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by FDL Action
Here's the latest news on health care reform from FDL Action.
1. Teddy Partridge reports that "Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Reid) reiterated her opposition to [the] Public Option," calling it "problematic" and claiming that "government's not gonna do it better and it's gonna be more costly." All of which raises an important question for Harry Reid: "Why have you agreed to elevate to power Empress Snowe instead of requiring Democratic caucus members not to block cloture and allow a bill containing a strong public option to come to vote?"
2. Jon Walker writes about "most of the major unions in America" essentially "declar[ing] war on [the] Baucus bill in defiance of Rahm." Walker adds, "The fact that many labor unions strongly object to the Baucus bill should not be a surprise. The new excise tax on health insurance benefits would disproportionally hit middle class union members. The new tax is highly middle class regressive." Other than that, of course, the unions love the Baucus bill! (snark)
3. Jane Hamsher announces an arts contest by POP (Public Option Please), FDL's health care reform advocacy campaign. Judges for the contest will include Arianna Huffington, Marshall Ganz, Jesse Dylan (directed the "Yes We Can" video), Arlene Holt Baker (AFL-CIO), and Aaron Rose ("film director, art show curator, musician and writer responsible for the Beautiful Losers art movement and world tour"). The contest runs until October 31, and offers cash prizes and publicity to the winners. Check it out here.
4. Jon Walker reports on another new "'study' [PDF] out today, this time paid for by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association." Shockingly, Walker writes, "[t]he Blue Cross Blue Shield conclusion is that premiums would increase even faster with reform, unless we do exactly what they want...A larger government fine for anyone who does not buy their product, the ability to charge older Americans dramatically more, and to have what qualifies as minimum health insurance scaled back even farther." It's amazing how it works that way, huh?
5. Jon Walker asks if the public option "trigger" idea is "naiveté, insanity or trickery." Can we select "all of the above?" :)
6. Finally, Jane reported this morning that Rahm Emanuel would be "meeting with Harry Reid to tell him what the White House wants in the final Senate bill." Jane quotes Emanuel from his appearance last night on the NewsHour, where he told Judy Woodruff, "Senator Snowe has the idea of a trigger, that, in case that price isn't achieved or that competition isn't achieved, there be a trigger that then the option, a public option, would come available." For FDL Action's opinion on the "trigger," see item #5 above. |
