Robert Reich: Getting Americans Back to Work is More Urgent Than Healthcare Reform

[Better Believe It]

Health Care Reform is Critically Important, But Getting Americans Back to Work is More So
By Robert Reich
November 1, 2009

I sincerely hope America gets genuine health reform and I hope it's stronger than what's emerging in the Senate. (Whoever voted for Joe Lieberman last time around ought to pray for continued good health.) I worry, though, that Obama's strategy may turn out to be a mistake comparable to Clinton's overemphasis on deficit reduction. Obama's focus on health care rather than jobs, when the economy is still so fragile and unemployment moving toward double digits, could make it appear that the administration has its priorities confused. While affordable health care is critically important to Americans, making a living is more urgent. Yet the administration's efforts to date on this more basic concern have been neither particularly visible nor coherent.

The Wall Street bailout, meanwhile, has saved Wall Street but left most regional banks in deep distress. Almost nothing has trickled down. Small businesses still can't get loans. Foreclosures continue to mount largely because jobs continue to vanish and homeowners can't pay their mortgages. Yet at this point, on the eve of a health care bill, it would be difficult for Obama to return to Congress seeking billions more to aid distressed homeowners and small businesses.

While health care reform, if done right, can help American families stay afloat in the economy, the current bills won't offer most Americans any appreciable decline in the cost of their health insurance nor clear improvement in the efficiency or quality of the health care they receive, and those who will benefit won't see the benefits until 2014 at the earliest. All this is partly a result of Obama's sharpest break from Clinton -- whose ambitious health care plan drew immediate fire from Big Pharma, the American Medical Association, and health insurers: The Obama White House bought off the medical-industrial complex by promising it fatter profits, bolstered by tens of millions of new paying customers.

That and other deals cut with industry -- including promises to Big Pharma that Medicare wouldn't use its bargaining clout to reduce drug prices, to the AMA that doctors wouldn't have to face larger cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates, and to private insurers that the White House wouldn't fight hard for a public insurance option -- are likely to make the resulting reform far more costly than it would be otherwise. These extra costs will be borne by those Americans who will be required to buy insurance but won't qualify for federal assistance, along with Medicare beneficiaries who will be paying more and receiving less. These people may not know they're indirectly paying the costs of buying off these industries, but they'll know they're getting shafted (Republicans will be sure to make them aware, even though the GOP has a much longer record of shafting the middle class for the benefit of big business).

The optimist in me says Obama can pivot off a health-care victory and launch some new initiatives that palpably and quickly spur job growth. The realist says there aren't any such initiatives -- at least none that can work fast enough to reverse the tide of unemployment before the midterm elections. Fiddles such as a new jobs tax credit can help but they won't make much of a dent. Even with a larger stimulus, a jobs recovery would still be far off. The tangible benefits of health-care reform are likely to be so elusive in the meantime that the public may become easy prey for demagogues on the right who blame Democrats for the economic insecurities that bedevil the nation next November.


Please read the entire article at:

http://www.robertreich.blogspot.com/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Easy for him to say, he's got money, a job, and all the health care one could need.

Ask someone who's up to forever in debt over covering costs for a loved one's urgently needed care.

Put another way, what would you give up first, lifesaving medical care or your job?

:shrug:

[Better Believe It]

7. And how will you live and what kind of medical care do you think you'll get without a job?

Without any income you'll probably qualify for Medicaid which you would be eligible for anyway without this healthcare "reform".

But, don't you really need a job with a living wage and affordable healthcare?

And if you should find a job with a decent wage you'll probably have to pay more costly private insurance premiums just for bare bones benefits should this insurance company sponsored "reform" become law.

[thunder rising]

12. I'm sensing concern all of a sudden. So, keep the status-quo? Got another choice?

[Hello_Kitty]

23. It's actually possible to have "reform" that is worse than the status quo.

A mandate with nebulous guarantees that you'll get the service you're paying for but absolute guarantees that the government (using the IRS as the enforcement mechanism) will go after your ass if you don't pay for it would seem to fit that bill.

[joeycola]

38. I think the danger in passing this current 'reform' whatever..

it ends up to be will be the LONG lag before folks see the outcomes (better, worse, more insurance, more money out of pocket, etc...) and also it will be decades before we will go back to any true reform.

[Hello_Kitty]

Most people in debt due to medical bills HAD insurance

And none of the "reform" plans on the table that mandate the purchase of private insurance will keep people out of crushing debt. They may have to accept you, despite your preexisting condition, and may not be able to drop you, but there's nothing stopping them from dicking you around with paperwork and hurdles for years before they finally pay for your treatment. Meanwhile, you can put those out-of-pocket costs on your credit cards, who can go after you even if you file for bankruptcy.

I'd be okay with putting health care ahead of jobs if the plan was to get rid of the profit motive of rapacious private insurers. As it is, we are handing the insurance industry a massive entitlement, while handing the middle class the bill for it. I agree with Reich.

[inna]

16. +1.

[paulk]

22. +2

[uponit7771]

33. -3, If ALL HCI's failed financially on Jan 1 we'd have a disaster on our hands they'll fail in less

...than a generation with the 85% rule, no denials, no preconditions alone. Throw in the taking away of their anti trust exemptions and you shave off 5 years for a good portion of them.

I don't mind a prudent wind down of the current private HCI's and I have a precondition myself

[Hello_Kitty]

43. I don't understand that post. eom

[Garam_Masala]

49. +2

[TheKentuckian]

53. I think you exaggerate. The total cap will save a large percentage from bankruptcy

and probably all since they upped the minimum debt you could have to go into the process a few years back.

I understand that for example that 10k is unaffordable by most but 10k is hell of a lot better than hundreds of thousands or even millions. The bill, I think does a decent job of protecting people that get sick the weakness is for the average Joe that is just paying premiums but doesn't get into anything serious.

Obviously, one should never even discuss or produce a credit card EVER when dealing with medical bills. In fact, you might be nuts for doing more than paying your premiums. Make the bloodsuckers squirm for it. The biggest pushback should about the crazy "cost sharing" the industry is trying to move to regardless of this effort.

[thunder rising]

10. Well, since I already lost the job ...

[ind_thinker2]

2. Agree with Reich, I am worried as well, in hindsight too much energy has gone into HCR and seems PO

is dead and if climate and finance reform are same, its going to be rough ride.

I am counting LIEber out.

[PretzelWarrior]

3. Robert Reich has been all over the map on this. Is he the Travelocity gnome?

He meets the height requirements, his charmingly gnomish voice fits the bill.

He has been banging the drum about "get health care now", "Call congress to get public option" blah blah blah.

now in the 11th hour he's saying....well, health care reform isn't as important as A or B.

yeah, whatever.

[Cha]

6. And, PObama has said many times that

Health Care Reform is also an invaluble asset to the US's Economy..it's a twofer.

Health Care is the ultimate for those who really need it NOW.

[Better Believe It]

11. When he saw the results of the horrible deal cooked up on health care he threw in the towel.

That's what appears to have happened.

He tried to stop the deal and did his best to organized opposition to a weak public option designed to fail. Is Reich to be condemed for that effort because he didn't succeed?

Reich just couldn't get very far when so many self-proclaimed liberals abandoned the fight for a meaningful and strong public option.

Some DU'ers, a small minority, don't even care if a bill is passed without any kind of public option .... they'll settle for anything the insurance companies and big Pharma cook up!

[Hello_Kitty]

13. As long as people are forced into it, a lot of DUers will be fine with whatever is in the bill.

Like I've been saying for months, the uninsured are the new Welfare Queens^TM and mandates are the magical elixir to many Democrats for what ails our health care system as tort reform is to Republicans.

[PretzelWarrior]

21. how is it designed to fail? and which "it" are you referring to?

there are currently 2 forms of public option in senate and HR bills. there will be opportunity to get amendments heard and possibly placed in the bill.

then there is conference.

I think Reich is just not comfortable if he's out of the news for very long.

[AllentownJake]

24. Really

He posts something on his blog because he wants attention in the news?

I didn't know the top news story today was Robert Reich's opinion.

Why whenever someone says something that they disagree with do they put negative attributes on the figure promoting.

Do you think Robert Reich, sits around saying I want some attention on Democratic Underground.

[PretzelWarrior]

25. yes. he's on the sidelines second guessing and being "provocative"

[AllentownJake]

27. Critical thinking evidently isn't encouraged anymore

Maybe this is just his opinion. You can just simply say, I disagree with his opinion.

I hardly doubt a democratic economist and former cabinet member is looking to undermine a democratic President.

Of course this man has served his country and his party more than you and I ever will, however you disagree with him, so he must have some selfish intent.

[PretzelWarrior]

30. ok. I agree that it could very well be he's just putting his opinions out there

and it is nothing more than that. But even with that said, I think he does so from a fairly high profile and low risk position of blogopundit. Not appreciated by people doing the heavy lifting, I would imagine.

[AllentownJake]

31. You do understand the 1st amendment right?

and you understand why it exists I'm assuming. People in power sometimes do the wrong things, and it is important people have a voice to say something about it.

Also remember, Robert once was doing the heavy lifting.

[Bluenorthwest]

42. Why the personal attacks on his looks, which have zero

to do with anything at all? If your crowd had points to actually make, perhaps you would not always have to play school yard insult games. It is very telling, the level of trash talk and vulgarity and lack of actual content. It is a sad display of desperation.
But really, why the insults? What is the objective you seek with such slanders upon physical characteristics? What is the intention of such tactics?

[bertman]

58. PretzelWarrior, without going back into the Reich Archives to verify this I'm going

on record as remembering that he, along with several other prominent "left-leaning" spoilsports urged President Obama to go with a bigger stimulus or face having to go back to Congress to beg for more money when the limited stimulus (that the Prez and the Dem Congress let the Republican obstructionist, johnny-come-late-budget-hawks engineer) didn't do the job but only served as a stopgap measure.

Remains to be seen if the "left-leaning" spoilsports were correct.

[ProSense]

4. This is simply not true

Yet at this point, on the eve of a health care bill, it would be difficult for Obama to return to Congress seeking billions more to aid distressed homeowners and small businesses.

Obama is doing both, and he is rerouting more than $300 billion to small businesses.

Also didn't the stimulus come before the health care bill?

Reich sounds like he's arguing Lieberman's point, which is what's the rush?

[firedupdem]

5. I appreciate a muti-tasking president myself. All of these things

need attention.

[Cleita]

8. Getting people back to work is essential, but those people still

need health care. The two concepts go hand in hand.

[Beregond2]

9. There is no "either/or" here.

Health care reform is critical to the economy. The economy is critical to jobs. What's more, as he points out himself, there is nothing much more that can be done about jobs at this point. We just have to wait-out the lag between a recovering economy and increasing employment.

[Hello_Kitty]

17. No we don't. We could make like FDR and do public works projects.

FFS the frigging SF Bay Bridge is falling down! Infrastructure is rotting all over the country and a shitload of people need jobs. Including an awful lot of folks in construction. What are we waiting for? Masters of the Universe to decide they're ready for another bubble to create credit default swaps for? Why the FUCK are people still taking what Wall Street hacks (who have wrecked the economy on numerous occasions but most egregiously this time) say as articles of faith? And don't bother showing me the charts. I know that employment has been lagging behind "recovery" the past several decades. I'm questioning the entire goddamn premise. Employment lags because selfish greedy dickbags WANT it to lag. They want us to be so grateful that we have work we don't dare complain or organize against them.

[AllentownJake]

28. It isn't in the cards

The party has moved to the right of Hoover on economic issues.

[Jennicut]

35. You think Congress would approve another stimulus package at this point?

That is laughable. The answer is getting some of the blue dogs primaried out first.

[msongs]

14. end all of OUR wars and we can do both actually nt

[BrklynLiberal]

15. False choice? Does it have to be one or the other? Why can't it be both??

:shrug:

[Hello_Kitty]

18. It could be both.

But as Reich so aptly points out, the health care "reform" that will likely come out of Congress and be signed by President Obama looks like little more than an expensive bailout of the insurance industry that will not have an appreciable impact on the average consumer, and may actually piss a lot of middle class people off, royally. Meanwhile, we'll still have millions of people out of work or underemployed. They'll be pissed off too, even if they now have health care. Health care is very important, really, but you can't eat it and it won't put a roof over your head.

[rucky]

40. I think that's what Reich is asking, too.

[Odin2005]

19. And the purists turn on Reich in 3... 2... 1...

[boppers]

26. ...0!

"Hi, you're dying of AIDS, would you rather flip burgers or get medicine to not die?"

"Hey, you have arthritis, and you're a carpenter, so you can't work a job without having health care first, because if you aren't healthy enough to work, you *can't* work!"

If only there was some HUGH job sector, one that most every American was touched by, one that was 12% of our economy, that Obama and the D's could stimulate by changing! That might make for massive job growth...

*sigh*

[xchrom]

20. no jobs? -- no nothin -- that's the long and short of all of it. nt

[Garam_Masala]

29. Agree 100% with Reich....without a job one can't afford even the public option

premiums. Without a job one will be forced to resort to medicaid.
I once tried to get medical service at Cook County Hospital where
most patients are on medicaid. It was a horrendous experience.

[FrenchieCat]

32. Like someone believes that Pres. Obama is supposed to pull jobs out of his ass better,

if he fails on Health Care? Are we really this stupid?

The Health Care Debate has not gotten in the way of the Economic recovery,
except for in the minds of those who want to believe this. :eyes:

[Better Believe It]

41. President Obama should have proposed a job creating stimulus plan

instead of letting three Republican Senators write the so-called stimulus bill in the name of bi-partisanship.

[Hello_Kitty]

44. The plan was 1/3 tax cuts.

I understand that tax cuts to middle and working class people have some limited stimulative effect but there were far more effective things that could have been done with that money.

[Jennicut]

34. What, is he Bush? Can't walk and chew gum at the same time?

As a diabetic, healthcare reform is incredibly important to me. We are not hurting from the economy right now in my family, as bad as things are out there right now. We are more hurt by the rising costs of health care and my medication, which I have to resupply monthly. My copays are steadily going up. Plus, if my husband ever did lose his job and we went to look for health care on our own, would an insurance company refuse coverage to me because I have a so called "preexisting condition"? Both things are very important but healthcare is very important to me.

[SoCalDem]

36. Water is more important than food (same "argument")

We need BOTH, simultaneously, and permanently

[annabanana]

37. gee.. Maybe a REAL heath care reform would take the burden off

small businesses and allow them to hire?

[joeycola]

39. I think Reich's concerns are very plausible. Thanks and REC

[TwilightGardener]

45. Congress is doing most of the heavy lifting on health care. I have no doubt

Obama is concerning himself with the job situation. These things don't have to be taken on separately, in linear fashion. Presidents should have a number of irons in the fire.

[Hekate]

46. Crap. And all this time I thought that HCR would uncouple access from being employed, Mr Reich; and

... I thought our current President was capable of multi-tasking, unlike the previous idiot.

See, in my mind being jobless and being without health care access requires a REAL safety net. A REAL safety net would also see to it that people whose employers can't afford to provide health care insurance are also able to still get health care.

I think Robert Reich is presenting a false choice for the POTUS -- he should take on Congress instead.

Hekate

[Proud Liberal Dem]

47. Why can't he do both at the same time?

:shrug: He's already done the stimulus plan and he's still undoubtedly working on the problem. President Obama actually has a lot of objects in motion right now- financial regulation reform, cap and trade, health care reform, Afghanistan, Gitmo, etc. I'm surprised that Reich doesn't realize this- or that President Obama, unlike his predecessor, can and does actually multi-task. It seems like it's the Democrats whom work hardest whenever they're in office whereas the Republicans like to delegate their duties to their cronies and goof off for most of their terms in office. President Obama, like Clinton, has so far been extremely busy and productive so far. The fruits of his labor may not be instantly felt/observed/noticeable by a lot of people but he is clearly MUCH busier than his predecessor ever was during the entire 8 years he was in office and what he is doing will undoubtedly produce results down the road. Unfortunately, there are no "magic bullets" that will fix everything in a heartbeat but I have no doubt that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are trying their best.

[harun]

48. Unfortunately there will always be something the rich cite as "more important" than HCR

So we have to do it regardless of what other issues are on the table.

[Garam_Masala]

50. If mandates are forced on us...how does one afford premiums

for either private insurance or the public option without a job?
Public Option is NOT free. You still have to pay the PO premiums.
Without a job you will forced into medicaid and compete with all
the indigent people seeking healthcare.

[Better Believe It]

51. Collect aluminum cans .... oh Medicaid and Medicare benefits will have the be cut in order to help

pay part of premiums people will have to pay for bare bones private health insurance plans.

[and-justice-for-all]

52. As I agree that getting people back to work is vital...

passing real reform with a Public Option would help tremendously.

[earth mom]

54. Where are all those green jobs Obama promised? Gore stepped away in '08 because he thought

Obama would do the right thing by mother earth.

Big Mistake, Al. Big Mistake. :argh:

[ProSense]

55. You seriously believe that's why Gore didn't run? n/t

[boppers]

56. At least 2,000 of them are here...

Wind and solar are both in huge growth phases.

[earth mom]

57. 2,000? That's a drop in the bucket. nt