Health Care

A few weeks ago, we covered what the Everything Tax would do to services provided to Missourians - raise their prices with a sales tax hike - but that's not all.  In addition to taxing services like swimming lessons, car repair, and Fluffy's vet appointments, the Everything Tax would also tax advertising - an effort that Florida attempted which was then repealed mere months after its imposition, in what I'm sure was costly waste of taxpayer dollars.  The idea of taxing advertising immediately presents a First Amendment concern, given that it would essentially be a tax on the freedom of speech. This is definitely a foul idea being pushed in Missouri, and shows again just how bad the Everything Tax is for Missouri.

The Everything Tax also has some scary provisions when it comes to Missourian's health care.  From Coalition for Missouri's Future:

While Missouri cannot constitutionally tax federal Medicare or Medicaid payments, it can – and will – tax payments made by private insurers. In analyzing the petitions, both the state budget office and the Missouri Department of Revenue say that payments by private insurers to health care providers on behalf of insurers will be taxed.

All health care services, including doctor fees, dentist fees, and hospital payments, will be subject to the proposed tax.

Today, the Missouri House of Representatives passed a resolution asking the Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to join efforts opposing current National Health-Care legislation.  Why?  I thought Kinder's lawsuit was going to fix it anyway?

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Earlier today on KTRS' McGraw Milhaven radio program, State Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay) told listeners that he would support legislation to opt Missouri out of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act [EMTALA] which requires hospitals to provide access to emergency services, regardless of their ability to pay for their care, their legal status or their citizenship.  Passed in 1986 to stop hospitals from dumping vulnerable patients in need of stabilizing care, it's one of those horrible mandates that keeps poor people from dying or remaining very ill because greedy (but still Marxist) health care companies might be more concerned about their profits and executive bonus packages.

But if Lembke had his way, Missouri would junk those onerous federal mandates and return to more barbaric brand of health care in the Show-Me State.  Check out his exchange with host McGraw Milhaven:

MILHAVEN: I don't want to pay for people who choose not to have health insurance. I don't want to pay for people who choose not to have car insurance either.  But I would like to see where if you don't have health insurance, you are denied health coverage. It's as simple as that. Why can't we have a law like that?

LEMBKE: Ok, well let's repeal EMTALA [Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act] then, where the federal government passed a law that forces hospitals in Missouri and across the country to take patients and not be able to refuse care. 

And again, across the state of Missouri, we're opening health care clinics actually across the street from emergency rooms with that purpose so that people can access their care in a place that isn't the most expensive and the cost shift doesn't go to the rest of the taxpayers.

MILHAVEN: Would you be in favor of opting out of that federal legislation that says we don't have to cover people who [don't] have health insurance?

LEMBKE:  Certainly

MILHAVEN: You would be?

LEMBKE. Sure.

Check out this excerpt, or listen to the whole interview here:

 It is possible for Senators to walk and chew gum at the same time, despite what their detractors may claim. You can see that now with what's happening on clean energy and climate legislation even as Congress wrestles health care reform to the ground. 

The Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has assembled a compromise health package that would expand coverage to more than 31 million Americans at a cost of $849 billion over the next decade, a senior leadership aide said late Wednesday.

The cost of the package would be more than made up for by cuts in future Medicare spending and an array of new taxes, the aide said, reducing projected budget deficits by $127 billion no later than 2019 -- the biggest cost savings of any health care package so far assembled by congressional Democrats. The measure would also save the government money in the long term, the aide said, cutting projected deficits by as much as $650 billion between 2019 and 2029.

Please don't pay attention to all those stories and the mumbling in the GOP Caucus about my failure to follow through on my health care reform "guarantee."

Though Roy Blunt is hoping Missourians and the press forget about his "guarantee" to deliver a comprehensive health care bill that "costs less and provides better care for the American people," many members of his own caucus have not. The Hill reports:

Some House Republicans are growing frustrated that their leaders have not yet introduced a healthcare reform alternative.

For months, the message from House GOP leaders on a healthcare bill has been similar to ads for yet-to-be-released movies: Coming soon...

Adding to the frustration is the fact that GOP leaders promised in June that they would introduce a leadership-endorsed measure.

Republicans' concerns about Blunt's slow movement -- and now complete inaction -- on health care have been reported for months. 

Whatever momentum conservatives and Republicans thought they had from the August recess on health care reform, it appears to be gone now.  A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a public option to compete with private insurers wins "clear majority support from the public." Also in that poll:

• Only 19% have confidence in the Republicans in Congress to make the right decisions for the country's future, and 79% lack that confidence.
• Only 20% of adults identify themselves as Republicans, the lowest single number in Post-ABC polls since 1983

More at TPM.

In the coming weeks, watch for Peter Kinder to weigh in on the health care debate to anyone who will listen.

As he rails against government sponsored health care, some enterprising reporter ought to ask Kinder about his own misadventure in making big promises to provide affordable health care insurance outside of government... and then falling flat on his face.

In 1997, Kinder and two Senate colleagues started a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing affordable health care coverage to children.

Kinder filed the not-for-profit's Articles of Incorporation, served on its Board of Directors and even listed his Capitol suite as the corporation's registered office.

But not a single child was ever covered through Kinder's alternative to government run health care.  His not-for-profit corporation was administratively dissolved in 1998 after Kinder stopped filing required reports.

And now he thinks its good enough for everyone.

Fired Up!, ready to go:

It's unclear what studies Roy Blunt read to make him believe "Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy," because everything I've seen shows that seniors are indeed more healthy because of Medicare.  In fact, Medicare covers nearly 45 million beneficiaries (about 15% of the population), including 38 million seniors and 7 million younger adults with permanent disabilities. Yes, it's expensive and needs some reforms to keep helping people in a sustainable manner, but that's a separate issue from whether or not it actually makes people healthier.

Medicare, as Blunt surely knows, has four parts:

• PART A, the Hospital Insurance (HI) program, which covers inpatient hospital services, skilled nursing facility, home health, and hospice care.
• PART B, the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) program, which helps pay for physician, outpatient, home health, and preventive services.
• PART C, the Medicare Advantage program, which allows beneficiaries to enroll in a private plan, such as a health maintenance organization (HMO), preferred provider organization (PPO), or private fee-for-service (PFFS) plan.
• PART D, the outpatient prescription drug benefit.

Rep. Tom Price is not content to wait around for Roy Blunt and John Boehner to waste more weeks not releasing a health care reform bill.  Price's Republican Study Committee is moving on without them.  Greg Sargent reports:

Okay, the tale of the missing House GOP health care bill has taken another intriguing turn: A group of House Republicans has created a bill — but without the GOP leadership, which still has yet to unveil its own.

CBS News reports that GOP Rep. Tom Price and the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group of House conservatives, is set to unveil its own health care bill, the “Empowering Patients First Act.”

Read More »

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The Missouri Democratic Party has posted video of comments from Roy Blunt made this past weekend, in which Blunt states: "We've had Medicare since 1965, and Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy. If there's any opportunity for more healthy activity, it's going to be, again, a private, competitive..." 

It's an incredible claim, but consistent with his comments a few weeks ago that it would have been best if Medicare and Medicaid had never been created. This may be new information for Blunt, but a lot of his constituents are much healthier because of Medicare, and they like it very much.

Americans United For Change has released a new blasting Republicans (and a few Blue Dog Democrats?) for working to slow down the health care reform debate this year. Watch it:

(via Greg Sargent)

Roy Blunt only started blaming Democrats for his inability to produce health care legislation the day after he said he could introduce a bill, but wouldn't.

UPDATE: Though not advertised as a guest, Blunt is participating in the event right now.

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Tonight, the conservative Pajamas TV media network is hosting an online health care forum featuring leading GOP voices on health care. Here's how they're pitching the online rally:

Participants will include House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI).  Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds will host these lawmakers and other participants from our D.C. studio.  Other experts will join from New York and The Heritage Foundation, as well as PJTV commentators, Sonja Schmidt and Steven Crowder, from our LA studio.

Who's missing from the list?  Only the man in ostensibly in charge of the entire House GOP health care effort -- Roy Blunt. 

If State Sen. Chuck Purgason's initial statements about his candidacy are any indication, Roy Blunt may be forced to answer questions about his record in Congress much earlier than he'd hoped. Blunt is already indicating he hopes to ignore Purgason entirely, but Purgason's criticisms are direct, easy to explain and persuasive (if not yet backed by a lot of money):  Roy Blunt was in charge, and he blew it.

Indeed, the tension between Blunt and Purgason is playing itself out across the country. From The Hill: 

Republican challengers show schisms in party
By Reid Wilson

Faced with a difficult landscape where Democrats have ample targets, Republicans have crowed about their Senate recruits in recent weeks.

But in backing candidates who take a more centrist tack, the party risks ugly primaries that once again expose the cracks in the GOP’s underbelly.

Roy Blunt and some of his friends on the right are very excited about Blunt's latest plan attempt to score cheap points in the health care debate.

Blunt wants to require Members of Congress and the President to join a public health care option if it's included in a health care reform package passed this year by Congress. I think it's a good idea.