--- In Dems2008@yahoogroups.com, Edward Hochman <eah01@...> wrote:
>
> Citation,
>
> Have a good evening. It is after 11 PM and it is time for beddy
bye so bye bye.
>
> ed
>
> by the way, do you ever sleep?
>
>
> To: Dems2008@...: citation502@...: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:13:55 -
0700Subject: [Dems2008] Universal healthcare coverage mavericks
>
>
>
>
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> Universal Coverage's MavericksHarry and Louise, Meet Ron and Bob
> By Ruth Marcus, Washington PostWednesday, February 27, 2008; A17
>
> Away from the distorting glare of the campaign trail, away from the
inflammatory rhetoric about socialized medicine and Hillarycare,
garnished wages and millions left uncovered, a remarkable thing is
happening in the national health-care debate.
> An unlikely pair, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden and Utah Republican Bob
Bennett, have assembled a group of 12 senators, equally divided
between the parties, to sign on to health-care legislation far more
radical than anything the presidential candidates have proposed.
> A dozen senators -- 13 for an instant, when Mississippi Republican
Trent Lott signed on just before retiring -- may not sound like much.
But this is, Wyden says, the biggest bipartisan group of senators
ever to sponsor a measure for universal coverage.
> They span the ideological spectrum from Michigan Democrat Debbie
Stabenow to Idaho Republican Mike Crapo. The roster includes key
Republicans: Minority Whip Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and the ranking
members of the finance and budget committees, Iowa's Chuck Grassley
and New Hampshire's Judd Gregg.
> And consider what they've agreed to. The Healthy Americans Act is
based on the premise -- rejected by John McCain, among others -- that
covering everyone is required for getting costs under control. To
achieve that, the bill would require that all Americans purchase
health insurance -- yes, the very individual mandate that Barack
Obama condemns as a Hillary Clinton scheme to "go after people's
wages."
> It would also overhaul the tax code, doing away with the
preferential treatment of employer-sponsored health care. That is
widely endorsed by policy types but is anathema to some unions, which
have negotiated cushy benefits for members.
> In other words, it's got something for everyone to
dislike. "Republicans have got to get over the notion that being for
universal coverage means a single-payer, government system and we
hate a government-run system," Bennett says. "Democrats have to get
over the idea that the only way you can cover everyone is a single-
payer government-run system."
> Wyden and Bennett are the Felix and Oscar of health care -- a Jew
and a Mormon; the son of German immigrants who fled the Nazis and the
son of a four-term senator; an effusive Democrat given to bashing Big
Oil and a taciturn Republican given to praising the wonders of the
free market.
> No one -- not even Wyden and Bennett -- thinks the measure will
become law anytime soon. No one -- not even Wyden and Bennett --
agrees with every aspect of their proposal. No one -- certainly not
Wyden and Bennett -- thinks the process will be simple. But you've
got to respect lawmakers who are in for the long haul and not the
easy sound bite.
> "What Senator Bennett and I hope to be able to do," Wyden says, "is
to have this ready so that around Thanksgiving 2008, when the new
president will have gotten about four good nights' sleep, people will
say, 'Mr. President or Ms. President, there is a significant
coalition in the Senate we've gotten together.' "
> Under their measure, instead of paying for health coverage,
employers would pay workers higher wages, reflecting what they would
have spent. Employers that don't now offer insurance would be
assessed varying amounts based on their size and profitability.
Individuals would buy insurance through state or regional purchasing
pools, with premium payments withheld as taxes are now.
> Market forces would come into play because various plans would
compete on price, but insurers would have to take all applicants and
charge the same amounts regardless of age or health status. Medicaid
would be eliminated; those in poverty would have their premiums fully
subsidized, with partial subsidies for those at up to four times the
poverty level.
> The result -- as Wyden cheerfully acknowledges -- would be to blow
up the existing health insurance system.
> To that explosive end, Wyden has visited 70 of his colleagues to
sell the Healthy Americans Act. He is aiming for all 99. He checks in
almost weekly with such players as Andy Stern of the Service
Employees International Union, Safeway chief executive Steve Burd and
Todd Stottlemyer of the National Federation of Independent Business,
the influential small-business lobby.
> "He's the Energizer Bunny," says Stottlemyer, whose group hasn't
endorsed the measure. "What he's showing is that you can actually,
even in a presidential election year like this one, coalesce both
Democrats and Republicans around a proposal."
> Some of them, anyway. An analysis by the Lewin Group, a consulting
firm, found that, even as coverage expanded, the plan would slightly
reduce national health spending by lowering administrative costs and
increasing competition (read: lower profits for insurance companies
and providers). Employers would save money overall, but families
earning more than $40,000 a year would end up paying more on average.
> Harry and Louise might have something to say about that. Then
again, last time around, Harry and Louise didn't have to reckon with
Ron and Bob.
>
>
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