Health Care News - August 31, 2009

Good news and bad news involving health care reform as the month ends . . .

Janet Hook, reporting for the McClatchy-Tribune News Service, wrote yesterday that Democrats and Republicans actually agree on my many elements of health care reform and such proposals could expand and improve medical insurance in this country. Among these ideas are banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, expansion of coverage for preventive medicine, and provide new incentives for small businesses to offer insurance to their employees. The theory is that Democrats and Republicans can work out a deal of sorts to reform the system incrementally - something Edward Kennedy did for his entire Senate career.

But there's a sinister game afoot. As Democratic legislators have had their town hall meetings disrupted by protesters, Republican candidates hoping to challenge Democratic incumbents in next year's midterm elections are hosting their own "town hall" meetings to let opponents of health care reform vent in a more civilized manner. These meetings are little more than the opportunity for local GOP candidates to preach to the converted and get free publicity from the local media.

The Democrats have dismissed this tactic as empty showmanship, which they do at their own peril. Because as the Republicans, the party of Ronald Reagan, and Ronald Reagan, the President from Hollywood - not to mention Hollywood itself - have all proven, empty showmanship works.

I doubt the Republicans will gain majorities in the House or Senate in 2010 - the majorities Democrats currently enjoy in both houses of Congress are likely top big for the GOP to overcome - but a strong showing and a whittling down of the margins in both houses will make it that much more difficult for President Obama to accomplish much in the latter half of is first term - or win a second.

Sonia's In!

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the 111th U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the Senate by a a vote of 68 to 31, with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) absent and nine Republicans voting in favor, many of them - George Voinovich of Ohio, Mel Martinez of Florida, Kit Bond of Missouri - leaving the Senate when their terms expire at the end of next next year. Senator Lindsay Graham was among the Republicans who voted for Sotomayor, which doesn't surprise me - a former military lawyer, Graham is a grown-up when it comes to these things. So are Maine's to Republican female senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Most Republican senators, even those representing states where the Hispanic population is growing by leaps and bounds, voted against her on the grounds that her past liberal rulings and her involvement with ethnic activist groups would influence her decisions. Personal perspectives and the influence of her own ethnic background were somehow considered far more troubling than a Chief Justice who neglected the fact that the deed to his house was illegal because it forbade the sale of his house to blacks and Jews.

Republicans, having already ticked off Hispanics by making Sotomayor sound like some wild-eyed left-wing Latin militant with a bias against whites, have shrugged this off as their most virulent allies go after health care reform by sending thugs to derail the discussion of the issue at congressional town hall meetings. A lot of them are bringing placards depicting President Obama as Hitler and hanging Democratic politicians in effigy, and the Republicans say little if anything against it. Many of these people, already ticked off with the idea of a black President, are apparently ticked off with the idea of a health care plan that could actually help . . . other people!

The far right didn't get into the corridors of power in the last election. Now they're trying to get in by breaking the door down.