CBO: A Good Public Option Saves Even More Money Than We Thought

[babylonsister]

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/cbo-good-public-option-saves-even-mor


CBO: A Good Public Option Saves Even More Money Than We Thought
By Susie Madrak Sunday Sep 27, 2009 7:00am


Via Ezra Klein, this heartening news. As Howard Dean said, there's simply no point without a good public option:

According to Congress Daily, the CBO says attaching the public plan to Medicare rates will save even more money than originally thought:

In a bid to wrangle concessions from the Blue Dog Coalition on healthcare reform, House leaders Thursday released CBO estimates for liberals' preferred version of the public option that show $85 billion more in savings than for the version the Blue Dogs prefer.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a Blue Dog co-chair, said any possible new momentum toward a public option tethered to Medicare rates is, in part, "because of the cost issue" and the updated CBO score.

The original House bill required the public plan to pay providers 5 percent more than Medicare reimbursement rates. But as part of a package of concessions to Blue Dogs, the House Energy and Commerce Committee accepted an amendment that requires the HHS Secretary to negotiate rates with providers. That version of the plan will save only $25 billion.

In total, a public plan based on Medicare rates would save $110 billion over 10 years. That is $20 billion more than earlier estimates, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi said.

In other words, the conservatives want to spend $85 billion more than the liberals do. Moreover, the CBO is estimating savings to the government. That is to say, the $85 billion reflects reduced federal spending on subsidies because premiums in the public plan will be lower. Savings to individuals and businesses paying lower premiums will be much larger than $85 billion, and politically, much more important.

[panader0]

1. Rec'd

[Pirate Smile]

2. The press isn't reporting this. They have flogged other CBO reports all over the place but they

don't even mention this AT ALL.

[babylonsister]

9. No surprise there. nt

[flyarm]

3. Who Is the 40th Blue Dog that Wants to Add $85 Billion to the Health Care Bill?

Who Is the 40th Blue Dog that Wants to Add $85 Billion to the Health Care Bill?
By: Jane Hamsher

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/26/who-is-the-40th-blue-dog-that-wants-to-add-85-billion-to-the-health-care-bill/

Sunday September 27, 2009 6:30 am

On July 9, 40 Blue Dogs sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, saying that they were concerned about five things in the House bill:

Deficit Neutrality-- a health care bill "must and will be paid for."
Delivery System reform -- needs to be more aggressive about "bending the cost curve."
Small business protection -- concern for their "high and unsustainable costs."
Rural health equity -- a demand that a public option not be tied to Medicare's "below market rates"
Bipartisanship -- since no Republican will support a public option, that means no public option.
Their demands are conflicting and incoherent. The CBO now says that #4 adds $85 billion to the cost of the bill. Which means that more taxes have to be levied to achieve deficit neutrality, the cost curve doesn't get bent, small businesses have to pick up the tab with higher premiums and Republicans aren't going to vote for it anyway.

The Blue Dogs don't seem to be particularly proud of this letter. The signatures on the hard copy are illegible and we've only been able to decipher 39 of them. There are no names printed across the bottom of the signatures as there normally would be, and the text of the letter on the Blue Dog website doesn't list the signatories.

If you can figure out the proud owner of the 40th signature (PDF) and help them claim authorship of this piece of gibberish, let us know.

July 9, 2009

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
H-232,The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Steny Hoyer
Majority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
H-107, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer:

[flyarm]

4. Pelosi Says “F*&k You” to Trumka and the AFL-CIO

Pelosi Says “F*&k You” to Trumka and the AFL-CIO
By: Jane Hamsher Saturday September 26, 2009 11:17 am
please read this in it's entirety............
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/26/pelosi-says-fk-you-to-trumka-and-the-afl-cio/
snip;

It's notable that among the Change to Win unions, only the Teamsters came out against the Baucus bill. (Whoever sold Hoffa on ditching the public plan is no doubt talking fast and trying to explain why he is now being kicked in the face.)

Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has been outspoken in his insistence on the inclusion of a public option in any health reform bill, and has threatened to withhold support from Democrats who won't vote for it. Over the past week there was a lot of winking in reports that the White House was leaning on progressive groups to drop their support for the public option. It absolutely did happen, but the use of the word "groups" is probably misleading -- the organization they are talking about, the only one that matters, is the AFL-CIO.

Since other unions outside the AFL-CIO are working the yo-yo on the trigger, Trumka is the lone holdout. He's the mainstay, and there is tremendous pressure building within the AFL in response to arm twisting from the White House for him to cave. And if he falls, it's going to be difficult for the rest of the veal pen not to follow suit. So, he's being directly threatened.

The message is clear: "Get in line or we pay for your precious 'public option' by fucking you on health care benefits."

If Trumka suddenly starts singing the praises of triggers (even if they instantly "yo-yo" it back and insist he was misquoted), you'll know it worked.

[glitch]

10. Thank you for posting Hamsher -- she cuts through the bs like a hot knife through buttah. nt

[flyarm]

5. Chamber Of Commerce Attacks Schumer’s Public Option Amendments

Chamber Of Commerce Attacks Schumer’s Public Option Amendments
By: Jon Walker Friday September 25, 2009 1:52 pm http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/25/chamber-of-commerce-attacks-schumers-public-option-amendments/

Live Pulse has a letter from the US Chamber of Commerce attacking four amendments that have yet to be voted on in the Senate Finance Committee. (Rockefeller C1 – Applying new rating rules to the large and self-insured (ERISA) market, Schumer C1/C2 – Public Option Amendments, Wyden C1 – Healthy Americans Act)

The Chamber attacked the two public option amendments from Schumer, but did not bother to mention Rockefeller's more robust public option amendment. The letter indicates that the Chamber must believe that Rockefeller's robust public option is already DOA.

The fact that the Chamber did feel the need to publicly go after the two Schumer public option amendments at least leads me to believe that they have some concern that the amendments might have a chance in the Senate Finance Committee or on the full Senate floor. The lobbying on both sides of the public option issue should get very heated over the weekend.

[flyarm]

6. Senator Sanders Unfiltered: US Congress Bought & Paid For?

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: US Congress Bought & Paid For?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-vkpKu5Fg&feature=player_embedded

Senator sanders: " since 1998 big Pharma has spent 1.6 billion $$$$$$$$$ lobbying" our government officials!

[tjwash]

7. In other words, the blue-dogs wanted to write in huge give-away to corpora-coverage.

And someone caught it. Good on the liberals for this...they just need to call the blue dogs on the carpet for it.

[babylonsister]

8. Exactly. I don't know what 'ignored' is saying, but that's it in a nutshell. nt

[jtrockville]

11. Has the CBO scored single-player?

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. Per Rep Weiner, it has been submitted.