Cold and Colder

Emmy’s battling the draft while I fend off whatever bug’s been making the rounds.

I’m officially declaring today Couch and Nap Day.

Well…Not So Much

I was trying to figure out what to update with today and decided I should probably toss in a little health care news before the weekend.

Yesterday, we held a press call to talk about the Senate bill’s “wellness” loophole. Jason at our blog has a good breakdown:

The Senate bill has a gaping loophole in it that could negate a central promise of health reform – that insurers can no longer charge more because you are sick.

The loophole comes in the form of an expansion to so-called “workplace wellness programs” that are supposed to reward employees for healthy habits. In practice, however, it could allow insurers to charge thousands of dollars more because, for example, a person is sick or overweight or has high cholesterol.

In other words (from the press release):

Right now, workers who do not participate in wellness programs can pay up to 20 percent more than those who do. The loophole would raise that threshold to as much as 50 percent – essentially penalizing people who may be sicker and perpetuating the practice of medical underwriting that the insurance industry had pledged to abandon. The loophole would allow insurers to continue to game the system to increase their profits.

Sue Nelson from the American Heart Association:

“Although described as ‘incentives’ this practice allows employers to raise costs across the board for everyone and then lower them selectively for those who meet certain health targets. So incentives quickly become penalties for those who cannot meet the targets.”

Richard:

“We shouldn’t be punishing people who have chronic health conditions or who have to run home from work to take care of their families and can’t go to the gym or can’t afford a gym membership. We should be encouraging people to participate in wellness programs, not charging people thousands of dollars more because they don’t look like a Hollywood star.”

We got some good press pick-up on the issue and the call. A few examples:

AP: Advocacy groups raise concerns on health bill

NASDAQ: Groups Say Senate Health Bill Wellness Incentives Are Unfair

MarketWatch: Experts: Critical loophole in Senate health bill

Politico: Progressive, patient groups decry loophole benefiting insurers

Reuters: Healthy lifestyle discount or insurance loophole?

Washington Independent: Health Advocates: Senate Plan Encourages Discrimination

Quote of the Day

We were discussing something in our morning staff meeting today that led to the following exchange:

Coworker #1: Isn’t there a book about that? Something like Smart People Who Do Dumb Things?

Coworker #2: Yeah. It’s called Everyone Poops.

(This will be even funnier to anyone who’s walked past the Kramerbooks window display in Dupont in the past year or so.)

Gender Grating

Anne Kornblut on Morning Joe talking about her new book, gender considerations in the 2008 election, and decisions facing the Clinton campaign:

“How much should she run as a tough woman? How much should she run as a woman woman?”

I’ll give Anne the benefit of the doubt and say she didn’t mean to be a complete dolt, but if she believes being tough makes you less of a woman, then she needs to get a clue.

I know she probably meant something less offensive, but if she’s going to be on TV pimping her book on gender and politics, she needs to choose her words more wisely, or she’s going to piss off a lot of tough women.

Speaking of ridiculous females, I watched the premiere of The Bachelor the other night at the urging of a friend who insists it is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. We met the women about 15 minutes into the show, and I was immediately embarrassed to be a woman. The guy was kind of a tool too, but that was secondary to the pathetic display of desperation on behalf of the women claiming to be looking for love.

What they need to be looking for is a good therapist and a little more self-respect.

Finish Reform Right

We’re up on the air with a new TV ad today called “Marathon” (which is definitely what this process has felt like for some of us lately):

Along with the ad, we’ve also launched a new Finish Reform Right online campaign, complete with a whole new website called – wait for it – FinishReformRight.com.

Click through and sign on to our letter to the President and Congressional leadership asking that they address some critical issues like making health care truly affordable, eliminating the excise tax, demanding employer responsibility, and holding insurance companies accountable through strict regulation and a public health insurance option.

Also, the website’s featuring a story an hour from 9am today until 9am tomorrow spotlighting people who have been fighting for reform or have been affected by the seriously broken system we’ve got now. You can find those stories here.

Hear You Go

Jeff Santos and I chat about health care reform on his radio show every Monday morning around the same time. Click here for this morning’s segment. There’s no time stamp so just slide the bar about a 1/4 inch past the halfway mark.

Say No More

How many times do reporters have to write the same story over and over again before those fighting against real reform get it? AP covered the latest Remote Area Medical expedition, and here’s the part that kills me:

Over 1 1/2 days, 701 patients have come through RAM’s doors.

Its dentists have extracted 852 teeth and filled 234 others; 345 pairs of eyes have been tested; 87 people have been examined by a medical doctor.

If RAM was going to send out a bill, it would total $138,370.

What do you think insurance companies would charge for the same amount of medical attention?

image courtesy Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times / August 11, 2009

It’s Too Easy

CNN serves up a softball:

Can we get a second opinion?

And So It Continues

I’m pretty pleased with my first quote of the year. Politico:

“Not only have they proven that they’re the party of not getting anything done, but now they want to prove that they are the party of undoing anything that gets done,” said Jacki Schechner, spokeswoman for the progressive coalition Health Care for America Now.

And as a side note to whomever has decided the way to get back at me for trying to get you better health care is to use my email address to sign up for conservative digests and religious newsletters: I know how to unsubscribe. And I now have your IP address. So thanks for playing.

Happy New Year

More to come later, but I just wanted to make sure I said “hi” this morning.

Happy 2010.