rssGOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op Compromise
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 12:01 am
- 24 Comments
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Rush Limbaugh (WDCpix, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)
Smelling blood in the water as Democrats made contradictory statements about what a Senate health care reform bill might contain, Republicans spent Tuesday pushing back against a possible compromise–non-profit health insurance cooperatives, an idea that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) had pushed for months before the debate centered on a Medicare-style “public option.” Inside the Senate and inside the conservative third-party groups that have been working against the White House, “co-ops” are being framed as an attempt to engineer a stealth government takeover of health care.
Image by: Matt Mahurin
“It doesn’t matter what you call it,” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) told reporters on a Tuesday conference call. “They want it to accomplish something that Republicans are opposed to. That is the step towards government-run health care in the country. The president himself said you can imagine a cooperative meeting that definition of a public option.”
Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, took advantage of a political opening created by a rift between Democrats in Congress. Unlike a public plan, the co-ops idea remains, as one Senate GOP staffer told TWI, “nebulous.” What began as a trial balloon from Conrad, to facilitate the formation of consumer groups that could purchase health care plans at a lower cost, has not been fleshed out since then. In June, when Conrad proposed the concept, it was promoted as a way to get the votes of moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats, based on a model that had worked in very different industries. “The co-op model has proven very effective across many different models,” Conrad argued in a June interview with The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein. “Ocean Spray in the cranberry business, and Land of Lakes in the dairy business, and Puget Sound [Health Alliance] in the health care business.”
Since then, Democrats have used the co-op concept as an out from the tougher aspects of the health care debate. Shortly after Conrad floated the idea in June, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said that the idea “doesn’t come close to satisfying anyone who wants a public plan,” could meet some of the Democrats’ goals if a $10 billion start-up fund was created to launch the co-ops. In July, President Obama told Time magazine that some sort of public plan could survive Senate negotiations even if the “public option” didn’t, because “in theory you can imagine a cooperative meeting that definition.”
That statement from the president, which didn’t draw much attention at the time, was the basis of Kyl’s argument that co-ops were a “Trojan Horse” for “government-run” health care. Republicans and conservative activists are mining other statements in that vein to build the case that co-ops would be no compromise at all, and they’re doing it quickly.
“Three months ago, I think you could have had a compromise on co-ops,” another Senate GOP aide told TWI. “Today? No, forget about it. I think both parties have gotten wise to how things work, and Republicans see this for the fig leaf that it really is.”
Senate Republicans are getting help from conservative media on defining the co-ops. On his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh blasted the co-ops idea as a unconvincing cover-up for the Democrats’ real plan to nationalize health care. “These co-ops, like we’re too stupid to know what that’s all about,” Limbaugh said. “Co-op? Why don’t they just call them communes? Look, I know liberal lingo when I hear it. A co-op? Yeah, let’s go to the farmers market. Let’s go to the community garden! What, do they think we’re idiots?”
That’s the message coming from the groups and activists who have defined the political battlefield this month with noisy protests and speeches at congressional town hall meetings. “It is a trick by the Democrats,” said Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, via email. “It’s a cosmetic change that’s not meaningful. It’s not in any way something that changes things for us. It’s something to try to give ‘moderate’/Blue Dog/terrified Democrats an excuse to support Obamacare.”
At a Tuesday meeting of conservative bloggers, held at the Heritage Foundation, Matt Kibbe, the president and CEO of Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, speculated that “government-run co-ops” with mandates might have been what Democrats had wanted from the outset of the health care fight. “It’s possible that the so-called public option… has always been a disposable item in the legislation,” Kibbe said, “and what the proponents of government-run health care really wanted to do was throw it out there, have us all attack it, and go for the co-ops.”
According to Eric Odom, the web guru whose TaxDayTeaParty.com became an organizing and information hub for anti-tax rallies, “Tea Party” activists are primed to attack co-ops as another phase of a plan to take over health care. “I don’t anticipate that anyone in the free market movement can support this idea,” said Odom, whose group is readying for a nationwide bus tour to train conservative activists. “It’s a back door for government to get control of the [health care] system. The proposal you’ll get from Democrats is going to have boards made up of government officials. It’ll be the same thing as government run health care, except it won’t be owned by the government.”
A Senate GOP aide brushed aside the theory that a co-op compromise could bring Republican votes on board. “When [Sen. Chuck] Grassley (R-Iowa) says that he won’t vote for a bill that doesn’t have substantial Republican support, you can read that as him saying he won’t support the bill,” the aide told TWI. “The problem right now is that we have a large Democratic majority that Americans don’t trust. They don’t think something passed in this Congress would be helpful to them. We can start over two years from now, after we have a new Congress.”
In the shorter term, Republicans are working to brand “co-ops” as another toxic “public plan,” a scheme to take over health care. Appearing on Fox News Monday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) blasted the Democratic plan, “Now, they — they may try to call it a co-op. They can call it a public option. But you know they are all on record saying they want a single-payer government system. So, any Republican now that helps them pass a bill is helping them pass a government takeover of health care.”
At the Heritage Foundation, Kibbe warned conservative bloggers that even if congressional Democrats view the removal of the public plan as a defeat, conservatives have to be ready to defeat co-ops.
“We need to be careful,” said Kibbe, “not to declare victory when they throw the government-run option off the side.”
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24 Comments
Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 1:22 am
[...] View post: The Washington Independent » GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op … [...]
Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 1:36 am
[...] The Washington Independent: Smelling blood in the water as Democrats made contradictory statements about what a Senate health care reform bill might contain, Republicans spent Tuesday pushing back against a possible compromise–non-profit health insurance cooperatives, an idea that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) had pushed for months before the debate centered on a Medicare-style “public option.” Inside the Senate and inside the conservative third-party groups that have been working against the White House, “co-ops” are being framed as an attempt to engineer a stealth government takeover of health care. [...]
Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 2:52 am
[...] Smelling blood in the water as Democrats made contradictory statements about what a Senate health care reform bill might contain, Republicans spent Tuesday pushing back against a possible compromise–non-profit health insurance … Original post: The Washington Independent » GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op … [...]
Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 4:05 am
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Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 4:17 am
[...] Original post: The Washington Independent » GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op … [...]
Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
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Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
[...] solely to answer the problem of “bipartisan” support. And on the front, they’re a dismal failure: “It doesn’t matter what you call it,” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) told reporters on a [...]
Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 7:50 pm
there are two groups of people who are against health care reform,those who are profiting from this broken system and those who do not pay or pay very little for healthcare.
Pingback posted August 19, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
[...] GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op Compromise - The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted August 20, 2009 @ 12:50 am
[...] GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op Compromise - The Washington Independent [...]
Comment posted August 20, 2009 @ 3:23 am
The sad part is they will be then whining about how just because they have no intention of voting for anything doesn't mean they shouldn't get to negotiate and compromise.
To anyone who believes preventing affordable healthcare is a good thing, you have lost your right to complain when you aren't given a voice in the change that WILL happen.
Comment posted August 20, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Blue Cross/Blue Sheild is supposed to be a non profit health care cooperative.
Comment posted August 20, 2009 @ 11:26 pm
OILY Koch Industries wants to defeat Obama on Healthcare to weaken the Climate Bill, so they spend a fortune sneakily under fictitious names. Not only do they fund “Americans for Prosperity” but then “Americans for Prosperity” in turn funds 289 websites of assorted names puffing themselves up to look like a big crowd.
truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/koch-industries-astroturfing-against.html
AFP then is JoinPatientsNow.com and PatientsFirst.com and TAXPAYERMINUTE.COM, and HOTAIRTOUR.ORG, and defendingthedream.org, and rightonline.com…
Koch's also fund the Mad Hatter's Tea Party crowd, like the LEADED TEA PARTY (bring your guns) sponsored by MEDICAL Development Intl boss, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERTY FLORIDA CHAPTER Chairman. Don't say there's no connections between the Gun Nuts, the Tea Baggers, the Town Hall Health Care Disrupters, Astroturfers and OILY Koch Industries.
truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-party-gun-nut-wants-armed-anti.html
Comment posted August 21, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
1. War, as opposed to democracy, breeds corruption & decay.
As history proves, war, as opposed to democracy, breeds corruption & decay. As one critical example, medical fraud, abuse is estimated to reach $600 to $6000 billion over the next decade lost to it.
Please visit http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?st…, you will be stunned ! Thankfully, in May 2009, the Obama administration announced a new task force made up of officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to work on health care fraud.
In another instance, as common sense goes, fire needs to prevent ahead, or contain in earlier phase, nevertheless, from what I've learned, the special interests have hindered the budget request for preventive care program in Medicare & Medicaid so far, which has resulted in health Catrina, exceedingly high level of chronic disease and expense, and astronomical cost of overall health care compared to any other nation, as data shows.
There is no doubt that in ordinary time, investments in a fire safety system do not go into economic effect, but due to the lack of it, once preventable fire breaks out, it overwhelms the narrow calculation, and even goes beyond monetary value. As the swine flu pandemic shows, investment in vaccine could bring about tens, hundreds, even thousands of economic effects in a short period. Thereby, in an effort to prevent another health Catrina, coordinated, systematic non-profit efforts for preventive care, more primary doctors are of critical importance. Probably that also explains why the successful systems in all free nations are committed to public policy.
2. The savings via removing wastes turn into limit to medical access, rationing, tax raise, and deficit etc via lies.
Unlike high fuel price and mortgage rate in recent years as the roots of great recession and bankruptcy of middle class, the severity in the high cost of health premiums has come to light lately. Similarly, in an attempt to hide these painful corruptions & wastes, the greed allies struggle to connect the savings via removing these wastes with limit to medical access, rationing, tax raise, and deficit etc. But, hope should not be replaced with fear, just like people don't have to fear quitting drug.
3. Hope for pioneer spirit, innovation.
Interestingly enough, pioneers like Ted Kennedy are changing the world somewhere in the U.S. Recently, GM has surprised the world with the adoption of EV-conversion technology from pioneers and outpaced the excellent hybrid cars.
And in spite of the highest annual health plan cost per employee, the revolutionary mandatory-coverage plan in Massachusetts was enacted in 2006 and more than 97% of all Massachusetts residents are now covered — whereas nationally some 40% of Americans have no health insurance.
Even if the state is suffering financially due to the highest premiums, without the affordable public option and removing all kinds of wastes etc, it achieved near universal health program.
Today, another innovative, fundamental change in payment system, or patient's outcome based payment reform that is able to turn the profit-oriented malpractices and volume into the patient-oriented value and quality is waiting for a final decision.
4. Enough room for savings.
Many reformers recognized roughly 30 percent of all health-care spending in the U.S. -some $700 billion a year- might be wasted on medical abuse, unnecessary procedures, unnecessary visits to the doctor, overpriced pharmaceuticals, bloated insurance companies, and the most inefficient paper billing systems imaginable, and payment reform could solve this problem.
Provided the American people pay around twice the amount of the efficient systems, the result is still well below them, the ratio of waste might be estimated to reach far more than 50% in the U.S.
Let's be conservative regarding the ratio. Even If as little as 10% of savings such as removing the wastes involving medical fraud, so called “doughnut hole” , the unnecessary subsidies for insurers, exorbitant costs by the tragic ER visits etc apply to the combined Medicare and Medicaid cost of $923.5bn per year, as of July, the savings of $923.5bn over the next decade are possible. And when these savings add to the already allocated $583 billion, the concern over revenue might be a thing of the past.
As a matter of fact, some patient-focused clinics in 10 regions have already achieved 16% of savings in Medicare while their quality scores are well above average, with the more expansive, systematic reform than them in the pipeline. Aside from the already allocated $583 billion and the savings of this reform package, 16% of $923.5bn (the combined Medicare and Medicaid cost per year) is around $147.76bn per year and 1477.6bn over the next decade, enough to meet the goal.
Please be 'sure' to visit http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13gaw… for credible evidences !
Dr. Armadio at Mayo clinic says, “If we got rid of that stuff (waste), we save a third of all that we spend and that is 2.5 trillion dollars on health care. A third of that and that is 700 billion dollars a year. That covers a lot of uninsured people.”
Please visit http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?st… for detailed infos
5. Choice between hope and manipulated fear.
To be sure, time does not fix the endless greed, energy depletion. Considering the current fuel price is hovering around $60 to $70 per barrel in this economy, supposedly it might be equivalent to the peak price last year while the similar runaway premiums keep on rising, heading for financial ruin. And it is firmly believed if people fail to build a bridge for the next generations, the current generation, too, can not avoid falling off the cliff, as the world-wide overpopulation & immense consumption in conventional energy and the other resources no longer allows waste.
As usual, when the positive effects including job creation and savings generated by investments are left out of the equation, fear and scare are left alone. Today choice between hope and manipulated fear lies with people's will.
Thank You !
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Comment posted August 24, 2009 @ 11:07 am
Never negotiate with a lying sack of sh!t on anything important.
The electorate tossed them out for a reason.
Blue Cross Dems take note. We WILL have a public option, or heads will roll in 2010.
Comment posted August 28, 2009 @ 1:09 am
Last year 22,000 Americans died as a direct result of not having healthcare, which is an increase of 4,000 from 2007! Even if we passed healthcare reform today, almost 80,000 people will die before it is put in place! Where is the outrage? The GOP and thier conservative bretheren apparently feel that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. This is the fundamental difference in attitude that will make a compromise at best difficult!
Pingback posted September 1, 2009 @ 6:23 am
[...] It should be a non-starter in the House, and shouldn’t get beyond Conrad’s fevered imagination. As Stark, and numerous others have pointed out, co-ops are a political solution, not a policy one. And not even a particularly successful political one at that, since Republicans have already rejected them as a compromise. [...]
Comment posted September 8, 2009 @ 8:15 pm
This morning I was
> awakened by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated
> by the public power utility regulated by the U.S. Department
> of Energy.
>
> I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a
> municipal water utility.
>
> After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated
> channels to see what the National Weather Service of the
> National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
> determined the weather was going to be, using satellites
> designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
> and Space Administration.
>
> I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department
> of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which
> have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug
> Administration.
>
> At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress
> and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and
> Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I
> get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
> Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on
> the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments
> of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional
> fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental
> Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
> Reserve Bank.
>
> On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be
> sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off
> at the public school.
>
> After spending another day not being maimed or killed at
> work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the
> Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health
> administration, enjoying another two meals which again do
> not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
> home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down
> in my absence because of the state and local building codes
> and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been
> plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police
> department.
>
> And then I log on to the internet — which was developed by
> the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration — and
> post on Freerepublic.com <http://freerepublic.com/>
> and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is
> BAD because the government can't do anything
> right.
Pingback posted October 20, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
[...] Shelby (R) once lauded health care cooperatives as a “step in the right direction,” The Washington Independent reports that Rush ‘Mr. NFL’ Limbaugh and Republican Senator Jon Kyl (R) have branded [...]
Comment posted August 18, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
> I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a
> municipal water utility.
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