Pollack on passing health care reform, cont'd

Pollack follows up his open letter to congressional Democrats with this post:

If the House and Senate bills are abandoned, we may (eventually) win Medicaid expansions for people who need help, expanded tax credits for people who cannot afford coverage, and other measures to cover the uninsured. We may even see more stringent regulation of health underwriting and other toxic practices in the insurance industry.

We will not soon see serious delivery reforms or cost-control measures. Whether the issue is high-cost insurance plans, bundled payments, comparative effectiveness research, overpayments to medical device makers, drug companies, specialists, and Medicare Advantage plans, there will be very limited political will to match what is in the current bills.

We will not be able to get these things because we will fracture the political coalition required to enact these painful measures, because the operative lesson of last summer will be that death panel demagoguery trumps real policy argument, and because there are fewer policy levers and fewer political incentives to address these difficulties outside a comprehensive bill.

Last Friday, I and others pled with anxious House members to step up in passing comprehensive reform. Senators: Now I am pleading with you.

President Obama: Now is the time for you to step up, too. Some in your administration are starting to send good signals. Others remain unduly tentative. Fight for this thing as if your legacy is on the line--because it is. I believe you have about 48 hours to fix this up. [emphasis is mine]

In its entirety. Not sure I agree 100% here, but close enough. PTFB.

An Open Letter to Pelosi et al. from Pollack et al.

Over at The Treatment, Harold Pollack posts an open letter to House Democratic leaders, signed by 47 health policy experts, entreating them to pass the Senate health care bill:*

The House of Representatives faces a stark choice. It can enact the Senate bill, and realize the century-old dream of health care reform. By doing so, it can achieve a historic milestone while freeing itself to address other national problems such as joblessness and mortgage foreclosure that affect millions of Americans. Differences between the House and Senate bill can be negotiated through the reconciliation process.

Alternatively, Congress can abandon this effort at this critical moment, leaving millions more Americans to become uninsured in the coming years as health care becomes ever less affordable. Abandoning health care reform—the signature political issue of this administration—would send a message that Democrats are incapable of governing and lead to massive losses in the 2010 election, possibly even in 2012. Such a retreat would also abandon the chance to achieve reforms that millions of Americans across the political spectrum desperately need in these difficult times. Now is the moment for calm and resolute leadership, pressing on toward the goal now within sight.

PTFB.

*The best option for the Dems right now, as I argue in this post on Scott Brown's election and health care reform.

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"I don't really have a question but I was told that I can use the five minutes."

Check out this clip from the House Committee on Financial Services hearing on 2/12, when TARP recipients went to the Hill with their tails between their legs to receive the full fire and brimstone of one Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA-8).



Gotta love my congressman's enthusiasm. I like around 4:40 when he screams about getting the money "out on the street." Sounds like a capo threatening his loansharks.

"In the new world that you created and we have to clean up."

(Please note that not all of his constituents are incarcerated.)

Whoa and he's a fellow alumnus. Big Green '73! Go figure. Amazing what you can learn about the people who legislate on your behalf if you do a little homework.