Blue Dogs Won’t Vote For What They Support
Blue Dogs Won’t Vote For What They Support
The fifty-member Blue Dog Coalition has written a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) revealing “strong reservations” about the Tri Committee’s health care bill. “After reviewing the draft tri-committee health care reform proposal, we believe it lacks a number of elements essential to preserving what works and fixing what is broken,” the letter reads:
- Deficit Neutrality: “Paying for care reform must start with finding savings within the current delivery system and maximizing the value of our health care dollar before we ask the public to pay more.”
- Delivery System Reform: “The discussion draft fails to include adequate structural changes that will succeed in lowering costs and increasing value.”
- Rural Health: “We must not fail to address the underlying problems and inequities that plague rural providers.”
- Public Option: “A Medicare-like” public option would negatively impact hospitals, doctors and patients…using Medicare’s below-market rates would seriously weaken the financial stability of our local hospitals and doctors.”
Democrats have already committed themselves to fully funding health care reform and the President has identified $632 billion worth of savings from within the system. Rahm Emanuel, who visited the Capitol twice this week to discuss health care proposals with House Democrats, has said Obama would prefer that money to pay for the legislation come from within the health care system — as he argued in a letter to Sens. Baucus and Kennedy — and OMB Director Peter Orszag is urging lawmakers to include “further cuts in the Medicare and Medicaid payments that hospitals receive for treating the uninsured. In fact, according to a CBO estimate of the Tri Committee bill, the draft would save some $500 billion from Medicare cuts.
More importantly, the letter contains an inherent contradiction: the Blue Dogs want to find more savings within the system — they’re asking for Delivery System Reforms and “maximizing the value of our health care dollar” — but they’re also asking the bill to spend more on rural health and physician reimbursement. And they are reluctant to support any legislation that moves us towards that goal, causes providers to lose revenue, or regulates the system to improve efficiency.
Consider their objection to a “Medicare-like” public option that reimburses providers 5 to 10 percent above Medicare rates. According to MedPAC, Medicare rates are adequate and consistent with the efficient delivery of services. In fact, over-payments by private insurers to health-care providers drives up overall costs. “Hospitals which didn’t rely on high payment rates from private insurers ‘are able, in fact, to control their costs and reduce their costs when they need to’ and ‘combine low costs with quality,’” Glenn Hackbarth, the chairman of MedPAC, said during recent testimony in front of the House Ways and Means Committee. Moreover, if the public plan pays bloated market rates, it will fail to offer lower premiums within the Exchange, and would cause the government to spend more money on subsidies.
Thus, as Pelosi said yesterday, “squeeze out what you can from the system — savings, savings, savings. … Otherwise the bill is endless.” In this case, the Blue Dogs are slowing down an effort that implements their principles for reform.
4 Responses to “Blue Dogs Won’t Vote For What They Support”
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Have your Blue Dogs spayed and neutered and this won’t be a problem…
Seriously though, whose side are these people on? I group them right in with the GOP at this point. Why even call yourselves Democrats… convert to the GOP so we can run someone against you and kick your sorry a$$ out of Congress.
And I say this as a fiscal conservative!
July 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pmWILL RODGERS ON DEMOCRATIC
To be a Democrat you have to be an optimist; and you have got to have a sense of humor to stay one.
Lots of people never know the difference between a Republican. and a Democrat. Well, I will tell you how to tell the difference. The Democrats are the ones who split. That is the only way you can tell them from the Republicans. If the Democrats never split in their lives, there would be no such thing as a Republican.
The difference between a Republican and a Democrat is that the Democrat is cannibal; they have to live off each other, while the Republicans live of the Democrats.
A Democrat is just an alarm clock; he wakes you up, but you don not necessarily have to get up
AND THERE IS MORE, YOU GOT TO LOVE A GUY WHEN HE IS CORRECT, YOU COULD SAY RIGHT BUT THEN IT WOULD BE THE VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY!
July 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pmAMERICA’S NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY!
It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.
STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.
We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.
And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.
Progressive democrats the Tri-Caucus and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust government-run public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and request that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).
Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.
In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!
If President Obama has to declare a NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY to rescue the American people from our healthcare crisis, he will need all the sustained support you can give him. STICK WITH HIM! He’s doing a brilliant job.
THIS IS THE BIG ONE!
THE BATTLE OF GOOD Vs EVIL!
Join the fight.
Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD!
God Bless You
Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS
July 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pmCan anyone ID the various signatures? It looks like my rep, Joe Donnelly, signed it, but I want to be 100% certain before I launch into a call-out in the op-ed pages…
July 10th, 2009 at 8:42 pm