Bill Frist On Board With Healthcare Reform

Bill Frist may be from the south and he may be a Republican, but he's not crazy. With nothing to lose, I've been wondering why he hasn't taken a stand against the Republican nonsense.

"I would end up voting for it. As leader, I would take heat for it. That's what leadership is all about."

But not only does he openly discuss his support for real reform, he also supports a mandate. Surprise!

Frist does point out one very, very rational point that many of us have overlooked. What happens next?

While Frist believes that the bill will pass, he worries that the Obama Administration and Congress have not given enough attention to what happens next: the implementation. The first few years are likely to be rough, he predicts. States will be struggling to set up new marketplaces for insurance coverage, their medicaid rolls will grow, taxes will go up, and consumers will not yet see the benefits. "The Republicans will go wild," using the start-up difficulties as a tool for fundraising and for making their case in the next election, Frist says. "In the Congress, nobody's thinking about that." His advice for the Obama Administration: "Stay nimble," and be prepared to make adjustments as difficulties arise.

Let the ridicule and labeling begin! Far-right Republicans will shred Frist for his comments and label him a RINO - claim he's not a real conservative. All of this makes me wonder where healthcare would be today if Mr. Frist had used the nuclear option back in 2005.

Read the full interview with Karen Tumulty Time's Swampland blog.

Set Your TiVos!

It's only Tuesday and everyone is already talking about this Sunday's morning talk shows. That's because the president is set to give back-to-back to back-to-back interviews. In what is being called a first, President Obama will appear on five talk shows. New York Times blogger, Adam Nagourney, writes:

It’s a reminder of just how much Mr. Obama is out there. As of his seven-month in office mark in August, he had done 114 interviews, compared to 37 by former President George W. Bush and 41 by former president Bill Clinton at a similar point in their administrations, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University in Maryland.

Of the five networks that were chosen (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN & Univision), Fox News isn't one of them. The Washington Post's story, which refers to Obama's marathon as a "modified verion of the 'Full Ginsburg,' also notes the Fox diss.

In making the rounds -- appearing on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Univision back-to-back -- Obama will do a modified version of "the Full Ginsburg," as such a sweep was dubbed after Monica Lewinsky's lawyer, William H. Ginsburg, became the first person to do five broadcast shows it in 1998.

It is rare for a president to appear on a single Sunday show, let alone multiple ones. (The original "Full Ginsburg" included Fox News, which was cut out of the loop this time and replaced with the Spanish language Univision).

Video: Your Last Chance

Robert Reich makes the case for a public option. Make your voices heard today!

Video: Calling Out Another Fox Lie

Here's Hannity accusing the president of saying that insurance executives are bad people. Of course, anyone who watched the speech knows that President Obama actually said, "Insurance executives don't do this because they're bad people. They do it because it's profitable."

Watch:

HR 3200 and Undocumented Residents

First, for the record, these words are found on page 143, lines 3-7 of HR 3200.

SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.

Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments

for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are

not lawfully present in the United States.

Second, someone should remind Republicans that non-residents have been receiving emergency treatment, as required by law, for many years. The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act, signed into law in 1986 by President Reagan, requires, as it should, Medicare-participating hospitals to provide emergency medical services for all patients who seek care, regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status." (42 U.S.C 1395dd)

Undocumented residents will continue to receive emergency care, whether HR 3200 passes or not. There doesn't need to be a provision for emergency services for nonresidents because there are provisions in other laws, such as EMTALA.

All of this makes me wonder. What are GOP leaders thinking when it comes to Hispanic Americans? Do they really think they're not paying attention? Have they forgotten the electoral significance of the Hispanic American voting block?

Video: 'You Lie' Carl Cameron!

Here's Carl Cameron at the Counter-Revolutionary Media. Is this poor journalism or just Fox News telling big fat lies again? You decide!

Deja Vu All Over Again

There was a moment back in 2008 when we became a little frustrated at the lack of red meat in Barack Obama's campaign. While Republicans relentlessly ridiculed Obama and labeled him an Unpatriotic-Muslim-Socialist, it seemed as if the young candidate wasn't willing to get in the mud and fight. The liberal media was obsessed with Bill Ayers, ACORN, Jeremiah Wright, Joe the Plummer Handyman and the McCain/Palin accusation that Obama would rather lose the war in Iraq than lose the election.

McCain gained several points on then-candidate Obama in key states while Obama's campaign remained above the fray. All of us were screaming, "Fight back!" And then, to the cheers of 69 million Americans who voted for him, Obama finally took the gloves off and reminded everyone that McCain and Bush were the same (and that McCain owned nine homes, all of which were perfect spots for the Republican drill baby drill for oil plan).

Seems like years ago...

And here we are again in 2009. It was like dejavu all over again last month, watching the same uncivil, uncooth specimens spew their unholy venom at healthcare rallies. Nazi signs, cries of socialism and out-and-out racism. The perpetual loop of these images must have boosted ratings for cable news networks given the non-stop coverage we were forced to endure.

Now, once again, it appears that Republicans have got all the mileage they can possibly get out of their lies. Despite their best efforts to kill healthcare during the August recess, President Obama and progressive Democrats are still moving forward, and they're closer now than ever to true insurance reform. Another positive sign can be found in President Obama's approval numbers. They appear to have bottomed out somewhere around the low to mid-fifties, numbers similar to what he earned last November - along with 365 electoral votes. We shouldn't forget the electoral significance of 52.8% of the popular vote.

Here's what we can soon expect: President Obama will sign a healthcare bill this fall, at which point Democrats' national poll numbers will get an immediate boost. The new reform will be regarded as the greatest change since Social Security, and most importantly, 47 million Americans will have a greater hope in obtaining affordable health insurance - public option or not. Republicans will be the biggest losers, yet again. A majority of Americans will remember the sincere attempt by the Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill, only to be opposed almost all Republicans, most of whom offer no real solution.

With August behind us, President Obama seems ready to take the gloves off once again - just in time. The August smoke has cleared, and he's still standing. This AFL-CIO speech from Labor Day leaves little doubt that the president is as optimistic as ever about delivering CHANGE. From the looks of things, Fall 2009 may just turn out to be just as sweet as Fall 2008.

Video: Real People Denied Real Healthcare

"This healthcare problem is a product of greed."

'Brakes Of Civil Discourse Are Not Working'

These words from Joe Klein yesterday stopped me in my tracks.

"Could I just say that the intensity of this is getting pretty scary...and dangerous? We are heading toward a cliff and the usual brakes of civil discourse are not working. Indeed, the Republicans have the pedal to the metal... I'm usually not one to panic or be overly worried about the state of our country -- even when we do awful things like invade Iraq and torture people, we usually right our course before long -- but I have a sinking feeling about where we're headed now."

God help us.

Health Insurance For the 'Well, Well-Off and Well-Connected'

I attended a healthcare rally earlier this evening in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. About 400 enthusiastic people came out to voice their support for reform at the Allen Chapel AME church.

One by one, Middle Tennesseans bravely took the stage and shared with the audience their heartbreaking testimonies. One man who contracted shingles last year told a story about how the infection spread to his eye. Fortunately, a doctor gave him a free 30-day prescription for contacts. Unfortunately, he had to wear them for seven months because he couldn't afford the monthly cost for a new pair.

Another sad story came from a tearful girl who still has a lump in her arm that has gone unexamined and untreated for months. The insurance coverage that would normally subsidize the care she needs far exceeds her budget as a working college student. Every one of these Tennesseans are employed, most of them full-time, but still unable to afford the insurance premiums available to them.

To the point. Despite the narrative that right-wing squabblers have been telling over the last month, many Americans who are uninsured do have full-time jobs, just like those who spoke at tonight's rally.

There were no Republican protesters screaming in anger, "Get a job! Buy your own insurance!" although they have been quite effective in controlling the message war on several fronts, including this one: Uninsured = Unemployed.

Look at the chart below from the Kaiser Family Foundation. There's a clear correlation between those working Americans whose incomes are near the federal poverty level and others whose incomes are much higher. If you're a young American attending college who's been dropped from a COBRA plan, there's a strong chance you are uninsured because you can't afford coverage. Thousands of others who've recently lost their jobs as a result of the Bush Recession may be finding work as servers, bartenders, bellmen and cashiers, but they still can't afford the sky-high premiums offered by their employers.

The conclusion? As one supporter this evening said, "You can afford insurance in this country if you are well, well off and well-connected." Here's proof.