Sources: White House drafting health care bill

[Peacetrain]

Sources: White House drafting health care bill
Posted: September 4th, 2009 03:06 PM ET



http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/04/cnn-national-political-correspondent-jessica-yellin-and-cnn-senior-political-analyst-gloria-borger/


From CNN's Jessica Yellin and Gloria Borger
CNN has learned that the White House is working to draft health care legislation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN has learned that the White House is quietly working to draft health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months.

Multiple sources close to the process tell CNN that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

As previously reported by CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash and CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the so-called trigger option remains very much on the table.

Under a 'trigger option', a new government-run health care plan would only go into effect if insurance companies fail to meet certain affordability standards with their own plans.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. About damn time.

[FormerDittoHead]

16. I can think of a good start...

1) National single payer insurance program.

...actually, I'm thinking you could stop right there...

[niyad]

2. the only kind of health care bill in which I am interested is universal health care, like in the

civilized countries--which, alas, this country is no longer.

[joeybee12]

3. It's good that they're writing their own...finally realized just how dysfunctional

the stupid Congress is.

[Peacetrain]

9. Well the Clinton bill went down in flames because they did not give congress a say.. Obama has, and

now its hammer time

[Phx_Dem]

24. Exactly. He allowed them to do their jobs. They couldn't so

he has to do it for them. He tried and now he's taking over.

The questin is, will the Dems on either side -- Blue Dogs or Progressives -- stand by their line in the sand so we end up with nothing? If they do, they'll pay dearly in the next two elections.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Good.

n/t

[Jennicut]

5. So the plan is uncertain but the reporters at CNN are certain it contains a trigger option?

Sigh. I wish we could get some clarity but I guess we won't know until Wednesday night.

[emulatorloo]

10. LOL - n/t

[Jennicut]

13. Well, the media makes us feel twisted in knots constantly

I need to get out or something (or watch a Brady Bunch video like Clio suggested).

[emulatorloo]

14. It is maddening. Brady Bunch sounds good, maybe with a Gilligan's Island chaser n/t

[Clio the Leo]

18. Here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaCCG7QkM_c

(and if you have the opportunity to dance around in your underwear while watching this without anyone seeing you, I highly recommend doing so.)

[emulatorloo]

22. THANKS!!!!!!! n/t

[Jennicut]

29. It makes me all happy inside, if only for a few minutes

:)

[DrToast]

11. I don't think that's what it said

It said it's on the table, meaning that it hasn't been ruled out.

[ProSense]

12. More media BS. Obama can't write a bill, he can draft a proposal.

The media failed with the public option is dead meme, now they're pushing the trigger BS.

[movonne]

15. The trigger plan is the shits...it will do nothing .... so if this is what we

get it will be nothing...

[DebbieCDC]

6. Does that mean Rahm's writing it?

If so we are totally screwed.

[Clio the Leo]

19. The only way we'll know is.........

..... if the plan is entitled "Our Fing Plan You Fat F*cks"

[Thrill]

21. Maybe thats what Obama is doing at Camp David??

Writing his own.

[emulatorloo]

7. Good -- enough farting around n/t

[fascisthunter]

8. "Under a 'trigger option', a new government-run health care plan would only..."blah, blah, BS!

[polpilot]

17. Let me explain the 'Trigger Option'...

The healthcare industry and their lobbyists have their finger on the 'trigger' AND they have the 'option' of continuing to blast away at the U.S. citizens. I hope this clears up the notion of the 'Tigger Option'.

[fascisthunter]

20. yup... that pretty much sums up what I thought it meant

[freddie mertz]

26. The trigger is aimed right at the heart of the American people

To insist on it is tantamount to treason, IMHO.

No Democrat should vote for such legislation, and I will not vote for anyone who proposes it.

[seafan]

23. Dave Lindorff: The Address President Obama Should Give to Congress Next Week

So, today, we learn that the White House is drafting a health care bill.



Oh, for the beautiful vision that it is based upon Dave Lindorff's concepts:




The Address President Obama Should Give to Congress Next Week

My Fellow Americans.

.....

Health care is an enormous industry -- maybe the biggest and most powerful industry in the country -- and it has far too much power in Congress. Literally thousands of lobbyists, carrying tens of billions of dollars in campaign contributions -- have invaded these halls and distorted the process, and in the end have stymied reform. (some hissing)

Meanwhile, I have realized that the answer has been staring us in the face all along.

And that was my second mistake. I told the American Medical Association that while single-payer medical plans, where the government is the insurer, might work well in other countries, the idea of government running health care was not part of our American tradition. In fact, it is, and has been since 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Medicare program. Medicare is a single-payer program, and polls and surveys show it is enormously popular with older and disabled Americans. Medicare has relieved our parents and grandparents from the fear that they will not get medical care when they stop working, and it has lifted the enormous burden and worry off of younger Americans over how to pay for the care of their elders, and it has done this with enormous efficiency, all while allowing recipients to choose their own doctors and hospitals. (applause)

So we really don't need to re-invent the wheel. There is no point in members of Congress having to hold endless hearings, and to sit and listen to the pitches of lobbyists from the medical establishment. We can just expand Medicare to cover everyone. (applause)

How much would that cost? Well, we know that 10% of the elderly -- the oldest and sickest among them -- account for 50% of total Medicare costs, so that means the other 90% only cost some $200 billion a year. Even if we assumed that the rest of the population's medical bills were as high as those 90%, it would mean that expanding Medicare to cover them would cost less than $1 trillion a year, and probably closer to $750 billion. So roughly speaking, we're talking about adding $750 billion a year to the cost of Medicare.

.....

My good friend and former colleague in this building, Chairman John Conyers, had it right all along: We have a great system that we just need to expand to cover everyone.

So to get it started, I'm going to send Congress a couple of bills. One would immediately shift everyone eligible for Medicaid over to Medicare. I'm calling this the States' Medical Cost Relief and Medicare Expansion Act. It will not only begin the process of expanding Medicare, but will provide badly needed financial relief to states that are suffering from declining tax revenues and rising health care costs because of the recession. (applause)

I will also send Congress a bill that will expand Medicare coverage to all Americans and to legal residents. (applause, some boos from Republicans)

I am sure that as financially sound as this change is, there will be opposition from the medical industry, so let me add that this is, for me, a moral imperative too. For too long, this great country has allowed health care to be a matter of whether or not you had a job with health benefits, or enough money to pay for insurance yourself. That is unacceptable. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, and just as we believe that every child needs an education, we believe that everyone deserves to have access to quality medical care. (loud applause)

So let me add this: If Congress does not pass these two bills by the end of the current session, in time for the holiday recess in December, I will declare a national emergency because of the recession and the huge rise in the uninsured that it has caused, and will issue executive orders implementing both these measures. It's not the way I would prefer to see things done, but if Congress cannot act, I promise you and the American people, I will. (applause and boos)

It's crunch time.

[freddie mertz]

25. The trigger option should be a non-starter

I hope our TRUE Democratic legislators will withhold their votes, and haven the courage even to kill this lousy legislation if it contains stinkers like this.

Sorry, but I'd rather lose than hand millions of my fellow-citizens into bondage with the Insurance industry.

[Teaser]

27. nah, if done right I'll support it

.

[GrantDem]

28. NO STUPID ASS TRIGGER OPTION

The trigger concedes that the healthcare system is fucked up. Why wait 3, 4, or 5 years to allow the very people that fucked it up and have NO interest in reform to try and fix it. It is a sellout.