Health Care Summit....Open Thread.

So I am gonna try to post my thoughts on the summit as I get to see them. Hopefully it won't be too stupid sounding.....

Opening comments:

• 10:00 It is pretty obvious at this point that both sides are fairly entrenched. I am likening it to the scene from the Princess Bride, with the Man in Black and Vizzini arguing over the impasse they have reached.
• The GOP does not want there to be a bill, so will advocate "starting over". And the Administration will face stiff political penalties if they fail to pass something.
• Starting over is not an option for the Administration. That is pretty much the stance presented in the Presidents opening remarks (opening remarks here).
• Sen. Alexander proffered the Republican talking points in is opening remarks. Be prepared to hear many times over the course of the day, "start from scratch", "government takeover", "frivolous lawsuits", and "interstate competition".

Links for more coverage:
Huffington Post has a running thread on the issue here, and Ezra Klein is dropping knowledge on proceedings here. Also I will be blatantly stealing and cross posting stuff where relevant.

• For example here is a nice exchange on what would happen to premiums under the Administration's plan as rated by the CBO, here. From my reading and the considered opinion of people like Mr. Klein I think the President has the right of it on this. People would have access to better insurance options (due to subsidies) and would trade up from the lousy insurance they have to a better insurance policy, because they could afford a better one. Not because insurance premiums had gone up, but because their ability to afford better insurance had expanded.
• The Sunlight foundation is showing the top donors of the person currently speaking. Nifty!
• Okay Sen. McCain is so not over losing. He and the President just spent several minutes going back and forth. "Where not campaigning anymore. The elections is over."
• It gets lost in the standard back and forth of political wrangling, but there actually are philosophical differences between the parties. Derek Thompson over at the Atlantic and Kate Pickert at Time-Swampland show it. In short the two camps profess to have very different views of government. The GOP mantra is that the government can not do complex things (mind you they only mention that for Democratic ideas Homeland Security, Medicare Part D, and the Tax cuts were just fine), while Democrats seem to believe that some complex issues can and should be handled by the government.
  

Lunch Break Thought: If the Republicans are going to pretend that Reconciliation is some sort of underhanded trick that it should be taken off the table, then I suggest the Democrats should follow suit with asking that filibuster also be taken off the table. I mean these are both misuses of the rules. Right?

• Rep. Paul Ryan has conditional like for the CBO.
• Marsha...Marsha...Marsha, enough with the interstate competition! Ezra knows way more about it then you do. But I will try to summarize. The reason why allowing insurance companies to just compete amongst all fifty states with out some sort of national regulation. What you would get is the laws of the state they reside in (and believe me all the insurance companies would flock to the state which offered them the the most lax legal restraints, think credit cards and Delaware) would become the de facto national regulations for health insurance. It would result in a race to the bottom. Competition is great, but you have to insure (ha!) that all the companies are playing by the same rules.
• Personally, this illustrates why negotiations should never be televised. Too many egos, and too much preening.

The Summit has wrapped up, the President closed out with a not so subtle gesture to the Democrats going it alone. I can not say I am surprised. I just wish they had figured this out last June. The Republicans were never, ever going to provide votes. Once Obama was elected they new their path back to power was absolutely dependent on grinding government to a halt. When the Republicans regain control of one (both or both chambers and the White House) of the chambers I guarantee they will change their tune once again.

Anyways, it was informative. The Republican leadership has shown themselves to be petulant preening sycophants who care more about returning to power then about improving their constituents lives. But then that is just my opinion.

-Cheers