Obama to incorporate GOP ideas in health plan

[Cherchez la Femme]

Source: msnbc

Subheadline: "Announcement is not likely to win him any votes from Republicans"


WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will incorporate Republican ideas on medical malpractice reform and trying to rid the health care system of waste and abuse in a revised proposal he hopes jump-starts his stalled overhaul drive, a Democratic official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Obama planned to send a letter to Democratic congressional leaders later in the day detailing his plan and make a statement at the White House on Wednesday.

A Democratic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House had not released the letter, said the plan would include expanding the use of fraud investigators disguised as patients to uncover waste and abuse. The plan also would expand pilot programs on medical malpractice reform and would address health savings accounts and Medicaid providers.
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Democratic sources have confirmed with NBC News that these four areas will be addressed by the president's letter. The president is also expected to tell Congress he supports a comprehensive approach and that he does not believe "piece meal" plan will work.

Obama's announcement is not likely to win him any votes from Republicans, who want Obama to tear up the existing bills and start over, but it could give wavering Democrats political cover by showing the party has been willing to compromise in the wake of last week's televised bipartisan health care summit.

~snip~

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35656271/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

---

Why is it that it is the Democrats who must compromise?

[Lindsay]

1. Because the corporations

say so.

[FLAprogressive]

2. Obama is either naive or stupid for thinking that continual pandering to the GOP will actually work.

[QC]

6. Or, of course, he generally agrees with Republican positions. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

37. Shush.

That's not cleared for release.

[FiveGoodMen]

23. No, he hopes that we are naive or stupid enough to think he's actually one of us.

Obama is the world's biggest DINO.

[tekisui]

3. Bend over for the GOP, and they still won't offer help. When will

Obama learn?

[stray cat]

4. I'm not against Fraud protection and some malpractice reform just because the GOP likes it

[Arkana]

7. Me either, but I don't like the idea of including anything concerning HSAs.

[ArcticFox]

16. May I ask why are you not against it ?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. Because we're the majority, silly.

:grr:









.

[Cherchez la Femme]

33. Ah, I see

just like the Republicans --the majority of that time-- of the last administration did noting but compromise to the Democrats? Like push through all their vileness, nevermind what the Democrats had to say; lock the Dems out of any input at all in their bloody and mercenary little plans
...right down to shutting out the lights on the Dems
--done within a government, hence owned by The People, building!

Ah, the power of the majority! OIYR :puke:

What I wouldn't give to see a quarter of the chutzpah and will of the 'pukes transfer, even by osmosis (which should be easy as they really are in bed with each other) into our Democratic elected officials.


By intimating, heck, saying the Democrats must compromise the perception that it is they who are not cooperating (cooperating for the GOOD of the people or being bipartisan for its own sake?);
when in actuality they are grabbing their ankles and begging for some, uh.... well I'll leave it to your imagination
and they don't even ask for lubricant. No, no Santorum for them!

Curiously our Party seems to like it, as they do this so frequently.


Sorry to be crude, but I've had enough of this shite.
If I wanted to be known as one of a group who are laughed at constantly, I'd have graduated from Clown College. There's a much easier way to achieve this; all one has to do is belong to the Democratic Party!
Speaking of which, the Democratic caucus seems to have morphed into the Professional Division of Clown College, irregardless of their (recent but dropping) power, mandate and general citizens approval of their stated, but never put into practice, 'ideals' -- if you could call them ideals anymore.


Edit: That subheadline (is that the term?) IS quite funny! I can just see the tongue sticking through the cheek of the article's author :lol:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

41. "THANK YOU SIR. MAY HAVE ANOTHER???!!!" The new DNC motto. nt

[Newsjock]

8. "A Democratic official" = Rahm

Probably the latest round in the giant pissing match between him and the White House.

[Schema Thing]

9. This is nice. It's compromise, without having to compromise

[DJ13]

10. Start with a moderate Republican type plan, then make it more Republican?

Are we sure he's on our side?

[atreides1]

11. Speaking for myself

I am beginning to have doubts that he was ever really on our side!

[Lorien]

31. You aren't alone. nt

[midnight]

12. "We finally win power in the House, Senate and White House and we're sitting on our hands."

[yurbud]

20. if these guys were cops, they'd put serial killers in charge of investigating murders

and ask their advice for how to prosecute them.

Oh wait, they already do that with Wall Street.

[Vinnie From Indy]

13. We shall see!

Based on recent history, I predict that the compromise will include the removal of any workable means for those severely injured or killed by doctors and hospitals due to negligence under the moniker "tort reform", the ability for health insurers to "cross state lines" to find the most permissive state in terms of regulations and a general loosening of any remaining enforcement provisions in the bill. In short, the compromise will be the health insurance industry's wet dream. The Democrats will call the bill when they pass it with reconciliation a HUGE win and the GOP will still get the red meat they desperately need to feed their idiot constituents. At the end of the day, a bill that health insurers have only dreamed of will get passed by Democrats.

[ArcticFox]

19. And forum shopping by the insurers

A recent supreme court case has made it harder for plaintiffs to bring actions in state courts:

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/supreme_court_adopts_headquarters_test_hampering_forum-shopping_plaintiffs

Please understand that the ABA leans toward the right, so when they say "hampering forum-shopping plaintiffs" what they really mean is "enabling forum-avoiding defendants."

[subterranean]

14. It would be nice if he'd incorporate a public option while he's at it.

[bvar22]

32. No. THATS a "Democratic" Idea.

Obama only likes "Republican" ideas.

The whole Kabuki Theater from last week was just ANOTHER excuse for Obama to move even FURTHER to the RIGHT.

"By their works, you will know them".

BTW: Health Care Savings Accounts should SCARE any REAL Democrat.
It IS the first step in giving FICA money to Wall Street.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[ArcticFox]

15. Stupid stupid stupid

It's like there's a rabid dog lurching at him and he knows throwing it a steak won't stop it from eating him alive, but he throws steak after steak after steak anyway just to show the rest of america that he was bending over backward to satisfy the dog. He doesn't realize that all the dog wants is a piece of HIS hide.

I have a big problem with medical malpractice reform. The jury system in this country worked fine for 200 years; courts and juries do a pretty good job of limiting damages already. The people with power and money in this country simply do a wonderful job publicizing the very rare instances where somebody ends up being overly compensated. (Notice I don't say "ending up better-off," because I wouldn't think any amount of money can make you better off if you have one less leg or can no longer eat solid foods).

I can't believe the dive this country has taken in my short thirty years.

[yurbud]

17. Gay doctors will wear pink triangles...

and be required to wear a red flashing light and siren, so homophobic patients can choose not to be served by them.

[JohnWxy]

18. Is there ANYTHING left of this package that is Democratic?? okay, no. of uninsured covered.

CBO said tort reform "anti-patient's rights" will only save about 1% to 2%.

[Phlem]

21. What a bunch of losers.

How do we insure the folks we have in our party work for the people as we elect them. I'm sick and tired of politicians campaigning for us when they need to get elected and then doing an about face when they're actually in office. We're not going to get accountability from the R's, but how do we insure our own party's accountability. There should be zero conservaDems in our party.

-p

[Libertas1776]

22. ...and nothing from his own party

:eyes:

[Altoid_Cyclist]

24. This has been posted before, but it bears repeating whenever "tort reform" is mentioned.

Get rid of the "Doctors" who have no business being allowed to practice and see how much that reduces costs to provide health care.

Do Democrats own a lot of stock in Johnson & Johnson? Because they seem to want to increase sales of K-Y Jelly every chance they get. Their stock goes up and the American public gets the K-Y politics of bi-partisanship.

This is from Public Citizen:

Excerpt:

The medical community has argued that medical liability litigation constitutes a giant "lottery," in which lawsuits are purely random events bearing no relationship to the care given by a physician. In reality, a small percentage of doctors are responsible for the bulk of malpractice in the United States, and better oversight by state medical boards could drastically reduce the damage they cause.

Public Citizen’s analysis of the National Practitioner Data Bank, which covers malpractice judgments and settlements since September 1990, found that about five percent of the doctors in the United States are responsible for half the malpractice. Specifically, 4.8 percent of doctors (40,118) have paid two or more malpractice awards to patients. These doctors are responsible for 51 percent of all the reports made to the Data Bank, and have paid out nearly $21 billion in damages, more than 53 percent of the total damages paid.

14,293 doctors, representing 1.7 percent of the doctors in the U.S., have made three or more payments, totaling $11 billion. These doctors are responsible for 27.5 percent of all malpractice awards.

Rest of article:
http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/medmal/articles.cfm?ID=8308

[thereismore]

25. Why don't we just pass the repig plan? It covers 3 million people! That's better than nothing! No?

:sarcasm:

[QC]

26. Maybe this will finally make the Republicans love him! n/t

[Cherchez la Femme]

35. Is it me, or

does that seem to be the only real item on the Obama agenda?

[QC]

43. It's not just you. n/t

[Paranoid Pessimist]

27. I Wish He Would Give Up on the Bipartisan Dream n/t

[Unvanguard]

28. Neither of those are terrible ideas.

Ineffective gimmicks, maybe, but not directly harmful.

[Iowa]

30. Unprincipled weakness and pandering to the right is always harmful. eom

[Iowa]

29. Twelve long years with a despicable, unprincipled, weak little man in the WH... eom

[SlingBlade]

34. Drip, Drip, Drip ...Deja Vu All over again ...

They need to just come out and tell us what we already know

This IS the fucking GOP Health Care Reform idea short of just killing it outright
which in my opinion, As it stands now, Should be killed

Single Payer or Bust ya Corporate Whores !

K & R For TRUTH !
This earns a place in the ....
Democratic Party Suicide Prevention Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7814462

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

36. Game over.

Straw...meet camel's back.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

38. k

:cry:

[CreekDog]

39. I hope we aren't going to make it easier for a doctor to sue you than for you to sue them

I don't consider that "reform".

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

40. k

:kick:

[PSPS]

42. "to incorporate?"

Obama to incorporate GOP ideas in health plan

WHat's left? The bill, as it is, is already a creation of the republicans.

[scottsoperson]

44. germany does not allow you to sue doctors

very few lawsuits against doctors in britain.

[scottsoperson]

45. cbo says obamacare will bring down premiums a little...

and will cover 94% of americans.

[scottsoperson]

46. the problem is not just the corporations...

most americans are afraid of change.