Should all businesses provide health insurance benefits to their employees? As a guy who makes his living selling group health policies to employers, you might think that I would answer with an emphatic “YES”. In theory, all businesses should provide benefits. In practice, not necessarily.

Sunday’s Plain Dealer included an article about the White Castle hamburger chain and the unintended/intended consequences of the recent health care legislation. According to the article, White Castle has been providing health insurance coverage to its full-time employees for a very long time. And, they are more than generous, paying 70% to 89% of the cost. By these measures, White Castle is a good corporate citizen.

But it is not enough. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imposes a $3,000 per employee penalty on companies whose workers pay more than 9.5% of household income in premiums for company provided insurance. “White Castle estimates that this new rule could cost as much as 55% of its yearly net income.”

Before we go any further, it is important to note that a recent study found that 78.9% of all statistics were created at the moment of their citation.

So I may not be certain about the actual pain White Castle may experience. Of course, when Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, is quoted later in that same article that 97% of the nation’s companies won’t pay any penalties, I am equally skeptical.

Let’s talk real numbers. There are lots and lots of people earning $9 an hour. Is that right? Should they be paid more? I don’t know. You hire them and let me know. Today we’ll simply work with reality.

$9 an hour times 35 hours per week times 52 weeks per year equals $16,380. This person could only be charged $30 per week to participate in the company health plan. Anything more and the employer is charged $3,000 per employee. Restaurant worker, Retail employee. Clerk. There are a lot of people earning less than $20,000 per year. Their employers have a problem. Or a choice.

Will employers absorb even more of the rising health insurance premiums? Will employers make do with fewer workers? Or, will businesses cancel their private insurance and pay the lower $2,000 per employee penalty for not providing coverage?

The cheapest option, even less than providing high quality health insurance to its employees, may be to pay the $2,000 per employee penalty and to cancel the benefits. This just funnels more people into the government plan.

The article also quotes Steven Kreisberg of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME). Uniquely unqualified to address the concerns of any business, Mr. Kreisberg assures us that the young and healthy will simply opt out of their employers’ plans. The employers would then save premium dollars by paying $2,000 per employee per year for nothing. Forgetting that businesses hate to spend money for nothing, we still understand that taking the young and the healthy out of the employers’ groups will only make their premiums skyrocket.

The structure of these penalties only make sense if the ultimate goal is a government run health care system.

There were other experts and ax-grinders quoted in the Plain Dealer article. One was the number one Republican in the House of Representatives, John Boehner (Oh). Mr. Boehner is the George Hamilton of national politics. While Mr. Hamilton’s movies feature his tan and a lightweight plot, Mr. Boehner’s TV appearances tend to feature his tan and his lightweight logic. I have always thought that his job was to keep the seat warm till a real leader emerges. I am not a fan.

Imagine my surprise when I read this quote from Mr. Boehner. “The irony is that in the name of expanding health care coverage, the administration is making it harder than ever for unskilled workers to get started in the workforce.”

Sure the populism is feigned. But truth is truth. In a rush to achieve a goal with little thought to the consequences or collateral damage, this administration has begun to implement its health care takeover. And, as per Mr. Boehner, it is true. Even a blind squirrel can eventually find a nut.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

The recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act forces the State of Ohio to re-address our uninsured. Of particular interest is our population of high risk uninsured. These individuals are very unhealthy and have not been insured for over six months. The previous options available to our high-risk pool were both mediocre and expensive. Still, many of our unhealthiest accepted the available state mandated option. Today we are talking about those who did not.

According to the report published in the Plain Dealer this past Saturday, the federal government has allocated $152,000,000 to help cover these Ohioans until the new rules kick in, about four years from now. Medical Mutual of Ohio, a local not-for-profit, won the contract to manage the policies.

This is not free insurance. The individuals will be required to pay some yet to be determined premium. What does one hundred fifty-two million get you? The State’s best guess is 5,000 insureds. Based on my knowledge of the current premiums and benefits available to these individuals, that number might be a touch optimistic.

In a post dated June 29, 2009, The Real World, I noted that Governor Strickland’s budget included a premium reduction for the open enrollment policies available to Ohio’s unhealthiest citizens under age 65. The cost for this would be borne by Ohioans who pay for their own health coverage. We would, according to the State’s actuary, pay 5.5% more to help our neighbors acquire insurance. My clients can attest to their rising premiums.

The one hundred fifty-two million dollars is part of a total five billion dollar four year program. Let’s pretend that 5,000 is a real number. For our purposes, let’s pretend that all of these numbers are real, the federal government really has five billion dollars, and we really get our hundred fifty million. 5,000 beneficiaries would get only $30,400 towards their coverage. This is only $7,600 per year, a little over $600 per month. Is that even close to the actual cost of insuring these individuals?

The current Medical Mutual of Ohio premium for the Ohio Standard policy for a 60 year old male in Cuyahoga County is $1,403.08 per month after the recent rate reduction. We already know that that is not sufficient to pay claims. Will our soon to be insured make up the $800 per month difference? And, will the new federally designed policy be as awful as our current contract or will it be more generous and costly?

This, of course, does not even begin to address the fact that there are far more than 5,000 Ohioans who are both very unhealthy and in need of a different way to pay for their health care.

There was a time, not so long ago, that we were told that one of the main reasons we had to go to war was because of the way the Taliban treated the women of Afghanistan. We have been told that the purpose of health care reform was to cover the uninsured. The selectivity of our focus and actions make both arguments seem specious. Our government is perfectly happy to ignore the abuses of cooperative tyrants who provide us with cheap oil. And we have yet to show any real interest in devising, and FUNDING, a program to truly cover our unhealthiest and uninsured.

What we have is a shell game. More and more costs are being shifted to those of us with private insurance. All the while the federal government attempts to block insurers from raising rates to cover the true costs. Books must balance, at least in business.

My predictions of a few months ago still stand.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Dr. Ballard made the cover. The current issue of Cleveland Scene featured a story about Robert Ballard, M.D. It appears that Dr. Ballard, age 69, was recently fired. This was not the first time he was fired or defunded, just the most recent and, in his mind, most surprising. Scene depicts him as a good doctor, a caring physician, a practitioner committed to Wellness. He just wants a salary. Is that so awful? Forty-three years since his graduation from a Cleveland medical school and he still hasn’t grasped how and why he gets paid. In essence, he is the poster grandparent for single payer health care.

I bring up Dr. Ballard because of Scene’s cover. There, in four color, is the unemployed doctor dressed in a lab coat walking his dog. I have developed a real appreciation for lab coats.

You can’t be a real doctor, or even a real fake doctor, or even a good stage prop without a lab coat.

I was in China for nine days this past April. My tour took me to Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. I was at the Great Wall (amazing pictures), a Ming Tomb, and the Buddhist Temple LingYin. Other cultural/shopping destinations included a jade factory, a silk factory, and a Cloisonné factory. You get the idea. We also stopped in the offices of the purveyors of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The doctor explained the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and we were each given the opportunity for a free exam. No blood tests. No sample jars or paper cups. The doctor diagnosed each person, one at a time, by simply taking the patient’s pulse. Then he prescribed the appropriate herbs each inevitably needed.

The doctor took my pulse and asked about my blood pressure medication. “None”, I replied. He was baffled. Me? I was totally relaxed and trying hard not to laugh. I love a good sales pitch. No blood tests. No tests at all. Why was he wearing a lab coat? Our doctor was in costume for his American audience.

My fascination with lab coats can be traced to the recent health care debate. My local Congresswoman, Marcia Fudge, was hoping that her vote was going to be news. It wasn’t. Our Congressional Representatives, even those in safe districts, need to make the six o’clock news now and then, if only for their egos and fundraising. The “White Coat Doctors”, Doctors Organized for Health Care Solutions, were ready to play their part. This is the group that instructs its members to keep their lab coats in their cars and to be ready at a moment’s notice. Their job is to show up at the press conference, coats on, and to nod approvingly. It took tens of thousands of dollars of education for these people to be stage props. But if you call them, they will ride in, like knights in shining armor.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Jennifer, my lovely daughter, had a wonderful orthodontist. He was the dental equivalent of Mr. Rogers. Gentle. Caring. The kids loved him. The parents respected him. We, the parents, just hated going to his office.

Jen and her fellow patients were all in middle school. They would check in and find their way back to an open room and an array of colored rubber bands. The parents would sit and wait, hoping to not be noticed by the doctor’s office manager, a young woman who had a habit of standing in the doorway and calling out to us.

“Mr. Cunix.” Uh oh. “Doctor says that Jenny should do a better job brushing her teeth.”

“Mrs. Smith.” It was someone else’s turn. “Your insurance wasn’t approved.”

I began waiting for Jen in the building’s atrium. I was not alone.

Great dentist. Happy kid. All was right in the world right up till my insurance got screwed up. I had to go in. Ms. Noisy was sure that I had a problem. I quickly determined what she had done wrong. Now she was both loud and unhappy. It was time to meet with the doctor.

With childlike innocence, the orthodontist explained to me that he only dealt with the teeth. He didn’t know anything about the paperwork. He didn’t touch it. I looked him in the eye and reminded him that he owned a business. He couldn’t divorce himself from the hard part. He couldn’t keep his hands clean.

The paperwork got better and the consultations with the parents became private.

I was reminded of this long ago confrontation by Dr. Johnathan Ross’s rant in this past Sunday’s Plain Dealer. Dr. Ross is identified as the past president of Physicians for a National Health Plan and a leader of Single Payer Action Network in Ohio. I have provided the links. Take a moment to read the article and research the groups.

Dr. Ross is positive that our health care delivery system’s only problem is our method of payment. It’s the insurance companies. If only we had a single payer system. Our costs would plummet and all would be right in the world.

“So what’s the alternative? It’s building on the solid foundation of our tax-financed, low-overhead Medicare system, and extending it to cover everyone without exception. The administrative savings from such a streamlined system would amount to $400 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive coverage to all with no significant out-of-pocket expenses and with complete choice of doctor and hospital.
A single-payer system would also have the clout to negotiate drug prices and provider fees, and to allocate resources efficiently and wisely. It would possess powerful tools for improving quality and controlling costs.”

At the risk of sounding like a Saturday Night Live Skit, REALLY?

We would save $400 billion a year?
Really?

Comprehensive coverage to all with no significant out of pocket expenses?
Really?

Clout to negotiate drug prices and provider fees?
Really?

Allocate resources efficiently and wisely?
ENOUGH!

Somehow our federal government would suddenly repair its abysmal record of fraud prevention, negotiate drug prices and provider fees, and reorganize our entire health care delivery system with no increase in administration costs or personnel. G-d knows, when I think efficiency, I think Washington.

Is this all a lot of hooey? Not quite. Dr. Ross is hoping that we, like my daughter’s orthodontist, will forget that medicine is a business. Big business. Dr. Ross, and physicians like him, are offended that the insurance industry is part of their business. A large part. I don’t take it personally. Sometimes I’m offended that the doctors are a part of mine.

Dr. Ross wants to be paid better, faster, and with less paperwork and oversight. Can we take the risk out of being a business owner? Can we just guarantee him a steady, predictable income free of hassle and concern? Give him that and he promises to check the blood pressure and pulse of little old ladies for years to come.

It doesn’t work that way, at least not yet. Administrative costs are probably higher than they need to be. But we should also check out the building costs for the new doctors’ offices and hospital palaces popping up all over Greater Cleveland. All those TV commercials for the newest drugs cost lots and lots of money. The system is also fueled, in part, with unnecessary tests and expensive, futile procedures.

Attack all or attack none.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Health Insurance Issues With Dave may have run its course. My April post was designed to have been my last. I had called my shot. I had made my prediction for the delivery and payment of health care in the United States. Short of a major U-turn, the changes I have described seem inevitable. So having said what I had to say, it was time to sit back and monitor the conversation.

Published Comments – O! Don’t get me wrong, the post was well read and generated lots and lots of feedback. Sadly, the phone conversations and emails were all private. Thoughtful. Concerned. Interesting. Private. No one wanted to go on record. No one wanted to have his/her ideas examined, the conclusions challenged.

We, all of us, need to continue talking, and even occasionally listening. Well, listening may be just pie in the sky, but I will provide the opportunity for further communication.

In other words, I’m back.

I received an email from a client last week. Janet (name changed to make my attorney happy) is a member of a grassroots organization called The Ohio Project. Would I sign their petition? Did I want to participate? Their goal is to pass an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would give Ohioans the right to opt our of health insurance, especially government mandated coverage.

I went to the site and read all of it, the amendment, the petition, even the training material. I DID NOT SIGN THE PETITION and I can not participate.

My problem was that I could not find any solutions on the Ohio Project’s website. There is a focus on being “forced” to participate in the system as a responsible player. My perspective has always been that our system won’t ever work if people can opt out up until the moment they need care. This blog has consistently delivered that message, most notably in the August 21, 2009 post. We need everyone to participate, the sick and the healthy, the young and the old.

My client’s concern, first and foremost, was to stop the government from forcing her to buy insurance. I asked Janet what plans The Ohio Project had to fix the system. She told me that they don’t have any solutions and that solutions aren’t their problem. The Ohio Project views the requirement to purchase insurance invasive and unconstitutional. I should note that Janet is well insured. Always has been. Always will be. This is a battle built on principle. Janet, and many like her, have drawn a line in the sand. This is where they have chosen to take a stand.

I strongly disagree with the members of The Ohio Project, but I welcome their participation. There is a natural progression from objecting to a government program or policy, to actively challenging said program or policy, to thinking about a more functional solution. And that is what we need. It has been said that the opposite of love isn’t hate. It is apathy. I am thrilled to have the members of The Ohio Project out and about. I am hoping that their energy will generate new ideas.

So I’m back. Let’s ride out this storm together.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

I was lucky. My poorly hit tee shot smacked the right tree at the perfect angle and my ball landed in the middle of the fairway. It wasn’t real far from where I had started, and number four at Astorhurst is a dogleg to the left, but I was on short grass and only had one big tree in my path to the green. I wasn’t going to just try to defy the odds with my sand wedge, I called my shot. “Over the tree, close to the front of the green.” Good or bad, right or wrong, I always believe that we should call our shots.

What will the new health care legislation accomplish? I have been asked daily for close to a month what I think will happen next. I’ve been working on an answer. The talking heads on TV all seem to know, and oddly enough, the results tie in perfectly with their political persuasion. The Republicans are predicting significant changes in both the House and Senate this fall. They sense real anger. I saw a liberal commentator predict that the Democrats will reap the benefit of the hoards of now grateful constituents, as if Obama and health care is the equivalent of Moses and manna.

So, I think it is time to call my shot. Everyone can be a genius in hindsight. Five years or so from now you will have the opportunity to tell me how wrong I was. I also realize that by taking a particular position and clearly extrapolating results from the recent activities of our President and Congress I will offend, or at the very least, anger, a fair number of my readers. Oh Well. I apologize, in advance, if I anger or offend. Feel free to give voice to your feelings in the comment section. I just ask that you remain civil and to remember that I have readers of all ages.

Rules to live by:
• There are no accidents
• Insurance executives are very smart people
• Insurance companies must balance their books
• Horse-trading is necessary to pass legislation
• If the above is true, then the end justifies the means

It is my belief that the ultimate goal of the Congressional leadership and the President is to have most Americans insured by a government run program and that this legislation is a major first step in that direction. It is also my belief that the major insurance companies are totally onboard.

Is that good or bad? My opinion doesn’t matter. I think the fix is in and our job will be to learn how to game the system.

I know. I know. You’ve seen the political shows where Democratic strategists talked about the insurance company windfall – 32 million new clients. What a bunch of malarkey. The young and healthy can already get cheap health insurance. They don’t need an act of Congress. The young, healthy and lazy can also get cheap insurance. Their moms call my office all of the time. Who we are about to get are the unhealthy. The initial batch have to be both unhealthy and uninsured for over six months. Since the federal government is unprepared, these unhealthy people will be funneled, initially, to the same state high-risk pools they have already avoided. The federal government has set aside 5 billion to help cover them. The insurers, recently forced by states like Ohio, to reduce the premium for their high risk clients, will simply have more losses to be shifted to the healthy population’s policies.

You may have noticed that Massachusetts refused to allow any insurance company price increases. Massachusetts is important. They are about five years ahead of the rest of us. The combination of new taxes on insurance companies, new policy requirements, and the removal of underwriting GUARANTEE HIGHER PRICES. This is very important. There are very few provisions in the legislation to limit or control the cost of health care. Since insurance is nothing more than a middleman, a negotiator, and a paper shuffler, the price of insurance is directly attributable to the cost of care. If the price of care increases unabatedly, the cost of insurance must also increase. Add in maternity and other desirable coverages and you have a hefty jump in price. This is not an accident.

As the price increases, Washington will fan the flames of discontent, blaming greedy insurers for the pain the consumer is feeling. There could be only one solution – The Public Option. If will be at that point that President Obama et al will be forced to create this alternative. Underpriced and underfunded, the public option will gain ground as the insurers reluctantly leave the market.

Why would the insurers, the Anthems and United Health Cares, be in favor of this? What do insurers do well?
• Manage risk
• Shuffle paper

Individual and small group health insurance are crappy businesses. There is lots of exposure, tons of paperwork, and a distribution system that demands way too much service. They are incredibly inefficient. If the eventual public option looks anything like the Swiss cheese we call Medicare, there will be a fortune to be made in SUPPLEMENTS. Low risk, controlled exposure, and sellable from phone units, online, and in the mail, supplemental policies are very profitable.

The federal government would be forced to contract with the major insurers to process a new mountain of paperwork. Pure profit. The contracts would be on a cost plus basis.

The final profit center for the major insurers will be for those people who wish, with the aid of private insurance, to opt out of the government system. This grouping of new products will not be price sensitive and should be particularly profitable.

The final legislation to make all of this happen will mirror the Medicare Part D debacle. Did the Republicans who pushed through Med D really care about doughnut holes or that my clients would be paying more for their medications? Of course not. Did they know that the legislation was a goldmine for the pharmaceutical industry and the major insurers? Probably not. Nor do I think that they cared. The Republicans had a goal, six years ago, to run on a new entitlement for senior citizens. They certainly weren’t going to let a little horse-trading get in the way. Expecting anything different from our Democratic leadership is unreasonable.

The end will justify the means. I am positive that most involved will feign total surprise at the outcome. They may even claim, facetiously, that they were forced by the market to act.

Again, is this good or bad? I don’t know. I am offended by the lack of honesty that I perceive. If this really is such a good idea, sell it. Go before the American people and tell us why we need to go in this direction and how we will pay for it. Since that didn’t happen, I doubt that the outcome will be all that great. Of course, any major political change in the next two years could negate all of this. That wouldn’t guarantee better outcomes, just a different cast of characters and results.

I gripped my sand wedge, swung as hard as I could, and lifted the ball up through the branches. I didn’t quite get over the tree as much as I got through it. The ball landed in the fairway just before the green.

Got to call your shots. Got to tell people what you really believe.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Health Insurance Issues With Dave has been on a self-imposed hiatus. Two and a half weeks with no posts. This was my small attempt to lower the noise level. The country appeared to be suffering from health care fatigue and I decided to be part of the solution as opposed to being a part of the problem.

I’m back. I simply can not resist writing about Dr. Jack Cassell and Congressman Alan Grayson. Everything you need to know about the recently passed health care legislation is contained within the story of these two gentlemen. And yes, to tell the whole tale we need both of these otherwise well-educated, bright guys who suddenly turned stupid once they became infected by the health care debate.

Dr. Jack Cassell is adamantly opposed to the recently passed health care legislation. Why? Who knows? Could be on general principle. Could be because Congress failed to “fix” Medicare again last week and specialists, like urologist Dr. Cassell, are facing a 21% cut in reimbursements from the federal government. As I said, who knows. In an effort to share his displeasure, Dr. Cassell posted a typewritten note that read: “If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years.”

Tacky? You betcha. A little heavy handed? Sure. But is it really a big deal? I don’t think so. First and most importantly, we still have a secret ballot. He isn’t asking people to tell him who they voted for in the election. He has no way of knowing whether the patient voted for the Democrat, the Republican, or failed to participate in the election process. Sure his waiting room is littered with Republican pamphlets detailing one side of the debate. But, this is still the United States. If you don’t like his politics you have every right to find another doctor.

My daughter Jennifer was born twenty-nine years ago this month in Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. St. E’s was the best hospital in the area and Jen’s mom had had problems in the past. Every single room in this Catholic hospital had a crucifix on the wall. Hope was in there for two days. Frankly, we found the wooden statues on the walls a bit disconcerting. But we didn’t make a fuss and we didn’t ask them to take them down, not even in our room. If you wanted the doctor and the facility, the religious decorations were part of the deal.

Of course, Dr. Cassell couldn’t keep this discussion at that high a level. “I think there’s a real, real problem that’s going on here in this country and unfortunately Obamacare fatally compromises my ability or any doctor’s ability to uphold the Hippocratic Oath.” Not enough hyperbole for you? How about this gem of a sign he posted above a stack of Republican literature describing the bill? “This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it.”

If you are keeping score, we have doctors who won’t be able to properly treat their patients and the morons responsible. Would the other side laugh at this silliness and let the whole issue disappear within a couple of days? Of course not.

First to weigh in was Dr. William Allen, a professor of bioethics, law and medical professionalism at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine. A man with a great bio but no patients and who will not be immediately impacted by the changes in the law, Dr. Allen is quoted as saying that even though Dr. Cassell hasn’t turned anyone away and hasn’t even quizzed his patients, he is still “pushing the limit”.

Pushing the limit? Our friends on the left were hoping for a stronger rebuke. Who could be counted on to take this to the illogical extreme? The safe bet in Central Florida is Orlando Democrat Alan Grayson. He is remembered for this constructive remark about the Republican’s program from last summer, “If you get sick, America…Die quickly.”

Congressman Grayson appeared on Countdown With Keith Olbermann yesterday evening. I skipped the Duke / Butler game to watch the two of them harrumph over Dr. Cassell’s sign. Grayson did not disappoint. He planned to complain to every medical board and government authority available. In the original Orlando Sentinel article Congressman Grayson is quoted as saying, “Maybe he thinks the Hippocratic Oath says, ‘Do no good.’ If this is the face of the right wing in America, it’s the face of cruelty…Why don’t they change the name of the Republican Party to the Sore Loser Party?”

And that is the whole issue with the other extreme. Those people who disagreed with this legislation, for whatever reason, are relegated to the “right wing”. We should all be grateful that the bill passed. We should get over it and move on. An excellent example would be the way so many of us in the middle and on the left got over it and moved on with our lives after President Bush declared Mission Accomplished and ended the war in Iraq. G-d knows Mr. Olbermann hasn’t mentioned it since. We should all model our future actions after his measured response.

Vice-President Joe Biden was correct. This is a big deal. It is huge. And yet, the details are in short supply and the costs seem to grow daily. The newest exaggeration comes from the Republicans who claim that the IRS needs to hire 16,000 more agents to monitor compliance. It is probably twice more than we actually need, but it really doesn’t matter. One side will use it as a rallying point while the other side will conveniently ignore that they haven’t properly funded any new agents.

And so it goes. We are still in campaign mode. The two extremes are scoring points and wasting our time and millions of dollars of our money. In a perfect world, Congressman Grayson would suffer a mild bladder infection the next time he is back in Florida and you know who would be on call that weekend. Not that I would wish for anyone to be sick, but they deserve each other.

And we deserve better.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Dennis Kucinich is very good at being Dennis Kucinich. An acquired taste, Dennis never pretends to be anyone but Dennis. I’m not a big fan and I seldom agree with him, but I respect his unrelenting desire to fight windmills. The Cleveland Plain Dealer carried an op-ed piece written by Congressman Kucinich on March 14, 2010 that was vintage Dennis.

Congressman Kucinich is a strong advocate of a single payer health care system. He is not bashful about this. His distrust of insurance companies in 2010 rivals his love affair with the banks and CEI in the late 70’s. He is nothing if not consistent. As a leading member of the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party, he added numerous amendments to the House’s health care bill that would have pushed our country in a direction most of us would want to avoid. As his extreme measures were stripped from the bill, he and his fellow Progressives swore that they would not vote for any bill that failed to include a strong public option.

We’ve discussed the public option several times over the last year. There is little need to revisit the weakness of this concept again in this post. What is relevant today is Congressman Kucinich’s adamant opposition to the poorly written bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the unrestrained vitriol he unleashed on the hodgepodge that emerged from the Senate.

As President Obama and Speaker Pelosi rushed to find 216 votes to pass the Senate bill in the House, Congressman Kucinich suddenly became relevant. The Today Show and other morning broadcasts, the Sunday new shows, and the weekday opinion programs all discovered Dennis. Congressman Kucinich was going to vote NO, even if he was the deciding vote. Fox News and Michael Moore (!) applauded his gumption, though for entirely different reasons. Democratic Party leaders rushed to Countdown with Keith Olbermann and the Rachel Maddow Show to declare that Dennis Kucinich led a group of one. They sneered at his presidential runs and other solitary crusades.

What a difference a plane ride makes. President Obama visited Strongsville this week. Several local members of Congress got a ride from Washington aboard Air Force One. Air Force One, the magic plane. Do you remember the Newt Gingrich melt down after Bill Clinton gave him a ride on AFO? Dennis didn’t have a chance. By the time the plane landed, Congressman Kucinich was UNDECIDED. His move to YES was a forgone conclusion. Now cited for his leadership just a week after he was dismissed by the party’s chiefs, Dennis Kucinich was co-opted. It turns out that some strongly held positions are no match for a really cool plane ride.

My representative in Congress is Marcia Fudge. Many of my fellow insurance agents have contacted their Congressman. Most of my clients are small business owners and some of them have tried to talk to their representative. I know that other chamber of commerce presidents have called Congress. Not me. I resisted calling Congresswoman Fudge as a constituent, agent, business owner, or even as President of the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce. Why? There didn’t seem to be any reason to waste the time. Marcia Fudge’s vote was never a doubt. I couldn’t see any value in the exercise and I didn’t want to get aggravated.

I can’t explain why, but I changed my mind on Monday. Maybe it was Dennis’s conversion. Perhaps it was the mindless attacks on my industry or my disdain of smoke and mirrors. Whatever the reason, I finally contacted Congresswoman Fudge’s office on Tuesday. I spoke with legislative aide Beverly Charles.

I started our conversation by establishing my Democratic Party bona fides. Regular readers of this blog know that they are extensive.

I asked Ms. Charles a very simple question. “What is Congresswoman Fudge’s position on the health care legislation?” I was told that she was UNDECIDED. I was surprised. I talked with Ms. Charles for about thirty minutes. She was fully versed in the Speaker’s talking points. Her knowledge on the subject appeared to be a mile wide and an inch deep. She emailed her thanks the next day. I offered this blog and the opportunity to meet in person to provide more useful info.

Was Congresswoman Fudge really UNDECIDED? Absolutely not. According to the New York Times and Doctors for Health Care Solutions, she had already made her decision. DOHCS had been asked to have 75 members, all wearing white lab coats, to appear on short notice to serve as stage props when Marcia holds her press conference. This assumes that she gets a press conference. Since she was always counted as a YES, her announcement is hardly news. But my question is does Ms Charles know as much about her boss’s position on the issue as she does about this legislation, or was I simply being placated? I think we know the answer.

President Obama asked Congress for Courage at this week’s pep rally in Strongsville. There has been very little courage exhibited by this Congress.

In “Dreams From My Father”, future president Barack Obama introduces his readers to his entire family. We meet both of his grandfathers, Stanley Dunham of Hawaii by way of Kansas and Hussein Onyango Obama of Kenya. We learn how these two men influenced both him and his father. The central theme of the book was about making your own way in the world, a task made more possible with hard work and clear thinking. Every corner cut resulted in failure. Every job done well led to greater success. I just finished the book while on vacation. It was terrific.

In fact, the book should be read by lots of people. I’m going to give my copy to my girlfriend’s son, Alec. Someone else who should read the book, someone else who might benefit from the lesson on “Dreams From My Father” would be the guy who wrote it, Barack Obama.

President Obama was on TV again this morning. The news was showing a clip from yesterday’s pep rally. Can’t tell you where this one was. They all look alike. The president rails against the evil insurance companies. The President complains about insurance company rate increases. Someone is brought up to cry about losing his/her insurance after getting sick and getting dropped for not paying the premium. The solution to all of our problems is to pass the BILL. Crowd cheers. Cut to commercial.

Will someone please call Barack Obama? We need the young, brilliant, hard worker to push aside our current president. We need real leadership, not just on this issue, health care, but on jobs, finance reform, national security, and all of the other major issues of our time. Right now we have slogans and scapegoats. We are cutting corners and racing towards disaster.

I’ve been busy this week and have only seen bits and pieces of Countdown with Keith Olbermann and the Rachel Maddow Show. Both had guest hosts. Here is what I saw and what you may have missed:
1. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said “The insurance companies are the problem”.
2. Dr. Howard Dean said “The insurance companies are the problem”.
3. Bart Stupak (D-Mi) is leading a group of 12 anti-abortion fanatics.
4. Diana Degette (D-Co) leads the Pro-Choice Caucus, 190 strong, who won’t give up any more ground.
5. If the BILL doesn’t pass, it will be all (fill in the blank)’s fault.
6. Liz Cheney is so much like her father, even Kenneth Starr is repulsed. (Nothing to do with health care, but truly weird and interesting.)

We are contemplating the overhaul of nearly 20% of our economy and the participants are locked in their little battles, digging in their heels, and shouting out their slogans. No matter how many of these shows you watch, you will never learn how we are going to provide health care for 300+ million Americans and, more importantly, how we are going to pay for it. Really. Taxes that kick in eight years from now aren’t real. Creating massive changes and hoping that the good stuff, the parts you like, aren’t impacted is simply childish.

WWOD? What would Obama do? Maybe the real question is what would the real Obama do? The guy from the book might have, like his father before him, first tried to just bluff his way through the battle. But once he encountered a set-back or two, the book’s Barack Obama would have realized that he needed to fully apply himself to the task. He would have succeeded by out-thinking and out-working his opponents. He would have built a consensus and found a feasible solution to our health care morass. Not a plan that merely sounded good, but one that actually could succeed.

We’ve seen the bluffs, the set-backs, and the short cuts. The guy demonizing the insurance companies isn’t going to get the job done. Now is the time for the other Obama to emerge. The one we elected. The one we, as a country, need.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com

Time to grab the pitchforks? Are the torches ready? No. No. No. The monster is not at our gates. For the moment, it is but a rumor.

Once again, Keith Olbermann is touting the Public Option. Eleven, count ‘em, eleven US Senators want to put the Public Option back on the table and then pass it by reconciliation. Who are these eleven senators? Please, you already know.

Which US Senators make up the reliable left, the team that can always be counted on to see only one side of every issue? Let’s say them together in alphabetical order:

Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Roland Burris (D-IL)
Diane Feinstein (D-CA)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

To be fair, there are an equal number, or possibly even more, US Senators who are incapable of seeing anything but the other side of every issue. The reliable right is just as much a problem as the above group.

Mr. Olbermann and guests quickly delineated the problems with our current health care system. There are a large number of uninsured and underinsured Americans. All problems would be resolved with the Public Option. Can’t you just imagine it? As it is currently designed, the Public Option will lower the deficit, cover the masses, cure cancer, and guarantee that your home team will win the World Series.

Cue the movie clip. Details? We don’t need no stinking details. OK, enough fun, back to work.

There are no details, no real numbers, no real world plans. My past post provided a comprehensive explanation of the specific benefits of Medicare, a program designed to pay most, but nowhere near ALL, of the costs of medical care. A plan that does not cover prescriptions, a senior citizen with just Medicare is woefully underinsured. Yet with all of these holes, Medicare is still underfunded. Before we create a new Public Option, shouldn’t we first fix the current one?

The Rachel Maddow Show follows Count Down with Keith Olberman on MSNBC. Her thrust was that there was no reason to worry about the Republicans. The other party is simply not going to help. Unfortunately, she may be correct. One can spend all day listing the flip-flops of Senators as esteemed as Orrin Hatch and Charles Grassley. The reconciliation issue doesn’t bother me.

I don’t mind the use of power. My concern is what the use of power gets us. Ms. Maddow’s guest last night was Senator Bernie Sanders. He was almost frothing at the mouth at the prospect of passing this massive change to our health care system by a simple majority. He was shouting out his wish list for other reforms that could be attached to the bill. Why stop at health care? In less than two minutes he offered education reform (more $), housing reform (more $), and, well you get the idea.

What was never discussed, two shows in a row, was a single detail about this mythical Public Option. Can such a plan really work? Who knows? But if it would guarantee an Indians World Series victory, I want to hear more.

DAVE

www.bogartcunix.com