Jonathan Kantrowitz

I was not aware of what good work the House of Representatives is doing on health care because so much focus has been on the Senate. (The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s legislation is here.)

But the House version is looking good:

The Education and Labor Committee passed H.R. 3200 on July 17, 2009; the Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 3200 on July 17, 2009.

The Energy and Commerce Committee is currently marking up H.R. 3200. Tons of info and back-up on their site here.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released estimates confirming for the first time that H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, is deficit neutral over the 10-year budget window – and even produces a $6 billion surplus.

Here are some of the key provisions of America’s Affordable Health Choices Act:
• A tax surcharge would be imposed on individuals who earn more than $350,000.00. The surcharge would start at 1% and would increase up to 5.4% for those who have a modified adjusted gross income that exceeds $1 million.

• A non-compliance tax would be imposed on individuals who do not acquire an “acceptable health insurance policy” (as determined by a government committee) for themselves and their families. This proposed non-compliance tax would be 2.5% of adjusted gross income, which would be effective after December 31, 2012. (Certain persons, including nonresident aliens, would be exempted from individual taxes.)

• A non-compliance tax would be imposed on employers who do not provide their employees health care coverage which meets government-specified minimum coverage requirements. This noncompliance tax would equal 8% of the gross wages; it would be in addition to the social security tax and there would be no wage base limitation. (The Ways and Means Committee proposes an exception for small businesses that have an employee payroll of less than $400,000.00.) Coverage requirements would be mandated by a government committee, headed by a Health Commissioner who would be appointed by the president.

• The Commissioner would be empowered to establish qualified health benefits plan standards, establish and operate a Health Insurance Exchange and conduct compliance audits at random. (The person or entity being audited would be required to cover the Commissioner’s expenses.) The Commissioner also would be free to collect data for purposes of carrying out his or her duties.

• Individual states could establish health exchanges of their own, subject to providing “timely and reasonable notice to the Commissioner.” Such exchanges could be terminated at the Commissioner’s discretion.

• A public health insurance option would be established under the auspices of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Secretary would collect “such data as may be required” to establish premiums and “to reduce racial, ethnic, and other disparities in health and health care.” Premiums would be geographically adjusted and would comply with the premium rules established by the afore-mentioned Commissioner.

• The Treasury would appropriate “such sums as necessary” to cover the first 90 days worth of claims reserves based on projected enrollment.

• A physician or health care practitioner who agrees to participate in both Medicare and the public health insurance option would receive payments which are 5% greater than the rates paid to nonparticipating practitioners.

A very detailed side-by- side by the he Kaiser Family Foundation is here.

State Senator Dan Debicella quoted in the Connecticut Post:

“We need someone who is going to be a practical problem-solver to improve the quality of life for families in Fairfield County,” he said. “We need a congressperson who’s going to take a moderate course to actually get something done.”

I wonder what he thinks a freshman Republican in the heavily Democratic House of Representatives can get done, moderate course or not.

And I especially wonder what a “moderate course” is, given that he

1. Supported a Constitutional Convention:

“A constitutional convention would allow people to propose new legislation or turn over legislation,” Debicella said in a phone interview.

2. Was one of only 4 incumbent Senators endorsed by the FIC in 2008.

3. Was one of only three senators who voted no on a bill ensuring emergency contraception for rape victims when they request it, signed into law by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican.

I’m running for Constable on the Working Families Line in order to qualify the Working Families Party to cross-endorse Democrats in Fairfield in future elections without petitions. All I need and want is 1% of the vote. I picked Constable so that under no circumstance could I defeat a Democrat.

Dear Jim Himes:

I was wrong. I apologize.

I criticized you for your support of PayGO legislation. That was unfair. PAYGO is NOT a problem. It just appears to be.

Theoretically, pay-as-you-go requires that extra spending in one area must be offset by reducing spending elsewhere, raising taxes or sequestering funds. My problem was that I thought this would stymie progressive legislation because no one would vote to raise taxes or cut spending elsewhere. But Congress retains the power to waive PAYGO’s requirements whenever it wishes.

Moreover there are exemptions for “current policy adjustments.” These exemptions include Social Security payments, food stamps, Medicaid, most of Medicare, payments to federal retirees, the pay of the President and former Presidents, all discretionary (non-entitlement) spending, estate and gift taxes, the alternative minimum tax for individuals, the middle-income tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, anything designated as an “emergency”, children’s health, Pell Grants, all economic recovery programs, veterans’ benefits, and much more.

President Obama loves this bill. So does Nancy Pelosi:

We just heard from Mr. Baron Hill, an author of the legislation, a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition in the House. The Blue Dog Coalition came together with the organizing principle of fiscal responsibility. We all owe them a debt of gratitude because it has become the mantra of the Congress. We will not increase the deficit.

The House approved the bill by 265-166.

But it’s all appearances, folks. There is no there there. I’m not the only one who thinks so:

The Congressional Budget Office says the measure “would allow the Congress to enact legislation that would increase deficits by an amount in the vicinity of $3 trillion over the 2010–2019 period without triggering a sequestration.”

Washington Post columnist David Broder agrees that the loopholes are enormous. For example, he writes, “the 40 percent of the budget reflected in annual appropriations bills for ongoing or new government programs does not have to be paid for.”

The moderate Committee for a Responsible Budget outlines the exemptions and concludes, “By exempting such costly policies, this PAYGO legislation keeps us on an unsustainable fiscal path.”

The conservative House Republican Study Committee states, “The idea seems great on the surface, but the Democrat version of PAYGO is so riddled with loopholes and exemptions that it only continues the mockery of fiscal restraint this Congress has come to represent.”

PAYGO allows politicians to claim to be deficit hawks while actually doing whatever they want. So, OK Jim, go ahead and claim to be a deficit hawk – I won’t object anymore.

AARP is launching a new advertising campaign that will bust the myths some are spreading to frighten Americans, including false assertions that fixing the health care system will lead to rationed health care, a government takeover or even euthanasia.

“We won’t stand idle when opponents of health care reform attempt to scare or mislead the American people–and older Americans in particular–about what fixing the system really means,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. “The truth is we need to fix health care. It’s time for the public to get the real facts.”

AARP will combine this effort with grassroots action by millions of volunteers and activists. AARP members will visit their representatives and senators in their district offices and attend events in support of health care reform. The Association will also host more than 80 events across the country, including dozens of town hall meetings with legislators and community leaders. Will the wing-nuts try to shout down the AARP? Will they keep trying to keep the government out of Medicare (LOL)?

LeaMond added: “The opponents of reform will stop at nothing to derail the process and protect their own vested interests–even if it means misleading older Americans. We’re here to make sure everyone knows the facts and not the myths.”

One of AARP’s new print ads reads: “Special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform using myths and scare tactics. Like the myth that health care reform will give the government the power to make life-and-death decisions for everyone. That’s simply false. The fact is, no one, including the government or your insurance company, will be given power to make life-and-death decisions for anyone regardless of their age. Those decisions will be made by you, your doctor and your family.”

See sample ad here.

The latest health research reports largely confirm things I already knew, and re-enforce my health related behaviors. The one new and intriguing report reminds me of the movie Beetlejuice:

Drinking beetroot juice boosts your stamina and could help you exercise for up to 16% longer. Not sure where I can pick some up.

In the confirmation mode:

Drinking milk can lessen the chances of dying from illnesses such as coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke by up to 15-20%. Presumably yogurt has the same benefit, plus more from the active cultures. Of course no fat milk and yogurt are probably best.

In related reports,
1. research suggests that adequate levels of vitamin D reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer and may help suppress the growth and spread of prostate cancer cells in men who already have it. A significant proportion of older men have suboptimal levels of vitamin D, especially during the winter and spring months.

2. Seven out of ten U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease.

A comment on this report is especially informative.

There is mounting evidence that omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil supplements not only help prevent cardiovascular diseases in healthy individuals, but also reduce the incidence of cardiac events and mortality in patients with existing heart disease.

Scientists have unraveled a mystery that has perplexed scientists since red wine was first discovered to have health benefits: how does resveratrol control inflammation? New research not only explains resveratrol’s one-two punch on inflammation, but also show how it—or a derivative—can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis.

Other recent posts on my Health News Report blog cover the health benefits of
zinc
crushed garlic,
exercise for women, and
dieting off and on instead of all the time.

Also covered are the health risks of
high cholesterol,
heavy drinking and
salt.

Great op-ed by putative gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont:

There must be a plaque on Governor Rell’s desk which reads, “The buck doesn’t stop here.”

Her recent op-ed piece in Sunday’s Hartford Courant was a classic example of blame-shifting for the state’s ongoing budget crisis. Crying, “the legislature made me do it,” is a thin excuse for someone who has held the title of CEO of the State of Connecticut for the past five years– five years during which our state should have been implementing a strategy to lift Connecticut from the bottom of the heap in job growth and new business start-ups…

Governor Rell writes that Connecticut cannot tax its way to prosperity, but her budget instead tries to borrow, securitize, and cost-shift our way out of this severe deficit.

1) Borrowing: her biggest ‘labor savings’ simply borrows from the state pension fund by incenting our best workers to retire with additional pension bennies, and by failing to fund our pension obligations…

2) Securitize: Latin for more borrowing…

Her cuts are piecemeal and ill-considered: cuts in internet access to our libraries and schools, cuts in economic development money, cuts to the Connecticut Innovations Fund, the Connecticut Economic Resource Council and the Connecticut Technology Council — all of which are at the forefront of attracting and keeping good paying jobs and businesses. While we may unilaterally disarm, other states competing for our jobs and workers are not cutting these types of initiatives.

HIS Global Insight recently ranked the states which are best able to weather the recession and return to pre recession job levels. Connecticut ranked dead last in regaining lost jobs…

Ned has been making the rounds, appearing at forums featuring the announced candidates. Sounds like a candidate himself, doesn’t he?

THE PURPLE COW

by: Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)

I NEVER saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.

Conservative Democrats are called Blue Dogs. I propose to call “Centrist” Democrats, especially those who seem to share many of the Blue Dog’s obstructionist views and goals, Purple Cows, in honor of the poem quoted in full above.

Is Jim Himes a Purple Cow? The evidence is mounting that he is:

1. His support of “pay-as-you-go-legislation,” which would bring a halt to all Obama administration legislative initiatives,

2. His failure to renounce pharmacy industry ads praising his non-existent efforts to support reform,

3. His op-ed in the Greenwich Time, which called for a public option only if it were available on a level playing field, and reform in general only if it involved massive changes in how health care decisions are made and compensated, a totally unrealistic goal,

4. And most recently, in a meeting with the editorial board of the Stamford Advocate, where he praised delaying the vote on health care reform, as reported by tparty, the best activist blogger in Connecticut.

Purple Cows are at least as odd looking as Blue Dogs. I would rather not see either one in the 4th District of Connecticut.