In Private Retreat, Health Care Reformers Gird For Major Battle With Insurance Industry
Here's yet another encouraging piece of news on the health care front.
I'm told that dozens of the heaviest hitters from the health care reform world met for a private retreat in Virginia last week and spent two days girding for a major battle with the insurance industry, hashing out specific messaging, discussing organizing goals and planning a major fundraising drive to blanket the airwaves with ads next year.
At the retreat -- which was organized by Health Care For America Now, the major umbrella group of unions, reform advocates and providers -- the group agreed that they were aiming to start next year with at least $25 million for ads and field organizing, with the hope of raising many millions more.
Notably, the group, which is operating from the assumption that Barack Obama will act fast on reform, honed a message built around what they called "deficit investment." That's a more public relations-friendly term than "deficit spending," and the slogan is meant to encapsulate the case that health care reform is central to rescuing the economy, a primary talking point of health care reformers.
One other interesting tidbit: Attendees talked about the need to counter some of the conciliatory, disarming talk coming from the insurance industry right now, such as its recent declaration that they would support making insurance available to all applicants, in exchange for a mandate.
"We know the insurance industry is toxic," Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for the group, told me. "We know they're all about their bottom line. We're seeing them for what we are, and we're getting ready to take them on."
The meeting is significant because it shows that the various interest groups vying for reform are far more clear-eyed about the magnitude of the war ahead -- and are organizing and strategizing far earlier -- than such players did in the run-up to the battle over Hillarycare in the early 1990s.
"We know the insurance industry is toxic," Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for the group, told me. "We know they're all about their bottom line. We're seeing them for what we are, and we're getting ready to take them on."
When I hear Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi say that, then I'll celebrate.
November 25, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not to be too dramatic or anything ... but....
This is WAR and people's LIVES are at stake!
Matters of LIFE and Death to Americans young and old.
To understand the suffering and misery of millions of people who are bankrupted and left to beg for their lives is to understand what is at stake here.
Wealthy greedy profiteers must not be allowed to stop this reform again.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Barbara Bush will not be fighting insurance companies at the time of her death the way Obama's mother was and if there is any decency in this country maybe soon no one else will have to either.
November 25, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
But I just read the left has been betrayed. But on a serious note there is a real potential here to sell healthcare reform as a mainstream, centrist issue, if Obama and the congress play it well.
I know the right will go bonkers but I think much of the country sees healthcare reform as a mainstream issue and not just the left issue.
I think there is more public support than we might expect for universal healthcare.
November 25, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
someone here noted that if the Dems implement health care reform successfully it could deal a death blow to the GOP. I'd really be interested in knowing whether Repubs fear this the way Kristol did in the nineties.
November 25, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like to see the argument, too. It would be a blow, because it undermines their whole the less government the better, free enterprise is the only way to go. But I don't think it would end the GOP.
November 25, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. There are other aspects of the gop agenda that is creating it's death. Their party is shrinking and they are not trying to reach out to expand the party. It's the same old, same old and if they don't change, it will be good-bye gop.
November 25, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg,
This end of party theory floats every four years. But I'd be interested how GOP will evolve in the next four years. My prediction: They'll lean toward being a "know nothing" Palin party.
November 25, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know whether they do or not, but I do think it would be a death blow to the whole "demonize government" philosophy that right now shapes the GOP. Because it would prove to the American people that government can take action that improves their lives and security.
That said, I'm not sure it's a death blow to the party per se IF it is able to adapt and retool its approach and messages.
November 25, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Health care reform will have a huge positive impact on small business and the self-employed, and we are part of the US economy too.
Health care costs are a burden on small businesses, and if they drop coverage, they cannot compete for good employees.
November 25, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting statement and observation:
The meeting is significant because it shows that the various interest groups vying for reform are far more clear-eyed about the magnitude of the war ahead -- and are organizing and strategizing far earlier -- than such players did in the run-up to the battle over Hillarycare in the early 1990s.
The problem was that the interest groups involved had no clue about clinton's plan prior to its release and had no input. It was dropped on the american people and industry without input and the clintons refused to agree to any changes. There was no way for people to get behind it, let alone understand it. Don't blame the interest groups or "players" or congress for that matter. The blame rests solely with the clintons.
Obama is handling the situation completely differently and hopefully successfully.
November 25, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is PURE BULLSHIT!
If I have to read some idiot spin about how everything wrong was the Clinton's fault my head will explode. How about this: If all the hate and energy directed at blaming the Clintons was directed at blaming the ACTUAL ENEMIES of universal care maybe the job would have been done 15 years ago!!!
The insurance industry was hugely successful at running a mega-millions anti-reform media blitz (Harry and Louise) that tore apart the consensus that some reform was necessary. The forces aligned against reform are still out there and still ready to spend millions to protect their profits in the pathetic system we have now. That is why these people are meeting, to plan a pro-reform media war. Good luck to them!
November 25, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Two points:
1. She admitted to the mistakes in the primary.
2. Check out this link. The reform was prepared in secret and dumped on the american people and congress. Also, the clintons refused to negotiate about the program with a democratically controlled congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Clinton_health_care_plan
Sorry, it's not bullshit. If it was handled properly, I submit that the insurance industry would not have been successful in derailing it in 1993 and we would have been well on our way to universal coverage. You have your opinion and I have mine. However, it had nothing to do with the "players" getting up front or on board. They couldn't because they didn't know what was going on.
November 25, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bullshit! The issues involved in healthcare reform were not a SECRET known only to a few Clinton insiders and then dropped from the sky on unsuspecting innocents.
EVERYONE KNOWS the issues and the players and all the possible combinations of public and private money involved. We have debated this literally for GENERATIONS. Since Harry fucking Truman tried and failed in the 1950's.
THE #1 and overwhelming reason healthcare reform has not succeeded in America is because the financial interests of the status quo have always FAR FAR outweighed the interest in reform.
To imagine if only Hillary Clinton had organized her meetings differently the walls would have magically come tumbling down is laughable.
November 25, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Read the link and then spout off. I'm really not arguing with the bulk of your points. My point is that it was completely mishandled. That's the point. The clintons handled healthcare reform like darth vader handled his energy task force. You don't see an issue with that?
November 25, 2008 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Darth Vadar handled his energy task force in secret so he could protect the interest of his fellow greedy profiteers.
Hillary Clinton kept the details of her negotiations private to prevent the plan from being picked apart by the profiteers before it was even submitted.
The effort to keep a thousand special interests from changing a thousand details was done by keeping it a package deal and not a free floating piecemeal target.
I will guarantee you that Daschel, Obama, Kennedy, and Baucus are all dealing with these issues much the same way. The complexity of healthcare reform is staggering to even the most experienced legislators. The forces aligned against it are still there and still bitterly opposed.
What I object to in your analysis is the simple theme that if only Hillary Clinton wasn't such a 'power hungry bitch' we would easily have had universal healthcare 15 years ago. She has been fighting for this her entire life and her program was far more UNIVERSAL than Obama's tepid reform-lite version. He seemed to be far less willing to take on the insurance companies and the other enemies of real reform.
We shall see.
November 25, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did I say this?
"What I object to in your analysis is the simple theme that if only Hillary Clinton wasn't such a 'power hungry bitch' we would easily have had universal healthcare 15 years ago."
That wasn't the point at all. And, I think her primary statements reveal what the problem was.
November 25, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
The wikipedia page is a pretty good summary. Your analysis of it seems to boil down to ... Clinton admits she ruined chances for reform.... as if you have now proven your hypothesis that she was not the boldest advocate of reform but it's weakest link. To add insult to injury you imply that the failure is personal and just like Cheney she is prone to secrecy begets power.
The idea that we have gone without universal healthcare for the last 15 years because Hillary was tactically impaired is an idea that needs a funeral.
Bill and Hillary Clinton were smart enough and dedicated enough to step up to the powers that gave us 12 years of Reagan/Bush and send Bush Sr. packing his bags. Was Barbara Bush going to take on the insurance and drug companies and fight for universal care in the second Bush Sr. administration?
Hillary Clinton as a young female lawyer from Arkansas got herself into a position of power and used it to fight the most greedy forces in our nation for the benefit of the most vulnerable. She admits there are some things she would have done differently like taking things a step at a time when the opposition is overwhelming to fundamental change. You take that as her admitting that we would have won without her bungling it?
15 years later and another new Democratic president is hoping to pass a package of reforms that has been building momentum from the every day misery of sick and dying Americans.
Godspeed to him and anyone who can help him.
November 25, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I give. You are right. I actually thought after the darth vader reference that you would construe it as a quest for power, when the point was the secrecy and ham handedness. My bad. I give up.
The point was that it was bungled and mismanaged. Also, I disagree with your characterization of her record on healthcare reform. I'm sure this will bring up another blast, but she sure did a bang-up job on getting walmart workers healthcare when she sat on the board. Jeez.
November 25, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks and thanks for sticking with this issue, as they say, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything.
I am absolutely sure that at the board meetings of Wal Mart, Hillary Clinton gave it her all to convince the other 10 people in the room that better healthcare for employees was the smart thing to do and the right thing to do and the moral thing to do. I am also sure she was in the minority with her opinion on that board so no, it did not happen.
The four children of Sam Walton are each worth something like 20 billion each from dear old dad's empire. I personally would feel like an absolute asshole having inherited a personal fortune of 20 billion dollars and still not have the decency to offer my employees a chance to take a sick child to the doctor. But hey, that's just me.
President Obama and the Democratic Congress have the power now to trump the board members of Wal Mart and get those kids to the doctor. More power to them!
November 25, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama on shortly. You can find the link HERE
Maybe he's going to outline some specifics on budget cuts today to help fund this big turd sandwich Bush and Co. have left us.
November 25, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. .
November 25, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: "deficit investment":
Using HELOC for purchase of luxury sedan - not smart.
Using HELOC to replace leaky roof, fix rotting sills and upgrade short-prone house wiring - smart!
November 25, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This group should study the nationalozed health care in Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan, pick the best features from each and attempt to implement it in the US. Just getting for profit insurance companies out of the way would eliminate the 20+% of the costs nd at least reduce it to 8%. Next will be the prarmaceuticals. This administration permitted Big Pharma to write the Medicare D program which included the non-negotiation for lower prices. The bogus "we need that much money for R&D" is BS piled the highest. Most R&D is done with federal dollars. They are making obscene profits on ED drugs that were developed for other reasons. After that hospitals need to be addressed. For what they charge for emergency and an overnight stay you could take a four night all inclusive cruise. I recall in either late 1950's or early 1960's a headline on the business page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where Radiologists were encouraged to keep their fees under $200,000.00. What must they be now? Drs. SHOULD be paid well. You could lose many, but those who are in it not for the money but are idealists will stay. Nobody should suffer or die for lack of money. We left survival of the fittest when we shed our fur. We have a health crisis because when we had little or no inflation, health care was rising at an approximate 16% per year and hasn't slowed. The industry may not like it but they drove it to this place. None of this affects me. I have Medicare and a high option policy but there are others including in my family that have none and some with insurance with so many restrictions I wonder why they have it. I'm sure it helps them some but they shouldn't have to jump through hoops to be cared for.
November 25, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We know the insurance industry is toxic," Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for the group, told me. "We know they're all about their bottom line. We're seeing them for what we are, and we're getting ready to take them on."
People who share the immoral code of altruism with Ms. Schechner, are what's ruining this once-great country. She will have us lining the halls of hospitals waiting for critical care like the socialists of Europe and Canada. People like Ms. Schechner are the root of all evil, not money or profits.
http://www.westandfirm.org/blog/2008/05/faq-on-free-market-health-insurance.html
"So you think that money is the root of all evil? . . . Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?" -Ayn Rand
November 26, 2008 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink