Congressman Charlie Melancon represents Louisiana's Third Congressional District but is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate so that he can run against David Vitter.
I can't for the life of me figure out why!
On Saturday, Melancon voted in favor of the Stupak amendment which banned any public option money and any insurance program in the insurance exchange created in the healthcare reform bill. The vote on the amendment was seen as a necessity by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in order to get the votes needed to pass the overall reform bill.
But, even with the abortion funding ban language included in the bill, Melancon could not bring himself to vote for the bill. He was one of more than 30 Democrats to vote against the bill. Republican Anh Cao of Louisiana's Second Congressional District provided the sole Republican vote in support of the bill, but Melancon could not bring himself to support either his party or his president and support this legislation.
So, the question is this: Why is Charlie Melancon running as a Democrat for the Senate?
(Pretty good analysis of the opt-out version of the Public Option. Whether the progressives in the House allow the opt-out to pass is an open question. - promoted by ryan)
It's not often that Harry Reid and Alan Levine team up on anything, but they did today in laying out the path to Democratic success in Louisiana in the 2011 statewide elections.
That path will be healthcare. Specifically, it will be Governor Bobby Jindal's ideological rigidity on taxes in the face of what will be draconian (criminal?) cuts in healthcare in the state budget over the next two years. With healthcare and higher education still the only funding streams not constitutionally protected and the state facing a billion dollar revenue shortfall, Jindal will force the Legislature to make heavy cuts in both programs.
Last week, the Baton Rouge Advocate carried a story saying the higher education cuts will amount to 60 percent over the next two years. No mention of healthcare, but that's where the bulk of the cuts will be and for two reasons. First, that's where the money is (Medicaid is a $6 billion program). Secondly, no one in the Legislature is lobbying to protect the interests of the poor, the handicapped and those with special needs — the victims of these coming cuts. Oh, the hospitals, nursing homes and doctors will object, but you won't see anything resembling the "Intervention at the Mansion" earlier this year where all of the non-imprisoned former governors got together to tell the Boy Governor that he just could not cut $200 million-plus from higher education.
No notables stood up for Medicaid clients then. And none will do it in the coming session.
They are, in the current world of Louisiana politics, "expendable."
In a previous post, I provided an overview of what the House Energy & Commerce Committee says HR 3200 (the Democratic Healthcare Reform bill that includes the public option) will do for each of Louisiana's seven congressional districts.
In this post, we'll look at the cumulative numbers of what HR 3200 will bring to Louisiana individuals, families, businesses and hospitals. These numbers were compiled by going through the district reports and adding up the numbers.
The Committee report shows: the number of small businesses that will get tax credits providing coverage for their employees; the number of seniors who will no longer have to deal with the 'donut' in Medicare Part D; the number of families that the will will help avoid bankruptcy due to the cap on out of pocket medical expenses included in the bill; the amount of money hospitals will receive by avoiding what are now uncompensated care costs; the number of uninsured Louisiana residents who will receive coverage under the bill either through private insurance or the public option; and, the number of households in the top 1.5 percent of incomes that will pay a healthcare surcharge.
This is a wonderful tool for supporters of healthcare reform and the public option.
Despite the theatrics at the town hall meetings across the country and across the state, I'm convinced that there is a significant segment of the population open to being swayed by the facts of the healthcare reform legislation and they know they are not getting facts at those town hall meetings from either the audience members or (all too frequently) from the congressman or senator hosting the meeting.
These assessments should be well received by those folks who know that the current system is broken, but have been confused or at least worried by the claims being made against the legislation that will resume movement through both houses of Congress in September.
The Committee's assessments are single-page reports looking at the financial impact of the legislation on each district.
What follows are the highlights of the impact of HR 3200 (which includes the public option) on each of Louisiana's seven congressional districts.
Dah-yum! Says here that the so-called Blue Dog Democrats are raking in political contributions from the pharmaceutical, health insurance and health insurance industries.
McClatchy's Washington news bureau has the shocking news:
As the Obama administration and Democrats wrangled over the timing, shape and cost of health care overhaul efforts during the first half of the year, more than half the $1.1 million in campaign contributions the Democratic Party's Blue Dog Coalition received came from the pharmaceutical, health care and health insurance industries, according to watchdog organizations.
The amount outstrips contributions to other congressional political action committees during the same period, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit watchdog organization. The Blue Dogs, a group of fiscally conservative lawmakers, successfully delayed the vote on health care overhaul proposals until the fall.
(I can't say it much better than this, folks ... - promoted by ryan)
Where is the hope and change in New Orleans? When Barack Obama was a presidential candidate, he promised that he would:
"keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast" and take steps to prevent failures in emergency planning and response seen during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Specifically, Obama would ensure New Orleans has a levee and pumping system to protect the city against a 100-year storm by 2011, free up rebuilding funds that had been allocated but not released and to rebuild hospitals and schools.
The following letter, signed/approved by 24 Louisiana supporters of Senator Mary Landrieu, was hand delivered to her office in Lake Charles today. The letter calls on the senator to support healthcare reform legislation that includes the public option.
• • •
Dear Senator Landrieu:
We write you today as friends, long-time supporters, and concerned Louisiana citizens regarding an issue of great national significance that is critical to the future well being of our state.
In a few days you will be asked to decide whether healthcare coverage will be extended to millions of Americans who do not now enjoy those benefits. As your votes in support of SCHIP and your efforts to support community healthcare demonstrate, you know that people who do not to have access to adequate health care are destined to die younger, suffer many more illnesses and to watch helplessly as their love ones are denied the care that could save their lives or relieve their discomfort. The high cost of health insurance is the main barrier preventing working families and small business owners from gaining access to that care.
Small businesses and large corporations alike are abandoning employer-based health care because of cost. In Louisiana, where the percentage of employers offering healthcare benefits has historically been low, the problem is even worse. Even where coverage is offered, workers frequently cannot afford the premiums to cover their families. The situation will only be made worse by recent cuts in services voted by the Louisiana Legislature.
In spite of the dishonest campaigns being waged to prevent comprehensive national health care from becoming a reality, the overwhelming majority of Americans support it. Surprisingly, over sixty percent of American physicians are also in support of these ends.
We realize the pressure being exerted on you to vote against this program.
The same stale arguments are being made today against the public option that have been made against every progressive endeavor for the last seventy-five years. Social Security was supposed to be the pinnacle of governmental intrusion into our lives. Where would we be today without Social Security? Medicare was another “Socialist” program that was supposed to destroy medical care in our nation. Where would our seniors be without Medicare? The same could be said for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts. All of these programs were passed under Democratic presidents and all of them have changed our nation and our lives profoundly for the better.
The vast majority of your political base in Louisiana is composed of people who stand to benefit directly from enactment of a national coverage plan, specifically the public option.
We believe that the public option — where adults can buy into a Medicare-like program — is the best way to control costs by bringing competition to the health insurance system. In Louisiana, the two largest health insurance providers control 74 percent of the health insurance market. The market has failed us by pricing coverage beyond the reach of too many Louisiana citizens.
A national consensus has emerged that the current system must be changed and that only federal government has the scale and reach to change it. If these efforts are not successful, it may be many years before we have a president who is willing to take the challenge and pay the political price to achieve these admirable ends.
We do not consider this to be an issue of politics or party. This is an issue of the basic right of every American to be able to access quality healthcare without the risk of financial ruin. Access to healthcare should not be a privilege available only to those who can afford private health insurance.
As friends and long-time supporters we ask you to please not ignore the people who have repeatedly voted you into office. We have stood with you; now, we are asking you to stand with us in support of the public option.
Sincerely yours,
Mike Stagg, Lafayette Sally O. Donlon, Lafayette Dr. Mike Robichaux, Raceland Deborah Langhoff, New Orleans Stephen Handwerk, Lafayette Angelique LaCour, Covington Barbara St. Romain, MSW, LCSW, Lafayette John St. Julien, Lafayette Edna D. St. Julien, Lafayette Phillip Arleigh Lank, Lafayette Mark Lastrapes, New Orleans Michelle Vega, New Orleans Robert J. Guercio, Lafayette Anna K. Guercio, Lafayette Charles St. Romain, LCSW, Lafayette Rebecca Chaisson, Lake Charles Joanne Pettit, Mandeville Daryl Pettit, Mandeville Adrienne LaCour, Covington Karen E. Keller, MS, Lafayette State Representative Juan LaFonta, New Orleans Lauren Lastrapes, New Orleans Dr. Douglas de Mahy, Lafayette Marie de Mahy, Lafayette Andrea Loewy, Lafayette
The American Medical Association (AMA) — GASP!!! — has endorsed the healthcare reform legislation proposed by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives according to the Associated Press:
The American Medical Association on Thursday endorsed a liberal health overhaul bill that includes a public insurance option, a bold step for a traditionally conservative group with a checkered past on health reforms.
In its strongest action yet signaling support for President Barack Obama's vow to reform health care, the nation's largest doctors' group sent letters to three House committees behind the bill. The letters, signed by AMA's executive vice president, Dr. Michael Maves, said the AMA appreciates and supports what is being called America's Affordable Health Choices Act.
This is an historic shift. The AMA opposed the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. It's conference of delegats gave President Obama a lukewarm reception when he addressed their convention earlier this summer.
"I don't represent the big oil companies, the big pharmaceuticals or the big insurance industry. They already have great representation in Washington. Its the rest of the people that need representation." - Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat, Minnesota
The debate on healthcare reform is intensifying in Washington and across the country. This is not a debate taking place in the abstract.
Louisiana stands to benefit greatly from reform — if the final package includes the so-called "Public Option." The public option is a proposal by President Obama to offer working-age Americans the opportunity to buy health insurance coverage similar to coverage currently available to those over 65 through Medicare.
Health insurance companies oppose this, saying that the government will ultimately drive them from the field; that they won't be able to compete. The public, according to polls, is not buying that argument. Various polls report public support for the public option to be running 70 percent and higher.
That probably has something to do with the experiences those with insurance have had with insurance companies over the years. The insurance companies have not endeared themselves to the American public through their arbitrary denials of coverage, refusal to pay claims, and general ripping off of consumers and businesses over the years.
The Times Picayune puts it a bit more delicately, but make no mistake about it this proposal (variations of which have been around for as long as there have been private, for-profit hospitals in Louisiana) is an ideology-driven attempt to tear the last vestiges of Long-ism (read that "paying attention to the needs of working people") from Louisiana.
Were that all there was to this, it would be a hell of a fight. But, the proposal being floated by these healthcare executives - and, by the Bush administration in the months immediately following Katrina/Rita, by the Public Affairs Research Council (PAR), and the Blueprint for Louisiana group - comes to the fray with the additional burden of having been discredited in other states where similar approaches have been talked about and even tried - primarily Massachusetts.
The core issue is shutting down the LSU Health Science Center hospitals, formerly known as the Charity Hospital System (also known as the safety net hospitals). And, then "letting the money follow the patient" - right into the coffers of the very people who have made healthcare and health insurance too expensive for all but the wealthiest among us: the for-profit hospitals and the insurance companies.
More for Less
The Healthcare Execs trot out the familiar refrain to those who have been watching/involved in the various attempts to reform healthcare here for the past three decades: "we can provide better care for less money."
The debate on healthcare reform is intensifying in Washington and across the country. This is not a debate taking place in the abstract.
