We may have reached the point where it’s necessary to dump the “representative” part of our representative democracy. That is, if we want healthcare reform that in any way resembles actual, meaningful, reform. Word got out last night that now the Senate is backing off the early Medicare buy-in because of predictable pushback from providers (I was going to write about the buy-in; now, not so much.) Medicare expansion was the only meaningful reform left in the ongoing Senate slaughter of HR 3590. Providers, insurers, other special interests – they are all represented in Congress. We, however, are not.

For a timely reminder from Kaiser Family Foundation and Freeclinics.us on why we need healthcare reform, read more here.                                 blogsurfer.us

When we last took a look at the weekend’s Senate happenings , basically Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landrieu had decided to wait to ransom the healthcare reform process until after Senate debate began. So we got our 60 votes on the procedural motion to move ahead with debate (yay!), meaning we could look at a figure describing the legislative process ahead. 

But speaking of holding things for ransom, here are 5 potential holdups as we reach the homestretch for healthcare reform. Most are in the Senate, but things can also get hairy in the combined committee process and beyond. As we have agreement to proceed with Senate debate, let’s start there.

Read more here.                    blogsurfer.us

That huge sigh of relief you heard on Saturday night was the majority of Americans rejoicing that Senate debate on its healthcare bill could at least start. Yes, we got 60 votes! No one in the Democratic caucus wants to stick out as the road block to constructive healthcare reform debate … yet. There’s still a long road to hoe from here, but we’ve now moved away from the Senate starting line on HR 3590. What’s next in the healthcare reform marathon?

Find out and see a healthcare reform legislative road map here.                  blogsurfer.us

Get a brief 2-page summary of HR 3590 here (warning: shiny and overly optimistic language ahead.) If you’re really ambitious and want to wade through all 2074 pages, download the entire bill here. As a bonus, you can download the Democratic summary of the prior and merged bills here: HR 3590_11-18-09mergedbillsummary. Below is a first hit at the good and bad in the bill.

Well, there’s one thing I can tell you about the Senate’s newly released combined healthcare reform bill, HR 3590. It uses every possible buzz word and phrase possible. From the name, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to the summary waxing eloquent about Medicare being a “sacred trust”, helping those with pre-existing conditions avoid “medical bankruptcy” through risk pools (hey, the premiums alone can lead to bankruptcy!), and “cracking down” on waste fraud and abuse, it goes for shiny popular phraseology.

One popular and totally useless word that pops up is “co-op”. Yep, this is the Senate’s inclusion (along with some other complex state options) to justify including a public option as well. Co-ops are a $6 billion cop-out, nothing more. And yes, that $6 billion to support yet more private insurers is paid for with your tax dollars. There are also provisions for inter-state and potential national private plans. That sounds good in theory, but what for practical purposes what it does is allow a private insurer to base itself in the state with the weakest healthcare regulations and sell policies outside that state, as insurance regulations depend on where the insurer is located. Read more…

Remember Rachel Maddow announcing a 3-prong Democratic strategy to get healthcare reform passed last month? The audacious “shame them, demote them, and do an end run around them” strategy seemed lifted right out of the Tea Party sensationalistic playbook.

The basic approach was to 1) do good while shaming those Congressional representatives that would deny their constituents affordable healthcare, 2) relieve obstructionist Democrats of their committee chairmanships, and 3) use reconciliation as an end run around Republican obstructionism. Well, we haven’t heard much about demotion and reconciliation lately, but the shame part is full steam ahead.

Read more here.        blogsurfer.us