The Lights Are Off, But Congress is Home

By Kerri Toloczko
February 1, 2010

Political fallout from Congressional Democrats' renewed interest in the public option from behind closed doors may prove as dangerous to them as it is to American healthcare consumers.

As House and Senate Democrats continue to fight about healthcare reform amongst themselves, across chambers and with the White House, House progressives are now pushing Senator Harry Reid to re-boot the process. Their plan is for the Senate re-insert the public option into a bill that could pass through the reconciliation process as it only requires a simple majority of 50 votes.



Not surprisingly, these discussions took place behind closed doors.

Reconciliation is, in this case, cheating to some degree. Reconciliation deals only with spending and not structural reform, but would allow Congressional Democrats to create a spine to which they could later attach policy changes leading to the increased government control of our medical care which was their original intent. These add-ons could include the unpopular individual mandate and its accompanying fines and jail time.


Leading the charge is Chellie Pingree, House Democrat from Maine, who is likely looking for a federal replacement for Dirigo Health, Maine's monumentally disastrous government run healthcare plan. Passed in 2003, Dirigo has driven insurers out the state, raised healthcare costs for all Mainers and has been closed to new enrollees since 2007 in an effort to contain spending. When enacted, it was promised that Dirigo would cover all 128,000 uninsured by 2009, not require new taxes, and reduce healthcare costs.

Today, it covers less than 3% of the uninsured.

Premiums have climbed 76% in four years. Maine taxpayers have repeatedly rejected tax increases to fund this embarrassment, leading their legislature to double taxes on private health insurance premiums to pay for it.



Rather than learning from the failures of government care in her state - and neighboring Massachusetts where voters experienced with government healthcare recently cast a resounding proxy "no" vote to a federal model - Pingree and fellow progressive press ahead to expand these failures at the federal level.



For conservatives, the possibility of renewed House and Senate healthcare reform efforts is a mixed bag. Based on media coverage, Scott Brown's election and nearly every recent healthcare poll, Americans have soundly rejected more government control of their health coverage, and potentially, the delivery of their healthcare.



Congressional Democrats as architects of their own demise is encouraging for healthcare policy analysts interested in truly reforming the system through patient-centered policies rather than deforming it as current plans do. But the cost of the Congressional Democrats circular firing squad is far too high for the American people.



In the midst of our "job loss recovery," Americans need portability, accessible and affordable coverage. True curative reforms include providing individuals with a tax deduction for premiums, creating a fifty state competitive market for coverage, allowing mandate-light policy choices and permitting Health Savings Accounts, traditional insurers and state high-risk pools to create policies that meet the special needs of disabled or chronically ill patients.



Yet despite unrelenting pressure from the public, Congress has again exchanged green eyeshades for night vision goggles and is still spending our money in the dark.



Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was skewered for accepting tax dollars to buy his healthcare vote, and yet the Representative from Maine seems to be hunting money from the other forty-nine states to cure problems in her state's managed care mess. 



As Senator Reid stated on January 28th, he is still considering "procedurally" how to continue to chase after healthcare reform in 2010; reform firmly rejected by Americans of all political stripes.



Its time for Congressional Democrats to come out of the closet and do the nation's business in the light of day where intent, agenda and policy changes are available for all to see.



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