Go Watch It: Bill Moyers Interviews CIGNA PR Exec on Resistance to Health Care Reform

Take 30 minutes of your day to watch Bill Moyers and understand who doesn't want you to have a public option in choosing your health insurance--a public option that has overhead, like Medicare, of about 3%, as compared to the health insurance industry's 20% for overhead and profit. Says Bill Moyers' guest, Wendell Potter, "...the industry doesn't want to compete against a more efficient competitor."

Bill Moyers (about 21.20 in to the video): You told Congress that the [health care] industry has hijacked health care and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street. You said, "I saw how they confused their customers and dumped the sick. Also, they can satisfy their Wall Street investors." How do they satisfy their investors on Wall Street?

Find out the answer from the former CIGNA exec, who explains how the "medical loss ratio," or the chunk of every dollar spent to pay medical claims, has been shrinking. If you got sick and needed health insurance bills paid in the 1990s, about $.95 of every dollar went to cure you. Now, only about $.80 of every dollar you pay goes to your care. Wall Street punishes health insurance companies that have a too-high medical loss ratio. That means companies that flourish are ones who figure out how to deny you care, drop you, or give you less expensive care. Your health could literally be standing in the way of their bottom line.

Overhead of 3% via a public option, versus gold-plated tableware for health insurance industry executives who fly first class on the $.20 of every dollar of mine--and yours--that goes to their "overhead"?

Get some facts from someone whose highly-compensated job it was to sell you made-up fear about something that could instead benefit YOU and not them. Your health isn't someone else's bottom line.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

Go Read It: Fixing health care - ideas from Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz

Pennsylvania Representative Allyson Schwartz, previously interviewed here at MOMocrats about her visit to BlogHer 2008 on behalf of the Obama campaign, has made fighting for Americans' access to quality health care a top priority during most of her professional and political career. As an executive director at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the 1970s and 1980s, she fought to improve low-income women's access to contraception, cancer screenings, and reproductive health care. As a state legislator, she was one of the principal architects of the of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Pennsylvania, and in the late 1990s went to Congress to testify in favor of creating a federal CHIP program. And as the Representative for Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District to the U.S. Congress, she has worked to expand the original SCHIP program to extend health care benefits to millions more uninsured children.

So when Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz talks about how she thinks we ought to go about implementing meaningful health care reform in the United States, we listen. Go read Congresswoman Schwartz's op-ed, Fixing Health Care.

Health care crisis, lack of state and federal aid crushing American cities

A recent report highlights the economic threat the current health care system creates for American cities, which are typically ignored in the discussion about health care reform. The report, put out by Families USA---a nonprofit and nonpartisan national organization that advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans---found that, "...cities are profoundly affected by the rising number of uninsured Americans and the rising cost of providing coverage for their own employees. These problems have an impact on all city residents, regardless of their health insurance status, and they affect cities’ ability to fulfill other municipal functions as well."

"Our cities face the dual challenges of assisting a rising number of uninsured Americans and providing increasingly expensive health coverage for their own employees," Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said.

Pollock's statement summarizes the key findings of the report, which concluded that cities have been overlooked and left to manage local health care crises on their own, which poses a risk to the budgets of other city services, such as police and fire protection, schools, parks, and the repair of city streets and other infrastructure.

"Today's report makes crystal clear what many of us in cities across America—who are faced with the spiraling costs of health care both for our employees and our citizens—understand all too well," said Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “It's threatening our economies, our families and our futures. It is time for Washington to stop the excuses and fix our broken health care system.”

The report is based on extensive surveys and research of thirteen cities nationwide, which all had consistent results. Immunizations are one of the largest burdens on cities.

Other key findings include...

Go Read It: Important political news and action you might have missed...and shouldn't

Anti-Choice in HHS?

Remember HHS and the Conscience Rule? President Obama put in place a new "Conscience" leader at the HHS. Read more about it here: ABORTION FOE TO LEAD HHS FAITH-BASED OFFICE:

President Obama has appointed Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), to head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kelley is a leading proponent of "common ground" abortion reduction -- only CACG's common ground is at odds with that of Obama. While the administration favors reducing the need for abortion by reducing unintended pregnancies, Kelley has made clear that she seeks instead to reduce access to abortion.

Some sources have indicated that Kelley may do more talk than action, but we'll see.

What do you think about this appointment?

Border security---the next step

In a Town Hall meeting this week I was struck---when the opportunity presented itself through a constituent question---by Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) not grabbing the opportunity to hammer home the SOP GOP talking point about "rounding up the brown and shipping them back where they belong." Instead, he spoke about creating a secure border---not to prevent illegal immigration, which he did not even mention (shock! stun!), but to prevent crime. He did engage in some bigoted pejorative depiction of the country of Mexico as a landless scary place (we must all be kept in fear all the time---I imagine as soon as they find a fear talking point about Canada, it will be employed), but otherwise stuck to security. I puzzled for two days until I received this notice from the White House: "Napolitano, Holder, and Kerlikowske Announcing Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy"

Today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske released President Obama’s strategy to stem the flow of illegal drugs and their illicit proceeds across the Southwest border and reduce associated crime and violence in the region.

Ah ha.

Keep reading to see more news you need to know but might have missed!

Campaign Laments Missed Opportunity for Children’s Health Coverage Despite Bipartisan Sponsorship and Support

Austin, Texas—The Texas Finish Line Campaign, a collaboration of more than 70 organizations seeking access to affordable, comprehensive health coverage for all Texas children, expressed disappointment in the failure of Texas leadership to advance a popular Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) measure that would have provided health coverage to 80,000 uninsured Texas kids. 

The proposal, which expired in the final hours of the 81^st Legislative session, would have allowed families lacking affordable health care coverage options for their children to “buy-in” to the state’s current CHIP program, an idea that won the support of the Metro 8, the state’s eight largest chambers of commerce, leaders in business and health care and bipartisan majorities in the Texas House and Senate. 

We commend the bipartisan champions in the legislature who stood by their convictions until the very end.  Ultimately the bill was derailed not on its merits, but because time expired and the top legislative leadership—the lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, and governor—failed to intervene and ensure the bill’s passage.

In failing to pass the legislation, Texas loses access to millions of dollars in federal matching funds made available to states earlier this year through the federal CHIP reauthorization.  Without maximizing our state investment in CHIP, Texas taxpayers continue to surrender millions of Texas taxpayer income to other states.  In addition to the state’s lost financial opportunity, privately insured taxpayers and local hospital districts continue to foot the bill of rising health care costs, insurance premiums, and local taxes that support hospital emergency rooms providing care for growing numbers of uninsured who lack access to cost-effective preventive care.

The Campaign expresses gratitude to the many statewide voices that supported this effort, including the 70+ organizations listed below and their constituents, and the thousands of advocates across the state who contributed to this effort.

Studies by the Texas Hospital Association and others show that making health coverage affordable and accessible was a top priority of Texas voters for this legislative session.  In addition, thousands of calls logged in to the governor’s, lieutenant governor’s and speaker’s offices demonstrated overwhelming voter support for this issue.

A Tribute: Dr. George Tiller in His Own Words

It is my fundamental philosophy that patients are emotionally, mentally, morally, spiritually and physically competent to struggle with complex health issues and come to decisions that are appropriate for them.

                                     --Dr. George Tiller (read the full transcript taken from Voices of Choice)

Dr. George Tiller, an ob/gyn who practiced in Wichita, KS, was fatally shot as he ushered services at his church this morning. A public supporter of women's reproductive rights, he carried through his belief that women hold sovereignty over their own bodies and lives by delivering their babies, assisting in their everyday gynecological needs, and also providing abortions when women sought them.

Targeted by right-wing anti-choice zealots as part of a systematic strategy of domestic terrorism involving decades of violent intimidation, he and his staff suffered numerous acts of harrassment. Those included vandalism, picketing, and even a non-fatal shooting of Dr. Tiller prior to this deadly attack. Dr. Tiller was especially singled out by anti-choice extremists because he offered women the option of late-term abortions for patients who needed them. (Go here to understand the circumstances that would lead women to need late-term abortions.)

I'm moved by his abiding courage and stubborn insistence that women should receive the care that's appropriate for them to control their reproductive lives. His family and supporters in his community have our eternal gratitude for courageously standing by him; surely they lent him strength to do his work and unfortunately, at times they shared the risks to his safety as well. We at MOMocrats send the Tiller family our deepest condolences upon the untimely loss of a generous, ethical, caring, empathetic person.

Dr. George Tiller: a father, husband, grandfather, member of his congregation and community--the pro-choice movement has lost a cherished ally and friend. We mourn your passing.

In memoriam messages here.

H/T to The Blue Ey'd Hag, @lizditz, Askew's DK diary

Cynematic believes every woman's life is a story, and all women should have the chance to write their own beginning, middle, and end. Determining if or when to have a family, and what size it should be, is a fundamental human right. She blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

TX Gov Perry threatens CHIP veto even as amendment dies fast death in Texas House, supporters rally to revive bill

The Children’s Health Insurance Program is designed to ensure that uninsured and lower-income children receive the health care they need. Advocates are excellent at invoking the true face of children who need, receive, and benefit from CHIP and SCHIP. Who doesn’t want to help children, especially sick children?

Governor Rick Perry and the Texas state representatives, that’s who.

Alleging that this, “is not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of the state of Texas,” Perry was clear that he did not support the bi-partisan twice-passed Senate plan to get up to 80,000 more children into the government-subsidized Children's Health Insurance Program.

He is likely to veto the measure, if it manages to make it to his desk. Unfortunately, even that is in question after the antics this week in the Texas Legislature when House Democrats halted action to kill the controversial voter ID bill. As a result, unfortunately, the CHIP bill, among others, was endangered. With the session close on the horizon, the Texas Senate worked late to pass the Senate version of the CHIP expansion bill by a vote of 29-2. They attached the bill to a newborn screening bill and returned it to the House.

The House simply needed to pass the bill. This seemed possible, since earlier they had approved Rep Garnet Coleman’s version of the bill 87-55.

However, on Thursday evening, Speaker Joe Strauss ruled that the Senate’s CHIP amendment was not germane to the bill it was attached to, and that, as they say, was that.

We can question and speculate for days about why the Senate attached the bill to the newborn screening bill instead of to Coleman’s CHIP bill, whether Strauss was right, or even if this is moot since Perry would veto the bill on its own or as an amendment.

I think it’s more important, though, to talk about the bottom line and why it’s essential that all Texans contact their elected representatives, as well as the Governor and Speaker, to express support for CHIP. That means talking about the myths versus facts of CHIP.

Legislation Watch: Gender Equity in Health Premiums Act

Just a couple of days ago, Reps. Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA) – a brand-new Mom – and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) – mom to three, grandma to five – introduced a bill (HR 2635) to prohibit health insurance companies from engaging in “gender rating,” a practice which charges women more for health insurance premiums than men. 

In a press release, they listed the “Top 5 Reasons Health Insurance Isn’t Fair to Women.”

5. Twenty-one million women and girls went without health insurance in 2007.  In addition to requiring reproductive health care – yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care – women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches, and more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain.  Women are also four times as likely to develop osteoporosis. 

Texas legislators shift money from family planning clinics, see rise in teen pregnancy

I listen with incredulity as conservative GOP talking heads pontificate about "liberal judicial activists" who "legislate from the bench."

It's a magic trick, that, as they gesture madly with one hand and quickly redirect funding and legislate morality behind their backs and ours with the other hand.

In a Dallas Morning News story released Friday, we find out that

"Clinics that have been providing family-planning services find themselves on the losing end of a fight over how the state can best provide birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and other services.

. . .
Over the last four years, lawmakers have diverted millions of dollars from the specialty clinics such as Planned Parenthood to expand family-planning services at community health centers, which provide a broader range of services. In the current legislative session, lawmakers may give back some money to the specialty clinics – but only what's left unused by the health centers."

On the surface, you might think, "It seems to make sense, to fund community health centers."

But let's look at some more information to show why this isn't the best use of funding, and how it's more morality restrictions that negatively affect women's health care.

Tobacco Companies: Convicted of Violating Civil Racketeering, Moving on to Do Same (or Worse) For the Next Generation. RAD.

Washington Post writer Del Quentin Wilber penned today's piece regarding the federal appeals court that upheld Judge Gladys Kessler's original finding for the tobacco industry, namely, that they "violated civil racketeering laws by lying to the public about the dangers of their product."

(The article ought to be read in its entirety because it's outrageous and, frankly, totally gross.)

So, if you're a tobacco-industry company and your industry is, pardon the lame-ass pun, going up in flames, what with all the recent banning by states of smoking in public, where do you turn for your next big infusion of profit?

TO THE (ignorant, easily-preyed-upon) KIDS!!

Senator Merkley, my state's freshman senator of AWESOME, however, is on the job.  To wit: keeping the 'baccy bums from giving out tobacco candy, yes, TOBACCO CANDY, to our children, through an (already-approved) amendment, the Merkley/Brown amendment, to the Senate Health Committee; it provides the FDA with the legal authority to regulate tobacco products, and none too soon.  The candies have already been introduced in three markets:  Indianapolis, Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, and my town, Portland, Oregon.  (Brazen.)  And get this tidbit: according to the bulletin sent to me by Mr. Merkley's media director, Sarah Lane Pierle, the companies producing this poison are overtly canvassing our kids.

With brightly colored packages and candy flavors, it’s obvious that these products are attractive to children.   The packages are actually shaped like cell phones to make them easier to hide from parents and teachers.  And from a short distance, both the packages and tablets resemble mint containers.  Janitors are already finding used packages in schools.

The Indiana Poison Control Center estimates that dissolvable tobacco products like the Camel Orbs contain between 60 to 300 percent of the nicotine in one cigarette.

Here's a video featuring the Senator as he discusses the nature of the product during a recent Q&A:

Thank you, Senator, for doing your job so well.  The future of our kids' health depends on such legislation.