Marc Stier at Large

Revised on September 9, 2009 Even as Obama was hitting a home run tonight, I saw posts on Twitter and Facebook by usually savvy people who repeated what has become the latest delusion on the single payer left: that if Obama had started with single payer as his negotiating point, we would have no trouble winning a public option now. That this is an error is easy to see if you recognize that Congressional negotiations are not at all like contract negotiations. It’s not a matter of each side making and offer and then moving slowly to something in the middle. There are two keys to success when Presidents try to build support in Congress. The first is to create as big a block of supporters as you can to start with. Without a lot of supporters at the beginning of the effort, other members of Congress won’t think there is… Continue reading

It was two steps forward and one step back on health care reform yesterday. That’s why we need you to make a critical phone call to PA members of the Blue Dog Coalition-Congressmen Patrick Murphy, Tim Holden, Chris Carney, and Jason Altmire, this morning to ask him to reaffirm his support for a public health insurance option in the health care reform legislation being drafted in Congress? You can call toll free at 1-888-436-8427. Continue reading

The Pennsylvania chapter of Health Care for America Now released a new report today showing that consolidation in the private health insurance industry is creating skyrocketing premiums for both patients and employers. Pennsylvania’s two largest health insurers, Highmark and Independence Blue Cross control 72 percent of the market statewide. When looked at a local level, however, the situation is even worse, with three out of four local market ratings being dominated by a single company. From the point of view of the regional insurance markets, Pennsylvania has levels of concentration exceeded by only twelve states. This kind of consolidation means that an insurer can, without fear of consequences, raise premiums and/or reduce the variety of plans or quality of services offered to customers. This is what we have seen: from 2000 to 2007, premiums in Pennsylvania had risen 86 percent compared to a meager 13 percent increase in wages. This… Continue reading

Health Care For American Now (HCAN) is holding a national Rally and Lobby Day—we’re calling it called Health Care ’09: We Can’t Wait—on June 25th on the mall in Washington. We hope to bring 1000-1500 Pennsylvanians to Washington for the rally. Free buses will be leaving from locations around the state. (I’ll be announcing those locations in a day or so.) The rally will be at 11:00. Then we will gather in one very large room for a Town Hall meeting at which we expect to see a number of our members of Congress. We will head by to Pennsylvania at about 6:00 pm. You can pre-register for the event at http://www.hcanpa.org/dc. Let me tell you why you should join us: Continue reading

May 28, 2009 The Morning Call – Freelance Everyone cares which side Sen. Arlen Specter is on and what difference it makes. In Washington, the focus is more often on his party. Here in Pennsylvania, however, the critical question is where Sen. Specter stands in the struggle to reform health care. Last week we got a little better idea when Sen. Specter signed a letter supporting many of the goals of Health Care for America Now (HCAN). Health Care for America Now is the largest organization working for health care reform in the country and one of the largest issue movements in American history. Continue reading