Here are the FDL Action health care highlights for Monday, October 19.1. Jon Walker reports on a new Washington Post-ABC News poll which finds that "Americans dramatically prefer a Democratic-votes-only bill with a public option compared to bipartisan bill without one." In sum, "[p]eople care about results, not process." What a concept; I mean seriously, who knew?!? :)
2. David Dayen writes about the challenge of attempting to "chase down all the public pronouncements on health care reform and the public option, which usually ends up with something Jane Hamsher has called working the yo-yo." The latest spin of the "yo-yo" comes courtesy of Max Baucus, who "told reporters that some version of the policy remains alive in negotiations on a merged bill – but what form that will take is still up in the air." In the end, Dayen believes, the question de jour is not "whether or not a public option will exist in the bill...[but] what form it will take."
3. Jon Walker argues that "[a]n excise tax on high-end health insurance benefits is an extremely regressive tax on the middle class" and that "by no standard can I accept calling a tax progressive when it disproportionately favors millionaires over middle class Americans." Gee, and here I thought "trickle down" economics worked so well during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. (snark)
4. David Dayen reports on "Blanche Lincoln get[ting] an earful from her constituents for not supporting a public option." Dayen concludes that "health care activism is not subsiding, and individual votes by members of Congress will not be forgotten as we move to an end game on health care." The bottom line is this: it's obvious that Americans want a strong public option as part of health care reform, but it's also obvious that our representatives in Washington, DC are having an absurdly difficult time wrapping their brains around that concept.
5. Jon Walker writes that Olympia Snowe has added to her "list of...terrible ideas," this time by "[d]efining down coverage until it is practically meaningless" and by "provid[ing] people with affordable, high deductible, worthless junk insurance." But, but, but...we need to have a Republican on board so we can call this "bipartisan." Or something. And stuff.
6. Last but not least, Jon Walker reports that "Roland Burris will not vote for a bill without a real public option." However, Walker writes, it's not clear whether Burris "is willing [to] hold firm to a refusal to vote for cloture unless the bill contains a public option" or whether he "is just talking tough and blowing smoke." Not that we ever see much smoke blowing in Washington, DC. Heh.
