NewsRack: newstrust/Health-Care/Public-Option

John Shadegg Slips and Says He Would Support Single Payer Health Care - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

DOWNLOADS: (45) PLAYS: (132) Oops. Republican John Shadegg appeared on MSNBC just after Dennis Kucinich made his statement saying that he was going to vote for the health care bill . While arguing against the mandate to buy insurance Shadegg let's one slip and basically made the argument for having single payer health insurance. As The Hill noted, he quickly switched gears. Shadegg (R): 'I would support single payer' over individual mandate : Shadegg blasted the for-profit health insurance industry during an appearance on MSNBC today, finally declaring, "I would support single payer." He quickly clarified his comment, saying he would simply like to see health insurance companies have more competition. "I would support ...

A look at the health care overhaul bill - Boston Globe: Latest

The Associated Press — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

A look at the health care overhaul bill

A look at the details of the health care overhaul bill - Star Tribune: Politics

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Zero Public Option + One Mandate = Disaster - Truthout - All Articles

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Not long ago, the most prominent supporters of the public option were touting it as essential for health care reform. Now, suddenly, it's incidental. In fact, many who were lauding a public option as the key to a better health care future are now condemning just about anyone who insists that the absence of a public option makes the current bill unworthy of support. Consider this statement: "If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current healthcare bill. Any measure that expands private insurers' monopoly over healthcare and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real healthcare reform." read ...

Rahm, vindicated? Progressives, vindicated? Does it matter? - Daily Kos

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

In posts yesterday and today, Ben Smith , Glenn Greenwald , and Chris Bowers explore whether the imminent passage of health care reform with nearly unanimous support from the progressive base -- even though it does not contain a public option -- is a vindication of Rahm Emanuel's strategy of taking progressives for granted and courting centrists. This question isn't as simple as it first seems. As Bowers points out , it seems to be based on a faulty assumption. In the wake of Scott Brown's election, Rahm Emanuel wanted to dramatically scale back the health care reform bill. Emanuel didn't get his way. So it's hard to see how he could be vindicated. But it's also true that many progressives (myself included) at one point conditioned our ...

Liberals back bill -- with criticism - Washington Post

Perry Bacon Jr. — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

44 | Even as Democrats fall in line, one calls it a "big compromise from where we could have been."

Has Rahm's Assumption about Progressives been Vindicated? - Common Dreams: Views

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Glenn Greenwald

Politico's Ben Smith yesterday suggested that one important aspect of Rahm Emanuel's health care strategy -- to ignore the demands of progressives on the ground that they would fall into line at the end no matter what -- has been vindicated. Smith points to a new poll showing near-unanimous support for the bill among liberals as well as the fact that not a single progressive member of the House (not even Dennis Kucinich) will oppose this bill even though the prime progressive

Everybody Knows The Deal Is Rotten - Commondreams.org Views

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Christopher Cooper

I don't want to do this. I shouldn't have to do this. But the burden is well-settled upon me; the letters and telephone calls and E-mail messages from the several hundred mostly strangers who have given numerous of my previous essays their praise and who have told me that I must continue to write when I am as troubled as I now find myself-these persons deserve what small insight or comfort or advice I can generate for them. Would that I could summon for them, for us all, some reason to hope.

Ad Wars Ramp Up As Health Bill Vote Draws Near - NPR News

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

As health care overhaul legislation winds its way toward the finish line, both sides are working to get their opinions heard. As usual, some use fear and exaggeration to make their claims. How accurate are these 30-second attempts to boil down a year's worth of debate? We decided to put a few to the test.

Zero Public Option + One Mandate = Disaster - Common Dreams: Headlines

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Norman Solomon

Not long ago, the most prominent supporters of the public option were touting it as essential for healthcare reform. Now, suddenly, it's incidental.

In fact, many who were lauding a public option as the key to a better healthcare future are now condemning just about anyone who insists that the absence of a public option makes the current bill unworthy of support.

Ad Wars Ramp Up As Health Bill Draws Near - NPR: Healthcare

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

As a health care overhaul bill winds its way towards the finish line, both sides are working to get their opinions heard. As usual, many of them use fear and exaggeration to make their claims. Here's a look at some particularly egregious examples.

A Moderate’s View Of Health Care Reform - The Moderate Voice

PATRICK EDABURN — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

One of the fun things about being a political moderate is that you can be sure no matter what you say the odds are you’ll tick off people on both sides of the political fence. I am quite sure that this will be true as I offer some of my own thoughts on what sort [...]

Would You Believe a Public Option? - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Josh Marshall — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Earlier today, MSNBC's David Shuster seemed to get Rep. John Shadegg, a very conservative congressman from Arizona, to say that he'd support a "single payer" health care system . Our Rachel Slajda followed up with the congressman's office to see what was up. And his office just responded ... Congressman Shadegg believes health insurance companies should have to compete for our business as individual consumers. Forcing them to compete, even through a public option, would be better than an individual mandate which will not work. ...

No CBO Score Tonight, Excise Tax Negotiations Back On - Daily Kos

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The excise tax, the issue that essentially forced the sidecar reconciliation, is back as an issue as Congress tries to find a way to squeeze more savings out of the bill for the CBO without raising taxes on the wealthy or including a public option. The negotiations over this seem to be behind the delay. On Wednesday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was called into an unplanned meeting at the White House to discuss late-stage negotiations on a proposed tax on high-end insurance plans. According to sources familiar with what transpired, congressional leaders had begun discussions earlier in the day (perhaps last night) about accelerating the tax's impact in order to produce more savings under the president's revised health care bill. Under ...

Grayson Introduces Medicare Buy-In as Kucinich Caves - BradBlog

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning Substantively, not much has changed since we analyzed the Senate version of the health care bill in "'Reform' or Legislative Obscenity?" We noted then: The Baucus bill is a "legislative obscenity that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and a former vice president of WellPoint spent months ...

Health bill gains ground; weekend vote likely - Boston Globe: Latest

David Espo, AP Special Correspondent — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Health bill gains ground; weekend vote likely

Pelosi's strategy to get the votes - Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Dennis Kucinich's decision to switch his vote from "no" to "yes" is interesting. The Senate bill, even with the reconciliation fixes, will be a much more conservative document than the House bill. There'll be no public plan, lower subsidies, an excise tax of some sort, an independent Medicare commission and more. So what you have here is the bill moving to the right even as it picks up votes from the left. If you want to see how Nancy Pelosi gets the votes, Kucinich offers a hint. She unites her left flank, as these folks may not like the bill, but they love what the bill is trying to do and they don't want to destroy Barack Obama's presidency. And then she goes to however many Blue Dogs and strays as she needs and says, basically, that this ...

Where's the CBO Report? - Daily Kos

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Chris lays out the timeline : In order to pass the bill by the Easter recess, and avoid any further delays that could sink the bill, the Senate needs to take up the bill next week. In order for the Senate to take up the reconciliation bill next week, President Obama has to sign the Senate bill into law before he leaves the country for a five day trip on Sunday. In order for President Obama to sign the bill into law before he leaves the country, the House needs to pass the bill by Saturday night. And, in order for the House to pass the bill by Saturday night, the CBO needs to release its score of the bill tonight, 72 hours before the House votes. The CBO report is expected today, and has to happen today to meet the deadline. Of ...

Can the Democrats finally agree on health reform? - Star Tribune: Politics

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

After a year of debate, protests, rallies pro and con, endless committee meetings, television ads, political calculations and presidential speeches, the House of Representatives is on the verge of passing major health care reform. Finally.

Obama's health care plan picks up support - Vail Colorado: Columnists

ALAN FRAM and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press Writers — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's much-challenged health care overhaul gained traction Wednesday as a liberal lawmaker became the first to switch his opposition and Catholic nuns declared their support in an unusual public break with the bishops. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, long a supporter of Medicare-for-all, voted against the House Democratic bill in November because it did not go far enough in creating a robust government-run plan to compete with private insurance. But Kucinich said Wednesday that the bill coming before the House represents the best chance to expand coverage to the uninsured, even if it does not include a public plan. At a Capitol Hill news conference, Kucinich said his decision was a combination of pragmatism ...

Rep. Kucinich switches to 'yes' on health care bill; Catholic nuns break with bishops - Star Tribune: Politics

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Kucinich - Then and Now - Red State

() — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Remember Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) in 2009 who opposed the House version of ObamaCare containing a public option, because the House bill “put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care.” He argued that ObamaCare solution is ”within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.” Well, that same Congressman Kucinich has changed and now supports a bill without an explicit public option. Today Congressn Kucinich announced that he will vote for a bill without a public option. Dennis Kucinich has shifted from principled leftist to run of the mill Democrat hack. Kucinch announced that he is going to be a deciding and ...

Why I'm Voting 'Yes' - Commondreams.org Views

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Dennis Kucinich

The following are the prepared remarks offered by US Rep. Kucinich today regarding his plans for the upcoming health care vote:

Public Option's Proponents Seek To Resurrect It - NPR: Healthcare

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

After a messy Senate burial late last year, the government-run health insurance plan may be back. Proponents cite continued wide support and the fact that this time it needs fewer votes to pass in the Senate.

Proponents Seek To Resurrect Public Option - NPR: Morning Edition

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT