"Obama to Dems: Health bill results will be seen by midterm elections."

[Clio the Leo]

Obama to Dems: Health bill results will be seen by midterm elections
By Jordy Yager - 03/06/10 06:05 AM ET


President Barack Obama on Saturday continued his final push to pass a healthcare bill this year as he attempted to assuage Democratic concerns that pieces of the massive measure wouldn’t take effect this year, in time to show voters tangible results.

“And while it will take a few years to fully implement these reforms, there are numerous protections and benefits that would start to take effect this year,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “This year, small-business owners will receive tax credits to purchase health insurance.

“This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will finally be able to purchase coverage. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. And they will no longer be allowed to drop your coverage when you get sick.”
Democrats, like former chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean, have recently raised worries that because it will take several years to begin seeing many of the results of the healthcare measure, it will leave them vulnerable to Republican attacks with no concrete evidence to aid in their defense this November.

“The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who's running for office to dry -- including the president, in 2012, because it makes him defend a plan that isn't in effect essentially yet,” Dean said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press Radio Show earlier this week.

In his weekend address, Obama echoed his call for Congress to schedule a final vote on the healthcare measure and its “fixes,” saying that Congress “owes the American people a final up-or-down vote on healthcare reform.” Yet, once again, Obama refrained from using the word reconciliation to describe the process he is requesting.

Obama also lambasted insurance companies on Saturday, saying that after meeting with several top executives from large insurance firms earlier in the week, he remained all the more committed to the notion that changes to the health insurance system could not wait.

The administration’s renewed push comes almost one year after changing the healthcare system was raised in Congress and the White House, and a little over one week since Obama hosted a 7-hour bipartisan summit meeting with lawmakers to discuss the measure.

“Now, despite all the progress and improvements we’ve made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on healthcare is to start over,” Obama said on Saturday.

“But you know what? The insurance companies aren’t starting over. I just met with some of them on Thursday and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums …If we do not act, they will continue to do this. They will continue to drop people’s coverage when they need it. They will continue to refuse coverage based on pre-existing conditions. These practices will continue. That’s why we must act now. That’s why the United States Congress owes the American people an up-or-down vote on health insurance reform.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/85261-obama-to-dems-health-bill-results-will-be-seen-by-midterms

Doesn't exactly sound like Thursday's meeting with the insurance execs was a Kum By Yah campfire singalong. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiuzgw_WN9U">The President's Weekly Address

http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse#p/u/2/LZ6midkCMOo">Open for Questions: Healthcare Reform & Insurance Companies

[Better Believe It]

1. How much will your premiums cost under this healthcare "reform"?

"“This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will finally be able to purchase coverage"

What kind of coverage and how much will it cost?

The insurance industry will dramatically increase insurance premiums to cover pre-existing conditions. You can count on that.

Are you ready to fork over a few thousand dollars month?

If you don't have health insurance, you may be required under federal law to purchase private health insurance. How much money will you be required to give the health insurance industry and what kind of coverage will you receive for those high premiums?

President Obama and the supporters of the Health Insurance Industry and Big Pharma Protection Act can't tell you.

But, it will have to be private insurance. The government won't provide a public option.

[Clio the Leo]

2. Thank you Sen. Alexander for those words of advice. NT

[Better Believe It]

3. So care to say where you think I'm wrong ....

rather than engage in personal attack?

This is a discussion board in case you didn't notice.

So let's discuss.

I'm listening.

[nickinSTL]

5. if there aren't controls prohibiting high premiums

then the previous poster is right.

There is no way the insurance companies won't do anything they can to keep premiums as high as they can get away with. They aren't about to let a bunch of people with pre-existing conditions cut into their profits.

[jefferson_dem]

7. Cost and consumer protections are separate issues.

They both will be addressed with this bill.

...If you think laws don't matter to the industry, then I guess the point is moot. There's really no point in doing anything at all.

[Better Believe It]

11. Please indicate how health insurance premiums "are being addressed" in the Senate bill and/or the

"reconciliation" bill.

Specific Senate bill language and links please.

[jefferson_dem]

6. Did you even read the OP before offering your criticisms?

“And while it will take a few years to fully implement these reforms, there are numerous protections and benefits that would start to take effect this year.”

Subsidies won't kick in for a little while but there's no debating that coverage will be more affordable when they do, especially for those who cannot get it now. Use the google or sift through the DU archives for details.

The point here is about the array of critical consumer protections that will be implemented once this bill is passed. Sorry you do not see the value in those.

[Donnachaidh]

9. and how quickly will the IRS step up and start slapping liens on people who cannot afford this

mandated insurance?

Bush's people laid off the IRS specialists who worked on going after the wealthy, but we still have IRS who's sole purpose is to watch over the middle class and go after people they think might be cheating. They've had MONTHS to train for this new *service*, and I'll bet they start flagging taxpayers who fall into the *cannot afford* category starting this year.

Debtor prisons will be next.

[AlinPA]

4. At the rate the congress is moving the legislation won't be passed before the election. Then it wil

be too late.

[slipslidingaway]

8. Why all of a sudden are top Dems concerned with premium increases...

this problem was known before and for almost a full year it was barely mentioned.

And if the insurance companies are truly against this reform bill, why give ammunition to the Dems for passing this bill now?

Very, very strange.

If you want to scare the insurance execs and make them think twice before raising premiums, then invite Not for Profit Advocates to the WH for a discussion, instead of inviting the execs and reading them a letter.

The CEOs are sitting in the WH ... knowing who has been locked outside the gates by the administration.

:shrug:


" “Now, despite all the progress and improvements we’ve made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on healthcare is to start over,” Obama said on Saturday.

“But you know what? The insurance companies aren’t starting over. I just met with some of them on Thursday and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums …If we do not act, they will continue to do this..."

[slipslidingaway]

13. Anyone??? Did everyone just wake up and realize this problem in the

last few weeks?

[ChicagoSuz219]

10. Take a breath...

Isn't there a Public Exchange where you can shop around for the best deals?
Won't you be able to buy insurance across state lines?
The 'fine' is $75 - if you can afford it.
The premiums will be on a sliding scale, according to income, for the mandates.
Who knows? there may even be a Public Option.

Keep the faith... all told, it's still 1000x better than the Status Quo.

[denimgirly]

12. You can just feel this Bill (and Plan) is a bit ugly -- ripe with potential Corporate Abuse.

We'll see but this reform seems a bit poorly constructed. Cost control is nowhere in this bill. I may be wrong but i can just see too many holes and issues (despite having soft, and easily corruptable oversights). So far things are looking like a good year for republicans and corporate america (in both Heatlhcare and Finance).

If you are sick or have a pre-condition i think it might be best to move to Hawaii or marry a Canadian.

[jeanpalmer]

14. "I just met with some of them on Thursday

and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums."

With regard to why Anthem Blue Cross raised Natoma Canfield's premiums, Obama could have found out why by calling the company, because Anthem issued a statement later in the day explaining why it had raised Canfield's rates: "Unfortunately, the individual market premiums are merely the symptoms of a larger underlying problem in Ohio's individual market - rising health care costs. The increasing demand for medical services, the use of new prescription drugs, and demand for advanced technologies are driving up the cost of health care at an unprecedented rate." Isn't it misleading/dishonest to tell everyone you couldn't get a straight answer when you didn't bother to contact the company?

If he had contacted the company and gotten the response it gave, wouldn't that have been a starting point to try to figure out why costs are going up, because at that point Obama could have told Anthem "prove it to me." And Anthem would have had to produce the facts to back up its statement. And all of us would then know the truth about premium increases. But Obama didn't really care to know why Anthem raised Canfield's rates. He was simply using her plight to score pr points for his health care bill. As far as we know, he didn't even make an effort to get Canfield's premium increase reversed.

What would have happened if Obama had called Anthem on the premium increase and Anthem had produced the facts to back up its 39% premium increase? Wouldn't that have indicated that we need to focus on containing underlying health care costs as opposed to insurance premiums? Well, Obama doesn't want to hear that because he has no plan for controlling underlying costs, like the high costs of new medicines that Anthem mentioned. He's totally focused on selling mandated insurance.