On life support: Reforming the healthcare industry

Photo: A sign at the 9/12 project's march on Washington D.C./Andrew Aliferis, used under Creative Commons license

On life support: Reforming the healthcare industry
Meg Lanker
Monday, November 30, 2009 9:22 PM MDT

No one could have predicted the peculiar turns the healthcare debate took.

One of the most jarring sprung from the plethora of town-hall meetings in August. Gun-rights advocates claimed that the healthcare debate is bizarrely and inextricably tied to an imaginary push to deprive Americans of the right to bear arms, illustrated by a man who carried an AR-15 assault rifle strapped to his back outside a town hall meeting with the president in Phoenix, Ariz.

This followed national coverage of a New Hampshire man openly carrying a gun in a thigh holster at another Obama town hall meeting while holding a sign stating, “It’s time to water the tree of liberty,” – a partial quote from Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Another claim about gun rights fired up the masses again when Gun Owners of America began circulating the claim that the Baucus health care bill would ban guns used for self defense. The group derived this from provisions in the bill allowing for higher premiums for tobacco users – this provision is then extrapolated by the group and right-wingers to include other “risky” behaviors like gun ownership. Non-partisan group PolitiFact.com rated the claim as “false” and said, “Every behavioral factor explicitly cited in the bill concerns pure medical issues, such as a lowered cholesterol level, maintenance of a certain body mass index, quitting smoking or losing a specified amount of weight.”

Gun owners continue to show up and pack heat at what should be peaceful town hall gatherings and rallies but have become free-for-all melees of shouts about socialism and racism and fascism and every fear-mongering “ism” in the book. The consequence of the town hall debacles in August have led to a serious reluctance to even consider speaking to constituents on anything related to health care reform.

Thankfully, these self-styled guerillas of freedom haven’t killed anyone – indeed, there were no arrests for gun violence, but police have arrested a few for unlawful possession of a firearm. But, as one Phoenix police officer explained to the Associated Press the simple presence of a man with a large rifle “sparked a lot of emotions.”

Perhaps those Americans who were angry, or distressed, or sickened by the sight of a man with an assault rifle at a presidential event recalled what happened when another man brought a rifle to a presidential parade in Texas. Or when a man brought a rifle to hear a Baptist preacher speak about civil rights in Tennessee. Or possibly the sight evokes the unmerciful memory of hearing a heart-lurching knock at the door in the early morning hours after being identified as the next-of-kin.

And the pundits and politicians. The cries of socialism and marches to communism and the figurative beating of breasts deserve an Oscar or ridicule, depending on which side Americans take. Glenn Beck weeps as he speaks of rationing and whether or not citizens will be considered valuable enough to keep alive. Sarah Palin warns us of the death panels that would have decreed her son, born with Down Syndrome, not important enough to birth. Representative Michele Bachmann warns of schools allowing 13-year-olds to receive abortions and then be put back on the bus to go home, with mom and dad none the wiser. Americans were warned by health insurance companies that a shadowy government entity would come between them and their doctors – warned by the very industry of bloodsuckers spawned by coming between patients and doctors.

The most outrageous lies are the ones most readily believed by the right-wing desperate to get the government out of their Medicare – forget the ridiculousness of that statement because the fear, to them, is real.

Thanks in part to the scare tactics, and in part to the powerful health insurance lobby, the U.S. House passed a watered down bill Nov. 7 with a weakened public option and insurance mandates. The bill also included sweeping abortion restrictions under the Stupak amendment, added at the last minute to appease Blue Dog Democrats, several of which voted for the amendment and not the final bill. The new legislation has little cost controls and opens a market previously unavailable to the health insurance industry of impoverished Americans. The lone Republican who voted for the bill, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana is now targeted as a traitor by his own party.

The House bill is an insurance company’s wet dream.

How did it get to this point?

Way back in 2008, in a campaign that seems hazy from the almost-euphoric high generated by the possibility of change, the Republican Party painted Barack Obama with the pinko tint of socialism or communism, depending on the crowd. John McCain and Sarah Palin fervently assured us that Obama wanted to take away our freedoms to worship, to choose our doctors, to stroll around in a public place with an assault rifle. He was not one of us, and probably a terrorist, dontcha ya know? He pals around with bad dudes and they probably even have a book club led by that Saul guy.

After the election, the Republican Party was eager to prove it was not in the death throes of a movement long past its era or usefulness. It jumped on the opportunity to become the party of Americans who want things to stay the way they were, back when credit was plentiful and so was the cheap plastic crap at Wal-Mart. Back then, the free market throbbed with excitement as houses were erected one right after another and purchased with no down payment and credit terms arranged.

But that was way, way back in 2005, when everyone wanted flip houses and flipped for house they couldn’t afford, either through enticement into sub-prime mortgages or pure unencumbered desire. Americans didn’t notice the spiraling cost of health care as much because they all had jobs and money, and besides, the emergency room treats anyone who walks in. U.S. citizens didn’t really need all those silly civil rights and those inane leftists had themselves in a tizzy over Gitmo. Remember, kids, it’s the first and second amendment rights that really get things done.

It’s this last principle that sees America in its present predicament. It’s my first amendment right to shout the loudest at the nearest town hall, to warn my fellow citizens of impending socialism and I’ve got the second amendment to back that one up should some peacenik think otherwise. The right-wingers have transformed the blissfully ignorant into the fearfully ignorant and unleashed the Tea Party people, the birthers, the conspiracy theorists, and the garden-variety lunatics upon the issue of “socialized medicine,” leading disgruntled seniors to scream about the government keeping their hands out of their goddamned Medicare and Sarah Palin to write on Facebook about evil Obama’s plan for “death panels.”

Their scare tactics bordered on the barely factual to the absurd. In the barely factual column, the right-wing continues to warn of rationing, which already happens when insurance companies decide to cover treatment or not, which treatment is appropriate, and how long patients need treatment. Dismiss the silly rationing idea based on rich versus poor since all the poor have to do is go to the ER or ask their church for help. In the absurd column, there’s the reviewed and revised summary of HR 3200, “adapted on July 29, 2009, by the Liberty Counsel from the original authored by Peter Fleckenstein and posted on FreeRepublic.com.”

These claims, embraced and distributed by conservative groups like the national 9/12 Project, include this gem: “Sec. 2511, Pg. 992 – Government will establish school-based ‘health’ clinics. Your children will be indoctrinated and your grandchildren may be aborted!”

I highly doubt this – typical school health clinics include first-hand education on not putting rocks in your nose versus putting tab A into slot B; plus, an abortion is fairly time-consuming procedure requiring a physician and not many students can get out of class long enough to surreptitiously smoke cigarettes, much less abort their unborn.

These claims, which seem to have originated with Mr. Fleckenstein, continue to appear in chain emails supposedly authored by this or that constitutional scholar urging people to call their congressman and tell them to vote no on reform.

These are also the alarmist assertions parroted by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. She insists that creationism is valid science and claims swine flu originated with Democratic administrations, and yet, people still take her seriously. She also said she will run for president in 2012 if God tells her she should. Let’s hope God doesn’t get the hint.

Bachmann also spurred a large “press conference” (read: protest rally) Nov. 5 on the steps of the Capitol Building – a rally which featured signs depicting Obama as Hitler and Mao. Among the most distasteful was a large banner depicting naked concentration camp victims piled in a mass grave with a caption reading “"National Socialist Health Care, Dachau, Germany 1945." Several of her fellow Republicans stood grinning behind the podium. This is apparently the new base for the GOP.

These incongruous declarations do not seem to be based in any kind of reality. Instead, they surface from a deep, dark alternate universe – a place fixed in the psyche of many white, working class, older Americans. It’s the persistent fear of the other, of change, of deviation from the norm. These are the folks that lost their jobs at the plant after they went overseas to kill little yellow people to bring them freedom. Their children and grandchildren are going into the desert to bring freedom to more ungrateful foreigners. These folks come home from a hard day’s work and see this smooth-talking black president on television telling them that he’s going to make him pay for the health care for other people’s children and grandchildren with their hard-earned paycheck.

That guy, with all the opportunities their children should have had but didn’t, is now telling Joe Schmoe and Jane Doe to give their money willingly to support people that they think have never known an honest day’s work. And it makes them angry. America is the land of bootstrap opportunity, not government-based handholding. And they’ll be damned if it will become a nanny welfare state.

So when they’re told to shout at their congressmen at the nearest town hall, or to rally on Sept. 12 or Nov. 5 in Washington D.C., then, by God, they’ll do what it takes to stop the socialists, the welfare cheats and the academic elitists in their tracks. They heard the horror stories about rationing in Canada and the months spent waiting for bypass surgery. Joe Schmoe can’t bear to think of his granddaughters going to kindergarten and learning how to slide on condoms instead of learning the alphabet. Jane Doe agonizes over the thought that her aged mother might have to face one of those death panels that Sarah Palin talks about in her folksy manner. So they’ll stop this day of reckoning from coming to fruition.

This is irrational, and yet, this stroking of panic over a long, strange summer was effective. The public option appeared to be headed for an unceremonious death several times. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. even felt comfortable enough to assure the people of this state that if it wasn’t for him, Wyomingites would have national health care. Perhaps the good senator may want to consider Health Care for America Now’s report on the health insurance industry currently bankrupting this country and Wyoming residents.

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is comprised of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states “representing 30 million people dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care.” According to their report released in June, the average combined cost of health insurance premiums paid by employers and workers climbed to $16,771 in 2009 for a family of four. This represents nearly one-third of a U.S. family’s median income.

How is this sustainable? HCAN points out that in Wyoming, insurance premiums rose 129 percent from 2000 to 2007, 4.6 times faster than median earnings rose in Wyoming. This is the fastest and highest rate of premium increase in the nation. For family health coverage in Wyoming during that time, the average annual combined premium for employers and employees rose from $5,605 to $12,824 - 26 percent of the median family's income and projected to reach 47 percent by 2016.

In Wyoming, 72,821 of 520,500 residents are uninsured. These are Sen. Enzi’s constituents, the people to which he proudly announced his blocking of national health care.

Of course, all this is under normal circumstances. When a family member becomes ill, the problem of underinsured policy holders becomes clear. In 2007, 62 percent of Americans filing for bankruptcy said inability to pay medical bills was the key reason. Three-quarters of those filing had health insurance. In no universe does it make sense for working class people to oppose this reform.

But fear will make a person do peculiar things.

In August, Missouri resident Kenneth Gladney was allegedly involved in a fight at a town hall with members of the Service Employees International Union and later went to the ER claiming to have sustained multiple injuries. He was shown on a video of the incident quickly springing to his feet after appearing to trip on a curb. After jumping up from the ground, Gladney continued to shout at the SEIU representatives. He appeared later at another town hall to plead for donations to cover his mounting medical bills in a wheelchair, supposedly unable to speak – until he emerged on Fox News the next day. His appeal came at a protest against health care reform that would provide him with insurance, despite the fact he was recently laid off from his job. The irony was completely lost on the conservatives and rally attendees.

Hopefully the Republicans, the pundits, the tea partiers, and the right-wing, volatile fringe movement are pleased with what they hath wrought. Americans now know they’ve been spared the awful, horrible, inhumane health care the residents of Britain receive and would never trade for our current boondoggle of a system bankrupting citizens.

This health care “debate” is no longer a debate. It represents a strange and possibly dangerous turn in politics. This is potential mob rule via the ignorant and the U.S. Congressmen stirring this populist frenzy are playing with fire. The Democrats do not understand the fury either. They cannot comprehend the trepidation felt by many Americans because the liberal mentality does not deal in individual morality – it boasts the common good of society as its goal and the individual morality is intertwined with the benefit to society. It is no challenge to the GOP to paint “collectivism” to the uninformed as a horrible step toward communism.

At Bachmann’s health care rally, attendees held signs advocating violent revolution, compared the U.S. Congress to Nazi Party members, and several hanging effigies of various congressmen were the norm and not the exception. When did any of this become the desired political discourse? All this, as Congress debates health care reform that will surely benefit many of these people. They are patsies in a terrible corporate lie, as it has always been. The GOP must continue to count on populist dread since its remake as the party of big business or risk complete dissolution.

Greg Sargent wrote of a telling conference call in August where a Tea Party organizer stated: “The purpose of Tea Parties is not to find a solution to the health care crisis — it is to stop what is not the solution: ObamaCare.” The tea parties, for all the talk about “astroturf” and “faux populism,” do attract Americans who are worried about what the reforms will bring and who are angered over the bailouts, rising health care costs, unemployment, etc. However, simply blocking reform of any kind benefits no one but the health insurance industry.

Their rage is understandable and familiar. We liberals felt it for eight years under the Bush regime. But these folks are directing at the wrong people. Direct the anger at the insurance companies, the corporations who were "too big to fail," Ronald Reagan and his beginning of the end with the institution of neoliberal economic reforms. But do not throw it at the people trying to institute beneficial improvements to health care successfully for the first time in our nation’s history.

The real tragedy in the health care debate is that due to these horrendous bailouts coupled with two unwinnable wars running rampant over the national deficit, it is doubtful the U.S. can afford massive reforms of any kind. But we cannot afford to continue the way we have. A classic Catch-22 and too little, too late. The time for reform was with Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Nixon, even Clinton. Ted Kennedy must be weeping in the afterlife over this mess.

The U.S. Congress is not completely altruistic. Nearly every member is bought and paid for, courtesy of lobbyists sashaying through the aisles guaranteeing cushy campaign contributions. Are watered down bills and wrath-fueled tea parties the solution? Absolutely not. But no one seems to have an unambiguous solution and the 9/12 Glenn Beck acolytes are promised that what they’re being told to do is the solution.

Storming Nancy Pelosi's office and being arrested.

Holding signs about "Kenyan Obama", socialism, fascism, and Nazism.

Chanting "Kill the Bill" at the top of their lungs after Michele Bachmann told them on Sean Hannity’s show to come to D.C. and “scare” their congressmen into not voting for the bill.

The thought of the chaos possibly inherent in the 2010 elections is chilling. The U.S. Senate is beginning their debate on their own version of the bill today. Already, Beck and Hannity are calling for more marches in tirades laced with violent, revolutionary metaphors and absolutes.

There is no denying this is getting frightening.

Click here and here to view photos from Tea Party protests across the nation

Docs 4 Patient Care rally in Casper Nov. 21st

This is a slideshow from the Docs 4 Patient Care rally in Casper, Wyo. last Saturday. The Underground was there to interview rally-goers and counter-protesters alike. A recap will follow Friday. A common thread running through the comments of rally attendees was fear. Fear of socialism, fear of government takeovers, fear of out of control spending, or fear for their own families. Stay tuned for The Underground's recap...

Health care panels scheduled for tonight

Health care panels scheduled for tonight
Wyoming health care professionals and students will debate reform
Meg Lanker
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 2:21 PM MDT

Southeast Wyoming residents will get two chances today to find out how health care reform could affect them.

According to a news release from the Wyoming Democratic Party, local health care professionals will discuss health care reform at a panel at Laramie County Community College Center for Conferences and Institutes.

The panel is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will include Wyoming Department of Health Director Dr. Brent Sherard; Lorraine Saulino-Klein, RN; and Mary Forrester, FNP. Other healthcare professionals will also attend and discuss what reform will mean for Wyoming residents and how it can impact Wyoming.

“No one knows more about the urgent need for health insurance reform than those who work within the health care system every day,” said Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Bill Luckett in the release. “It is important that we have the opportunity to hear their perspective.”

Wyoming Democratic Party Vice Chair Mike Bell will moderate the discussion and a short question and answer period following the panel’s comments.

Elsewhere in the state, the University of Wyoming College Democrats and College Republicans will hold a debate regarding health care reform and the issues surrounding various proposed bills.

The debate is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Wyoming Union West Ballroom and will also feature a question and answer session afterwards. The College Democrats invited the College Republicans to debate in the interest of having a bipartisan view on health care presented.

Both clubs are aiming to educate Wyoming residents and UW students about the concerns surrounding health care reform. In pre-debate meetings, College Republicans president Caitlin Wallace and College Democrats president Dana Walton both said they wished to see a civil, enlightening debate.

Laramie resident and activist Matt Stannard will blog live during the debate at theunderview.blogspot.com and will follow with commentary on the debate during his nightly “Shared Sacrifice” podcast from 8-9 p.m., accessible to the public at blogtalkradio.com/shared_sacrifice.

Stannard is looking forward to liveblogging the debate. “The liveblogging serves two purposes: In addition to the important global exposure it provides for UW and the health care debate, it also serves as an opportunity for anyone and everyone to fact-check the debate,” he said. “I hope people will look over the notes I post during the debate, research the facts, and post their findings on the blog.”

According to Shared Sacrifice’s website, the daily podcast is also co-hosted by Iraq veteran Gary Barkley. The website describes the show as “progressive in nature” but emphasizes “all Americans have the right to be heard.”

Listeners are invited to call in during the podcast with their questions and comments. Stannard said the entire hour will be used to discuss the debate and health care reform. "We'll continue the conversation on tomorrow night's podcast too, if there's interest," said Stannard.

Tea Parties and unity: Where were they?

Photo: Protesters at the 9/12 Rally in Washington D.C., organized by FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Credit - www.huffingtonpost.com and the AP

Tea Parties and unity: Where were they?
Robert Roten
Sunday, September 13, 2009 12:46 PM MDT

Where were they?

The Wyoming 912 Coalition rally at Conwell Park in Casper yesterday was supposed to be about uniting the country and remembering the way it was united on 9/12/01, but it was really about divisiveness and about forgetting what happened on 9/12/01.

The rally was supposed to be about freedom, but it really wasn't about freedom at all. It was about giving up freedom and power, including the right to choose our health care, and giving that power instead to soulless corporations.

People carried signs that read, “Who gave unelected czars authority over us?” and “Freedom did not need change,” according to an article in the Casper Star-Tribune. The article quoted Casper resident Nancy Rinn as saying: “I think the people in Washington are stomping on the Constitution; they're trying to pass laws that are unconstitutional.”

Where were they, these tea party protesters, when George Bush and Dick Cheney were tearing up the constitution? Where were they when the government was listening in to their phone conversations with illegal wiretaps? Where were they when the government was reading their emails? Where were they when the government suspended habeas corpus and threw people into prison, “disappearing” them in the same way Josef Stalin used to make people vanish without a trace? Where were they when the United States government illegally tortured and killed prisoners of war?

Dave Kellett of Powell, president of the Wyoming 912 Coalition, reportedly said at the rally, “We were all Americans.” Kellett added, “There were no Republicans or Democrats, whites, blacks, Hispanics or Arabs,” on that day. The Arabs disagree with that, like the poor guy who was mistaken for an Arab (he was actually an Indian Sikh) and murdered by Americans in that spirit of unity that prevailed after 9/11. The Arabs were immediate suspects in the 9/11 attacks and anyone of Arab descent, or anybody with dark skin who looked like an Arab, was in for a tough time after the attacks. Arabs in America are still not above suspicion.

Just ask Cat Stevens about that supposed post-9/11 unity of Americans. They wouldn't even let the “Peace Train” singer back in the country. Judging by what I saw on TV of the crowd in Casper yesterday, there weren't a lot of blacks, Hispanics or Arabs among the tea-party people there, or at the big march in Washington, either. It is pretty much a pure white, far right, Fox News-watching bunch. Dave Kellet's idea of national unity is not what I'd call “fair and balanced.”

That's not the only thing about the post-9/11 climate the tea party people seem to have forgotten. They forgot the nation was united behind their president, George Bush, despite the fact that 9/11 happened on his watch. They must have been watching Fox News back then when wingnuts like Bill O'Reilly were saying that anybody who criticized President Bush was a traitor, or words to that effect. Fox News and the rest of the right-leaning news establishment bullied anyone who dared criticize our beloved President George Bush, and they said he did nothing wrong. They still claim he was damned near perfect to this very day.

Where were these Tea Party people when the Bush Administration let the country down and failed to prevent the 9/11 attacks? After all, it was pretty spectacular failure that would seem impossible to top, but Bush managed to do just that, with Katrina and the Iraq War. Through all those disasters, all those deficits, all those illegal acts, all the loss of all those personal freedoms, the Tea Party people kept silent. Where were they?

So why all those anti-Obama signs at the Wyoming 912 Coalition rally? Where is that old spirit of unity? What happened to that unity where everybody stood behind the president and you were a called a traitor if you did not? Obama has only been in power a few months and has yet to initiate any disasters like the ones that Bush did on an almost monthly basis. On the basis of protecting the country alone, he's already 100 percent better than Bush was. How could they forget the unity of 912 on this occasion? How could they keep quiet when this nation was literally falling apart and only now, when the country is starting to get back on track, they suddenly want to protest their very own president?

Why? What has gotten them stirred up? Health care reform? They actually like the fact that their insurance company can drop them from coverage when they get sick? They like the fact that they have to stick with a job they don't like, or face losing their coverage or paying sky-high COBRA payments? Do they enjoy being jerked around by insurance companies that are not held accountable by anyone, including their own government? They ought to be protesting outside insurance companies, not protesting the guy who is trying to fix this mess. The Tea Party people act as if they are being directly paid by the health insurance industry to put a stop to health care reform.

The Wyoming 912 Coalition people are also very concerned about the federal budget deficit. They are afraid they will have to pay for health care reform with higher taxes, and that might be true, but where were they when the Reagan Administration and two Bush Administrations ran up deficits in the trillions? Where were they when the Bush Administration cut trillions of dollars of taxes on the wealthy, and started two wars at the same time? Where were they when the Bush Administration started a war in Iraq that would end up costing trillions of dollars, and paid for it with deficit spending?

The Tea Party people cheered when Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at President Obama, and they put that proudly on their signs, even though Wilson, not Obama, is the liar here. Where were they when President Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq? None of them had the courage to stand up and call President Bush a liar, even though he was. Fox News, the rest of the media and most of the American people just went along for the ride. Now they stand up, but what do they really stand for?

Now, after more than 4,000 soldiers were killed and trillions of dollars have been wasted in the Iraq war, now, they finally stand up for principles they completely abandoned for the past 20 years. Now, they stand up to avoid paying for the health care of poor people. That's not what you'd call noble, or Christian, or Muslim. They are willing to finance the death of hundreds of thousands of people and spend trillions of dollars for war without complaint, but they don't want to spend a nickel to pay for the health care of needy citizens of the United States of America, including those wounded fighting for this nation. Shame on them.

The tea party people weren't concerned when our soldiers died for nothing. They weren't concerned about a war that made this nation less secure, rather than more secure. They weren't concerned with the mounting deficits caused by deeply irresponsible government fiscal policies. They weren't concerned when the government did little to avert the Hurricane Katrina disaster and did less to alleviate the suffering of Americans afterward. The tea party people were silent then.

Now that the nation has been brought back from the brink of another Great Depression, thanks to government fiscal intervention, now that the United States is once again gaining some respect in the world for more rational foreign policies, after being a laughing stock and a pariah for the past eight years, now, the tea party people are protesting. They want to get rid of Obama and all he stands for. They want to return to the good old days of George W. Bush, the good old days of letting insurance companies decide who will live and who will die.

God help us all if they get what they are wishing for.

Robert Roten is a journalist with over 25 years of newspaper experience, including 20 years as a reporter, editor, photographer, columnist and editorialist at the Laramie Daily Boomerang. Since retiring from the Boomerang in 2000, Roten has been president of the Laramie Film Society and the Laramie Astronomical Society and Space Observers (LASSO). He has operated his own movie journalism web site, Laramie Movie Scope, for the past 13 years. He also has a weekly movie show, Laramie Movie Scope News, on KOCA radio in Laramie. He is also a member of the Online Film Critics Society and contributes frequent movie reviews to rottentomatoes.com. He is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Roten is a resident of Laramie, Wyo.

Letter to the Editor: An open letter to Obama

An open letter to President Barack Obama –

Mr. President, your goal of health care reform is in jeopardy and a change of strategy is required if that goal is to be saved. You have tried to work with Congress and that strategy has run its course.

If any health care legislation comes out of Congress, public option or not, it will simply add more people to the broken health care system we have now and increase the profits of the insurance industry without providing better care or cutting costs. I see nothing coming out of Congress that would start reducing health care costs, and that is key.

As you know, we have the most expensive health care system in the world, even though our national life expectancy is relatively low and our high infant mortality rate is a crime. Far too many people die because of hospital-acquired infections and malpractice. Large segments of our population receive little or no health care, primarily because of cost. Far too many families sink into bankruptcy because of health care debt.

Instead of letting health care policy be dictated by the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and other players in the medical-Congressional-complex, pick a plan and stick with it. The Wyden-Bennett bill is an example of the kind of legislation that would address the fundamental problems in our health care system, namely incentives that drive up costs and drive down quality of care. Find a bill you can get behind, or create one of your own.

Once you find a bill, get the Democrats behind it and push it through. I know it’s like herding cats, but at least it is easier than herding Republicans. You ought to know by now Republicans won't accept any plan that actually addresses the fundamental problems with our health care system. Republicans refuse to be part of the solution.

I don't know if Democrats will unite behind you, but you have to try. If you succeed, health care will be on the right track, thousands of lives will be saved, and the Republicans will deservedly be out of power for at least 20 years. If you fail, you just might lose your next election and the country will sink deeper into the black hole of health care debt.

Robert Roten
Laramie, Wyo.

Sen. Kennedy: The lion who roared

Photo: Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. (Photo from http://kennedy.senate.gov)











The lion who roared: Remembering Sen. Ted Kennedy and moving forward
Meg Lanker
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 5:35 PM MDT
To truly measure a legislator’s worth, one must not look at the amount of legislation simply passed, but at the quality of the legislation, the effort, and the compromise necessary to get that legislation passed. By this standard, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. was a priceless civil servant in the U.S. Senate.

Kennedy diligently advocated for bipartisan compromise on divisive issues: health care, education reform, immigration, welfare, et cetera. In 1983, Kennedy outlined his hopes for America and said, “I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.”

Twenty-six years later, as this lion of the senate is silenced, it is devastatingly obvious these standards of civility hoped for by Kennedy have fallen away – if they even existed at all. With the passing of Kennedy, the book is closed on one of the last, great statesmen left in this country. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cal Thomas, a conservative columnist who forged a friendship with Kennedy in the 1980s, said, “I was opposed to his politics, but I came to love him as a person.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is often considered one of the most conservative members in the Senate, yet still counted Kennedy as a friend. According to The Salt Lake City Tribune, Hatch came to the Senate 32 years ago with one goal in mind: "To fight Ted Kennedy."

Hatch and Kennedy wound up working together on numerous pieces of legislation ensuring children of low-income parents could see a doctor, and most recently, legislation boosting the funding to the AmeriCorps volunteer program and the stipend its volunteers receive.

On Wednesday, Hatch said Kennedy was "an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated," and a treasured friend.

Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. issued a statement Wednesday, and called Kennedy a “true, thoughtful, and caring friend” and gave his condolences to Kennedy’s family.

“The history books will show that Ted was a dedicated public servant who worked tirelessly for the people of Massachusetts and the nation,” said Enzi. “He leaves behind a long list of bipartisan legislative accomplishments, the impact of which will continue to be felt for generations to come.”

Wyoming’s former U.S. Senator Al Simpson served on the judiciary committee with Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. Previously, Kennedy had also served in the senate with Simpson’s father Milward.

In a statement to The Underground Wednesday, Simpson said, “My wife Ann and I are truly heartbroken. He was a dear friend. The two of us would put politics aside in order to make things work.” He called Kennedy a “master legislator” and cited their accomplishments together as an example of Kennedy’s bipartisanship.

“He will be deeply missed. A giant tree falls from the skyline. A great loss to the world,” Simpson said. “Our love, thoughts and prayers go out to Vicki and all of their dear ones.”

Seth Stern, writer for CQpolitics.com, shared an anecdote Wednesday regarding Al Simpson’s arrival to the U.S. Senate 30 years ago. Stern said when Al Simpson first arrived in the Senate in 1979, his father, who served with Kennedy in the 1960s, told his son to get to know Kennedy.

“Although they didn’t agree on much politically, Kennedy made a favorable impression when he was the first to arrive at a reception that year for the elder Simpson, who by then was suffering from Parkinson’s disease,” said Stern. “Kennedy kneeled on the ground for half an hour to talk to his former Senate colleague, who could not get out of his wheelchair.”

The Wyoming Democratic Party also issued a statement Wednesday and said it joined the nation in mourning the passing of Kennedy. State party vice chairman Mike Bell pointed out that Kennedy campaigned in the West for JFK and stood with the Wyoming delegation when the state put Jack Kennedy over the top for the Democratic presidential nomination at the 1960 convention.

Bell said, “Ted Kennedy was such a force in American life for nearly fifty years that it will take a while to get used to the fact that he is gone.” The outpouring of remembrance from liberals and conservatives alike reminds us that political views are, or should be, separate from the person.

Kennedy was a vehement defender of working-class and poor Americans and yet was able to give and take during negotiations on legislation without compromising his values or his friendships.

The idea that one can be opposed to an individual’s politics but not to the person seems alien to my generation. Those of us in our mid-twenties have foggy memories of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. My generation grew up in the Clinton era – I still remember my father changing the channel when news anchors began discussing Ken Starr’s vicariously prurient interest in former President Bill Clinton’s sex life.

For my generation, politics have always been personal. In the past fifteen years, we’ve endured debates about stains on blue dresses over dinner as the level of political discourse in America sunk to the point of commentators pouring “gasoline” (read: water) on others to demonstrate what President Barack Obama is doing to the American people while insisting the “-ism” of the day was on the march.

Where was Kennedy in all this chaos?

Through all the name-calling and mudslinging, he continued to urge Democrats and Republicans to work together in order to bring about necessary reforms successfully. Kennedy advocated for single-payer health care beginning in the 1970s. Calling healthcare reform “the cause of my life,” he pressed for bipartisanship, writing in Newsweek July 27, “Our response to these challenges will define our character as a country.” Kennedy’s absence from the healthcare debate in recent months left a gaping hole in the Senate and indicated how precarious his health had become.

In March, Rush Limbaugh criticized the healthcare reform efforts put forth by the Democrats in Congress saying, “Before it's all over, it will be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill.” As of Wednesday, he had not backed off his comments.

Limbaugh cited Kennedy’s death from brain cancer and the extensive treatment he received to prolong his life as reason to oppose the healthcare overhaul he espoused since the 1970s. "Why support the rationing of healthcare when Ted Kennedy, the lion of the Senate, did not?" said Limbaugh.

The debate over health care has now reached a nasty, shrill crescendo – led by pundits like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck – and will hopefully, respectfully be turned down. False accusations over government sponsored euthanasia and horrific waiting periods will not do anyone favors.

One of Kennedy’s Massachusetts colleagues, U.S. House Rep. Barney Frank expressed his frustration recently with the devolving healthcare debate. After a woman compared the proposed policies on healthcare reform to the policies of Adolph Hitler, Frank sighed and said, “When you ask me that question, I’m going to revert to my ethnic heritage and ask you a question: On what planet do you spend most of your time?” As the crowd began to boo, he continued: “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table – I have no interest in doing it.”

Sen. Ted Kennedy would have argued with that dining room table, and I have no doubt in my mind about him he reaching a compromise with it. Kennedy represents an era hopefully not past, when citizens respected the office – if not the congressman – and congressman treated each other with dignity.

I implore the Democratic Party to remember Kennedy as a diligent civil servant and to pass the kind of reform he wanted – coverage for all Americans, which he saw as a right and not a privilege. I also beg his colleagues, if they so desire to name a healthcare bill after him, that the bill be the type of reform he would support, and not a watered-down tweak of our current system.

I encourage all Americans to remember the words his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, used on the campaign trail in 1968, quoting playwright George Bernard Shaw: “Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Eulogizing his brother Robert in June 1968, Kennedy said, “My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”

Kennedy concluded his eulogy with what is now my wish for him: “Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.”

Meg Lanker is the editor of The Underground and can be contacted at meglanker@gmail.com

The Underground mourns Sen. Ted Kennedy

On behalf of The Underground, I wish to issue a statement expressing my condolences to the Kennedy family and friends of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Sen. Kennedy was a great statesmen and a tireless champion for those who truly needed a warrior.

This is the time to put aside the divisiveness over health care reform and remember that Sen. Kennedy worked for on this issue for nearly 50 years in office, never seeing it come to fruition as he hoped.

This is the time to mourn the "lion of the senate" as he was called by his colleagues and to celebrate the reforms he did enact - many with bipartisan support.

And this is the time to pay tribute to Sen. Kennedy and truly reach across the aisle, both as legislators and Americans, to see his dreams of health care for all actually come into being.

-Meg Lanker, Editor

States hold the solution to healthcare reform

Let the states run healthcare
Andrew Simons

As the healthcare debate evolves, one thing is becoming clear: Debate in this country is not what it used to be. With people caring guns and shouting down their elected officials, something needs to be done to elevate the debate beyond the yelling matches that are currently standard fare. A marketplace of ideas needs to be fair market – if it exists at all.

Some people have labeled demonstrators as “un-American.” I don’t share this thought. Anyone who is willing to carry a strong opinion is obviously a great patriot and a walking, talking advertisement for the First Amendment. The problem comes in when these people are more interested in making their opinion heard at the expense of drowning out any opposition. A debate requires both sides and a moment to rebut the arguments of the opposition. Though it’s not the law, I would argue that your right to free speech ends when it infringes on mine.

On top of all of this is the way that these town halls have headed south in terms of respect. The idea that any president, congressman or senator would allow for “death panels” in the home of the free and land of the brave is insulting, wrong and takes away from a real debate. Painting swastikas and hanging members of Congress in effigy adds nothing and intimidates the level-headed silent majority of people in this country who have probably been scared out of the debate. Their voices are now lost to us. Wyoming’s own congressman Cynthia Lummis recently said bringing arguments peaceably is a key part of the solution. In reality, the real solution has as much to do with bringing an intelligent argument as anything.

This also brings to mind recent incidents of people bringing guns to these town hall meetings and forums as a statement about the Second Amendment. I honestly don’t understand how this pertains to healthcare or contributes to support for Second Amendment rights, especially when held with signs proclaiming, “It’s time to water the tree of liberty.” This statement comes from Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

If organizers of these protests knew the Founding Fathers at all, they would know that politically motivated executions were most likely not what they were intending. A personal meeting or town hall event is never something that requires a gun. Intimidating people into doing your will through violence calls elections and prospective legislation into further doubt, adding possible instability to what should always be a civil debate.

In general, the solution to the increasingly unruly town hall meetings and the healthcare reform problem is to leave much of the process up to the states. If these protests are in fact being organized by outside interests, it would make the job much more complicated. Organizing protests at town halls for thousands of state representatives would be infinitely harder than focusing on forums for 535 members of Congress.

Healthcare, is a regional and, yes, personal issue. Any solution is going to have incredible resistance. If the federal government and the Obama administration would settle for an absolute minimum of federal reform and provide federal dollars to the states to implement their own healthcare plans, solutions could be found that would serve the people of Wyoming as efficiently and confidently as Californians. As it stands, the federal government seems to believe both states have exactly the same concerns, but common sense says otherwise.

This chaos has led to a multitude of healthcare bills, plans and solutions posted on the websites of senators and representatives, proposed in their respective committees, and discussed in their respective town halls – each tailored to the wants and needs of each politician’s respective district. Wouldn’t it be grand if we could actually implement these plans? Wouldn’t that solution be easier than making liars of our congressmen after the plans that won voters’ support are then cut and pasted together into a bill that no one likes? This idea should lead to a state’s rights-based solution for healthcare.

Just think about it – a state’s rights argument that incredibly doesn’t involve guns, gay marriage or wolves in Wyoming. Wyoming could accomplish a suitable healthcare solution based on all the passionate support these previous issues have raised. A few level-headed organizers are a must – those who know to fact-check their statements and press releases would be crucial to running a campaign for Wyoming-centered healthcare, thereby avoiding the mistake one Wyoming advocacy group made by calling Governor Dave Freudenthal’s support of the Real ID Act “tyranny” for superseding state authority two weeks after he announced a state sovereignty resolution.

It’s people with good intentions and a lack of knowledge and restraint that will demolish this movement. A state-run healthcare system has the potential to streamline our government and create real solutions to the problems and concerns of people more accurately than anything put forth by politicians in Washington D.C.

Andrew Simons hosts Checks and Balances, a political talk show that airs Saturdays from 10-11 p.m. on 93.5 KOCA community radio in Laramie. Simons' political experience includes managing the special election of Wyoming State Rep. Jim Roscoe D-Pinedale in 2008, along with working on two presidential campaigns and the campaign of a U.S. House candidate.

Rep. Lummis looking forward to August recess

Rep. Lummis looking forward to August District Work Period
Meg Lanker
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 12:21 PM MDT

The U.S. House of Representatives recessed Monday for August, but for Rep. Cynthia Lummis-R, Wyo., it’s anything but a break.

The website for the U.S. House calls the break the “Summer District Work Period,” and bills it in news releases as a chance for representatives to meet with constituents, hold town hall meetings, and gear up for the next session.

Lummis said in an interview with The Underground Friday she is looking forward to meeting with constituents in Wyoming and discussing issues important to them. “I have, I believe, six town hall meetings, multiple interviews with the press and many constituent meetings,” she said.

With a vote on health care reform looming large in September, Lummis is using August to prepare for discussions on the House floor. Lummis does not support the health care plan the Democrats are proposing, and instead, supports the ten-point plan set forth by Sen. Mike Enzi R-Wyo.

“Sen. Enzi’s ten steps, which are laid out in bullet points on his website, are, in fact, extremely comprehensive, well thought-out, well fleshed-out, and have a lot of support on a bipartisan basis here in Congress,” Lummis said. “Sen. Enzi’s work is highly respected, and is based on years of experience.”

According to Enzi’s website, the “Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America” include providing cross-state pooling to reduce health care costs and increase accessibility for small business owners, individuals, and families; increasing affordable options for families to purchase health insurance through a standard tax deduction; and emphasizing preventive benefits.

Lummis is using the time in August to read the entire proposal authored by House Democrats and said the proposal is a “1000-page plus” bill. She said she has not seen what it covers in its entirety, but said, “I do know this – it creates at least 31 new government agencies, and has a health commissioner that will decide whether the plan I have meets their criteria.”

Lummis is concerned about portability of health insurance and potential penalties to employers. “One of the employers I talked to in Wyoming, a physician’s office, went through the Democrats’ bill and found out it would be cheaper for them to pay the eight percent penalty and shift their own employees onto the government plan rather than provide the insurance they have now,” said Lummis. “The President’s express notion that if you like your insurance you can keep it is not embodied in the Democrats’ bill.”

Proponents of the health care plan disagree, including Milt Shook, a former Washington D.C. paralegal-turned-author who read the entire bill and purports to debunk many of the Republican Party’s statements on the health care bill on his website. Referring to the eight percent penalty, Shook said, “The section [on penalties to employers] only refers to any employer who doesn't offer any insurance to his employees. If they offer either private insurance or the public insurance, they do not have to pay the 8%, regardless of the size of their payroll.”

However, if the employer’s payroll is over $400,000 a year, the eight percent payroll tax would kick in, potentially affecting small business owners who may find it cheaper to pull the current insurance and not offer the government’s health care public option. In this case, an employee could enroll in the public option and pay an amount indexed to the employee’s current yearly pay.

Lummis is also worried about whether or not people could keep their current insurance in all circumstances. “Yesterday [Thursday], in the House Energy and Resources committee, a number of Republicans offered amendments to that bill to make sure the bill allows you to keep your insurance if you like it, and all of those amendments were defeated,” she said. “I have serious reservations, and am in fact, opposed to the Democrats’ health care bill as it is written now and am very concerned about the notion of a public plan and how it could bring about lower quality health care and health care rationing.”

Lummis acknowledged people are seeing somewhat of a rationing due to high health care costs, but said the plan will bring about “more serious rationing on a broader level.” She said, “My big concern is that it will not elevate opportunities for those who cannot currently afford insurance, but will instead decrease opportunities for affordable health care for those who do have insurance.”

Lummis also supports a review of the reimbursements doctors and hospitals receive under current Medicare and Medicaid fee schedules. “I know from visiting with Wyoming hospitals and Wyoming doctors that they are under-reimbursed,” said Lummis. “It’s critical, that for Medicare to perform properly, that we level the playing field in order to ensure the long-term health of the Medicare system.”

She said that fixing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements is particularly important for Wyoming, since some providers have stopped accepting Medicare and Medicaid – reducing the number of already limited providers available to patients.

“I want our doctors and our hospitals reimbursed at rates that will allow them to continue to take Medicare patients as Wyoming people age, as our population ages,” said Lummis. “Health care reform will be my highest priority when I return in the fall.”

Numerous energy issues are on the table as well. Lummis opposed the cap-and-trade bill, called the “Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” and was uneasy about promises made by Democrats in the House that the bill would not increase energy costs for the average consumer.

Lummis emphasized the need for Washington to look to Wyoming for energy resources including solar power and uranium for nuclear power. “We are number one in uranium reserves and I am a big supporter of nuclear energy. It is the most abundant, zero-emissions source of energy our country has,” she said.

She cited large numbers of nuclear plants in Europe as an example of implementation that could take place in the U.S. “Currently nuclear power produces 20 percent of the electricity in this country, and without it, we will not be able to meet the kinds of standards that are required under the cap-and-trade bill,” she said.

Democrats and Republicans alike in Wyoming – and the rest of the U.S. – worry about storing nuclear waste as a by-product of a nuclear power plant, but Lummis supports other renewable energy resources such as solar and wind power, calling solar power an “efficient energy source” that Wyoming could lead the way in developing. She said, “Our moderate, cooler temperatures allow solar panels to operate more efficiently. That’s an area where I see tremendous growth for Wyoming.”

Lummis acknowledged the need for clean energy development to reduce air pollution, especially in urban areas. “Urban communities like Los Angeles do have higher rates of asthma, and that’s tied to things like automobile emissions. Whether or not a person believes in global warming, these issues must be addressed.”

She is working with other legislators to draft and sponsor numerous bills to benefit Wyoming residents. Before the House recess, Lummis introduced the “Statewide Public Television Access Act,” which will allow DISH Network subscribers in Wyoming to have access to Wyoming Public Television.

Many subscribers in Wyoming receive their public television from Denver, Salt Lake City, or Rapid City, SD. According to Lummis, federal law prohibits satellite television subscribers from receiving Wyoming Public Television, but this new bill would attempt to change that.

Lummis cited the bill as an example of reaching across the aisle in an environment that she said is divided along party lines. She is the lead sponsor, with three Democrats and three Republicans co-sponsoring the bill on public television access.

Wyoming PBS features programming relevant to the state. According to the Wyoming PBS website, one popular series, Main Street, Wyoming, highlights the uniqueness of Wyoming’s communities, history and people. During the election cycles, Wyoming PBS also features local candidate forums and debates – unavailable to those subscribers who have DISH network.

“Over half of the Wyoming counties do not get access to Wyoming Public Television. And, I believe, 18 other states are in the same boat as Wyoming – where you cannot get your own public television within the four corners of your state,” Lummis said. “When you have so many Wyoming residents getting their public television from neighboring states, it’s not possible to have a cohesive community dialogue.”

Lummis also pointed out the bill would allow for easier access to local news, weather and sports and said it did not make sense that residents don’t already receive Wyoming PBS.

August has already been packed full by Lummis’ staff with what she called a “near-campaign schedule.” She said, “I just can’t wait to be back home in Wyoming. This will be a great opportunity to get feedback from the people I represent, so when I do come back in September, I have wise counsel and good Wyoming common-sense to carry back with me.”

However, Lummis does plan to take some time to relax after a grueling House session full of discussions on controversial issues by going fishing. After describing her schedule, she chucked and said, “I would just love to be able to stand in a stream and drown a fly.”

The U.S. House will reconvene after Labor Day in September.