We owe a big thank you today to Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez who today, together with the rest of the House Hispanic Caucus, announced his intent to vote for the Democratic healthcare reform bill when it comes to the floor, possibly as soon as Sunday. Representative Gutierrez had been hesitating to offer his support for the plan because of its ban on undocumented immigrants buying into the plan, and because of the administration’s failure to push aggressively for immigration reform during the President’s first year in office. We too are disappointed on both fronts but we think that Rep. Gutierrez chose the best course in agreeing to vote for healthcare reform. We fear that a defeat on the present healthcare plan, with all of its weaknesses, would not only set the cause of improving our healthcare system back by years, but would probably jeopardize any chance of movement on immigration reform for the foreseeable future. We thank Representative Gutierrez for his vote and for his determined efforts on behalf of justice for immigrants. I’d encourage you to call and thank him but the best thanks is probably to give his staff a break from phone calls.
Republican Peter Roskam is another story. Roskam appears to be unbending in his decision to vote against increased access to healthcare for residents of the sixth district. Indeed, Roskam today unveiled a new talking point on Twitter designed to work the anti-statist teabaggers up into a frenzy: that healthcare reform will give enormous new powers to the Internal Revenue Service and that we will all be soon set upon by an army of 16,000 new auditors. We find Roskam’s anti-IRS rhetoric a tad frightening in light of the recent suicide attack on the IRS facility in Austin.
Roskam had to change his tactic todaywhen the Congressional Budget Office today released its scoring of the Democratic bill, making ridiculous Roskam’s claims that it would increase the debt. The CBO found that the bill actually REDUCES deficits by $130 billion over the first 10 years, and by a staggering $1.2 trillion over the second 10 years. This while providing an additional 32 million Americans with coverage and eliminating the worry of denials based upon pre-existing conditions. Plus the seniors who Roskam has been trying scare about Medicare cuts will have their prescription drug doughnut hole, a gift from President Bush and the last Republican Congress, closed, making their prescriptions more affordable and thereby preventing avoidable hospitalizations related to drug non-compliance.
Peter Roskam is on the wrong side of history in his opposition to this bill.
There is no uncertainty what Peter Roskam will do when the Democratic healthcare reform package comes to a vote, probably later this week. Roskam will vote “no”. Roskam vote will be just the culmination of a year of effort on his part to block the President and Congress from doing anything meaningful to help Illinois residents who are suffering because the can’t afford to purchase healthcare insurance, because they have a pre-existing condition that makes getting coverage impossible, or because the insurance they have won’t pay for the care they need.
Roskam has not only argued against healthcare reform in Committee and on the House floor. No, rather than listen to his constituents and understand their needs, he has undertaken an intensive misinformation campaign designed to promote fear and confusion about the Democratic plans amongst his constituency. And he has used your tax dollars in this war of deception, spending them on huge volumes of direct mail, robo-calls, and town hall meetings designed only to air his point of view. Why is he doing this? First and foremost to cause the President to fail for political gain – a failure on health reform may make other Democratic reforms on immigration and finance more difficult and improve Republican prospects in the 2010 election. And, of course, because it is the will of the big insurance companies who help fund his campaign.
If Roskam is successful in his efforts, and the Democratic healthcare plan fails, thousands will continue to die and suffer needlessly due to lack of care. The bill that is expected to emerge this week will not be a perfect solution. A single-payer plan or national health service would do more to improve quality and reduce costs, but this is a huge first step.
More troubling than Roskam sure “no” vote at this point is an expected “no” vote by Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez, of the 4th Congressional District in Chicago. Representative Gutierrez is a fine and principled legislator who is an outspoken advocate for badly-needed immigration reform. Representative Gutierrez is rightly upset that the healthcare reform plan on the table would exclude undocumented immigrants from coverage. This exclusion is not merely unjust, it is also bad policy. It will continue to force undocumented immigrants to use emergencies rooms for care. Care rendered will be less effective and more expensive than it would if these workers were included in reform plans. And undocumented workers tend to be younger and healthier than the population at large so their addition to risk pools could reduce premiums for everyone.
Representative Gutierrez is also upset because he feels that President Obama abandoned his pledge to make immigration reform a top priority during his first year in office. We too are disappointed, but I’m not sure that candidate Obama had any real sense of how difficult the healthcare fight would be or of the depths to which the Republican Party would sink in obstructing the Democratic agenda. We think it unlikely that the President could have, practically speaking, advanced immigration reform during the first year but we don’t see that as an abandonment by the President of the cause.
But whether that is true or not, we feel certain that Representative Gutierrez has the potential to kill both immigration reform and healthcare reform in one fell swoop, along with the rest of the Democratic agenda, if he casts a “no” vote on healthcare reform as he has suggested he may do. If healthcare reform fails, we believe that it is over. Neither immigration reform nor any other progressive reform is likely to go anywhere, and Representative Gutierrez will likely end up fighting for immigration justice with a Republican Congress and a Republican President hostile to immigrants.
So, Illinois, Peter Roskam already has his mind made up. Calling him will do you know good. Please call Representative Gutierrez instead and thank him for standing up for immigrants while asking him to change his mind and vote “yes” on healthcare reform. His contact information can be found here.
Republican Representative Peter Roskam appeared on the ever “fair and balanced” Fox and Friends this past Friday morning for another of his Fox-facilitated rants on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic partisanship. Take a look:
Roskam’s villainization of Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic efforts to achieve universal healthcare coverage is laughable.
Back in early 2009, after President Obama was sworn in, national support for healthcare reform was high. A CNN/Opinion Research Survey conducted in February 2009 found that 72% of Americans favored an increased roll for the government in healthcare, with 60% believing that the government should provide health insurance or healthcare to all Americans. In a Kaiser Foundation poll conducted the same month, 62% of respondents felt it was more important than ever to take on healthcare reform now and 72% of respondents trusted the recommendations of President Obama on healthcare reform. Even as late as June of 2009, in a Employee Benefit Research Institute poll, 83% of respondents favored a new government healthcare plan that anyone can purchase.
So Americans wanted healthcare reform and they even liked the idea of a public plan, and that left Roskam and the Reublicans in Congress with a dilemma. For political reasons, they needed Obama and the Democrats to fail so that Republican prospects would be better in the 2010 mid-term elections and beyond. And they needed to satisfy their financial backers in the big business lobbies and the healthcare companies that were opposed to reform. Last summer, Peter Roskam’s friend in the Senate, Jim DeMint, famously announced the GOP intent to have healthcare reform become President Obama’s “Waterloo”.
But how do you kill a popular program? The GOP decided to play on its strengths: to lie and sow fear and confusion about Democratic reform plans. And so they embarked on a campaign of misinformation.
They engaged spin doctor Frank Luntz to craft talking points designed to scare the public about healthcare reform. The organized astroturf groups to spread misinformation and to fund and fan the flames of the paranoid, racist Tea Party movement. They used Republican-controlled Fox News to blare their anti-reform message 24 hours a day. And GOP members took to the airwaves themselves spouting lies about death panels, massive cuts to Medicare, uncontrolled spending, and a government takeover of healthcare complete with rationing.
Peter Roskam has been an enthusiastic participant in all of this. He’s been on local an national media constantly promulgating these lies and even used over a million dollars of taxpayer funds to blanket homes in the district with mailers – an average of about 11 per household in the 3rd quarter – as part of this partisan campaign.
Naturally, people are now suspicious.
Now the GOP has shifted to playing the role of being helpless victims of extreme Democratic partisanship. President Obama has offered a summit on healthcare in response to their pleas to be listened to and now, laughably, they are calling it a trap:
Peter Roskam and the GOP are liars. They are lying to kill healthcare reform because they want the President to fail and because their big corporate donors don’t want reform. And if their efforts to kill reform succeed, then Americans will continue to suffer and die for lack of coverage. And they are still gleeful about what they have done.
Because the GOP have demonstrated their unwillingness to be honest participants in formulating a workable reform plan, Democrats should make every effort possible to pass reform by reconciliation, ignoring the continued GOP effort to sabotage the process.
Peter Roskam’s conduct in all of this has been reprehensible – adolescent if not sociopathic. I sincerely hope that voters will see that and replace him this fall.
Humiliated by his recent fruitless efforts to frighten Illinois residents about the proposed use of the Thomson Correctional Center to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Peter Roskam today redirected his efforts back to scaring Illinois residents about healthcare reform. Essentially his argument is that if the government gives you healthcare, you’ll lose your job.
Roskam appeared today on the friendly Fox network touting a report from the Illinois Policy Institute, which he calls a “non-partisan think tank”, that indicates that Illinois will lose 169,000 job if health reform is passed. Roskam is asked directly two times to explain the mechanism for this job loss but doesn’t really do so. Instead he rants about Illinois unemployment rates exceeding the Obama administration estimates. Here’s the video:
As is typical with Roskam, what comes out of his mouth is only peripherally related to the truth. The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) likes to style itself as a “non-partisan research organization, but what it really is is an ideologically-driven advocacy group. They work for economic deregulation, regressive tax policy, and other right-wing causes, and against policies that benefit working people, like a fair minimum wage . They are also an “astroturf” group – organizing so-called “grass roots” efforts from the top down via their Liberty Leaders program, hardly a non-partisan effort. The group is secretive about its funding sources, saying only that the organization “welcomes donations from individuals, foundations, and other organizations that support free market principles”. According to Sourcewatch, they have received funding from the CATO Institute.
And they are connected with the teabagger movement. Both CEO John Tilliman and Executive Vice-president Kristina Rasmussen spoke at the April 15th teabagger event in Chicago. And that is fine, but please don’t insult our intelligence bby call this a “non-partisan think tank”.
The IPI, apparently being a think-tank unprepared to do its own thinking brought in a hired gun to write the report Roskam refers to: Adding Insult to Injury. The scholar in question is discredited economist Arthur Laffer, seen in the following video scoffing at fellow economist Peter Schiff’s prediction of an impending economic collapse on CNBC in August 2006:
Laffer is, of course, more famous for his role in the development of Reagonomics in the 1980s. His theory known as the “Laffer Curve” proposed that lowering taxes on the wealthy would result in increased tax revenues and a balanced budget. It didn’t work out and Reagan saddled his successor, Bill Clinton, with an enormous deficit, which Clinton fixed, only to have another Republican President, George W. Bush, reapply the failed policy with a vengeance, leaving us in the enormous mess we’re in today.
Not suprisingly, Laffer’s report finds that instead of the Democratic reform proposals we should instead de-regulate the insurance industry and implement tort reform, proposals that will, have talked about here before, do nothing to resolve the problem of the uninsured and instead will result in higher premiums and lower benefits for those lucky enough to have insurance at all as state-imposed benefit mandates and rate regulations are castrated. Meanwhile, the giant healthcare corporations will be given immunity from lawsuits, leaving consumers little recourse when they are harmed by sub-standard care.
I find it very sad and infuriating to see our Representative Peter Roskam, who is supposed to be listening to us and advocating for our interests in Washington, instead engaging in this never-ending marketing campaign aimed at killing any chance that those in his district who presently do not have access to healthcare will be given an affordable solution. It really is time for Roskam to be replaced.
Earlier today, Republican Congressman Peter Roskam voted to cut Medicare payments to physicians, putting at risk access to care and choice of physician for the nations senior citizens, for disabled persons served by Medicare, and for families of U.S. military personnel receiving care through TRICARE, the health care program serving active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees, and their families and survivors. It was just Peter Roskam’s way of saying thank you to the nation’s elders and soldiers for their hard work and sacrifices for their country, and thank you to the nation’s physicians as well for their efforts on behalf of their patients.
The vote was on H.R.3961 – Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009. Congressional action was required on this bill to prevent physicians caring for seniors and military families from receiving a 21%pay cut in 2010. Such a drastic cut in physician reimbursement would force many physicians caring for seniors and for military families to stop accepting such patients or dratically cut back on the number of physicians. This would result in many patients losing access to their physician of choice and perhaps losing access to care altogether. Roskam himself described the access problem in a letter attacking similar impending cuts back in 2008:
“Despite the rising costs of living, Congress is unwisely poised to cut Medicare payments for physicians, severely limiting access to medical care for an ever growing senior population,” said Roskam. “If such cuts are enacted, Illinois will lose $510 million for the care of elderly and disabled patients over the next year, and $10 billion over eight years. It is my sincere hope the bipartisan support from many of my fellow colleagues will help restore this funding, insuring that Medicare patients can find physicians in their community with the financial ability to treat them.”
Medicare seniors look to their doctor as the key professional in charge of their care. Every aspect of our health care system from hospitals to rural health clinics relies upon the skills and services of physicians. A stable payment structure for physician services is critical. The impending cuts will only destabilize the Medicare program and jeopardize all patients’ access to care if not addressed in a thoughtful manner. It is critical that we work together in a bipartisan fashion to enact legislation early in this year to stop the Medicare cuts.
So Roskam’s support of pay cuts to doctors this time around is based in his obstructive partisanship rather than good policy and he is willing to let everyone suffer for it. DuPage County Seniors, families of servicemen, and physicians should take note of this vote and remember it next fall.
Fortunately, Peter Roskam did not get his way. H.R. 3961 passed by a vote of 243-183. Only a single Republican voted for the bill: Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas. We see once again that all the Republican protestations about supporting the troops are really just so much hot air.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement on the passage of H.R. 3961:
“Strengthening Medicare for generations to come is essential to our efforts to reforming health care for all Americans. This legislation will permanently improve the way Medicare pays physicians and in doing so, guarantee that America’s seniors will continue to have access to excellent care through Medicare.
“This legislation is a top priority for seniors and was endorsed by the AARP and the American Medical Association because it protects seniors’ access to their doctor, promotes primary care, and offers incentives for doctors to provide patients with higher quality and more efficient care. Today’s vote by the House keeps our promise to strengthen Medicare, never weaken it.
“As this legislation heads to the Senate, the statutory ‘pay as you go’ budget bill will be added to ensure that we put our nation back on a path of fiscal responsibility and begin to bring down the deep deficits that face our nation.”
Our Republican Congressman Peter Roskam appeared on WLS AM’s Roe Conn show this afternoon continuing his aggressive campaign to block any meaningful healthcare reform legislation. Here’s the audio:
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Roskam is obviously pretty pleased with himself about his little theatrical performance with the handcuffs on the House floor the other day. Its a shame we have a Congressman who constantly resorts to stunts and party talking points to scare his constituents rather than engage in serious efforts to resolve the issues that are making their lives difficult. If Roskam gets his way on healthcare, it won’t be long until members of Congress are the only Americans who will be able to afford adequate care.
Roskam’s latest scare tactic is to talk about the individual mandate provision in the House bill that was passed on Saturday. The Republican party has decided that scaring the public about individual mandates to purchase healthcare insurance is the best means they have to kill health reform and Old Rubber Stamp has been quick to take that message on the road. It wasn’t too long ago though that Republican leaders were talking about individual mandates as being a good thing – ensuring individual responsibility. Watch Republican Senator Charles Grassley extol the virtues of individual mandates on Fox News:
Individual mandates are a good thing because, without them, the cost of caring for people without insurance in emergency rooms raises the cost of health insurance for the rest of us – maybe as much as $1800 per year. People who can afford to obtain health insurance must do so as a matter of responsibility. Grassley says: “I believe there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates.”
And listen to these guys talk about mandates – 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Grassley again, Republican Senator Bob Bennett, Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, and former Republican Senate Majority leader Bill Frist:
But now Senators Grassley and Snowe and the rest of the party are opposing mandates. Grassley is questioning their constitutionality. Roskam is pulling out his handcuffs. What happened?
Well a couple of things, I think. As I have already suggested, the Republican Party has determined that this is the best strategy to kill health reform and cause the Democrats in Congress and the President to fail, and that is what they want more than anything else, even if it means the American people continue to suffer due to unmanageable healthcare expenses and lack of access to care. I think the other thing that’s operating here is the Democratic bill’s inclusion of effective insurance regulatory reform. Republicans would probably be very happy with mandates in a reform bill, if it didn’t come from the Democrats, and if it included massive insurance de-regulation as the present, Republican alternative bill does, without any public option to compete with private insurers. The health insurance industry supported mandates and have donated heavily to Republicans to get them included in any reform plan. But the public option was a buzzkill and so Republicans have reversed and are now attacking mandates.
The health insurance industry is isn’t anything like the bogeyman that some on the left portray it it to be. It’s like any industry looking after its stockholders first and foremost, but trying to be competitive by offering a high-quality high-value product that consumers and employers will want to buy. The companies are staffed by honorable people who subscribe to the same plans that they sell. Most of the horror stories in the media involve gross distortions of insurers role in medical decision making and the size of the profit margins that companies earn on their products.
Because health insurers have built-in incentives to control medical cost while maintaining quality of care, I believe it is possible, and perhaps desirable, to build an effective universal coverage plan based the private sector. But such a plan can only succeed in providing affordable universal coverage if there are effective individual and employer mandates, strong industry regulation, and a public option to fill in the gaps. Far from destroying, the private sector, CBO estimates that millions more Americans will obtain private coverage under the Democratic plan. And Roskam’s lies to the contrary, this plan does not involve the government taking control over 1/6 of the economy. Nothing changes hands. There is no nationalization of physician practices or hospitals or insurance companies. All that stays as it is now, in the private sector. This is not communism no matter what the teabaggers signs may say.
If the Republicans reject the individual mandate, there is still another option – single payer. But of course they reject that as well. They want only for reform to fail.
Rather than work seriously toward and effective solution to the nation’s healthcare crisis, Roskam and his Republican colleagues have offered a phony reform plan based in medical malpractice caps and insurance de-regulation that will do nothing to increase the proportion of Americans with health coverage based on CBO analysis. And if you like what Republican de-regulation has done for the banking industry, you’ll love what it does for healthcare.
One more point of correction for Peter Roskam on his statements on the radio today – Senator Lieberman has no conscience.
