Senator Hutchison: Another Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Insurance Industry

by: Libby Shaw

Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 08:51 PM CST

At the very least, I thought, the horrible statistics I presented would perhaps grab the attention of one of their staff members.

Surely, I thought, both U.S. Senators would put aside their partisan differences, at least for a few hours, in order to serve the needs of those who elected them to office.

23 million folks will lose their insurance this year, 930,000 will file bankruptcy and 45,000 more people will die.

As we know Texas has the highest number of uninsured resident. Folks can learn about the appalling state of our health care system  here and here.

Below is Senator Hutchison's response.  

Hint: My efforts were a miserable failure. I did not get through.  Senator Hutchison, it seems, has received $619,450 from the insurance industry and she is obviously working overtime to protect it.  

None of the above statistics had any impact on her whatsoever. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison could care less about the plight of hard working Texans.

Texans are particularly aware of the need for health care reform, but it cannot come with a trillion dollar price tag and a government takeover of our health care system.  Our state has over 6 million uninsured residents, the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation.  This number poses a huge challenge for our hospitals, taxpayers, and many working individuals and families who cannot afford the health care coverage they need.

Lie 1:  Several months ago, Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC challenged Senator Hutchison's assertions that the current proposals for HCR are a government takeover of health care. HCR is not a government takeover of the insurance industry. Mitchell is correct, Hutchison lied.  

As far as 6 million uninsured residents in Texas are concerned, all have been posing problems 24/7/365 for doctors, hospitals and taxpayers.  Senator Hutchison has been in the U.S. Senate since 1993.  If she was so concerned about affordable insurance for Texans she would have done something about it by now.  

We certainly need to improve access to affordable health insurance. However, we must do so without raising taxes on American families and businesses, imposing mandates on individuals and states, and adding trillions to the cost of health care.  The Democratic healthcare proposal, crafted in secret and packed with sweetheart deals, imposed new taxes and cost burdens on the American people. Therefore, I voted against it.

Lies 2 and 3: The House and Senate bills were not crafted in secret.  Both were debated in committees in both the Senate and House and all could be viewed on CSPAN.  Folks can go to the CSPAN archives and find transcripts.  

There was one meeting in which both Republicans and lobbyists were shut out.  This is because it had become clear to Democrats that the Republican's sole intentions were to use their usual obstruct and delay tactics. It should be clear that all Republicans are working on behalf of the health industry and not the people. Lobbyists were kept out for obvious reasons.

Lie No. 4:

A mandate to purchase health care insurance is not unconstitutional. The state of Massachusetts has had a mandate for some time. No Republican, including U.S. Senator Scott Brown of MA (R-sometimes, TP-maybe when push comes to shove, D-when it works for me) never objected to insurance mandates when he ran for the U.S. Senate.  

But now that HCR is a real possibility, Republican lawmakers like Kay Bailey Hutchison desperately scramble to protect their health insurance industry pimps.

Reality check.

Mandates for individuals is included in the HCR bill b/c in the end such will save the taxpayers money. It is more expensive for folks to visit an ER instead of a doctor they cannot afford to pay. The cost of the ER as a primary care resource is passed along to taxpayers. Mandates require those who can afford coverage will have to purchase it and those who cannot will receive subsidies to help pay the premiums.  

Neither the Senate or House bill will burden the people with taxes.  Certain businesses and insurance companies may get taxed.  Poor them.  Thanks to Republicans all have been getting a free ride while sticking it to consumers for the past decade.

The President and the Democratic leadership have pursued a radical approach to healthcare reform that will not only result in higher taxes and penalties, but will also increase premiums and reduce patient choices.  In fact, under the bill, Americans will be taxed for four years before they will see any benefit of insurance reform.

Lies 4, 5 and 6:  First of all Hutchison falsely claims that HCR will increase premiums.

In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate's version of health care reform would result in lower premiums for most individual enrollees.

The approach is far from radical unless Senator Hutchison thinks it is extreme to prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage and care b/c of pre-existing conditions.  Both House and Senate bills include more than a few amendments from Republicans. Actually the Senate bill is so far from radical that progressives like me believe the proposal does not go far enough to make health insurance affordable for everyone.  

We prefer either single payer or a public option.  The current watered down proposal offers neither.  When polled about a Public Option 60-70% of Americans want one.  Apparently few lawmakers in Washington D.C. are listening.  

Premiums will continue to sky rocket if there is no health care reform. Insurance companies have already announced increases this year.  Private Medicare insurance companies will go up 14%. Anthem in Calif. will increase 39%.  It is only a matter of time before Aetna, Cigna and others follow suit.

As mentioned above taxpayers are already paying the tab for the uninsured who, through no fault of their own, must use the ER as their primary health care source.  

Choices will not be reduced.  Thanks to the U.S. House vote to repeal an anti trust exemption for health insurance companies there will be more competition in the insurance market.

I also have strong concerns about the Constitutionality of this bill.  During the Senate debate, I raised a Constitutional objection against the bill on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment and infringes upon states' rights.  Provisions in this bill trample upon the prerogatives of the states in regulating health insurance.  My Constitutional challenge to the bill, as well as several others offered by Republicans, also failed by a party line vote.

We can hear the dog whistle folks, i.e. state rights and the 10th Amendment.  God forbid should Texas be required to figure out a way to insure 6 million uninsured residents.  And God forbid should companies and corporations here be required to offer health insurance to employees.

If elected as Governor both Perry and Hutchison would work overtime to make sure there is no health care reform here that would cost the state one penny. Even it means thousands will die, lose their insurance or go bankrupt b/c they do not have access to health care, reform will not happen under any Republican or conservative's watch.    

Senators Cruella de Ville, Ebenezer Scrooge and our current governor a male counterpart to Marie Antoinette are always more concerned about the fat cats than they are the people they are elected to serve.  Texans need to stop voting against themselves time and time again.

The bill passed by the Senate, with only Democrat support, represents a massive government expansion and federal takeover of our healthcare system.  The Democrats have presented Americans with a false choice:  their proposal or nothing.

Um, that would be democratic support, Senator.

The above is a regurgitation Senator Hutchison's lie about a government takeover of health care. She is trying to scare us with notions of Big Brother taking over every segment of our lives, in case she didn't do so when she lied about it the first paragraph.  See Lie 1.  Senator again willfully ignores the Amendments included by the Republicans that, in fact, have done nothing but throw perks to insurance companies and have watered down what could have been a far more robust bill for everyday people.  

Democrats did not offer a false choice.   Republicans in the House and the Senate were included in all legislation.  The only participation they offered was to vote no in lockstep. Republican Senator Grassley and Democratic Senator Baucus worked together to craft the Senate health care bill. But over the summer, as we all know, Grassley sold out when he told teabaggers that HCR would kill off Granny.  He knew this was not true but he lied anyway. In Washington Grassley behaved as if he believed in bi-partisanship.  In his home state the man revealed his true hypocritical colors.  Anyone see a pattern here with Republican politicians?

Today the President is holding a bi-partisan summit on HCR.  I wonder if Republicans will bother to show up? And if they do show up, will they have any ideas? Ideas other than tax cuts for big business and for their fat cat sugar daddies, that is.

When so many employers are struggling to offer insurance for their employees, we should be finding ways to bring down costs for their coverage.  Instead, the Democrats' healthcare bill will result in higher costs of insurance for small businesses and individuals alike.

Another lie.  Small businesses will receive tax breaks when they offer insurance coverage to their employees.  

Yesterday the House voted to repeal the anti-trust exemption granted to health insurance companies.  An anti-trust exemption means there will be more competition in the insurance market and prices will come down for consumers.  

I wonder where Senator stands on this issue?

There is more in the letter but I think folks get Senator Hutchison's drift. She does not care that 45,000 more Americans will die, 930,000 will have to file bankruptcy and 2.3 million will lose their insurance.  She's too busy looking after her fat cats.  As Rep. Weiner has stated on the floor of the House, Senator Hutchison is a typical Republican who is a wholly owned subsidiary of the health insurance industry.

If Senator Hutchison was serious about bringing meaningful reform to the U.S. health care system she would have rolled up her sleeves and participated productively in the numerous health care reform discussions that have taken place in Washington over the past year.  The Senator has instead decided to deliberately mislead, misinform, scare and lie to her constituents.  

I don't think the people of Texas are in the mood for any more of the above from any politician in  Austin and Washington, D.C.