News Roundup - Hour 1
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-03-19/news-roundup-hour-1
President Barack Obama waves to members of the crowd, following his remarks on health insurance reform at the Walter F. Ehrenfelt Recreation and Senior Center in Strongsville, Ohio, March 15, 2010.
Pressure builds on undecided lawmakers as Democrats inch closer to a majority on health care legislation. President Obama signs a new jobs bill. And Senator Dodd introduces his financial reform measure. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Karen Tumulty
national political correspondent, "Time" magazine.
Juan Williams
NPR news analyst, FOX News political analyst, and author of numerous books, including "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It."
Chris Cillizza
is the author of "The Fix" on washingtonpost.com.
Comments
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All this talk about process forgets how process worked when the Republicans were in charge. Bills were dropped in the dead of night and votes were held open for hours. Thanks to C-Span putting twenty years worth of video up in a searchable form you can watch the process of the Medicare Prescription Drug vote:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=596004130
And like everything the Republicans did when they were in charge all the costs were put on the credit card.
I can not believe that any serious 'journalist' gives any Republican critique of process any credibility. Why don't any of you ever call out these Republicans on their blatant hypocrisy.
The HCR process has been hard in large part because the Democrats are trying to pay for it and use a process that is extremely transparent by the standards of Washington DC.
And folks wonder why the media is held in such low regard.
Cheers
I support the President's plan, but only because something is better than nothing.
I'm flabbergasted that Washington isn't using the institutions already in place. Social Security is a perfect example of how a health care program can be run. If workers paid for their social safety net, there can be health care for all without affecting those who have plans through their employer.
I have a plan that is deficit neutral and will provide 2 million jobs for unemployed workers: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AX2P-lgt0GkhZGhwejI3ZmdfMGdoYjRrNzhi&...
Thanks!
Karen
Painesville, Ohio
Good morning Diane. One thing I have not heard discussed concerning this healthcare debate is whether if passed american companies will become more competitive in the global marketplace. Thank you. Greg, Fort Wayne
The analogy to car insurance and healthcare is utterly specious. Driving is not a right but a privilege that a state offer to its citizens, so it is reasonable to require insurance if you want the privilege. On the other hand, healthcare has not up to this point been a right as a citizen but another privilege, yet this policy will codify healthcare as a right. Whether or not we choose to do this as a society, the debate has yet to address this issue.
I can't understand why seniors are against this bill.
My Medicare Plus Blue premium increased from $35/month to $140/month for 2010 and I'm sure I'm not the only person that WAS enrolled in the plan.
Joe at 75
As far as financial reform is concerned, Sen. Dick Durbin was incensed months ago stating that "the banks own Washington." That's why Sen. Dodd's proposal doesn't go far enough. Stop trying to give out candy to the banks and protect the consumers!
Karen
Painesville, Ohio
Karen Tumulty's reference to the "cadillac tax" as a "large tax" on plans over 27,000 for families, 10,000 for individuals is truly misleading - the tax is on the amount of money OVER THE THRESHOLD of $27,000 or 10,000. In other words, a $28,000 plan would incur a tax of 40% on $1000. It's irresponsible to refer to the excise tax in this way - many people now believe that the tax is on the ENTIRE premium. Diane, you should have pointed this out.
One of the callers equated supporters of this health care bill to communists. I wonder if this caller also demonizes welfare mothers. Well, if someone doesn't have health insurance and winds up in the ER, I have to pay for it with higher premiums. How is this different from someone on welfare?
I am really disappointed in the bias in this show. 2 conservative hosts and a moderate? Yes Juan is conservative. He kept repeating the the public was against and that cost will rise if passed. Costs are rising now and premiums will go up for those that have insurance. Diane you must try to strike a ideological balance. Your listeners are not as conservative as your guests. I can't bear to listen to your Friday roundup an longer- its too much like Fox.
There are details of the latest health care reform proposals are on the internet. People can find them on the congressional websites. I wish people would take 15 or 20 minutes to review them. I think people would be amazed to see how much is devoted to reforms to Medicare and Medicaid to control waste, fraud and the excesses of the insurance companies in comparison to the efforts
to get everyone to sign up for insurance. From the comments I hear on news or talk shows, I don't think even the news people have taken the time to inform themselves of proposed reforms.
I just want to say that the Republican keep saying that the majority of the public does not want health care reform. And that is not true its just the opposite the majority of the public does want health care reform. We are the only Industrialist country that does not offer the most basic of benefit for their citizens. People can not help it if they get sick and Insurance Corporations have no right to make decisions for their health care. Insurace Companies are only about the bottom line. All they are interested in is making profit on the sick. The other thing I do not understand is how people don't know that the insurance companies are only a middle man making big profit on the sick. And this is one part about the insurance companies no one seems to talk about. And why not which is an important point.
Debate over health care overlooks the cost of not providing care for everyone.
In addition to cost of emergency room treatments for the uninsured, there are related costs:
Cost in money, time away from work , and worse health for the insured:
I spent 10 hours in the emergency room waiting to be seen for a wound, watching the red line showing infection creeping up my arm. The emergency room staff knew this would happen, the intake nurse drew a line with a black marker around the red area when I first went in.
People without insurance get sicker before they go for care, they don't even have a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant to call to ask whether or not to come in. These people are out of work more for typical 10 hour waits in the emergency room for themselves, their children, their elderly relatives. They lose more time from work to recover--they get sicker than people with insurance, see above. Their children get sicker, go to school, thus other children with and without insurance get sick.
They don't have their own doctor or clinic to go to for flu shots and other preventative care, so even if they do try to get the flu shots, if they can pay for them, they wait in lines on Saturdays for hours. Adding to already high levels of stress.
Cost in taxes not payed:
People losing a lot of time from work don't get promotions. They make less, so they pay less in taxes. They buy less, so stores pay less in taxes. They don't have the energy or time to read to their children when little, help or at least encourage them to do their homework, help them learn to eat and prepare healthy meals etc. All this can be expressed in dollars if you want to.
Yet no one in Congress is subtracting these millions of dollars lost annually from the cost of health care for all.
Congress does not care enough about citizens without significant amounts of money, our true underclass. So much for Jefferson's American yeoman being the strength of the country.
Hello Diane,
I really enjoy your show but somehow never manage to get into your phone line!!
First, I am very happy the health reform bill is almost passing. Enough of all the politics and negativity from Republicans. The bill is not perfect, and will undergo many changes in the next decade, all which will bring us out of the stone age when it comes to health care for all.
My wife is from Switerzerland, and I have to constantly apologize to her for all the crap we go through just to get consistent healthcare for simple office visits, checkups and treatments. We are constantly battling and spending hours on the phone to find doctors who will take our insurance. We are also constantly turned down for 'pre-existing' conditions. The insurance companies are little more than thieves, taking advantage of peoples situations.
Regarding the Tea Parties? What a bunch of idiots. I heard some clown on the radio using the term Communist. I also here the terms Socialist thrown around all the time. These people are mis-informed fools who don't even know the meaning of these terms or the context (historically) in which they were used. And your guest trying to defend Rush Limbaugh?? Who makes obscene millions spreading filth and lies, and pandering to peoples ignorance and fears. YES, misinformation IS bad. Oh, and by the way, did heh not get in trouble with the laws for abusing prescriptions?? Does that make him a felon? Watch out when you start throwing labels around.
Give Obama the credit for trying to fix a systems that is broken and corrupt. What the hell did the Republicans do for 8 years while Bush was cramming the damn Patriot Act down our throats. Which gave the government way to much intrusion into our lives. You Tea Party people are so dumb you don't even realize how much of your rights have been taken away. BUSH is the communist. How many times did he laugh at or ignore our constitution??
Get real people.........
I wonder what is Juan Williams' issue with Barak Obama. He gets almost giddy when discussing why the health care bill may not pass. It is so unprofessional of him to so obviously display his personal feelings.
Diane:
I love your show, and usually find your News panelists well informed, but I was appalled by what they said in response to your question about bonuses for government employees doing bank regulation because is was far off the mark and will mislead many of your listeners. I am surprised that people so much in the know about what goes on in DC don't know how the Federal employee performance management process works.
Each employee has performance standards issued to them by their managers at the beginning of the fiscal year, spelling out what goals they have to meet. The source of those goals is the list of goals for their agency, and the source for that is the President's Management Agenda, coming from the President and administered by OMB. So, if employees are directed to do the wrong things, or are rewarded for meeting the wrong goals, you simply need to look at who was President and what was in the President's Management Agenda. Don't blame the employees.
I think most Americans assume that Economics is based on idealogical beliefs and forget that it a complex science based on math and rigorous empirical research. There are certain things that economics allows us to state as fact. Facts allow us to make the most efficient decisions. Unfortunately the view of facts these days is that they are only useful if they support or own ideologies and predispositions. We all need to open ourselves to the potential for being incorrect and search for the best possible policies through a rigorous study of the FACTS.
That being said, we know that competition leads to cost control. But how does this work? Firms in a competitive market set prices to the "market" level that is created by the aggregated decisions of consumers. Thus in order to have cost controls, people need to know how much health care costs and must be persuaded by cost. Replacing a deductible with a percentage payment program this would achieve this. This would impose the type of market rationing that must exist in all free-markets. This will lead to the most efficient use of the limited health care resources. Otherwise demand growth will continue to outpace supply.
To make firms more competitive there must be more access to options for consumers. This can be created by allowing interstate purchasing of insurance. The exchange will actually do a pretty darn good job of this. Medicare/caid is a whole other issue.
I want to back you up Dougnrg. Juan Williams is so biased and he was identified as of NPR? I thought he was also of Fox. no longer? or not said?
He's so offensive I can't listen when he's on. I hope Diane or staff read these posts.