Pennsylvania's 18-member Congressional delegation are poised to reject the health insurance reform package being considered in the House tomorrow. According to The Washington Post, nine members are already definite Nos, including all Republicans and Democrats Jason Altmire and Tim Holden. Three Democrats remain undecided.Contributions from the health industry appear to have had no impact on the thinking of individual Congressmen. For example, Alyson Schwartz is the largest recipient of health industry contributions ($1.1MM), and supports the reform. But Jim Gerlach, who has received almost as much ($1 MM), is a No.
Altmire, Jason D PA-4: He was opposed last November and is opposed now. He reports $610,035 in health industry contributions. 8.60% of his district (western Pa.) is uninsured. Angry steelworkers are today staging a sit-in at Altmire's Aliquippa office.
Brady, Robert A. D PA-1: He was a Yes in November and now. He reports $133,650 in health industry contributions. 18.20% of his district (Philly) is uninsured.
Carney, Christopher P. D PA-10: He was a Yes in November but is undecided now. He reports $226,560 in health industry contributions. 11.80% of his district (northeast Pa) is uninsured. Update: Carney is now a Yes.
Dahlkemper, Kathleen A. D PA-3: She was a Yes in November but is undecided now. She reports $80,160 in health industry contributions. 11.40% of her district (northwest Pa) is uninsured. She's been subjected to a TV ad by health bill opponents that questions whether reforms will interfere with cancer research. She's recently lost both of her parents to cancer.
Dent, Charles W. R PA-15: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $561,609 in health industry contributions. 10.20% of his district (Lehigh Valley) is uninsured.
Doyle, Michael F. D PA-14: He was a Yes in November but is undecided now. He reports $377,040 in health industry contributions. 11.70% of his district (southwest Pa) is uninsured. (According to CNN, he is now a Yes).
Fattah, Chaka D PA-2: He was a Yes in November and now. He reports $230,600 in health industry contributions. 14.30% of his district (Philly) is uninsured.
Gerlach, James R PA-6: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $1,046,298 in health industry contributions. 7.90% of his district (Berks-Chester-Lehigh-Montgomery) is uninsured.
Holden, Tim D PA-17: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. he reports $418,653 in health industry contributions. 10.40% of his district (central Pa, including state capitol) is uninsured. He has condemned the "political trickery" of deem and pass.
Kanjorski, Paul E. D PA-11: He was a Yes in November and now. He reports $298,980 in health industry contributions. 11.70% of his district (coal regions) is uninsured. Update: According to The Hill, Kanjorski is now undecided because a student loan bill he dislikes has been tied into this bill.
Murphy, Patrick J. D PA-8: He was a Yes in November and now. He reports $403,703 in health industry contributions. 6.90% of his district (mostly Bucks) is uninsured.
Murphy, Timothy R PA-18: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $933,900 in health industry contributions. 7.60% of his district (western Pa) is uninsured.
Pitts, Joseph R. R PA-16: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $628,555 in health industry contributions. 14.50% of his district (southeast Pa, just west of Philly) is uninsured.
Platts, Todd R PA-19: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $42,200 in health industry contributions. 9.60% of his district (Adams-York-Cumberland) is uninsured.
Schwartz, Allyson Y. D PA-13: She was a Yes in November and now. She reports $1,192,608 in health industry contributions. 9.60% of her district (eastern Montgomery and NE Philly) is uninsured.
Sestak, Joe D PA-7: He was a Yes in November and now. He reports $286,353 in health industry contributions. 7.30% of his district (Delaware County) is uninsured.
Shuster, William R PA-9: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $167,855 in health industry contributions. 13.30% of his district (middle Pa) is uninsured.
Thompson, Glenn R PA-5: He was opposed in November and is opposed now. He reports $96,649 in health industry contributions. 11.40% of his district (middle Pa) is uninsured.
Hey, can we just say 16,000 BRAND NEW IRS agents are included in the "so called" healthcare bill? Are these congressmen and women nuts or what? I just don't get it!
ReplyDeleteBefore vote, these 16,000 BRAND NEW IRS agents need to be part of the discussion with all media. The 2,500+ page proposed legislation will be a disaster of the highest order for America if passed, is my opinion. www.kisslinger.com
Kanjo refused to give the Prez a 'yes' when they spoke. I am told he advised the Pres that he is a likely "no". My source says that Kanjo is bound so tight to Sallie Mae, which doesn't like the student loan reforms tied to the bill, that he said he'd vote No to protect his benefactor.
ReplyDeleteHey! How's it going? Are you back to blogging? I'll link to you if you are.
ReplyDeleteInteresting news about Kanjorski. I'll check it out.
I would like to hear one negative comment about the pending health "care" reform from somebody who has been denied care due to a pre-existing condition.
ReplyDeleteLeon,
ReplyDeleteIf you want to provide health care for people with pre-existing conditions then do it with a separate piece of legislation that have the tax payers directly fund the expense. It isn't insurance if you wait until you are sick or injured to get coverage so how is it fair to the insurance companies to demand they work this sort of irresponsibility into their actuarial tables? The resident has cynically made insurance companies the bad guys and too many people have fallen for this straw man type argument. It is astounding to watch.
If you want to fix what is wrong with health care then do it without granting the federal government the power to control everyone’s health care and health care choices.
Scott Armstrong
"the resident" boy it must be too early to write. The President has cynically made insurance companies the bad guys...
ReplyDeleteSorry
SA
Hey Bernie, giving it another go. FYI, Kanjo struck some kind of deal and told the WH this am that he is on board now.
ReplyDeleteABFS, Just saw your post and new blog. I've added a link. Good to see you again.
ReplyDeleteOnce again Scott makes it clear he is the Republican lackey we know and love.
ReplyDeletehere is a real world example pinhead. A man(we will call him (Jim) Jim worked for a company for 7 years and had health insurance. He was laid off and eventually got another job but had to get his own health Insurance but he kept getting turned down. One company offered catastrophic with massive deductibles for more than he made working.
You see Scott, while Jim was gainfully employed at the company with health benefits he had a heart attack and by-pass surgery. This led to some other health issues none of which qualified him as disabled.
In this perfect world you love, this individual did not wait until he was sick to get insurance but once sick he was pretty much blacklisted from Care. You and your co-harts have painted some silly scenarios but sadly many people are aware of this type of problem happening everyday.
WHEN health care reform is passed only one group is to blame, the arrogant Health Insurance Companies who have been playing god and acting like it for 20years. Their Madoff moment has passed just as your Roveian strategy.
Mark
Does anyone know what the actual cap is on premium increases on this bill? Has it changed? A couple of months ago, the cap was triple the current rates, which makes not denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions meaningless, if people can simply be priced out of coverage and then fined for not having any. I hope that the cap has been changed since then. If anyone has specific info on that detail, I would appreciate knowing.
ReplyDeleteI was shopping for a new heathcare plan recently, and found one that I thought I could live with for $226/month on line. Being that I'm in my early 40s, very healthy, have had no major surgeries or illnesses, don't smoke, drink in moderation, eat healthy food and exercise semi-regularly, I was confident that I would be accepted. I applied, only to have them "accept" me, but tell me that my premium would be boosted to $400/month for getting asthma (for which I use an inhaler) on the rare occasion that I am around cats. I can't imagine how much people are paying that have had real illnesses, major surgeries or a previous bout of cancer. If their current rates are not capped (or reduced) I don't see how this bill is going to help Americans with real health problems to deal with.
On the other hand, I am thoroughly disgusted with Republican obstructionism on this issue, and simply want to see this thing pass to show that obstructionist behavior will not be tolerated by the American people in our elected officials.
Now, while I agree with a couple of Republican points, that a) we need torte reform to reduce defensive medicine and b) we need to increase competition by allowing people to shop for insurance across state lines (and I am clueless as to why the Democrats would resist including these measures in the bill), I am upset at the resistance to the market competition of a public option. I would like to see all of these elements at play, and let the chips fall where they may in a free market.
But what disturbs me most of all is that, while it's true that health insurance companies are greedy and employ reprehensible behavior to avoid coverage, when it comes to reducing the cost of healthcare, I have heard but the most rare and fleeting mentions from either Democrats or Republicans of pharmaceutical companies. How is this possible? And how is it that no one in the media on either side has called them on it?
Any ideas? Thoughts? And please no "Obamacare" or "Evil Republican" name calling--it's boring and ignorant and gets us nowhere--let's have a real conversation about this. Does anyone know what the premium cap is? Does anyone know if there are any pharma reforms at all in this bill?
Noel
ReplyDeleteI agree that more bipartisan support should have been in this Bill. The problem is despite Bernie's Republican cheerleading they conned the President. It became obvious after a year of discussion when even Mitch McConnell voted NO on things he had earlier approved of. The R's were driven by the party leadership to stall and deny Obama any so-called "victory" so they could trade on their race-baiting and alleged socialist campaign strategy.
The American people are in a dilemma. This is by far a very less than perfect Bill but if we don't pass something I guarantee you the Republicans will do nothing. At least when this Bill is passed the Republicans will have to deal with it.
I would rather tinker with a faulty Bill than believe proven liars that they will produce the "perfect" Bill when they still think Medicare and Social Security should be repealed.
Lester
To Scott Armstrong,
ReplyDeleteI was denied insurance in the state of PA because of a slow thyroid which costs me $10 a month for Synthroid WITHOUT insurance. THat's it. I tried to get insurance on my own because I wanted to work as a consultant instead of for a company where I had a chance to make more than $60k a year more than with my comapny. That's my pre-existing condition. One of the insurance companies actually told me that I needed to understand that they were in business to make money, not to help people and if they kept accepting sick people like me, their profit margins would decrease. So now I'm back working for a company and hating it. Did I wait until I got my "condition" You're ignorant.