Sitting at Obama’s table: The Secret Health Care Talks

New York Times

Does anyone else want to burst into tears when they read about millionaires trying to make health care affordable?

Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy

Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.

(snip)

While not all industry groups are in complete agreement, there is enough of a consensus, according to people who have attended the meetings, that they have begun to tackle the next steps: how to enforce the requirement for everyone to have health insurance; how to make insurance affordable to the uninsured; and whether to require employers to help buy coverage for their employees.

(snip)

Kennedy aides summarized discussions of the stakeholders, known as the “workhorse group,” in a recent memorandum obtained by The New York Times.

“While there was some diversity of views,” it said, “the sense of the room is that an individual obligation to purchase insurance should be part of reform if that obligation is coupled with effective mechanisms to make coverage meaningful and affordable.”

The ideas discussed include a proposal to penalize people who fail to comply with the “individual obligation” to have insurance.

(snip)

Their motives vary. Some say the moment to overhaul the health care system has arrived because of a confluence of events, including Mr. Obama’s election, the growing number of uninsured and the relentless increase in health costs. Some want to protect the interests of their members and could ultimately oppose the legislation, depending on its details.

(sigh)

Not once in the article is there a definition of “affordable” — which makes me doubly (if possible) skeptical of the eventual plan. But, then lets look at who’s doing the talking:

The 20 people who regularly attend the meetings on Capitol Hill include lobbyists for AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

I remember Obama saying that EVERYONE would have a seat at his table — but where is someone from PNHP or the California Nurses or anyone supporting HR676 (Medicare for Everyone)? Is there a single uninsured person there?  Someone who’s under-insured?  Someone spending more on health insurance than they are on their mortgage? Looking closely at that list, it’s looking like the millionaires are discussing Health Care as a way to bail out the insurance industry.

Now this is all on super-secret-background:

A business lobbyist involved in the talks said: “The lack of acrimony, the air of cooperation toward a common end, is quite refreshing. If the Republicans were a party to these intense discussions, that would ease the path to enacting health care reform.”

This lobbyist, like most other participants, spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying that Senate aides had threatened to expel anyone who divulged details of the work group.

So that might be why the details are so sketchy but, this bit sounds more like the punchline to a joke than an actual policy plan:

Many insurance executives say they are willing to accept stricter regulation, including a requirement to offer coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, if the federal government requires everyone to have coverage.

Are we REALLY supposed to be impressed the the Insurance Executives are willing to sell us the coverage we will be required by law to purchase?

How generous.

(Hey, it just occured to me that if we really were Republicans, they might welcome us at that table!)