Fix Health Care Policy

“If You Think You Will Tax my Benefits and Give the Money to Ben Nelson in Nebraska, You’re Crazy”

As the White House prepares for a bipartisan summit on health care later this month, the rhetoric and reality of the President’s plans for health care reform continue to conflict. President Obama claims that he wants to bring congressional Republicans to the table to achieve health care reform. However, he has also expressed the desire to present a final piece of legislation prior to the summit, focusing on marrying the differing ideas of House and Senate Democrats rather than those of Democrats and Republicans. In any case, this is not off to a bipartisan start.

Though the White House perseveres in pushing the main elements of the massive Democratic health care bills, the unpopularity of these legislative proposals soars; it is a stark fact of life that is unacknowledged by the President. A classic example of a provision that is highly unpopular is the excise tax on “high value” health plans included in the Senate bill to raise revenue to cover the uninsured. The tax increase is a tax increase; it is not a much needed reform of the inequitable tax treatment of health insurance. Though support from Democrats in Congress and even labor leaders who helped cut the deal continues to dwindle, the White House continues to urge Congress to include the Senate excise tax in a final health bill. (more…)

Tags: excise tax, ObamaCare, Rep. Edward Markey, Sen. Ben Nelson

Sen. Nelson Says “No” to Public Option A Bit Too Late

In the wake of widespread public backlash over his eleventh-hour deal to get increased federal taxpayer Medicaid funding for his vote, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has been hitting the media circuit, assuring reporters that he won’t vote for any merged health care bill that funds abortions with taxpayer dollars or has a government-run health insurance plan.

“There is zero chance (of a public option),” he said to The Chadron Record. “I’ve made it so clear. It isn’t going to happen.” But Sen. Nelson has already allowed a “public option” to flourish by voting for the Senate version last month.

Medicare, for example, is the quintessential public plan. Instead of the Medicare bureaucracy contracting with private carriers to provide health coverage, as it does today, the latest Senate bill turns that responsibility over to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency that runs the federal civil service and the popular Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEBHP). Under the Senate bill, OPM would sponsor two “multi-state” health plans —one of which must be nonprofit — to compete against private plans in the country.

In other words, there could be health plan competition on a national level in every state, but only the federal government would field these national health plans. These government-sponsored health plans would have an exclusive franchise: No private health plans would be able to compete in the same way as the selected health plans sponsored by OPM. In effect, the Senate bill creates a set of “public options” that are thinly disguised as private health plans.

(more…)

Tags: FEBHP, Medicare, Office of Personnel Management, public option, Sen. Ben Nelson

More Taxpayer Funding of Abortion in the Senate Health Bill

The Nelson-Reid agreement on abortion is not the only source of taxpayer funding for abortion. An obscure addition to the Senate version of health care reform that was adopted on Christmas Eve is a gift package with unexpected contents: even more taxpayer funding of elective abortions. According to a new analysis just released by National Right to Life Committee legislative director Doug Johnson, Sec. 10503 of the Reid “Manager’s Amendment” to H.R. 3590 directly appropriates funds for community health centers (CHCs). These funds would not be covered by the annual abortion funding limitation known as the Hyde Amendment or by any other existing limitation.

The funding amounts are huge – $7 billion over five years, beginning with $700,000,000 in the fiscal year that begins October 1, 2010. The fact that H.R. 3590 appropriates these funds directly means that they will not be included in the annual Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) spending bill, even though the community health center money is appropriated by H.R. 3590 to the HHS Department. Moreover, the underlying authorizing law for community health centers, 42 U.S.C. 254b and Section 330 of the Public Health Services Act, contains no language limiting abortion funding, and it is unlikely in the extreme that the Obama Administration would administratively rule such funding out-of-bounds in future CHC grant-making. (more…)

Tags: abortion funding, manager's amendment, Sen. Ben Nelson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

The Few Standing Between Current Law and Tax Payer Funded Abortion

In a Christmas Eve vote, the American people watched a U.S. Senator betray his pro-life principles for $100 million. The version of Obamacare that passed the Senate is the one to watch—it changes current law and allows taxpayer dollars to fund plans that cover elective abortions for the first time in years—and with the hair’s-width margin by which it passed, it may well emerge from the negotiations between the House and the Senate. The only thing that stands between Americans and a law forcing them to fund abortion coverage against their conscience, is a small group of House Democrats, who, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), dug in their heels for an amendment in the House version upholding current law limiting tax-funded abortions.

On November 9th, President Obama said, “I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill… And we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.” (more…)

Tags: ObamaCare, Rep. Bart Stupak, Sen. Ben Nelson, taxpayer funded abortion

Schwarzenegger on Obamacare: “They Got the Corn, We Got the Husk”

One of Obamacare’s biggest dirty little secrets is that in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, over half of those who gain health insurance do so through Medicaid. Both bills force more people who are currently eligible for Medicaid to enroll–and the states would be left to pick up the tab without any additional federal funding. For states already on the brink of insolvency, Obamacare will be a financial disaster unless they can all secure deals like the one Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) secured for Nebraska.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger railed against the Cornhusker Kickback in his State of the State Address last night. Watch:

Schwarzenegger says: (more…)

Tags: Cornhusker Kickback, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Medicaid, Medicare for All, ObamaCare, Sen. Ben Nelson

The Nebraska Compromise and the Constitution

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), dated December 30, 2009, the Attorneys General of 13 States have objected to the so-called Nebraska Compromise that reportedly won the crucial support of Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) for the Senate health care takeover bill. The deal is said to involve an agreement that the Federal Government’s taxpayers will assume indefinitely the full share of the costs that Nebraska will incur as the result of the expansion of Medicaid that is one of the Act’s effects. The result is not only preferential treatment for Nebraska but it also hurts the rest of us because the other States will have to make up the difference.

Such preferential treatment is constitutionally suspect; it cannot be reconciled with several important principles incorporated in the Constitution. The Founders would not have dreamed of taking a burden that all of the States should share and allocating it to only some of them. Likewise, they would not have seen the spending of taxpayer money for the benefit of only one State to be in the general interest. Instead, the Founders understood the notion that Congress can spend funds to “provide for the common Defence and general Welfare” to mean that the spending had to be for the general or national benefit, not for purely local or regional benefit. This understanding is reflected in veto messages from Presidents from Madison to Buchanan. In fact, the relatively free-spending ways of President John Quincy Adams contributed to his defeat by Andrew Jackson in the election of 1828.

The absence of an explicit prohibition on something like the Nebraska Compromise does not mean that it does not violate the letter or spirit of the Constitution. In particular, it runs afoul of the concept of the States’ equal standing that is incorporated in the Constitution at several points. Duties, imposts, and excises are to be “uniform throughout the United States,” (Art. I, § 1, cl.1), the bankruptcy laws that Congress enacts must be “uniform . . . throughout the United States,” (Art. I, § 8, cl.4), and the ports of one State cannot be given any “preference” with respect to regulation or taxation over those of other States (Art. I, § 9, cl. 6). In addition, there are limits to the conditions that Congress can put on States when they enter the Union because they do so on an “equal footing.” Then, once part of the Union, the States enjoy an “equal sovereignty” that can be taken away only in limited circumstances. Put simply, all of the States, not just 49 of them, are in this together.

(more…)

Tags: Constitution, Cornhusker Kickback, Medicaid, Nebraska, Sen. Ben Nelson

Morning Bell: Cornhusker Kickbacks for All

Last night the Nebraska Cornhuskers routed the Arizona Wildcats 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl. Most years college football bowl games do not have much to do with health care legislation in Washington. But last night, Husker fans throughout Nebraska were subjected to a 30-second television ad from Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Politicians usually don’t run ads a month after November, and almost never more than two years before they are up for re-election. But after a new poll showed Nelson with a 55% unfavorable rating and down 30 points to a would-be 2012 challenger, Nelson decided to take to the air. The source of Nebraskans displeasure with Nelson is no secret. 64% of the state opposes the health care legislation Nelson recently voted for in the Senate, and only 17% approve of the special deal Nelson made for Nebraska’s Medicaid program, more commonly known as the Cornhusker Kickback, in order to secure his vote.

Nebraskans are not the only Americans disgusted by the tactics President Barack Obama and his allies are employing to pass their version of health reform. The attorneys general of 13 states have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) demanding that the Nebraska deal be removed from the bill or they will challenge the legislation constitutionally in court. (more…)

Tags: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Medicaid, Medicare, Obama Health Care Plan, Sen. Ben Nelson

Video: Cash for Cloture

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) attempted to force a vote this Wednesday on an amendment that if adopted will ban the practice of trading earmarks for votes in the Senate. As even President Obama-friendly MSNBC has documented, Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) Cornhusker Kickback was not the only backroom deal that enabled the Senate’s passage of Obamacare. Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Other details documented by MSNBC’s Lisa Myers: (more…)

Tags: Cornhusker Kickback, ObamaCare, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Jim DeMint

Michigan And Nebraska: The Senate Leadership Has Got A Deal For You!

It has been widely reported that various “sweeteners” are tucked away in the Manager’s Amendment to the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3950). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) worked out provisions designed to secure the votes of Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Carl Levin (D-MI) by exempting the biggest insurers in their states from the new health insurance premium taxes embodied in the bill.

Sure enough, the Manager’s Amendment adds under Section 9010(c)(2) a new subsection (C) tailored to exempt Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and a new subsection (E) tailored to exempt Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska from paying the new health insurance premium taxes.

Now, those Senators are reportedly pleased with themselves for doing such a fine job of looking out for the folks back home. The only problem is that they shielded just some of their constituents — which should surprise many of their other constituents.

(more…)

Tags: health insurance, Michigan, Nebraska, ObamaCare, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Carl Levin, senate health care bill

Morning Bell: The Health Care Fight Has Just Begun

The months long drama over the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care plan ended at 1 AM this morning when the Senate voted 60 – 40, on a strictly party line vote, to end debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment; a mere 38-hours after it had been unveiled to the American public. With Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) threatening to veto the bill if any significant changes are made by the House in conference, it is virtually guaranteed that this is the version of Obamacare that will be signed by the President before his State of the Union address in January.

Final passage of this health bill will be historic, but not in the way President Obama intended. Never before has such a large restructuring of the U.S. economy been passed on a straight party-line vote. Never before has legislation so unpopular with the American people been passed on a straight party-line vote. Never before has the fate of one-sixth of our economy been so dependent on backroom deals and payoffs the full extent of which may not be known for years. (more…)

Tags: Obama Health Care Plan, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Joseph Lieberman