Hillary's health care plan adopted by congressional Dems

[denem]

Democrats Agree on a Health Plan; Now Comes the Hard Part

WASHINGTON - Efforts to overhaul the health care system have moved ahead rapidly, with the insurance industry making several major concessions and the chairmen of five Congressional committees reaching a consensus on the main ingredients of legislation.

The chairmen, all Democrats, agree that everyone must carry insurance and that employers should be required to help pay for it. They also agree that the government should offer a public health insurance plan as an alternative to private insurance.

But members of Congress are just now turning to the most explosive issues, which could delay or derail the process.

They have yet to tackle the question of how to pay for coverage of the uninsured.

They have not wrestled with vehement Republican objections to the idea of a new government-run insurance plan, competing directly with private insurers.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=351390&single=1&f=21

The devil of course is in the details, but mandates, requisite employer contributions and an open public system, are the pillars of HRC's approach to health care.

[DJ13]

1. Are we SURE the Clintons didnt win last November?

[denem]

3. I'm sure Hillary consulted widely when formulating her policy.

Given how much angst was spent here debating Obama vs Hillary vs Edwards on health, it seems in retrospect that it was all a wash.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Well, that's the way Presidential primaries go, I suppose.

Everyone goes apeshit over what the most minuscule differences in policy statements and voting records might imply, and then the winner (assuming they win in the general) just ends up doing whatever Congress can pass. When you get down to it, it's mostly about whose personality and persona are going to be tied to the party for the next four to eight years. The people who vote based on "well, I guess like the way he/she talks better" are probably casting smarter votes than the people who deliberate over every nuance of every plan.

[denem]

20. Obama will veto it: Hey that's my SoS' plan. Not fair!

:evilgrin:

[Occam Bandage]

6. Her health-care plan is further left than the one Obama proposed.

[denem]

8. Yes. Obama adopted a small target approach.

Now if the Dem's stick to their guns, it will be on again for young and old.

[wyldwolf]

16. ooh! I'll start a rumor at Free Republic

in the 90s, tabloids ran a story that Bill Clinton fathered a son years ago with an African American woman...



... of course, he covered it up, probably even made the birth certificate disappear... after he sent his pregnant lover to Hawaii...

and now we know... like father like son! We got another Clinton in the white house!

[denem]

18. And Bill agreed to keep it secret, so that Hillary became President

(behind the scenes).

Devilishly clever.

[annabanana]

2. I hope the plan we end up wtih competes the HELL out of the

private insurance companies.. those blood sucking lampreys.

(edit: even though I ended up supporting Obama.. I preferred Hillary's health plan. It is a better path to a better place.)

[denem]

4. That's the DEVIL in the details.

Go Doctor Dean! Make our voices count.

[avaistheone1]

35. Doctor Dean is one of the few people in this country I would trust on this issue.

[Starry Messenger]

5. I look forward to weeks of infighting!

:D To the barricades!

[Occam Bandage]

7. This is a fight worth having. Health care reform is an enormously important issue

politically, economically (on both the Main Street and Wall Street levels), and ideologically. This, I think, is a fight where I'm going to be on the anti-Obama rather than the pro-Obama side here. This is where, as a President, I would commit my army fully, without keeping a single unit in reserve.

[avaistheone1]

32. I am with you, and I am not going to quit until we have it.

[mucifer]

9. The reason Krugman endorsed Hillary was that her health care plan was more inclusive

[joshcryer]

15. Yeah, he saw the economics and went with the better plan.

Got a lot of shit for it. I'm glad to see this is happening.

[biopowertoday]

30. So am I but single payer needs a fair hearing and discussion also.

[avaistheone1]

31. I agree. Single payer is the best plan by far and it hasn't gotten a fair discussion.

[AtomicKitten]

24. Mandates. It was about mandates.

[biopowertoday]

29. When ALL are in the poll, it helps keep costs down. Smart move.

[eridani]

34. That is not true unless you cut private insurance out of it

I have no problem with paying a required tax instead of a premium for single payer health care. I do have a problem with being forced to subsidize private insurers.

[AtomicKitten]

39. Agreed. And I think healthcare should be not for profit.

[dflprincess]

10. It was just mentioned on Frontline last night

that Massachusetts has had to back off the mandate that everyone has to buy insurance . The state had to admit that not everyone can afford it - and it's nearly impossible to find a private policy that fits into the state's "affordable" guidelines.

I couldn't get your link to work. Did the article say what the several "major concessions" the insurance industry are?

[liskddksil]

11. It was also the plan Edwards put out. nt

[Occam Bandage]

13. To be fair, Edwards did a lot of putting out. nt

[MannyGoldstein]

14. !!!

:rofl:

[Adelante]

17. Oooh!

:D

[liskddksil]

19. Apart from Kucinich, Edwards was the first to detail a completely universal healthcare plan

that would lead to single-payer eventually

[denem]

22. Apart from the framing, Hillary and Edwards had the same plan.

Edwards spoke more eloquently of the public plan crowding out private insurance over time. Hillary glossed over that, but did not deny it.

[avaistheone1]

27. Edwards made it a centerpiece of his campaign.

[karynnj]

36. Actually he wasn't - John Kerry, who had a near universal health care plan in 2004

when Edwards covered just kids, tweaked his 2004 plan to make it universal in summer 2006 - when he gave a Faneuil Hall speech on it. At that point he was considering a 2008 run and that series of excellent Faenuil Hall speeches were to be the basis of it. (I think even Kerry's 2004 plan could have led to universal coverage - via the idea of re-insurance, which was via a single payer nationwide pool. If that idea was as successful as economists thought it would be - it would be a no brainer to continue to get gains by lowering the threshold until, for all practical purposes, it was the healthcare plan.)

But, he was NOT the first - Bill Bradley wanted it in 2000 - and EVEN he was nowhere near the first.

[Occam Bandage]

48. Hell, even Nixon proposed a universal health care plan. Edwards was no pioneer.

[Beacool]

23. Are we still talking about healthcare?

:evilgrin:

[sandnsea]

21. As many as 20% of motorists are uninsured

Depending on the state.

A mandate to buy insurance will never be the same thing as everyone having coverage.

[AtomicKitten]

25. The insurance companies should be taken entirely out of the loop.

Healthcare should be made not for profit.

[karynnj]

37. Exactly (nt)

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. Mandatory corporate healthcare?? OH HELL YEAH!!

We Win!! We Win !! YAAAAAAAYYY TEAM DLC!!! :bounce: :party: :toast:















































(Hey, it's still April 1 on the West Coast)

[Starry Messenger]

28. Dude, when I saw your avatar today, I damn near snarfed my juice.

Excellent April Fool's. This place can always benefit from a touch of the trickster. :D

[eridani]

33. Fuck subsidizing insurance companies by forcing people to buy their products

Don't settle for this shit! Demand single payer, and think of an additional public plan as a fallback position.

[area51]

38. kick (n/t)

[Raffi Ella]

40. I love this team.

We have Barack on the charm offensive with sky high approval ratings and behind the scenes the most liberal of policies are being formulated to be put forward to a DEMOCRATICALLY controlled congress!

Ha!

So Perfect. I *love* how this has all turned out :evilgrin:

[ClarkUSA]

41. I see no mention of "mandates" in the news article you linked to. Where is it?

[AtomicKitten]

42. Creative editing, I guess.

The article also doesn't mention it being "Hillary's healthcare plan."

on edit: This OP was posted on April Fool's Day.

[ClarkUSA]

44. The OP is misleading. Nowhere in the article do they say it's "Hillary's healthcare plan" either.

In fact, the plan looks exactly like the one on Barack's campaign website.

[AtomicKitten]

45. me thinks

some here are still wielding a shiv in Primary Wars Redux!!!

Don't take the bait.

[Vattel]

43. "all Democrats, agree that everyone must carry insurance" nt

[ClarkUSA]

46. That's not a mandate. On Pres. Obama's 08 campaign website, it says the same thing....

"The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans..."

In fact, the Congressional Democrats' plan's assumptions accurately reflect the plan on Barack's campaign website.

Hillary's mandated healthcare plan involved penalties similar to the ones under the mandated healthcare under Gov. Mitt Romney's plan in MA.

[redqueen]

47. We need a single payer option.

As long as that's one of the pillars of her plan, ok.