"Who will stand strong in heat of healthcare fight?" by Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist | August 4, 2009
.... While Congressional Quarterly reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contributions specifically from health insurers were relatively small, the medical biotech firm
Related: The Healthy and Hearty Voice of the Healthcare Lobbyists
In no surprise, Amgen’s PAC also gave to the Blue Dog PAC in the 2008 cycle. It spent $6.1 million in the first half of this year lobbying on Capitol Hill, bettered only by the $13 million of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Council, the $11.7 million of Pfizer, and the $7 million of Eli Lilly. The political action committees of all those other companies or trade groups have given to the Blue Dogs.
That's who will be MAKING MONEY, folks!
Thus, the Democratic leadership must be watched carefully over the next several weeks.
He got that right.
Despite the carpet-bombing of lobbying, Americans themselves are not yet completely brainwashed against a more sane healthcare system....
Related: No Choice But Single Payer
--more--""Health bills at odds on funding; Democrats split over a surtax" by David M. Herszenhorn, The New York Times | July 10, 2009
On who?
WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democrats appeared yesterday to be on a collision course over how to pay for a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, with the House planning to propose an income tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, an idea that Senate negotiators have all but dismissed as unworkable.
I did as soon as I read it.
Related: Obama to Keep Bush Tax Cuts
Yeah, figure they would have rescinded those first.
Paying for the roughly $1 trillion 10-year cost of the healthcare legislation is arguably the biggest hurdle confronting lawmakers and the White House as they pursue President Obama’s top policy goal of extending health coverage to all Americans and curtailing the steep rise in the cost of medical care.
Senate negotiators had been considering a tax on some employer-provided health benefits, but shifted course this week after the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and other top Democrats voiced opposition....
Also see: Taxing the American Public's Health
Think they sneak it in during conference committee late at night?
Instead, the House Ways and Means Committee was said to be nearing agreement on an income tax surcharge of 2 percent or more on Americans with the highest incomes - those earning more than $250,000. The surtax would rise for those earning $500,000 and rise again for those earning more than $1 million.
Ha-ha-ha-ha! Yeah, right!
And THAT is the PROBLEM with this country -- a TAX INCREASE is the SOLUTION to EVERYTHING!!!!
At the same time, aides said that the House was moving away from other ideas, including a proposed sales tax on sodas and other sugary drinks and a new payroll tax of 0.3 percent to be paid by employees and employers. The White House has not expressed a position on the surtax, but lawmakers said they had heard no objections so far.
Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who visited the Capitol twice this week to discuss healthcare proposals with House Democrats, has said the president would prefer that money to pay for the legislation come from within the healthcare system. But unlike a tax on employer-provided benefits, which Obama opposed during the presidential campaign, a tax on the wealthy would be in keeping with his promise not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 a year.
Why is he keeping the Bush tax cuts?
Meanwhile, Senate negotiators went back to the drawing board and were looking at an array of options. They seemed to be narrowing their focus on a plan that would tax only the most generous employer-provided health plans - those worth $25,000 or more a year - as well as a modified limit on tax deductions proposed by Obama....
Which is what Baucus put out yesterday!!!
Some lawmakers who opposed Obama at that point said they were willing to consider a higher limit - at the 35 percent bracket - that could still generate roughly $90 billion in revenue over 10 years to help pay for the healthcare overhaul, presuming the highest tax bracket reverts to 39 percent if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire.
But he's keeping them, so that's a non-starter!
The tax on more generous health insurance plans was projected to generate another $90 billion, and would bring Senate negotiators, led by Democrat Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, more than halfway to the $320 billion in revenue that they had expected from a wider tax on employer-provided benefits.
Lawmakers taking part in the Senate negotiations said Republicans and several moderate Democrats would oppose an income tax surcharge on the wealthy....
Told you that was going nowhere.
Senators were also considering a plan to apply the Medicare payroll tax of 1.45 percent to nonwage income like dividends and capital gains.
Another lead balloon!
And in yet another potential obstacle, 40 House Democrats in the fiscally conservative blue-dog coalition voiced opposition to the emerging legislation and apprehension over potential new taxes. House leaders swiftly called a meeting with the blue dogs to begin addressing their concerns.
That's odd. LIBERALS NEVER HAVE THEIR CONCERNS taken so seriously or addressed so quickly!
In addition to the income surtax on the wealthy, House Democrats were considering an array of other ideas. One would bar drug companies from deducting the cost of advertisements as a business expense on their corporate tax returns. Another would end a tax break for healthcare flexible spending accounts.
All going nowhere.
--more--"
Here is another non-starter by a pea brain:
"Kerry wants insurer tax to pay for care" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | July 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, eager to find a compromise on paying for the healthcare overhaul without taxing employee benefits, has stepped into the fray with an idea that could help Senate Finance Committee negotiators close the gap.
Kerry has floated a proposal to tax insurance companies on their most expensive healthcare plans, a Finance Committee source said. The tax would raise tens of billions of dollars to help pay for the $1 trillion expansion of healthcare coverage, said a Senate Finance Committee source who was not authorized to speak on the record.
These guys are idiots! That pig ain't flying, either!
GET RID OF THEM, that's the answer!!!!!!
Such a tax would also have important side benefits. It would discourage the overuse of healthcare services, because employers would have an incentive to buy cheaper, less generous healthcare plans for employees, to avoid the levy. It would also put pressure on insurers to reduce premium prices, the source said. The tax, whose rate has not been specified, would only apply to the most expensive insurance products. Kerry’s idea is meant to replace a previous Senate Finance Committee proposal to tax employees on their benefits, an idea that proved unpopular with unions as well as President Obama’s administration.
Taxing insurance companies could be more palatable politically than taxing individuals. But insurance companies and other interests are likely to fight back with the argument that the costs will be passed on to beneficiaries....
And that is EXACTLY what has HAPPENED and IS HAPPENING!
Democratic leaders in Congress are struggling to find a way to pay for the healthcare expansion, as moderate Democrats express qualms about its high costs and as Republicans step up attacks....
--more--"
Then the DemocraPs really stepped in it:
"Democrats reframing insurers as obstacle; Lawmakers take health fight home" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | August 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats - under assault from Republicans who say their approach to healthcare overhaul is too expensive, rushed, and heavy-handed - are heading into the summer recess with a target of their own: insurers.
They are casting the insurance industry as an obstacle to cheaper coverage for all, and in doing so, are taking aim at an erstwhile ally.
Of course, the CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS KEEP ROLLING IN but they ain't friends no more! Pffft!
Democrats and the White House have spent much of the last year flaunting the newfound cooperation of old enemies like drug companies and the insurance industry.
So they are not even erstwhile? Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!!!
But now they face a new political calculus....
Lawmakers will now cast crucial initial votes on a healthcare overhaul after spending a month talking with constituents at backyard barbecues and ice cream socials. Insurers, unpopular with the public, are an easy target in making points with voters....
Wow, did THOSE MEETINGS ever BACKFIRE, huh?
That's why we get this.
**********************
House Democratic leaders, in a memo to the rank-and-file last week published on the political website Politico, warned that this month’s recess “may be the most consequential . . . we have ever faced.’’ The memo asked House members to devote part of the recess to holding healthcare town halls, arranging local media interviews, even using online social networks to spread the word about a healthcare overhaul.
OOOOOPPPSSS! We DO NOT LIKE YOUR WORDS!!!!
Related: The Return of the Republican Congress
Democratic leaders have also laid out talking points for members to use, mostly focusing on how an overhaul would rein in insurers. An overhaul, they say, would tame the growth of premium prices and, with a public insurance alternative as a backup, prevent insurers from ducking responsibility for bills and provide Americans with a way to buy affordable insurance even if they lost their job.
Yeah, it is OKAY when DemocraPs put out talking points.
“When people know what is in this bill . . . they like it,’’ Representative Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters last week.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!
Uh-huh! That explains the rage, huh?
The Congressional Democrats’ leading ally is President Obama, who risked enormous political capital by designating a healthcare overhaul as his top domestic priority.
That is why his POLL NUMBERS are FALLING THROUGH the FLOOR!!!
Last week he held campaign-style events in swing states like North Carolina and Virginia. Organizing For America, Obama’s political arm, says it has signed up 1 million supporters of reform and on Friday asked them to give $1 a day until a bill passes.
FLOP! Maybe that "support" is as razor-thin as W, 'eh?
“A huge response will show the insurance companies and their allies in Congress that their delay tactics will only make our movement stronger,’’ the e-mail said.
Meanwhile, the WRONG MOVEMENT SHOWED ITS STRENGTH -- the PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT!!!!!
The strongest opponents of the Democrats’ plans are Republicans, who abhor the idea of ringing up a bill even larger than the $787 billion stimulus package, an Obama initiative that they say also cost far more than it accomplished. Republicans side with insurers on the public insurance option - they argue it would fatally wound private insurers, leading to job losses in that industry and leaving consumers with less choice....
Related: No Choice But Single Payer
But major disagreements over the details remain....
--more--"
They are not going to get the taxes from insurance companies -- not when the politicians are working for them!
Back to Senator Kerry:
SOMERVILLE - As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry already has plenty of work.
Then let him do that!
He expects to hold hearings on the war in Afghanistan later this month - he plans to travel there soon, he said - and he is working feverishly to pass a global warming bill through the Senate before international climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
But Kerry has kept a hand in the health care discussion as well, holding monthly conference calls with Massachusetts interests and offering ideas to the “Gang of Six.’’
Yeah, yeah, everyone knows they go around in a mob.
**********************
The emotion that gripped the state in the days following Kennedy’s death seemed to hover at the Somerville meeting. Speaking with unusual feeling, Kerry fielded questions for more than 2 1/2 hours, standing up to answer each one even though he is still recovering from hip surgery.
Yeah, yeah, he's a real trooper!
Get good healthcare, does he? Thank the taxpayer, did he?
The audience was almost exclusively pro-overhaul, given the politics of the neighborhood and the numerous activists present, and several people asked why the Democrats could not just pass a single-payer plan.
Oh, WE KNOW the ANSWER THERE!!!
Kerry responded by recalling Kennedy’s advice to him: Focus on the goal.
“He said, ‘You know, there are 15 ways to do this, there are all kinds of ways to do this. The key is to get it done.’ ’’
What an INSULTING ANSWER!!!!!!!
I think you already know who will be paying in the end, huh, 'murka?
And that's right where you are going to get it -- in the end.
