THANK YOU! (4.00 / 3)

SEIU, thank you so much.  I can't give directly to Open Left right now (impending joblessness) and I really appreciate the chance to lend a hand.

And thank you, thank you for your long view of the importance of online infrastructure.  Good on you.

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by: TValley @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 13:49:26 PM CDT

Thank You Andy Stern and the SEIU (4.00 / 1)

I know there are people who are upset with the SEIU ads that are running over at the Daily Kos but I think those people couldn't be more wrong. Look, we've had a business press and business press only for years now. If the SEIU wants to create a proxy labor press by investing in liberal blogs then let them do so. I suppose that might affect influence but you know what I agree with the SEIU on most issues anyway!

This would create the situation that they have in Europe where different factions have their own papers. That's a good thing. Right now, we have an allegedly "objective" business press that reflects wealth and power on all the important issues, and certainly never gets tired of their half hour informercial documentaries or their GEICO ads--another reason you will never see real criticism of the insurance industry in the business press. We have a business press and, not surprisingly on a number of issues, one business party. Those facts are related. That has to change and creating a labor press is one way to do it.

What Andy Stern is doing is a good thing. I just wish the rest of the labor movement would wake up and realize that they need to support their liberal blogger friends as well!

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

PS: My site could use some ads too!

PPS: Labor needs its own party! You have the resources. You should run my old ACT co worker Tom Huffman or Braddock's John Fetterman  or even Chris Bowers for that PA. Senate seat. If you want access, then elect one of your own...! You have the power to do it...!

PPPS: And start your own labor press...but it looks like you're already moving there. Hell, if you pay me one hundred bucks  a week I'll write about labor issues fulltime here....!

Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com

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by: Steelydan3 @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 14:23:47 PM CDT

Fantastic (4.00 / 1)

Signed up. We can get this public option. And I promise you I'll be using it as soon as it's available!  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra

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by: LandStander @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 14:33:16 PM CDT

this needs to be killed-- not supported. "It's Still All About The Insurance Companies" (0.00 / 0)

http://cabdrollery.blogspot.co...

... It's clear that Congress and the president still don't get it. Worse, it's clear that they don't want to get it, that they are perfectly happy with a system that will continue to generate huge profits for private insurance companies and for-profit health care delivery systems, and that they expect citizens to pay for those systems. ...

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by: amberglow @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 14:37:28 PM CDT

Imho that's unfair. The public option will result in lower profits. (0.00 / 0)

Don't you believew in markets at all? Come on, if people have the choice between a private plan, with all the bad experiences they already have about the coverage, and the public health insurance option, do you really think many will chose the private insurer? Especially if its more expensive? The sheer existence of the public option will force insurance company to lower their prices, and adjust their coverage to that standard, if they don't want to be swept away.

Just believe in the intelligence of people. They are perfectly able to make good decisions, as long as the matter isn't too complex. And the public option setting the new standard will result in making comparisons easier. Imho a very good move. And a second step to a purely public system may still follow. What's not to like?

Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter

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by: Gray @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 17:18:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

If Baucus is on board... (0.00 / 0)

There will be a poison pill. Guaranteed.

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by: cenobite @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 18:00:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Dunno if Baucus is really such a creepy character, but... (0.00 / 0)

...liberals certainly should go through the final bill with a very fine comb, indeed. The enemy forces sure will try to sabotage this in some way.

Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter

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by: Gray @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 03:02:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

"federally-backed insurance pool"/"federally-backed health insurance option" = their "public" plan -- (0.00 / 0)

and it'll definitely be run by a private HMO, like in Mass --

CJR -- What the Heck Do the Senators Mean? -- http://www.cjr.org/campaign_de...

... Just what did the senators mean? The press release was not at all helpful in that respect. First, it said that the signers wanted to include a "federally-backed health insurance option in health care reform." Two graphs later, the release built upon that claim, specifying that the senators wanted to establish a "federally-backed insurance pool to create options for American consumers." There's a big difference between a single option that would be a government-financed program like Medicare-with the government providing the benefits-and the several options offered by private insurers that provide benefits with the government's blessing, as they do in Massachusetts. ...

The press release then featured comments by various senators, offering their ideas on what a public plan should be. New York senator Charles Schumer said he wanted a plan "that delivers all the benefits of increased competition without relying on unfair, built-in advantages." That sounds like the compromise he touted earlier. But if a public plan plays by the same rules as private insurers, what's the point? Where's the potential to lower premiums? And how can more private plans under the umbrella of some public option really reduce costs, given the fact that they will likely add more to the billions in billing costs that are already built into private insurance? ...

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by: amberglow @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 16:59:04 PM CDT

We Don't Know If It Will lBe Like the Mass Plan (0.00 / 0)

...and I would agree that if it is like the Mass Plan then that will not be successful. Or at least I won't have health care insurance that I can believe in.

The important thing though is that the discussion is still ongoing. We have to lobby for something better than the Mass Plan and something more ambitious than what Schumer has outlined. That's why the lobbying campaign by the SEIU, Dr. Howard Dean and others is so important. Keep in mind that if you were correct then the usual sleazy health insurance lobbyists would want the public option. They don't. In fact, they're ramping a campaign against it. That tells me that they fear the public option and rightfully so. A strong public option is a backdoor path to Single Payer. It also disciplines the private insurers in ways that state insurance commissions and government regulatory bodies would never ever do...

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com

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by: Steelydan3 @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 17:24:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

they want the money from mandated insurance -- not the restrictions/price caps/regs -- (0.00 / 0)

that's what HMOs are against -- not one of them was against gettting 120% of Medicare on private "supplemental insurance" under that "reform".

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by: amberglow @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 16:02:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not sure where Chris got his number (4.00 / 1)

of 51 Senators open to a single-payer option, especially citing Max Baucus.

This article from 'The Missoulian' regarding a 'listening session' that Baucus' staff held in Indian Country shows that Baucus is far from on-board.  

http://www.missoulian.com/arti...  

As the lead says, "Sen. Max Baucus' insistence that consideration of a national single-payer health plan at this point will squander a golden opportunity for health care reform in the United States continues to be met with stiff resistance from many of his constituents." Currently, the polling on the Missoulian's site shows 79% want to include a single-payer option; 21% don't.

Kevin Howlett, director of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' Health and Human Services Department, stated: ""We're only given 40 percent of what it would take to bring health care for Native Americans up to the level we provide federal prisoners," Howlett said. "Our people cannot get basic diagnostic screenings. We have the highest mortality rate of any race. The Indian Health Service must be identified and addressed."

At this point, counting on Baucus' support would be a mistake.

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by: Brad Klafehn @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 17:55:27 PM CDT