Crossposted from Working Families' Party Line blog by Working Families director Jon Green.
Yesterday, the legislature overturned Governor Rell's vetoes on two important healthcare bills, and came one vote shy of overturning another one. But there's still plenty left to do.
The legislature overrode the Governor's veto of Sustinet, which establishes the framework for a universal healthcare system that could be implemented in 2012, pending further legislative approval (and financing) in 2011. Next, the janitor's standard wage bill. This bill ensures that state-contracted janitors can maintain healthcare for their families. What would have been the hat trick, the Healthcare Partnership Bill, which would allow municipalities, small employers, and non-profits, to join the state health insurance plan, failed when Senator Joan Hartley left the chamber instead of voting, leaving the bill one vote shy of an override.
There's a lot of much deserved celebration going on today. If they gave oscars for organizing, The Universal Healthcare Foundation, and SEIU local 32 BJ certainly both deserve one. After all, the legislature overrode the Governor's veto of Sustinet, which sets forth the plan for the most ambitious universal healthcare in the country - and in the Insurance Capitol, no less. Surely, it's a tremendous accomplishment.
But now what? The bill that was overridden yesterday puts the framework of the Sustinet plan in place - but remember, the plan won't go into effect without further legislative action in 2011.
You think the CBIA and the insurance lobby fought hard this time? Just wait until the vote to actually fund the Sustinet plan. We ain't seen nothing yet.
All it took was peeling away a single Senator, Joan Hartley (D, Insurance Lobby) to kill the more modest (but effective immediately) Connecticut Healthcare Partnership.
The campaign to put the Sustinet plan into action will be even harder. So it's time to start a collective brainstorm to answer this question: what will it take to make the Sustinet plan a reality in 2011?
I'm asking for your help. What kind organizing should we be doing? Which elected officials need the most pressure and how should that happen?
Help us figure it out: what can we do in the next 2 years to turn this planning stage into a real healthcare plan that is accessible and affordable for everyone in Connecticut?
But we invited all 187 of them out to the movies last Friday night. The reason? Well, we think there's a lot left to be done on healthcare that the legislature just didn't accomplish this year. We need comprehensive reforms of our healthcare system, not just short term band aids.
And no one conveys that urgency like Michael Moore in his new film Sicko.
So we invited our legislators out on a date, as part of the haveyouseensicko.org campaign to get all of CT's legislators to see the movie Sicko before the start of the next session. We're not asking for anything big. Not a promise or a vote, just to keep an open mind, and come see a movie.
And on Friday, 6 legislators (and 50 movies viewers to keep them company) took us up on our offer at the Bowtie Cinema in Hartford. (And tremendous thanks to the movie theater's staff for being so accommodating).
Keep reading for lots of photos and a wrap up of what happened and who came.
(Making progress on getting CT legislators to see Sicko -- have you emailed your legislators yet? If you've seen Sicko, share your thoughts in the comments! - promoted by Maura)
Have you seen Sicko yet? Well, so far 8 legislators have. And 179 haven't.
O'Brien, a great State Rep. and a blogger to boot, (see his blog) was the most recent legislator to send in a review.
He really takes the insurance industry in this state to task.
Of course, these denials of health care and inefficiencies are not, as the insurance industry would have us believe, to keep insurance jobs in our state. Despite the reputable and thorough economic analysis showing that reforming our health care coverage system would save the people and businesses of our state hundreds of millions of dollars, increase the number of jobs in Connecticut and free up a billion dollars for Connecticut families, insurance companies had the audacity this past year to make their employees feel like their jobs would be at risk if state legislators did the right thing for the people of the state on health care. This audacity was despite the fact that these companies have never hesitated to layoff Connecticut workers in order to increase their own profits.
You can read the whole review here. (And then make sure to email your State Rep. and Senator and ask why they haven't seen it yet, and then send the site along to your friends to do the same.)
And here's the list of legislators who've seen the movie so far:
Rep. David McCluskey - 20th
Rep. John Geragosian - 25th
Rep. Joan Lewis - 8th
Rep. Denise Merrill - 54th
Rep. Tim O'Brien - 24th
Rep. Melissa Olson - 46th
Rep. Elizabeth Ritter - 38th
Rep. Elissa Wright - 41st
Interestingly, though, it appears that taxing the insurance companies that increase their profit margins by denying medically necessary care never seemed to be an option.
Washington -- Connecticut lawmakers -- for now at least -- have stripped a tax on doctors out of a measure to expand health care access to the uninsured.
Four Democratic legislators are backing the $900 million Connecticut Healthy Steps bill. The legislation would create a subsidized insurance pool for the 400,000 uninsured state residents, increase Medicaid physician payment by 30% and help small businesses provide health insurance.
But the Insurance and Real Estate Committee voted 18-1 last month to remove the proposed physician and hospital tax from the bill for further discussion, said a panel co-chair, Rep. Brian O'Connor, one of the bill's sponsors. "There wasn't a consensus on how to fund [the plan]," he said.
Who is the one legislator who voted in favor of this doctor tax???
Physicians were up in arms over the tax. Connecticut State Medical Society Chair Michael Deren, MD, a thoracic surgeon in New London, said he appreciated state efforts to cover the uninsured, but a "wellness tax" would decrease access to care by further financially burdening physicians.
Aetna's turnaround continued to pay off last year for former Chief Executive Jack Rowe with $47.9 million of compensation - $38 million of it from the exercise of stock options - while current CEO Ronald A. Williams drew a $20.9 million package without using any options.
On top of that, Rowe, who retired as Aetna's chairman last fall, was awarded stock-related units last year with a theoretical value of $16.5 million and vesting in one year. Williams' award of the "stock appreciation units" was valued at nearly $10 million and vests over three years.
The numbers, disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing for Aetna's April 27 annual shareholder meeting, were labeled "exorbitant" by a health care reform advocate.
"It's obscene that the CEO of a health insurance company would be making that much money when 400,000 of our state residents are uninsured," said Beverly Brakeman, director of the labor-community coalition Citizens for Economic Opportunity.
"It's time for the waste and profit to be taken out of our health care system," said Brakeman, who favors a single-payer system, with the government or a separate agency providing coverage for everyone. The role of existing health insurers would be dramatically downsized.
Brakeman, citing the Aetna executives' compensation, said, "Nobody's worth that much, especially when we're looking at a crisis in our state."
This is a welcome message to the low volume announcement list of COMA-CT (Colleges Organizing for Medical Access of Connecticut). This email list is design to announce events or efforts by COMA and various student groups across Connecticut to support health care reform, and introduce universal health care to Connecticut and the nation.
If you would like me to remove your email address, please let me know. If you would like me to put an alternative email address on the email list, or know of others who should be on the email list, please let me know. If you are interested in contributing to COMA efforts, there is an open email list for COMA discussions.
There will be a conference on health care reform on Sunday April 29th at Yale this spring, ISA. The following weekend, Saturday May 5th, the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut intends to hold a rally at Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut. The near term focus of COMA-CT would be those two events.
In addition, we would like to open a call for those who have graphic ability and can help in developing attractive flyers or other efforts for the events in April and May. We should also introduce the organization to those beyond the UCONN School of Medicine in Farmington, CT, given our initial meetings there.
If you are a universal healthcare activist, please consider this group. Also, please notify any graphic designers who may be interested in helping them with flyers.
This google group was created very recently and only has 23 members--and I'm sure there are many more who would be interested in participating in this group discussion. So please join the list, advertise it, help it grow into a powerful online movement.
DrSteveB at Dailykos has a great post up comparing universal health plans from countries all over the world - how they're financed, cost per capita / as a % of GDP, as well as the overall results (life expectancy and infant mortality rates). He's been doing 2 series, on healthcare and blog demographics, that are worth checking out - always extremely detailed and well researched. He promises a description of how "mandated insurance" plans have failed worldwide as a follow-up in the series soon.
But this morning, in an extraordinary meeting in Washington, the chiefs of Wal-Mart Stores and the Service Employees International Union will stand together and agree on a series of goals for achieving universal health coverage, according to people briefed on the matter.
The two men might even shake hands.
The meeting between H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of Wal-Mart, and Andrew L. Stern, president of the S.E.I.U., which caps months of secret conversations, could be the beginning, however tentative, of a détente between the nation's largest employer and its labor critics.
At least on one issue. But the issue - providing affordable health insurance - is arguably the biggest facing both Mr. Stern and Mr. Scott. Wal-Mart, which insures fewer than half its workers, has identified health care as potentially the biggest vulnerability to its image and business, and the S.E.I.U., one of the country's biggest unions, has called it the No. 1 priority for its members.
So during today's meeting, Mr. Stern and Mr. Scott will announce a campaign to seek public acceptance of several principles of health policy. One goal is universal health coverage by a specific date, somewhere around 2012. Another is the idea of shared responsibility, emphasizing that individuals, businesses and government all play roles in financing health care and expanding coverage.
Executives from AT&T, Intel and several nonprofit organizations will also participate in today's meeting.
Notable in their absence were representatives from health-insurance companies. Despite the cash that they're willing to dump into anti-healthcare ad campaigns (Harry and Louise, anyone?), the insurance industry, in the long-run, will be overwhelmed by U.S. corporations who need universal healthcare to keep their businesses competitive.
For-profit health insurance is a lot like asbestos: dangerously obsolete. When even Wal-Mart understands that, our political leaders are flat out of excuses on this issue.
House Speaker Jim "I'll Crush 'Em" Amann seems oddly proud of his limp-dick leadership style.
State House Speaker Jim Amann, addressing a business crowd in New Haven, lowered expectations that Connecticut would follow states like California in trying to pass universal health care this year. He said he'd rather do it right than compete for headlines.
However Amann did guarantee that within two months the legislature will pass a plan to cover all 71,000 uninsured children in Connecticut, 66 percent of whom are Latino.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week made his state - which has 162.5 times more uninsured people than Connecticut - the latest to put forward a universal plan. California has an estimated 6.5 million uninsured. Schwarzenegger vowed to pass a universal plan in this year's legislative session, following on the heels of Massachusetts.
For a cocky, self-assured, in-your-face kind of guy, Amann can really sound like a wuss when he wants to.
"We may be able to do that. But I think it will take a few years to get this thing done right. It's going to be done in pieces," Amann told the crowd.
"A RELATIVE BARGAIN: George Mercieca, a worker at a GM assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, shows off his Canadian health care card. GM spends an average of $1,385 a year on medical bills for hourly workers in Canada. An American autoworker costs the company about $5,000, but studies show Americans are no healthier than their foreign counterparts."
He is smiling because he has a great job with better medical benefits than most Americans could ever hope for under our failed healthcare for profit system. The kind of job that Connecticut , and the USA as a whole, can never hope to attract under our current system. If you do not believe me than ask youself "what does the manufacturing industry really have to say about this?" (More Below)
Healthy? Insurers don't buy it
By Lisa Girion, Times Staff Writer
December 31, 2006
[...]
Blue Cross of California, which dominates the market, declined to disclose its rejection rate, as did its chief competitors. A 2004 industry survey found that health plans said they turned away about 12% of all applicants. But the rejection rate rose with age to 30% for people 59 and older. (emphasis added)
[...]
Health plans also reveal a portion of their underwriting guidelines in letters notifying applicants why they were rejected, as well as in communications with brokers who sell their coverage. According to regulators' postings, rejection letters and interviews with brokers, conditions that can lead to outright rejection or a higher premium include:
AIDS, allergies, arthritis, asthma, attention deficit disorder, autism, bed-wetting, breast implants, cancer, cerebral palsy, chronic bronchitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic sinusitis, cirrhosis, cystitis, diabetes, ear infections, epilepsy, gender reassignment, heart disease and hemochromatosis (a common genetic disorder that causes the body to absorb too much iron) [...] hepatitis, herpes, high blood pressure, impotence, infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, joint sprain, kidney infections, lupus, mild depression, muscular dystrophy, migraines, miscarriage, pregnancy, "expectant fatherhood," planned adoption, psoriasis, recurrent tonsillitis, renal failure, ringworm, severe mental disorders, sleep apnea, stroke, ulcers and varicose veins.
So one can be refused health insurance outright because of prior miscarriage, breast implants, asthma, impotence, or migraines. You can be refused insurance because you are planning to adopt a child (an indicator of infertility, perhaps), and men can be refused insurance because of the statistical likelihood that they will soon be a father.
Wow.
I wanted to throw a thought out there for criticism: it strikes me as relatively non-controversial that we have a government as a tool to insure and maintain our rights, while market forces can be used to manage privileges.
Government provides for a police force to protect our basic rights, though one can always hire a bodyguard or private security if you want more protection than the government can reasonably provide. On the other hand, there is no absolute right to drive, or to have your widow and children cared for should you die: I don't think too many people would object to a car insurance company refusing to insure someone with 5 DUIs, or a charging more for life insurance for someone at age 80 than age 30.
There's plenty to insure, and plenty of ways for private industry to make a decent profit enabling personal privileges and offering additional piece of mind to people who insist on having it. But if 12 percent of America will never be allowed to get health insurance because, well, they just might use it, then the cost of preserving the private health insurance system is just too high.
Can you think of any cases where this rights/privileges formulation breaks down?
What's extra galling and obscene about our healthcare debate is that the moderation-fueled insistence on including the private insurers no matter what follows from the assumption that businesses of this sort have a natural right to (financial) well-being, a right so inalienable that we must sacrifice the well-being (health) of living, breathing human beings to enable it.
Corporate person-hood is already a complex legal problem. But to say that businesses actually have more rights than people? Hard to think of anything more radical than that.
I've seen this touted as a universal healthcare bill, but I don't quite see how it is. Mostly it seems to ensure that people can change jobs and still have health insurance. I'd welcome an explanation about how this bill would increase the health care coverage to all Americans. Associated Press:
Wyden's proposal, which he planned to unveil on Wednesday, is an outgrowth of work by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a 14-member panel that went to 50 communities around the country and heard from 28,000 people about how to overhaul the nation's health care system.
...
Wyden said his new plan would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job without penalty. More efficient administration and more promotion of competition for health care plans, he said, would allow greater coverage while costing no more than the government is paying today for health insurance coverage.
Called the "Healthy Americans Act," the plan would cover all Americans except those on Medicare or those who receive health care through the military.
It would require that employers "cash out" their existing health plans by terminating coverage and paying the amount saved directly to workers as increased wages. Workers then would be required to buy health insurance from a large pool of private plans. [This is the key paragraph that I was missing - Matt]
After two years, companies would no longer have to pay the higher wages. Instead, Wyden said, they would pay into an insurance pool, based on annual revenues and the number of full-time workers.
"Our employer based health care system is a relic of a national and industrial economy. Today, America cannot compete in a global economy when we put the price of health care on the cost of our products, and our competitor nations do not. It is a failed job creation, trade, and economic policy, not to mention the moral dimension of the uninsured and underinsured.
"It is time for fundamental, not incremental change, and Senator Wyden has a plan that is practical and principled, and sets down a moral test: Why doesn't every American have the right to the same health care as the President, the Vice President, 535 members of Congress, and 3 million Federal workers?
"On behalf of the 1.9 million members of SEIU and their families, and as the largest union of health care workers, we believe Senator Wyden has made a critical contribution to the debate that Congress must attend to next year. Americans are sick and tired, and cannot afford to wait any longer for change."
I still need to see some details on this before I can pass judgement.
Today my campaign did something truly historic, something that no other gubernatorial campaign in Connecticut has ever done – announced a plan for universal health care. Under my Connecticut CAN! (Cover All Now) plan, every citizen will be given the opportunity to purchase affordable health care coverage.
I’ll do this by creating a one-stop marketplace for health insurance, closing corporate loopholes to cover the uninsured and providing relief to low income workers.
He goes on to take a dig at his two opponents:
Gov. Rell has offered NO plan for universal health care coverage. Her most recent State of the State address did not even mention Connecticut’s health care crisis. Dannel Malloy’s plan isn’t much better, providing health care for only 20% of Connecticut’s uninsured.
How will this affect the dynamics of the campaign?
Have you seen Sicko yet? Well, so far 8 legislators have. And 179 haven't.
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