Congressman for Ohio's 10th District Denis Kucinich explains why he voted against, the Health Care Reform Bill the other night. His number one reason was, it was a bad bill for America, and a great bill for Insurance Companies. He mentioned he was pretty sure that forcing 60 million Americans to buy health care, was not what the public wanted.
Teabaggers I asked him a question of what could be done to make Washington, the President, and the senate and congress hear their constituents. His answer was to paraphrase, "I will tell you one thing,my party better learn to talk with tea baggers,and others. They have a very real concern that he is beginning to share which is that of over spending while under delivering."
More later.
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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
He admitted nearly 9,000 in Washington last week.While a little short of Fox's 1 million he admitted they have a right to protest, though yelling is not the answer.
Roy
I will check the tape later, but pretty sure he used the proper term which would be tea baggers.
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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Remarks by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich Press Conference H.R. 3962 November 9, 2009
Good morning and thank you for coming. As you know, on Saturday night, the House of Representatives passed a monumental health care bill. I voted against it.
I have made health care reform one of my highest priorities throughout my entire career. I have spoken to hundreds of communities, helped constituents with their health care issues every day, held town hall meetings, held hearings in the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and given dozens of statements on the House floor. I brought single-payer health care to three different Democrat Platform Committees and made it a top issue in two Presidential campaigns. I co-authored H.R. 676, the United States National Health Care Act with Congressman John Conyers, Jr. and I am proud to say that H.R. 676 has become the standard bearer for the single payer movement. But I could not vote for this bill.
We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.
Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.
But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies — a bailout under a blue cross.
By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress’ blog, Think Progress, states since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise. Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that money will start flowing in again to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy.
During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The robust public option which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.
Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks’ hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy -- in which most Americans live -- the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street.
This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.
Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America’s businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Potential questions Why did you vote for the bill in Committee but not here? The version of the bill in committee not only had a more robust public option which would have provided better competition with private health insurance companies, but more importantly, it contained my amendment to help states enact their own single payer plans. That was a huge difference because I believe this bill will not contain costs and is therefore a temporary fix at best.
The failure to control the rising cost of health care has doomed the efforts of many other states who have tried approaches that are similar to the approach embodied in the bill we voted on this Saturday. Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Minnesota, Maine, and Washington have all failed to realize the promises of cost control and reducing the uninsured. Even the most recent example, Massachusetts, the state with the lowest pre-reform uninsurance rate, is struggling greatly to control costs that could unravel their reform.
I voted for the bill in committee because it had a safety net in case this bill failed. That safety net was my state single payer amendment. It would have allowed states to enact a health care system that would do a better job of controlling costs, providing health care to all and improving quality.
What happened to your five amendments you won in committee?
I added five amendments to H.R. 3200, the version of the health care bill that was marked-up in the Committee on Education and Labor, in order to shift the some of the bill’s benefits from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies to patients. In the subsequent process of bringing the bill to the floor, four of them were stripped or gutted, including my amendment that would provide a waiver of the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for a state that signs a single payer health care plan into law.
1. Physician Prescribing Habits (TURNED INTO A STUDY) Many know that the pharmaceutical industry has an army of salespeople that focus not on patients, but on doctors. They try to get doctors to prescribe their drugs, which are usually more expensive, even when there is an equally effective but cheaper drug available. And it works. That is why the pharmaceutical companies hire so many doctor salespeople. Most people do not know, however, that a pharma representative will buy a list of what the doctor has prescribed before she goes to visit that doctor. By knowing that the doctor is prescribing a competitor’s pill instead of their own, they can more effectively manipulate the doctor. When doctors prescribe more expensive drugs, it drives up the cost of health care and undermines the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship.
My amendment prohibits the sale of physician prescribing habits to pharmaceutical representatives. This will allow doctors to prescribe the best medication for their patients, without the influence of drug companies. The amendment will also protect patients’ confidential prescription drug records, and increase access to cheaper generic drugs. Three states have already passed such laws.
2. Consumer Costs and Plans Protection (TURNED INTO 90 DAY NOTICE BEFORE CHANGES CAN BE MADE) Consumers must have confidence that when they sign up for a health insurance plan, the dependability of the costs and coverage will not be subject to the whim of the health insurance company. If the consumer cannot quit the insurance company part of the way through the year, the insurance company should not be able to raise the premium or take a drug off the formulary or reduce coverage of an illness. If the patient has to commit, so should the insurance company.
My amendment protects consumers by prohibiting insurance companies from changing the coverage or increasing costs in the middle of a plan year. This is a pro-consumer amendment that protects Americans and ensures that health insurance companies hold up their end of the bargain.
3. Physicians Participating in Different Networks (RETAINED) Oftentimes, when consumers are weighing their health insurance options, they are reluctant to change insurance providers for fear that they will lose access to their doctor of choice. Currently, in order to find out whether a doctor is covered in a given insurance plan, a patient has to dig through the details of every plan. But if there was an easy way to know which networks a given doctor participates in, the patient could identify their options much more easily, increasing patient choice and insurance company competition. If the insurance they choose does not include a physician in-network, the consumer will incur additional costs.
This amendment makes it easier for consumers to compare health insurance plans by requiring the online Exchange, the portal through which all non-employer health insurance plans will be offered, to enable Americans to easily see all the insurance plans that include a given doctor in their network. The consumer will be able to simply click on their doctor’s name and receive a list of insurance plans that include that doctor in-network. It will help customers better understand which insurance plan is right for them.
4. Integrative Health Care (STRIPPED) A 2008 study by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that 38% of American adults used some form of alternative medicine to meet their health care needs; however, access to these services is limited because of lack of insurance coverage of these safe, cost-effective and clinically effective medical approaches.
As more and more Americans turn to alternative medical therapies to meet their medical needs, any reform of the health care system must address this and ensure that someone’s access to these therapies is not limited by their financial situation.
This amendment guarantees that a practitioner of integrative medicine is one of the people that decides the minimum required benefit package. It also creates a task force of integrative medicine practitioners to help inform the decision makers about what should be covered. Finally, it requires that when a patient goes to the Exchange website and looks up doctors, practitioners of integrative medicine are easily identifiable.
5. Administrative Cost Transparency (STRIPPED) In the mid 90’s, approximately 95 cents out of every health care dollar spent went to actual medical costs. Today, approximately 69 cents of every dollar gets spent on health care. At the same time, health care costs have skyrocketed. So at the same time the costs have increased, more and more money is siphoned off for expenses other than care. Consumers have a right to know where all this additional money is going.
My amendment adds advertising costs, marketing costs, and executive compensation to the list of information that must be disclosed by health insurance providers to the Commissioner.
Advertising costs and marketing costs serve no other purpose than to inflate profits. They are used to target healthy and therefore profitable populations, leaving the sick and least profitable to other plans – usually public plans. Consumers should know how much of their hard-earned dollars is spent on profiteering. This amendment would be a useful tool in holding health insurance providers to account for these substantial increases to their prices and premiums.
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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
He admitted nearly 9,000 in Washington last week.While a little short of Fox's 1 million he admitted they have a right to protest, though yelling is not the answer.
I thought that Park Services gives the estimate????
He admitted nearly 9,000 in Washington last week.While a little short of Fox's 1 million he admitted they have a right to protest, though yelling is not the answer.
Last week's estimates, from what I heard, were 20,000-50,000. I don't recall hearing anyone make a 1 million claim. Now, on the 9/12 rally, I've heard numbers as high as 2.5 million.
Jim O'Bryan wrote:Roy
I will check the tape later, but pretty sure he used the proper term which would be tea baggers.
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I would not consider that the proper term and, in fact, 'tea bagging' has been used as an insult by the media against those people attending rallies. If you don't know why, I recommend checking the Urban Dictionary.
Yes Roy, I did edit your post. If anyone is at all confused about the above mentioned term feel free to google it on your own. However be warned, it will offend some...
Jim DeVito wrote:Yes Roy, I did edit your post. If anyone is at all confused about the above mentioned term feel free to google it on your own. However be warned, it will offend some...
I have no qualms about the post being edited to remove the direct link. Thank you for helping me show my point.
I wonder if Kucinich (and to a degree Mr. O'Bryan for calling it "the proper term") truly understood what he was saying when he made that comment.
I'd still like confirmation on this. Hey, post the audio, I'd love to hear the whole press conference.
Roy Pitchford wrote:Hey, post the audio, I'd love to hear the whole press conference.
Roy
Let me try and upload it later.
My bad.
"People better start listening to the Tea Partyers, they are a growing number from the left and right that are tired of the US Government spending their money, especially with little or nothing to show for it."
Did I miss something?
What is the big fuss?
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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Stephen Eisel wrote:Roy, maybe we should organize a tea bag party for Dennis. We could probably get a couple of hundred of people to mail him a tea bag or two...
If they are sent to Washington, he'll never see them. That little incident with the Ricin made the congressional mail offices much more wary of foreign substances in envelopes.
I think there would be a more significant impact if it was a few hundred people visiting his local offices.
