yeah, he is going to pound Baker into the matt.
on another note, the health care co-op strategy has been decided.
Yeah, It didn't take long for the insurance companies to come up with a plan with Dennis Kucinich announcing the end-result 6 months before the Senate vote.
what dennis said
Health Care Sausage--Kucinich is 100% so far. . . Sun Nov 08, 2009 at 04:18:14 PM PDT
Recently Dennis Kucinich wrote a prescient piece about what was going to happen in the health care "reform" process. He called it the "Private Mandate Sausage Machine"
here is the body of the text
- House will make a big deal about keeping/putting a public option in HR3200 because it competes with insurance companies and will keep insurance rates low.
2. The White House will refer to the President's speech last week where he spoke favorably of the public option.
3. The Senate will kill the competitive public option in favor of non-competitive "co-ops". Senate leaders like Kent Conrad have said the votes to pass a public option were never there in the Senate.
4. The bill will come to a House-Senate Conference Committee without the public option.
5. House Democrats will be told to support the conference report on the legislation to support the President.
6. The bill will pass, not with a "public option" but with a private mandate requiring 30 million uninsured to buy private health insurance (if one doesn't already have it). If you are broke, you may get a subsidy. If you are not broke, you will get a fine if you do not purchase insurance.
This legislative sausage will be celebrated as a new breakthrough and will be packaged as health insurance reform. However, the bill may require a Surgeon General's warning label: Your Money or Your Life!
The bill that Congress passes may pale in comparison to the bill that millions of Americans will get every month/year for having or not having private health insurance.
It will take four years for the new legislation to go into effect. During that time, we are going to build a constituency of millions in support of real health care, a constituency which will be recognized and a cause which is right and just: Health Care as a Civil Right.
So far he is batting 100% in the process,
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: American Health Benefit Exchanges and co-ops – competition and coverage
Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program (CO-OP)
The CO-OP is a federal program designed to assist in the creation and in the operation of nonprofit, member-run health insurance issuers. The purpose of the CO-OP program is to foster the creation of qualified nonprofit health insurance issuers that will offer qualified health plans to the individual and small group markets. Under the program, a federal “advisory board” will recommend which applicants will receive public funding to start a non-profit health insurance organization. The organizations formed under the CO-OP program will be tax exempt.
There is $6 billion in federal funding available under the Act for the CO-OP program. This funding will be distributed through loans to cover start-up costs and grants to provide assistance in meeting any solvency requirements of the states in which the entity seeks to be licensed to issue qualified health plans. The federal funding for the CO-OP program must be disbursed no later than July 1, 2013. HHS is required to disburse the funds in a way that ensures the establishment of at least one qualified nonprofit health insurance plan in each state.