Two notes: President may introduce his own HCR BILL. Poll suggests Americans want a do-over on HCR

[Perky]

'STAY TUNED' FOR W.H. PLAN – POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown reports: "White House press secretary Robert Gibbs ducked questions during the press briefing Tuesday on whether the president would post his own merged bill on the Internet ahead of the health care summit, given that congressional leaders are still struggling to agree on a way forward. At first, he said 'we'll have a chance to go through that process.' When pressed further, Gibbs would only say, 'stay tuned.' White House officials have said the president expects a unified House and Senate bill by the Feb. 25 summit. But given the lack of tangible progress on Capitol Hill during the past two weeks, it is hard to see how the president will walk into the summit with a bill that's been agreed to by both chambers.”

MOST AMERICANS SAY START FROM SCRATCH – The Hill’s Jeffrey Young reports: "In a brutal assessment of the Democratically authored healthcare reform bills pending in Congress and the party's approach to healthcare, more than half of the respondents to a new Zogby International-University of Texas Health Science Center poll said that lawmakers should start from scratch. Of the more than 2,500 people surveyed from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, 57 percent agreed with a statement that Congress should start over — which is exactly what Republicans are demanding and what President Barack Obama insists he will not do. Moreover, 56.4 percent of people indicated they would prefer Congress to tackle healthcare reform on a step-by-step basis, not take the comprehensive approach as embodied in the legislation that passed the House and Senate last year but has stalled the past month."

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/

[CTyankee]

1. This is what we get when we let all these "deals" go down and then they get revealed.

AND when we allow our bill to get watered down to the point of irrelevancy. This is what we get for ignoring single payer, going along with getting rid of the public option (which 70% of the public said they WANTED), and an individual mandate to pay thru the nose to the big insurance companies. THIS IS WHAT WE GET FOR NOT DOING THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS.

Where are our fighters, our men and women of the people in our Congress?

[Armstead]

2. Put a Real Public Plan in it and I'll take him seriously

[Bullet1987]

3. No matter how badly some on DU want to try to spin it...

the Senate HCR bill is not popular at all and would NOT be seen as reform by the public. The bill in its current form has become a problem for Democrats now not just from the Right, but the Left and Indies as well. No one wants the damn thing. The problem now is that they can't start from scratch and boast single-payer (or even the public option) because the White House and some Dems in Congress have made it clear they don't want that. So to start over and try to pretend they want it wouldn't work. It's their screwup, so they have to figure it out.

[global1]

6. When You Say "No One Wants The Damn Thing" - That Might Be True But For.....

different reasons. I'm not crazy about it because their is no public option - but - I still want this bill to make it. I would prefer it to be stronger in its impact on insurance company reform - but I still want this bill to make it. The point I'm trying to make is when they do polls about this bill - they don't really ask the reason why someone is opposed to the bill. They just report the global number that makes it look bad that most don't like this bill. They never get to the meat of why people might not like it.

Most people on the left don't like it because it contains no public option or it doesn't let people 55 and over into Medicare or it mandates all people to buy in and looks like a giveaway to insurance companies. Most people on the right don't like it because it smacks of too much government control or they bought into the death panels scares or because it is coming from the Dems.

We need to get something passed or we'll be seeing more insurance companies denying claims, dropping people and raising premiums until no one can afford it - only insurance executives.

Get something passed - then make course corrections along the way. Do it fast. Make it start right away and not 2014. Once it's passed all the furor around it will die down and the media and the Repugs will find something else to bitch about. This needs to happen ASAP.

[Perky]

7. I think that is about right...

Public wants a public option but it less than enthusiastic about the cost of a new entitlement. Go figure.


Huge first step has to be industry regulation with teeth. Step two has to be a recognition that healthcare costs continue to rise unabated and that is the underlying issue. If you figure out how to push the cost of service down premiums "ought" to follow.

[Clio the Leo]

4. key words: "merged bill"....

... he, Reid and Pelosi will come up with something they can all agree on and then sell it as "Obama's bill."

Whatever works.

As for, "MOST AMERICANS SAY START FROM SCRATCH," ... "most Americans" couldn't even tell you what's IN the bill.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. most people didn't know what was in the last bill

if you ask people they don't know or they thought that it said that you had to buy health insurance or go to jail. So if there is a public option and state run pilot public health programs people would be happier.

How about more public run hospitals? The VA is a good system to work from.

[harun]

9. Correct, most American's are NOT saying start from scratch, Pukes are.

Namely Pukes in the Senate who just want to run out the clock.

[dkf]

17. Do they know it's mandated? Do they know there is no public option?

I'd say those are the only 2 things you need to know about the current billl

[unblock]

5. there are two choices: pass the damn bill now or ram something new through FAST

(a) pass the damn senate bill now and amend it later (probably using reconciliation) or
(b) scrap it and start from scratch and ram it through FAST, before the campaign season heats up. to do this will clearly require reconciliation. it will therefore send republicans screaming about how partisan and unfair it is, so to prep for that, obama and the dems have to get out there first and complain loudly that their original bipartisan efforts were stymied by republican partisanship. only after that's meme has been sold can we then announce we're scrapping it and starting over.

i don't see any other politically viable approach. starting over and letting congress take its time on it means letting it languish through the campaign season, which would be disastrous for democrats.

we need to pass SOMETHING to show we can accomplish SOMETHING with our substantial majorities. otherwise we just look pathetic, and voters, especially independents, do not like re-electing pathetic.

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. The bill we need has already been written

It's called HR 676.

[Go2Peace]

16. +1

I have lost my confidence that any other bill will not have many poison pills embeded in it.

[backscatter712]

11. Who here takes Zogby seriously?

/me listens, hears chirping crickets...

[bvar22]

12. This can't possibly be true!

I've been reading DU, so I KNOW what I'm talking about.
See, it works like THIS:

There is this "Separation of Powers" thing.
Congress WRITES the LAWS.
The President sits over in his White House and has absolutely NOTHING to do with whatever Congress does.
In fact, if he even talks to CongressCritters, or tries to influence them in any way,
it is like the return of George Bush!

The President is not responsible in any form or fashion for the legislative failures of Congress.
Its TRUE.
I read it on DU...
ALL the time.

[madamesilverspurs]

13. Politico. . .

uh huh.


--

[Perky]

14. oh get over it

the reporting was totally benign...but I appreciate the opportunity to kick this up to the top of the page again

[AlinPA]

15. More crap from Politico. Nothing will happen with HCR, it has been stopped. nt

[quantass]

18. OMFG: Why not lower Medicare age limit, Pay-to-Play, Drug Import & pass thru Reconcilliation

Maybe I'm missing some details. It is so obvious the establishment does not want change but is actively trying to hide the fact from the people.