The Clinton Presidential Library has released memos from 1993 which gave instructions on how members of the administration should talk to single payer advocates "to bring them into the fold" on the 1993 reform bill. Here is a snippet of the advice on how administration officials were advised to talk to Congressman Jim McDermott. "As with all Members, and particularly Congressman McDermott, the goal at
this meeting is to make him feel we are listening to him and desirous
of his guidance. In this vein, you should consider throwing anything he
throws at you as a complication right back at him with a question. Then,
if you have concerns about his suggested approach, you can address it
with him directly. (This way, you don't allow him the opportunity to
pick apart anything before you have had a chance to hear and analyze his
alternatives)."
Here is a Daily Show Clip on talking points for the masses on healthcare vs. reality. The state page has a new page on where the candidates for Governor of Pennsylvania stand on single payer.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) launched a 21 hour pseudofilibuster on a bill with a provision which he voted for to defund the Affordable Care Act which Jon Stewart beautifully lampoons above. He claimed that the act would increase premiums for everyone and for small businesses while denying care. The White House came out with data projecting what premiums will be for each state including Pennsylvania which looks cheaper that what I'm paying now. The full report can be read here. The proof will be in the pudding when the exchanges start operating Oct. 1 on the cost and adequacy of care. Ted Cruz's state has 25.7% uninsured. As an aside, Healthcare for All PA has been featured in The Huffington Post in an article by Linda Bergthold. The Economic Impact Study, The Healthy Artists Project, and The State Single Payer bills are discussed.
Via: The Advisory Board Company The Fiscal Year (FY) begins every July 1 in every state, the Federal FY begins October 1. This year the legislature passed and the governor signed a $28.4 billion budget. The Republican controlled State Senate voted 40-10 to include Medicaid (sponsored by House Republican Dan Moul of Adams and Franklin county) expansion in the budget (where the federal government would pick up 100% of the tab for the first three years). These Republicans joined all Senate Democrats in voting yea:
However the Housevoted 108-94to remove and recommit this amendment (with Rep. Moul voting yea) to the Public Welfare Code with Gov. Corbett still declaring his opposition. All Democrats plus two Republicans (DiGirolamo and Harkins) voted nay.
The Pennsylvania Health Access Network promises that the battle is not over. Their arguments for Medicaid expansion are very similar to those for Single Payer. If some Republican legislators can be persuaded to vote for Medicaid expansion, maybe they can on Single Payer. This is a good case of the level of polarization in the PA legislature.
**Update**
MSNBC's Chris Hayes talks about Gov. Corbett's refusal to support Medicaid expansion. He interviews the head of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics about it's effect on the poor.
I came across this chart while looking at Kevin Drum's blog at Motherjones.com. It summarizes the results of a study measuring the amount of political polarization in all 50 state legislatures compared to the US Congress. They looked at the roll call voting record of each legislator from 1996-2009 for both houses (and Nebraska which has a unicameral legislature) to see how polarized their record was and ranked each member within their party. The difference in the polarization between the members ranked in the middle of their party determines the polarization scores of the legislature. The US Congress, which has left John Conyers' HR 676 single payer bill in committee has a score of 1.2. California, which almost passed single payer in 2010, had by far the highest polarization score at 2.5 while Vermont which did pass a single payer bill in 2011 has a score of 1.3. Montana and Hawaii which are considering bills have scores of 1.6 and 0.9 respectively. Our state, Pennsylvania of course, has a score close to the US Congress at 1.1 (I'm extrapolating from the graph for these numbers). Louisiana had the lowest polarization at 0.5.
So what do these numbers mean for single payers prospects in the PA legislature with our new economic impact study? As the film Lincoln artfully demonstrates raw numbers of votes are most important. California, though polarized, had a large democratic majority which almost passed the bill. Vermont is less polarized and passed their bill. Polarization in legislatures can fluctuate over time but averaged across years and houses can remain relatively stable. Their original study plus the raw data can be downloaded here.
