The Incredible Shrinking Opposition To Health Care Reform

[babylonsister]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/the-incredible-shrinking-opposition-to-health-care-reform/

The Incredible Shrinking Opposition To Health Care Reform


The big news of the day, obviously, is the health care powwow that’s scheduled to take place today at the White House. Goups once opposed to health care reform — hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies — will stand alongside Obama and announce their commitment to scaling back health care spending in order to help Obama realize reform at long last.

Whatever you think of the industry’s motives, what’s striking here is how marginalized the remaining opponents of reform are right now, how disoriented the GOP opposition is on this front, and how much more likely reform suddenly looks.

Anyway, I thought I’d outsource the job of explaining this to people who know more about the topic than I do:

* Jonathan Cohn says this shows how fractured the opposition to reform has become, and argues that it’s good news, even if the groups are trying to buy some good will to perhaps try and kill a public insurance option later.

* Paul Krugman, a major Obama-skeptic on health care during last year’s campaign, says that the fact that major industry groups are trying to shape rather than block reform is some of the best policy news he’s heard “in a long time.”

* Marc Ambinder says the meeting means the White House will get reform “this year.”

* Ben Smith observes that the meeting is a mark that the argument is no longer over whether there will be reform, but over whether it will include a public option.

Another key thing to watch: The virtual absence of organized Republican opposition to reform, which is dismaying some conservatives. There’s probably no clearer sign of this than that memo by Frank Luntz telling Republicans how to discuss reform by rehashing the same language opponents used in the 1990s, as if nothing has changed since then.

[Mudoria]

1. Health reform is coming for the simple reason that even

business (other than the insurance industry) knows that costs have totally gotten out of hand. The cost of insuring their employees is taking a major chunk of their capital. Even the insurance industry knows it's coming, they just want to shape it to their advantage. Of course, overwhelming public support is the biggest icebreaker.

[CTyankee]

2. I'm not uncorking any champagne bottles yet.

Here are some questions I raised about the co-existence of public/private plans if we get a mix of them: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5632323

We could end up with a disastrous public plan that will be used by repubs to "prove" that the public (read: government) option is always bad. We can beat them in their little talking points as they now stand (you won't have a choice of docs, you'll have to wait in line for care, etc). But with a bad funding plan for public plans, we could get very seriously screwed and the American people will not believe in public plans for everyone after the experience...

[Grey]

3. and that's exactly what I think will happen.

[CTyankee]

4. So we must take up the sword on this point RIGHT NOW.

Look what Thatcher tried to do in Britain.

The Labor Party called them on it and revealed what they were doing.

[Faryn Balyncd]

5. The enemy of reform is not "opposition to reform". The enemy of reform is Pseudo"Reform"...........

....and the devil is in the details.

[avaistheone1]

6. When you can't get a seat at the table at the White House Consortium

or even at the Senate hearings I suppose you would imagine that there is shrinking opposition.

However, the video from last week's Senate Committee shows that there is organized, ongoing, vocal opposition to the health care industry's monopolization of the health care discussion in this country and the industry's proffered solutions.

Single-payer universal health care is the preferred solution of the American people. We are not going away.


The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Mark Twain