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Are Health Insurance PACs Buying Off Senators?
The Monkey Cage —
... Nate Silver analyzes the effect of health insurance PAC contributions on Senators’ support for a public health insurance option. He finds a significant effect, controlling for ideology and state health care spending per capita. He estimates that 9 more Senators would support a public option if not for PAC spending. He concludes: ...
Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire —
... Nate Silver: "Health care is one of those areas where both popular opinion and sound public policy seem to take a backseat to protecting those stakeholders who benefit from the status quo. But can we actually see -- statistically -- the impact of lobbying by the insurance industry on the prospects for health care reform? I believe that the answer is yes."
Rightwing Democrats Are the Problem
Open Left - Front Page —
... Honestly, I don't know what these Democrats are trying to achieve. Yes, some of the balking senators receive large campaign contributions from the medical-industrial complex - but who in politics doesn't? If I had to guess, I'd say that what's really going on is that relatively conservative Democrats still cling to the old dream of becoming kingmakers, of recreating the bipartisan center that used to run America. ...
The medical-industrial complex and the public option
Paul Krugman —
June 22, 2009, 4:28 pm The medical-industrial complex and the public option Fascinating statistical work by Nate Silver. It doesn’t support the crude view that it’s all about special interest money, but suggests that the money is making the odds substantially longer. ...
The WonkLine: June 23, 2009
Wonk Room —
... “Can we actually see — statistically — the impact of lobbying by the insurance industry on the prospects for health care reform?” Nate Silver believes we can. ...
FDL Action: Let’s Whip the Public Plan!
Firedoglake —
... A new poll indicates that 76% of Americans overwhelmingly support having a public health care option, but the influence of lobbying money on Congress is making that hope seem remote.
It's time to change that. Let's whip for a public plan.
Last week saw the conclusion of a very successful citizen whip effort to get members of Congress to vote against the Supplemental Appropriations Act. We can do it again.
Here's how it works:
There are 178 Republicans in the House. A House majority is 218. If all of the ...
Art Levine: Health Care Lobbyists vs. The People: The Final Showdown
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... , especially when it comes to centrist Democrats who are balking at the public option supported by President Obama. Statistics guru Nate Silver has even quantified the link between health care donations and the positions taken so far by moderate Democrats: ...
Arianna Huffington: Lobbyists on a Roll: Gutting Reform on Banking, Energy, and Health Care
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... Of course, the politics didn't just change by itself in 1993 -- those Republican senators had some help in "deciding" not to go along. That same dynamic is at play right now. Check out Nate Silver's fascinating statistical analysis of the impact insurance industry lobbying is having on the process. ...
The Path to Victory on the Public Option
Open Left - Front Page —
... Mary Landrieu, LA (67.58)
Going a step further than Carper, Landrieu only appears to be considering a trigger. She did once sign a statement in favor of a public option, however.
Blanche Lincoln, AR (68.94)
I just don't trust Lincoln. At all. Given how frequently she has caved to conservative pressure, it is difficult to imagine her voting for a public option in reconciliation.
Ben Nelson, NE (43.58)
Second-worst voting Democrat, pockets lined with health insurance money, and, like Evan Bayh, voted against the budget. ...
The Worst Health Care Reform Money Can Buy
Daily Kos —
... Yowza. All that money spent to keep us getting lousy health care. Or, rather, paying exorbitant costs for insurance and prescription medications--there isn't a lot of actual "care" involved in those pursuits. Is it likely to make a difference with our (ahem) public servants? Nate thinks so, after doing some of his famousl number crunching: ...
Health Care: Follow the Money?
Swampland —
Swampland commenters are constantly exhorting me on the link between health industry campaign contributions and the difficulties that health reform is having getting through Congress. There is indeed a lot of money being lavished on the key players in this fight, and there is a lot of good reporting being done on that. There should be, because it is indeed an influence in this debate. But does campaign money that explain it all? As with everything else about the health care debate, it's not quite that simple , FactCheck.org tells us. (H/T Swampland ...
Bill Scher: How To Contact Congress and Save Health Care In Two Easy Steps
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... . Insurance and drug lobbies will leverage their paid-in-full influence. And in every step of the process, the bill will get weaker and weaker. ...
Adam Green: Newt Gingrich's Health Care Strategy in 1994: "Bipartisanship"
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... Hopefully, Nate Silver is not correct -- that Warner's contributions from health and insurance interests will play a definitive role in his judgment. ...
You Better Call Me A Doctor!
SteveAudio —
... Sorry for shouting, but there was no debate in the full Senate and what debate there was was being stifled in the Senate committees. It has yet to make it thru the House committees, and the multiple versions being offered change from committee to committee. Those have to be reconciled, then the House and Senate bills will have to be reconciled. And the way it's going the bastards who take the most money from health care corporations are going to kill it. ...
Jonathan Weiler: Health Care Reform and Corruption
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... of arguments against the public option (setting aside "death panel" garbage) -- for example, that it's "unfair" because a publicly run health insurance option would be cheaper and be run more efficiently than is private insurance -- is, frankly, pathetic. And yet, despite a Democratic super majority in the Senate, the public option appears headed for defeat. Why? In large part because key Democrats are carrying water for the health industry interests that line their pockets. As Nate Silver has shown, you can, in fact, explain quite well whether, for example, so-called moderate ...
