President Obama returns from his family holiday in Hawaii to the first major reorganization of his administration. When restructuring, does he choose a team for governing or a team for winning and campaigning for 2012? Marcus Mabry, associate editor for our partner, The New York Times, joins us to discuss. Also,major snow storms hit multiple parts of the country over the weekend; we'll find out how the weather affected post-Christmas sales, and what retailers made during the shopping craze before the big day from Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway.
Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) has long been the mainstay of health coverage for most middle class American families. But a new report from the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has found that this class of Americans is losing its health coverage faster than any other income group. Unlike low-income earners, middle class Americans don't have the safety net of a government program like Medicaid. Secondly, the cost of an independent policy is just too high; and in some states, people are denied coverage because of pre-existing ailments.
Florida taxpayers spend roughly $45 million a year subsidizing health care for government employees. More than 27,000 government officials – including Governor Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), now a candidate for U.S. Senate – pay no premiums at all. Once a simple benefit of public service, these perks are now being called into question amid the nationwide debate over healthcare reform. For more on the story, we speak with Beth Reinhard, political writer for the Miami Herald.
The national uproar surrounding the effort to reform health care has us wondering: How did anyone ever get changes to health care passed? And what lessons can be learned from the notable failures (*cough* Clinton *cough*)? Political consultant Bob Shrum, former senior advisor to Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. John Kerry and Vice President Al Gore as well as former speechwriter for Sen. Ted Kennedy, gives us a look at the legislative magic of LBJ's Medicaid bill and how he might get health care reform done today.
_small_image.jpg)
In a flashback to the '90s, when then–First Lady Hilary Clinton went out and stumped for health care reform, new First Lady Michelle Obama starts hawking health care today. She'll pitch herself as a soccer mom who gets what families need from their insurance plans. And, though the tactic is different, it's hard not to hear echoes of Hillarycare. We speak to former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers and Nia-Malika Henderson, White House reporter for Politico, to ask: How do first ladies fit into health care reform, and are there lessons to be learned from the Clinton White House?
The White House announced an addition to the president's agenda next Wednesday; he will speak about health care reform before a joint session of Congress. Obama's oration skills have long been considered one of his strengths, but pundits wonder if a few words from the bully pulpit can bring about agreement on the challenging health care bill. Joining us with a preview of what the president might say is Jay Newton-Small, Washington reporter for Time Magazine. We also speak to presidential historian Allan Lichtman, from American University, for a look at how presidents have waged their battles with Congress in recent decades.
"The president has got to come up with some kind of plan. And the members of Congress have got to zip their lips, and zip their egos and do one thing and one thing only, get that plan through."
—Presidential historian Allan Lichtman on how President Obama can pass health care reform
As part of our week-long series of health care roundtables, we’re talking with small business owners about how they want to see reform take shape. Small businesses employ about half of all American workers but only 62 percent of these businesses provide heath insurance. We speak to John Costin, who lives in Kennebunk, Maine and owns Veneer Services Unlimited; Dan Sherry from Barrington, Illinois, who runs two small businesses with his wife; and ReShonda Young from Waterloo, Iowa, who runs the family business, 'Alpha Express.'
All this week, we'll be hosting mini-roundtable discussions about how health care reform could affect different groups of Americans. We kick it off this week with one of the groups who stands to be the most affected by any systematic reform: doctors themselves.
With us today are Dr. Kevin Pho, a primary care physician in Nashua, New Hampshire who also blogs at KevinMD.com, Dr. Charles Prestigiacomo, a neurosurgeon and associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Dr. Tyeese Gaines Reid, who is currently in her third year as an emergency care resident at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.
For more on the doctors from today's roundtable continue reading...
Today we're recapping what's happened this week in the debate over health care reform. During a meeting last Saturday, President Obama asked the American people to lower the temperature a little at health care town halls. So-called "death panels," health care co-ops, Republican options, and former DNC chair Dr. Howard Dean were all part of the national conversation, which was topped off with the President’s one-on-one with conservative radio show host Michael Smerconish on Thursday.
For a look at where the debate heads next, we are joined by Jonathan Cohn. He is the Senior editor at The New Republic and author of Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price
"The analogy that serves best here is: Medicare. It's a version of Medicare for people who aren't over 65. Ask people over 65 what they think of Medicare? They like it a lot."
—Jonathan Cohn, senior editor at The New Republic, on how to simply explain "the public option"
_small_image.jpg)
While Democrats debate whether health care reform should include a government-funded "public option" health insurer, most Republicans have been opposed to the Democrats' conception of reform from the get-go. Democrats are now pressuring Obama to abandon bi-partisanship all together and “go it alone.” But what would that mean for Republicans? Would they be “left out,” “left behind,” or, if reform were to fail, wind up as the "last party standing?" We host a Republican strategy session with Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly Standard, and Reihan Salam, a fellow at the New America Foundation, and author of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream
"Look, here's how politics works. The out-party succeeds when the in-party fails. The polls on the Republicans don't matter now; what matters is the polls on the Democrats. And they're in power, they have votes in Congress, they have the White House. If they overreach, or they fail, or both, then Republicans will triumph in the next election, whatever their numbers are right now in approval ratings by the public. It's the failure of the in-party that leads to the out-party winning."
—Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard, on why he's more interested in Democratic poll numbers than Republican ones
The debate over reforming the nation's health care system has been raging for months, and it seems one of the groups watching the tussle most closely are senior citizens. Most people tend to head to the doctor more as they get older, after all, and as they do, see their health care costs and time spent navigating the bureaucracy increase dramatically. Also increasing dramatically are the number of American seniors; as the Boomer generation moves into retirement, there are going to be many, many more people who require health care.
Today we talk to Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, about how senior citizens have ended up at the center of Washington's tug-of-war on health care reform. We also talk to four senior citizens who have their own opinions on where the debate is going: 67-year old Mary McKinney of the Bronx, New York, 80-year old married couple Dick and Barbara Mitchell of Yukon, Oklahoma, and 86-year old Geraldine Powe in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was back in the headlines yesterday, not for any political or legal reason, but because he will compete on ABC's Dancing with the Stars this fall. In the House, DeLay was known as "The Hammer" for his ability to keep his party members in line; now he'll be trying to keep his feet lined up as he brushes up on his cha-cha, merengue and electric slide. He'll be vying for the mirror-ball trophy with the other competitors this season – the list includes Donny Osmond, Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin, and pop star Aaron Carter. We also asked DeLay about health care reform, because when you have a congressman on the line these days, it's a hard topic to avoid. ... (click through for the full interview transcript)
"Sequins are up for negotiation. Pink color is up for negotiation. Right now I hope that I do the Paso Doble in white tie and tails."
—Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on his new role as contestant on "Dancing with the Stars"
Older members of our society are the biggest consumers of medical care, and they have been vocal participants in the debate over reforming the health care system. What do the elderly think of the president's plan? The Takeaway talks to Trevor Hughes, a 77-year-old Jamaican immigrant and retired optician, who says the government should "butt out" of the health care. He recently underwent major spinal surgery which was covered by the insurance Hughes pays for out of his own pocket; he says that we can't afford to re-configure a system that just needs minor tweaks.
Health care, health care, health care. It’s all you see on the news, read in the papers, and hear on the radio. Will it pass? When? What will it look like if it does? What will things look like if it doesn't? We've been looking both at the broad strokes and picayune details of the various plans; today, we take a look at the potential ramifications of this debate on the political landscape.
The Democrats practically swept the 2006 elections and handily won the 2008 presidential elections, while the Republicans struggled with an identity crisis. But with this health care battle, has the G.O.P. found the grounds for a resurgence? Joining us with their take are Reihan Salam, from the New American Foundation, and Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.
The facts. The skinny. The straight dope. If you're talking about health care reform (and who isn't, these days?), the truth has been thoroughly muddled lately with a lot of buzzwords, misnomers and outright fabrication. That's why The Takeaway is talking to Art Caplan. He's the director of the Center of Bio-Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, and he's going to put the health care debate and such concepts as the potential "co-operative insurance consortia" into plain-speak.
Over the weekend, representatives of the Obama administration started signaling that various aspects of proposals to reform health care may be more negotiable than previously expected. Teddy Roosevelt first inserted national health coverage as a party plank 97 years ago, in 1912 – as the debate grinds on in D.C., on the air, and across the country, is it "déjà vu all over again?"
In a town hall debate symbolically held in Grand Junction, Colorado, the President gave signs that the public option, previously cited as a critical piece of any reform of the health care system, may not be an absolute deal breaker. We talk to Julie Mason, White House reporter for the Washington Examiner and Dr. Michael Pramenko, a family physician in Grand Junction.
Representative Eric Massa (D-NY) has held 40 town hall-style meetings in New York's 29th congressional district about health care reform, speaking to constituents all across southwestern New York. The congressman tells The Takeaway what it’s been like on the speaker's side of the podium, and what the protesters represent for American democracy. (click through for the full interview transcript)
"I get paid to be yelled at. So, it's OK. My job is to put myself out there and listen as much as possible and try to keep the group respectful of each other. They don't have to be respectful of me. That's not part of the job title. But I do very much try to keep people respectful of each other. "
– Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY)
Here's Rep. Massa at one of his health care town halls:
The U.S. religious left is wading into the health care debate and teaming up with President Obama to help promote his plan that would provide health insurance to roughly 46 million Americans. We speak to two leaders of the religious left, Rev. Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life and Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism about their thoughts on service, faith, and the public option.
Faithful America is a coalition of faith-based organizations working with President Obama to reform health care. They are sponsoring a call-in program with the president on August 19th. For more information, head to Faithful America.org. Here is the ad they have just released to support their cause:
Teenager Faces Public Outrage Over School Prayer Lawsuit
The Real Story Behind Tyler Clementi's Tragic Death
Today's Takeaway: Romney's Statements and The Changing Face of Poverty
Today's Takeaway: Mitt Romney and the Social Safety Net
Susan G. Komen Planned Parenthood Decision Forces Many to Make Difficult Decision
A Dictionary of American Dialect
Learn to Talk Football with The Takeaway
The 'Safety Net' and Realities of Poverty
English Immersion: The Bilingual Education Debate
Poverty and the Social Safety Net
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Major funding provided by:
