ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="081609.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> <br /> Pelosi&#39;s Pyrrhic Victory</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Nov. 8, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">H</span>anding Speaker Nancy Pelosi the biggest victory of her political career, the U.S. House of Representative voted November 7 [220-215] to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>pass President Barack Obama s health care bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the vote represented the biggest health care vote since Medicare in 1964, the House bill faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack hoped the same momentum that carried the day in the House would extend to the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He wants the Senate to  take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite Democrats 60-member filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, there s strong opposition to the House bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Voicing his objections, former Democrat and now Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) promised  as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote, rejecting the House bill, fearing adverse fallout on the economy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Lieberman joins other Republicans believing that footing he bill endangers the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His friend and Senate colleague Sen. Lindsay O. Graham (R-S.C.) insisted  the house bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, noting little support for a government plan that competes with private insurers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Senate Republicans haven t gotten satisfactory answers for how a government plan wouldn t hurt the private sector and eventually the U.S economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>In the final version the House bill, Pelsosi surrendered funding for abortion, a sticking point for many Blue Dog conservative Democrats, unwilling to pay for abortion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Liberal Democrats still went along, despite the restriction against abortion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Unlike the House, Obama faces bigger challenges in the Senate where there s growing opposition to the public option, where the government offers competitive plans with private insurers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <![endif]>Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the lone Senate Republican supporting the legislation, favors a public option only if the current bill fails to improve accesses and control runaway health care costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If private health insurers don t adopt in due time the bill s provisions, then some senators may move to the public option.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Senators, like Snowe, want to see the industry reverse exclusions for pre-existing conditions and control runaway costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> If the private market fails to reform, there would be a fallback position, said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It should be triggered by choice and affordability, not by political whim, seeking to give insurance companies the chance to rectify unfair practices and policies, hurting affordability, access and quality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Pelosi s plan won t meet the same fate in the Senate, where a conference committee will be forced to compromise on objectionable provisions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <![endif]>Expressing worries about the economy, Lieberman expressed concerns with the so-called  public option, where the government would shoulder, like Medicare, much of the costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He, and other Republicans, are concerned about the possibility for abuse, especially among undocumented workers, causing an endless hemorrhage to the U.S. treasury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I believe the debt can break America and send us into a recession that s worse than the one we re fighting our way out of today, said Lieberman, raising legitimate concerns about launching health reform in a time of recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Expected to cost $1.2 billion over 10 years, the House bill would tax upper-income earners, causing worries to well-meaning supply-siders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Raising taxes during a recession causes more concern about fueling recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With government revenue down from the recession, budget deficits would surely rise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <![endif]>When the Senate gets the bill, it s likely to pair-down Pelosi s ambitious plan, requiring universal coverage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Making the program voluntary would defeat the plan by forcing spotty participation not generating enough premiums to assure widespread use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now that the House bill has moved to the Senate, Barack urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to complete a Senate vote by the end of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Reid signaled last week he wasn t sure whether that was a realistic goal. With so much Republican opposition in the Senate, Reid has his work cut out for him delivering on Barack s deadline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>To hold down costs during the recession, many of the bill s provision wouldn t go into effect until 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Insurers fear a competitive government plan that forces them to offer more benefits and less hype.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Publicly-traded insurers fear a drop in quarterly earnings would hurt share prices and evntually employment. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Against all odds, Pelosi delivered the nation s first national health care plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While it s now left to the Senate, the GOP must take it seriously or face unwelcomed consequences in next year s midterm elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> After all the blood, sweat and tears, simply handing Barack a political defeat won t fly with the vast number of voters looking for a responsible effort at health care reform..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Some version of national health care must come out of the Senate or there will be hell to pay in next year s elections or beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The House bill is dead-on-arrival in the Senate, said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), demonstrating the kind of cynical theater that s likely to backfire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While a determined minority wishes Barack s heath care reform to fail, vast numbers of middle-of-the-road voters want progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Senate Republicans must stop playing politics and deliver health care reform to mainstream voters.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma.</a></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homene.net" target="_blank">img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>