Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Wednesday, December 9.
1. Marta Evry points out that it’s far too early to “fold up our tent and start our Christmas shopping early” with regard to protecting women’s reproductive rights in health care reform legislation. Evry notes that, “so far, One Voice For Choice is the only campaign going on out there that’s targeting the Stupak coalition of conservadems” on this issue. She encourages everyone to join a “One Voice for Choice” phone bank or start one of your own. Thanks.
2. Jane Hamsher says that “despite the fact that the country wants a public option, the President campaigned on one and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid both promised there would be one in the final bill, the woman who took $763,000 from health care interests for her upcoming Senate race is allowed to dictate what happens.” And that woman’s name is…you got it, Blanche Lincoln, who until recently claimed on her website that she supported “a quality, affordable public plan.” And if you believe that one, I’ve got some awesome, low-priced private insurance I’d like to sell you. 🙂
3. Jon Walker writes that, at this point, “it is impossible to even evaluate this pile of vague ideas that may or may not be part of this ‘deal.'” Walker concludes, “Fancy names like ‘Medicare buy-in’ sound good, but it could easily be worthless subterfuge, just like the trigger. I recommend everyone stay very skeptical and hold judgment for a day or two until we actually know what we are dealing with.”
4. Jane Hamsher is incredulous that OFA is fundraising off of a health-care reform package that she sees as – to put it mildly – subpar.
5. Jon Walker warns Howard Dean that the “Medicare buy-in” he is talking about “might not at all resemble the Medicare buy-in that [he] wants.” Or it might. The main thing right now is to “wait until you hear details” of this plan; until then, “we are simply chasing vapor.”
6. Jane Hamsher urges everyone to sign a petition urging President Obama to “save the public option and make these statements more than mere campaign promises.”
7. Jane Hamsher reports that she contacted Physicians for a National Health Program to see what they thought about lowering the Medicare age to 55. The response was that it “only works if it is mandatory…Otherwise it becomes the place where all the sickest patients get dumped.”
8. Jon Walker asks, “Why Did Snowe Not Demand Giving Americans The Freedom To Buy Cheaper Drugs From Canada?” More broadly, Walker finds it “very unfortunate that Snowe decided to use her new-found power for evil instead of good.”
9. Jon Walker notes results from a new Quinnipiac poll indicating strong support for a public option, “even as Senate Democrats look to kill the idea.”
10. Jane Hamsher provides a timeline indicating longstanding support in the Obama administration for a “trigger,” stating that this is “something that Rahm Emanuel has been fighting for all along.”