Obama applauds health industry

[SHRED]

Well folks...it looks like we Progressive Democrats are fucked.

The President is applauding the thieving, murdering profiteers.
$2 trillion over 10 years?
Chicken feed.

:banghead:



Obama applauds health industry
Representatives vow to cut costs in overhaul effort
By Erica Werner
2:00 a.m. May 12, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama praised the health care industry's promise yesterday to cut $2 trillion in costs over 10 years, taking a sharply different course than President Bill Clinton did 16 years ago in an opening bid to overhaul the system.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/12/1n12health004040-obama-applauds-health-industry/?news

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[ProSense]

1. Save some of the head banging for when you read this:

Harry, Louise and Barack

Is this the end for Harry and Louise?

<...>

Six major industry players — including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a descendant of the lobbying group that spawned Harry and Louise — have sent a letter to President Obama sketching out a plan to control health care costs. What’s more, the letter implicitly endorses much of what administration officials have been saying about health economics.

Are there reasons to be suspicious about this gift? You bet — and I’ll get to that in a bit. But first things first: on the face of it, this is tremendously good news.

<...>

I would strongly urge the Obama administration to hang tough in the bargaining ahead. In particular, AHIP will surely try to use the good will created by its stance on cost control to kill an important part of health reform: giving Americans the choice of buying into a public insurance plan as an alternative to private insurers. The administration should not give in on this point.

But let me not be too negative. The fact that the medical-industrial complex is trying to shape health care reform rather than block it is a tremendously good omen. It looks as if America may finally get what every other advanced country already has: a system that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens.

And serious cost control would change everything, not just for health care, but for America’s fiscal future. As Mr. Orszag has emphasized, rising health care costs are the main reason long-run budget projections look so grim. Slow the rate at which those costs rise, and the future will look far brighter.

I still won’t count my health care chickens until they’re hatched. But this is some of the best policy news I’ve heard in a long time.

(emphasis added)

[dflprincess]

3. It isn't rising health care costs - it's rising health insurance premiums

and rising health insurance company profits that broke the system. The fact that "the medical-industrial complex is trying to shape health care reform rather than block it" is not a tremendously good omen. They don't give a damn about whether or not we have healthcare all they care about is that they don't lose their gravy train.

Anyone who trusts these crooks is an idiot or dishonest.

[BlooInBloo]

5. So which is Obama?

[ProSense]

7. Disagree, this is a good thing.

What we have here is the health insurance industry desperately trying to appease the administration in light of the health care reform debate, which is focused on a public option. The thing is there are some people who want to keep there current plans, and holding the insurance companies to any concessions they make will benefit those people.

[dflprincess]

10. The health insurance industry is not desperate

they know they've shoveled enough bribe money into DC that nothing that dire will happen to their profits.

Obama is not focused on a public option. In his town hall several weeks ago he mentioned a public option as something that would be available for people who could not get insurance any where else and single out those with pre-existing conditions as who he was thinking of. If he plans to limit the public option only to those who are already sick, he's setting it up for failure and protecting his pals in the insurance industry by allowing them to continue to insure those who are less apt to file expensive claims.

Expecting the people who broke the system to fix makes no sense at all - but at least the DLC types will be happy and those "campaign contributions" will keep flowing.

[SHRED]

8. I have never read such a lousy Krugman article

[BlooInBloo]

4. Don't bother. They only like Krugman when he's critical of Obama.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. OR.......

Does anybody else think that maybe.......just maybe........Obama is the playing them a bit (e.g. getting them to lower their guard a bit)? If he takes a full court "balls to the walls" approach, how much more than Bill Clinton is he- us- going to accomplish? I'm not convinced that we've been sold down the river............yet.

[SHRED]

6. interesting point...I hope it is true

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. Me too

My expectations have been lowered a bit but if he and Congress (the Democrats, anyway) can come up with some kind of public/private reforms, then I will feel satisfied. I think that his insistence on allowing people to keep their (crappy) private insurance if they want to combined with providing a public option for those of us who want a "socialized" option is the best way to go for now and it takes some of the wind out of the opponent's previous complaints about being forced into a government-run system. If we get something resembling this, I'll feel plenty satisfied. At this point, ANYTHING (provided that it doesn't end up being a bunch of empty gestures and "window dressing" on the current private system) has GOT to better than the absolute clusterf**k of a "health care system" we have now.

[Honeycombe8]

11. I think that, cautiously, this should be viewed as a good thing. It is NOT the HC reform act.

But it is the ins. industry MAYBE recognizing that reform is coming, so they want to make sure they have the good will of the W.H. maybe? Ensure they get a seat at the table, maybe?

Maybe they have something up their sleeve. Time will tell.

But cutting growth of costs is a good thing. And if they don't cut the growth, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We didn't pay anything for it.

Now, let's see how the reform act shakes out. That's what really matters.

[dflprincess]

12. If they don't cut the costs, yes we will pay for it

either through premiums or with our health as they cover less and less. As far as what they may have up their sleeve? I'd bet it's a check and they just need to know who to make it out to.

[Honeycombe8]

13. But that's what we have NOW (the increasing costs). So if they DON'T cut

the growth, we are no worse off, is what I mean.

It's a good thing that an industry comes forth and says it will cut growth of costs w/o cutting benefits. I'm suspicious of it, the insurance industry being what it is.

But it's POSSIBLE they recognize they're in trouble so they're trying to stem the tidal wave that's heading their way. We'll see.

[dflprincess]

14. They're playing us

they know they own enough politicians in Washington that this is not going to cost them one dime in profit. Obama and the insurance companies are just putting on show to make us think something might change. Obama doesn't support single payer and he's backed way off on any kind of a public option.

Look at the way Baucus is running his hearings - he doesn't ever bother to pretend he hasn't been bought - maybe we should give him credit for at least being honest about that.

[uponit7771]

15. How is this a bad thing? Come on, lets stop the knee jerking, that has NOT gotten better...

...since January and some people will never confront those who do it.