AARP CEO Barry Rand released a statement today on why AARP supports a new health care plan:

Doing nothing is not an option. But any reform must not get between a patient and their doctor. It must not cut Medicare benefits. It must not allow insurers to continue to line their pockets by covering only the healthiest and the youngest.

And those 50 - 60,000 members who quit since July 1? AARP says almost 1.8 million people have joined or renewed their memberships in the same period. AARP has 40 million members.

So, does AARP support Obama's health care bill as he said last week? It's not clear. After Obama made the comment, it responded:[More...]

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) released this statement today on the public option. A snippet:

A strong public option would ensure competition in the industry to provide the best, most affordable insurance for Americans and bring down the skyrocketing health care costs that are the biggest contributor to our long-term budget deficits. I am not interested in passing health care reform in name only. Without a public option, I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”

Progressives keep ratcheting up the pressure. Via Firedoglake today: [More...]

Jane at Firedoglake crunches the numbers and says there will be no health care bill without a public option. Why? She says the numbers show: Republicans aren't voting for the bill; the Dems can pass it with 218, but if they lose 40 Dems, it's dead. And, she says,

57 Democrats who signed the July 30 letter saying that they "simply cannot vote" for a bill that "at minimum" does not have a public plan (PDF).  There are 7 more not listed on the letter who have pledged to vote against any bill that does not have a robust public plan.  That makes 64 Democrats who won't vote for the "co-ops" that both Kathleen Sibelius and Robert Gibbs say the White House is "open" to.  

Do the math:  257 - 64 = 193.  They need 218 to pass the bill.

A commenter pretending to be Matt Yglesias responds:"Jane -- Denouncing a bill without the public option is counterproductive."[More...]

In his weekly Address this morning, President Obama sought to reassure Americans about the health care bill. He said (in part):

First, no matter what you’ve heard, if you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep it. If you don’t have insurance, you’ll finally be able to afford insurance. And everyone will have the security and stability that’s missing today.

Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying you coverage because of your medical history, dropping your coverage if you get sick, or watering down your coverage when it counts – because there’s no point in having health insurance if it’s not there when you need it.

[More...]

Ex-Gov. Sarah Palin doubles down on her false "death panel" claim. More at AP and CBS. Let's hope seniors are tuning her out.

Think Progress says Palin was for end-of-life counseling before she was against it.

We've heard lots of times that members of Congress have a great health care plan. The LA Times has an article today describing its benefits and how it differs from the private insurer plans the rest of us are offered.

We're paying for Congress' plan -- as well as the plans of other federal workers:

In all, taxpayers spent about $15 billion last year to insure 8.5 million federal workers and their dependents, including postal service employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

....The plan most favored by federal workers is Blue Cross Blue Shield, which covers a family for about $1,030 a month. Taxpayers kick in $700, and employees pay the rest. Seeing a doctor costs $20. Generic prescriptions cost $10. Immunizations are free. There is no coverage limit.

As to why we all can't have that plan: [More...]

Last week, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 3245, Rep. Bobby Scott's bill to equalize crack and powder cocaine penalties and eliminate the 5 year mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack.

Today, the full House Judiciary Committee passed the bill, by a vote of 16 to 9. This is the good bill -- other versions would equalize the penalties but also add new crimes and throw more money into the War on Drugs.

The bill will now go to the full House for a vote. Let's hope it passes without Amendments (unless it's one that would make it retroactive.)

How many ways can Congress find to scr*w the elderly? As a result of a compromise today, the Dems conceded more ground to conservatives on the health care bill.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which expects to approve the new version of the legislation by Friday, unveiled the newest version of the proposal at a legislative markup Wednesday. It would cut the cost of health-care reform by $100 billion and provide payment guarantees to rural hospitals.

...Across Capitol Hill, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced that a draft of the reform package would provide coverage to 95 percent of Americans, be fully offset by tax increases and Medicare savings...

... The draft bill would provide more cost savings through Medicare than did previous versions, reducing the need for new revenue from about $500 billion in earlier drafts to "somewhat over $300 billion," according to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who is working with Baucus on the bill. The draft also would scale back Medicare payments to physicians, a long-promised but costly provision.

If you scale back Medicare pay to doctors, it seems to me you scale back the number of doctors willing to treat the elderly. If I'm wrong, then it's just another sign our elected officials are doing a lousy job of explaining the bill in terms the public can understand. [More...]

The House agreed today to put off a vote on health care reform until September.

Under the deal, the last of three House committees will be able to finish work on the legislation this week. But lawmakers will have time to review the 1,000-page bill before a floor vote in September.

I think that's wise. Act in haste, repent at leisure. That's what happened with the Patriot Act. I want to be sure every elected official knows exactly what's in this 1,000 page bill and what's been removed. And I wish journalists would take the time between now and September to explain it in lay terms to the public.

Great news out of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security today. It unanimously passed the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009, a bill that eliminates the disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine sentences -- and removes the 5 year mandatory minimum for simple possession.

The bill is H.R. 3245, sponsored by Representative Robert Scott (D-VA). This bill goes about eliminating the disparity the best way. It simply removes references to “cocaine base” from the U.S. federal code and removes the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine.

This is way better than some of the other bills which would change the penalty but add new crimes and throw more money into the War on Drugs.

The Senate today rejected Sen. John Thune's amendment to the defense spending bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits in one state to bring them into another state that allows concealed weapons permits. 48 states (all but Illinois and Wisconsin) provide concealed weapons permits.

The measure failed by 2 votes, 58 to 39. (60 votes were needed.) Score one for the gun control lobby. I think the objections to the bill are specious -- and in the case of NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, verge on hysteria.

"This is about as anti-police, pro-gun trafficker piece of legislation that has ever come before the United States Senate," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday.

[More...]

President Obama held an invitation-only telephone conference with bloggers today urging them to keep the pressure on Congress regarding his health care plan.

It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington," the president said during an invitation-only conference call. "And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not... People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody."

He even took questions: [More...]