Progress Illinois

Here's the latest in health care news ...

A Silent Stimulus?

To weather the unrelenting economic recession without slashing services, state governments are going to need more assistance from Washington. Luckily, some help is on the way. And it's coming via an unlikely source.

Today, the Washington Post reports that wedged into the House health care reform bill passed two weekends ago was $23.5 billion directed at states to cover short-term Medicaid costs. Here are the details:

Medicaid relief for states comprised one of the biggest pieces of February's $787 billion federal stimulus package, but that funding will run out next year, halfway through states' next round of spending plans.

Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the federal government would continue to pay a higher share of all Medicaid costs -- 66 percent on average, up from 57 percent before the stimulus -- for an additional six months, and erase in one fell swoop a major chunk of states' projected shortfalls for the coming year.

If enacted, this would be a huge boon to state lawmakers clawing to close projected 2011 budget gaps in the coming months. The provision is not included in the Senate version yet, but there is still plenty of time to insert it.

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Over the past year, Capitol Hill has been portrayed as ground zero in the health care debate. But the heart of the fight was never in D.C. Rather, it was in the millions of households across the country, where the uninsured and the underinsured live in fear, knowing that they can't afford to get sick or even find insurance companies willing to enroll them because of pre-existing conditions. Just a week after the House passed landmark legislation to finally change that, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster was back in the 14th District today. There some of his constituents made the case for why the nation can't afford to wait any longer to see those reforms through.

"My husband and I, we've done everything right," Amy Ruppert of Batavia said, "We don't have any outstanding debt. We've paid all of our bills." But with her COBRA plan set to expire within months and a pre-existing condition prohibiting her from buying into a new plan, "we will be one step away from catastrophic financial devastation," she said. Watch:

Some more health care news...

Moderate Democrats Voice Concerns

In her Sun-Times column this morning, Carol Marin singles out Democratic Reps. Melissa Bean and Bill Foster for their yes votes in favor of health care legislation this past weekend:

We may disagree with one another on whether, in the end, this legislation is good for America. Or whether we as a nation can afford all of its provisions.

But what is harder to disagree with is that health care in this country, at the moment, is a ragged, patched quilt of different levels of coverage.

And for between 35 million and 45 million of us, there's no coverage at all.

That's why this vote, to my mind anyway, was historic. And why it took some moxie to say yes.

Foster told Marin that his vote was "easy," yet he's still publicly criticizing some key planks of the legislation including the design of the public option. Foster contends that if the government is allowed to borrow money for start-up costs at a lower interest rate than private companies, the insurance industry will be put at a disadvantage. Bean isn't totally sold yet, either. She tells the Pioneer Press that she's seeking "improved cost containment measures" like the creation of an Independent Medicare Advisory Council, which would have the authority to make recommendations to the president on annual Medicare payment rates and other reforms.

Meanwhile, Rep. Debbie Halvorson has released a slick video explaining why she supported the legislation. There aren't a lot of legislative details in the spot, but there are three testimonials from women in the 11th district who have faced medical and financial strains because of inadequate health insurance coverage. "I really believe this bill," Halvorson says to close the piece, "is going to move us into the direction of affordable, accessible, and quality health care." Watch it:

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The latest news from the health care reform battle -- both in D.C. and here on the homefront.

A Final Bill By Christmas?

Now that health care legislation has passed out of the five relevant committees on Capitol Hill, health care advocates are starting to wonder when both chambers of Congress will take up the bills in earnest. While House leaders are moving quickly, Illinois' own Dick Durbin says that progress might be slower in the Senate. The Hill has a quick story up today outlining the reasons for the possible delay:

Even while House leaders pressed forward for a vote on a House version this week, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid and Durbin said their hands are tied until the CBO releases its cost estimate of the Senate bill. Then the document would be published online for public review, possibly revised and re-analyzed by the CBO, and then several weeks would be needed for House-Senate conference talks.

Despite months-old predictions of a bill before Christmas, with only six weeks of legislative time remaining in the year Durbin acknowledged a healthcare bill in 2009 “is certainly a challenge.”

Will Sen. Roland Burris join Durbin and vote in favor of health care reform when he's eventually presented with the final bill? In the past few weeks, Illinois' junior senator has received heaps of media attention for his principled stance in favor of a robust public option. But the vast majority of those media outlets have failed to ask him the most relevant question: Does he intend to filibuster a bill lacking a public option or just vote against its final passage. All indications are that he would stand with his party and approve cloture, undercutting the severity of his threat:

"It's certainly going to be tough, in terms of getting this done," [Burris] told WGN-TV. "I've let it be known unequivocally that I would not support any legislation -- now they may get the 60 votes to pass it. I'm not going to be an obstructionist. I'm not here for some ego trip. I'm here to speak out for the people who have spoken to me."

Unfortunately, Sen. Joe Lieberman's threat seems very real. Yesterday, Reid's office denied reports that the lawmakers agreed in private to vote for cloture on health care. If no Republicans cross the aisle, the Democrats will need Lieberman's support to break a filibuster, a obstructionist tactic he has previously called "unfair."

Abortion Funding

While the Senate moves forward cautiously, the House is barreling ahead, preparing to vote on a final bill Saturday at about 6 p.m ET.

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While the souring economy has left many industries struggling, that's just not the case for private education lenders and textbook publishers.  The desolate job market has spurred an ongoing spike in college enrollment and -- with tuition and fees rising twice as fast as inflation -- banks have generated enormous earnings by lending to strapped students. At the same time, publishers have jacked up the cost of textbooks, which now rival the tab for a semester of community college. As we've pointed out repeatedly, Congress' history of putting bankers before students coupled with Illinois officials' recent cuts to state-subsidized financial aid has left a growing number of students buried under a heap of debt. Over the weekend, the Peoria Journal-Star's editorial board identified these disturbing trends in higher education and wondered if "Illinois colleges are to be for the privileged only."

A few members of Illinois' congressional delegation are trying to ensure that's not the case. Regular readers know that this year is shaping up as one with historic potential for reform. Just last month, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3221), which would free up $87 billion over the next decade by pulling the plug on the Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) program that has allowed bankers to siphon away federal education money at the expense of students. The measure would in turn use that money to raise Pell grants to $6,900 from $5,350 and guarantee their future funding.  On a swing through Northern Illinois University on Monday, Rep. Bill Foster urged Illinois' college students to push back against lenders who are fighting the reforms in the Senate. If the bill passes, it will amount to the largest increase in student aid in the nation's history. More from the Northwest Herald:

“You need to get involved, and call your senators,” Foster told a crowd of students gathered in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. “This issue is too important to let sit.”

Foster is also joining Sen. Dick Durbin in his ongoing effort to drive down the cost of college textbooks.

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Some members of Senate Finance Committee may be looking to pare down the size of the upper chamber's health care package and the White House is deliberating if they would accept such a deal. Back home, lawmakers are staking out their positions as well. Here's the latest in local health care news:

Foster's Tele-Town Hall

Rep. Bill Foster, a potential swing vote, clarified his stance on many health reform issues during a tele-town hall meeting with constituents last night. The Geneva Democrat reiterated his support for a public option, albeit one that operates on a level playing field with private insurance companies. He also expressed openness to a few funding mechanisms, including a surtax on the top 1 percent of the nation's wage earners or a tax on high-level health insurance policies that currently are provided tax free. For reformers, this should come as a good sign.

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Here's the latest Illinois-centric health care news:

Citizen Action Targets Bean, Halvorson, Foster

In today's edition of Crain's, Paul Merrion writes that, when it comes to health care reform, suburban Reps. Melissa Bean, Debbie Halvorson, and Bill Foster are all "stuck in the middle, still uncommitted and coming under pressure from both ends of the political spectrum."  On the left, Citizen Action/Illinois is doing its part to push these moderate reps towards supporting a public option:

"The next five or six weeks will determine whether we have a strong health reform plan or a weak one," says John Gaudette, Illinois health care director for Citizen Action, a non-profit advocacy group leading local efforts for Healthcare for America Now, a national coalition pushing for a low-cost government-run plan to pressure private insurers' premiums.

Two weeks ago, Citizen Action generated more than 1,000 calls to the three moderate Illinois Democrats, urging them to support a strong government-run plan, and the group is planning a rally with upward of 300 people in Ms. Bean's district later this month. "She's the one we've been focusing on the most," Mr. Gaudette says.

Office Visits For Health Reform

Over the weekend, Organizing for America urged supporters of health care reform across the country to schedule a visit to their congressman's district office.  From their email blast announcing the "Office Visits for Health Reform" action: 

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As the national battle over health care reform enters a crucial stage and lawmakers make their case to voters during the August recess, we're going to be regularly tracking the latest health care news across Illinois. Here's our first update:

Schock's Misleading Memo

While Illinois Democrats were busy advocating for comprehensive health care yesterday, Illinois Republicans kept up their effort to stand in the way of such reform. This morning over his Twitter feed, Rep. Aaron Schock sent along a memo, prepared by Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-WI), providing (PDF) "key facts about the House Democrat health care bill for the 18th District of Illinois." But as you'll see, Cantor and Schock use the term facts rather loosely. Here's the first of many distortions in the two-page sheet:

Independent analysis by the Lewin Group shows that 2 out of every 3 people would lose their current coverage, including up to 114 million people who receive health benefits through their employer or other current coverage if a government-run plan “competes” with private companies.

The Lewin Group is hardly "independent." In fact, it's "wholly owned" by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest insurers. And the Congressional Budget Office released a preliminary analysis (PDF) of the House Democrats' so-called "tri-committee" bill last week and found that a net 3 million people will gain employer-based insurance under the Democratic plan.

But Schock and Cantor aren't done:

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Determined to curtail the financial industry's stranglehold on American consumers, Sen. Dick Durbin began pressing months ago for the creation of an independent agency that would protect consumers from predatory practices. Reining in the banks' extraordinary political power on Capitol Hill hasn't been easy. In what seemed like a sign of progress, legislation to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) surfaced in the House last week. But consumer watchdog groups such as Illinois' own Woodstock Institute (WI) aren't ready to cheer yet.

The reason? Since the proposal was initially floated by the White House, a key safeguard has been stripped from Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank's bill (HR 3126). The provision in question would have left the modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in the hands of the newly-created watchdog agency -- rather than the financial services industry. Letting Wall Street-interests control the rewrite, WI argues, would weaken the expansion of loans to borrowers and communities of color. And they say allowing federal banking regulators to continue to enforce the CRA would have the equally negative effect of stifling development in impoverished communities.

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As we've noted before, Democrats will have to stay united if they want to pass health care reform in Washington this year. (After all, Republicans aren't so keen on the approach favored by the president and congressional leaders.) And any meaningful reform should include a strong public option -- a government-run insurance plan which would be able to negotiate the price of services, lower administrative costs, and apply competitive pressure to private insurers.

Some lawmakers in the Illinois congressional delegation have already come out in support of such a plan. While Rep. Dan Lipinski endorsed the "level-playing field option" -- in which the government-run plan would be granted no special advantages over private insurers -- Rep. Phil Hare told grassroots organizers last week that any a bill without a robust public option is "like a car without a motor." Now Rep. Bill Foster is falling in line with his colleagues.

Coming off his disappointing vote against the climate change bill, Foster and 21 members of the New Democrat and Blue Dog coalitions wrote a letter (PDF) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last Wednesday signaling their support for a strong public option without a trigger option (meaning that a government-run plan would only be created if private insurers failed to meet certain cost and coverage criteria after multiple years.)

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