Obama shifts rhetoric on health care, away from heath reform and to "insurance reform" message.

[Political Heretic]

This is my opinion.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_CARE_OVERHAUL?SITE=NJMOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT|The Associated Press>
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday that health care legislation he is seeking will bar insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions and include numerous provisions to hold down the cost of care for consumers.

This is a shift in message. Now, rather than focusing on the millions of uninsured Americans and the need to cover everyone or continue on with the President's prior claim that a strong public option is needed for real reform, the President is essentially conceding defeat, now tamping down expectations and shifting the talking points so that defeat can be spun as "victory" when congress delivers a bill that does not truly reform health care.

Obama retooled his pitch for legislation to overhaul the nation's health care as Democrats in both houses struggled to show progress before lawmakers leave the Capitol for a monthlong vacation.

The president plans to make this argument, according to the White House: "if you already have health insurance, reform means more security and stability." Back in Washington, aides will spread that message using e-mail and social networking sites.

Many, if not all, of the consumer protections the White House highlighted are included in legislation under discussion in both houses.

Many, if not all of the "consumer protections" the White House highlighted are already included in legislation considered in both houses because its not controversial and insurance companies are ready to live with it, as long as they can ensure that real health care legislation never sees the light of day.

Dr. Howard Dean spoke the painful truth best, when he said this week that Congress isn't working on health care, they are working on insurance reform - not the same thing.

The insurance lobby and corporate-dominated Republican and (I am sad to say) Democratic parties are winning the battle over health care, and the Obama administration is all but conceding defeat with this shift in message strategy.

In addition to a ban on insurance denial based on pre-existing conditions, the White House said industry would be required to renew any policy as long as the premiums are paid in full. Nor could insurers charge higher premiums because of gender, and they would be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on coverage.

No doubt there will be an army of new fans ready to defend and support this shift in message, just like there was an army of fans ready to throw single payer supporters under the bus, just like there was an army of fans ready to throw public option supporters under the bus. After all, these insurance reforms sound great right?

Setting aside the fact that we aren't addressing the underlying problem of ineffective health care focused on treatment rather than prevention which is virtually guaranteed under a for-profit system. The fact remains that the only reforms currently being discussed are the ones the insurance industry are comfortable with. One example:

The list of consumer protections made no mention of curbing the current practice under which insurance companies charge far higher premiums for customers with pre-existing medical conditions.

So, the talking point now is to highlight the fact that legislation will bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. But of course, those companies will remain free to charge anything they want to individuals and to increase fees based on preexisting conditions. That's the same thing, just under a different name.

The point of my comments is not to single out Obama for personal blame. It's possible that the system is so entrenched in corporate corruption that no one could win the kind of victories we need at the national level without first going state by state and winning smaller victories, or by a complete collapse of our plunder capitalist system and its replacement with something else.

I'm simply commenting on what's happening, with the hope that people will have the courage to admit that health care reform is failing, rather than deceitfully trying to spin this loss into some sort of victory when it isn't.

[uponit7771]

1. THIS IS GOOD!! It's the INSURANCE companies who are tagging the middle class with premiums

...because they made stupid bets in the equity and bond markets due to deregulation and have to charge more now to properly pay out coverage promises!!!

[WinkyDink]

2. Rates won't go down.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. it would be better just to remove the criminal sons of bitches from the equation in the first place.

Or, using the Dean strategy, allow the people to choose whether or not to remove the criminal sons of bitches from the equation. Either way, the end result of criminal sons of bitches being removed from the equation is a good thing.

"reforming" these bastards will be no more effective than "reforming" Charles Manson or Dick Cheney (same difference)

[John Q. Citizen]

3. When your starting position is Public Option, then it is reasonable to expect that you will have to

compromise some to get a bill.

Good work Dr. Dean and the rest of you Democrats who started with Public Option.

You made sure that real reform was never going to happen by shrinking the terms of the debate from the start.


Never mind that Americans are literally dying for socialized health insurance. You made sure the contributions from the criminal insurance industry will fill your campaign coffers for years to come. Well done!

[uponit7771]

4. ****WHITE HOUSE LINK SHOWS LITTLE CHANGE IN MESSAGE***

http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/?e=9&ref=text

[backscatter712]

6. I'm thinking this may be tactics.

Who knows what's going to happen next, but I'm suspecting that Obama's playing low on public-option right now to try to entice the Blue Dogs in the House to let HR3200 through markup (looks like we have success there) and get Blue Cross Baucus & co. to crap out his stinker of a bill from the Finance Committee, to get the process moving again.

Like people have mentioned, the big action will be in conference committee - Obama's waiting until then to really lean on people and push for the kind of bill he wants.

[MarjorieG]

10. Agree. Town Hall embraced the Exchange as giant pool for savings and reform; public option is

misunderstood and has become a political flash point. John Kerry, Slaughter and Rockefeller say get it to Conference. We don't know the ultimate Bill, but Obama and others are committed to the best we can get, the Public Option, so we have to support the process.

[nightrain]

7. What a betrayal of what could be... nt

[dflprincess]

8. And the biggest part of the "reform"

will be that we'll be forced to buy insurance from these crooks. Why he expects Romney Care to work at federal level when it doesn't in Massaschuetts has yet to be explained.

[SpartanDem]

9. You're right it's a shift in message

but I have to disagree with your on conclusions you have to sell Americans who already have insurance on reform too. You don't want these people balking because they see no benefit in it for themselves.

[Political Heretic]

11. The "people" don't matter. You don't have to sell them on anything.

The insurance companies and big money are the ones calling the shots, as per usual.