There are a lot of things going on with the effort to reform the nation’s healthcare. Probably more than I’ll be able to distill here. Here are some of the highlights.
Some of you may remember that Democratic House leaders pledged to address healthcare by July 31st. For those of you without the benefit of a calendar, that’s just 25 days from now. Seems like a pretty tall order. Still, several of the efforts are starting to take shape.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has been following the efforts in Congress to craft a new system. A side-by-side comparison of both the three Congressional Committees and all the proposed plans are now available. These are pretty up to date. As you will see in the side by side, some of the committee’s haven’t dealt with every aspect of the issue. This is a great resource that I hope they continue to update.
Firedoglake has been running a whip operation of the Progressive Caucus in the House. You’ll note, Tennessee’s only member of the Progressive Caucus, Steve Cohen is currently in the undecided column. A little gentile encouragement may be in order. Steve, take the pledge!
This morning on Liberadio! hosts Mary Mancini and Freddie O’Connell will speak to former Insurance executive turned advocate, Wendell Potter. You may remember I discussed Potter’s Testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation last week. I can’t wait for the interview. If you miss the live broadcast this morning, audio is usually available the next day on the blog. Liberadio! can be heard in Nashville on WRVU 91.1, online at WRVU.ORG, or viewed on their UStream video feed.
Finally, the Washington Post reports that insurance companies are spending $1.4m A DAY to defeat the public option. That’s a lot of scratch to make sure they don’t have to compete against an affordable option that they won’t provide on their own. Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a way that money could be spent better….
Alright, more info as things develop. Have a great Monday!