Category: Public Policy

As a political science teacher for twenty five years, I argued that the mainstream media was not systematically biased against progressives. I was wrong. But I’m still not sure what the problem is. I don’t know if it is the economic interests of publishers—which I still kind of doubt is important; or the fact that political reporters have a vested interest in making politicians and citizens seem even more divided than they really are; or whether the habitual skepticism of reporters makes them focus more on the likelihood of failure than the possibility of success. And maybe all of these factors are exacerbated because political reporters really only have the time to understand the gross politics of issues rather than the details of politics or policy. But for one or another of these reasons, most of the news reports about health care reform in the mainstream media, and certainly in the… Continue reading

We progressives are distraught over losing something that is important to our vision of health care reform: a public option that would compete with private insurance and hold down health insurance costs. Make no mistake, that was, indeed a loss. But the public option was not the only important feature of the legislation we have been supporting. Indeed, while holding down costs are important to this country, the fundamental moral issue is making sure that everyone can get affordable health care. And, if the conference committee process goes as we expect, on that critical issue we are going to win a major victory. The reform bills before Congress will take this country close to the ideal of making health care a right not a privilege. They will make health insurance affordable for almost all Americans and do more to help working and middle class Americans than any government program since… Continue reading

We are getting very close to the end of this year’s battle on health care reform. President Obama and the Congressional leadership have agreed on a path to enacting much of what we wanted by the end of this month. The first, critical vote may come as early as March 19. But we need your help to bring it home. Can you join us next Tuesday, March 9, on a bus to DC for a final push for health care reform and against the insurance companies? RSVP here http://hcanpa.org/m9 for a bus leaving from Philadelphia at 7:00 am from Love Park. Other buses are leaving from Doylestown, Fairless Hills, Plymouth Meeting, and ten other cities in the state. Continue reading

A group of Pennsylvanians are Marching from Philadelphia to Washington, DC between February 17 and 24 in honor of Melanie Shouse. This is why. Recently, our friend, Melanie Shouse lost a long battle with breast cancer after missing out on critical treatment because she, like thousands of others, could not find affordable health insurance. Melanie did everything she could to fight for health care, not just for herself, but for all of us. President Obama, who knew Melanie as a volunteer on his campaign, said: “She was fighting that whole time not just to get me elected, not even to get herself health insurance, but because she understood that there were others coming behind her who were going to find themselves in the same situation and she didn’t want somebody else going through that same thing.” It was a long road for Melanie, but she never gave up. A lot… Continue reading

The fight for health care reform is continuing. Join us at two events as we ratchet up our campaign to enact health care reform in the next two months.   A major rally in Philadelphia at a place still to be determined in Center City on Wednesday, February 17 at 12:00 noon. Click here to RSVP. March to the Finish Line, a march of health care activists from Philadelphia to Washington beginning at the rally and ending up in at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 24th right before President Obama’s health care summit. Click here to sign up for any part of the march.   Why are we marching to Washington? To show our leaders that they have lost touch with us. Continue reading

The National Moment In my previous post, I said that there is still a way forward to health care reform that is good if not great. Having said all that, there is no question that after Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey statewide elections, after a decline in Obama’s popular support and in the Congressional poll numbers (where the Democrats are in a dead heat with Republicans, ten points below where they were a year ago), we Democrats are not doing as well right now as we were a year ago. Why not? There are two leading theories, which lead to two radically different conclusions about what Obama should do now. The right is saying that Obama overreached and is trying to force major changes, and especially health care reform, on a country that did not elect him for that purpose. The left is saying that Obama has compromise too much… Continue reading

Breathe. Take a step back. You need to make sure you don’t get caught up in perhaps the most damaging features of our public life: our inability to look beyond the day’s news and put each day in perspective. The world and American politics did not change dramatically last night. The prospects for health care reform are not all that different than they were yesterday. Continue reading