Howard Dean To Announce Major New Campaign On Health Care Reform
Looks like Howard Dean is well on his way to finding a post-DNC niche, and he won’t be needing the Obama administration to find it for him.
On a conference call with supporters later today, Dean will make a surprise announcement, unveiling a major new health care campaign that will gear up his political operation to pressure the White House and Congress to preserve a public insurance option as part of health care reform, I’m told.
The campaign will be called “Stand With Dr. Dean,” and its immediate goal is to build up a membership of a quarter million in the next few months, relying on the million-strong email list of Democracy for America, Dean’s political operation. The eventual goal is to organize and door-knock to build support for the public insurance option in Congressional districts across the country, DFA executive director Arshad Hasan tells me.
Supporters of Dean — a former doctor who has been looking for a meaningful way of impacting the coming health care reform push — were furious with Obama aides for not giving Dean a health care-related spot in the administration. This new project to push Obama and Congress towards a public option is Dean’s post-DNC solution, and his political operation could have a real impact on the coming health care debate.
“We’re drawing a policy line in the sand,” Hasan says, adding that the goal is to get a quarter million signatures on a new petition insisting on the public option.
“We’re saying that if the public option is not included, it’s not real health care reform,” Hasan says. “DFA is the perfect vehicle for Governor Dean to do this.”
Today’s announcement is keyed to the fifth anniversary of Democracy for America, which debuted during Dean’s 2004 campaign. On the conference call with DFA supporters, Dean will thank everyone for their support, Hasan says, then launch into the surprise announcement about the new campaign.
Late Update: Many of you have asked for an explanation of what the public insurance option is. See Ben Smith for a good, and mercifully short, rundown.
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What exactly is a “public insurance option?”
here’s a rundown:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/03/10/keep-that-public-plan.aspx
g
Dr. D in da house! I’d wondered what he’s been up to. Very interesting. Greg, do you know what created the alleged rift between Dean and the Obama administration? I’ve heard it relates somehow to Rahm Emanuel and Carville/Begala….
BF — recall, Rahm was angry with Dean for allegedly wasting money on a 50 state strategy during the 2006 midterms elections. Dean’s strategy, of course, help lay the groundwork for the magnitude of Obama’s victory. Obama needed Rahm, an insider/fixer type, to navigate Congress — but it’s unclear to me, and to many others, why Obama didn’t find something for Dean in an agency.
Ah yes, thanks for the refresher Greg. I too am baffled the administration couldn’t/wouldn’t tap Dean for something relatively high profile and meaningful. As much as I support Team Obama, I must admit, this slight makes them look a bit petty. For crying out loud, Obama even let *Joe Lieberman* back into the fold!
This is where Dean is better suited – outside the White House so he can do his own thing.
I fully support a public insurance option, but only if it is part of a mandate. Otherwise folks would wait until they are sick before opting into the public program (who couldn’t turn anybody away), getting their illness paid for and then opting out.
Everybody should have to have coverage.
I suspected something like this was up when, for the very first time in my memory, he appended “MD” to his name in this Daily Kos diary yesterday morning.
Didi – why do you think this? The INSTANT a policy I can afford that actually provides coverage (checkups, preventative, etc.) is available, myself and millions of others will jump on it.
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What you describe as the worst-case is more or less what we have today with the GOP/McCain payer of last resort emergency room plan. Caring for the people you describe (only sign up when sick) would be far less expensive if the cost of covering these people wasn’t billed at individual rates directly by the hospital. Just in changing the cost of a Tylenol from $18 to $.50 for these people would be a HUGE savings for the government.
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If the plan on the table comes with mandated coverage, it is the functional equivalent of Bush’s prescription drug plan. The only way mandated coverage isn’t an insurance-company giveaway is if the entire program is government administered single payer. Mandates are an insurance-company sponsored sucker play.
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Single-payer or no mandates. The “public option” is actually a recognition of this reality.
It is unbelievable how difficult it is for a young person to get insurance, even if perfectly healthy; Anthem Blue Cross took my son’s (age 34) first couple of payments, then ‘forgot’ to bill him, causing him to look like he was in arrears, so they dropped him, having skinned him of several hundred precious dollars. Appeals to the company fell on very deaf ears. It’s time for a public alternative, and Dean should be the one to pull it off for the public.
On a related note, the NYT had an article yesterday about “concerns” about the public option. If you read through it, all the “concerns” are from insurance companies who are concerned they wouldn’t be able to make money and that it would be “unfair.” The only vaguely plausible complaints were from hospitals and doctors who are concerned they’ll be underfunded. But from the insurers, there was no claim that they can provide better care or better service, or any advantage to consumers in the “marketplace” they claim to love, only that it wouldn’t be fair for them to make less money.
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Guess what, guys? Health care costs are spiraling out of control, and that’s not going to change without insurers making less money. You make more by figuring out ways to deny care, not provide it, and everyone knows it. We’re interested in getting care, not having insurance. Nobody likes health insurance companies and they don’t have a real argument; it’s just a matter of whether they manage to scare people enough to get their way.
So how the hexk do we sign the petition?
I just think it will be abused. If I’m young and healthy I don’t get coverage, but say it’s found I have cancer – I do to the public plan that cant turn me down and have tens of thousands of dollars of healthcare paid for, and then should I be fortunate enough to survive I then drop the coverage.
It’s a worst case scenario for abuse, but I think it’s one that will be pushed by the Republican, just like the like to champion welfare slackers in order to condemn the whole system.
We want HR 676 paid for with taxes, available to everyone. Obviously insurance companies should not be in the mix. Look at AGI and the rest of the greedy pond scum.
This is great news. I think Dean will do a better job on the outside. I have already called Sen. Baucus to tell him I will not support any health care plan without a public option. I do not want to sign up with a private insurer.
Btw, I think disgruntled Dean supporters are kind of silly. Dean would not have been right for HHS and I am thankful that Team Obama recognized that. He would have been too easy a target for Republicans, and Sebelius is a much better choice.
“I think disgruntled Dean supporters are kind of silly.” That, naturally, is your opinion. He was very well suited to the job. Team Obama cut off its nose to spite its face by not bringing Dean on.
Where’s the petition. I want to sign. I want to stuff the ballot box!
It’s a worst case scenario for abuse, but I think it’s one that will be pushed by the Republican, just like the like to champion welfare slackers in order to condemn the whole system.
I hate to break it to you, but designing policy to attempt to avoid blatantly false Republican attacks has never had much success. The lack of concern for truth in attacks is because they don’t care whether you believe your policy avoids the problem they’re complaining about, only whether they can make it resonate. Answering BS with a logical argument is always a losing battle; we’re better off doing what we think is best and selling it to the public on its merits than trying to fight on their small-ball turf.
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Any system will have some abuse. The question is not whether Republicans will grandstand about it, but whether it’s significant, and how to minimize it. If we have a public option, then mandates are not unreasonable (though beware — Republicans will attack them as taking away “freedom”!), but default enrollment with opt-out may be as effective with less up-front effort. But the point is, let’s do what works. Mandates without a public option are not a good idea because they will just create a captive market for insurers who have failed to provide good outcomes or control costs in the current system.
So where do we sign up? I’m in.
Didi–A cancer diagnosis, for instance, leaves a survivor with a certain unease about opting out of any insurance, even if there’s an opt-back-in provision. But your concern suggests one possibility: allow insurance to be opt-in, but only initially for an existing condition so survivors would have a back up motivation to continue with it, paying their share of premiums. That’s fairer than the no insurance option at all and less open ended cost-wise.
You can sign the petition at http://www.StandwithDrDean.com
Thanks for asking!
Very cool.
HOW DO WE SIGN? We found the petition; however, the instructions were not there.
Please explain or label better what you mean by: “mail” and “website”. Common Dreams has a very well planned system of linking. Please add a “share this with_________ type of Email link. I know of many people who agree with what you doing and who would like to support your work.
David Chisholm
If we separate conceptually catastrophic coverage from pre-catastrophic — wherever we decide to draw the line between the two — and the whole puzzle falls into place. It’s catastrophic which is true insurance — against a devastating financial loss that anyone could face at any time. If this part of the problem is universal and Federally-insured, we can solve 90% of the societal problem with just that. Private insurance can compete underneath the catastrophic layer — as it does now in Medicare system — but public option in that space should be allowed if it is funded only from premiums, with no cheating from general revenues, as a matter of fair competition. Medicaid and SCHIP funds can be re-directed to subsidize low-income purchase of pre-catastrophic policy. Of course, with exposure subject to a hard cap by the Federal catastrophic coverage, it should be far, far less expensive. Rationalization of coverage that assures providers will be compensated for anyone who shows up at the door will accomplish enormous savings.
I would add that if we get some dividing line now when universal Federal catastrophic coverage kicks in — let’s say for starters $2500 individual annual cost, $5000 family, or worst case $5000 individual and $10,000 family — we can spend the next decade arguing about and deciding whether we can or should make that better (i.e. lower). But the essential structure will be in place.
In Germany there is a public and a private system with mandatory enrollment in either one or the other. The private system is less expensive for the young, more for the old. However, anyone enrolled in the private system cannot change to the public one.
Urban Legend–That sounds like a smart idea, dividing the catastrophic and routine. There’s maybe one other thing that needs to be addressed. There should be some sort of incentive toward preventive care to ward off some of the catastrophic events. Any ideas on that?
Finally, the time has arrived to fix Americas Healthcare crisis, and Americas healthcare nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of you are killed needlessly every year by your healthcare delivery system in a rush to profit. And because of a rush to profit Hundreds of thousands more of you are needlessly dying from treatable illness that people in other developed and civilized countries don’t DIE! from. Rich, middle class, and poor alike. Insured, and uninsured. Men, women, children, and babies.
Additionally, thousands more of you are driven into financial ruin, and bankruptcy just because you, or one of your loved ones got sick or injured. And all of this is happening at a time when America spends twice as much of it’s GDP (Gross Domestic Productivity) on health care than any other country in the developed world. Individual Americans spend about ten times as much on health care as any other people in the developed world. This is a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. AND IT MUST END!
But before we can truly fix this healthcare crisis and disgrace, everyone needs to clearly understand what the problem is. And everyone needs to clearly understand the real enormity of the problem. The problem is that HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL DELIVERY IN AMERICA IS SEVERELY CORRUPTED AND COMPROMISED BY GREED! AND THE PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MOTIVE. And it is corrupted, and compromised IN EVERY ASPECT, AND EVERY PLACE OF HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL DELIVERY. Unfortunately for all Americans, compromised healthcare ALWAYS results in needless suffering, injury, disability, and or death. Which is exactly what is happening now in America in shocking numbers.
Health care is NOT! a private for profit business. Healthcare is an essential public service. Like police, and fire. And healthcare is also a human right! PRIVATE FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE IS AN OXYMORON, AND AN IMMORAL AND UNETHICAL PERVERSION OF HEALTHCARE AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
So how do we fix this healthcare disgrace? I believe the fix for Americas healthcare disaster is essentially the same thing that every other developed country in the World has essentially done. “NOT FOR PROFIT, TAX PAYER SUPPORTED, SINGLE PAYER, AUTOMATIC, FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL”. Essentially HR676 (enhanced, and improved medicare for all). Just like every other CIVILIZED! country in the developed World has. There is no other way to truly fix and reform our current disastrous healthcare delivery system.
All Universal health care systems work best when everyone participates. But I know that the healthcare lobby, and some politicians will try and undermine “Not For Profit, Tax payer supported, Single payer, Automatic, Free Universal Healthcare for all” by falsely claiming that it will limit your choice, and require you to participate.
So, I propose that everyone be included in the national plan unless they choose to opt out. If you opt out and need medical care the national plan will insure your provider that they will be reimbursed under the rules for members in the national plan. But those who opted out, and their insurer will be responsible for the FULL! cost to the national plan for providing your care if you or your private insurer fails to reimburse the provider or the national plan in a timely manor to at least the standards of the national plan.
Including reporting you to credit agencies, withholding of taxes, leans, and garnishment of wages for unpaid medical bills. Just like you have now under private for profit healthcare, and private for profit health insurance.
Further, people who opted out will be required to provide proof of financial responsibility for future illness or be required to participate in the national plan. And everyone with children will be required to participate in the national plan. Or provide proof of insurance coverage on each child to the standards of the national plan. It will be against the law to report anyone in the national plan to a credit agency for unpaid medical bills.
Frankly, only a dope would want to opt out of the national plan and opt to keep our current disastrous private for profit medical, and insurance plans. But they will be free to choose. The most important thing is that the vast majority of Americans that want the protection, benefits, and higher quality of a universal national plan have that choice.
You see, one of the most important aspects of a universal healthcare system is easy access, and patient protection. This is accomplished by having a single payer without a conflict of interest in patient care. And by having a payer who has the power to enforce minimum standards of excellence in healthcare delivery for everyone in the plan. This is much of what Medicare does now for senors. “Aeger Primo” (The patient comes first). Unfortunately in our healthcare system the patient comes last. We are just a peace of meat to them. Cash cows to be slaughtered for profit.
So this is IT! my fellow Americans, My fellow human beings, My fellow World Citizens. And my fellow Cyber Warriors.
The time has come. D day. H hour. HEALTHCARE REFORM THIS YEAR! Let no one stand in our way. Contact your representative and tell them you want “Not For Profit, Tax Payer Supported, Single Payer, Automatic, Free Universal healthcare for all. And tell them you want that choice now. Tell them you want President Obama’s budget passed without delay. President Obama’s budget is brilliant. And exactly what is needed now.
President Obama, and his allies will need all the support you can give them. The healthcare lobby will try to take out his people if they can, like they did with Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer. And they will try to neutralize President Obama’s popularity, and political power. Or they will try to take him down someway. Don’t stand for it. If they attack him. Go after them ten times harder and remove them from office. We had an election. And you the people chose President Obama’s leadership, and change agenda. Let no one in government disrespect the will of the American people and remain in office.
SPREAD THE WORD! And talk it up with your families, friends, and coworkers. Keep ratcheting up the pressure until there is a ROAR! across America for “NOT FOR PROFIT, TAX PAYER SUPPORTED, SINGLE PAYER, AUTOMATIC, FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL”.
Let’s get this healthcare reform done now my fellow Americans. This year. Take no prisoners.
God Bless All Of You
Jack Smith — Working Class
http://jacksmithworkingclass.blogspot.com/
(http://jacksmithworkingclass.blogspot.com/)
For me there is no option to SINGLE PAYER. And we will not have another chance in my lifetime to get it. Lets join the human race this year and make healthcare a human right.
Thank you. I agree.
I totally love this website!!! gonna need to remember to add this to my bookmarks.