Look out for the Bull

By Keith R. Schmitz

Cruising through the hills and valleys of New England this afternoon, when I am stuck with a rental with no satellite radio boredom forces me to punch through the dial. So I happened to stumble upon former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs hosting his own call in show.

After apparently done with the major league dissembling of his guest, GOP attack puppy Ron Christie, Lou's first caller got on from Texas and started talking about how he was happy health care reform passed, because it would protect kids with pre-existing conditions from succumbing to life-threatening medical condition from lack of treatment. The caller cited the case of a little girl in Houston who was denied coverage and died of a heart condition.

That lit the Dobbster's fuse. He could have attacked the notion that the child was actually done in by actuaries. But why tacitly admit that health insurance engage in this practice when he can really be bold.

"That is total BS," he thundered. "There is nothing in the health care bill that bans pre-existing conditions because I've read the bill."

Um, maybe not close enough Lou, because the administration is already fighting the insurance companies' search for loopholes on this count.

Is he lying or mistaken? We don't know. But we do know that this sloppy use of the facts made the passage of this bill so difficult and still has many against the reforms. With these guys, everyday features the running of the bull.

Curing Health Care with Tort Reform

By Keith R. Schmitz

Some in the heath care reform debate offer up two supercures to our dysfunctional system -- (1) allowing health insurance companies to sell their products across state lines and (2) tort reform. And so, presto chango, problem solved. We are not outspending our international competitors and life is grand.

Let's talk about the latter.

Never mind that malpractice costs represent a small portion of our overall $2.3 trillion pile of costs.

Here's what I'm wondering about.

Is what we are saying here is that all malpractice suits would be eliminated? Of course not. It is certain that a number of members of the GOP have in fact sued for damages relating to medical care.

So if we don't eliminate all malpractice suits, what's an acceptable number? 25%? 50%?

It has been argued that malpractice suits weed out bad doctors, but a CBO study found that is fact individual doctors are insulated from the effects of their ineptitude.

In fact the study also found that limiting suits would have a negligible affect on health care costs.

So when the GOP comes to discuss health care with the President later on in the month, if they have the guts, one could hope they are packing reality and not slogans.

Ryan pitches health insurance scare tactics

by bert
The insurance industry would not hold a gun to our heads in order to kill any reform of health care. That's because they've paid good money to have lawmakers such as Rep. Paul Ryan do that for them.

Here is Ryan this week on the floor of the House warning that premiums will more than double if the health-care-reform proposals that he and the industry dislike were to become law.



What a coincidence. Because, speaking of the insurance business, Ryan happens to feed at their lobby trough.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the insurance business is a close second in the ranking of industries as a source of his campaign contributions. His $57,550 worth of contributions in this election cycle from either individuals or PACs tied to insurance is about four times the average contribution the industry devotes to individual lawmakers. Ryan ranks in the top 20 of all recipients of insurance lobbyist largesse in the House.

Unfortunately for those pimping Ryan, this scare tactic doesn't work on people who are already shell-shocked by exploding insurance costs. Oh, no, not rising premiums!!

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, premium costs for both employers and workers has risen on average 131 percent over the last decade. A White House report finds some states with increases over that period as high as 150 percent.

So Ryan's threat, when you look at the numbers, boils down to a claim that me and my boys will keep doing to you what we have already done. The worse that can happen is more of the same.

Incidentally, Ryan has also used scare tactics about threats to Medicare in his dutiful service to the insurance industry and its fight against reform. Kelly Gallaher of the Racine area did a good job of exposing this.

I'l Have What He's Having

By Keith R. Schmitz

Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson has created a minor cable TV furor with his tongue-in-cheek dig that the GOP plan for health care is "just die."

In predictable fashion, the dish it out but can't take it GOP is crying like babies. Since the dawn of August we have seen a parade of Republican congress members lay wild charges about death panels, government control of health care, and of course, an apology from Joe Wilson that isn't an apology because he is fund raising off his disruption.

So now we have Freshman representative Grayson not only using his apology to dig the dig deeper, but bursting onto the set at CNN and audaciously taking on an entire panel and standing his ground.

I for one would like more reasoned discussion but we haven't seen it from the GOP. Sure supporters of health care from time to time have gone off the road, but we all know who has ginned up the hysteria. So for the time being, this the way the game is being played. Though well-framed arguments are great, it is overpowering the other side that carries the day. Just the way it is right now.

We need more Democrats like Alan Grayson.

Health Care Reform Has an Anthem

By Keith R. Schmitz



Dick I'll give a 92. It has a beat and you can dance to it.

Covering Undocumented Workers -- How Does This Not Make Sense?

By Keith R. Schmitz

From Joe Klein at Time about The President's speech from last night:

On this whole question of whether illegal immigrants will be included in the plan, which caused the vile Congressman from South Carolina to shout "You lie" when the President said they wouldn't be covered. Why shouldn't they be? After all, when an illegal immigrant cuts his hand while chopping cabbage and goes to the emergency room, the rest of us pay for it. Isn't the point to expand the risk pool as much as possible, to lure the insurance companies into concessions and lower prices?

I kn0w it 's not going to happen. Congress will never vote to subsidize the health care of those who arrived here illegally. But, given the fact that we're already subsidizing them through the back door, it does make sense, doesn't it?

I've wondered about that myself.

In the other democracies such as the UK and France I've heard stories about American visitors needing medical care and getting it for practically next to nothing. Now if these countries who are delivering health care at around 2/3rds our cost and doing it better can provide that kind of coverage, how does this argument make us look?

This may be another case where we chop off our noses to spite our collective faces. I may be proven wrong very shortly, but none of us has the stomach or lack of character to not have an undocumented treated if they run into a medical problem.

But of course this so-called issue is being used by the opposition to distract people and get them all worked up so they don't think about the big picture.

As was pointed out last night, we all pay when someone has to check into an emergency room and does not have the means to pay for treatment. Worse, if the pending flu becomes an epidemic, not providing treatment to everyone will come at a hell of a cost.

How to Win Friends and Influence People to Counter Heath Care Reform

By Keith R. Schmitz

For those of us who might have suspected that the opponents of health insurance reform were boorish numbskulls, this video of a wheel-chair bound woman at a Frank Pallone (D-NJ) town hall being hooted down by loutish know-nothings is if nothing, disgusting. According to her statement, she "two incurable auto-immune diseases."

We'll ma'am, why don't you just do us all a favor, not subject us to your little problem and just go away.

This woman and her family are clearly behind the economic eightball. There is no way she is going to "work it off" when it comes to her medical debts, thanks to this wonderfully designed system (note the cynicism).

This footage demonstrates why many Blue Dogs according to the Politico are going back to Congress dissolved not to be cowed by these bullies.

For those of you who go for this sort of thing, better pray this does not get wide distribution or your private insurance-backing goose will be cooked.

Seantor Kohl Backs Public Option

By Keith R. Schmitz

Always the pillar of caution, not entirely a bad thing, Senator Herb Kohl made it official in an interview with Mike Gousha yesterday that he backs the public option.

Another brick in the wall towards health insurance reform. Without it we are giving away $60 billion to companies who hacve richly proven they don't deserve it.

Spotted Cow Brewer Spot On

By Keith R. Schmitz

Here is a heart-filled statement on universal health care from the New Glarus Brewing Company's web site:

Deb (the owner) is a supporter of Universal Healthcare because she knows what it’s like to be poor. And not the kind of poor that you might have to buy a Gateway computer instead of the new imac, or the kind of poor in which you have to choose to buy Gap instead of Louis Vuitton, or even the kind of poor that you might just have to wait for these items to go on sale before buying them… I mean the kind of poor that makes you choose between eating and getting medicine for an ear-infection.

The kind of poor that only allows you to buy second-hand clothes on sale. And it’s not because she doesn't work hard. She is one of the hardest working women I know, which is probably the reason that she was the first woman to start and run a brewery in the US. The reason that she supports universal health care is because she believes, and knows, that despite how hard you work, a lot of what you have access to (be it health care, food, education, and the like) depends a lot on who you were born to.

Either your parents have enough money to feed you every day or they send you to work after school at 16 to help pay the bills. Either your parents have enough money to pay for your health care, or they don’t eat (or eat mac & cheese) for a few months to cover the cost of your antibiotics from the bug you picked up at school. Many don't know what this is like, and have had a great many opportunities shown to them. That is one of the greatest gifts that a person can get.

However, for those out there who aren’t as fortunate, universal healthcare could mean the difference between eating and not, being sick or not, and dying or not. And no one wants to see their taxes go up. But (I would hope) no one wants to see a sick kid not get help because his parents can’t afford it either. I don’t speak for Deb, but I do speak to her love of people, regardless of stature, education, or inheritance. The reason she supports this is to help people.

New Glarus Brewing Co. already gives their employees healthcare coverage, because we realize how important it is. We believe that it is the responsibility of companies to provide care for the employees who may very well spend their entire lives helping to make that business successful, and paying for healthcare is a very small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

It's all about choices, and though my brand is Pilsner Urquell, next time when I am out I am going think about a Spotted Cow. Someone with this kind of empathy has the heart to turn out a good product, because in business, that's what it is really all about.

Direct from the Belly of the Beast

By Keith R. Schmitz

Tomorrow on the Ideas Network:

10:00 AM Kathleen Dunn - 09/01E
After making headlines from his interview with Bill Moyers, Wendell Potter joins Kathleen Dunn, after ten, to discuss health care reform and the insurance industry. Guest: Wendell Potter, Senior Fellow on Health Care, Center for Media and Democracy. www.prwatch.org. Potter worked for CIGNA, a major health insurance corporation for fifteen years holding a variety of positions, serving most recently as head of corporate communications and as the company's chief corporate spokesman.

(Update by folkbum: More info here, including the ability to listen to the archived show after it airs.)

Health Care Myth Blasting #2

By Keith R. Schmitz

Let's deconstruct more rad right health care reform mythology courtesy of Media Matters.

MYTH 2: Health care reform will impose rationing

CLAIM: Progressive health care reform proposals will introduce a system of "rationing" into American medicine.

SEAN HANNITY: "We're gonna have a government rationing body that tells women with breast cancer, 'You're dead.' It's a death sentence." [Fox News' Hannity, 6/19/09]
MICHELLE MALKIN: "Big Nanny Democrats want to ration health care for everyone in America -- except those who break our immigration laws." [Malkin column, 7/22/09]
REALITY: Insurance companies already ration care. Insurance companies acknowledge that they ration care, restricting coverage of procedures and tests like MRIs and CAT scans and denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

Sanjay Gupta: "I can tell you, as a practicing physician ... who deals with this on a daily basis, rationing does occur all the time." As Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, explained: "[P]eople always say, 'Is there going to be rationed care?' And I can tell you, as a practicing physician, as someone who deals with this on a daily basis, rationing does occur all the time. I mean, I was in the clinic this past week. And I -- you know, at the end of clinic, I get all this paperwork that basically says, 'Justify why you're doing such and such procedure. Justify why you're ordering such and such test.' And if the justification is inadequate, the answer comes back, 'Well, that's not going to be covered.' Which basically is saying that the patient is going to have to pay for it on their own, which is, in essence, is what rationing is, in so many ways." [CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, 8/12/09]

Insurance companies ration care by rescinding coverage. As former senior executive at CIGNA health insurance company Wendell Potter explained in June 24 Senate testimony, insurance companies restrict or deny coverage by rescinding health insurance policies on the grounds that people had undisclosed pre-existing conditions. President Obama recently cited one such example, noting that "[a] woman from Texas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, was scheduled for a double mastectomy. Three days before surgery ... the insurance company canceled the policy, in part because she forgot to declare a case of acne. ... By the time she had her insurance reinstated, the cancer had more than doubled in size."

Health Care Myth Blasting #1

By Keith R. Schmitz

Let's dive into the murky world of the fear generated by the rad right courtesy of Media Matters.

MYTH 1: There is no health care crisis

CLAIM: The health care system currently works fine, and only a purportedly small number of uninsured people would benefit from reform.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: "There really isn't a crisis in health care in this country. The crisis in health care that -- if you wanna say, that does exist -- is the fear that a major illness or catastrophe could wipe you out, which isn't gonna change. In fact, the odds of you being wiped out by a catastrophe or accident once the government gets started running this stuff is greater than if the private sector -- but day-to-day, there's no health care crisis in this country. You can get it. So, it isn't about health care, per se. This is just about gaining control, taking money, and controlling people's lives, and wiping out Republicans -- a nice cherry on top." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/18/09]
STEVE DOOCY: "Currently, 90 percent of all Americans have got some sort of health care coverage, which means they are effectively blowing up the system for 5 percent. Now, the 5 percent, you gotta worry about them -- you gotta worry about everybody who doesn't have it. But is it worth all of this for 5 percent?" [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 7/30/09]
REALITY: Roughly 25 million Americans were underinsured in 2007. According to Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of The Commonwealth Fund, "From 2003 to 2007, the number of adults who were insured all year but were underinsured increased by 60 percent. Based on those who incur high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income not counting premiums despite having coverage all year, an estimated 25 million adults under age 65 were underinsured in 2007." [Testimony from Schoen before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, 2/24/09]

The underinsured do not receive adequate care and face financial hardship. Schoen explained that the "experiences" of the underinsured were "similar" to those of the uninsured, noting that "over half of the underinsured and two thirds of the uninsured went without recommended treatment, follow-up care, medications or did not see a doctor when sick. Half of both groups faced financial stress, including medical debt." [Schoen testimony, 2/24/09]

Insurance companies currently rescind policies when their insured customers need treatment. Insurance companies restrict or deny coverage by rescinding health insurance policies on the grounds that customers had undisclosed pre-existing conditions. On June 16, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing exploring this practice, with the goal of examining "the practice of 'post-claims underwriting,' which occurs when insurance companies cancel individual health insurance policies after providers submit claims for medical services rendered." The committee also released a memorandum finding that three major American insurance companies rescinded 19,776 policies for over $300 million in savings over five years and that even that number "significantly undercounts the total number of rescissions" by the companies.

Currently, insurance companies deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen wrote in a May 14 CNN.com article, "According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 21 percent of people who apply for health insurance on their own get turned down, charged a higher price or offered a plan that excludes coverage for their pre-existing condition. ... The health insurance industry doesn't deny that people are rejected or charged higher premiums because of pre-existing conditions."

Recovery Act

By Keith R. Schmitz

Call me an optimist (been called worse around here).

But now that the White House is nearing the conclusion that trying to work with people who are so ideologically frozen that it is comparable to beating your head against the wall, when the administration does pull the trigger the President's approval rating will rise.

This is providing he and the Democrats in Congress come up with a plan that is more to people's liking -- regulating insurance company cherry picking and their practice of rescission, a robust public option, optional end of life counseling, and maintaining the subsidies or very small businesses to name a few.

Bet you that the five to ten percentage points that comprise the disapproval rating are progressives who are uncomfortable, no make that mad, at the caving in to the rad right.

Anyone who hates the idea of health care reform and of course hate the President are already in the disapproval numbers already in there already and should not grow.

Looks like reconciliation may be the path when the Democrats have to deal with irreconcilable differences.

Small Biz Looking for Relief

By Keith R. Schmitz

For many this will be counter intuitive.

Wisconsin Citizens Action in conjunction with Small Business Majority released a survey that was taken of 200 Wisconsin small business employers. Unlike other so-called small business advocacy groups, Small Business Majority is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican party.

Granted many, but not a majority, of small business owners are Republicans. For the purposes of the survey, the 33% of those Republican owners reflects the political breakout of that group.

Quick highlights. Of those small business owners surveyed, most are not or cannot offer health insurance to their employees, and only 16% say their access to coverage is excellent.

About 62% are calling on the government to do some kind of health care reform and 75% agree with the statement that more people would start a business if it wasn't for the cost of health insurance. On the issue of reforming health care as a means of getting the economy back on track, 72% of small business owners are in agreement.

I have always felt that though many of them strive to become big businesses some day, small business owners have a lot more in common with the population at large. Unless we reform health care fewer small businesses will be sustainable, let alone make it to the Fortune 500.