Good job of setting up and moderating by McJoan at Daily Kos. She has a summary in the front section, with a quote from Dean's book on health care and a couple of questions she asked him.
From McJoan:
Live blogging with Howard DeanHe comments on the AHIP report:
JM: You bust a number of reform myths in your book, and we see a bunch of them reemerging out of the report AHIP issued on Sunday. Which are the most pernicious?
HD:The whole report is pernicious. This is a classic knock down special interest fight in Washington with the Congress caught in the middle between donors and voters. In a fight like that, which is simply about money, the truth is the first casualty. The insurance industry takes the Fox News approach which is that you can get people to believe anything if it has a minimum of fact and is repeated often. In my book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform, I devote a whole chapter to debunking the pernicious lies the Insurance industry repeats over and over again.
JM: AHIP has also started an ad campaign intending to scare seniors about what reform might do to their Medicare. What's the best way to debunk this one?
HD: The best way, and only real way to debunk the Medicare myths is to use Medicare as at least part of the public option. If the Democrats want to escape 2010 reasonably unscathed they have to enroll some reasonable proportion of Americans in an insurance plan about five or six months before Election Day. Facts on the ground are the most effective way to attack misinformation.
The only way to allow people to enroll before election day is to use Medicare as the vehicle.
I went through the comments and picked a few that impressed me. I especially like this one about Obama and health care.
Someone reminded me yesterday that the President always maintains his cool until the end, and generally does the right thing. I think we have to assume that he gets how important the public option is as a policy matter and that in the end he's willing to fight for it. His presidency is at stake because if all we get is a healthcare bill that gives the insurance companies 600B of our money and deficits as far as the eye can see, the democrats will lose their majority and he will have to live with a republican controlled congress for the next 6 years.
by Gov Howard Dean MD on Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 10:19:22 AM EDT
And we have talked a lot about "sausage-making", the good bad and the ugly of bill passage. Seems to me all it does is irritate the Democratic constituency. Seems to bother Dean also. He also comments on the Senate bill...that it would be a disaster.
You are right about sausage making, this is excruciating even for those like me who understand the process, and even more excruciating for the American people given the stakes. I'm still optimistic although I have to admit anything like the Senate finance bill would be a disaster from both a policy point of view and a political point of view if that were to be the final work product.
There will be a lot more ups and downs before its over.
by Gov Howard Dean MD on Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 10:21:35 AM EDT
He sort of explains his comments on the opt out option.
I never was in favor of the opt-out possibility, but I think it is a real public option, and if the Senate adopted it, it would mean that both bodies had a public option in their plans and therefore the final bill would have to have a public option in it.
by Gov Howard Dean MD on Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 10:15:22 AM EDT
He also answers a question about the fact that maybe only 5 to 10 million would be covered at first. Not sure I agree.
Any bill with a real public option even if it only attracts 5 or 10 million Americans as CBO predicts, is a very positive step. Remember that the system couldn't support a wholesale immediate switch over to a system like medicare. A bill such as you describe will give enough Americans real choice so that they can decide for themselves whether they want reform or not. This bill is not about congress reforming the health care system. It is about giving the American people enough choices over a reasonable period of time to accomplish the reform. While the vast majority of Americans support reform not all of them want to reform the system at the same time. The president's original campaign promise was brilliantly designed to allow reform at a pace each American can be comfortable with. I talk about this in my book "Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform". check it out its cheap and its a quick read (you can also download it on your iphone, if I may insert a crass commercial.
by Gov Howard Dean MD on Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 10:30:24 AM EDT
And a quote from his book by McJoan before the chat begins.
The bottom line on healthcare reform is that it is not worth doing if it is not done right....
Subsidizing Americans to buy private health insurance without giving them the choice of a more rational and less expensive system is simply pouring money into a system that increases costs at twice the rate of inflation, serves preferentially those who don't need help, and offers not peace of mind to those at risk in difficult economic times.
In short, the healthcare reform bill is not worth passing unless the American people have the choice of signing up for a public option--a real public option.... If healthcare reform is not the desired outcome, this administration or the Democratic Party or the Congress as a whole should pass guaranteed issue and community rating and be done with it.
I am feeling a lot of concern about the passage of a bill that will benefit the people. Maybe it is the "sausage-making" getting on my nerves.
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