You know the old saying about "Laws are like sausage. It's better not to see them being made." (Widely attributed to Bismark) Well, this graphic from the Washingtonpost.com illustrating what still needs to be done to get a Health Care Bill passed would have had Otto shouting "Ich war richtig!"
Lobbying Loss?
As we transition for political parties and campaigning to Congress and lawmaking, insurance company lobbyists made big news yesterday. For Washington lobbyists, every day is a campaign. On Tuesday, when the Senate Finance Committee was passing another health care reform bill out of committee, the insurance industry may have been left nursing the wounds of an embarrassing loss.
The Politico reports:
In the health care reform debate, where playing nice has been the rule, a scathing insurance industry report looked to critics Monday like a grenade aimed at scuttling progress in Congress.
But it also looked to some like too little, too late.
Not only did the report land many months into the debate — with Democrats on the cusp of passing bills through five committees — it infuriated some of the very people the industry group hoped to influence.
“I don’t view the impact of the report as a bill-stopper as much as a bill-changer,” said Robert Blendon, a health policy pollster and political analyst at Harvard University. “The momentum is way too far [in favor of passing a reform bill], and there is a sense out there that something has to be done.”
On the eve of a crucial vote in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, the industry group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, raced against the White House and Senate Democrats to frame the 26-page analysis conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which concluded that premiums would cost more under the Finance Committee legislation than under the current system.
White House and Senate officials hinted at the possibility of legislative payback for releasing a report Democrats described as deeply flawed and self-serving. At the very least, officials said, it will help Democrats close ranks behind the Finance Committee bill, which had come under fire from the progressives as too moderate.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28213.html#ixzz0Tx2t7fRx
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5 comments:
Interesting how this could possibly backfire against the insurance companies who made the report, although from reading the article it doesn't seem like the report made much of a difference to either side. I still don't see why an immediate overhaul of the healthcare system is so urgently necessary; the public generally supports reform but would rather have it in incremental stages, what's wrong with that? I think (and hope) that will eventually be the direction we end up taking as the Democrats respond to these new reports and opposition and adjust the bill accordingly.
This seemed like a confused and frenzied attempt by the insurance companies to protect their best interests. It does appear to be too little, too late. If the insurance companies had enacted a unified, immediate campaign denouncing possible health care reform as economically dangerous, it could have made a significant difference. But releasing a flawed report on the evening of the bill seems desperate and makes their findings appear less credible. I don’t think the report had any major significance.
Insurance companies against healthcare reform need solid evidence in their reports. However, presenting a report with false information only supports healthcare further. When making an argument against healthcare reform, the insurance company has to stay really strong with their facts and supports. I don't believe that this made any difference in the general view about healthcare reform.
Unfortunately, as Democrats have come closer and closer to getting a bill passed, the public support has dropped rapidly. This results in more corrupt bargains and other junk in the bill as our politicians stretch to keep their comrades on board. It's looking unlikely that any real reform will be passed before 2010.
Insurance companies are trying to save their best interest by bring up this a point. After the bill has already passed this point will make no impact and I believe it will not cause the Democrats to adjust the bill at all.
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