Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Congress / Hargrove As House Health Care Vote Looms, Cooper Remains Undecided
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:13 PM
According to a Washington Post table, Cooper remains undecided on health care reform in its current state. The Senate's health care bill is, of course, far from perfect. And the move toward a rule that would "deem" its own passage as tacit approval of the Senate measure -- followed by sidecar legislation aimed at modifying some of the more ridiculous terms of the Senate bill, like the Nebraska giveaways -- strays far from the ideal path toward ratification.
It all sounds much more like one of Cooper's darker prognostications: That the House would be forced to swallow the Senate bill like some bitter pill.
UPDATE: Pith reached out to Cooper's camp, who would only say this of Cooper's intent: He won't make a decision until he's seen final legislation.
Yet how could any of it be otherwise? The country is only beginning to lurch out of a recession. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and special interest groups like America's Health Insurance Plans are, as they did in the '90s, spending millions to gin up Big Government fear and deploying astroturfed protests at legislators' offices -- many populated by gray-haired men and women enjoying Medicare while, without irony, warning of the dangers of government-run health care.
I suppose it's impossible to have a debate on an issue of this magnitude and import that doesn't devolve into something completely disingenuous. Moderates seem to be fleeing from the health care bill as though it were the very embodiment of a coming '10 upset in the home district. As we've suggested before, Cooper doesn't seem to have this problem. The Post has some additional information that may inform how he should vote and, perhaps, how he will vote: 15.6 percent of his district is uninsured. That's more than 90,000 people. (Enough to sway the outcome should a contender enter the ring in the coming election?)
The Post also points out that nearly $1 million in Cooper contributions come from the health industry. That's much more than some, but certainly less than others. And in a health care-centric community like Nashville, not all that surprising. Here's hoping the 90,000 have more influence.
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
Horse puckey. Cooper's not "undecided". He's Pelosi's lapdog and will heel to her demands.
like
dislike
Do you think 5000 HCA employees with their families hanging in the balance in his district even be on his mind? We are talking about a bill that will utterly destroy Nashville's economy....and he has to think about it? Go figure.
Out of all of the arguments put forward both for and against health care reform, I'm glad that Mr. Crisp has so succinctly cited one of the MOST compelling: Let's not do anything that interferes with HCA's ability to be profitable.
I like that. Thanks for sharing that sentiment so crisply.
I understand there are many votes where it is difficult to determine the right and most expedient thing to do. But 20,000 people die in this country because they don't have health care. Anyone who has ever heard those cancer society PSAs about early detection knows it.
Vote for health reform: People and businesses are able to make better choices on jobs because they are not locked into jobs to keep health care. U.S. businesses can compete internationally with businesses who don't have health care costs dragging their bottom line. U.S. measures of public health won't rival third world countries.
Oh, by the way, 20,000 people will be alive next year who wouldn't have been.
Don't vote for health reform: Rude people who don't like you now, won't like you then.
Hola, Senor Crisp. You are a generous and understanding person to care so much about your fellow Nashvillians. Cuidados!
I also thinking about changing my comment page on my college blog and saw instantshift’s latest post in my feed.
This is not a health care reform bill at all. A true bill of that nature would provide the highest quality, affordable, and equally accessible health care to all legal Americans, if and when they need it. Period. It doesn't need to do anything else and this legislation does not come close to doing even that.
It's when tangential special interests are permitted to become involved that huge complications arise. Those interests are not concerned with health care reform at all. To them all that matters is how can they grab more power and how can they get a bigger piece of the pie, regardless of what pie it is, ie. the larger the piece with the least effort, the better the pie. The crumbs can be left for others. To a great extent, that appears to be what is contained in the proposed legislation. But, ask yourself, how does that differ from the perception of today's “broken” system? I’ve never considered fixing something that’s broken with something else that’s just as broken but leave it to government to find a reason and a way.
This entire mess can be attributed to a small number of so-called "powerful" people who are determined to ram down the throats of the American people every piece of failed social legislation since Camelot was in office; making up for lost time under the dark veil of "health care reform". Using fear mongering, intimidation, and outright lies and deception, they are snaking their way toward stripping the Constitution out of the fabric of our society and raping this country of many of the freedoms we cherish most, all disguised and buried in the darkness of this "health care reform" bill.
A real health care reform solution is out there waiting for someone to assemble it. As horrendous as this may sound to many people, let's kill this proposal, now, shred the thousands of pages before us in the current document, and start over. This time openly define the objective specifying elements to be both included and excluded; keep both eyes focused on the mission; and, keep eyes, ears, mouths, and, most importantly, hands and wallets closed to tangential issues and outside interests. My prediction is that a considerably improved and more widely accepted piece of legislation would emerge in one fourth the amount of time our elected officials have spent on the current offering and our Constitutional rights would survive unscathed.
It’s time for our elected representatives to lead, follow, or get out of the way. Those currently perceived to be leaders have failed miserably at serving the American people. It is time for them, all of them, to go and get out of the way. They are at the heart of the problem; not part of the solution.
Where are the elected representatives, from any and all parties, who are physically, mentally, and morally strong enough to dedicate themselves to doing this, and for now, only this, health care reform. The strength and power of the American people would certainly be behind them and support their efforts. And THAT could be the refreshing change we all long for and have been constantly promised by the “leadership” for several years.
This is not about health care reform. It's about insurance reform. I find it very telling that the people who object to this bill do so because of how it will negatively impact the economy in this town. To hell with lives.
CEOs and board members of these poor pathetic little insurance companies make millions in compensation every year. In the meantime your premiums are being raised by how much? Gotta get the money to pay those fat-cats somehow, folks. If you don't believe me, go to sec.gov/edgar and look it up.
In the meantime ladies, don't get pregnant - that's a pre-existing condition.
Oh, over 45,000 people a year die due to causes directly related to lack of health insurance.
Thank-you, tnlib, for making my point. It's NOT about health care at all. It's about a multitude of other things which are separate issues into themselves. But, they're jamming it all into this one trojan horse bill which won't cure anything; it just band aids a bunch of stuff so we can come back later and "fix" it again, All of it.
Let's address the care side of health care and then we have something to base the other fixes on. Or address the insurance side of health care and do the same thing as "insurance reform". Now they have included, in the health reform legislation, a governmental takeover of the student loan programs! Everything is just a moving target and with reconciliation, this stuff will never stop moving long enough for anyone to know what they are voting or have voted on. The executive leader and the house leader have both said this publicly themselves.
One day they may all look back and ask "what was I thinking"? Since they will have to live the rest of their lives with this vote, I hope, for their own sake, they are able to answer that question and don't have to take it with them, unanswered, to their grave.
If they keep trying to be all things for all people, they may end up being no things for anyone. But they'll never have to admit it because they will never know it because they will never know what's in the bill they voted for!! So they can always claim "I didn't know" as their excuse, as lame as that may be.
Please, stop the insanity !
tnlib, you are aa fool if you believe all that.
Access to care must be restricted. We have too much care now and cannot afford it. That is the bottom line.
Cutting some CEO's pay is ridiculous. It may need cutting but you need to get on track and think how we are going to have the needed universal care.
The bill is a disaster.
Yeah, so an additional 30 million Americans will now show up at HCA hospitals with actual insurance meaning the doctors treating them will actually get paid!
I'm sure Bracken thinks that just sucks!
Now, instead of telling those folks to screw off and go to Vanderbilt or Metro General, HCA can actually treat patients and generate a revenue stream....
Really, Jon, I should care about 5,000 HCA employees more than 30 million citizens who will have access to medical care outside of the emergency room? Is that the best you can come up with?
The Frist's will be okay, Jon. They'll just take HCA public again.
HCA stands to gain if healthcare reform expands Medicaid coverage - echar la hueva!
"Hospitals and doctors have a lot at stake where Medicaid is concerned. HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, said its fourth-quarter profits dropped to $216 million from $276 million a year earlier, even as revenue rose 4.7 percent. The main culprit was apparently rising charity care and discounts for the uninsured, which together totaled nearly $1.5 billion, compared to about $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. So, like other hospital chains and individual hospitals, HCA stands to gain if healthcare reform expands Medicaid coverage."
http://industry.bnet.com/healthcare/10001838/healthcare-news-roundup-conn-allows-big-premium-hikes-defensive-medicine-blamed-for-cost-growth-states-cut-medicaid-and-more/
