Feeling suicidal (figuratively) about the loss of the public option? Read this.

[Bread and Circus]

Even if it's all spin, it makes me feel better. I need a ray of sunshine after all that's happened. I have a pretty low view of American politics right now but this at least gives me some hope.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Liberals%3A+We+Lost+the+Health+Care+Battle+But+Won+the+War-1922?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlanticWire+%28The+Atlantic+Wire%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

High Expectations Reflect Rise of Left Mother Jones's Kevin Drum talks tough. "iberals who now want to pick up their toys and hand reform its sixth defeat in the past century need to wake up and smell the decaf. Politics sucks. It always has. But the bill in front of us—messy, incomplete, and replete with bribes to every interest group imaginable—is still well worth passing," he writes. "Ten years ago this bill would have seemed a godsend. The fact that it doesn't now is a reflection of higher aspirations from the left, and that's great. It demonstrates a resurgence of liberalism that's long overdue. But this is still a huge achievement that will benefits tens of millions of people in very concrete ways and will do it without expanding our long-term deficit."

[dysfunctional press]

1. put that article in your pocket, and pull it out a year from now, and see how it reads...

once the repugs have regained control of congress.

[el_bryanto]

7. Ah - so you think passing this healthcare bill will help Republicans?

Do you think failing to pass a healthcare bill would hurt Republicans?

Bryant

[regnaD kciN]

8. Both, actually...

I think failing to pass a bill would make Obama look weak.

I think passing this bill will be worse. The last thing Democrats need, after finally getting power, is to make one of their first acts to impose a law, opposed by public opinion, that forces people to pay large sums to private insurance companies without providing a lower-cost alternative. It really plays into the old cliché of Dems being "the tax-and-spend party of big government that doesn't care what We The People think."

It would be like taking over, and immediately outlawing gun ownership, giving welfare recipients $100,000/year, and requiring everyone to enter into gay marriages. :eyes:

[dysfunctional press]

12. THIS bill will help repugs, not passing ANYTHING will help repugs...

but obviously- those aren't the only two options, now- are they?

[Chan790]

18. No.

I think passing anything other than a much-stronger bill than this bill helps Republicans. As it stands now, the people I know who work on Capitol Hill for Republicans are crowing about winning...and they are winning because our leadership is comprised entirely of the sorts of lily-livers that bring pleadings and exhortations to a knife-fight.

It's like between Obama and Reid neither one of them knows how to shank someone politically. Destroy Lieberman, piss on the corpse. Leave it to rot as a warning to the Specters, Landreaus, Stupaks, and Nelsons of what happens to people who don't fall into line with the shining happy liberal agenda of the base of the Democratic Party.

(Of course, I'm an extremist.:shrug:)

[Bread and Circus]

2. Healthcare's Home Stretch

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/12/healthcares-home-stretch

Ten years ago this bill would have seemed a godsend. The fact that it doesn't now is a reflection of higher aspirations from the left, and that's great. It demonstrates a resurgence of liberalism that's long overdue. But this is still a huge achievement that will benefits tens of millions of people in very concrete ways and will do it without expanding our long-term deficit. Either with or without a public option, this is more than Bill Clinton ever did, more than Teddy Kennedy did, more than LBJ did, more than Truman did, and more than FDR did. There won't be many other times in our lives any of us will be able to say that. So pass the bill. The longer we wait, the worse it will get. Pass it now.

[Bread and Circus]

3. Is the Senate health-care reform bill still worth passing?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/is_the_senate_health-care_refo.html

On its own terms, the bill is the most important social policy achievement since the Great Society. It will save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of suffering. But moving forward, it also makes future improvements and expansions easier. A lot of the hard work of health-care reform -- in particular, the money for subsidies -- will finish this year. If reformers want to come back for the public option or more subsidies in a future year, they won't be doing it atop a $900 billion price tag that's being battered by tea parties and industry and everyone else. This bill doesn't have all the good stuff it should have, but reformers can stand atop what good stuff it does have and focus their energies on what good stuff is left to achieve.

[Bread and Circus]

5. The Success of the Public Option Campaign

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/12/the-success-of-the-public-option-campaign.php

Probably not that many people feel this way this morning, but I think part of what we’re seeing at the moment is that the organizing campaign around the public option has been an enormous success that did a lot to improve health care policy. I think that the deal emerging in the Senate leaves us with a package that’s not just “worth passing” but actually as Kevin Drum says a really good bill. If Barack Obama signs it into law, he’ll go down as the president with the most progressive legislative accomplishments since Lyndon Johnson. You’ll say that the American welfare state was inaugurated by FDR, substantially expanded by Johnson, and given its final shape by Obama.

[lunatica]

4. When you settle for lousy, divorce is the likely outcome

Let's celebrate being forced to pay for health care we don't get to have.

:sarcasm:

[Bread and Circus]

6. Why Progressives Are Batshit Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/why-progressives-are-batshit-crazy-to.html



OK, I imagine that there will be a few. Here's how I came up with these numbers.

Senate Bill. These estimates are straightforward -- they're taken directly from the CBO's report on premiums for people at different income levels. A family of four earning an income of $54,000 would pay $4,000 in premiums, and could expect to incur another $5,000 in out-of-pocket costs. The $4,000 premium represents a substantial discount, because the government is covering 72 percent of the premium -- meaning that the gross cost of the premium is $14,286, some $10,286 of which the government pays.

One caution: this reflects the situation before the public option was removed from the bill. But, provided that the subsidy schedule isn't changed as well, that shouldn't change these numbers much.

Status Quo. In 2009, the average premium for a family in the individual market was $6,328, according to the insurance lobbying group AHIP. However, this figure paints an optimistic picture for two reasons. Firstly, the average family size in the AHIP dataset is 3.03 people; for a family of four, that number would scale upward to $7,925, by my calculations. Secondly, the CBO's estimates are based on 2016 figures, not 2009, so to make an apples-to-apples comparison, we have to account for inflation. According to Kaiser, the average cost of health coverage has increased by about 8.7 percent annually over the past decade, and by 8.8 percent for family coverage. Let's scale that down slightly, assuming 7.5 annual inflation in premiums from 2009 through 2016 inclusive. That would bring the cost of the family's premium up by a nominal 66 percent, to $13,149. And remember: these are based on estimates of premiums provided by the insurance lobby. I have no particular reason to think that they're biased, but if they are, it's probably on the low side.

[regnaD kciN]

9. Why Nate Silver Is Batshit Crazy to Support the Senate Bill

His main point is that, under such a plan, hypothetical middle-income Americans would only have to pay $9K, rather than $19K. The problem there is that such a family will be as unlikely to be able to afford $9K as they would $19K. As I pointed out on Daily Kos, that's a little like saying it would be better to be crushed to death by a car than a truck, as a car is lighter.

It should be kept in mind that Silver has been writing off the public option -- saying it could only get 45-48 votes tops in the Senate, which is demonstrably false -- and counseling that progressives should settle for what they can get from a public-option-free, individual-mandate bill practically since January, so he's rather invested in the position.

By the way, posting links and quotes of Silver's article, as people seem to be doing here on a regular basis, won't make it any less ridiculous than it was when he first posted it at DKos.

[Tailormyst]

14. You do realize that is 1/6 of a families income before taxes right?

And that family pays that how? I know here in the North East 54,000 for a family of 4 is not alot of money. 750 per month is far too much, especially when many of the plans also come with large deductibles.

This bill is a BAD BILL. We need a strong public option or better yet single payer. This is a gift to the insurance companies and all of you cheer-leading for them now will be singing a different tune a few years from now when the light is shown on the truth of it.

[joeybee12]

15. He admits this is a reflection of the bill WITH the public option in there...

...this is inaccurate to say the least.

[Inuca]

10. Thanks Bread & Circus n/t

[ashling]

11. No.

feeling suicidal (actually):sarcasm:

[Bread and Circus]

13. So all these intelligent and liberal sources are all wet behind the ears?

[izzybeans]

16. Resurgance, there are many people who are threatening to pack up and go home

I hope he is right, but the "Pack it in" crowd has me wondering if we on the left have the stamina for sustained political action on this topic.

[LynneSin]

17. My nephew is 19 and has no health insurance

And not sure what to do with his life as he works 3 part-time jobs.

I still want this bill to pass because he will be able to get back on to his parent's health insurance until age 26. Hopefully by then he'll have a clue.

I still want this to pass because my friends elderly parents barely can afford their prescription plans thanks to the 'donut hole' in medicare prescription plan. This plan not only will remove the 'donut hole' but it will also allow our government to negotiate for better drug prices.

I'm pissed that the public option/medicaid buy-in are off the table but there is still good with this plan that we need.