McCaskill Suggests There May be Alternative to Healthcare Mandate

In the video below, Claire McCaskill and Howard Dean talk about the 112th Congress.
The last thing mentioned in the video is people's dislike of the healthcare mandate, which says everyone has to have health insurance. That part of the law doesn't take effect until 2014. The law ensures that people with lower incomes would get assistance in paying for health insurance.
The mandate, which Obama didn't support at first, wasn't put into place so that the government could control people. It was put into place to create a larger pool of people paying insurance. That way more people could be covered, especially people with pre-existing conditions, and theoretically, we would all pay lower rates.
But a lot of people don't like the idea of being told they have to buy healthcare insurance, which is the case in Missouri, where McCaskill is from. She suggests that there might be other ways to increase the healthcare pool without having a mandate. Dean also says the mandate needs to go.

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Something's Wrong With Howard Dean

Recently, Howard Dean said the healthcare bill wasn't perfect, but dems should pass it. Now he's saying the completely opposite. Politicians. Ugh.

Passing the healthcare proposals before Congress will "hang out to dry" every Democratic incumbent running for reelection this fall, Howard Dean said Thursday.

Dean, a physician by training who's a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said that Democrats in Congress -- and President Barack Obama -- would do themselves more harm than good by passing the current healthcare bill.

"The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who's running for office to dry -- including the president, in 2012, because it makes him defend a plan that isn't in effect essentially yet," Dean said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press Radio Show. The Hill

Refuting the Healthcare Bill Killers

What was it I was saying about ideology?

Oh yeah, it's bad, no matter if it comes from the left or the right. Ideology means an unbending mind, one that can't see facts and evidence when they're presented. Ideology means defending what you believe, not because it's right but because you've staked your reputation on it. Having an ideology means a smaller world view, one that often misses subtleties and often the big picture at the same time.

Which leaves us with FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher, a kill biller or bill killer, sulking because the bill doesn't have a public option or exactly what she thinks it's supposed to have.

Even Howard Dean got off that train.

Fivethirtyeight answers back with 20 questions for those who say he bill should be killed.

18. Was the public option ever an attainable near-term political goal?

19. How many of the arguments that you might be making against the bill would you still be making if a public option were included (but in fact have little to do with the public option)?

20. How many of the arguments that you might be making against the bill are being made out of anger, frustration, or a desire to ring Joe Lieberman by his scruffy, no-good, backstabbing neck?

Ezra Klein also sends kill billers on their way, refuting Hamsher's claims.

Howard Dean on Meet the Press Dec. 20 Video

Howard Dean told a little white lie saying he'd vigorously support Obama's reelection. In this video, he said he'd support Obama but not vigorously.

In all, he softened his stance a bit:

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Watch David Axelrod on MTP here.

The roundtable with Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, Joe Scarborough and Tavis Smiley. Oh and Ed Gillespie, the predictable republican. Representatives from the left were definitely more tempered in their stance against the Senate healthcare bill this morning.

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Dean's Mission to Kill the Bill

Kill the bill seems a popular slogan these days. Tea partiers had a "kill the bill" rally the other day. Now it's Howard Dean who's doing a great job at derailing the bill. If either the public option or the Medicare expansion were in the bill, Dean wouldn't be complaining. It would be nice to have the media get someone from the administration to counter his claims.

Dean says the country is more important than either party. Exactly. Let the bill continue on to conference.

The left is getting bolder in deriding Obama. Dean: "I'm going to support President Obama when he runs for re-election---not vigorously."

Chuck Todd says there is some animosity behind the scenes between Dean and the Obama administration. Dean may be working out some disappointment in not being offered a cabinet position.

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It's Democrat vs. Democrat and We Lose

It's Howard Dean vs. Mary Landrieu.

Landrieu is right. Obama campaigned on fixing the system we have. He didn't campaign on a public option. He campaigned on competition, in whatever form that took. He has expressed that the public option could work but he never advocated full on for the public option.

That was the holy grail for the left. Obama laid out the guiding principles and asked democrats to come up with the plan, but clearly, there is no leadership, minus Obama, within the democratic party.

I'm sure republicans are gleefully toasting somewhere:

Rockefeller Says Howard Dean Sulking Over Healthcare

I'll say.
Howard Dean is saying healthcare should be stopped in its tracks. He's tearing the bill to shreds, saying there isn't enough reform. Now is the time for democrats to pull it together, despite their apparent need to self destruct. Jay Rockefeller says there is enough in the bill to support. The bill can be improved upon later:

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Howard Dean: The Bad Outweighs the Good on Healthcare

Does this mean Howard Dean is the new Joe Lieberman? Watch him on GMA here.
It's easy to blame one person for the demise of healthcare, but if it fails, it won't be any one person's fault. The whole slew of democrats have proven themselves unqualified for such a daunting feat. Healthcare was supposed to be for the people, for the country as a whole. I think most of them lost sight of who they're working for, as usual.

I'm not sure if Dean's new opposition to the bill is motivated by politics, since he was onboard with the bill about a week ago. Has the bill changed that much? I think Dean lost some points with the left when he said he supported expanding Medicare and was willing to forgo the public option. For the left, healthcare is a failure unless there is a public option and that, in my opinion, has been the main sticking point that democrats haven't been able to resolve. Liberals made the public option the holy grail and it's not.

I think Dean's forceful opposition means that there is still a fight for the public option, so I give up on healthcare until I see a final bill. There's too much politicking going on right now to distinguish between facts and political motivations.

I don't think Obama's presidency is based on the passage of healthcare either, contrary to media blather. If healthcare fails, blame will fall squarely on the democrats.
But the republicans are hardly better. With the exception of Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, republicans stood in the way at every opportunity. If healthcare fails, much of the blame can be heaped on the republicans. They're serving a slim minority of Americans, the tea party.

Healthcare silliness:

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Update: I guess it boils down to this--- the public option is dead, Medicare expansion is dead and Dean is unhappy:

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The Liberal Left Mad as Hornets Over Public Option

The far left liberals hate the new healthcare compromise. The far left sort of has no other choice but to fight for the public option because that's where they put all their efforts. They backed themselves into a corner. It was public option or nothing, even if something better came along.

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Yes Virginia There is an Option to the Public Option

Howard Dean likes the new option to the public option (see video below). Even Mr. I'm-so-fiscally-prudent-that-I-can't-be-your-commerce-secretary Judd Gregg says it makes sense.

The agreement capped several days of high-stakes negotiations by a group of 10 Democratic senators -- five moderates and five liberals. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) had advanced a bill that would have had the government directly operate a health-insurance plan, while giving states the right to opt out.

In place of that, the senators embraced a more limited proposal that would empower the government's Office of Personnel Management to put in place a new low-cost national health plan, congressional aides said. The office already administers plans offered to federal employees and members of Congress. The new national plan would be run by nonprofit entities set up by the private sector, and would be available to the public on the new insurance exchanges that would be created under the bill. WSJ

But other liberals don't like it one bit that the public option is not on the table (there's still a trigger). At least not as of yesterday.
The public option became a left vs. the right thing, and the left thought they should win this one. They thought that they had already compromised by putting away the idea of a single payer system. They thought Obama should've took a stronger stance advocating the public option. Obama stood strong in not taking a stance for any one thing but rather whatever option would accomplish the goals that he set out.
Both the left and the right forget that their views aren't the only ones or the right ones. It's not an either or thing.

Most Americans don't even think along political lines. While my views are more aligned with the left, I prefer not thinking within an ideological camp.
Now that Dean is on board with the new compromise, liberals will probably follow suit. Even Paul Krugman offers a small blessing. Like Dean says, this is what should've been done in the first place:

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Howard Dean Speaks on the 2% Public Option

Okay, I'll admit. Now I'm confused. So Howard Dean knew that the public option would only cover 2% of the people? Dean now says the idea is to incrementally arrive at health reform. That makes sense but that's not what public option pushers have been saying.

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Dean Likes Opt-Out Public Option

Howard Dean says the public option that would allow states to opt out of the public option is reasonable. The reasoning being that states aren't likely to opt out given that their people would demand it. Dean doesn't like the trigger at all and says if that's what's voted on, then it will be a total loss for Obama and reform.

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Obama is pleased:

“The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He’s also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.”

Maria Bartiromo Vs. Michael Moore

Michael Moore could make his points better if he didn't say things like capitalism is a pyramid scheme. Hardly. Wall Street just needs some serious regulations and the Obama administration is working on that. Wall Streeters need salary caps and bonuses should be out of the question.

More important, what's missing in the conversation, is that we the people need to get wiser about our finances. Many people haven't owned up to the fact that they bought a house they couldn't afford, that they accepted a mortgage they didn't understand. When a mortgage banker says you don't need to show proof of income, that should be a warning siren. Then there were people who used their home like a bank to buy more, more, more. Bigger car, bigger TV....

As for those who signed up with Bernie Madoff out of trust?
Madoff was giving investors unheard of returns. Hello.

We need to understand basic finances and an understanding of economics couldn't hurt either. Perhaps both should be taught in elementary school.
If we the people understand finances, then Wall Street can't take advantage of us, mortgage brokers can't sell you a mortgage you can't pay for.

We the people are the primary reason for the recession--subprime loans (people with houses they couldn't afford), which were turned into fancy financial documents and sold off in pieces for zero accountability, went sour. That led to job losses and a global meltdown of financial systems and a viscous circle of job losses, home foreclosure, job losses home foreclosure, which is why the stimulus was put into place.

Moore says we should take our money out of the banks that received TARP. That's a good idea except for the fact nearly ALL of the banks received TARP funds. People don't understand that banks had phony money on their books because of the bad mortgages. They couldn't do business.

The Morning Joe crew moves on to the Baucus bill. I don't know why anyone is still debating the Baucus bill. That's not the final bill. Moore says the bill is worse than nothing. If the final bill makes health insurance affordable for more people, without significantly raising premiums on everyone else, it will be worth it. Then, it can be built on.

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White House Take on Baucus Bill

Linda Douglass, White House healthcare spokeswoman, more or less dismisses Howard Dean and says the Baucus bill has some strong points. Douglass says the dems are united in that the status quo is unacceptable (I think that's all they agree on). Douglass reiterates that this isn't the final bill. In the final bill, health insurance has to be affordable (unlike the Baucus bill).

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Durbin and Dean: Public Option is Still on the Table

Contrary to what republican Olympia Snowe said this morning, Dick Durbin and Howard Dean say the public option or something like the public option is still on the table. Howard dean said regulating insurance companies like utilities would do the trick. John Cornyn says something but he's irrelevant:

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Dean says it doesn't matter to the American people how healthcare is passed:

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Dean: Health Reform is in the Hands of the Democrats

Howard Dean says democrats have the majority now and republicans have dropped off the bill, so it's put up or shut up (I paraphrased). Dean says the public option fight is over. He doesn't know exactly what the public option will look like but he said he's sure it will be part of the bill.

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Dean Says Van Jones Will Be Missed

David Axelrod said that Obama didn't force Jones to resign.

Stephanopoulos: Kennedy Would've Compromised

I believe George is right. Now we're going to have all these fights about what Kennedy would've wanted. He wanted health care for everyone. That's pretty clear. But is it going to get done all at once? Doubtful. People are ignoring the math. There's practically no way health reform that includes a public option is going to pass the Senate without some republican votes, all of the blue dogs and Robert Byrd, who's ailing.

Robert Reich says beware of the naysayers, political insiders, who say public option is dead. Okay. I'll hold out hope.

Frankly, I see too many wingnuts making themselves heard but not enough fight coming from the supporters. The wingnuts are only going to escalate the fight once congress is in session. We think the rhetoric has settled down. No way. Wingnuts think there is a major socialist plot underway. They've convinced one another. It's only going to get wingnuttyer.

Howard Dean disagrees with George and says Kennedy will get it done beyond the grave if he has to. Funny.

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Wingnuts Invade Howard Dean's Town Hall

Just because wingnuts are louder, selfish, uncivil and more obnoxious than everyone else, doesn't mean we can let them stand in the way, even if we have to politely boot them aside. It's time to forge ahead, forget the town halls and make health care happen. One of the top wingnuts Randall Terry, who likes to drag bloody baby dolls to make a point about abortion, and who insists that reform includes subsidizing abortion (not true), invades Howard Dean's town hall:

Howard Dean on Face the Nation Aug. 23

For me, Howard Dean is the person who's making the most sense on health care reform. He gets the politics and the policy. Bob Schieffer asks if Grassley is right-- is Obama sending mixed signals? Dean says Chuck Grassley is sending mixed signals. I'll say.

Grassley backs off on pulling the plug on grandma. Kent Conrad says public option doesn't have the 60 votes to pass the Senate. Dean has said that the bill may not pass the Senate with the public option but when the House and Senate bills are merged, it will be added back in: