The Pennsylvania Progressive

Nutter Defies State On Guns

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter signed five bills today in an attempt to stem the violence costing his city 400 murder victims a year.  Things have been so bad the City has a new nickname:  Killadelphia.  The refusal of the state legislature to pass common sense gun safety legislation resulted in Philadelphia going on its own.  Mayor Nutter cited the historical precedent of citizens defying established authority in his City, the location of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

This is the same place where the Bell rang and proclaimed "liberty throughout the land," a document was read which claimed that "all men have inalienable rights, among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  Harrisburg's refusal to control gun trafficking has led to the denial of the inalienable rights for citizens of Killadelphia.  As such Michael Nutter has taken the initiative on his own.

Lobbyist John Hohenwarter of the NRA promises quick legal action against the ordinances.  Recall this is the same man I witnessed laughing at residents of Philadelphia rallying outside the Capital during  a prayer commemorating their killed family members.  He has no regard for their lives, liberty or pursuit of happiness.

State House Moves to Fix Mortgage Problems

The PA State House took action on five separate bills yesterday to address problems in the mortgage market.  Monroe County was the epicenter of the mortgage meltdown crisis due to unscrupulous developers, appraisers and bankers hoodwinking first time home buyers, many from New York City.  According to Congressman Paul Kanjorski Monroe County (Stroudsburg area) currently has 22,000 residents commuting to NYC daily.

Some of the steps taken by the State House address the crooked appraisers who told lenders homes were worth more than they were in order to get deals closed.  One bill would allow the state to disclose actions taken to discipline mortgage brokers and bankers.  Another provision allows transparency in reporting delinquent loans so such trends can be discovered and addressed quicker than in the past and, hopefully, avoid a full meltdown.

One of the bills addresses a particular problem associated with sub prime mortgages:  prepayment penalties.  These prevented many homeowners from refinancing to regular mortgages and trapped them in payments that spiraled upwards.  It prohibits such penalties for mortgages under $197,000 and has an inflation escalator built in to account for future caps.  All mortgage originators would have to be licensed by the state under the new law.

This package of new legislation passed the State Senate already and a few items which differ must be negotiated so the bills are identical before going to Governor Rendell's desk.  These are all good, common sense bills which will solve many of the abuses which led to our economic woes.

47 Democrats Vote For Gun Traffickers

Forty seven Pennsylvania House Democrats joined eighty one Republicans today to defeat common sense gun safety bill which would have helped curb gun trafficking in Pennsylvania.  The shocking laxity of our laws regarding lost and stolen guns has created a network of straw purchasers and street gun dealers distributing these tools of death and destruction from their trunks in our cities and killing our children.  It's a sad day for our kids when our own legislators refuse to stand up for human life.  Our most basic rights, as citizens, are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Americans in Philadelphia, Allentown, Reading and elsewhere aren't as important though as the right of any Pennsylvanian to become a gun trafficker.

Piccola Introduces Gambling Changes

Sen. Jeff Piccola of Dauphin County (Harrisburg) has proposed a new law changing the awful way the state's gambling operations were set up.  The changes, better late than never, give the AG's office the authority to do all background checks, prohibit convicted felons (sorry Bob Asher) from owning casino licenses and bar anyone with alleged mob ties (sorry Louie DeNaples).  Pennsylvania got egg all over our faces because the original law wasn't drafted well and left huge holes.  Piccola's effort should close the biggest gaffes.  Let's get this passed soon.

State Stimulus Plan Disbanded

Governor Rendell's new budget included a $400 economic stimulus plan for lower income families to supplement the federal checks going out this spring.   Now, due to a lack of support in the state legislature he is abandoning the idea.   Many legislators are hesitant to spend $130 million in reserves for such a plan at a time when revenues are reduced because of the recession.

Keeping in mind that most Americans aren't planning on using their rebates to buy things this may be a good decision.

Barbara McIlvaine Smith For Re-Election

One of the things I most look forward to when in Harrisburg is running into Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith.  Always working hard for the people of Chester County's 156th House District AND the people of Pennsylvania, she has become a leader in Harrisburg.  Always smiling, always cheerful, she always has a kind word.  Smith has distinguished herself already as few frosh can do in such an environment.  She is leading on issues like universal health care on the Health and Human Services Committee.

Having been a small business owner she even did a quick calculation at a hearing last week to illustrate how House Bill 1660 would have saved her small business considerably on their health insurance costs.  Here's another example (from her website) of her quick and clear thinking:

"I'm the number two sponsor on The Family and Business Healthcare Security Act, which would cover all Pennsylvanians at lower cost to business. This past week, our Health and Human Services Committee held its first hearing on the bill (HB1660) at the Capitol.

When it was my turn to speak, I prefaced my comments by stating that I had been a business owner for nearly 28 years. And health insurance was our largest expenditure per month. I shared how much that cost was per year, and then I stated how much the cost would be under this plan—about half.

In later testimony, a woman representing the largest chamber in the state proffered that the "tax on business" would impact low income and entry level workers the most. When I asked her to explain, she said that restaurants would have to let their dishwashers go. I asked, "Then who would do the dishes?"

Our low income and entry level workers are already being impacted by lack of health coverage. But none of us can be sure we have enough coverage or the right kind of coverage until we need it. It's time that we as a society put the health, safety, and welfare of our fellow citizens at the forefront of our policy-making."

The speaker in the above exchange was representing business interests opposed to universal healthcare.  Her assertion that a single payer system covering everyone would cost low level workers their jobs is reminiscent of that we heard against raising the minimum wage two years ago.  None of these workers lost their jobs by increasing their wages from poverty levels and providing them with quality, comprehensive medical will not either.  These are desperate fear tactics used by business owners and leaders to allow them to further exploit workers.

They fail to see that healthier workers are more productive workers, healthier workers are happier and less likely to quit for jobs which do provide healthcare, and fail to see that every person has the inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  How can one live when insurance companies have the right to deny you critical medical care?  Why do their rights supercede that of dishwashers or anyone else?

Barbara McIlvaine Smith is working in Harrisburg for all of us and, especially Chester County's 156th House District.  Let's keep her there and help keep her there.  Please support her campaign.

Eachus Trying to Stop Healthcare Reform

This is a guest column from Chuck Pennacchio.  I'd also add that I dug up three $250 contributions ($750 total) to Rep. Eachus from pharmacist and Lower Luzerne County Chair for Lou Barletta for Congress (Republican candidate) John Keegan. 

John

"Healthcare, Power Politics, and the Press"

On Wednesday, 10 a.m., March 19th, virtually all of Harrisburg's
political media attended Rep. Todd Eachus' press conference on
anti-crime legislation 'soon to be introduced' to the House, 50 feet
down the hall from Pennsylvania's first-ever standing committee
hearing on single-payer universal healthcare legislation --
legislation introduced last year in both the House (HB 1660) and
Senate (SB 300), and the product of a four-year, statewide citizen
effort to restore sanity to healthcare financing and delivery.

By stark contrast, the political press was all but absent from our
historic hearing on HB 1660.  However, the bill's importance was not
lost on insurance and pharmaceutical opponents of HB 1660, members of
the "alternative" Pennsylvania Health Alliance Network, as well as
Rep. Eachus' own staff -- all of whom closely followed the
proceedings.

As Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George pointed out in his
endorsement testimony, our historic hearing is the kind of event
"always" covered by the Pennsylvania Cable Network, the Associated
Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Harrisburg
Patriot-News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Erie
Times, Scranton Times, Calkins Media, major television and radio
networks, and more.  Given the public's overwhelming concerns about
healthcare, the fact that 4 million-plus Pennsylvanians are uninsured
or underinsured, and that we had assembled stakeholder expert
witnesses from all over the Commonwealth, responsible citizens are
left wondering, why did the press duck such a critical hearing four
years in the making?

As I would learn immediately after our hearing, and then have
confirmed several times by high-level sources, Rep. Todd Eachus had
tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the hearing on House Bill 1660.
Failing at that, he scheduled the above press conference, at 10 a.m.
on March 19, to coincide exactly with our hearing on HB 1660.

After almost three hours of gathering the above information, I stopped
by Rep. Eachus' office, at 4 pm, to visit his healthcare legislative
aide.  After gathering her awestruck reaction to our hearing, I asked
if Mr. Eachus would now schedule the meeting he's been promising me
for over a year now.  She politely replied, "It won't happen" because
Rep. Eachus has "other priorities" on healthcare.  Nor, I discovered,
would he reconsider his steadfast opposition to an economic impact
study on the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act" (HB 1660)
that we have long sought, and that both Democrats and Republicans
overwhelmingly desire.

As I've stated to colleagues and coalition partners numerous times
over the last year, Rep. Eachus should immediately step down from one
of his two conflict-of-interest posts in the Democratic Party
Leadership: General Chair of the House Democratic Campaign Committee
(which means control over the Party's House election campaign money),
or as Chair of the Democrats' Policy Committee (responsible for
vetting the Party's issue priorities).

For a Party leader who has become increasingly dependent on campaign
funding from the Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries, how can Rep.
Eachus -- holding two self-contradictory positions of immense power --
objectively view and evaluate the kind of sweeping reforms advocated
in the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act" (HB 1660)?  By
now, it should be obvious that he can not.

Despite the press' continuing obedience to Party power and its
commensurate inattention to the people's business, Wednesday's HB 1660
hearing was a smashing success.  Health and Human Services Committee
Representatives Oliver (Chair) and Manderino (Prime Sponsor of HB
1660) have now promised further hearings outside of Harrisburg; a
consensus of Republicans and Democrats on Health and Human Services
want to fund an economic impact study at the earliest possible time;
our coalition picked up the fresh endorsements of the 900,000-member
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and 35-chapter League of Women Voters; our
citizen movement has shown its strength, once again, by packing yet
another hearing room with 200-plus supporters on a weekday morning; we
are not going to allow strong-arm political tactics to stop our
progress; and a new crop of reasonable, responsible, and open-minded
people from all walks of life recognize that "eighty-seven nations and
our own Medicare system can't [all] be wrong [on single-payer]."

As the only proven method for delivering quality, affordable,
comprehensive healthcare -- while saving our state's economy -- HB
1660's publicly-funded (single-payer), privately provided, universal
healthcare is coming to the Keystone State.  And at this rate, we'll
pass HB 1660, pass SB 300, and Governor Rendell will sign it into law
(as he's repeatedly promised) -- and the only way people will find out
about it is through word-of-mouth, fliers, e-mail, and bloggers.

Viva voce!

Chuck Pennacchio
Executive Director
Healthcare for All Pennsylvania
www.healthcare4allpa.org

HealthCare Bill Advances

While Rev. Sandy Strauss eloquently quoted scripture supporting care of the poor, the sick and the injured one could hear angels singing in the background.  As it was, the odd juxtaposition of events had a choir singing in the Capital rotunda just outside Majority Caucus Room 140 where the Pennsylvania House Health and Human Services Committee was listening to testimony for and against House Bill 1660, The Family and Business Healthcare Security Act.

H.B. 1660 would eliminate private and non profit health insurers and replace them with a single government agency tasked with collecting taxes, premiums and government grants to pay for all costs associated with providing every Pennsylvanian with complete medical care.

Dr. Walter Tsou opened the hearing with a slide presentation illustrating the need for reform.  Chuck Pennacchio followed with his statement (posted here yesterday) and then took questions from the Committee.  Several themes seemed to resonate through the three hour plus session.  One was a constant comparison with Canada's system.

First of all HB 1660 does NOT institute a Canadian style system because all providers remain private.  This is simply a publicly financed but privately delivered system of healthcare which eliminates the flaws of truly "socialized" medicine.  In those systems, including Canada, all health care and medical providers work for the government. 

Several legislators kept mentioning Canadians who come to the U.S. for medical treatment.  This is a specious argument because it assumes the converse isn't also true when it is.   Many Americans seek treatment in Canada and many purchase their drugs from Canada.  Since H.B. 1660 does not create that same type of healthcare system however, these comparisons are moot.

The issue of waiting times, lines and rationing were also brought up in opposition to this bill.  I simply cannot understand why these are issues in opposition.  We have one million Pennsylvanians who are completely rationed OUT of the healthcare system because they are uninsured.  They cannot even get in line for appointments for doctor visits.  This is the ultimate form of rationing:  people dying because they cannot obtain medical care and treatment.

When an insurance company denies an applicant due to pre-existing treatment how is that not rationing?  When that company then denies care and treatment because they must put profits over lives how is that not rationing?  These people are booted from line and all these idiot, moronic State Representatives can see is that bringing them into the system and providing them care is rationing?  Morons, all of them.

Another common objection was the argument that competition is healthy and a single payer system eliminates competition in the industry.  Competition is precisely what has resulted in some of the skyrocketing costs of healthcare.  Each of these health insurance companies duplicates the management, marketing, administration and analysis involved in the enormous overhead.  With 35% of our healthcare dollars swallowed up by these costs and multimillion dollar CEO salaries and marketing budgets competition is the culprit here.  One payer, one administrative system, one CEO, one set of claims adjusters, one single payer entity will save 30% of our costs.

The Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce spoke in opposition to the bill and evaded an important question:  how much does your organization earn by providing health insurance coverage?  The woman refused to answer the question.  Those in opposition to this bill all have vested interests in seeing the current broken one remain:  profit.  Insurance agents, insurance companies, all those who collectively provide coverage for members and reap huge commissions from the Blues, they all have a personal, vested financial interest.

They are why this system is broken.  All of them are skimming off the money which could be covering those one million Pennsylvanians not covered and the millions more who are under insured.  When they appear before the House to oppose this bill grab your wallet and hold it securely because that's their real goal:  make a profit from your misery.

The good news coming from this hearing was a decision the Committee will hold further hearings on the bill and a collective support to authorize $100,000 to fund a comprehensive economic impact study so the precise numbers will be known for the cost of the system and the cost of benefits so income will be sufficient to fund disbursements.

Single Payer Bill Gets House Hearing Today

The House Health and Human Services Committee is holding a hearing at 10 am today in the Majority Caucus Room 140 on Bill 1660, the Family and Business Healthcare Security Act.  This is the single payer plan which would provide every Pennsylvanian with fully comprehensive physical and mental healthcare coverage.  It has no copayments or deductibles and also covers dental, vision and prescription drugs.  Here is a press release from Chuck Pennacchio about the hearing.

I will be on the road again today to cover this hearing in Harrisburg.

March 19, 2008 testimonial statement to the House Health and Human Services Committee regarding HB 1660, the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."

 

Thank you Chairman Oliver, Minority Chairman Kenney, House Bill 1660 Prime Sponsor Manderino, and distinguished Committee Members.

 

My name is Chuck Pennacchio.  As executive director of Healthcare for All Pennsylvania, a 4,000-member, all-volunteer citizen education and lobbying organization, I come before you today bearing a gift -- an economic gift, a
moral gift, and a (small "d") democratic gift that I hope you will accept and embrace as fellow citizens of this great Commonwealth.

 

That gift, of course, is House Bill 1660 (and Senate Bill 300), the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."  House Bill 1660 is a Pennsylvania citizen-crafted answer to the domestic crisis question of our time -- how do we achieve Civilized Healthcare on behalf of all of our citizens?  Yes, Civilized Healthcare.  Non-partisan healthcare. Publicly-financed, privately-provided healthcare.  Universal and comprehensive healthcare.
Preventive and responsible healthcare.  Pro-family and pro-individual healthcare.  Pro-business and pro-growth healthcare.  Quality and affordable healthcare.    'Everybody in and nobody out' healthcare. Civilized
Healthcare.  (Please reference 1st handout: "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act" power-point for key concepts in HB 1660.)

 

Imagine a logical and simplified system of quality healthcare delivery for all -- Civilized Healthcare. That is, single-payer...publicly-funded, privately-provided comprehensive healthcare -- here, in Pennsylvania.  You
know, Civilized Healthcare, the kind of healthcare delivery that makes 'common sense' itself and 'morality' itself and 'democracy' itself sit up and pay attention.

 

Pay attention to Civilized Healthcare's single-payer cost savings over our current 'profit-first' multi-payer health insurance and pharmaceutical industry-driven healthcare system.  Civilized Healthcare will replace the
'profit-first' insurance and pharmaceutical-dominated system that now drains 35 cents out of every healthcare dollar before the remaining 65 cents is rationed.  Civilized Healthcare replaces the 'profit-first' health insurance
companies that rack up -- with our money --­ excessive and unconscionable waste, fraud, abuse, bureaucracy, advertising, executive salaries, set-asides, and lobbying expenses -- while simultaneously gouging citizens
with skyrocketing premiums and co-pays, coverage caps and systematic denials of healthcare based on so-called "pre-existing conditions," "experimental procedures," and "expert" interventions between the healthcare provider and
their patient.

 

In other words, House Bill 1660 modestly, yet ambitiously, proposes to get 'profit-first' insurance companies out of our wallets and off of our backs, while compelling the pharmaceutical industry to play by the same bulk-purchasing rules and regulations that currently favor 87 non-American nations and economies over our own citizens, families, and businesses.

 

To elected representatives, institutional leaders, reporters, and opinionleaders who say single-payer reform is not possible, I say look in the mirror, study our history, and set aside your cynical assumptions.  Having personally spoken, over the last 14 months, with more than 150 House Members and State Senators, Republicans and Democrats, first-termers and veterans, not one has disputed the economic, moral, or (small "d") democratic premises of House Bill 1660 or Senate Bill 300.  Many have tried to lecture me about how "things are done" around here; some have literally screamed at me,
saying in one case, "this won¹t happen for at least 50 years, Chuck, no matter how hard you try!"

 

As a 20-year professor of political history, a 36-year political organizer, a former staff member to one Member of Congress and four United States Senators, and a U.S. Senate candidate in my own right, I don¹t scare.  And
nor do the 4,000-plus members of Healthcare for All Pennsylvania.  The lives of 4 million uninsured and underinsured Pennsylvanians depend on our success.

 

Since at the outset of my testimony, I presented to you the economic, moral, and democratic gift of House Bill 1660, I now humbly request that this august body support our call for an economic impact study on our $48 billion
legislation.  For the relatively small sum of $100,000 you could authorize, as soon as tomorrow, a third-party professional study of the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."  Based on our own in-house preliminary calculations, as well as comparisons with other single-payer studies previously done in Wisconsin and California and Colorado, we are confident that you will be elated with the findings in Pennsylvania.  (Please
reference 2nd handout: "Health Care for All PA Economic Impact Study"; and 3rd handout: "Report Finds Philadelphia¹s Pension and Health Care Costs for Public Employees Growing at Unsustainable Rates")

Second, I request that each of you host further hearings on House Bill 1660 back in your districts at the earliest possible moment.  Healthcare for All Pennsylvania will work with you and appear wherever and whenever there is a hearing focused on the proven single-payer solution.

 

Finally, given the fact that we have the only governor in the nation, on record, committed to signing this sweeping legislation upon reaching his desk, we have 'perfect storm' conditions for the passage of House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 300 far sooner than anyone might imagine.  Pennsylvania now stands to be the national leader on single-payer universal healthcare reform.

 

Similar to 1776, the nation¹s eyes are once again focused on Pennsylvania for leadership in a time of crisis.  I trust, the citizens of Pennsylvania trust, that you will summon the same political will and courage that carried
our new nation to greatness 232 years ago.

 

I sincerely thank you and look forward to continuing our good work on behalf of all Pennsylvanians.

 

Chuck Pennacchio, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Healthcare for All Pennsylvania

www.healthcare4allpa.org

Group Advocates Appointing Judges

A group advocating the appointment of appellate judges appealed for Pennsylvania to alter our system of electing these officials.  Pennsylvanians For Modern Courts points to the $8 million spent on last year's Supreme Court contests as an example of how money and campaigns can influence this important process. 

"The proposed legislation would create a 14-member public commission to screen applicants for a list of potential nominees for the governor to consider. The governor would submit a choice from that list to the Senate, and judges who get confirmed would face an up-or-down retention election four years later and every decade afterward.

The group proposes merit selection for Supreme Court justices and judges on the Superior and Commonwealth courts. County judges would remain elected."

I read John Grisham's latest book "The Appeal" recently and it does a masterful job of advocating for such a policy and provides a riveting story of how the public interest can be jeopardized by special interests controlling courts through elections.  Grisham's tale begins with a Mississippi town devastated by a chemical company which poisoned their water.  As townspeople begin getting cancer and dying a local couple, both lawyers, sue the giant corporation.

After securing a $41 million verdict the CEO of the corporation sets out to rig the upcoming state Supreme Court election so as to overturn the verdict.  I won't let on to the ending you'll have to read the book.