Archive for February, 2010

We watched and listened intently for seven hours yesterday as President Obama and a number of Senate and House lawmakers discussed Health Care Reform and the Health Care Reform bills generated by Congress.

What was apparent to us is that everyone in the room agreed that health care needs to be reformed. What also was apparent to us was that our lawmakers are at an impasse on how to deal with this most complex issue. At the continual urging of President Obama to deal with issues, many wanted to scrap a year’s worth of work and start over - our tax dollars being wasted again.

Why do some people in Congress continue to ignore the fact that health insurance companies made record profits in their last reporting quarter while covering less people? Where is the Accountability when CEO’s of these companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries, bonuses and stock options? Where is the Transparency so that all of us know what is happening with lawmakers and who is influencing them?

In the two weeks prior to the Health Care Summit over 3,000 registered lobbyists were “working” Washington - that’s six lobbyists for every lawmaker. This gives us some insight as to the impasse and the ineffective process we continue to see from Washington in dealing with the major issues facing our country. As President Obama stated, the American people don’t much care about the process of Congress, they care about results!

It’s very interesting to see how Washington is dealing with the Health Care Reform issue today.

After the wonderful private insurance  folks have hit us with another round of double digit rate increases, it appears the folks in Congress are rising to reintroduce the Public Health Care Option.  A big thank you to the private insurance companies for getting Congress to address what the majority of the people in this country want!

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says it all below.

Sanders Signs Letter Supporting Public Option

BURLINGTON, Vt. February 17 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today added his signature to a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring a public health insurance option before the Senate for a vote.

“At a time when there is deep skepticism and mistrust of the private insurance industry, when just last month a major health insurer in California announced it would raise its premiums by a whopping 39 percent in one fell swoop, the American people have made it clear that they want the option to buy their insurance through a Medicare-type, government-run public insurance plan,” Sanders said.

“The public option is not just important for the individual consumer, it is an important mechanism to provide competition for the private, for-profit health insurance industry, to keep them honest, and to lower the overall cost of health care in our country,” Sanders added.  “I am very pleased to join with my Senate colleagues to urge passage of a public health insurance plan using the budget reconciliation process.”

Sanders is a member of the Senate health committee.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) spearheaded the effort to revive the public option.

“Although we strongly support the important reforms made by the Senate-passed health reform package, including a strong public option would improve both its substance and the public’s perception of it,” the letter stated. “The Senate has an obligation to reform our unworkable health insurance market — both to reduce costs and to give consumers more choices. A strong public option is the best way to deliver on both of these goals, and we urge its consideration under reconciliation rules.”

Contact: Michael Briggs (202) 224-5141

The announcement yesterday by Indiana, Democratic Senator Evan Bayh that he is not going to run for the Senate in November confirms our (and the majority of people in this country) that Congress is in a dysfunctional mode of operations - do we all know that!

We agree with Senator Bayh that Congress is not making much progress in addressing the major issues facing our country. However, when the going gets tough - the tough get going. They don’t walk away from a challenge. Also disturbing is that Senator Bayh made his announcement just four days before the deadline for candidates to register and gather the required signatures to run for his Senate seat in November

Is this another one of those back room political moves? It does not appear to us this is being done the right way.

OK folks - the snow storm is gone. Let’s hope this time off enabled Congress to clear their respective heads and get down to the business - not as usual, but in the best interest of the people of this country.

Quit playing games and do your jobs to address the issues of jobs, the economy, health care reform, and an energy policy for clean, renewable energy.

Take a look at this release from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders - tell me we don’t need health care reform!

It Never Ends: Health Insurance Profits Soar

WASHINGTON, February 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today blasted the country’s five largest health insurance companies that posted $12.2 billion in profits last year, 56 percent more than in 2008.

“In the midst of the worst recession in memory, with working families struggling to keep their heads above water, insurance companies are siphoning more and more profits out of American consumers,” said Sanders, a member of the Senate health committee.

“These horrendous rate increases will not only impact millions of individuals, but make our entire economy less competitive,” he added. “This outrage is more evidence, as if any were needed, that we cannot stop fighting to reform the health care system in the United States.”

Health Care for America Now conducted a study of public records and found that WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Cigna Corp., Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. covered 2.7 million fewer people than they did the year before.  Some of the insurers actually cut the proportion of premiums that went to medical care and put more into salaries and profits.

The companies’ 2009 profits soared while insurers raised premiums and denied coverage to millions of Americans.

WellPoint’s profit margin of 7.2 percent was the highest of the five big insurers.  Anthem Blue Cross, a California subsidiary of WellPoint, has come under fire for jacking up premiums by as much as 39 percent this year on some individual health policies.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius insisted that the company justify the rate increase in detail. “Look,” Sen. Sanders said, “insurance companies are ripping off the American people from coast to coast. It is absolutely appropriate for the secretary of Health and Human Services to call them out on that.”

Contact: Michael Briggs or Will Wiquist (202) 224-5141

As we all struggle through this economy,  jobs are on everyone’s wish list. One area we believe can have a significant impact is by having a nationwide program in full gear that encourages the implementation of renewable energy technologies like PV (photovoltaic) solar, wind turbines, PV Solar thermal (using the sun for heating hot water). Repower America has been pushing this agenda, and now Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill to fund a solar initiative. These are jobs that can not be exported to other countries. Way to go Senator Sanders - clean energy generation will address major economic and environmental issues!

Sanders Introduces Major Solar Energy Initiative

WASHINGTON, February 4 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate’s green jobs subcommittee, today introduced legislation with nine cosponsors to encourage the installation of 10 million solar systems on the rooftops of homes and businesses over the next decade.

“At a time when we spend $350 billion importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries every year, the United States must move away from foreign oil to energy independence,” Sanders said. “A dramatic expansion of solar power is a clean and economical way to help break our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, improve our geopolitical position, and create good-paying green jobs.”

At a Senate committee hearing today, Sanders questioned Energy Secretary Steven Chu about President Obama’s budget for next year. The White House requested $2.4 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. The requested 5 percent boost overall included a 22 percent increase for solar power.

The potential for solar power also was the subject of testimony last week before Sanders’ green jobs subcommittee by Jeff Wolfe, chief executive officer of groSolar in White River Junction, Vt. Wolfe said Sanders’ bill “would help homeowners and small businesses stabilize their energy costs.”

Sanders’ bill would authorize rebates which, along with other incentives, would cover up to half the cost of the 10 million solar power systems and 200,000 water heating systems. Non-profit groups and state and local governments also would be eligible. The legislation would ensure that participating homeowners and businesses also receive information on incentives to improve energy efficiency.

Sanders said a recent report shows that solar power could help make every state more energy independent if solar units were installed on available rooftop space, because every state can meet 10 percent or more of its electricity needs just through rooftop solar. Moreover, because solar energy creates more jobs per megawatt than other energy sources. Sanders’ bill could create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next ten years in the solar industry.

The legislation’s cosponsors include Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.),  Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

Sanders’ measure is patterned after successful state programs promoting solar energy in New Jersey and California, where prices have fallen as the number of solar units increased.

To read a copy of the bill, click here.

Contact: Michael Briggs or Will Wiquist at (202) 224-5141.

Today the White House released the fiscal year 2011 Budget. The numbers call for a $3.8 Trillion dollar budget that projects an estimated $1.2 Trillion dollar deficit.

Some key areas getting financial attention are: Job Creation; Small Business tax credits; support of  our Educational system, the military and clean energy. We agree that addressing each of these will begin to put a fix on issues that have all too long been ignored. Not much being said about Health Care as it relates to this budget - we wonder why.

Now the real question - What will Congress do to, and with this budget?