‘Weasel words’ is about all I’d expect from Steny. I think he’ll vote however his owners tell him – and he isn’t owned by the voters in his district.

I love my Congressman Peter DeFazio. Just saw his video for the first time.

Keep up the good work Jane!

I’d watch John Yarmuth closely. He sent a weasel worded letter to Humana apologizing for Nancy Pelosi’s criticism of health care companies. I also know that at one time the daughter of the former General Counsel for Humana (Art Hipwell) worked in Yarmuth’s office (she may still work there). I sat next to Art Hipwell on a plane coming back from Washington, D.C. in 2007 and he was the one who told me. Yarmuth was also a former moderate to liberal Republican before changing to Democrat.

I just participated in a tel. town hall mtg. with Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon. He took a firm stance for a public option. They took my call about the plight of my sister in law with life threatening cancer, and lack of coverage. He’s doing a good job, deflecting the teabaggers well.

Huh, that’s good to know.

GK Butterfield (open to anything) is an interesting (in an odd way) fellow from what I’ve seen of him on cspan.

Thanks brigid — any audio recording? Would love to have it.

You might want to check with Eric Massa again. I attended a panel he did at NN and he seemed pretty unequivocal about the PO but also maintained that there is NO PO in the current bill 3200 so there is no PO to vote for. He sure spoke with fire in his belly about the issue and his progressive punch score on health care is 100%.

I may be wrong about this but I think Tom Noland (the Humana spokesman quoted in the newspaper article I linked to) is a registered Democrat but he has been with Humana for ages so his allegiance is to Humana all the way.

Did you include Dick Armey in your count???

Oh that’s right, he’s no longer a CongressCritter.

But if you listen very carefully on his MTP appearance yesterday, I’m pretty sure I heard him support the idea of a public option. In fact, he seemed pretty clear to me.

Rachel pointed out how he was currently sueing the Government for the right to NOT be in Medicare, and he was talking about how his pastor had it and was pleased, and then he, DICK ARMEY, said something to the effect of how good Medicare would be and what an American ideal it would be IF IT WERE A CHOICE.

Isn’t that precisely what the public option is???

So, I guess Dick Armey actually supports the public option.

He just didn’t know it.

I wish I could even get weasel words out of Trent Franks. Hell hasn’t frozen over yet.

Looks like I was right about watching Yarmuth. Here is a story on the WAVE3 TV tonight about Yarmuth’s telephone Townhall meeting Monday night.

Yarmuth said he believes the best way to address rising healthcare costs is the plan that’s been debated all summer: a public solution with an option for government-backed healthcare, although he’s not ruling out the latest idea of non-profit insurance cooperatives.

“We need healthcare reform desperately,” Yarmuth said. “I think we need a public option to provide competition and choice. If a co-op situation can do that effectively and still provide care, then I’d certainly consider that.“

But he was also quoted saying this about the public option so he appears to be playing both sides of the fence.

“The government option by the CBO (Congressional Business Office) estimate will only insure about 10 million people after 10 years,” Yarmuth said. “That’s three percent of the population. On the other hand, the CBO says that 180 million people will be in the private system. There will be plenty of business for Humana and the other private insurers, but hopefully, the existence of a public option, that will be able to provide care less expensively, will be able to hold costs down.”

Just home from work – another useless deadline (sigh!)

Check FDL.
See Jane’s whiptool.
Read counts to hubby.
Read Jane’s sentence to hubby: ” . . . I’m feeling pretty good about this round.”

Hubby: “Wow – a boxing match!”
Me: “Yeah, Jane’s a pro.”

(and still smacking my lips over Jane outing the bayh’s– oh man was that good!)

‘night all!

Dick Armey’s in favor of Dick Armey and Dick Armey’s money.

And that’s just about it.

I never thought about health insurance when I was 20 or 30. I never had an employer that provided insurance.

I talked to some young people working for OFA today and asked if health insurance is really a big issue for them today. It is.

One young woman told me she is making $700/monthly payments on her student loans and can’t afford to pay for insurance too. She said she had to get a new loan every semester and they won’t consolidate them, so she is making a bunch of different payments for all the loans, each semester a different loan payment. Unbelievable.

I remember when I was young and my annual doctor visit cost $25-50. That was the total of all my medical for a year, so insurance really did not seem like it would be worth it. But now there are so many auto-immune problems and all kinds of other stuff that goes wrong, not including accidents.

With so many insurance companies in the game now, the costs have gone up and up for the same basic treatments. I think an annual exam today is at least $350. Crazy.

Someone should make a chart of the cost of one type of exam at the same doctor’s office, show how much is the billing for type x, y and z insurance and how much it would cost to just pay cash.

I interviewed people demonstrating outside of Harry Reid’s fundraiser last week, teabaggers. They all love them some Medicare. They just don’t want others to have it because they would have to share their doctors with more people. Selfish and old, I don’t know what happened to them to make them so mean.

watertiger is upstairs!
Late Night: “Does This AR-15 Assault Rifle Make My Ass Look Fat?”

Odd, but you can opt-out of Social Security; Mennonites do it all the time. Now, they have to work for a Mennonite-owned business to opt-out, but it is done. I don’t remember the name of the town in Texas that has opted-out of Social Security, but it would be interesting to hear what they have to say about their situation now. Realizing that Social Security and Medicare are not the same, but suspect if you can opt-out of one, you could do the other.

No single payer? No Tyson Chicken, Mike Ross!! http://bit.ly/single_payer_ross

Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org and learn how to destroy the conservative hold on congress.

My impression from watching CNN and MSNBC tonight was that the CW is that co-ops are bullshit and the tone of everyone from Matt Taibbi to David Gergen was real (or feigned) befuddlement over what the White House thinks it’s gained by stiffing not merely its “base”, but the “overwhelming majority” (Gergen’s words) of the Democratic Party. Yes, your round.

come on guys, lets do whatever it takes to get this done…i’m appalled that the white house has shown zero spine on any of this and has chosen to try and sand-bag progressives rather than what they should be doing and busting assholes like kent conrad…I wont stand by while an insurance-industry whore like conrad is framing “reform” and i know you guys wont either…lets stick together, let’s hold the line on the PO

Dude, when are you gonna stop hyping your blog?

It’s tiresome.

Once per day is fine, as long as the comments are actual contributions.

We had planned to participate in Kurt Schrader’s tele-townhall but got distracted by other priorities. Kurt seems to be working hard on health care — his piece is outcome-based care (aka best practices). He’s got a bill for research into what works so we can fund that rather than stuff that doesn’t. He’s a smart guy from a swing district who might face a serious challenger in 2010, especially since this is his first term.

Actually I’m not hyping my blog. I want to help people get single payer and also help elderly and disabled people get a real prescription drug benefit. I only post this in health care related posts which there appear several a day.

I imagine you haven’t read the first post on the blog about joining together and boycotting conservative contributors and demanding the legislation from them.

One more thing. You’ll get your wish. I’m not coming back here.

Conservatives unfortunately still run this country but if people would wake up and boycott their contributors and demand the legislation from them you would destroy their power. Apparently I haven’t convinced many people here, because most people appear stuck on process, just like the news shows do.

I don’t watch the News shows any more. I watch CSPAN.

Jane, pardon the aside, but you were wonderful in your interview with Andrea Mitchell. That interview needs to be widely distributed. Your point that Evan Bayh was unlikely publicly to stand against the public option in Senate debate was particularly good.

If Dick Armey has so much money, why can’t he buy a set of dentures that fit?