Why It Matters


Jay Newton-Small wrote an article for Time today about Eric Cantor and claimed one of “the large areas of agreement on upcoming legislation between Dems and Republicans” is “the expansion of employer-provided health care insurance rather than single payer government health care.”

That prompted me to send her the following email:

Hey Jay –

So I caught this line in your Cantor write:

“the expansion of employer-provided health care insurance rather than single payer government health care”

Single-payer government health care is actually NOT the opposing view. President Obama has stated very clearly – and 73% of voters support – everyone having the CHOICE of keeping private insurance or joining a new public health insurance plan.

It’s actually problematic to say that the alternative to more private insurance is government health care. The alternative to the status quo – or more private insurance – is a public health insurance plan option that would help control costs, ensure quality, and finally force private insurers to compete – not a single-payer, government-run health care system.

Please feel free to call or email me if you have questions. But I just wanted to make sure to bring this to your attention now and for future reference.

Thanks!

Jacki

Her response was that she was saying Cantor and Obama agree that “neither want[sic] a single payer plan.” I couldn’t let it go so I wrote back:

I hear ya. It’s just that Obama doesn’t want the expansion of private insurance versus single payer.

There’s another alternative – the actual Obama plan – and it’s not in line with what Republicans want.

Just because they both don’t want a single-payer plan doesn’t mean they agree on what they DO want. It’s going to be an especially important detail as the health care convo heats up.

-Jacki

Her response (paraphrased): Stop nitpicking. You’ll just frustrate yourself.

Did I mention I’m not good at letting it go? Me again:

Not nitpicking. Clarifying. If the last go-around (‘93/’94) taught us anything, it’s that frame and counter-frame actually matter a lot.

…And you better believe Republicans are already planning to stick Obama’s plan with the “government-run health care” label – even though it’s not. They already came out swinging against Health IT and CER – and pretty much everyone rational knows those are both really good things.

Then as if on cue, this turns up from Politico:

Forget change: GOP eyes retro strategy

The write points out this isn’t the same political environment as 1994, and Obama’s facing better starting odds than Clinton did, but it also reminds us the Republican party’s themes are to “unite against Democrats’ economic policy, block and counter health care reform and tar them with spending scandals.” Plus, there’s this:

Republicans are banking on the more liberal House to push the health care legislation even further from the center, making it unpalatable to moderate Democrats as well as Republicans.

As he did years ago, Gingrich is urging his old colleagues to “come up with a positive solution that is inclusive of everybody and that is capable of being implemented and to try to do it in a bipartisan way.”

In the House, Boehner recently appointed a GOP health care task force to begin crafting a response to the Obama plan.

It’s the first step to painting Obama and his allies as farther left then they really are. The sooner the media stops inadvertently arguing the right wing case with inaccurate juxtapositions, the better.

And if that means I have to “nitpick” to make it happen, then so be it. This is too important to let slide, roll down hill, pick up speed, and tumble out of control.

Enough Already


It’s only the first award of Oscar night, and I’m already exhausted. What’s with the weird mini-speeches recapping each nominee’s role?

Thank goodness for the Interwebs. I’ll catch the highlights online in snippets tomorrow.

Then again, at the rate this ceremony’s going, it will still be live tomorrow.

Like Right Out Of A Movie


I went to the movies for the first time in a long time last night, and as we were waiting for The Wrestler to start, one of my friends turned to me and said, “My mom’s crazy. She said be careful because three people have passed out watching this film. She’s nuts.”

I didn’t know much about the plot going in, but we both laughed thinking that was highly unlikely.

Then sure enough, about 30 minutes into our screening, someone in the rear of the theater started to yell, “Someone call a doctor! Call 911!” There was a commotion, and it was hard to tell what was going on, but once the lights came up you could make out a small crowd tending to a very pale man. We guessed he’d passed out.

That’s when the second – and stranger – thing happened. Another friend leaned over and said, “Oh wow. That’s Rahm.”

And it was. Rahm Emanuel was one of several people who came to the man’s rescue.

We waited a while with the movie off and the lights on – watching Rahm and co – until the paramedics showed up. They got the sick guy up and walking so I’m guessing he’s going to be alright.

As for my friend…she’s totally calling her mom tomorrow to apologize.

Serial Killer


We are having a very important debate in the office this morning. My boss is trying to kill the serial comma. Several of us have come out in defense of its survival. According to the uber-professional Rules for Comma Usage (aka the first result that pops up when you Google “comma rules”):

Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two. “He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base.” You may have learned that the comma before the “and” is unnecessary, which is fine if you’re in control of things. However, there are situations in which, if you don’t use this comma (especially when the list is complex or lengthy), these last two items in the list will try to glom together (like macaroni and cheese). Using a comma between all the items in a series, including the last two, avoids this problem. This last comma—the one between the word “and” and the preceding word—is often called the serial comma or the Oxford comma. In newspaper writing, incidentally, you will seldom find a serial comma, but that is not necessarily a sign that it should be omitted in academic prose.

My boss is trying to argue the comma before the “and” is not only unnecessary but incorrect, and he’s trying to shift the blame onto some elusive elementary educator named Mrs. Goldsmith.

Not only are we onto him, but we have a secret weapon.

Sister Marie.

See, she’s the nun that taught me 12th grade English in 5th and 6th grade, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I haven’t had to pick up a grammar book since.

Busy-ness


There’s more than a little chatter out there on the health care front today. Late last night, Sebelius for HHS popped up in a couple of spots. NYT:

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, an early Obama ally with a record of working across party lines, is emerging as the president’s top choice for secretary of health and human services, advisers said Wednesday.

From Greg Sargent on next week’s speech:

President Obama may make health care a theme of the big prime-time speech he’s making next Tuesday about the major challenges facing this country, Obama aides confirm to me.

This could be a big deal, particularly if Obama uses the high-visibility speech (which will be made before Congress) to press the case that health care reform is essential to righting our economy…

Ben Smith weighed in on OMB Director Peter Orszag and the budget:

Now Orszag is preparing for the biggest week of his career, with a “fiscal responsibility” summit Monday and the release of Obama’s first budget Thursday. He’s signaling that the moves in the stimulus package are just a hint of what’s to come in a budget that will begin in earnest the arduous process of health care reform.

CAPAF released a report showing 14,000 Americans are losing health coverage daily:

The unemployment rate grew by 0.8 percentage points in December and January alone, implying that nearly 900,000 people became uninsured in these two months. That’s about 100,000 people a week, or 14,000 people a day. The rapid growth in the number of uninsured Americans will continue as long as the job market remains in a free fall.

The Talk Radio News Service covered the CAPAF report release:

The Center for American Progress Action Fund and Health Care for
America Now, held a teleconference to release new reports which
stated that health care is the biggest component of our economy and
it is necessary to restore the nation’s prosperity. “About 14,000 people lose health insurance everyday, and this is what we can expect as long as the job market remains in crisis,” said Judy Feder with the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Director for Health Care for America Now, said that the public shouldn’t be scared by the fear-marketing which the insurance industry and drug companies are using to protect their profits. “We’re quiet[sic] sure that the public will understand that they can’t continue to rely on private health insurance’s ability to charge them whatever they want and to raise premiums four times as much as wages and that they need the government to be a rule maker and offer them a choice for a public plan as an alternative for private
insurance,” Kirsch said.

And finally, Richard’s got a new oped up on HuffPo. Here’s a snippet:

President Obama’s budget release will be the first formal step in the legislative dance that the President hopes will result in the passage of health care reform – including quality, affordable coverage for all – by the end of 2009. While opponents of reform will use every argument in their arsenal, one of the biggest obstacles will be Congressional reluctance to make any upfront investment that would add to the federal budget deficit in the short term.

However, leading economists and policy experts agree that the only way to bring health care costs under control is to make big, comprehensive changes. We need to shift the focus of our health care system from maximizing revenue for health care providers and insurers to maximizing the health status of Americans.

UPDATE: More CAPAF report coverage just popped up. From MSNBC:

STUDY: 14K LOSING H.C. INSURANCE A DAY
From NBC’s Jade Taenzler

According to a report released today by the liberal Center for American Progress and also the group Health Care for America Now, 14,000 Americans are losing health-care insurance every day during this economic crisis…

(…)

Michael J. Wilson, legislative director for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, sees the rising number of uninsured Americans impact other parts of the economy. “With 14,000 people losing health care every day, even people who still have health care are affected,” said Wilson. “If people are desperately saving their money to pay for health care, they will not be able to spend money on food or other goods, which adds to the recent turmoil in the market.”


Got Breakfast?

Not new online but timeless and a good morning mood setter. From a friend via Cute Overload:



Same Old Strategy


Howard Dean weighs in on the right wing attacks on CER and how they are all about Republicans putting politics before people. Via HuffPo:

This claptrap is really about the far right laying the ground work for a far greater and more sustained attack on the Democrats’ attempt to fix our health care system. As we move forward with the American people to finally fulfill the promise of Harry Truman, who over sixty years ago suggested that every American ought to have a reasonable health care plan, we will rely on the voters to remind the right wing that change is what we promised, and change is what we will deliver.

Their opposition is about politics asure[sic] that the new administration and the Congress do not get a “win.”

When Richard and I made the rounds talking to reporters at the start of the campaign, he always mentioned how Newt and his colleagues set out to stop health care reform in the 90s because it would be detrimental to the Republican party. Not that it would be good or bad for the people they represented. It would be bad for the Republican party to have a Democratic President succeed.

Unfortunately, Newt won that fight. We didn’t get health care reform. And look where we are now.

So now would be an excellent time not to let that happen again.

Photo Finished


Via The White House website, the story of the economic recovery package in pictures.

Morning Breath


Strange bedfellow coalitions are never as attractive in the light of day as they were the night before. AP:

Labor unions and business groups have teamed up in a multimillion-dollar national lobbying campaign to pressure President Barack Obama and Congress for big changes in the nation’s health care system. But as they get down to the specifics, their strange-bedfellows alliance is quietly at odds.

After spending two years and more than $20 million to promote the idea, collaborators in the Divided We Fail coalition — a project of the seniors lobby AARP, the service workers’ union, and groups representing small business and the Fortune 500 — are indeed divided over key elements of how to fix health care.


Welcome Back


Miles has started his own blog.

I’m thrilled to see him using the Interwebs to put himself back out there and share his expertise.