West Virginia Blue
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Charleston, WV: WV Citizen Action and the WV Health Care for America Now (HCAN) campaign have always been focused on winning a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on. We will continue to aggressively work to get the best health care reform bill possible to the President's desk for his signature as soon as possible.
Gary Zuckett, Executive Director of WV Citizen Action Group and coordinator for HCAN's WV Coalition had this to say about yesterday's election:
"Tuesday's vote in Massachusetts was not a referendum on health care reform. It was a referendum on a particular candidate in a climate in which people, hard pressed and frustrated by the economic recession, are impatient for change.
When it comes to the need to make good health care affordable, nothing is different today than it was yesterday. Congress must keep going and finish reform right. They must complete the mandate they received from the 2008 election.
We must fix health care now to keep improving our economy. We cannot continue to allow medical expenses to bankrupt our nation's families and businesses. Until we fix spiraling health costs we can't fix the economy since one of every six dollars is spent on health care.
Insurance companies and other special interests have spent millions trying to scare voters against health care reform. However, when voters are asked about key elements - no more denials for pre-existing conditions, access to good, affordable coverage for all, or rules that force insurance companies to spend premiums on health care and not profits, they agree with Congress and the President's plans.
Massachusetts has already achieved a measure of health reform, with 98% of people covered and insurers not allowed to deny people based on pre-existing conditions. For voters in Massachusetts, the issue was about what they are worried about now - jobs and the economy. It wasn't about health care."
Via Open Left: "C-SPAN has now issued a formal request to televise the secret House-Senate health care negotiations."
"President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system," C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote. "Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American."
Via Open Left, here's yet another reminder that candidate Obama's promises for health care reform sounded quite a bit different than what President Obama is now signaling we ought to settle for.
There is still 3 to 6 weeks left for the final version of health care reform to get hammered out. After this morning's expected passage in the Senate, President Obama is preparing to roll up his sleeves:
In an interview today with PBS, President Obama said he plans to begin working on merging the Senate and House health care bills before Congress returns from Christmas recess.
"We hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session," Obama said, "because the American people need it now."
Obama is expected to work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to merge the bills.
There's still time for Pres. Obama to remember what candidate Obama had to say. Many of us remember the promise of Barack Obama's campaign, will he?
It's a rhetorical question. Of course he doesn't. At least not the real Pope.
Now let's ask a real question of our rhetorical Pope (depicted above). Did Rockefeller really believe that his "public option" had even half a chance? Really?
Jay certainly acted all holier-than-thou when he tore apart Dr. Howard Dean for criticizing the Senate bill the other day. Funny, but I never heard Rockefeller get fired up like that during entire time congressional Neocons were staving off the much-needed intelligence oversight of the Bush administration by Rockefeller's panel. Even when Cheney tried foisting the responsibility for torture over onto Congress, Rockefeller never got as upset as he did at Howard Dean.
There's got to be some reason for his outburst. Rockefeller certainly didn't get torqued when Obama abandoned his public option amendment. There is always the strong possibility that Rockefeller's bargaining away of real reforms for giant giveaways to the insurance industry may be connected to how the health industry stocks jumped as an immediate reaction to what his Senate Finance Committee passed. Check it out at this link.
A review of where we came from and where we are now:
After about two years of courtship America accepted the troth of Barack Obama,with great expectations of how things were going to change when we got the influence of the lobbyists out of the White House and the government.Well,it hasn't worked out exactly like that.
A point to ponder:
On healthcare,the reform most dear to my heart,since I had none from Nov.2,1985 until Jan.1,2004,when my wife put me on her policy at the nursing home where she worked,my story is not so different from millions of others.It does show how one medical problem can eat up all your savings and send you to bankruptcy court if you have no insurance.
Adding me meant an additional $80 deduction,each week,from her paycheck.Twenty days later I was told by my Doctor that I had prostate cancer.I said to him that I had heard men of my age were more likely to die WITH prostate cancer than FROM it.I also mentioned how I had been to a soldout Bob Dylan concert,AND a NASCAR short-track race,so my life had been full.He was NOT amused.My point was that if the insurance company decided to call the cancer a pre-existing condition,then there was no point in planning or starting any course of treatments which I couldn't afford.Well,they didn't deny me,and 42 radiation treatments,with the associated $25 co-pays and $10 CBCs later,I was declared cancer-free.Total cost:premiums $1920,co-pays $1175,blood tests $420,and the insurance company paid around $200,000.I was lucky the tumor was too small to show up on the ultra-sound.Even then,there was no way we could have paid for all that personally.
I used to send a long,well-reasoned letter to the editor,my Senators and Representative,and the Senators from other States.I don't bother doing that anymore,since we are now in the "Age of Stupid." The animosity and gridlock are so entrenched now that even after tons of CO2 have been emitted by the debators,only the most naive would still believe that"change gonna come." Reason doesn't seem to play any role in the deliberations of our legislative bodies.
The following is a note I emailed the U.S.Senate this morning:
"Personally,I favor Sen.Sanders'amendment,a single-payer,Medicare-for-All,healthcare plan.It would assure access for everyone,provide quality care,and control costs by getting the for-profit insurance companies out of healthcare financing.But it seems that there isn't the political will to do the right thing,so we will have to swallow hard and settle for a public insurance option.No more compromises,it is way past time to get this done."
The Pary of No is intent on delaying,deceiving,detracting,and eventually destroying this initiative,because they know that,like Social Security and Medicare,if a meaningful reform plan passes the People will love it,and the Republicans will never be able to get rid of it.Didn't the crocodile tears they shed over the proposed cuts to the Medicare Advantage program-a direct-payments-to-the-insurance-companies plan begun by the Republicans,and never funded,also bring tears to YOUR eyes?
I have been following the debate for the past few days,and I have come to the conclusion that my naivete,held strongly for many years,in believing that we didn't need term limits,since that was the function of elections,was misplaced.With incumbanct comes not only senioriy,but millions of dollars in campaign contributions,each and every cycle.The lobbyists and others give to the candidates they know,even if they don't agree on every issue,because the evil you know is better than the one you don't.Well,the spectacle taking place in the Senate chamber is causing me to re-consider term limits,because it is self-evident that these people are not representing the views expressed by their constituents in poll after poll.
Maybe we should all follow the axiom from the movie(I can't remember the title!),and write in "None of the above" on our ballots next time.Just a thought.
It appears that Steve Roberts of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce is echoing an earlier proposal by Mingo County's embarrassment, Truman Chafin.
Mother Jones reports the chamber wants our state's senators to hold up health care reform until Don Blankenship and pals get everything their way.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce is playing dirty with health care reform. It's pressuring its homestate Democratic senators, Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, to block health care legislation unless the Obama administration ends what the Chamber calls a "war on coal."
Bobby Nelson hosted Roberts on his show today. Audio of the debate is available here. It's the final segment of the show- about 15 minutes from the end.
As Republicans try to pressure members of the Blue Dog coalition to abandon what they like to term as Obamacare by pointing to last night's losses, the true story of why the Virginia's gubernatorial race went south hasn't been widely told. The fact is that Democratic hopeful Creigh Deeds shot himself in the foot when he publicly shunned the public option, because exit polls indicate that Democrats just didn't bother to come to the polls in Virginia. The early reports were that young Dems stayed away in droves yesterday.
So while the media overlooks the real story by posing yet another bogus question in an attempt to spread doubts about waning public support for health care, political insiders realize that Blue Dog constituents are not only actually for seeing to it that the working poor get health care coverage, but desire a strong public option as well. That the Blue Dogs themselves aren't really flapping their gums much over Pelosi's plan to promulgate a strong public option speaks volumes about just how conflicted they are .
Which brings us to Sen. Joe Lieberman's position on filibustering the health care bill to kill it. The money the former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council is raking in by demagoging his position as would-be spoiler to impress his campaign financiers is phenomenal. But even his Connecticut constituents have expressed overwhelming support for the public plan.
On Late Night with David Letterman last night Senator Joe's former running mate (and former vice president) Al Gore said that he and Lieberman were still very close, and that he was certain that Lieberman didn't want to be on the wrong side of history when it came to passing a health care bill.
Let's all hope that Gore is prescient on yet another critical issue.
While I was contemplating how it was possible for Truman Chafin to believe that West Virginia coal interests could possibly be seen as having any remote resemblance to those who brought Obama to the dance (and listening to a high-pitched whining sound from the west which I am convinced is Harry Truman spinning in his grave), Ken Ward reported on the latest evidence of Chafin's moral bankruptcy and apparent belief that Mingo County is the center of the universe.
Chafin supported Clinton's candidacy even when it was more than failing. During her May visit:
Clinton...implied that the party could lose in November if he is the nominee. Stopping for breakfast at Tudor's Biscuit World in Charleston, she said, "I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia."
May 12, 2008 Associated Press
Perhaps he remembers this and not that the current President actually did win without West Virginia.
Chafin's wife Trish, but not the man himself, was on the hastily put together West Virginia "Obama for America Advisory Committee," formed barely a month before the election.
But, he spoke out in support the week before the election
Even now, he acknowledged, in places like Mingo, "there's probably not a lot of enthusiasm for [Obama]. It comes down to what's best for me and my family."
Washington Post, Monday, October 27, 2008
Oh, wait - that's not exactly strong support, is it?
Of course Mingo County was just an exception - the southern Appalachian mountaintop mining counties went overwhelmingly for Obama - oh, sorry - out of the whole region, the UMWA, not the Dems, managed to pull out only Boone Co. and McDowell Co. for Obama. And how about Martin Co., Kentucky - 76% McCain.
So who brung Obama? Not Chafin, not the southern Appalachian coal fields, not the majority of West Virginians.
Now Chafin is suggesting Rockefeller threaten to hold up health care reform unless the EPA is restricted from doing its regulatory job. 14,000 mountaintop removal workers (in a small area spread over four states, not just West Virginia) are far more important than the health care of the whole country, including those communities and the rest of West Virginia. Their kids, their truck payments, their house payments are more important than anyone else's, and more important than the health of the country, including those downstream and downwind of the mines and the power plants.
From Summit Point to Point Pleasant the perception of the coal industry is the same, WV can't survive without the mining of the Black Rock. WVABLUE readers know otherwise, Coal Tattoo afficianados realize the truth but how do we get the word out to the majority of voters that this taken-for-granted, oft-repeated propaganda is just that...a lie? There must be a way to educate the public as to the fiscal realities of coal.
We need politicians who will speak the truth, with equal passion, that the state as a whole is not dependent solely on coal, and that the state can no longer be driven by the needs of just the southern coal counties. Studies, facts, editorials, and commentary will not convince people, especially when most of our elected officials keep repeating coal's panicky spin. Nick Rahall has come closest. Our Senators are both in positions to speak out regardless of immediate consequences.
Perhaps Rockefeller will be so repulsed by Chafin's base suggestion that he extort favors for the coal industry in exchange for healthcare reform that he will speak to the truth that coal is not West Virginia's only hope. Perhaps he will use his position to speak the truth that even the welfare of the miners and the southern coalfield communities has to be balanced against the welfare of all of West Virginia, the country, and the world.
Meanwhile, we all need to tell our state senators that West Virginia does not need a majority leader who openly espouses using power to extort favors for a few.
SENATOR ROCKEFELLER STATEMENT ON VOTE FOR SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE HEALTH CARE BILL PLEDGES TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT FOR POLICIES THAT WORK FOR ALL WEST VIRGINIA FAMILIES ON SENATE FLOOR AND IN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Washington, D.C.-Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, today voted in support of the Senate Finance Committee health care bill.
After the vote, Senator Rockefeller released the following statement:
"Health care reform is about making people's lives better and it is about providing all families tangible solutions that make a difference in their day-to-day, through good times and bad. Health care reform is about the people of West Virginia and people all across America, who are expecting us to fight for them," said Rockefeller.
"And health care reform is about eliminating, once and for all, that horrifying feeling so many people live with when they go to bed and wake up each day - that feeling of walking a tightrope, fearing that one accident, one illness could send them over the edge without any support.
"The status quo every American knows to be our broken system is not the best we can do. Not even close. It is regrettable to say so, but I believe the bill fell short of what people need and expect from us. I have made no secret of the fact that I think we could have dug deeper, gotten more creative and worked together much better.
"So the question on the table was whether to vote for the bill. But as I approached that question, I asked two others:
"One - could anything more have been done here in this Committee to improve the bill or was it time to move on to a new venue where I hope significantly more progress can be made?
"And two - is defending the status quo and joining the Party of no useful to passing comprehensive health care reform over the long run?
"What it boils down to for me is that I am passionate about health care reform and I am pragmatic about when it's time to move forward. I have never been and am not today one to simply say no for the sake of saying no, to stand on the sidelines and criticize without working to fix what is broken. I voted my hope for the next steps of this process, and so I voted yes.
"But let me be crystal clear - this yes vote is not an endorsement of this bill as it stands today. My vote is a pledge to continue on the Senate Floor and in Conference the fight for policies that work and represent the real needs of West Virginia families."
SEE FULL TEXT OF ROCKEFELLER'S OFFICIAL STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD ON SUPPORT OF SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE'S HEALTH CARE BILL HERE.
In his official statement, Senator Rockefeller highlighted successes in the legislation, including protecting workers in high risk professions, including coal miners and first responders, maintaining CHIP coverage for children, fighting for seniors, improving accountability, oversight and health care quality, and making health care more affordable for American families.
Senator Rockefeller also highlighted areas of concerns in the bill and what he plans to fight for on the Senate Floor and in Conference. These included a viable public health insurance option, regulation for the insurance industry, protecting and improving Medicaid, stronger affordability protections, improving health care information technology, addressing end-of-life care, improving employer responsibility, and removing special interests from the Medicare Commission.
For a summary of Senator Rockefeller's successes in the bill and the issues he plans to fight for on the Senate Floor and in Conference, click HERE.
Americans are dying at a faster rate - 1 every 12 minutes, 5 an hour, 120 a day, 45,000 a year - not from war or natural disaster, but from lack of health insurance.
Meanwhile, Republicans are trying every stupid stunt in the book as they try to keep Democrats from fixing our terminally inadequate system of health care coverage. For example, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) argued that the Senate Finance Committee should delay a vote on legislation a full 72 hours just to allow time for senators to consult with health insurance lobbyists. (watch it below)
The Harvard Institute of Medicine estimated in 2002 that more than 18,000 Americans between the ages of 19 and 64 were dying each year as a result of being uninsured. The new number is two and a half times that figure.
Trying to get by, the uninsured and underinsured delay necessary care, put off filling drug prescriptions or take only some of their medications each day. Most are just one major illness or accident away from financial ruin.
Despite the fact that most Republicans admit that something needs to be done to fix the system, even casual observers of Senate Finance committee markup procedures could tell that Republicans weren't there on behalf of Americans, but to represent the health industry.
Yesterday, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) called out the special-interest representation in response to an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):
ROCKEFELLER: This is a very very important amendment, and it's a very very bad amendment. If there's anything which is clear, it's that the insurance industry is not running this markup, but it is running certain people in this markup. [...]
CORNYN: With all due respect, senator, I don't know what amendment you're referring to -
ROCKEFELLER: I'm referring to yours.
CORNYN: - you're certainly not referring to my amendment -
Former Republican Texas House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey has a really sweet deal going for himself. Because he clocked in enough time to quit Congress with the public servan's version of a golden parachute, he gets to keep his excellent federal group coverage until he reaches the age when he can sign up for Medicare. But that ain't good enough for him, because he's now suing to keep his Cadillac federal employees health care plan.
In and of itself, his legal action wouldn't normally be all that noteworthy. But Armey is raking in big bucks from the insurance industry as FreedomWorks founder to astroturf fear and rage based on manufacturing lies. And it just so happens that Armey's current mission is to stop President Obama from getting any meaningful health industry reform passed. Now if the hypocrisy isn't blatant enough for you yet, consider the fact that Mr. Armey helps blow the $1.4 million per day (derived from your insurance premiums) as one of the main money movers behind that Million Moran March on Washington, advertised on FoxNews 24/7 for weeks leading up to September 12 as a "9/12 movement" rally.
"Dick Armey is the epitome of those people with power and privilege who are insured against the vicissitudes of life and want no government assistance for any suffering except their own," Bill Moyers, award winning reporter
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