Washington Examiner Morning Must Reads
Morning Must Reads -- Everyone Gets Insurance... Or Else
By: Chris Stirewalt 09/10/09 9:01 AM
Los Angeles Times -- Obama avoids the details on divisive issues to keep his healthcare goals on track President Obama managed to create a new center of gravity among Democrats on health care in his speech to Congress, but he also raised more questions than he answered. Writer Noam Levey looks at the risks and potential rewards of keeping his proposal – new regulations for insurance companies, a new, government-run insurance plan and a new law making health insurance mandatory for every American – vague. It may be a quantum leap forward in specificity from his earlier statements and liberals did thrill to his defiant tone, but as the New York Times lead editorial said today, “Mr. Obama will need to do more than orate.” He needs to twist arms among timid Democrats in Congress to get a strong bill passed, most likely with little support from Republicans. President Obama has reengaged the Left, but skepticism still holds sway there. Among moderate Democrats, only specific answers about costs and requirements will do. He may have bought himself time, but the final showdown is still out there on the horizon. “The House is dominated by liberal Democrats. In the Senate, though Democrats control 59 seats, including two independents who caucus with the party, a bloc of conservative Democrats holds the key to passing any healthcare bill. Without...
Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
No cure for Obama's chronic deceptions
By: David Freddoso 09/10/09 8:16 AM
During his health care speech last night, President Obama incorrectly guaranteed that no public money would go toward abortion, and that illegal immigrants could not get coverage under his plan. He cannot make either promise, based on the existing legislation. Obama also made the deeply misleading promise that "not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan." Of course it won't. That's because the Medicare Trust Fund is already running an operating deficit and will do so indefinitely, according to last year's report from its trustees. Every single dime of the fund, plus some, is going to pay Medicare claims, leaving nothing for any other purpose. It's as if he just promised that no one will ever get lost in Belgium by driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. As a promise to senior citizens, it is meaningless, deceptive and disingenuous. He still plans to cut Medicare expenditures by half a trillion dollars over ten years, and it's anyone's guess whether he can do that without significantly affecting seniors' care. The president also said that 14,000 people lose their insurance each day. By his math, 15 million more Americans will lose their insurance before his bill goes into effect in 2013, an increase of 50 percent. Really? More to the heart of the matter, though, Obama continues to conflate cause with effect as he presents a the...
Read More 4 comments Beltway Confidential
Obama: I used to say 47 million uninsured. Now, it's 30 million.
By: Byron York 09/09/09 9:04 PM
In his speech tonight, the president introduced a new number in the health care debate. Remember all those statements from Democrats, including Barack Obama himself, that 47 million Americans are without health insurance? That's no longer the operative number. "There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage," the president said in tonight's speech. But on August 10, at a town hall meeting, Obama referred to the "46, 47 million people without health insurance in our country…" And on July 23, he said, "This is not just about the 47 million Americans who don't have any health insurance at all…" What's the difference? Obama appears to be choosing his words carefully. There is a difference between Americans who "cannot get coverage" and Americans who "don't have any health insurance at all." The interesting question is why Obama has chosen to downgrade the number from 47 million to 30 million. Look for Democrats to begin using the new figure in making the case for Obamacare. UPDATE: So why did Obama make the change? The first possibility is the difference between people who "don't have any health insurance" and people who "cannot get coverage." Millions of Americans who can afford health insurance choose not to have it, many of them because they are...
Read More 38 comments Beltway Confidential
Same Old-Same Old from Obama tonight? UPDATED: Demonstration Projects are for suckers By: Mark Tapscott 09/09/09 6:31 PM
Excerpts from the prepared text of the President's speech tonight to the nation and Congress have been released by the White House and if these are indicative of the tone and level of detail that will be displayed throughout the address, it will likely come across as just more of the same old rhetoric, evasion, double-talk, and straw-man tactics we've seen for months from Obama. Here's is the excerpt in which Obama provides the specific details of his plan: "Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan: "First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have. "What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a...
Read More 8 comments Beltway Confidential
GOP plans quiet demonstration during president's speech
By: Byron York 09/09/09 5:57 PM
Tonight some House Republicans are planning to attend the president's address to a joint session of Congress carrying copies of GOP health care bills. If the president says, as he has done on many previous occasions, that opponents of Democratic health care proposals have no plans of their own, those Republicans plan to hold up copies of their bills in protest. "If the president decides again that he is going to assert that there is no plan on our side, we're going to show him that's not true," says one GOP aide. Rep. Tom Price, head of the Republican Study Committee, plans to attend tonight's speech carrying a copy of H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act, which Price, who is a medical doctor, proposed in July. Other Republicans may carry H.R. 2520, which is Rep. Paul Ryan's Patients' Choice Act, and H.R. 3218, which is Rep. John Shadegg's Improving Health Care for All Americans Act. The purpose of bringing the bills to the session -- and of holding them up, if Obama repeats his claim that Republicans have no plan -- is to "show the president that his rhetoric that there are no solutions on the Republican side is false," says the aide. "We've got a plan and we're ready to show it to him --...
Read More 14 comments Beltway Confidential
Union pension plans hurt workers, study shows
By: Kevin Mooney 09/09/09 4:46 PM
Unlike non-union plans, collectively bargained pensions are often underfunded, lack portability and cannot respond quickly to market forces, according to the authors of a new study. Although labor unions often promote defined benefits plans for recruiting purposes, many of these plans are under severe financial pressure and place workers at a disadvantage, according to Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and her colleague Andrew Brown. “One possible reason for the disparity is that collectively-bargained pension plans are not usually renewed annually,” Furchtgott-Roth said. “As a result, annual contributions by employers may not respond quickly to market downturns or other unexpected drops in pension funding ratios. Furthermore, when a union must negotiate with several different employers, this problem may be exacerbated.” Unions typically favor defined-benefit plans where an amount guaranteed in advance is paid to retirees’ for their lifetime. The pension amount is usually calculated by averaging a worker’s three or five highest-paid years, then guaranteeing a percentage of that figure. Workers must remain in unionized jobs. By contrast, defined-contribution plans, such as 401k’s, allow workers to contribute part of each paycheck to their own account with an employer match. Workers have a legal claim... Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
What will Obama say about malpractice reform?
By: Susan Ferrechio 09/09/09 4:02 PM
Republicans in the House and Senate have been telling their Democratic counterparts that they would be open to supporting a health care reform bill if it includes, among other things, medical malpractice reform. It now appears that option could be on the table. While no one knows what Obama will talk about in his speech before Congress tonight, the lead negotiator on a Senate bipartisan health care reform plan signaled that President Obama could be open to provisions aimed at reducing the number of junk lawsuits that have played a big role in driving up the cost of health care. Here's what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had to say today on CNN: John Roberts - Is the president prepared to talk about malpractice reform tonight? GIBBS: He is. He'll talk about it tonight. John, I think this is a good example. The president is going to talk about the downside of what many doctors have told him is the practicing of defensive medicine, where doctors because they are worried about this order more and more tests in order to make sure that they don't get sued. That costs our system billions and billions of dollars every year. ROBERTS: Sure. GIBBS: But John, this is a big test, because the president is going to outline things that Republicans want to hear. I asked Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., whether his bill will...
Read More 4 comments Beltway Confidential
The rest of Murtha's Mob
By: Barbara Hollingsworth 09/09/09 3:49 PM
A computer analysis released by the Center for Public Integrity found that three quarters of the members of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee engaged in the same kind of controversial influence peddling that got chairman John Murtha, D-PA, Rep. Jim Moran, D-VA, and Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-IN, in hot water for their dealings with the now defunct PMA Group. "The Center's analysis reveals that 12 of 16 subcommittee members have been involved in similar circles of relationships fraught with potential conflicts of interest. In these circles, former staffers became lobbyists for defense contractors; the contractors received earmarks from the representatives; and the representatives received campaign contributions from the lobbyists or the contractors." Sixteen former subcommittee aides-turned lobbyists forked over $1 million in campaign contributions to the 12 members of Murtha's Mob, and were rewarded with $100 million in earmarks, the Center reports. Murtha is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee for possible illegal quid pro quos. The Center found suspicious "relationship circles" involving 11 lobbying firms and more than 50 earmarks - totaling more than $100 million - including Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-FL, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-GA, Todd Tiahrt, R-KS, Rep. Norman Dicks, D-WA, former Rep. Dave... Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
Republicans advise Obama to announce health care reform do-over
By: Susan Ferrechio 09/09/09 2:20 PM
House and Senate Republican leaders have some words of advice for President Obama tonight when it comes to his big speech on health care. "I would hope he would come to the House tonight and hit the reset button," House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters. But Boehner said early reports of what Obama will say tonight leave little hope for a do-over. "It appears the president is going to double down tonight, put lipstick on this pig, and call it something else." Boehner, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, D-Ky., said Democrats should scrap their plan and begin anew, not with a big, comprehensive proposal, but rather through a series of smaller bills that would address health care problems such affordability, access and medical torte reform. "One thing I hope we hear from him tonight is that we need to do a massive, comprehensive bill, or nothing," McConnell said "That, it strikes us, is not the way to go forward." McConnell said Democrats could find the long-sought bipartisan agreement on a health care legislation that focuses on reforms that would ensure coverage for pre-existing conditions as well as allow people to buy insurance across state lines and take their policies with them when they switch jobs. McConnell said Republicans would also be on board for a proposal that would "equalize...
Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
Obama transfers Van Jones to Center for American Progress [updated]: or maybe not] By: Timothy P. Carney 09/09/09 2:11 PM
[updated, 2:30 pm, Politico reports that CAP denies that they are hiring Van Jones.] It didn’t take long for the former White House “green jobs czar” to find himself a gig after resigning under pressure for past racially inflammatory comments, radical associations, and erstwhile support for a conspiracy theory that holds the American government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The New York Daily News reported that Jones had been hired by the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank led by Obama transition team boss John Podesta. CAP is famously close to the Obama White House and the Obama campaign, and the two have traded plenty of staff already. I semi-jokingly refer to CAP as the 501(c)4 arm of the White House, which means Jones wasn't fired and hired as much as he was transfered. A liberal activist I chatted with after the news told me, "I think it is great that he is back on the outside. He can do a lot more good...
Read More 3 comments Beltway Confidential
Baucus: Public option is doomed By: Byron York 09/09/09 12:46 PM
Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, just moments ago in the Hart Senate Office Building: I think, frankly, with increasing convction that a public option cannot pass the...
Read More 5 comments Beltway Confidential
20090910 sdsom WEx Morning Must Reads
Morning Must Reads -- Everyone Gets Insurance... Or Else
By: Chris Stirewalt 09/10/09 9:01 AM
Los Angeles Times -- Obama avoids the details on divisive issues to keep his healthcare goals on track President Obama managed to create a new center of gravity among Democrats on health care in his speech to Congress, but he also raised more questions than he answered. Writer Noam Levey looks at the risks and potential rewards of keeping his proposal – new regulations for insurance companies, a new, government-run insurance plan and a new law making health insurance mandatory for every American – vague. It may be a quantum leap forward in specificity from his earlier statements and liberals did thrill to his defiant tone, but as the New York Times lead editorial said today, “Mr. Obama will need to do more than orate.” He needs to twist arms among timid Democrats in Congress to get a strong bill passed, most likely with little support from Republicans. President Obama has reengaged the Left, but skepticism still holds sway there. Among moderate Democrats, only specific answers about costs and requirements will do. He may have bought himself time, but the final showdown is still out there on the horizon. “The House is dominated by liberal Democrats. In the Senate, though Democrats control 59 seats, including two independents who caucus with the party, a bloc of conservative Democrats holds the key to passing any healthcare bill. Without...
Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
No cure for Obama's chronic deceptions
By: David Freddoso 09/10/09 8:16 AM
During his health care speech last night, President Obama incorrectly guaranteed that no public money would go toward abortion, and that illegal immigrants could not get coverage under his plan. He cannot make either promise, based on the existing legislation. Obama also made the deeply misleading promise that "not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan." Of course it won't. That's because the Medicare Trust Fund is already running an operating deficit and will do so indefinitely, according to last year's report from its trustees. Every single dime of the fund, plus some, is going to pay Medicare claims, leaving nothing for any other purpose. It's as if he just promised that no one will ever get lost in Belgium by driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. As a promise to senior citizens, it is meaningless, deceptive and disingenuous. He still plans to cut Medicare expenditures by half a trillion dollars over ten years, and it's anyone's guess whether he can do that without significantly affecting seniors' care. The president also said that 14,000 people lose their insurance each day. By his math, 15 million more Americans will lose their insurance before his bill goes into effect in 2013, an increase of 50 percent. Really? More to the heart of the matter, though, Obama continues to conflate cause with effect as he presents a the...
Read More 4 comments Beltway Confidential
Obama: I used to say 47 million uninsured. Now, it's 30 million.
By: Byron York 09/09/09 9:04 PM
In his speech tonight, the president introduced a new number in the health care debate. Remember all those statements from Democrats, including Barack Obama himself, that 47 million Americans are without health insurance? That's no longer the operative number. "There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage," the president said in tonight's speech. But on August 10, at a town hall meeting, Obama referred to the "46, 47 million people without health insurance in our country…" And on July 23, he said, "This is not just about the 47 million Americans who don't have any health insurance at all…" What's the difference? Obama appears to be choosing his words carefully. There is a difference between Americans who "cannot get coverage" and Americans who "don't have any health insurance at all." The interesting question is why Obama has chosen to downgrade the number from 47 million to 30 million. Look for Democrats to begin using the new figure in making the case for Obamacare. UPDATE: So why did Obama make the change? The first possibility is the difference between people who "don't have any health insurance" and people who "cannot get coverage." Millions of Americans who can afford health insurance choose not to have it, many of them because they are...
Read More 38 comments Beltway Confidential
Same Old-Same Old from Obama tonight? UPDATED: Demonstration Projects are for suckers By: Mark Tapscott 09/09/09 6:31 PM
Excerpts from the prepared text of the President's speech tonight to the nation and Congress have been released by the White House and if these are indicative of the tone and level of detail that will be displayed throughout the address, it will likely come across as just more of the same old rhetoric, evasion, double-talk, and straw-man tactics we've seen for months from Obama. Here's is the excerpt in which Obama provides the specific details of his plan: "Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan: "First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have. "What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a...
Read More 8 comments Beltway Confidential
GOP plans quiet demonstration during president's speech
By: Byron York 09/09/09 5:57 PM
Tonight some House Republicans are planning to attend the president's address to a joint session of Congress carrying copies of GOP health care bills. If the president says, as he has done on many previous occasions, that opponents of Democratic health care proposals have no plans of their own, those Republicans plan to hold up copies of their bills in protest. "If the president decides again that he is going to assert that there is no plan on our side, we're going to show him that's not true," says one GOP aide. Rep. Tom Price, head of the Republican Study Committee, plans to attend tonight's speech carrying a copy of H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act, which Price, who is a medical doctor, proposed in July. Other Republicans may carry H.R. 2520, which is Rep. Paul Ryan's Patients' Choice Act, and H.R. 3218, which is Rep. John Shadegg's Improving Health Care for All Americans Act. The purpose of bringing the bills to the session -- and of holding them up, if Obama repeats his claim that Republicans have no plan -- is to "show the president that his rhetoric that there are no solutions on the Republican side is false," says the aide. "We've got a plan and we're ready to show it to him --...
Read More 14 comments Beltway Confidential
Union pension plans hurt workers, study shows
By: Kevin Mooney 09/09/09 4:46 PM
Unlike non-union plans, collectively bargained pensions are often underfunded, lack portability and cannot respond quickly to market forces, according to the authors of a new study. Although labor unions often promote defined benefits plans for recruiting purposes, many of these plans are under severe financial pressure and place workers at a disadvantage, according to Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and her colleague Andrew Brown. “One possible reason for the disparity is that collectively-bargained pension plans are not usually renewed annually,” Furchtgott-Roth said. “As a result, annual contributions by employers may not respond quickly to market downturns or other unexpected drops in pension funding ratios. Furthermore, when a union must negotiate with several different employers, this problem may be exacerbated.” Unions typically favor defined-benefit plans where an amount guaranteed in advance is paid to retirees’ for their lifetime. The pension amount is usually calculated by averaging a worker’s three or five highest-paid years, then guaranteeing a percentage of that figure. Workers must remain in unionized jobs. By contrast, defined-contribution plans, such as 401k’s, allow workers to contribute part of each paycheck to their own account with an employer match. Workers have a legal claim... Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
What will Obama say about malpractice reform?
By: Susan Ferrechio 09/09/09 4:02 PM
Republicans in the House and Senate have been telling their Democratic counterparts that they would be open to supporting a health care reform bill if it includes, among other things, medical malpractice reform. It now appears that option could be on the table. While no one knows what Obama will talk about in his speech before Congress tonight, the lead negotiator on a Senate bipartisan health care reform plan signaled that President Obama could be open to provisions aimed at reducing the number of junk lawsuits that have played a big role in driving up the cost of health care. Here's what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had to say today on CNN: John Roberts - Is the president prepared to talk about malpractice reform tonight? GIBBS: He is. He'll talk about it tonight. John, I think this is a good example. The president is going to talk about the downside of what many doctors have told him is the practicing of defensive medicine, where doctors because they are worried about this order more and more tests in order to make sure that they don't get sued. That costs our system billions and billions of dollars every year. ROBERTS: Sure. GIBBS: But John, this is a big test, because the president is going to outline things that Republicans want to hear. I asked Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., whether his bill will...
Read More 4 comments Beltway Confidential
The rest of Murtha's Mob
By: Barbara Hollingsworth 09/09/09 3:49 PM
A computer analysis released by the Center for Public Integrity found that three quarters of the members of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee engaged in the same kind of controversial influence peddling that got chairman John Murtha, D-PA, Rep. Jim Moran, D-VA, and Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-IN, in hot water for their dealings with the now defunct PMA Group. "The Center's analysis reveals that 12 of 16 subcommittee members have been involved in similar circles of relationships fraught with potential conflicts of interest. In these circles, former staffers became lobbyists for defense contractors; the contractors received earmarks from the representatives; and the representatives received campaign contributions from the lobbyists or the contractors." Sixteen former subcommittee aides-turned lobbyists forked over $1 million in campaign contributions to the 12 members of Murtha's Mob, and were rewarded with $100 million in earmarks, the Center reports. Murtha is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee for possible illegal quid pro quos. The Center found suspicious "relationship circles" involving 11 lobbying firms and more than 50 earmarks - totaling more than $100 million - including Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-FL, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-GA, Todd Tiahrt, R-KS, Rep. Norman Dicks, D-WA, former Rep. Dave... Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
Republicans advise Obama to announce health care reform do-over
By: Susan Ferrechio 09/09/09 2:20 PM
House and Senate Republican leaders have some words of advice for President Obama tonight when it comes to his big speech on health care. "I would hope he would come to the House tonight and hit the reset button," House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters. But Boehner said early reports of what Obama will say tonight leave little hope for a do-over. "It appears the president is going to double down tonight, put lipstick on this pig, and call it something else." Boehner, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, D-Ky., said Democrats should scrap their plan and begin anew, not with a big, comprehensive proposal, but rather through a series of smaller bills that would address health care problems such affordability, access and medical torte reform. "One thing I hope we hear from him tonight is that we need to do a massive, comprehensive bill, or nothing," McConnell said "That, it strikes us, is not the way to go forward." McConnell said Democrats could find the long-sought bipartisan agreement on a health care legislation that focuses on reforms that would ensure coverage for pre-existing conditions as well as allow people to buy insurance across state lines and take their policies with them when they switch jobs. McConnell said Republicans would also be on board for a proposal that would "equalize...
Read More 0 comments Beltway Confidential
Obama transfers Van Jones to Center for American Progress [updated]: or maybe not] By: Timothy P. Carney 09/09/09 2:11 PM
[updated, 2:30 pm, Politico reports that CAP denies that they are hiring Van Jones.] It didn’t take long for the former White House “green jobs czar” to find himself a gig after resigning under pressure for past racially inflammatory comments, radical associations, and erstwhile support for a conspiracy theory that holds the American government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The New York Daily News reported that Jones had been hired by the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank led by Obama transition team boss John Podesta. CAP is famously close to the Obama White House and the Obama campaign, and the two have traded plenty of staff already. I semi-jokingly refer to CAP as the 501(c)4 arm of the White House, which means Jones wasn't fired and hired as much as he was transfered. A liberal activist I chatted with after the news told me, "I think it is great that he is back on the outside. He can do a lot more good...
Read More 3 comments Beltway Confidential
Baucus: Public option is doomed By: Byron York 09/09/09 12:46 PM
Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, just moments ago in the Hart Senate Office Building: I think, frankly, with increasing convction that a public option cannot pass the...
Read More 5 comments Beltway Confidential
20090910 sdsom WEx Morning Must Reads
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