Recently in Health Care Category

Team blogged by eljefebob and Desperado:Today, John McCain showed his faulty memory again when he chided Senator Al Franken, acting as acting president of the Senate, for shutting down Senator Joe Lieberman as he bloviated about health care, falsely asserting that he was concerned about prople getting health insurance.  McCain got irritated, saying, "I've been around here 20-some years. First time I've ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his...

First I want to thank everybody for your comments on yesterday's post. Sorry I couldn't jump in but sometimes work gets in the way. The debate between "kill the bill" and "pass it and fix it later" is a good one with valid points to be made on both sides. That's why I like the forum we have here at the Hurricane so much. We can disagree with each other and have a substantive discussion...

You remember what happened to Joe Lieberman in 2006.  After being the Dem Veep candidate in 2000, he went from darling to goat after climbing into the sack with GWB and backing many of his policies, especially the invasion of Iraq and its continuing occupation.  He sided with the Repubs in the Senate on many key issues, enraging the Dem leadership.  When up for re-election in Connecticut in 2006, the Dems primaried him with progressive...

As I predicted this morning the Dorgan Amendment, which would have allowed the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere, failed today. From Associated Press:The 51-48 roll call Tuesday by which the Senate rejected a plan that would allow Americans to import low-cost prescriptions from abroad. Sixty votes were needed to pass the measure.A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the measure.Voting yes were 27 Democrats, 23 Republicans and 1 independent.Voting no were...

So what's left? No public option, no Medicare buy-in, thanks to President Lieberman. The 90% medical loss ratio? That's dead, too. The Dorgan amendment on drug importation comes up for a vote today. Look for that to disappear as well. The ban on denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and recission is still there so far, but then again President Lieberman isn't through making demands yet. Stay tuned. But have no fear, the individual mandate...

Dear President Obama and Senator Reid, This is what happens when you make a deal with a snake. Sooner or later you're very likely to get bitten. November 17, 2008: "Senate Democrats appear willing to let Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, keep his powerful Homeland Security Committee chairmanship, even though he campaigned vigorously for Sen. John McCain's White House bid...Several lawmakers involved in the discussions over Lieberman's fate credited President-elect Barack Obama's desire to keep Lieberman...

In the bass-ackwards world of health care reform, I guess this shouldn't be surprising, but the Senate yesterday refused to put an amendment, which would allow drug importation from Canada, up for a vote because they were afraid it might pass. "Debating an overhaul of the health care system, the Senate found itself tied in knots on Thursday over a bipartisan proposal to allow people to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and certain other...

Well, that didn't take long. The Senate "compromise" is already dead. Joe Lieberman said no to even a triggered public option:"I've told them that I can't support a trigger--no, actually, to be more explicit: If they say that it's unlikely to be [pulled] then it's unnecessary," Lieberman said. "It's an irritant."And Olympia Snowe said no to the Medicare buy-in:"Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Thursday that she does not support the Medicare buy-in because it would...

Those of you that recall the 1992 election well remember the famous line from James Carville. In many ways, that line is true and always will be true. For the Democrats in 2010, that line holds more importance than they could ever guess. People focus on health care reform and they should. The Senate removed the public option, but it doesn't mean that it's dead. Consider the public option as the knee replacement you've needed...

Although the details of the "compromise" (aka sellout) on the public option reached by the Senate yesterday have yet to be released, here's my take on what I've seen so far. This is what we get when we have a malfunctioning body known as the United States Senate which is in reality a wholly-owned subsidiary of the big insurance companies.  We get a Medicare buy-in that's not really Medicare and not really a buy-in, is...