By that I mean will Jan cause a mis-judgment by Obama on Health Care because she pulls a punch out of misguided relationship loyalty.
Jan represents a strong single-payer district. If you argue with my belief on that then I will come back with a strong public-option district retort. My point being that interest number one for Jan is her district which is very very progressive.
Interest number two for Jan is her long-term relationship with Obama. Now we pretty much believe Obama to be a centrist Democrat which means he is sometimes progressive and sometimes not at all. A big part of Obama's relationship with Jan is that she is a window on the strong progressive side of politics for Obama. Obama depends on straight progressive talk from Jan. He very much needs Jan to be a strong progressive. If she pulls progressive punches then she will throw off Obama's political calculations.
Jan very much needs to sign the Progressive Caucus whip count demanding strong a public option. To not do so will be a betrayal of loyalty because of a conflict of interest.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who heads the caucus's health care task force, said that some of her more nervous left-leaning colleagues were mistaking Obama's sound political instincts for wavering convictions.
"I may be in a somewhat different position, having a long-term relationship with Barack," she said, "and so I feel confident about his being tough and strong. People were worried, 'Oh, is he caving and just conceding and backing off?' He doesn't do that. He may seek a compromise [on health care at some point] that some people think goes too far, but it is not out of weakness. It is out of reasoned judgment about how far he can go and what is the best and most practical approach."
A rally is set for Saturday, September 26, from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at UIC College of Pharmacy, Lecture Hall 134, 833 S. Wood, Chicago.
The Town Hall meeting is sponsored by the Illinois Single Payer Coalition and the UIC Gradute Student Council with support from the Chicago Single Payer Action Network, Physicians for a National Health Program, and Progressive Democrats of America. The public is invited to attend. For more information on the Chicago stop and to RSVP, go online or contact Allan Nowakowski by e-mail. Lots of information there about the destination: the Care-A-Van arrives in Washington DC on Wednesday, September 30, and will distribute white ribbons to proclaim their goal.
The 49th Ward Democratic Party's panel on health care reform produced a turnout that surprised even veteran observers. Approximately 200 attendees, by my count, packed the upper room at the Loyola Park Fieldhouse on Mon. night, Aug. 10. The speakers included Dr. Anne Scheetz of the pro-single-payer Physicians for a National Health Program, William McNary, Co-Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, Leslie Combs of Jan Schakowsky's office, and Congressman Danny Davis.
There was no disruption from the Right; not the best turf to pick a fight, I'd say. The loudest applause may have been for Scheetz, who asserted that the plan being put forward in Congress is doomed to fail. McNary articulated the HCAN position, which is that it is still meaningful reform if the plan has a public healthcare option that is available on day one, available everywhere, with the leverage to negotiate lower rates with providers and pharma.
Below is a pic which shows the room as it was still filling up (it became so full many extra chairs had to be added a few minutes later. 49th Ward party president Michael James welcomes the crowd. Seated at the table are committeeman David Fagus, Scheetz, McNary, and Davis. Against the wall are Combs and Ald. Joe Moore. Others in attendance included County Clerk David Orr, and of course numerous activists from DFA, the 49th Ward Dems, and MoveOn.org. The only announced candidates on the scene besides myself and Davis (who will presumably be running for something) were judicial candidates Steve Bernstein of Evanston and Abbey Fishman Romanek of Wilmette.
We want to assure you that for our continued support, the public option must not be based on a trigger and must be available immediately. Further, the public plan must be on a level playing field and receive the same subsidies as private plans in the Health Exchange. And, it must be connected to the Medicare infrastructure, including the provider and payment system. Allowing providers to opt out of the public option has already created a loss of $91 billion in savings. We cannot tolerate further weakening of the public option.
If health care reform has to fail, then the best way for it to fail is because it loses support from progressives. Obama, should he so choose, could then take up the fight anew next year, without it being a victory for the Republicans.
An emasculated and efeminated public option will in the long run and possibly even in the short run be worse than what we have now. Especially if there is a mandate requiring everyone to put more money into wasteful private insurance coffers that will continue to deny paying for care at every possible turn.
The letter actually includes the taboo words "single payer", reminding everyone that the "perfect" and the "best" have already yielded for the "good".
Dr Quentin Young's influence is being reflected in this amendment initiative. It is not expected to pass, so it simply becomes a marker for the strength of single payer advocacy.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) will introduce, in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, an amendment to the Tri-Committee health care bill. The amendment would replace the private health insurance industry with a single-payer national health insurance program.
In effect, the Weiner amendment would substitute Rep. John Conyers' (D-MI) single-payer bill, HR-676, for the Tri-Committee legislation.
The vote will take place the same day it is offered; last I heard on Monday.
The other health care related story I'm following is the Kucinich amendment.
Under the Kucinich Amendment a state's application for a waiver from ERISA is granted automatically if the state has signed into law a single payer plan. With the amendment, for the first time, the state single payer health care option is shielded from an ERISA-based legal attack.
The House Education and Labor Committee approved the Kucinich Amendment by a vote of 27-19, with 14 Democrats and 13 Republicans voting yes. I don't fully understand the process in the house. There is this committee bill and the tri-committee bill. Do they get merged at some point? I don't know, if you do help me out here.
The other place I could use some help is an analysis as to how practical it might be for a state to enact a single-payer system. It's my impression that a lot of the clout of a national single payer is in negotiations with vendors, like drug vendors. Is much of that lost at the state level?
I think we are approaching a tipping point in the push for "universal" health care in the U.S. The progressive caucus has stated that they will not support a health care plan that does not include a public option. The public option is a pre-compromised position from single-payer. The medical-industrial complex is attacking the public option both from with-in and with-out. If they cannot eliminate it from the plan then they desire to emasculate and efeminate it. A public option that will either be non-competitive and/or not implementable until some date uncertain.
And that is about all we know.
So at the moment progressive activists are expending what little influence we have in pushing for an effective public option being included in the plan. But there is a tipping point fast approaching. We will see the tipping point arrive when progressive activists begin expending what little influence we have in pushing for a defeat of the entire bill. A bill that will be at best a Trojan and at worst a virus within the body of heath care change in the U.S.
And at that point we will be facing a double defeat. Not only will there not be an effective public option but we may have a bill as bad Medicare Part D for drugs; not only a defeat for people's health but a boondoggle win for the medical-industrial complex. Perhaps even a triple defeat as the corporatist element within the Obama regime will characterize the progressive opposition to another corporate giveaway as progressives being opposed to health care reform. All because of our insistence on the barely acceptable becoming the enemy of the awful.
For the past several weeks, Health Justice has been facilitating the delivery of e-faxes abd phone calls to Sen Max Baucus and the entire Finance Committee, demanding that he provide a seat at the table for a single payer proponent. Go to http://www.health-justice.org/
The number of faxes sent has risen to 30,000 and the number of phone calls to 4,000. There is a call to do more: Dr Clark Newhall, MD and JD, is a malpractice lawyer looking to be put out of his job, I find him a compelling writer, based on the faxes I've sent so far.
Browse the home page to see the growing list of subjects and choose a pre-written fax or relay your own story if you prefer. Join the virtual demonstration coming up soon or call the White House 800 number and make your opinion known. Donate to Health Justice Education Fund; donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by governing laws.
For an very informative list of the top ten groups who support their own plans, like AARP, or otherwise oppose single payer, click on the "read more" button on the home page, "Join Us Now, It's Free!" block. The list of Top Ten Enemies is located on the right hand side group of articles explaining single payer.
The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party made its presence known on Saturday. Guaranteed Health Care has been a moderate position held by Democrats since FDR and Truman. Since the 90's, the "Reagan Democrats" have hijacked the party of FDR and Truman into a losing strategy, embracing private insurance and HMO's. Democrats must reject the policies created by Nixon, and return to the common sense Democratic Party principles. Most doctors and citizens want a Single-Payer Guaranteed Health Care system. It's time for the Democratic Party to deliver by passing H.R. 676 --- lorinpda
Donna Smith will be reporting details of her experience at the PDA-Chicago Meeting Monday, Aug. 11 -- 6:30 PM Brehon Pub 731 North Wells Chicago Il. 60610
August 9, 2008--Negotiated by Rep. John Conyers and Donna Smith, national co-chairs of the PDA Healthcare Not Warfare campaign, a compromise was reached to insert an amendment to the draft health care plank of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform.
Bob Remer of Chicago offered the five-point statement, drafted by Norman Solomon, another of the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign co-chairs, and others. It read:
Our nation should enact universal health care that will:
* Guarantee accessible health care for all.
* Create a single standard of high quality, comprehensive, and preventive health care for all.
* Allow freedom of choice of physician, hospital, and other health careproviders.
* Eliminate financial barriers that prevent families and individuals fromobtaining the medically necessary care they need.
* Allow physicians, nurses and other licensed health care providers to makehealth care decisions based on what is best for the health of the patient.
The language, amendment #33 was combined with language in amendment #107, to read "guaranteed health care" for every American (instead of universal coverage) AND the language, "everybody in and no one left out" added to later platform language about legislative efforts to "cover every American." Other details are to be left to the legislative process.
Conyers, the original sponsor of HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act, called the language change huge, steps in the right direction, and movement by the party in the right way.
(issue of importance to everyone... - promoted by bored now)
The Health Care for All Illinois Act (H.B. 311) establishes an enhanced Medicare for All for all residents of Illinois. H.B. 311 restores health-care decisions to doctors and patients.
For the first time in Illinois history, a single-payer payer bill ("The Health Care for All Illinois Act - HB 311) passed with approval from the Health Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives, and is headed for a full floor vote later this year.
The Health Care for All Illinois Act (H.B. 311) primary sponsor, is Representative Mary Flowers. The legislative attention to the single-payer solution has attracted a slew of new co-sponsors, including House Speaker Michael Madigan and Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie.
Representative Mary Flowers has announced the initial hearings on H.B 311 to be held in Chicago.
[This is something I found on the Internet attributed to "Vegan4Peace". I edited it for punctuation and such to publish it here but it's not my work.]
Smoke bellows from the quiet two-story home, as the Fire Department arrives. An anxious young couple greets them, the wife clutching a crying baby.
"Thank God you're here!" says the husband. "It's just a small kitchen fire, and will only take a second to put out."
"Yes, thank goodness we're insured," adds his wife.
"We'll have this thing out in no time," the Fire Chief calmly responds, "but first we'll need to see your insurance card."
"Our insurance card?!?" says the husband. "But...it's in the filing cabinet, in the house, and the house is on fire! Can't we just worry about that later?"
"Sorry, sir, we can't do anything without proof that you have insurance."
