Commentary: Joan McCarter
Baucus and Grassley’s Health Care Reform Dance
Why does Republican Charles Grassley loom so large in Max Baucus's health care reform effort, when he's opposed to almost everything Baucus wants to accomplish?By Joan McCarter, 6-08-09
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| Sen. Max Baucus. File photo courtesy of Baucus' office, Carolyn Bunce. | |
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You don’t need Grassley’s tweets to understand that he isn’t approaching health care reform in good faith or what his vision on bipartisanship is when it comes to health care reform. Bipartisanship in his mind means what it usually means to Republicans--Dems capitulating on a public option. He makes it absolutely clear in a letter he sent to President Obama, along with a handful of his Republican colleagues.
A group of Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Barack Obama declaring their opposition to including a government-run plan in a health-care overhaul, saying it would be a “federal government takeover” of the health system.
“Creating a brand-new government program will not only worsen our long-term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice,” said the letter from nine Republicans who are working on bipartisan health-care legislation.
That “working on bipartisan” legislation really should be in quotes in the original. What these guys are working on is obstruction, as usual. So none of that’s new.
Given that, though, how much more is it going to take for Max Baucus to wake up and smell the coffee? Why is Max Baucus still insisting on crafting a bill that Grassley will sign off on? From an interview they did together last week with reporter John Harwood:
HARWOOD: Are you guys confident that this is going…
Sen. BAUCUS: I’m quite confident that we’re going to get there.
HARWOOD: ...you’ll get a bipartisan bill?
Senator CHARLES GRASSLEY: I want to have--I want to have a bipartisan bill because most of what we’ve done in the Finance Committee and what it takes to get things through the Senate is bipartisanship....
HARWOOD: Right. There will be an individual mandate to purpose coverage?
Sen. BAUCUS: There’ll be a shared responsibility. That is that all Americans will have an obligation to have insurance of some kind or another.
HARWOOD: Yeah.
Sen. GRASSLEY: And I can say there’s a lot of people in my party believes the same thing.
HARWOOD: And that shared responsibility extends to employers as well? You either insure your people or you pay into the system? Can you support that?
Sen. GRASSLEY: No. There would be a great difference in my party on that. There’s two things that my caucus feel very strongly about. One is not to have a public option, and number two, not to have what you call play or pay.
HARWOOD: And are you opposed to pay or play? You will not support the bill that…
Sen. GRASSLEY: I’m opposed to play or pay.
HARWOOD: So how will you handle the issue of getting employers to participate?
Sen. GRASSLEY: I will handle that because if you have an individual mandate, then the individual’s responsible for their own health care. And for people that can’t afford it, there’ll be refundable credits.
And it goes on. There are a number of issues in this interview which Grassley just flat out refuses consider. Yup, Republican bipartisanship for you. Not that any of this is new, which makes the whole Baucus/Grassley partnership even more baffling.
Go back to March, when Baucus laid out his reform plan, with a few main policy points: an individual mandate to buy health insurance; choice would be preserved, nobody would have to drop their plan if they didn’t want to; a health exchange would be created as a marketplace to shop for health insurance, all plans in the exchange couldn’t deny care based on pre-existing conditions, and government subsidies would make premiums in the exchange affordable; and, a public health insurance plan would compete with private plans in the exchange.
On March 5, at the White House summit, Grassley laid out his opposition to the public plan. He’s continued those attacks on the public health insurance option in the press and in editorials:
In his policy paper, Baucus called for the creation of an Independent Health Board to regulate the insurance exchange. On April 10th, the Des Moines Register reported that Chuck Grassley opposed an Independent Health Board, saying “I will continue to raise concerns about any group sometimes called a national health board… It tends to centralize health care decisions, but more importantly it tends to direct health care dollars, and we have to be very, very concerned about a national health board being set up.”
Baucus advocates for comparative effectiveness research and health IT to give doctors information about what therapies work in his white paper. Grassley said that Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives should spread baseless claims about the policies: “I think they ought to hype them right now because people’s attention needs to be brought to it, and that’s the only way you’re going to get their attention. When the dust settles, they won’t have a leg to stand on and we will have and we will have a study and a tool that will be useful for doctors to use but not to dictate medicine.”
Baucus called for eliminating overpayment to private insurers in the Medicare Advantage program in order to lower health care costs in his white paper. Grassley is opposed to eliminating these corporate giveaways.
Since Baucus released his white paper last November, Grassley has systematically come out against point after point. The Hill reported that Grassley is also working on an alternative health care proposal to rally behind if/when he decides Baucus’s proposal is unacceptable:
“In tune with our responsibility as the loyal minority and loyal opposition, with emphasis on ‘loyal,’ we have to have a constructive alternative, with emphasis on ‘constructive,’ ” Grassley said. “So we have to be developing a bipartisan package with Baucus, with that being our goal and right now our only goal, but [we] can’t wait until the midnight hour to have something that Republicans can rally behind.”
Baucus needs to realize that he’s got no partner in Chuck Grassley when it comes to meaningful, effective health care reform. He needs to worry more about crafting a proposal that the HELP Committee and the majority of House Dems, not to mention the President, will sign off on. That was the whole point of structuring this so the bill can pass through reconciliation.
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Comments
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2009/06/05/dangerous-confusion-on-medicare-cost-control/
Our private insurance system is extremely expensive, ranging from every different insurer processing reimbursements differently (which triggers huge administrative costs for hospitals) to fee-for-service financing mechanisms that encourage wasteful spending by doctors and hospitals.
Max Baucus's white paper was great. Unfortunately, Sen. Grassley is opposing the portions of it that would do most about seriously addressing the huge inflation in our healthcare system. Seems to me he is way more beholden to the drug companies and insurance companies than he is worried about actually addressing this crisis.
Both Baucus and Grassley take big buck from health care companies. Last year Baucus raked in $1,826,652 from the health care industrial complex and Grassley raked in $1,161,826
http://www.opencongress.org/people/show/300048_charles_grassley
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2009/053109Zeese.shtml
It's clear who these two jokers really work for and it isn't us. But it should be. Call or write them and tell them you want single payer
(202) 224-3121.
A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.
Wake up-and smell the coffee. A nationalized system, and this is what we have should Obama get his way, will be bad for most anyone who is truly sick, or suffering in this nation. Look to existing nations that embrace the socialized systems, and if you have cancer, or serious health issues, you suffer-plain and simple, you wait longer, and while you wait, you suffer. Time is the villian when it comes to cancer, or other disease-and extended waiting time is what you get, due to limited resources of nationalize coverage. Medicare does not work-stop looking to it as the great example of how to fix the overall system. They underpay, and delay pay, and rely on the private sector to make up the difference to health care providers. And, you compare costs-remember, the Euro systems play with their numbers-being careful to hide true costs. Heck, after 20 years of waste and damage, both Canada and Britain are now leaning back towards private coverage-they explored, and realized how bad the social impace is on its people-and what are we exploring? The same failed experiments. Socialism and Communism work well on paper, in the minds of college professors, and their dreamy foolish followers-in the real world, its croni-ism, its a ponzi scheme, and it cripples the good, the strong and the achievers, to find a sluggish common ground. Look at the leaders of the left-how many of them have their kids in public school? Very few-why is that? They would rather have their kids in private schools, yet they don't want the poor to have an option regarding charter schools. They put the priorities of the teachers unions and the support they get come election time above the needs and welfare of the poor kids in failing public school districts. The left will cry, we don't give enough financial support to these failing schools! Wrong-the inner city schools in NJ, NY, PA get more than the successful schools, because the teachers unions have the schools hostage. In 3 years a teacher in NJ gets tenure. Show me another industry, aside from the UAW where workers get such protection! Its a crime-and society and the kids suffer-and the unions continue to get protection from the left, because they promise the votes come election time.
Stop pretending to care you left leaders and for once in your life, be honest.
I often quote the Switzerland system as an example of tough questions that we will have to face at some point down the time line. Did you know that premature babies there are not re cessitated upon birth if they cannot draw breath? Did you also know that is the same with senior care? They don't extend life of a senior with multiple failures like intubation.
These decisions were made based upon cost vs. quality outcome. Are we as a nation prepared to make that type of decision or definition of when to incubate a newborn or a senior? To define the conditions? With a litigious society I think not. This is why we need tort reform. Without tort reform medical provider costs will never drop. Liability costs with medical providers are nearly half of operating expenses. With health insurance carriers it translates to about 10% of every premium dollar collected.
I don't think we are hearing about tort reform because most of the house and senate are lawyers. In the healthcare system there is no total innocence. Insurance executives with bonuses, doctors overbilling, hospitals overbilling because the street gang thug got dropped at their door with no insurance.
In fact treatments that American insurance companies will NOT cover ARE covered under the French System.
The insurance companies are making a fortune on administrative fees and secondary health policies that pick up the co-payments of the patients.
Tongue in cheek you betcha. The Democrats are not much better! Chuck asked today where does the Federal government need to provide Medicare in the constitution? My answer is health care is a human right above the constitution - it is a right for all humans and animals, especially those free and living freely on our planet. Take away the freedom of beings on earth and he will be happy - remember he has the greatest insurance for life. I would trade him for mine any day. He does not think the government should not run anything but does not give up his pay or benefits and uses the mail he so criticizes to get people to re-elect him. It is time for Iowans to wake up and get rid of him. I only have picked on him because he is biting his tongue in cheek.
I i saw yer blog
Very well constructed
In fact I have been researching for this for yonks
http://www.newwest.net will see me back again
Great effort congrats !
John
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