
Your posting certainly put into perspective the consequences of our current system. Thank you.

Yes, thanks for that afguy. Priceless. Love the closing line:
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“Hansel explained … that his company chose to run in the Republican primary because the GOP is more sympathetic to corporations.”

Pass the damn bill, already.

“Please please please pass HC this premium raising, services cutting deficit bulging bill by reconciliation.”
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Which HC bill are you talking about?
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Because the one that exists in reality — the one the Senate passed — does not raise premiums, does not cut services, and does not raise the deficit.
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On the last point, the nonpartisan CBO has calculated that the HC bill — the real one, not the one in your imagination — will lower the deficit by $132 billion over the next decade.
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I know, I know. I shouldn’t try bothering you with facts. You’ve already been told what to believe and what to say, facts be damned.

Damn straight!

#DAILYSHOW: Doris Kernes Goodwin agrees with K-Tum: #makethemfilibuster

Has anyone – of either party – announced a candidacy against Nelson? ‘Cause I’ll write a check today. Better an overt Republican than this “Democratic” pile of weasel droppings.

northpoleresid…
A very heart wrenching story which like most liberal programs are grounded in feelings and not reality. The key is to tug at heart strings and then pass idiot legislation that generations will be saddled. Think of the misery you will cause your children and their children and their childrens children as they won’t be able to afford anything as they struggle to pay off a debt that will collaspe this country.
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As far as I know when Jesus walked the earth no one had health insurance.
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I have owned several businesses and still operate one. My legal fees for regulatory compliance and taxes at all levels cost me more than health care. HC is more flexible and creatively costs can be handles. Taxes and regulation are mandatory and kill businesses. Without half the employee trax burden and regulations I could hire several more people WITH HC. Putting mandatory HC costs on employers is like giving a lead weight to a man overboard.
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And its nice to see that you lack any rational arguments so you go right to the race card. Pathetic but typical of the unprincipled left.
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kevin:
# It increases health costs. This so-called fee on insurance companies would be passed on to consumers, directly increasing the cost of health insurance for tens of millions of Americans and contravening Congress’s stated intention that its legislation will reduce health insurance costs.
# It increases taxes. Because this “fee” is effectively an insurance premium tax imposed on policies purchased by half of all Americans, it violates President Barack Obama’s repeated promise that most Americans, or at least those with incomes below $250,000, would not see their taxes increased in any way, shape, or form.

The Senate bill also has $500 billion in Medicare cuts. A provision that has been in bills for over 20 years and has yet to be enacted. Click your heels three times Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore because this provision will never be enacted either. No federal entitlement program has ever ever come close to the original estimates and this one won’t either.

PS There are 2 bills, one in the House an done in the Senate. Facts are tough especially if you are ignorantly informed.

Sorry I am at the show me state. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

freeinpa: When Jesus walked the earth there was no health insurance? Are you really that stupid? (Something I have never called anyone on this site.)
You are right there was no health insurance. There was slavery, leper colonies, crucifixtions. I guess the idea of health insurance hadn’t crossed the minds of the benevolent leaders of the time.
There was a time when we had the New Deal, the New Frontier, and the War on Poverty. They helped build a middle class. Whenever Republicans came to power their answer was to lower taxes on the rich, increase deficits (Reps since the depression have raised the dificit more than any Dems.) and slowly dismantle the safety nets for the poor and middle class.
The Republicans have a War on the Poor and a War on the Middle Class. Those that subscribe to the Rep party tenets should read some economic history.
Think about this, if we had single payer, like every other democratic, industrialized nation, we would have cheaper insurance and better outcomes. This would free American companies to be competive with companies from other nations.

free: Monty Python has a message for you…

Completely OT for those who are interested-
On BBC America right now Blair At Iraq Inquiry.

On a one minute delay

apr2563

“When Jesus walked the earth there was no health insurance? Are you really that stupid?”

No but I am guessing you might be. That quote was in response to a silly question by another liberal.

(The republicans have the monopoly on Christianity, but would Jesus let 30 million go without coverage?)

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“There was slavery, leper colonies, crucifixtions.” Yes by a King who lived high off the taxes of the productive. Hmm not unlike Obama. That may explain the bad haircut.
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The liberals are always deriding repubs for wanting to take the country back to the 1950s but you seem to have no problem in going back to the 1930s. So are you saying a traditional family with a father working a mother at home with the children provides stability for our country and economy? I thought not, as a consequence we now have a sycophant population that demands entitlements not as a short term measure or a hand up but a as a right. Social Security was to be a safety net and liberals have made it an expected retirement plan Add in Medicare and Medicaid and we have liabilities that will exceed any top marginal tax rate that can be sustained. All o fthese programs have come in at multiples of the original estimates. That was fine in an emerging economy but not a mature one.

To make it easier for you to understand, look at Government Motors (GM). Rising wages, growing benefits big pensions. Middle class dream. Management kicked that can down the road as the auto industry was growing. Now in decline we have a bankrupt country. How is that for history for you?
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Liberals whine all the time about tax cuts because it helps the rich. Provide one example where poor people created a job. Countries worldwide that have experienced economic troubles have cut taxes. It is not a coincidence Tax cuts have increased revenues, however they just cannot out grow the propensity to spend. The revenue side is not the issue especially when the spending side is never addressed. Maybe you should read some history and look at actual numbers not provided by other left wing nut jobs..
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I see you, like other liberals get the basis for your rational, if I can be so bold as to call it that from Monthy Python, John Stewart, Bill Maher and Tina Fey. Small wonder the majority of Americans believe liberal intelligence is an oxymoron.

Everyone knows it’s political suicide for the Dems to produce nothing on health care. But it’s equally dangerous for them to ram through the current Senate version. The best bet is a watered down compromise that can get one or two Republicans on board once Brown is seated.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

I surely hope you are correct, Kate. The fact that Nelson is turning to his pals in the GOP for help to do the bidding of his corporate overlords is indeed a good sign for HCR.

Thank you Kate for this information.

Nancy said the popular Public Option is dead, but can you find out if there are plans to change the exchanges to National? They must know how the CBO scored this and should be able to be done under reconciliation.

Charging those 55 to 65 three times more is one more must fix. They may not be able to do this under reconciliation but I would like to see Republicans vote this down in a separate amendment. I think this was as big as Nelson in the unpopularity of the Senate Bill.

More OT: Karen is on the Diane Rehm Show at 10AM

rusty, have you called your Senator and asked them to push for reconciliation? I don’t care if you have different reasons than I for wanting reconciliation, but since we have 1 common goal, let’s get it done. God bless you and your extreme wingosity.

What impetus is there for any Republican to work with Democrats? They have learned the lesson I wish Democrats would learn, that “we shall hand together of we shall hang separately”.
The bill that gets 1 Republican is going to get 41, and any bill that 41 Republicans vote for is a bill that stabs America in the face.

“hang together or hang separately”. Sheesh.

Is there any more weaselly, hateful, and destructive person in our government than Ben Nelson?

Joe Lieberman

If the Senate “reform” bill passes with its mandate requiring citizens to purchase insurance, my guess is the Supreme Court (5 to 4) will invalidate the entire legislation because the mandate is critical to the law’s purpose. There simply is no clause in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to force citizens to support the insurance industry.

Regarding Jesus, he urged his followers to love their neighbors as they loved themselves. When a lawyer (who else?) asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is instructive. A priest and Levite had ignored the suffering of a man they saw lying beside the road who had been beaten and robbed, but the Good Samaritan stopped, dressed his wounds, put him on his donkey and took him to an inn where he paid for the poor man’s room made arrangements for his continuing health care whatever the cost WITH HIS OWN MONEY. Jesus concluded the parable by telling those listening to “Go and do likewise.” Jesus pointedly did not urge anyone to use OPM (sounds like opium, is equally addicting, stands for other people’s money) to succor their less-fortunate neighbors.

Free you might remember Jesus threw out the money changers.
Yes, I do appreciate the political wisdom I get from Stewart, Monty Python, et al. Comedians Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh are not funny. Unfortunately, right wing demigogues are not. A funny conservative: PJ O’Rourke

…my guess is the Supreme Court (5 to 4) will invalidate the entire legislation because the mandate is critical to the law’s purpose. There simply is no clause in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to force citizens to support the insurance industry.
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I’m sure the court could find some convoluted justification for a universal mandate but that’s not going to be necessary in this case.
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Legislators in both houses want to continue to give workers with employer-paid benefits a pass on taxation and at the same time, compel without employer-paid coverage to buy coverage with after-tax dollars. You don’t have to get involved in the meaning of the commerce clause to strike that down: It is a manifestly unequal arrangement.

“You don’t have to get involved in the meaning of the commerce clause to strike that down.”

I hope you’re right because, based on previous SCOTUS decisions, the commerce clause means…whatever.

[...] Every day we try to read the signs and report back how things are looking. Should supporters feel hopeful? Are Democrats just plotting their next move, trying to keep their delicate efforts out of the [...]