This radio spot is part of a new push by the Employment Policies Institute to support their "Rethink Reform" website - while there's no mention of these radio ads in their releases, they are promoting their Fox News commercial and print ads. Mr. Berman has recently published several guest columns in papers around the country, including this one in the Times of Northwest Indiana:
But calls to force all employers to pay for health insurance are misguided: not every company has a profit margin that can afford to pay those costs. A payment mandate would often cause more unemployment (increasing the number of uninsured).
Mr. Berman neglects to point out that the only support for this notion comes from a highly criticized study his front group pushed out over the summer. The rest of his piece is more of the same obfuscation and lies that we heard all summer from other lobbyists and front groups.
The radio ad specifically claims that the healthcare reforms being considered would raise rates on Hoosier families, encourage businesses to dump their employees' health coverage, and slash Medicare benefits. Each of these is just blatantly wrong.
Starting in August, the GOP apparently - and suddenly - became stalwart defenders of Medicare. Republican chairman Michael Steele unveiled a new "Seniors Bill of Rights", vowing to protect Medicare from cuts during the health reform debate. Indiana's Mike Pence was at the forefront of this GOP push, urging his house colleagues to avoid
''harmful cuts'' to Medicare that would ''result in millions of seniors losing their health coverage.'' [1]
What Mike Pence hasn't thought to mention lately is that in April 2009, he - along with fellow Hoosier Republicans Dan Burton and Steve Buyer - voted to kill Medicare. Not to cut its funding or to limit its benefits, but to end the Medicare program, leaving elderly Americans to the whims of Wall Street insurers.
In April, during the budget hearings, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced an "alternative" GOP budget document. This plan called for the elimination of Medicare and providing subsidies so that those 65 and older could buy a private insurance plan. In all, 137 Republicans were willing to vote for a budget that killed Medicare. (The only member of the Hoosier GOP delegation to vote against the bill was Mark Souder.)
Do Hoosiers actually believe that, in less than six months, Mike Pence has gone from wanting to kill Medicare to wanting to "protect" it from plans that would reduce waste and fraud? Of course not - we can see through his political opportunism in opposing Obama, even when it means opposing the positions he took just months earlier. But it's still sad to see a Hoosier give in to beltway thinking.
According to Countdown's Keith Olbermann, at least, Mike Pence was the worst person in the world on Friday, September 4, 2009.
In a meeting with constituents, ostensibly about healthcare, Mike Pence thanked a woman for comparing proponents of healthcare reform to Adolf Hitler. This exchange was first caught over at Think Progress, and noted in several places.
GOP values, as epitomized by Mike Pence: laughing at religious values while embracing Hitler comparisons.
Update: Only days after thanking a woman for her Hitler comparison, Mike Pence has called on himself an advisor at the White House Office of Environmental Quality to resign, saying:
"His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate."
[Update: The Herald Times UStream feed was archived - I've embedded the video after the jump.]
A few notes from Baron Hill's health care forum/town hall in Bloomington this evening:
Baron Hill and Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan entered to a remarkably loud round of applause. Kruzan gave Baron a pretty good intro, and tried to emphasize the need for civility.
Both times a single-payer/Medicare-for-all system was mentioned, loud rounds of applause broke out. (Nothing like that for a public option.)
Dr. Rob Stone, head of single-payer advocates Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan, received a big round of applause when Baron called on him for a question.
In response to Dr. Stone's question, Baron said that the public option has "about a 50/50 chance" of surviving.
A small business owner, frustrated with the increasing costs of healthcare, offered to cut an extra $1000 check for taxes on the spot, if Baron could guarantee a public health plan. He was rewarded with a standing ovation.
A woman shared a heartbreaking story about her parents divorcing when she was young so that her mom could qualify for Medicaid and her family could avoid inevitable bankruptcy. She was booed.
There was a moderate amount of shouting and booing throughout, but not the kind of really wholesale disruptiveness that the TV stations seem to love.
Baron started by trying to dispel some myths, quoting from T.R. Reid's piece in the Washington Post - "5 Myths About Health Care Around the World". This didn't stop people from talking and asking about these debunked insurance-issued talking points.
A majority of the questions and comments revolved around cost. I thought Baron did a pretty decent job talking about the projected savings from cutting waste and inefficiency, and the need to supplement that with taxes on the extremely wealthy. Despite his repeated answers, the same questions just kept popping up.
Baron revealed that he's not on the Congressional health plan, but on his wife's plan. However, when his wife retires soon, they have to make some tough decisions. He wants to make a choice on the proposed Exchange.
Baron repeatedly sought out questions from those who oppose reform, and made fun of the conspiracy theorists at Hoosier Access when he called on someone wearing a green shirt.
So, while there was nothing quite as entertaining as the chants of "Where's Evan Bayh?" from Monday's OFA rally at IUPUI, it was a pretty worthwhile evening of politics. I'll link to videos if anyone captured the stream from UStream (no video was allowed inside.)
Please go if you can; I am on the other side of the world so I won't be able to.
What: Congressman Pete Visclosky town-hall meeting
When: August 3, 2009 6:30 PM (Central time)
Where: Westchester Library Service Center, 100 West Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, IN
It is important that we use this event to show the strength of support for real healthcare reform. The other side will be there, and their voices must not go unanswered.
On May 20, Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan (HCHP) (and Citizens Action Coalition, another fine organization) organized a statewide rally for universal healthcare at Monument Circle in downtown Indy. The Economist was among many media outlets that covered the event. (The Star's coverage, however, was limited to the last graf in an article about the Wellpoint shareholders meeting[1], and an opinion piece[2] dated today.) That rally serves as the opening for The Economist's nuanced story on the likelihood of healthcare reform in the US.
The Economist piece also includes a few few insights into how Hoosier politicians are playing into the healthcare fight. Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09) appears to be stalling on setting up a meeting between HCHP's Dr. Rob Stone and the Blue Dog Coalition:
Mr Stone has run up small victories in the past year. In January the city council of New Albany, in the conservative southern part of the state, passed a resolution supporting a single-payer health plan. But Mr Stone has been unable to persuade many of the state's senior Democratic politicians to endorse the idea. Baron Hill, a Democratic congressman who represents the southern part of the state, has sounded sympathetic, and has even invited Mr Stone to address the Blue Dogs caucus of fiscally conservative Democratic congressmen. But, to Mr Stone's frustration, he has yet to set a date. Government-run health care is still anathema to many Americans. Mr Stone received a reminder of that the day before the rally; a vitriolic letter decrying "so many socialist if not communist [sic] working against the best social economic and progressive system in the world, capitalism."
As co-chair for policy for the Blue Dogs, Baron Hill should be bringing this information to the group.
Luke Kenley, an influential state senator from Indiana, sees a philosophical divide along generational lines. People over 50, such as himself, "have a great comfort level with the American free-enterprise system", and recognise the current turmoil as the marketplace correcting its own previous excesses.
But his own grown-up children do not share that faith. His son John, a lawyer aged 38, suggests that "Reagan had a time and a place, but those messages don't resonate." The disaster in the housing and mortgage markets shows that free markets don't always get incentives right or generate the information people need to make wise decisions. There may be times, he adds, when government is better suited to giving people the information they need.
The Economist also includes one of the most dubious (and unlikely) statements of all time, saying that Bush's Man Mitch has a "has a more nuanced view" than Kenley. The quotation that follows is far from evidence of this, though, as Daniels basically restates what Kenley and Pew Research argued earlier in the piece.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Here in Monroe County, we've had a few bold plans lately, but this one is a perfect example of what progressive thinking can do for local government.
On Tuesday, former County Council president Mark Stoops won his bid to run for County Commissioner. Mark has run on a number of progressive issues, but his boldest proposal is a single-payer health system for Monroe County.
Here's an excerpt from his press release on the subject:
All local government units and larger not-for-profits have their own insurance plans and groups - Monroe County government, City of Bloomington, IU, Monroe County Schools, Richland-Bean Blossom Schools, Ivy Tech, Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington Hospital. United Way has a nice pool of organizations covering 700-800 people. The list goes on and on. Dozens of separate groups representing thousands of local people.
There is no reason, except for a lack of political will, that local government units and not-for-profits cannot pool their employees and create an efficient, low-cost, administrative agency. The savings on administration alone would be greater than 10%. That is 10% savings on millions and millions of dollars.
Once an initial larger pool is created, the lower cost would encourage still more participation by local, large employers. At that point, the economies of scale and dilution of risk would allow us to offer the plan to small businesses and individuals in the community.
The plan is designed to go in phases - after a study commission can run the numbers, it would first include all the governmental units. As it was pointed out, there are numerous benefits to making the administrative agency a separate, nonprofit entity, as it would allow state organizations (like IU) to join without any major legislative changes needed from the General Assembly.
(I bumped the earlier diary on this topic, so I thought I would throw this to the front page for those who were interested. Thanks to BrianK for the update. - promoted by Thomas)
In a previous post, I wrote about SB 218, which would have created a commission to study single-payer healthcare in Indiana. Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan (HCHP) was encouraging members to contact Senator Patricia Miller, chair of the Health and Provider Services Committee, and encourage her to schedule a hearing on this bill.
In my email to Senator Miller, I argued that the fiscal threat to Hoosiers from healthcare was similar to the property tax "crisis" she has emphasized.
Her response was disappointing, to say the least. She argued that since Indiana has already passed the "Healthy Indiana Plan", there's no need to even schedule this bill for a hearing.
Senator Patricia Miller (317) 232-9400 (800) 382-9467 S32@in.gov http://www.in.gov/S32/
HCHP suggests contating Senator Miller's office, and also contacting your own Senator to encourage them to support this bill. You can see the email I sent to Senator Miller after the jump...
According to public, campaign finacning regulations tommorow, November 29th, is the last day to receive matching funds through public financing.
So if you make a contribution tonight or tommorow to Dennis Kucinich, this means that your $50 contribution becomes a $100 contribution, $200 equals $400 ... up to $250.
Blue Indiana brings us a great little piece of information this morning about Governor Mitch Daniels and the expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which recently passed Congress:
"I strongly urge the President to veto the SCHIP measure," Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana told me shortly after his luncheon address to the Midwest Republican Conference here.
Governor Daniels went on to say:
...that if the expanded program were ever to become law, "don't be surprised if we then have expansion into national health care."
OK, so Mitch is towing the Bush line, national health care bad, blah blah blah. He is a Republican after all. But then what about this jewel that was posted on his website this last May in regards to an expansion of SCHIP:
Study: Increased funding could create 4,564 jobs in Indiana
While the post is critical of some aspects of the SCHIP program, it's point, in big bold letters, is that an expansion of SCHIP will bring 4,564 new jobs to Indiana. It seems that Mitch wants to have it both ways.
So Mitch, which is it, create jobs or support the Pretzilnit?
(FYI for those of you in the area. - promoted by Thomas)
On the heels of the release of Michael Moore's documentary SiCKO, which I highly recommend, the monthly meeting of Democracy for Lake County will feature a presentation by State Representative and Chair of the State House Public Health Committee Charlie Brown. Representative Brown will tell us about the new Indiana Check Up Plan that was recently enacted as well as discuss the future of healthcare in Indiana.
The meeting will be on Thursday July 5th at Langel's Pizzeria in Highland at 7pm and is open to anyone that would like to attend.
As civilization presses ever onward, it becomes ever more important to keep pointing out the need for progressive values. As this video points out, tolerance, racial harmony, protecting the environment, education and healthcare will be even more important as the world moves forward.
All logos and trademarks in this site
are property of their respective owner.
The comments are property of their posters, and
all other site content may be used for any purpose
without explicit permission
unless otherwise specified.
