Here’s a link to the video. Ed’s opening op-ed is passionate—I would urge you to listen to it, along with Ed’s interviews with Senator Jack Reed and Congressman Earl Blumenauer, followed by my interview.
Health Beat by Maggie Mahar
Here’s a link to the video. Ed’s opening op-ed is passionate—I would urge you to listen to it, along with Ed’s interviews with Senator Jack Reed and Congressman Earl Blumenauer, followed by my interview.
Excellent job. When are you going to be on Fox?
Glad to see you’ve been getting around!!
Lisa & John-
Hi Lisa– thanks!
John– Fox would be fun.
But I rather doubt that they would invite me . .
Recently Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) agreed to debate me on Politico.com’s Arena.
But he refused to do rebuttals (which they normally do in this section of Politico.com).
Presumably he didn’t want to give me an opportunity to point out possible half-truths in his argument.
And he’s a very intelligent man, so I’m surprised.
I saw you in the show ( pure accident since I don’t normally watch Ed show ) did not know it was you until they had your name up there:) You were good but it was short piece unlike your blog:)
Ray–
Yup, it was definitely shorter than my posts!
They had told me ahead of time that it would be less than five minutes. That’s T.V.
And understandably, the Senator and Rep. came first, and they would use whatever time was left in the segment to interview me. I was flattered to be included in the group.
And Ed pitched me a couple of questions that allowed me to make points I wanted to make–clarifying what “public sector option” means, for example
Doing live television is hard–at least for me. But I did my best.
Today, they advertised my interview on the Ed Show wesite–which was very kind. I hope to do the show again.
I have heard a lot about health care reform requiring that insurance companies will not be able to deny anyone coverage due to preexisting conditions (PC), BUT what is not clear to me is whether insurance companies will still be able to charge huge amounts OVER the normal premium for PC. Could they still charge so much that it would be a de facto denial of coverage because people couldn’t afford it? Is there anything in the proposals stating that there must be a limit over the standard premiums for PC and, if not, WHY NOT? I apologize if I am missing something here (heck, I don’t feel like wading through the bills, but I gather you have a great research staff better able to do this than I am), but this seems like such a critical issue, especially given what insurance companies try to get away with all too often. Might this “loophole” be why the insurance companies aren’t pushing even harder against this bill? I would love it if you would investigate this! If you asked politicians what the bills say about this, would they even know???
Maggie~
I thought you did a “First Rate” job on the Ed Show. It is refreshing to hear Ed stress the Public Option.
With the “Blue Dogs” in the House settling down, this Battle is back on track.
I am counting on OTHER Senate Dems to straighten out the SELL-OUT by the SIX Finance Committee members.
THIS Mission is Possible !
Norah & Fantatic–
Thanks for your comments.
Norah and Fanatic–
I have read the bills –this is is part of my job.
Insurers will definitely NOT be able to charge more because a customer is sick or becomes sick.
The insurance industry itself has agreed to this. (They realized that they have no choice.)
They’re not pushig harder because they are running scared. They realize that Obama is very serious.
On the other hand, if the conservatives and Blue Dog Democrats in Congress have their way, the legislation will leave other loopholes that allow insurers to profiteer.
Fanatic–
I agree that Democrats have to stand up– and I believe they will.
Such a small group politicians should not be able to derail health care reform. Did you read the NYT story about how they ate junk food while they deliberated? (Chocolate covered potato chips no less)
Norah,
I believe you are asking if community ratings will be mandated to be used to price policies versus individual rating as exist now in many areas. Individual ratings along with pre-existing condition exclusions is what makes our current PRIVATE health insurance programs a joke when it comes to socially relevant issues. Pay us when you are well so we can dump you when you get sick. Wow, what a great way to provide secure health care. Sort of like a contrived hand-out for the health insurance industry.
The most important part of health care reform is winning – without giving away the store, the farm, the house, the goat, and three of the four kids. And with a strong public plan option.
We just did it in Connecticut. So it can be done.
On July 20th, our state House and Senate successfully overrode Republican Governor Rell’s veto of the SustiNet health care reform plan – one of the most ambitious plans for universal health care anywhere.
The centerpiece of SustiNet involves making the state employees plan self-insured, then opening it up (with quality care and affordable rates) to: the uninsured; Medicaid recipients; small business employees; nonprofit employees; municipalities; and individuals who have unaffordable or inadequate employee–sponsored plans.
According to health economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Stan Dorn of the Urban Institute, SustiNet will return at least $2.50 to employers and employees for every dollar invested by the state.
In the insurance capital of the country, with a Republican governor, a broad-based coalition of small business owners, providers, faith leaders, union leaders, health care advocates and other stake holders beat the odds.
If we can do it here, why not in DC??
More about SustiNet is at: http://www.healthcare4every1.org.
iblogWestHartford–
Congratulations. It does sound like a good plan–or at the very least, a good start. I’ll have to look into it.