[HCIP] Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan

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• 1. Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan by Roger Hickey [2], The Huffington Post, August 31, 2009

• 2. Private Health Insurance Reform: Good, But - Without Public Insurance Option - Not Good Enough [3], Press call with Tim Jost, Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-CA, Institute for America's Future, August 27, 2009

1. Let's Pass Ted Kennedy's Health Plan [4]
By Roger Hickey
The Huffington Post
August 31, 2009
Click for source [4]

Let's get a few things straight:

• Until last year, Senator Edward M. Kennedy's health care bill (co-authored with with Rep. John Dingell) was a bill known as Medicare for All.   Not expensive private insurance for some, but Medicare [a public insurance plan] for All.

• Senator Kennedy encouraged candidate and then President Obama to make health care for all his first priority -- during the campaign and as he took office.

• And Ted Kennedy remained in charge as his HELP (Health, Education and Labor and Pension) Committee wrote -- and then passed -- a new health care bill with a strong public insurance option for those who want it.

I feel the need to remind people of all this because conservatives, and especially Republican Senators, are trying to promote the idea that if only Ted Kennedy were still actively involved in the health care reform effort, he could have gotten the Democrats to fold and embrace a weakened "bi-partisan" compromised health reform strategy.  And some are urging that the best tribute we could construct to the great man's memory is to pass such a watered-down health bill that could win the support of a large number of conservative Republicans.
Read more here [4]

2. Private Health Insurance Reform: Good, But - Without Public Insurance Option - Not Good Enough [5]
Press call with Tim Jost, Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-CA
Institute for America's Future
August 27, 2009
Click for source [5]

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., chair of House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, joined health care expert Timothy Jost, and Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey on a conference call today to release Jost's new Institute for America's Future report, which found that private health insurance reform alone is not enough to reform the health care system as a whole, and that the public health insurance option remains a crucial lynchpin for the success of health reform.

"The fact that Medicare consistently polls more popular with seniors than private insurance polls with working people should tell us something about why we need a public plan for everybody," said Jost. "The private insurance industry has created a system by which people are not covered, undercovered, or lack financial security, and reform is absolutely necessary." "But, even if we outlaw explicit risk selection, private plans will still find ways to cherry pick."

Rep. Stark agreed that a public insurance option remains the key to successful health reform. "The bill won't pass the House without a strong public health insurance option," said Stark. "It's probably the most important part in getting any savings. It's only the way to accomplish successful reform without imposing draconian regulations on insurance companies. We need a new competitor in the race."

As for the idea of replacing the public health insurance option with a "health insurance cooperative," Stark said the cooperatives were the insurance equivalent of "unicorns." They may sound good, but they have no real-world viability.
Read more here [5]

Selected coverage of the call

• Health Compromise to See Changes Before Vote, House Dems Say [6] by Martin Vaughan, The Wall Street Journal,  August 27, 2009
• Pete Stark: Co-Ops The Equivalent Of A "Medical Unicorn"  [7] by Sam Stein, The Huffington Post, August 27, 2009
• Town Halls Try Members' Patience [8] by Jennifer Bendery and John Stanton, Roll Call, Aug. 27, 2009
• Lawmakers say bill may lose negotiated payments [9] (requires free registration) by Matthew DoBias, Modern Healthcare, August 27, 2009

Additional Resources:
Public Health Insurance Resource Page [10]

• Who's Paying to Kill Health Reform: A handy chart showing where the money is coming from [11]
• Health Reform Fact Check: Make sure that you are armed with the facts regarding the myths about health insurance reform [12]
• Health Care for America Now:  Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses [13]
• Jacob Hacker: "Healthy Competition: How to Structure Public Health Insurance Plan Choice to Ensure Risk-Sharing, Cost Control, and Quality Improvement" (PDF) [14]
• Jacob Hacker: "The Case For Public Plan Choice in National Health Reform: Key to Cost Control and Quality Coverage" (PDF) [15]
• Diane Archer: "Near Universal Coverage, But No Cost Controls or Guarantee of Quality, Affordable Health Care for All" (PDF) [16]
• Frank Clemente: "A Public Health Insurance Plan: Reducing Costs and Improving Quality" (PDF) [17]
• The Commonwealth Fund: The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way [18]
• Leaders and Experts Agree that a Public Insurance Option is Critical to the Success of Obama's Health Reform Proposals (PDF) [19]